It had been a long time since Wei Yuan had fought such a grueling battle.
Greatsword after greatsword was forged, only to be shattered the next instant. Wei Yuan grabbed whatever materials were at hand, forging blades of uneven quality, which forced him to adapt his sword techniques to the caliber of each weapon.
The gentlest of his techniques was End of Mortal Generations—annihilating and silent, it bought him a fleeting moment to catch his breath.
The surrounding monsters seemed endless. Anticipating that Wei Yuan intended to flee toward the light portal, they formed dense blockades across that path. Unlike the beasts in other directions, they appeared deliberately bent on driving him farther away from the gate.
Even with his combat arts pushed to their absolute limits, wounds inevitably accumulated across his body. Suddenly, a tiny dark silhouette barely three feet tall materialized behind Wei Yuan like lightning, striking a vicious blow directly against his back!
The power of this strike was immense, several times greater than any attack by the other monsters. The soul-illuminating candle flame within Wei Yuan flickered violently, then sputtered out!
Wei Yuan let out a muffled grunt and plunged his greatsword into the ground. A shockwave rippled outward in all directions, momentarily freezing every monster in its tracks.
Yet the tiny shadow was astonishingly fast, staying a hair ahead of the shockwave to dart beyond its range and vanish once more into hiding.
This little creature was the true chieftain of the surrounding horde, far stronger than the ordinary monsters. A single strike had wounded Wei Yuan; two or three more would leave him crippled.
Seeing the monsters sealing off every route and firmly refusing to let him return, while his soul-protecting candle flame was already extinguished, Wei Yuan wondered: was he truly going to die here today?
For some reason, at the thought of imminent death, he felt neither terror nor panicked haste, nor even stoic composure. Instead, he felt anger—an anger suffused with extreme, piercing cold, bordering on outright fury.
An indescribable, cruel ferocity welled up from the depths of his heart, carrying with it a chill capable of reducing ten thousand ages to desolation. Wei Yuan had experienced this feeling once before in his childhood, when he was only three years old, facing a starving refugee who had tried to murder him.
Gripping the greatsword level in both hands, Wei Yuan shoved it slowly forward as though pushing against a mountain. With immense difficulty, the blade advanced merely three inches—and every monster shifted three inches sideways in unison.
The tiny shadow had begun to emerge, but vanished the instant it caught sight of the sword stance.
Wei Yuan suddenly roared, exhaling a blast of ferocious, freezing qi onto the blade. The greatsword shattered on the spot. All the monsters recoiled as if struck simultaneously by a heavy blow, their auras abruptly plummeting.
Wei Yuan wheeled around and set off, choosing to plunge deeper into this realm.
The tiny shadow surfaced again, shrieking shrilly. Before the monsters had even recovered from the blow, they staggered forward in pursuit of Wei Yuan.
And so the chase unfolded across this bizarre world. In the blink of an eye, an hour passed. The fury within Wei Yuan's heart burned ever hotter, yet the more enraged he became, the colder he grew; the pervasive chill of universal desolation nearly froze his own body solid.
The horde behind gave relentless chase. The tiny shadow was faster than Wei Yuan, but it refused to approach him alone, thwarting his intention of slaying it with a single strike.
Wei Yuan remained patient, but the monsters were even more persistent.
Both sides circled across the boundless expanse. Whenever Wei Yuan attempted to approach the light portal, countless monsters barred his way. Seeing not the slightest flaw in their blockade, Wei Yuan could only fall back and continue leading them around in circles.
No matter how Wei Yuan tried to bait them, the monsters remained unmoved, refusing to concede any opening toward the light portal.
Once again, Wei Yuan was driven back. A large contingent of monsters pursued him closely, while another pack moved laterally in tandem with his position, dedicated to cutting off his retreat to the gate.
Right as the two groups of monsters crossed paths, bright silver lightning flared across Wei Yuan's body, and he whipped around to strike!
This time, Wei Yuan unleashed his full might without reservation. He slammed straight into the swarm, and the silver-white greatsword in his hands instantly exploded, sending myriad shards flying in every direction and riddling the surrounding beasts with holes.
Like a meteor ablaze with lightning, Wei Yuan knocked countless monsters aside in an instant. Though fresh wounds opened all over his body, he never wavered from his course, charging straight toward the light portal and on the verge of punching clean through the dense horde.
The tiny shadow appeared once more, blocking Wei Yuan's path. One of its hands suddenly elongated, stabbing straight toward his heart.
Wei Yuan neither dodged nor parried. Reaching out with a broad hand, he seized its neck. Both struck home almost simultaneously. Completely ignoring the claws plunged into his chest, Wei Yuan clamped down with crushing force!
At that very moment, a beam of light dropped from the heavens, illuminating the tiny shadow that had hounded Wei Yuan all along. And time itself slowed to a crawl.
This tiny shadow was none other than the child Wei Yuan had seen scavenging through the rubbish pile the very first time he entered this realm.
Back then, the boy had been tending to his mother and being hunted by monsters. How had he now turned into a monster himself, and their chieftain to boot?
Wei Yuan's thoughts dragged sluggishly, but the cruel, freezing aura rising from the depths of his consciousness remained completely unaffected, driving his mind to perceive the frozen world at normal speed.
Wei Yuan knew this child was the crux of the situation. Without hesitation, he poured more force into his hand, channeling the icy chill into his grip. Under such force, whatever the child truly was, it would surely perish.
Wei Yuan very well might die as well, but if escape proved impossible, taking the enemy leader down with him was hardly a bad bargain.
Death was just death—nothing to fret over.
He had been too young the last time he felt anything like this, but now Wei Yuan realized he genuinely did not care about dying.
This was neither feigned composure nor the recklessness of a desperate outlaw; it was sheer detachment, as though he had already died countless times before.
Catching sight of Wei Yuan's expressionless, bottomless eyes, the small child let out a hysterical shriek and yanked back its hand. Thrusting itself backward with all its might, it managed to tear free of Wei Yuan's grip—at the cost of shedding a large swath of flesh, leaving only bare cervical vertebrae at its neck.
The moment it broke loose, it fled into the sea of monsters.
In Wei Yuan's eyes, its escape looked like slow motion. Yet Wei Yuan's body could not keep pace with his mind; his own movements were even slower than the creature's. He could only grab whatever monsters were within reach, seizing them one by one and tearing them in half.
The child had intended to hide and launch another ambush, but terrified by the sight of Wei Yuan tearing apart the surrounding beasts, it vanished completely.
Deprived of their commander, the monsters reverted to attacking on pure instinct. The frozen passage of time resumed its natural flow. Wei Yuan bounded forward at top speed, hacking his way through the swarm until he finally reached the light portal. The instant he tumbled through to the other side, he collapsed headlong and lost consciousness.
***
Meanwhile, in a corner of a hidden realm, Shengxin and Huixin huddled together inside a cramped cave, sharing each other's body heat to ward off the unimaginable cold around them.
Shengxin sighed. "Why don't we try procreating after all? I swear, I'm really not the kind of Wu who cares about looks..."
"Shut your mouth! Run out of things to say, have you?" Huixin snapped. She glared at him and added, "Do you really want to? Fine then, let's do it!"
Looking thoroughly embarrassed, Shengxin said, "On second thought... forget it. I really can't bring myself to stomach it."
"Neither can I," Huixin replied bluntly, continuing to strip off her outer layer anyway. "Still, I can bear it—as long as you don't make me move."
Shengxin hurriedly caught her hands. "Don't! I can't bear it!"
"Then why did you bring it up in the first place! Think it's funny?"
Shengxin said, "I don't know why either. I just really wanted to find an excuse to swear an oath. Felt like the perfect moment for one."
Huixin glared at him. "Next time you say that, you'd better follow through. Once we have a child, I'll let you off the hook."
Shengxin let out a wail of despair. "Our child... Heavens above, how hideous would it be?! Aaargh!"
"Be serious. When can we make our escape?"
Shengxin said, "I could have gotten away long ago on my own. The trouble is that you're a liability. A stray puff of breath from that immortal beast outside would blast you to death, which makes things tricky. On top of that, its reflexes are lightning-fast. For now, we have to wait. We'll only have a shot at surviving when its vigilance lapses a little.
"When the moment comes, we make a sudden dash. I'll attack and see if I can provoke it. Don't worry about me—one blast won't kill me. Just focus on escaping yourself. Remember, whatever you do, do not look back while fleeing. The instant your gaze meets its eyes, it can obliterate your origin soul on the spot.
"Once you're out, go wait for me at that place in the Wu domain. After we regroup, we'll go together to meet that rising child of karmic destiny."
Huixin looked at Shengxin. "You're... actually pretty decent to me. But what's in it for us, risking life and limb to go see that guy?"
Shengxin said solemnly, "The benefits are endless! When a child of karmic destiny rises, miraculous encounters will follow him at every turn. We can stick close and reap the rewards. We take the lion's share of the fortunes and leave him whatever crumbs remain.
"And to say nothing of the long run, consider the immediate advantage: before long, Shu Li will probably stop at nothing to lay curses upon us. But if we stay by the side of a child of karmic destiny, his curses are bound to backfire!"
Chapter 615