Chapter 74: The Opening of Every New Era Is Always Accompanied by Death

Within the range enveloped by sword intent, time seemed to freeze at that moment; the pupils of all mutated creatures shrank sharply, their grotesque faces frozen in their final instant of terror.

The next second, hundreds upon thousands of beast bodies stiffened simultaneously, then collapsed with a thunderous crash.

The entire street suddenly sank into an eerie silence.

The survivors, barely alive, stood frozen in place, fear still etched on their faces.

They looked around in confusion, watching as the once ferocious mutated creatures had now become cold corpses, each bearing a single sword wound piercing cleanly through front to back, its edges glowing with golden light.

“A psychic? Or a wielder of some celestial artifact?”

The answer surfaced in their minds, but there was no time left for them to marvel.

Since they had survived, there was only one thing left for them to do.

Find a safe place and hide! But where was the safest place now?

The Tian Shu Bureau!

There was no place safer than the Tian Shu Bureau!

Ye Xuan silently watched the survivors rise from the ground and then sprint without hesitation in the same direction.

Those around them, who had been confused, saw their movement and seemed to realize something; they quickly followed. But some hesitated briefly before running off in other directions.

He did not know where they were headed.

Perhaps to the Tian Shu Bureau, perhaps home, perhaps to wherever they believed was safe—but none of it concerned him.

He turned away calmly, took a single step, and his figure appeared at a corner dozens of meters away.

Although the Qi tide had arrived and triggered mass mutations, it had only just begun; the actual power increase among psychics and mutated creatures remained modest.

Aside from a tiny few that had mutated before the Qi tide, most newly mutated creatures were currently at Stage One, with very few reaching Stage Two.

The reason they could harm or even kill humans was largely due to their overwhelming numbers.

The rats in the sewers, however, had emerged en masse after large-scale mutation, forming rat swarms that began hunting every living thing within sight—even predators at the top of the food chain.

It was unexpected.

Had the arrival of the Qi tide caused resistance to the new rat poison developed by Great Xia?

With such vast numbers, destructive weapons could not be used.

The Tian Shu Bureau would need to expend considerable time to eliminate them.

But that was all.

Under an absolute power gap, no amount of numbers mattered.

As for the humans who died under the Qi tide,

Every new era’s dawn is accompanied by death; if you wish to survive, strive with all your might to become strong.

The Tian Shu Bureau can protect them once, twice, three times—even ten, a hundred, a thousand times—but it cannot protect them every single time.

There will come a moment when they must face danger themselves.

At that time, how will they cope, having grown accustomed to being saved?

Ye Xuan would not stand idly by at what unfolded before him, but he had no interest in becoming a savior.

If he truly wished to prevent all sacrifices, he could have manifested the Emperor Armor using the Rat Talisman the moment the Qi tide began, and slaughtered every rioting mutated creature in Hangcheng.

Why didn’t he do it? Because he had no interest.

He could save Hangcheng this time—even beyond Hangcheng—but what about next time? The time after that?

If you save them this time but fail next time, won’t they blame you for the deaths in the disaster?

And then unleash endless condemnation upon you?

Everyone carries an answer to this question in their heart; in Ye Xuan’s, the answer was yes.

So he would act out of inner impulse—but never assume responsibility because of others’ expectations.

Heroes and sages? Let others be them.

The Capital.

Beneath the night sky, a towering figure relentlessly hunted the mutated creatures around him.

Gu Che gripped a rough, spiked club in one hand, its surface caked with blood and flesh fragments, strands of fur caught between the iron spikes; his expression was cold, his eyes gleaming with bloodlust, his thick arms knotted with muscle, veins bulging.

“Come on, you beasts!”

Three mutated dogs lunged from the shadows, drool dripping from their fangs; Gu Che didn’t even bother to dodge—he swung the club in a horizontal arc.

“Boom!”

The front dog’s head exploded outright, bone shards and brain matter splattering the ground; the second was struck across the waist, spine snapping, howling as it flew over ten meters; the third hadn’t even reached him before a kick to the chest shattered its ribs and drove it into the wall, leaving a deep indentation.

“Is this all you’ve got to attack humans?”

“I don’t know what kind of confidence you beasts have.”

Gu Che sneered, slinging the club over his shoulder.

He was an absolute human supremacist, feeling no pity for these creatures that harmed humans; if anything, upon hearing reports of mutated beasts killing people during the Qi tide, his first thought was to kill every last one of them!

Unfortunately, his current strength was still weak—he was merely a user of the Azure Dragon Fruit, not a wielder of the Beasts Kaido template; otherwise, he could have simply activated Haoshoku Haki to clear the area.

But this was fine too.

Personally crushing these beasts that attacked humans was a satisfying experience.

That’s what Gu Che thought.

“Plop.”

The sound of a sewer cover being pushed open echoed through the air as a dark tide of rats surged forth; Gu Che’s eyes turned icy, and his left hand clenched tightly.

“Boom!”

A furious gale erupted from his palm, forming a wind wave that swept through the rat swarm, piercing through their bodies.

But the rats were too numerous; as soon as the wind wave faded, more surged forward; Gu Che cursed, planting his club into the ground with his right hand.

“Boom!”

Deep blue lightning surged down the metal shaft into the earth, spreading like a web of electricity, electrocuting every rat within sight into convulsions and smoke.

“Damn, so many.”

Gu Che took a deep breath; his strength was still too weak—he was already tired after just a short while of killing.

As a native of Blue Planet, his physicality was still far inferior to that of a Pirate World inhabitant, let alone a monster like Kaido.

Fortunately, the Blue Planet’s Qi enhances life at a fundamental level; while he is currently weaker, he will one day surpass Beasts Kaido.

More mutated creature roars came from afar; Gu Che cracked his neck, picked up his club, and strode purposefully toward the sound.

“Let’s go! Tonight, I’m going to slaughter until I’m satisfied!”

“Do you even know the value of being ranked #2 on Great Xia’s Superhuman List?”

Special thanks to the patron “Nuan Yang 1314” for the Silver Alliance—this writer is a total flop, never imagined receiving such a generous reward; no words needed, I must add extra chapters—at least ten.

But I’m a slow writer, and I still have a day job; I can only write three chapters per day and am still saving drafts, so I may not fulfill this until after serialization begins, and even then, it will take several days.

I’ll strive to make up all chapters within one month after serialization starts—thank you for your support, patron.

Readers, if you have any celestial artifacts you’d like to see, feel free to suggest them—even obscure ones; but powerhouses like Dragon Ball will have to wait until later.

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(End of Chapter)