Chapter 61: Ancient Vault of the Military Path

【Audience Expectation Value +3】

"You... you dare play me?!!"

Yan Xicai's back was already drenched in cold sweat. He recovered his senses, feeling like he was about to explode from anger!

He thought he had taken a lap around the edge of death, only to discover that this was just a joke Chen Ling had played on him... In that split second, his life and death had been toyed with by Chen Ling.

"You actually dare to play me! How dare you..." Yan Xicai staggered as he climbed up, his eyes bloodshot, and he roared in rage:

"Fucking kill them for me!!"

Swish——

The next moment, the multitude of Law Enforcers surrounding Yan Xicai drew their guns simultaneously, over a dozen muzzles surrounding Chen Ling and Number 8 in the center.

"A bunch of rural country dogs!! You fucking dare play me?" Yan Xicai snatched the gun from a Law Enforcer beside him and fiercely pressed the muzzle against Chen Ling's forehead. "What are you using to fight me? With one word from me, half the ship's people will come kill you!"

He fiercely turned the muzzle, aiming at Number 8 to the side. "That's right, I just reincarnated well! With one word, I can send you bunch of District Three country dogs to reincarnate! Are you dissatisfied?"

Number 8: ???

Number 8 had been entirely dragged into this by Chen Ling... He had already started cursing in his heart.

He had gone through all the trouble of leading a few Fire-Stealers to steal the identities of Law Enforcers from three great districts, hiding their identities all the way here just so they wouldn't cause trouble and could infiltrate the Ancient Vault of the Military Path... Yet Chen Ling's appearance directly placed them on the cusp of the storm.

Number 8 would never have thought things would escalate to this point, even if he were beaten to death.

"Young Master Cai, are we really going to shoot?" Seeing Yan Xicai practically driven mad, an Aurora City Law Enforcer who was still maintaining a sliver of calmness asked cautiously.

"What's there to be afraid of? Can't this young master handle killing two country dogs? Fire for me..."

"Hold on!"

Just as Yan Xicai was about to give the order, three figures draped in black windbreakers hurried over.

The three Enforcers were originally having a meeting in the cabin, discussing the upcoming route. In the end, they heard a commotion outside, and upon coming out to take a look, they realized that all hell had broken loose.

"Put all your guns down! Do you all no longer want to enter the Ancient Vault?" a Five-Stripe Enforcer spoke coldly.

The crowd exchanged glances and all silently lowered their firearms.

"Officer Li, what is the meaning of this?" Yan Xicai furrowed his brows deeply. "They provoked me first. I was just acting in self-defense."

Yan Xicai heavily emphasized the words "self-defense".

"Young Master Yan, please don't make this difficult for us... If a life is lost on this ship before entering the Ancient Vault of the Military Path, according to regulations, we must return and undergo an investigation by the Aurora City Law Enforcer Headquarters."

Hearing these words, the anger in Yan Xicai's eyes finally suppressed a little.

This was indeed a regulation issued by the Law Enforcer Headquarters. If it were anywhere else, killing someone would just be killing someone. But this ship heading to the Ancient Vault of the Military Path held extraordinary significance to the Aurora Domain.

But even so, Yan Xicai was still unwilling to let it go. He stared fixedly at Chen Ling and Number 8, cold glints flickering in his eyes.

A Four-Stripe Enforcer saw this, leaned in close to his ear, and whispered:

"Young Master Yan, endure it for now. It won't be too late to make a move once we're inside the Ancient Vault, right? Losing one or two people in the Ancient Vault of the Military Path every year is a common occurrence. If a life is lost on this ship, none of us will be able to bear the responsibility..."

Yan Xicai glanced at him, and his anger smoothed out significantly. He glanced at Chen Ling and Number 8:

"Fine. I'll deal with them once we enter the Ancient Vault."

Seeing that Yan Xicai didn't continue making things difficult, the Fire-Stealers finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, they could foresee that after entering the Ancient Vault of the Military Path, the plan might not go as smoothly...

Number 8 took a deep look at Chen Ling. The latter's lips curled up, offering him a harmless smile.

But for some reason, seeing this smile, Number 8 felt a bit chilled in his heart...

As the steamship gradually sliced through the azure sea surface, massive blocks of ice began appearing around them. The biting cold seemed to seep into their bones. Even though everyone was already wearing heavy clothes, it was difficult to withstand this severe cold.

At the same time, at the end of the horizon, a black expanse of the heavens gradually emerged.

Even though it was still afternoon, the sunlight above the frozen sea had already begun to dim. The murky seawater carrying thick layers of ice flowed past the ship... This stretch of heaven and earth was descending into darkness at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The crowd stood on the deck, looking up at the sky. The vast majority of them had never seen such a scene before, and the same was true for Chen Ling.

Above the frozen sea, there was a black sky?

This was the second time Chen Ling had seen a large-scale supernatural phenomenon since arriving in this era... The first was the aurora.

However, even the aurora, which was omnipresent within the Aurora Domain, couldn't extend into this black sky at this moment, as if there was an invisible barrier in this world keeping all the auroras out.

"This is..." The young Law Enforcers exchanged looks of dismay.

"The Domain of the Way of the Soldier God," the Four-Stripe Enforcer slowly spoke. "Since the birth of humanity, tens of thousands of years of history have passed. From the moment we began living in groups, human civilization was born with it... From the earliest woodcutting, fire-making, and hunting, to the many detailed divisions of labor after the civilization prospered, the concept of 'professions' runs through the entirety of human civilization.

Scholar, Doctor, Soldier, Yellow, Green, Craftsman, Chess; Drama, Puppet, Shaman, Strength, Divination, Thief, Prostitute... The fourteen Paths to Divinity are the manifestations of the 'Divine Nature' of a portion of professions within the long river of human civilization.

And the Divine Dao Ancient Repository is the concretization of the 'Divine Nature' corresponding to the Divine Path in the human world. It contains all the accumulation of humans on a certain path over the past tens of thousands of years... The Ancient Vault of the Military Path is the carrier of all slaughter and warfare since the emergence of humanity.

Do you see that sword?"

The crowd followed his finger and looked. In the central region of the black sky, a massive black sword piercing the heavens and earth stood towering like a mountain peak.

That sword seemed to come from the heavens, piercing the mortal realm and pointing straight at the earth's core... Even standing on the deck and looking up, the crowd could only see half of its blade. The other half of the hilt was already submerged in the pitch-black sky above, invisible to the naked eye.

"Below that sword is the 'Ancient Vault of the Military Path'."

"We... are going under that sword?"

"That's right, but only the outermost region... The scope of the Ancient Vault of the Military Path is extremely large. The only place open to you is a very small area." The Enforcer paused for a moment.

"The Way of the Soldier God proves the Dao through slaughter. In the Aurora Domain, you have no chance to kill people, but in the ancient battlefield manifested by the Ancient Vault of the Military Path, you can slaughter wantonly... When you find resonance in blood and fire, and gather enough Killing Intent in slaughter, you will have a chance to draw out the Dao Foundation of the Way of the Soldier God, granting you the qualification to step onto a Divine Path."

The crowd stared blankly at that heaven-piercing giant sword gradually drawing closer. For a moment, their minds were incomparably shaken...

The steamship buzzed, the cold wind howled, and the hems of the crowd's clothes on the deck were whipped up by the gale, snapping loudly.