All one can say is that once a person's luck turns sour, there is simply no end to it.
And some people are the very embodiment of tragedy their entire lives.
Imagine this: You are Shehri. You spent your whole life climbing conscientiously, finally clawing your way to the position of Hierophant to the White King. Before you even had a chance to display your pride-worthy talents, *whoosh*—the White Nation was gone, and you were reduced to the ranks of Vile Folly, forced into hiding in the dark forever after.
You racked your brains and managed to become a lackey under the Saintly Fool. After toiling diligently for so many years, you finally scored a chance to shine and show your worth at the Sacrificial Temple of the Ancient Beginning—only for Lu Changsheng to inexplicably spawn right under your nose!
Having barely escaped with your life, filled with grief and indignation yet growing all the more valiant with every setback, you invited the Four Divisions and Six Sects to prove your competence, striving to pull off another grand feat for the Saintly Fool. And what happened? Before the grand feat even took shape, the Federation and the Empire inexplicably surrounded you and took turns kicking the daylights out of you...
Only yesterday, the world had been brimming with vitality and flourishing with boundless potential; today, Tacheng abruptly transformed, inexplicably becoming your very grave!
Ill-fated and star-crossed—it couldn't be described any better than this.
*No, why? On what grounds...?*
He didn't understand.
Sensing the surges of malice rising across the city, along with the bone-deep killing intent from the Empire and Federation that felt as though he had murdered both their parents, Shehri shuddered in cold sweat, feeling needles at his back, barely able to breathe.
A tangle of a thousand threads, an utter mess. The more he thought, the more wrong everything seemed; the more he tried to sort it out, the more cold sweat poured down. Above all, he couldn't comprehend—how was it that after striving for so long, all he had to show for it was a body drenched in sweat?
His vision flashed dark in waves, his mind reeling, his instincts screaming ceaseless warnings. This familiar feeling... the last time had been in the Sacrificial Temple of the Ancient Beginning!
Immediately, he shuddered, scared out of his wits: *Damn it, have I been targeted by that wretched Lu Changsheng again?*
*But that can't be right!*
*The Saintly Fool said that was merely an empty sham, nothing more than bait fabricated by that son of a bitch Tianlu for a fishing expedition...*
*Don't tell me that old dog is fishing again?*
The more he thought, the emptier his head became. He couldn't find an answer, let alone unravel cause and effect. Yet amidst waves of bone-chilling dread, his wavering, unsettled heart was forcibly calmed.
At this moment, blending among the checkpoints disguised as a police officer, he weathered sweep after sweep from the Aether Celestial-Human's downward gaze, giving away not the slightest flaw.
*Hold steady! Hold steady!*
*At a time like this, taking rash action is the last thing I should do!*
Even though this was already the outer edge of the city with the wilderness stretching into the distance, that seemingly free and safe wilderness was actually the true dead end.
If he were the Empire or Federation, the reconnaissance intensity out in the wilderness right now would be countless times greater than inside Tacheng.
Blending among the city's myriad people, the Wolf's disguise still offered a sliver of hope, but fleeing into the desolate wilderness would be like delivering himself right to their doorstep.
Thus, reining in his restless heart, he concealed his claws and fangs.
Even when Corpse Mountain and the others were blasted out into the open, he remained motionless, paying them no heed whatsoever. Getting involved wouldn't help anyway; showing himself now would only make them think he was using them as cannon fodder. In that case, why not actually do just that?
Regardless, in the future he would have plenty of ways to excuse himself and redirect the blame.
Only after both sides were locked in complete chaos did the policeman he possessed stumble violently during the violent tremors, slamming his head against the curb. Blood poured from the wound, and he instantly blacked out.
Amidst the commotion, a wisp of shadow had already slipped from beneath his feet into the sewer, slithering in hiding toward the opposite end of the city.
Traversing sewage and foul stench, he finally poked his head out.
At last, he let out a breath of relief.
He couldn't help but crack a smile.
—*In the end, my skills proved superior!*
When you fall into a desperate trap, the greatest joy in the world is selling out your teammates and making a run for it.
Unfortunately, at this moment, the most tragic thing in the world is selling out your teammates to flee, only to fail to fucking get away...
Just as a sudden chill erupted and he instinctively turned his head, his pupils were illuminated by an onslaught of blazing light. He instinctively tried to dodge, only to discover that the radiant glare clung to him like a shadow, inescapable.
Like looking up at the blazing sun: when that radiant orb is reflected in one's eyes, under the whole sky, where is there to hide?
—The Sun-Reflecting Arrow?!
Shehri's hair stood on end in an instant, and he almost screamed aloud.
Where the hell did this White Stag Hunter come from?!
Wait, what kind of bullshit world was this? Tianyuan and White Stag were actually teaming the fuck up? Having two great powers pamper him alone was one thing, but there was even a fucking hunter lying in ambush beside them?!
Streaking in rapid flight, no longer caring about concealment, he threw everything into evasion, yet it only bought him less than a split second. Immediately after, Shehri was pinned to the wall like a tattered rag doll, instantly extinguished of life, completely silenced.
Having shed a skin, shadows spread from the blood, shooting out anew as he fled.
High in the firmament, the Dragon Tongue Hunter looked down indifferently. The bowstring hummed as thunderclaps rumbled endlessly. Though there was no time to charge another Sun-Reflecting Arrow, the Star-Illuminating Arrows rained down like a ceaseless deluge of stars tumbling from the heavens.
In an instant, arrows of spiritus stood like a dense forest sprouting from the earth, blanketing the entire street. Amidst the continuous buzzing, hundreds of snakelike shadows abruptly spread and converged, barely dodging arrow after arrow of spiritus to avoid being marked by the Dragon Tongue Hunter's starlight.
Otherwise, the Moon-Brightening Arrow would surely have followed on its heels, dogging him relentlessly!
Yet just as he was about to break free, infinite pressure descended from the heavens. The Empire and Federation's Law of Tianyuan churned gravity, instantly multiplying it by tens of millions of times within the domain, humming violently.
Telekinetic force raged like countless giant hands pressing down all at once.
Shehri let out a roar. Before he could even curse, the shadow he had become abruptly expanded. Strips of bandages unfolded like the mouthparts of serpents and vermin, gushing forth a vast tide of grey mist.
The Rotting Scale poison surged outward.
Wherever it touched, matter hissed and sizzled, spiritus collapsed into chaos, and a virulent venom that rotted and annihilated both spirit and flesh surged like a tide, on the verge of erupting in full force.
Just like a massive bomb.
A threat of mutual destruction.
*If you're not afraid of turning most of Tacheng into a dead zone, then just try me!*
What answered him was blazing light bursting down from the sky.
Leaving those beings of Great Sin aside, the Empire's might bore down in full suppression, completely indifferent to Shehri's threat. Once locked on, they blasted him with an unrelenting barrage of heavenly light.
Beams of blazing light stacked atop one another like heaven-reaching pillars, swallowing Shehri whole.
They're fucking insane!
No, they've already gone completely mad...
Having been annihilated several times within the radiant beams, Shehri flickered abruptly, shedding a bandage as a surrogate to narrowly escape total obliteration, drenched in cold sweat.
What in the world was going on all of a sudden? Why were they acting as if he had slaughtered their entire families? Were they truly not afraid of dragging them all down with him?!
The answer was: they weren't.
Thunder suddenly cracked across the heavens. Amidst the giant eye, a stern, chilling face emerged from the dark clouds, roaring with thunderous fury: "Shehri, hand over what you stole!!!"
"What thing?!"
Under the encirclement of countless Star-Illuminating arrows, drenched in sweat, Shehri cried out in grief and outrage: "What did I steal from you?! Listen to me, there must be—"
High above, the face of Doledonville suddenly grinned.
Out of sheer fury.
Facing death, and he was still making excuses, was he?
Your appearance around the base was an accident, the theft of the fusion bomb was an accident, and digging up this many monsters and freaks in Tacheng was a fucking accident too!
How is it that every accident in this world just happens to fall on you?
Since your luck is that rotten, you might as well die already—what are you still doing alive?!
"Hopelessly incorrigible!"
Doledonville cast his gaze down. "Since you refuse to speak sense, you can take your time explaining in the Prison of the Earthly Warden!"
In his hand, an ebony scepter wrapped in layers of silk suddenly broke its seal.
The Empire's ace-in-the-hole Heavenly Work in the Mid-Continent, a treasure handed down from the Earthly Warden of old, a ritual implement steeped in and empowered by centuries of Imperial authority—the instant it revealed itself, the entirety of Tacheng seemed to transform into iron walls and bronze ramparts. Even the Rotting Scale poison found no purchase against the steadfast stability of Tianyuan.
Shut the door and beat the dog!
At this moment, when Shehri instinctively looked back in search of allies, he discovered... taking advantage of the Law of Tianyuan shifting its focus, the band consisting of Corpse Mountain, Shanji, and the others had bolted without the slightest hesitation, scattering in all directions like stars across the sky, fleeing without once looking back! Not a shred of hesitation!
The good news: after enduring trials and tribulations, he had finally succeeded in selling out his teammates.
The bad news: fuck, the one who had been sold out was him!!!
*These bastards! They snatch whatever benefits they can get and bolt the moment things turn sour—you can't rely on them for a damn thing!*
Shehri's face twisted with rage as he roared in fury.
*Boom!!!*
Boundless pressure crashed down with a roar. Shehri howled toward the sky. Amidst his shrill, agonizing shrieks, phantoms of three bizarre beast heads manifested behind him, violently erupting.
Unfortunately, it was utterly useless.
Crushed in an instant under layered shackles and seals, followed immediately by a Sun-Reflecting Arrow piercing straight into his face, he was left hovering on the brink of death, devoid of any strength to struggle.
Captured!
Was he really captured?
"Something's off."
Ji Jue frowned, his sunflower seed cracking halting for a second. No matter how he looked at it, this dog didn't seem like someone who would resign himself to fate and be taken without a fight.
Otherwise, forget the Sacrificial Temple of the Ancient Beginning, he probably would have died back when the White Nation collapsed. How could he have survived until now?
There was definitely a problem.
And he wasn't the only one who noticed.
As everyone watched, Shehri within the shackles rapidly withered, clinging to his last breath like a guttering candle in the wind. In just a short instant, he went limp and dropped dead.
His pupils turned hollow, devoid of any aura.
Spiritus dissipated.
By all appearances, he was truly dead. But if he died that easily, could he still be a Wolf?
The moment his breath ceased, that vessel forged of endless rotted venom swelled like a bomb and detonated, in turn forcing the Empire to pour all its power into suppressing and containing it, leaving them unable to pull away.
Immediately after, outside the barrier, shadows danced.
Like a pit of snakes surging forth, they shot out in all directions at blinding speed, unbelievably fast...
Right now, beneath everyone's very eyes, had he actually escaped?
Chapter 605