Chapter 992: Green Mountain's Chen Yan, I Request My Master to Go to Their Death!

The night curtain was like ink, pressing heavily upon the scarred and battered earth.

Where the wheels rolled over, fine dust was kicked up, and the headlights sliced through the thick darkness.

Inside a carriage, it was packed to the brim; they sat within, and from time to time, sounds of sobbing arose.

A military guard boarded the carriage, looked at the crowd, and spoke:

"The leader asked me to come and pass on a message: it is not too late for you to regret this now.

If you change your minds, there are vehicles to take you back."

The military guard looked at these young people who possessed no combat strength, their eyes filled with complexity.

This was a group of volunteers who had willingly gone to serve in logistics in Ji Province.

Yet everyone knew clearly.

The closer one got to that Abyss of Malice, the greater the danger of death.

Even for logistics personnel with no strength, even without approaching the Abyss of Malice, the probability of death was not small at all.

"Are you insulting me?"

A low voice sounded.

The one speaking was a youth of seventeen or eighteen, their eyes scarlet:

"Are you insulting me?"

The military guard was speechless for a moment, opening their mouth, but unable to make a sound.

"Since I have boarded this carriage, it means I no longer fear death!"

The youth's voice was extremely low:

"Even if you are a martial artist, do not insult my determination."

The military guard stopped speaking, waved a hand to take out a handful of candies, and distributed them to everyone in the carriage.

"The people transporting grain are still behind; eat some candy first to cushion your stomachs."

Everyone took the candies and saw the character 【Double Happiness】 printed on the candy wrappers, then one by one looked at the military guard.

A smile appeared in the military guard's eyes:

"What is it? Are people not allowed to get married these days?"

Their eyes were complex:

"I didn't want to get married originally, but my sister insisted that I bow in the wedding ceremony before setting off.

You tell me, what was the point? Anyway, I won't be coming ba..."

The military guard shook their head and smiled:

"I'm going to the other carriages to hand out wedding candies."

As they spoke, they stood up, hunched over, and prepared to leave.

Yet at the very next moment they turned their head, their gaze suddenly froze, and then they slowly turned their head back to look at a face beside them.

It was a woman, watching calmly, a smile gradually appearing at the corners of her mouth.

The military guard's expression, however, turned ugly in an instant.

"Get out of here!"

They roared suddenly, startling everyone else in the carriage.

The woman who had been scolded turned her head away:

"I won't."

"Why?!" The military guard growled:

"You want to go and die that much..."

They had wanted to roar the word 'die' out loud, but looked at everyone in the carriage and choked the word back down their throat.

They grabbed the woman's wrist, wanting to drag her off the carriage.

The woman, however, looked at them, not a hint of fear in her eyes, but instead a shallow, almost stubborn smile rippling within.

She unwrapped the candy and stuffed it into the military guard's mouth.

Her voice was soft and gentle, yet carried an undeniable firmness:

"In life, we share the same quilt; in death, we share the same grave.

This is what you said before."

The military guard's body went rigid, the sweetness of the candy gradually diffusing in their mouth, and the tears in their eyes could not stop flowing down.

They hugged the woman tightly.

The wheels rolled over the broken earth.

The wind slipped in through the gaps in the carriage windows, picking up the candy wrapper and flying it out the window.

No one saw it.

Two figures stood above the vehicle, watching this scene calmly.

Rustle.

The small candy wrapper flew in front of Bai E.

Bai E subconsciously caught the candy wrapper.

Under their gaze, it was merely a rotting leaf covered in filth.

Yet at this moment, Bai E did not throw away this small piece of rotting leaf.

"Senior, that young Ancient Divine Beast is enjoying the joy of being reunited with their loved one; this is perhaps the happiest moment of their life."

Li Zhiyi coaxed:

"Senior only needs to wave a hand lightly to erase that woman's life."

That young Ancient God Beast would then fall into true despair.

He would commit suicide amidst endless agony, scattering the aura of despair into the depths of others' hearts."

Li Zhiyi stretched out a hand and made a faint sweeping motion.

But Bai E did not move.

"Since the senior will not act, then I shall do it."

Li Zhiyi pointed a finger, and the particles in the air condensed at his fingertip into a tiny pitch-black sphere.

Bai E watched calmly, a ferocious look emerging from the depths of his scarlet, remnant eyes.

With a *snap*.

Li Zhiyi slapped his palm onto Bai E's shoulder again.

The next moment, Bai E's remnant eyes widened.

A crisp sensation was perceived by him; he looked at his hand, and it was clearly a candy wrapper printed with the character 【Double Happiness】.

On that earth, there were clearly rows of human military vehicles.

"Wait!"

Bai E spoke abruptly.

"Wait for what?" Li Zhiyi's voice was extremely cold.

With a *bang*.

The sphere condensed at his fingertip flew instantly toward that woman.

The next moment.

*Bang! *

A streak of light shattered the sphere that was meant to annihilate the woman.

"Senior, what are you doing!" Li Zhiyi's voice was extremely cold:

"Could it be that the senior wants to save these Ancient God Beasts? Could it be that the senior has forgotten your own one hundred thousand years of agony?"

"But I... heh heh... they are... they are human!"

Bai E roared fiercely, his voice sounding like a rag torn by a gale, his withered body trembling violently.

Beneath his disheveled hair, his scarlet eyes stared fixedly at that military vehicle.

In his pupils, the candy wrapper printed with the 【Double Happiness】 character reflected for a moment, then overlapped with pitch-black, rotting branches and leaves.

He stretched out his withered, claw-like hand, wanting to grab something, but his fingertips only scratched wildly in the air, and the blood-crust in his fingernails fell off in clumps.

"Wrong... wrong!"

He suddenly shook his head violently again, his head swaying as if it were about to be flung off his neck.

"They are Ancient God Beasts! They are those scumbags who imprisoned me for one hundred thousand years! They deserve to die! They deserve to be ground to dust!"

The next moment.

The rotting leaves in his hand turned back into a candy wrapper.

He was bewildered, looking at Li Zhiyi, his body stiff.

Immediately after.

He held the candy wrapper to his lips, stuck out his pitch-black, dry tongue, and licked it lightly.

Sweet.

Even if it was only a layer of negligible sugar powder left on the wrapper by the candy.

But...

Sweet.

Bai E opened his eyes wide, and tears fell drip by drip instantly.

"Wh... why..."

He let out a hoarse sound.

This was the taste he had long forgotten, the one he missed in his dreams.

So long ago, so far away, as if he once possessed it, but had long since lost it.

"Big brother, what are you taking me to do?"

"Big brother is taking you to find honey, it's so sweet."

"Yay."

"So sweet, so sweet, big brother eat some too."

"Mm, sweet, it's delicious, right?"

"Delicious, let's take it back for Dad and Mom to taste."

"In the future, big brother will gather even more honey for you."

The dialogue in the dream was like a blurred murmur at dawn.

Like a flower in the water, a moon in the mirror.

"Heh heh heh..."

Bai E opened his mouth wide:

"Heh heh... ah... woo..."

Accompanied by his blurred, unbearable groans, his tears flowed continuously.

*Sss sss sss... *

Scarlet saliva dripped down his cracked corners of the mouth, hitting the broken earth and corroding tiny black spots.

Bai E looked at his own pitch-black, withered hands, and looked at the malice lingering at his fingertips.

He covered his eyes tightly with both hands, emitting a sob suppressed to the extreme, his voice filled with extreme pain and confusion:

"What... what exactly am I...

Who should I kill..."

He looked at Li Zhiyi:

"I cannot see clearly, I cannot see clearly, what should I do..."

He raised his head and looked at the firmament:

"What should I do, what exactly should I do..., what else can I do...

What else can I do!!!"

That roar filled with suppression and rage resounded.

Bai E roared continuously like a crazed, mad lion.

"Senior could also commit suicide."

A slightly cold voice rang out.

Bai E looked at Li Zhiyi, stunned for a moment.

A smile appeared on the corners of Li Zhiyi's mouth:

"I have brought Senior to experience the joys and sorrows of the human world.

I have also told Senior that the amount of pain depends on the range of emotional change."

Li Zhiyi spoke calmly:

"When that woman held her last hope, only to discover that her children were all dead, at that moment her last hope was shattered, and she was grief-stricken.

But that man was originally going to die with his children, yet at the final moment, he found hope to live on; at that moment, he was joyful.

When the people of the world went to suppress the Ancient God and parted with their loved ones, they abandoned their last attachments to the human world; they were sorrowful yet heroic.

When that military guard was at the point of death, yet reunited with his wife, he found a final, faint joy amidst his sorrow."

Li Zhiyi looked at Bai E:

"Senior is surely in boundless pain and confusion now; if it is this moment, Senior can depart in peace.

Senior might find the final peace that belongs to you."

Bai E was bewildered, looking at Li Zhiyi in disbelief:

"You... you are an Ancient God Beast, you want to persuade me to die!"

Li Zhiyi shook his head:

"If I were an Ancient God Beast, then what is Senior?"

Bai E was stunned:

"I do not know, I... am in so much pain, I cannot see clearly..., I am struggling so much..."

"Then leave it to me!"

Li Zhiyi said in a low voice, golden-red flames appearing in his pupils:

"What Senior cannot see clearly, I will see clearly for Senior!

The pain Senior cannot bear, I will bear for Senior!

The struggles Senior must encounter, I will encounter for Senior!"

Bai E looked at Li Zhiyi:

"You..."

Li Zhiyi laughed out loud:

"I am not afraid; I am already strong enough, and I am willing to carry the entire human race on my own shoulders for Senior!"

Bai E was dazed, lost in thought for a moment.

"I am Senior yourself!"

Li Zhiyi looked at Bai E:

"Years ago, the seed of the Saint-Breaking Tree was handed to me by Senior.

Rather than saying it was handed to me, it is better to say Senior handed it to your past self.

Senior, you are my teacher, Chen Yan, and the first guide on my long martial path!"

Li Zhiyi bowed, performing a salute to Bai E.

The next moment.

Behind Li Zhiyi, the phantom of the Saint-Breaking Tree appeared.

Ripples suddenly arose in the void, and the phantom of the divine tree rose from the ground to touch the sky.

Its gnarled branches coiled like a galaxy, its emerald leaves condensed light like glaze, and its majestic vitality poured out, suppressing the world into absolute silence.

Bai E's remaining eyes widened:

"It is you...!"

"It is me!"

Li Zhiyi's voice was low and trembling as he said:

"Chen Yan, pays respects to my teacher!"

"Heh heh..."

Bai E's throat choked up, watching Li Zhiyi at this moment, tears streaming down continuously.

So that was it.

So it was you.

"You... have finally come."

"I have come."

Li Zhiyi raised his eyes to look at Bai E, his pupils trembling, his shoulders slumping even lower.

Anyone in the world could loathe Bai E, anyone could hate Bai E.

Only he, Chen Yan, could not.

Li Zhiyi's expression was solemn, as if harboring a steadfastness forged by ten thousand storms.

"Chen Yan of Green Mountain, I invite my master to meet his death!"

PS: Happy New Year.