Chapter 228: The March of the Dark World!

"Are you okay?"

Tiancheng Guang did not look at the several panicked and terrified spirits, but rushed straight to the spirit lying on the ground, supporting him as he asked.

As an alchemist who frequently undertakes dimensional travel, Tiancheng Guang had accumulated vast experience in this area—from the earliest Bai Jing to later Du Yan Dou, and even during his recent efforts to root out Chi Ma Ling Wang—he had rescued countless spirits and had ample experience communicating with injured ones. Thus, he knew precisely what to do and what not to do at this moment.

"Run…" The spirit lying on the ground was Element Hero Sailor Hero; his mask was cracked, his flowing black hair scattered in fragments across the floor, and his hook-forks had split open—his condition was too horrific to look at.

Serena lowered her head, imitating Tiancheng Guang's posture to listen to its voice. Its voice was extremely faint, compounded by the faint, intermittent sobs of the surrounding spirit residents, making it hard for her to make out what it was saying.

Run?

Tiancheng Guang's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Run!" Seeing that the two had not reacted, Sailor Hero mustered all his strength and shouted loudly.

Yet—

As he shouted, a cold, mocking laugh echoed from the darkness.

"Another fish has taken the bait!"

Accompanied by that laugh, a silver-white flash darted through the darkness.

Shhh—

Ding!

Several silver-white blades pierced the air and embedded themselves into the wall. Serena sat frozen in a half-crouch, staring at a blade as thick as a finger just inches from her face, seeing that Tiancheng Guang had already risen to his feet, one hand gripping the blade mere centimeters from her.

Simultaneously, before them, a "net" woven from hundreds of purple threads intercepted nearly all the thrown daggers mid-air.

She collapsed onto her knees, trembling, and took a long time to recover.

"Hehehe, you're not an ordinary human warrior…" From the darkness, a short, round, gray-white demon—its head and body nearly fused as one—laughed with a wet, glistening slime oozing from its body.

Its right arm writhed autonomously, slowly forming a dueling disk shaped like a curved blade, and it grinned wickedly: "Then, since that's the case—"

Shhh—

Before it could finish speaking, the blades that had attacked Tiancheng Guang and Serena clattered to the ground, followed by hundreds of puppet threads piercing like needles into the body of this dueling monster spirit, stitching it into a honeycomb as it screamed in terror.

"Wait—wait—" The monster struggled to speak, "Use the warrior's rules—"

But before it could utter more, the puppet threads coiled around its entire body, twisted violently, and tore its form apart like paper—its words cut short as it dissolved into white light, scattering into the air.

"What trash creation dares ambush Tiancheng Guang and think it can duel him?" Ye La had no patience for its nonsense—he crushed it outright.

You launched a surprise attack without sufficient strength and still expect to perform the "Rite of Duel"? Isn't that asking for death?

The injured Sailor Hero, witnessing this, coughed and tried to rise. Tiancheng Guang immediately bent down and supported him.

"Don't move. You're still injured."

"Cough… cough… cough…"

Tiancheng Guang soothed Sailor Hero, then summoned Wan Rong to check his condition, and turned to look at Serena.

At this moment, she sat on the ground, panting. Though the blades had not pierced her body, the sensation of their proximity—mere millimeters from her—had extinguished the thrill she'd felt when exploring with her Master.

This wasn't a picnic!

Even with her Master beside her, she couldn't afford to let her guard down!

Seeing her expression, Tiancheng Guang knew she'd soon recover, so he said nothing.

Serena was a girl with her own understanding.

Unlike Tiancheng Guang and Judai, Serena had never experienced anything like this before. This was her first dimensional exploration, and with Tiancheng Guang—a senior—alongside her, her mindset had been unusually relaxed, almost like a simple outing.

But when Tiancheng Guang and Judai first entered a dimensional world, they'd been thrown into prison…

The dueling monster that launched the ambush was probably—Dark World's Assassin Assassin Kachi?

Hmm. If there's one assassin, there might be several—or even more—Dark World warriors in this dimension.

Fortunately, Serena had called him. If a first-year freshman had entered this dimension completely unaware, they'd likely have been severely injured—after all, Dark World assassins don't give warnings; they strike to kill outright.

"Mmm… cough… cough…" Sailor Hero gradually regained his strength.

In the past, faced with an injured spirit, Tiancheng Guang could only wait for it to awaken on its own.

But now, his team had "Gem Knight Liusu," a dedicated healing spirit. For spirits with non-fatal injuries, restoring consciousness was no longer difficult.

After Sailor Hero regained consciousness, Tiancheng Guang learned the current state of this dimension from him.

Not long ago—about two months ago by human reckoning—this dimension was suddenly invaded by demonic monsters that seemed to be searching for something.

Originally, the local heroes of Motianlou had held the upper hand against these demons; after all, this was their homeland, granting them terrain advantages. But one day, a terrifying white light swept across the entire dimension, causing the heroes' power to plummet. Even the greatest heroes felt utterly drained, gradually losing ground in the attacks.

Worse still, these mysterious invaders drastically changed their tactics. Beyond elite demons, the lower-tier demons abandoned the "Rite of Duel" and instead relied on ambushes and attacks on ordinary spirits, even capturing weak spirits to lure in "fish."

By the time the battle had lasted a month, to protect ordinary spirits, the heroes executed an emergency evacuation, relocating the vast majority of spirits into "Motianlou 2," isolating this area from Motianlou 2 to prevent further casualties.

He was the hero sent in to rescue spirits who hadn't escaped in time—but he never expected to fall into a trap, ambushed by Assassin Kachi, barely escaping death. Had Tiancheng Guang and Serena not arrived in time, not only would he have died, but those few other spirits likely would have too.

So that's how it is.

"Master, what should we do!?" Serena, after hearing Sailor Hero's account, realized this dimension was in dire straits and had learned of its many dangers. She was utterly lost, unsure what to do, and could only ask Tiancheng Guang for guidance.

Demons versus heroes, protecting civilians, justice versus evil—these were too vast for her inexperienced mind to process.

"Isn't it simple? Haven't you always known?"

"Huh? Is there…?"

"The highest-ranking demon here is that guy called Dark World's War God," Tiancheng Guang opened his dueling disk, snapped his fingers, and smiled at Serena. "The rest is easy: find him, duel him, defeat him, and make them leave—or die."

"Oh… oh oh oh!! Right!" Serena snapped back to awareness, suddenly understanding the situation.

But she only understood the current state.

The mysterious light. The invasion of the Dark World clan.

No doubt about it.

It's Yu Beier.

Chapter Two, Chapter Two

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(End of Chapter)