Chapter 167: Spirit, the Unreachable Promise (4k First Update)

Bai Cangshu had not expected that this young girl was not only not as naive as he had imagined, but on the contrary, knew everything—whether it was the attitude of Lieao and the other Navy members, or Lao Hanke's occasional slips of the tongue.

She had vaguely guessed that Captain Kori might have already encountered something very bad and very dangerous.

Just like her mom and dad who had once fallen in this very district.

Those pitch-black corpses, which would shatter into pieces at the slightest touch, were a nightmare Cindy often recalled.

She was terrified that one day, in some corner of this island, she would see Captain Kori appear, pitch-black all over.

"You know where he is?"

Cindy nodded, but quickly shook her head again.

"I... don't know."

"But I heard that all the guys who resisted that lord and haven't died yet are locked up by the God's Guard, hidden away in the forbidden area."

"The auntie at the market also said that besides the current Shendian, that lord also demands a lot, a lot of extra food."

Hearing this, Bai Cangshu's eyes shifted, and he suddenly thought of a way to break the deadlock.

His current predicament, in essence, lay in the fact that Enel's own abilities were too powerful, and he was effectively trapped on this island.

Unlike in the Heipao Shijie, where Bai Cangshu could move around freely and had ample room to leverage external forces.

At this moment, even though Bai Cangshu knew that while Enel's abilities were powerful, his martial arts and physical constitution were not so invincible.

As long as he could bring in a team led by an Elite Vice Admiral from the Marine Headquarters, or those elite Pirates galloping through the New World, a joint ambush by Haki masters would have a considerable possibility of taking down Enel before other Reincarnators entered the world.

Furthermore, as long as other factions intervened, Bai Cangshu would have plenty of room to maneuver; although Enel was not a good object to utilize—this guy might not have a good brain, but he believed from the marrow of his bones that he was a "God," and that kind of Arrogance meant he would never treat others as equals for communication.

Even when the four priests who followed him earliest were defeated, he had not shown the slightest sympathy.

"Hey, big guy, are you listening?!"

Cindy kept jumping up and waving her hands. Bai Cangshu casually picked her up, placed her on a chair nearby, and then spoke.

"I cannot save others; however, if I happen to meet your Captain Kori, I will save him while I'm at it."

Bai Cangshu felt not a shred of guilt for deceiving a child; in fact, up to this point, Bai Cangshu had never felt the emotion of guilt.

Cindy was overjoyed and then proceeded to tell Bai Cangshu one by one where the tough characters in the town were generally active.

Bai Cangshu noted them down one by one; in this God's Kingdom, there were indeed still some people left.

At the time, the first group to stand up and resist Enel were not those Pirates or organizations, but ordinary people led by the sheriff.

After Enel killed everyone with his invincible power, no one, whether they were Pirates or anyone else, had the courage to resist again.

They could only secretly try to contact the outside world or flee.

But the terrifying thing about Enel was that his Heart Net ability was actually using electric waves to perceive extra information.

Therefore, those who sent communications suffered divine punishment immediately.

Crack!

As he spoke, a bolt of scorching white lightning fell from the sky.

Bai Cangshu looked back and saw the lightning strike a few kilometers away, and a four- or five-story building vanished into ashes.

Screams and panic followed.

Cindy also covered her mouth.

"That's the City Hall!"

"Big guy, take care of yourself. I must go see if anyone needs Cindy's help!"

The young girl pushed the door open and quickly disappeared around the corner.

Bai Cangshu sat by the window, experiencing for the first time from an observer's perspective the power of Enel and the fear of the Plot Characters in this world.

He saw clearly that the lightning-dragon-like light completely destroyed a building over ten meters high and covering over three hundred square meters in just a fraction of a second.

The people inside likely had no chance of survival, and how many passersby nearby would be carbonized by that high voltage just because they happened to be walking by?

The lucky ones might keep their lives but end up with limb disabilities; the unlucky ones would simply die.

Human life, in Enel's hands, was indeed just a number.

Enel struck from an unknown distance, and he felt nothing even after killing these people.

This was likely the source of the fear that made people in this world afraid to even call out his name.

The so-called "God"...

Bai Cangshu recalled Shen Wulong's unique yoga Breathing Style.

He had been unable to achieve it before because the essence of that Breathing Style was actually a special ability that allowed the cells themselves to begin breathing, mutating humans into a special kind of creature.

No need to breathe, no need for a heartbeat; all sustenance was obtained by the cells themselves, with extremely low consumption.

Perhaps even without using that special reincarnation ability, Shen Wulong's lifespan was far longer than that of an ordinary person.

Bai Cangshu's body at this moment had also completely transcended the category of ordinary humans.

Whether it was muscle count, density, strength, or bone count, joint count, bone strength, organ strength, cell resilience, blood vessel wall strength...

Everything had completely surpassed the category of ordinary humans.

Bai Cangshu pressed his left hand against his carotid artery, and intense pressure appeared; subsequently, the heart's blood supply slowly stopped, the heartbeat slowed down bit by bit, and his breathing faded until it almost disappeared.

Bai Cangshu felt his vision go black, but he controlled his body's instinct to breathe, the force in his hand growing stronger as if he were trying to kill himself.

Bai Cangshu kept recalling the feeling after the Bloodline Refining, when, surrounded by dense vitality, all the cells in his body were awakened to breathe with Greed Sin.

He kept trying to activate that special "sense."

Whoosh~

In this special state, Bai Cangshu's vision and other senses were weakened, but correspondingly, his breathing frequency and heartbeat frequency dropped to an exaggerated rate of about once every two minutes.

But Bai Cangshu was still not satisfied; he had not been able to master Shen Wulong's special yoga Breathing Style, and this performance was merely his body, under these special circumstances, being forced to turn into an effect similar to an "energy-saving mode."

Significantly reducing physical capabilities in exchange for a reduction in the body's overall consumption, thereby achieving the effect of the heartbeat and breathing almost disappearing.

Bai Cangshu doing this was, naturally, not simply to show off his body's Tese.

He pushed open the door, walked to the street outside, and turned directly toward the collapsed district covered by giant leaves.

Enel's 【Heart Net】 is a type of extremely powerful special Observation Haki that he created by combining the Observation Haki naturally awakened by some people on the Sky Island with his own 【Rumble-Rumble Fruit】 ability.

【Observation Haki】, generally speaking, is an ability that allows the user to perceive the movements of enemies outside their field of vision, and in battle, it allows the user to read the opponent's next move.

However, in the hands of the Sky Island priests and Enel, they have deepened Observation Haki; that ability to perceive enemies outside the field of vision has been further enhanced, turning into a form of long-distance vision.

Several priests all have the ability to "see" the tracks of enemies within the entire range of the God's Island;

And Enel is able to perceive the entire nation composed of several Sky Islands, and furthermore, Enel's ability is more terrifying and meticulous compared to the priests who need to specifically use their ability to "see."

Enel's 【Heart Net】 is equivalent to a 24-hour automatically activated sensing instrument, capable of automatically capturing abnormal movements and the existence of those who speak ill of him.

This allows Enel, no matter where he is, to completely dominate the entire territory, becoming in a sense a true 【God】.

If Bai Cangshu wants to move freely, he must ensure that he can hide from 【Enel】's 【Heart Net】.

Because of this, Bai Cangshu performed this "self-mutilation" act that seemed to have no effect.

Bai Cangshu's Footwork was very light, and his pace was extremely fast; at this moment, he was like a ghost that did not exist within Enel's Heart Net. As long as he did not cause a disturbance that would prompt Enel to actively cast his gaze to observe, he could, to a certain extent, be considered to have shaken off Enel's threat.

Bai Cangshu arrived at the side near the sea, where the exquisite Western-style houses had completely collapsed. The cause of the collapse, besides lightning strikes, was that an entire mountain had overturned, with soil and rocks pouring down from the hundreds-of-meters-high slope, filling all the way into the sea.

And on that tilted mountain, vines so huge they almost caused Giant Object Fear lay crookedly across the mountain.

That was a giant vine with leaves nearly one hundred square meters in size, like the legendary beanstalk vine that allows one to climb to the sky.

And on that fallen mountain, a snake of equal size lay on the ridge, with a huge golden fork firmly pinning the snake to the ridge.

Bai Cangshu guessed that the battle that day was likely because this giant python named 【Lord of the Sky】 had gone on a rampage after falling from the sky, and was thus slain by Enel.

Hiss~

Bai Cangshu heard a sound similar to the wind, and his pupils constricted; this snake was actually not dead yet?!

One must know, from Cindy's description, that terrifying fall from the sky happened two years ago.

This snake also likely clashed with Enel only after the Ark Maxim fell from the sky.

The opponent had been pinned here for nearly two years, and it actually hadn't completely died yet?

Bai Cangshu's eyes flickered, his Footwork tapped, and his figure lightly stepped onto the ruined hill mixed with the land of the former 【Jaya Island】.

At this moment, Bai Cangshu's heartbeat and breathing had almost completely disappeared, and his movements were as light as nothing; stepping into this forbidden zone, he was completely like a non-existent creature.

With a light tap of his Footwork, Bai Cangshu suddenly spread his arms; the short-term Flight ability granted by 【Rakshasa Ghost】 allowed him to use the tap under his feet to float high up, flying directly toward the top of the mountain.

A moment later, Bai Cangshu landed near the neck of this giant python. At this time, he could see clearly that this 【Lord of the Sky】, which had lived for over four hundred years, really had not died yet; just like all snakes, it was stubbornly surviving.

Bai Cangshu reached out and pointed vaguely at the snake, and intense Qi began to condense.

"Can you not kill it?"

A voice suddenly rang out, and Bai Cangshu's pupils constricted.

His sensory ability at this moment, while not comparable to that kind of Observation Haki, was certainly not an exaggeration to say that if a needle fell to the ground within ten meters, he would be able to hear it clearly.

But at this very moment, that voice was clearly appearing less than two meters behind Bai Cangshu.

Moreover, Bai Cangshu did not hear any sound of breathing, pulse, or heartbeat.

He did not believe that among the Plot Characters of this world, there would still be someone capable of doing such a thing. Bai Cangshu's muscles tensed, and he slowly turned around, only to see that on the sea behind him, thick fog had spread at some unknown time. Within the mist, a faint, flickering figure was less than two meters away from him.

A special tactile sensation appeared, and along with this thick fog, the temperature had unknowingly dropped quite a bit.

Bai Cangshu's mind stirred, and he already understood what he had encountered.

【Spirit】...

"This is the first time I've seen someone who isn't afraid of me..."

A gust of wind blew, and the thick fog completely enveloped Bai Cangshu, yet Bai Cangshu inexplicably saw the man's appearance clearly.

He wore a brown ponytail, a Navy hat tilted on his head, and behind him was not the 【Justice dacang】 unique to officers of the rank of Captain and above. Clearly, the opponent's true military rank was not high.

"You are... the Captain Kori that Cindy mentioned?"

Bai Cangshu's calmness and sharpness seemed to have stunned this ghost Navy officer for a moment, and he smiled bitterly and spread his hands.

"Ha~ so you met that little one."

"Is she still healthy? I hope she is living well..."

Just as Bai Cangshu had foreseen, and just as the little girl had feared, this Navy Captain, who the young girl said would one day bring reinforcements to save everyone, had long since died at some unknown time.

Bai Cangshu lowered his eyes.

"She is fine."

Just as the ghost's expression was about to soften, Bai Cangshu continued,

"Following the orders Captain Kori left behind, she persisted in helping quite a few guys who were disabled by lightning strikes, hiding in the sewers, and going to the market every day to steal food to support those guys."

"At this very moment, she is still doing that."

A strong wind blew from the sea in an instant, stirring the white mist behind the man until it was almost shapeless, and the opponent's form was no longer stable, drifting as if it would be torn apart by the gale at any moment.

"She..."

"I just wanted... to let her live well..."

The ghost covered his face in the gale; he seemed to be wailing loudly, but no sound appeared.

In the gale, some kind of cold liquid was blown by the wind and landed on Bai Cangshu's hand.

"She said that was the promise Captain Kori gave to Crew Member Cindy."

Bai Cangshu added expressionlessly.

Kori recalled his previous actions; they were truly weak and naive.

He had clearly just discovered some abnormal signals during a patrol mission, yet he had inexplicably approached this sea area, and then inexplicably led his teammates to infiltrate this island.

In the end, even in the process of fleeing for his life, he didn't forget to play the hero, using a promise that could no longer be fulfilled to make a young girl live a hard life while taking risks in endless waiting.

"I... am so weak!"

"It was I who was too self-righteous."

He recalled how, because he had a little bit of talent, he received the opportunity to train at Navy headquarters, but he had become carried away by his own success and lost the chance to learn real skills, returning to the branch with only superficial knowledge while still fantasizing about becoming a hero.

Only now did he dare to admit that it was not some twist of fate; every moment, he had been fantasizing about finding a great crisis, then stepping forward to save everyone and becoming a hero like Vice Admiral Garp.

But the result... was just that all his friends turned into charred corpses...

He looked at Bai Cangshu, suddenly took a step forward, and raised both hands.

Bai Cangshu felt a chill on his arm, and an extremely peculiar sensation emerged.

【You have completed the Milestone: Touch Spirit (Rare)】

【Touch Spirit (Rare): You can perceive the existence of a Spirit Body and freely touch the other party; your attacks will no longer be evaded by spirit-type creatures, and your Spirit Body strength increases slightly.】

"Can you help me?"

"I beg you!"

【You have triggered the hidden side quest: An Unattainable Promise】

Updates will continue in the afternoon.

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(End of chapter)