Chapter 53

We are leaving.

Lao Tie ran into the great hall filled with crystal balls, muttering at Yang Jian inside the crystal balls.

Wu Tie walked back and forth inside several metal great halls, his fingers lightly brushing the mirror-smooth metal walls. He had lived here for so long, gaining power he never dared imagine from a frail child.

He felt deep affection for the Ancient God Army Camp.

Da Tie, several meters tall, hovered behind Wu Tie, following him wherever he went, like a loyal, stout old hunting dog.

Da Tie kept making a "woo-woo" sound.

I don't know why, but he still couldn't speak like Lao Tie could.

He could only express his thoughts with various strange tones, straining to do so. Wu Tie knew he was reluctant to leave himself, reluctant to leave Lao Tie.

But he couldn't leave the Ancient God Army Camp.

He was the core of the Ancient God Army Camp, its brain. After Lao Tie's adjustments, those metal spiders could wander hundreds of li away from the camp at will, but only Da Tie could not leave.

For many, many long years, Lao Tie curled up in the dirt, self-abandoned, asleep.

Da Tie, meanwhile, wandered alone through the empty Ancient God Army Camp, day after day, night after night.

Wu Tie could not imagine how Da Tie had endured such a long time.

In any case, he had kept the entire Ancient God Army Camp spotless and dust-free.

"We will come back." Wu Tie patted Da Tie's hard, smooth cheek: "Although I don't quite understand… since Lao Tie let us leave, there must be a reason."

"We will come back. Definitely."

Wu Tie slapped Da Tie's cheek hard, producing a crisp "pap-pap" sound.

A flash of Blood Light flickered in Da Tie's eyes; he tilted slightly, gazing at Wu Tie for a moment, then his gaze shifted to the spear Wu Tie carried on his back. After a while, he suddenly let out a sharp "woo-woo".

The sudden "woo-woo" was extremely loud and piercing.

Wu Tie jumped in fright; Lao Tie, who was saying farewell to Yang Jian in the metal hall, also roared angrily: "Da Tie…… you brainless bastard, have you gone mad?"

"No, you don't have that function…… you can't go mad even if you wanted to! What are you doing?"

Lao Tie surged forward with a gust of wind, while Da Tie kept calling "woo-woo", suddenly turning and rushing toward the wall of a metal hall. In a few breaths he reached that wall, and countless fine strands of Blood Light sprayed from his eyes.

Blood Light etched an extremely complex sigil onto the metal wall; a low rumble sounded, and the entire wall slowly rose, revealing a small space behind it.

A spear hovered silently in a wisp of blood-colored light.

Lao Tie opened his mouth wide, staring blankly at the spear that was pure white all over yet stained crimson by the Blood Light, unable to speak for a long while.

After a long time, Lao Tie finally shouted hoarsely: "Da Tie, you idiot…… you actually dared to set an ambush on me?"

Da Tie turned, glided over quickly, and came close to Wu Tie and Lao Tie, murmuring a low "woo-woo".

Countless fine strands of Blood Light in his eyes intertwined with Lao Tie's gaze, and in a way Wu Tie could not comprehend, Da Tie transmitted a large amount of information to Lao Tie.

"You…… forgot……" Lao Tie's deathly pale face had no muscle, so he could not show any expression.

But from his voice, Wu Tie could imagine Lao Tie's face turning greenish and filled with black vapor!

Probably it was like when Wu Tie was a child, Wu Yin and Wu Tong secretly drank, got dead drunk, and set fire to half of the Wu family's Shibao miners' huts; Wu Zhan's face afterward…

That was a thorough beating under the slogan 'filial piety comes from the stick'.

After that, the mischievous Wu Yin and Wu Tong became especially well-behaved and ambitious.

A pang of sorrow suddenly welled up, and Wu Tie's tears suddenly flowed.

The faces of Wu Zhan and the others flashed before him.

Wu Tie laughed, clenched his fist, and lightly tapped Da Tie's head: "Lao Tie, no need to say, hit him…… ha, he actually can forget things?"

Lao Tie glared fiercely at Da Tie, then let out a heavy sigh: "Sure enough, an unfinished makeshift product…… your memory…… is messed up…… but it's fine, I'll find a way to cure you, wait for me to return."

Lao Tie stepped toward the space behind the wall, muttering as he walked: "Good thing, because of Xiao Tie's relation, it actually stirred your emotion module, strong emotional stimulation, letting you recall this forgotten information."

"Little guy, is this your good fortune…… or your bad fortune?"

Behind the thick metal wall, the space filled with Blood Light was three feet wide, one foot thick, and about three zhang high.

That spear hovered in the Blood Light; Wu Tie carefully followed Lao Tie to the space, merely glancing at the spear, and his eyes stabbed with pain, the invisible edge on the spear causing sore anguish that brought two tears.

In just a glance, Wu Tie also saw the spear's full appearance.

The spear was about a zhang long, its shaft smooth, with no decorative patterns.

A ferocious white tiger skull was inlaid at the top of the shaft; between the tiger's two rows of sharp teeth protruded a spearhead two feet four inches long, reflecting a grim chill in the Blood Light.

The spearhead resembled a long sword, its widest part as broad as a palm, sharp in shape, capable of chopping and piercing.

In the Blood Light, the spear's entire body bore countless fine flowing light patterns, faintly visible, like shifting clouds in the sky, like undercurrents beneath the sea, like myriad floral, avian, insect, and fish patterns racing and spinning.

Upon closer look, the spear was entirely smooth and deathly white, with no patterns flashing—those fine flowing lights seemed merely an illusion.

"Lao Tie?" Wu Tie stared blankly at the spear.

He inexplicably felt that the spear was very powerful…… and…… terrifying.

It hovered silently in the Blood Light, unmoving, like an ancient fiendish deity asleep in a tomb, waiting for the day when the moment arrives to awaken from endless slumber and devour all living things in its path.

This is a fierce weapon through and through.

Two clusters of electric light flowed behind Lao Tie, two elongated arms extending from his back; he grabbed the fierce weapon with one hand and Wu Tie's spear on his back with the other, pulling that spear out.

Wielding both spears with his hands, Lao Tie casually struck with the fierce weapon.

Soundlessly, Wu Tie's original spear was sliced in two by the fierce weapon's spearhead edge, the cut surface mirror-smooth, able to reflect a person's silhouette.

The spearhead clinked to the ground, rolled twice, and stopped when it hit Wu Tie's toe.

"This……" Wu Tie stared wide-eyed at the fierce weapon.

"White Tiger Split!" Lao Tie wielded the fierce weapon with both hands and thrust it straight forward fiercely.

The spear shot forward rapidly; air passed through the white tiger skull, and a mighty beastly roar "aw-aw" rang out as a mass of explosive air burst outward in all directions.

Wu Tie let out a muffled groan, his chest feeling as if hammered by an iron mallet, stars flashing before his eyes, a mouthful of blood spurting out with a "wa", and his body flung backward over ten meters by the blast's impact.

Lao Tie grasped the White Tiger Split, backhanded a sweep, and not a drop of the blood Wu Tie had spat out was wasted—it all fell onto the White Tiger Split.

On the spearhead of the White Tiger Split, the white tiger skull's double pupils suddenly lit up, two clusters of sinister Blood Light flickered, like two clusters of blood‑colored fire set in the eye sockets, emitting boundless yin‑cold killing aura.

From the spear tip, a point‑by‑point flame‑like flow of light lit up, continuously flowing along the spear shaft, soon the flow of light covered the entire White Tiger Split, low‑pitched tiger roars issued from the tiger head, the blown‑away Wu Tie inexplicably sensed that he and this ferocious weapon had formed a strange bond.

Even with his eyes closed, he could feel that this ferocious weapon was right ahead, loudly roaring and calling his name.

Countless shouts of killing came from within the White Tiger Split.

Boundless killing aura and blood qi surged up out of nowhere.

Before Wu Tie's eyes, countless figures flickered, they wielded uniformly‑issued White Tiger Splits, madly howling, in neat unison they lunged forward with vicious thrusts.

The earth‑shaking tiger roar shattered the void; the various distorted silhouettes before those figures all burst and shattered, the ground was blasted with huge pits, and flaming boulders screamed down from above.

One White Tiger Split after another thrust toward the sky; one after another, pure‑white phantom white tigers with eyes blazing in blood‑flame rose up, accompanied by deafening tiger roars they shot straight into the heavens, blasting those huge, fiercely burning boulders to pieces.

The illusion vanished in an instant; only the lingering "hum" of that tiger's roar remained, swirling in his ears.

Wu Tie rubbed his aching chest and rose to his feet, staring fixedly at the White Tiger Split.

"Is he… mine?" Wu Tie trembled, stepping step by step toward Lao Tie, his hands reaching out instinctively.

"This is a spear belonging to a true warrior." Lao Tie gripped the White Tiger Split, his deep gaze fixed on Wu Tie; blood‑colored light fell upon Wu Tie, his skin temperature rose rapidly, roasting him until sweat streamed down.

"Or perhaps this is Yang Jian's second weapon." Lao Tie said in a low voice: "That shameless bastard claimed that the Manifest Sage True Lord uses a three‑pointed, two‑bladed blade…… so he also forged a copy……"

"Actually, the White Tiger Split, or the White Tiger Split Murder Spear, or the White Tiger Fierce‑Blood Spear…… that is our standard‑issue weapon."

"Even so, even if this is Yang Jian's second weapon, the material of this White Tiger Split is a hundred…… a thousand times better than the one I had back then."

Wu Tie clenched the White Tiger Split's shaft with both hands.

Lao Tie did not let go; their four arms simultaneously gripped this ferocious weapon.

Wu Tie and Lao Tie locked eyes, Lao Tie lowered his head, leaned close to Wu Tie's face, and said in a low voice: "The one who wields the White Tiger Split…… sigh…… you brat, you currently have no right to own a White Tiger Split, let alone be Yang Jian's personal White Tiger Split……"

"But who made it so that only you are the choice now?"

"So, this White Tiger Split is yours…… if you want to take the White Tiger Split from my hands…… you must forever and absolutely never do anything that dishonors him…… or the people he represents."

Wu Tie stared straight at Lao Tie: "I won't…… you teach me!"

Lao Tie solemnly nodded: "I'll teach you…… you'll suffer…… hey."

Lao Tie slowly released his grip; his movements were very slow, the Blood Light in his eyes flickering intensely.

That feeling was like an exhausted explorer standing at the edge of a cliff, slowly letting go of the lifeline that kept his companion alive below.

It seemed as if he were not releasing a spear, but a precious life beyond measure.

"Do not insult him." Lao Tie muttered: "I never imagined that Big Tie would drag him back…… now you must put in a hundredfold effort."

Wu Tie slowly took the White Tiger Split.

His arms shaking violently, Wu Tie stared in shock at this ferocious weapon.

Heavy, extremely heavy; after Wu Tie channeled his full yuan gang into his flesh, his strength was considerable.

Even so, he could barely lift this ferocious weapon; the White Tiger Split pressed down on his arms, causing excruciating pain, as if his bones were about to snap.

A strange stream of information welled up from the White Tiger Split, and Wu Tie suddenly understood much related information.

He let out a low, stern shout; a golden cluster of light at his brow jumped, and an invisible force field enveloped him.

The White Tiger Split emitted a low tiger roar; countless streams of light flickered along the spear's surface, and its weight instantly became five to six thousand catties, its length and size perfectly matching Wu Tie's current height.

Wu Tie brandished the White Tiger Split with both hands and suddenly thrust forward.

Air rushed past the tiger's head; the White Tiger Split merely emitted a faint "whoosh," utterly lacking the awe‑inspiring might of Lao Tie's full‑force thrust just moments before.

"What?" Wu Tie stared in astonishment at Lao Tie.

"Your strength is far too weak…… you simply aren't worthy of using him right now……" Lao Tie snorted coldly.

Wu Tie glanced at Lao Tie, half‑understanding; he gripped the White Tiger Split and gave it a hard shake, hearing a loud "clang" of metal striking metal, the spear's shaft snapped back into the tiger's head, and the spearhead abruptly contracted and sprang back.

The White Tiger Split's white tiger head shot upward; a white stream of light wrapped around Wu Tie's right wrist, after a few "clangs," his right forearm gained a white armguard inlaid with a white tiger‑head relief.

"How ingenious!" Wu Tie exclaimed; such a miraculous, wish‑fulfilling divine weapon—he had never even seen, let alone heard of, its like.

"Making a fuss over nothing, you ignorant brat." Lao Tie shouted, his two arms retracting into his body, and he bellowed: "All right, remember, this is a remarkable weapon…… do not disgrace him……"

"Well, when a ferocious weapon is born, it must be blood‑bathed…… hahaha, let's go stir up some trouble, grab a few clueless fools, and offer them as a sacrifice to this treasure."

Lao Tie laughed "gaga," then let out a few loud "wang wang" howls, and began spouting nonsense with a straight face.

Big Tie let out a low "wu wu" sound from the side.

He knew that, having taken the White Tiger Split, Wu Tie and Lao Tie were truly leaving.

The white metal on Big Tie's cheeks began to melt, beads of molten metal formed tears that continually slid down his metallic cheeks, and just before they would hit the ground, his huge head sucked them back up.

He was, truly heartbroken.