Free Web NovelChapter 257: Chapter 61: Unprecedented Loneliness
Pang felt nothing, which was peculiar. Why wouldn’t he feel anger, sorrow, or fear? He had never even thought about experiencing a day like that.
What kind of experience was this for Pang? There was no sorrow, no anger, no fear.
In his heart, a sense of numbness spread, yet he still wanted to protect himself with his last ounce of strength, looking at the white fog where the man who clearly had no breath of life was.
It was like he was still wielding that relentless evil sword, killing countless times as if it were still firmly held in his hand!
His eyes were still as ferociously cold and determined as ever, undergoing the solemn rite; although he was clearly about to die, he seemed to mimic nothing but a proud eagle.
He extended his hand straight out... at last, the thread of life from Jiuyan.
To Jiuyan, it was like a horde of ants that had smelled sugar, rushing chaotically in the moment Jiuyan’s body froze, as if wanting to engulf him.
The evil thoughts intensified their savage assault!
The white fog wanted to say something but couldn’t. A sharp sound that was hard to bear seemed to echo in his throat like it was stuck there. His eyes widened, and he shook his head with a look of consciousness.
The only sound in this crimson world became a clear, crisp noise...
Clang...
Jiuyan could no longer hold onto the sword in his hand; in that instant, the short blade pierced through his heart! The sharp edge penetrated Jiuyan’s chest.
His arm swings slowed down just a notch as the tide-like nemesis assaulted him, finally revealing Jiuyan’s fatigue, which forced him into continuous high-intensity combat.
In a situation like this, he had no other endgame... No matter how terrifying the strength of this short man, or how fearsome his combat abilities, it didn’t matter.
It was only because of someone else that such emotions were conveyed through his eyes without him being able to utter them.
The cruelty had already arrived, even though those words came from far and had never been before.
They weren’t idle boasts to Erleipu. The white fog wanted to bare his teeth, wishing to let tears show his sorrow, wanting to roar out whatever anger he felt, but he was unable to do so.
"Keep on living!"
It was only after the white fog heard the voice that he realized, at that moment, God Granny’s mockery had finally been transcended by this small man’s roar.
Death wasn’t an option in front of him, nor was there death within the tower... He hadn’t even come to that yet.
For there were still others counting on his protection!
He used his faith to continue the unwavering battle, suppressing the evil thoughts in his brain with his quiet chants. His blade kept waving non-stop, even though the evil thoughts had already invaded his consciousness by more than fifteen percent...
His entire body soaked with sweat and blood, Jiuyan’s physical strength declined rapidly!
This felt really crappy...
White fog suddenly laughed a silent laugh—he could fully guess himself... what he would do, or rather, that Lin Haigu would not be such a simple individual.
On one side, he was combating a pile of evil thoughts; on the other, he was protecting the white fog. This short man kept lunging relentlessly.
Jiuyan never stopped.
You would likely never see such an expression on white fog’s face if Jiuyan halted at this moment.
It was a strange look that Jiuyan had on his face, where he had originally stood.
How could he survive if not for chopping relentlessly for himself, to buy time for the others, to create an opportunity—even if it meant a prolonged death?
Erleipu’s eyes popped out suddenly, expressing an incredibly simple and rudimentary feeling, unrelated to the battle.
"I’ll tell you those beautiful wishes have already become reality, I’ll wait for that day to come, this world really does have a dark side, it’s comforting to have met before, to be consoled by your own growth."
"You might not fully realize many things now or later. This world has no omniscience, and you shouldn’t blame yourself. It’s good that you possess some kind of talent, or else not realizing these won’t make you cautious."
"You just need bold yet wary people. Because of the unknown future, one mustn’t feel that his character will harm anyone if pushed, one should just be extremely careful."
"One true thing I regret... But I think, perhaps this is a curse that all of us will eventually fall outside of the tower, or perhaps like you, Lin Haigu, who was familiar with the lie before; my death outside of the tower was predetermined because of my coming. There are no other options for my death in the tower."
"I always really enjoyed your attitude toward the outside of the tower, Dugu, no combatant in history who was strong would refuse to leave the tower; those who regretted leaving the tower wouldn’t forever, right? Who would regret leaving the tower?"
"Maybe I should also step onto a new journey, maybe this part of my journey should finally come to an end; there is no indefinite feast under the sky."
Erleipu’s eyes suddenly became wild, as if he had just snapped out of some chaotic reverie.
He felt a surge of irritation that just wouldn’t go away, gnawing at him from within.
The white fog that had just appeared... seemed so far, so distant, yet it was clearly right there, within a whisker’s breadth of himself.
Even though he could guess what Jiuyan was probably saying, he still couldn’t make out a single word from his incessant murmurs...
The mocking echoes that God Granny had been setting off around them hadn’t stopped for a moment.
The relentless encounters with hordes of densely packed enemies didn’t seem to diminish at all.
The white fog gradually began to betray a sense of bewilderment, however slight.
Even though everyone seemed to adore him, and in his troop, he was the tallest—even without growing any taller, being the most powerful—, he was still only the great tower that transmitted messages, really.
Because Jiuyan was there, just having him on the battlefield made everyone feel more at ease... At a time like this, the white fog should have felt very relieved, but instead, he let go.
Despite his grave reputation, Jiuyan always seemed as carefree as a cloud drifting in the wind.
But now, Jiuyan was there by his side, swiftly moving as if it were a matter of life and death... The very moment they were about to fall into grave danger,
was when Jiuyan, holding his short sword, drew a clean arc with his arm, beheading an enemy with his axe, seemingly effortless in close-quarters combat.
Jiuyan began to cover himself more and more, as his own strength gradually increased.
It was almost like the very cryptic messages that Erleipu’s eyes were sending out had turned into a storyboard, prefiguring every subsequent scene he was about to witness, as if imitating his own thoughts.
If Jiuyan and he were as close as brothers in some extraordinarily peaceful realm, the white fog might have even begun to entertain such thoughts.
Although Jiuyan didn’t respond and the white fog couldn’t hear him, Jiuyan had indeed asked. It was certain that the white fog was also about to plunge back into the fight, as he bent down to pick up his axe.
The two of them were about to reengage in battle, Jiuyan nodded behind him.
"Nothing serious, right?" he said to himself, certain that Jiuyan would follow up as he always had.
The white fog should have been very calm, even though death was already upon him.
With a single swing of his axe, Jiuyan pushed back the vengeful spirit in front of him, and as the lightning-fast figure approached him from behind again, ready to chop down on the white fog, Jiuyan decisively sliced off a crucial strike, and in an instant, the white fog was nearly decapitated with an axe swing.
A sudden figure mysteriously floated down behind the white fog, approaching from his back!
With both hands raised, he violently slammed the axe down directly on the white fog’s head as if splitting a melon!
With one swing of his axe, the green bronze axe slipped from the white fog’s hand, the vengeful spirit forced it out!
With a fierce chop, an axe followed along the left shoulder of the white fog, cleaving straight down.
The white fog was getting tired, and there was not even a half-decent position to be in, facing the enemy’s overwhelming barrage.
The messages from Erleipu’s eyes started to become shorter and shorter, eventually enabling the white fog to deal with even more signals at the same time.
...
[Turning around].
[Right].
[Left].
[Prepare to use the flying axe as the fourth weapon]!
[Block! Block!]
[If you’re a pansy or if the axe should always be pointing left, left, left]!
[If you’re freaking out because you’re scared to death of me, don’t ask me what the hell for! If your right hand, having trembled a little after the seventh consecutive swing, is going to keep on moving! Concentrate, focus your willpower in the middle]!
[If you still want to keep resisting, then rely on that little dwarf behind you, he seemed like a war god today, might still be able to help you shoulder the burden, or you might as well surrender, I think it’s best for all of us to capitulate right now].
—Erleipu’s eyes kept prompting the white fog relentlessly, although it might be a matter of life or death, clearly, it was only under such constrained circumstances that Erleipu’s eyes could fully exert their predictive power.
Erleipu’s eyes began to simplify... but yet, from the very beginning, the white fog paid much attention to his extensive remarks.
Erleipu’s eyes also began to flash more frequently, possibly signaling that something was about to happen.
The God Granny’s mocking laughter slowly dissipated into the white fog, the only sensation being the sense of tranquil stillness.
However, there was an original substance to the empty air, a clashing of weapons reverberating amid the whirling currents of energy, and the sound of steel meeting steel. Pang could not break through the encircling axes chopping down at him.
He was already unable to hear clearly, yet he still had a vague sense that the Ninety-Five was saying something.
His strength was gradually being whittled away, and he could feel his own injuries and fatigue continually increasing.
His breathing became more and more urgent, and he could feel his own physical strength steadily declining.
He was sensitive to the force and vibrations, an aspect of the world and his abilities.
In this spiritual realm, what clearly should have been an ethereal spirit was actually a tangible being. What seemed far-fetched was, in fact, the truth.
Even facing an enemy not as strong as the Ninety-Five, Jiuyan’s battle with this heaven-sent adversary was intense.
He had no choice but to fight, fight, fight; the white fog gave him no other options.
And with each new wave of enemies, the pressure from the Ninety-Five and the white fog grew ever greater, while the number of malcontent spirits continued to increase.
Lin Haigu couldn’t find any way to extricate himself from this dire situation; the white fog continuously clouded his thoughts.
Such creatures, devoid of any emotions like sadness, pain from relentless torment, anger, or fear, would not be eternally vexed by such strange, intrusive thoughts.
That was exactly what the white fog intended to transform him into... a monstrosity. It was God Granny’s unimaginable method.
At times, Lin Haigu was so willing to place himself in these perilous situations that his thoughts raced even faster... his mind became clearer the closer he got to the moment of crisis.
Lin Haigu’s hands trembled slightly as he looked around at the dense multitude of spirits engulfing him.
After an intense round of defensive fighting, one man with an axe in his hand stood in front of Jiuyan and Lin Haigu, who were standing back-to-back.
There was no retreat, no escape; Jiuyan and Lin Haigu were being cornered into desperation.
Their brief respite from defeat was merely postponing the inevitable. Against such a disparity in fighting strength, an immediate perfect response was the only option.
...
Inside this battlefield of life and death, Jiuyan never stopped breaking through his limits.
But even though he clearly knew that physical contact with these spirits would result in certain negative effects, he did not show the slightest hint of fear; his determination and willpower were stronger than ever before.
Jiuyan’s aura wasn’t tainted by these dark energies at all; he maintained his purity throughout, despite the black miasma trying to disrupt his ethereal state. Even though his eyes began to mix with some kind of black energy, almost every strike with his blade was a perfect match.
Without making a single mistake, where would he fear the enemy’s blade? He was already resisting 14 percent of the evil spirits’ mental intrusion—Lin Haigu noticed, following the nine-five, who never bore a wound.
... Just another onslaught of malevolent spirits—it was the most desperate situation.
Lin Haigu felt a certain sense of camaraderie with the axe in his hand, looking at the dozens of axes in front of him; it was as if his own axe had become part of him.
The few recent transformations of malice energy into physical form were not of concern; he paid no attention to the eventual fate of such energy.
Despite the overwhelming power facing him, Lin Haigu couldn’t just retreat; he had to confront this horde of spirits head-on.
...
Somehow, he managed to defend himself against every strike; he was able to hold his ground against so many attacks.
If Jiuyan was struck by even a single blade from the sky full of descending blades, it would pull him into a deadly situation. One can only imagine the amazement of the mighty fighter Jiuyan if he were here at this moment. freewebnøvel.coɱ
Just like many times before, this battle made him acutely aware of the danger, as if stepping on every step with great caution would help Jiuyan navigate through this tight web.
A dense, intricate web of fine cracks resembling a massive spider’s web was constantly sliced open by the powerful spirits’ incessant high-speed slashing, severing the entire space into countless tiny zones.
But how could he possibly face tens or even hundreds of them?
Even so, Jiuyan could rely on his combat experience to take on three, or at most five spirits at a time.
The resentment energy surged with no obstruction from the God Granny, as the lake water roiled.
The constant increase of the resentment energy’s essence only widened the gap between the fighting capabilities of the two sides.
Another resentment energy body was transformed by Pang’s overwhelming energy... the fourth... the fifth... the sixth... the seventh.
The third essence of Jiuyan, the second of white fog, appeared by God Granny’s side, the most troublesome of all.
Jiuyan and white fog could only be entangled with their own resentment energy bodies.
God Granny had to defeat Dugu directly, breaking through the energy barrier to lock and defeat the overwhelming energy transformations.
White fog did not dawdle with the opponent, as the most worrying aspect of the situation had emerged, for Erleipu was nowhere to be seen.
"How could you two possibly stop me, the great Divine Lake? Divine Lake will surely become even more godly with more people. All it takes is patience and waiting for the day when this energy mass is entirely consumed, after which my wonderful granddaughter will possess Pang’s tremendous power and complete the transformation and evolution of Divine Lake."
God Granny spoke with a voice as ancient and corroded as the land she stood upon.
With a tremendous force, white fog repelled the shockwaves and was the one to take a direct axe hit to her own resentment energy body.
She reappeared, Jiuyan—that she hadn’t managed to slay before, was as swift as before... a mere feint...
Another silhouette appeared in a flash, as Jiuyan unsheathed the sword at the moment white fog launched the feigned attack.
Neither of the two had accomplished anything with their alliance this time.
Jiuyan was even more debilitated than Lin Haigu, feeling the truth in white fog’s statement that he had always been like this, unable to handle the stronger opponent, such the hierarchy goes.
White fog had merely passed through Lin Haigu’s verbal body language, guessing his intentions, while Jiuyan had not spoken a word.
"I will find the chance to kill you, God Granny, with your feint attacks."
Jiuyan’s horizontal blade appeared before white fog, his complexion as usual. Light as a feather, he moved swiftly and continuously, never stopping from his high-speed onslaught, standing just slightly off the ground.
The resentment energy dispersed.
It was like a comet streaking through the night sky, a dazzling blade light, the two ultra-fast silhouettes unwavering in their decisiveness.
Though Jiuyan had the power of divine gifts and combat experience, he was ill-equipped to handle Jiuyan’s essence... yet this was also a proven fact.
White fog believed in Jiuyan’s overwhelming strength of resentment energy, but she knew that Jiuyan must have some method of dealing with it; she only needed to patiently wait.
Jiuyan made no movement, just as the resentment energy body did not.
This resentment energy body lacked Erleipu’s insight—it was ultimately an incarnation of evil by its terms and was unable to employ human strategies, but it possessed original strength and could even explain the mysteries behind the red-forged replica bell and the cave of evil within...
Although the terms constituted its arsenal, the resentment energy body wasn’t equipped for orderliness; it was just white fog’s own conscious reminder, letting out a sigh.
"Although you resemble me in every way, it doesn’t mean you have even a trace of value to your complexion. But do you know what your complexion is actually worth, considering that you have no sense at all, simply because it lacks a pair of wise eyes? It’s fortunate that you’re present, and even more challenging for him to face you, though you are not an incarnation of evil."
White fog had already observed this identical resentment energy body and realized doubts she had before.
This resentment energy body was indeed the original white fog.
There was still another resentment energy body beside God Granny.
White fog was very worried about another situation, watchfully keeping an eye on God Granny.
Each streak of white light wrapping around the world in the mirror realm was like a direct, lethal slash, every trace an unceasing, deflecting projectile. The two decisivenesses were like those boons of Jiuyan.
This made white fog think again of that sentence: "You can never truly trust Lin Haigu."
...if only Lin Haigu could somehow catch the even faster Divine Eye... But even white fog did not feel that Lin Haigu was that fast; it was an extreme equilibrium that had just opened.
They were too swift for simple eyesight, the energy stream between the two colliding and unchanging. In reality, they were moving at breakneck speed.
On occasion, one might catch a glimpse of fireworks in the empty sky, but white fog could only hear the clashing sounds of weapons; even flesh eyes had dried up to nothingness.
The aggression between Jiuyan and Jiuyan was quite resounding.
White fog still couldn’t comprehend what kind of meaning was held in those intensified eyes; could it be that Dugu had been strengthened?
Despite his diminished presence, Dugu’s actual power still seemed to be strong. Was Dugu equipped with order at all? It was an oddity to even suggest it, considering the transformed figures from resentment energy appeared quite peculiar to white fog.
(The silver alliance leader was not yet fully capable—progress was at 88.05%.)
