Chapter 508: Azure Sky Hope, Withered Bird Drops Feathers

Black feathers bloomed, opening like a wheel of flowers.

The Divine Fire small sword closest to it was the first to be submerged and shattered, vanishing on the spot.

However, this did not mean Du En's attempt had failed, for the Divine Fire small sword was merely a feint to lure the enemy from the start.

In other words, although the old warrior's reaction was extremely fast, making a full-coverage strike in an instant to attempt to suppress something, it was already a bit too late to be of any use now.

A slender chain blade suddenly burst out from the ground!

Underground—this was an area the old warrior could not prevent, or rather, could not fully control.

When it comes down to it, something like a Domain still requires a great cultivator, a genius-level great cultivator capable of restraining great might and performing delicate, precise control, to be barely able to handle it.

The old warrior had no cultivation in his lifetime; although he now possessed strength comparable to a corner of the Nascent Soul stage and had created such a prototype of a Domain, he ultimately lacked that level of cultivation.

Du En would not compete with him in combat experience or close-quarters fighting; even if he could win in the end, it would consume too much, so the moment he laid eyes on him and saw the martial arts arena, the idea of slipping through the cracks in the Domain prototype had already sprung to mind.

At this very moment, the old warrior was in the brief, rigid pause after using his ultimate move, so the chain blade successfully and instantly wrapped around and bound him.

Circle after circle, it formed a shell, and with sand flying from above and earth armor rising from below, the intent was not actually a direct strike, but to pack it in and use it as gunpowder.

Divine Fire followed behind like a lit fuse.

The old warrior's movements stiffened, about to forcibly erupt to break free...

Boom! It was too late; in the blink of an eye, before that wheel of black feathers had truly bloomed, it had already blossomed from the center first.

The feather barrage was blown into disarray; Wu Rui just lunged and rolled, successfully avoiding the chaotic feathers.

Just as she was about to do something, she was suddenly stunned.

Because a prompt came from the other end of the contract.

It's not over yet, hurry and change.

Change into what.

Her mind whirled; she had already released the slingshot and subconsciously changed into a mottled, heavy, rust-covered chain blade.

"Ha!"

As if aided by divine power, she grabbed the rusted chain blade and leaped up, swinging it in the air like a massive, spiked wheel spinning crazily, slamming fiercely into where the old warrior was.

Whoosh! The fire in the braziers of the martial arts arena suddenly dimmed, some even extinguishing instantly, and then two red lanterns lit up from the aftermath of the explosion; a hulking figure charged out, armor shattered, body in tatters, but before the corruption, such wounds were already a daily occurrence, and there was no way they could knock him to the ground! His long spear had also snapped, yet it remained connected by a thread; at this moment, he swung it out like a multi-section staff, following his well-honed technique, and from the side, it bypassed and struck the center of the chain blade wheel—that colorful mass.

Enduring the heavy blow, the strange feathers bloomed! Although Wu Rui wanted to use this to tank the hit and continue spinning forward, she could not withstand the impact and the wheel was knocked off course, grazing past and crashing into those peripheral braziers; it was like charging into a phantom—though she could cause it to ripple, she could neither destroy it nor escape.

"Just keep spinning, it's best to fire cold shots from time to time."

Wu Rui listened to the words and nodded secretly, then was stunned.

Where exactly did you run off to? The answer, of course, was tunneling through the ground.

The old warrior was instinctively divided at this moment; on one hand, there was Wu Rui, a soft persimmon, intervening from time to time, drawing his instincts to target her, and his abundant experience could always precisely lock onto the flaws in her attacks, easily neutralizing them and attempting to kill her.

But on the other hand, the serious threat, Du En, was acting sneakily; aside from the beginning, he hadn't fought him head-on at all, and was actually targeting him in a highly efficient, low-consumption manner.

Just like now, he had just neutralized an attack, and before he could do anything else, his foot was slashed by a hidden sword, nearly severed completely; fortunately, his reaction was extremely fast and his durability was solid, so he realized it and forcibly exerted strength to stop it, just about to take the opportunity to catch this side.

As a result, several earth bombs shot out from the surrounding ground, slamming into the most tattered parts of his body.

And the Three-Truth Divine Fire, truly unworthy of its majestic name, popped out sneakily at this time, like ghost fire or will-o'-the-wisps, fiercely biting onto his body.

While he subconsciously reacted to this side, dispersing his strength, Du En took the opportunity to easily withdraw his sword and prepare for the next round of sneak attacks.

"Ah!!!"

The old warrior let out a wild roar, his gray-white beard trembling; he seemed to be angered.

Under the eruption of resentment and demonic energy, the broken long spear recovered, his left hand reached out, and another long spear condensed; his whole body also sprouted layers of black feathers, like new armor.

It extinguished the Divine Fire, pitch-black and eerie, as if a pair of black feather wings were flapping violently, causing him to soar into the air; the two spears turned downward, falling like a mountain-sized long spear, clearly intending to strike the entire underground area to force out the Du En hiding within.

"Watch for the timing and smash the charged chain blade out."

Du En's voice rang out, faint and distant; Wu Rui couldn't lock onto his position for a moment.

She hadn't even had time to nod secretly before the old warrior had already pierced the ground with his demonic spear, shattering the martial arts arena and causing the whole thing to become unstable.

Du En was indeed forced out, but along with him came an even bigger bomb.

The earlier slipping through the cracks wasn't just for sneak attacks; he had long since left the Three-Truth Divine Fire inside, releasing all the Divine Fire accumulated by the Azure Sky Burning Sword, filling the gaps until they were bulging.

The Divine Fire hound from just now was only a wisp that leaked out, and the reason the old warrior reacted so strongly was that he had sensed a great crisis underground through this, hence why he used his full strength.

And then, he personally detonated this Divine Fire ammunition depot.

Rumble...

Immediately, the martial arts arena, this prototype of a Domain, was struck as if by a meteor crashing into the earth; it was like a fierce typhoon passing through, and in the blink of an eye, it drifted and shattered incessantly.

Wu Rui had no room to think, and being affected by the impact, she subconsciously swung the charged rusted chain blade, slamming it heavily into a spot on the edge.

It smashed the brazier and destroyed a corner of the exposed foundation; immediately, the already swaying and crumbling martial arts arena collapsed, unavoidable.

Yet even so, the old warrior still had the strength to resist.

So Du En raised his hand and cast Wood Spirit Entanglement.

He bound him tightly, and ignoring the shockwaves caused by the shattering of the Domain prototype, he calmly drove straight in amidst the flickering figures, wielding his dimmed sword, and against the biting friction of the impact, he completely dismantled the old warrior's mobility amidst his intense struggle.

When everything calmed down, Wu Rui poked her head out from a pile of ruins, shaking off the various debris on her body; the colorful strange feathers on her were withered away, and the invisible protection was also dim and lusterless, looking as if it were about to collapse in the overcast rain.

Ignoring this, she hurriedly looked up and saw that hulking body limp and collapsed; Du En was inserting his sword into his spine, or rather, it had widened to sever the entire neck, and he was holding that aged head.

"Hurry over and purify; this old guy can still move."

Du En's choice of words was somewhat impolite, but despite his youthful appearance, he was actually a "grandpa" over sixty years old, perhaps even older than the old warrior before him.

Wu Rui didn't think at all and hurried over to take over.

After all, this old warrior was indeed tough and resilient; if he were allowed to recover, the situation would be very bad.

The purification reserve she had been keeping was meant for this very moment! The young girl did not delay or hesitate; stepping through the puddles, accompanied by fragmented light, she quickly arrived before him.

Her raised hand lit up with the radiance of the Azure Sky, bringing a different color to the perpetually gloomy world.

Looking at this familiar hope, the old warrior's eyes widened slightly.

Rain, is falling.

The battle, is continuing. That was decades ago.

The old border Great Wall was breached; amidst the overcast and rainy weather, massive Grudge Demons, terrifying like monsters and evil ghosts, broke through the defensive line that predecessors had painstakingly set up using their remaining magical power.

Everything is over!

The young warrior thought this.

Because the current Qing Kingdom simply had no strength left to forge another Great Wall, because the power of the ancestors had already been mostly lost, and even the foundation and array bases irrigated by their remains had been torn away...

In the warrior's eyes, a scene even more despairing appeared.

Those remains of the ancestors, infected by the grudge and demonic energy, had actually undergone a fall, coming back to life—or rather, they had never truly died.

"Why?!"

He, they, roared toward the heavens, or perhaps it was a mournful plea: "Why abandon us?! True Monarch, Council, why must you abandon us?!"

They wailed and sobbed, issuing their questions and reproaches toward the sky that had long since lost its sunlight.

Then they lowered their heads, their eyes revealing deep resentment—toward the upper echelons, toward the living, and toward themselves.

The original human forms rapidly fell apart; appearing in their place was a shapeless puddle of sludge, a sludge flowing with malice and resentment, which, dragging along other encroaching massive Grudge Demons, surged toward the warrior like a tidal wave.

There was, no way out! Clang.

The blade in his hand fell, and his battered body knelt down powerlessly; facing the incoming frenzy, the warrior was already in despair, only silently waiting for death, or rather, to turn into the same kind of Grudge Demon...

He smiled bitterly; thinking of this, he desperately wanted to stand up again, but his once-collapsed spine could no longer straighten; he, was already powerless; he, had already chosen to give up...

Just at such a juncture, the world, which had always been a haze of overcast rain in his eyes, suddenly appeared with a different brilliance; it was, the azure sky.

It spread suddenly from the rear, sweeping directly toward the battlefield, causing countless Grudge Demons to stop their steps and look up to emit strange, long, roaring cries.

"Blue sky!"

"Azure void!"

"Heavens above!!!"

The ancestors' Grudge Demons that had just fallen wept blood from their eyes, gushing incessantly.

The grudge and demonic energy seemed to flow away as a result, and their bodies gradually turned into stone statues.

"Sorry, truly sorry..."

"It was us who brought you into this world..."

"Had we known it would come to this, we should not have, should not have..."

They murmured in whispers, passing away before they could finish.

However, those massive Grudge Demons, which were like monsters and evil ghosts, aside from their size evaporating somewhat, were not purified; moreover, as the blood and tears flowed, they quietly faded and disappeared, merely choosing to retreat for the time being.

This border interception battle came to an end in this form.

The young warrior widened his eyes, full of astonishment.

"How, could it be?"

"That is, what?"

Compared to the retreat of the Grudge Demons and the last words of the ancestors, what he cared about more was the color he had never seen in his life—that bright light of hope, different from the darkness of despair.

"That is the color of the sky, its color when normal."

Behind him came a young, faint voice, containing a hint of timidity.

The warrior moved slightly, turning his head with difficulty, and then saw a small figure that looked as if it were buried in its clothes—clearly a child who had not yet grown up.

On its face hung a mask, engraved with a large tree.

And in the distance behind her, there was also a large tree, connecting heaven and earth, propping up the azure void, bringing brilliance to the sun, and making the Qing Kingdom and its surrounding territories have a normal scene.

A miracle!

Finally, a miracle had appeared! Everyone who witnessed this scene became fanatical.

The Divine Tree Sect was born in response, and surrounding that young Shaman Priestess, it rapidly occupied the ecological niche of all sects, becoming the most pivotal group.

The young warrior straightened his spine again, participating in the construction of the new border Great Wall, and fought in battles here, confronting the Grudge Demons that still kept attacking.

Shaman Priestess Qinglan.

Her name.

Growing up a bit slowly, or perhaps having a longer lifespan?

In any case, the young warrior gradually turned into an old warrior, while the other party looked as if she had only grown to about twenty years old; of course, the old warrior didn't actually know the specifics, because she wore a mask from beginning to end, though the patterns on it became fewer and fewer, and the last time he saw her at the border, only a shallow vertical mark remained.

The old warrior was very grateful to her for bringing him hope and giving him the will to fight again, so he was always the first to charge in every battle, so as not to live up to all of this.

However, even though he was considered inferior by the guardian warriors, by the time he was in his fifties, due to his chronic illnesses and old injuries, he had to choose to leave the front line where he had fought his whole life.

Glory, like a feather, began to shed from that day on.

Even though he was treated with respect and came to a similarly important post-village to retire, while also looking after this place and still being able to exert his remaining heat, things slowly changed.

Just like the overcast rain, falling from time to time, making one feel irritable.

It was raining that day too, drizzling incessantly.

Because his old wounds were acting up, the old warrior was lying alone in his room, suffering.

Even so, his hearing and sight remained sharp; even if a Grudge Demon jumped out, he could still hold his spear and meet it, and thus, he heard the conversation of the villagers outside, mixed into the rain.

"I say, do you all feel the same way? That old warrior is so strong it's simply unbelievable; not to mention his physical strength completely exceeds ours, he can even easily kill a tiger, and his roar can collapse the hanging rocks on the mountaintop!"

"What of it? The guardian warriors of the Sect Hall aren't all exceptionally strong too!"

"It's different, it's different; he's just an ordinary warrior! He hasn't been baptized, hasn't received trials, and only honed himself through fighting at the border; how could he possibly be that strong?"

"…What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Don't beat around the bush with me; aren't you also suspicious and whispering about it?"

"…Is he a Grudge Demon?"

(End of chapter)