Chapter 379: We Are the Protagonists

Hearing Ji Chen’s slightly triumphant question, the Long Yi’s pupils shrank violently.

It slowly turned its head, its golden vertical pupils reflecting the familiar yet alien Iron Face.

Just moments ago, the shocking scene of the battlefield had stolen its attention, completely forgetting the old friend who had suddenly appeared beside it.

Memories tied to him surged forth like a tidal wave.

Their first meeting had been inside a prison crafted by Bai Yao, where all the imprisoned lifeforms were forced to cultivate a special method, becoming furnace vessels for Bai Yao to drain power.

At that time, Ji Chen had curled up in the darkest corner of the prison.

His body had withered to near-skeletal form, his pale skin revealing clear outlines of bones, white chains of forbidden seals wrapped around his wrists, his eyes dull and hollow, staring blankly beyond the prison walls like a living puppet.

Other new prisoners at least struggled, expressing anger through roars or other means.

But Ji Chen had been eerily silent, as if already dead, having surrendered and accepted his fate as a power-furnace vessel.

It had been imprisoned right beside him.

But passively waiting for death had never been its nature.

Even as a prisoner, it had never believed it would be forever locked within this cage.

It viewed this merely as a trial before entering the Monster World, treating the prison as a new battlefield and beginning to devise a way to break free.

Alone, it was clearly impossible to break through Bai Yao’s numerous blockades.

So it turned its thoughts to the other prisoners in the shared cell.

Ji Chen, imprisoned alongside it, became its first target.

But at that time, Ji Chen’s spirit was broken, having long abandoned hope of survival, convinced he was doomed to remain imprisoned, forever serving as nourishment for Bai Yao.

So it needed to ignite Ji Chen’s fighting spirit, to give him hope to live.

Thus, one day, it proactively asked Ji Chen:

“Hey, do you know the difference between a warrior and an animal?”

Ji Chen had looked at it with a confused gaze, then slowly shook his head.

Its reply was:

“Animals accept their fate when chained; warriors think about when they’ll bite through their enemy’s throat.”

Upon hearing this, Ji Chen had merely lowered his head slowly, remaining silent, refusing to respond further.

But it did not give up, proving its resolve through action.

It began actively fighting the guards, even if it was left battered and scarred.

It wanted Ji Chen to see that even in utter despair, one never bows.

During this time, it also spoke to Ji Chen of the world beyond.

Like the mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas of its own world, the battlefields burning with free will, the lifeforms still resisting.

These stories included the perilous realms it had conquered and the comrades who had fought beside it.

Finally, one night after being drained of its essence, Ji Chen proactively asked it:

“Why resist at all? There’s no chance of victory.”

At that moment, it knew a seed of rebellion had taken root deep within Ji Chen’s heart.

It smiled and told Ji Chen:

“Since suffering is unavoidable, better to burn for an instant in flames than rot in chains—dying in the most glorious way is not so bad.”

Later, Ji Chen told it that those words had been a sharp blade, slicing open the deepest cowardice in his heart.

And at that moment, he chose to join the rebellion.

Afterward, they sheathed their blades, lay low within the prison, steadily expanding the rebellion alliance against Bai Yao.

It personally taught many lifeforms from the Mire World how to strengthen their bodies through breathing techniques, how to suppress Bai Yao’s furnace method from draining their vital energy.

After a long period of concealment, they finally seized the chance to break free.

Having learned the guard rotation schedule in advance, they launched their assault.

That night, blood and fire exploded in the darkness.

Chains snapped, cages shattered, former prisoners who had been furnace vessels roared as they surged forth, like a flood breaking its dam, sweeping everything away.

Its dragon breath turned into blazing flames that consumed the sky; one by one, Bai Yao’s watchtowers collapsed in fire, illuminating the path of escape.

After escaping, they thrived like fish in the sea, growing wildly beneath the shadow of Bai Yao’s rule.

It taught the rebel warriors how to forge their bodies, straightening backs once bent, reigniting battle-lust in lifeless eyes.

Former slaves no longer hunched; through cultivation, they forged muscle and bone into steel, drawing heavenly and earthly spiritual energy with every breath.

The rise of the rebellion became a storm sweeping across heaven and earth.

They ambushed Bai Yao’s mineral veins, seized rare spiritual materials, and forged weapons capable of severing chains.

They continuously stormed prisons, liberating more slaves, swelling their ranks like a snowball rolling downhill.

Every ambush, every bloody battle, made the flame of rebellion burn brighter.

And that boy who had once curled up in the prison, eyes filled with despair, had transformed into a true warrior during this time.

He learned to manipulate all things with mental force, how to sharpen his spiritual energy into a blade’s edge.

He learned tactical forecasting, discerning enemy weaknesses amid the chaos of battle.

He also learned how to turn limited resources into the deadliest weapons, maximizing every ounce of power.

He was no longer the timid prisoner—he had become the rebel army’s blade, and in its eyes, its most reliable brother.

On blood-soaked battlefields, they fought back-to-back, dragon breath and mental force weaving a net of death.

When breaking through desperate situations, they moved as one, understanding each other’s tactics with a single glance.

It clearly remembered that time they were surrounded by Bai Yao’s elite in Duan Hun Valley—Ji Chen had used his mental force to hold up the collapsing cliff, buying the entire army time to retreat.

And when Ji Chen collapsed from exhaustion into the poison marsh, it burned its life force, using its dragon body to shield him from the torrent of energy rain, carrying him to safety.

This friendship deepened through years of relentless struggle.

They had shared their last piece of dried rations by campfire, laughed loudly under the stars after victory, and silently tapped fists at fallen comrades’ funerals.

The hardships they had crossed together, the moments teetering on the edge of life and death, forged a bond deeper than blood.

And at the end of this “path of rebellion,” they fulfilled the vow made in the prison—completely toppling the Bai Yao dynasty.

They crushed the once-mighty Bai Yao clan into history.

At this point, they had reached the pinnacle of power in the Bai Yao World.

But it had no interest in replacing Bai Yao as ruler of this minor world; it chose to bid Ji Chen farewell, preparing to return to its clan and resume its unfinished climb.

And Ji Chen chose to return to his homeland world, letting his withered body fall back to the earth like autumn leaves.

This bond, Long Yi had never forgotten.

Even in the Monster World, it sometimes remembered the Iron Face of that old man with snow-white hair.

He had been the brother who had fought beside it, crossed life and death with it.

Memories drifted like wind, sometimes gently brushing its heart.

But it had never imagined seeing Ji Chen again.

It believed some bonds should remain frozen in their most beautiful moment.

Ji Chen chose to rest in peace in his homeland; its own journey continued.

Better to preserve this perfect farewell than shatter it—let the good brother live forever in memory, still the bold warrior of the battlefield.

Nostalgia can be cherished, but must never become chains binding its wings.

This was the truest tribute to those glorious years.

…

The memories Long Yi had sealed deep within surged violently now; seeing Ji Chen suddenly appear, its eyes betrayed shock.

Many questions found answers at once.

It suddenly realized the reinforcements descending from the sky were led by this old friend.

Clearly, this old friend had known it was in desperate straits and had led a mysterious army to aid it.

But new questions surged into its mind.

It carefully studied Ji Chen’s smiling Iron Face—his hair was indeed as white as in memory, yet vastly different.

Upon closer inspection, this whiteness was nothing like the exhaustion-induced pallor of before; it seemed infused with some power, glowing faintly, merely decorative.

More shocking still, Ji Chen’s Iron Face had clearly grown much younger—skin taut, fine wrinkles vanished.

The fatigue and decay in his eyes were gone, replaced by a confidence that felt alien to it.

But it remembered clearly: when they parted, Ji Chen’s life flame had been like a candle in the wind; it had tried every method to save him, yet none could halt his decline.

Back then, Ji Chen had said he wished to accompany it to the Super World.

It had refused, because Ji Chen’s life was nearly over—he could never survive in the Monster World.

But now.

Ji Chen stood before it, his aura steady, his life energy radiating vibrant vitality.

It did not understand—what had Ji Chen endured?

Why had he become like this?

And why was he here, in the Monster World?

Before they parted, it had set the teleportation array in Bai Yao City to lock onto Ji Chen’s homeland world’s spatial coordinates.

It had assumed Ji Chen had long since returned home, fallen back to the earth.

Having spent over two hundred years together, they had shared their pasts—so it knew Ji Chen’s background intimately.

It could be certain: before arriving in this alien world, Ji Chen had been a lifeform from the Mire World.

That world had no Qi, nor any spiritual materials; technological development was limited by the upper bounds of materials science, and no transcendent powers existed.

Therefore, Ji Chen’s future should have been eternal slumber in his homeland.

And why did Ji Chen have ties to the forces of the Monster World? Why would this mysterious legion be under Ji Chen’s command?

Even at the cost of heavy losses, why would they participate in this support war?

Finally, how did Ji Chen know it was facing a crisis…?

Questions piled one after another in his mind; the Longyi was utterly bewildered.

He could not comprehend these questions, nor find any direction to solve them.

“Ji Chen?!”

His voice was hoarse, his inner shock beyond words.

“You’re wondering if I’m supposed to be dead, aren’t you?” Ji Chen grinned.

He had finally experienced the joy of showing off before an old friend.

Seeing the shock in the Longyi’s eyes, he felt utterly exhilarated.

“What exactly have you been through?”

“That’s a long story. Let’s finish the battle first, then discuss the details… the real show has only just begun.”

As he spoke, Ji Chen’s gaze swept toward the front of the battlefield.

Hearing this, the Longyi suppressed the turmoil within, and his eyes returned to the battlefield.

The clash between the Battle Array Manifestation and the Shadow Giant Hand was raging fiercely; each strike from the Manifestation could shred entire swathes of shadow, yet the Shadow Giant Hand always drew new power from nothingness, its wounds writhing with countless tiny shadow tendrils that rapidly healed.

At that moment, the earth trembled.

A vast, pitch-black shadow slowly rose from deep within the Shimie Clan’s ranks.

This giant, formed purely of shadow energy, stood over a hundred meters tall with no physical substance; as its body took shape, a terrifying pressure swept across the land.

When its head fully formed, two flickering shadows of ghostly fire ignited within its eye sockets.

As the flames lashed out, surrounding light was twisted into frayed threads.

Interwoven shadows coalesced into a bony armor studded with backward-pointing spines; three pulsing, dark-red hearts hung exposed at its chest, each beat dimming the light of heaven and earth by a fraction.

“Shimie Law King…”

The Longyi forced out those four words through clenched teeth, his golden vertical pupils contracting sharply.

The power displayed by the reinforcements had clearly unsettled this behind-the-scenes controller, prompting him to intervene personally now.

The instant the shadow fully manifested, its terrifying pressure descended like a celestial curtain.

Dragonwing warriors on the battlefield’s edge bent under the weight, their bones creaking under invisible force.

The Longyi’s blood began to boil, his scales standing rigid.

He felt he could not let Ji Chen’s reinforcements Iron Face such a terrifying entity alone—now was the time for him to join the battle.

Just as he gathered his strength to move, a hand gently pressed upon his shoulder.

“Stay put,” Ji Chen’s voice was perfectly calm.

“They’re fighting to the death—how can I sit idle while my reinforcements Iron Face such a foe?”

Ji Chen’s lips curled slightly as he gazed at the battlefield:

“Fighting to the death? Old Yi, you misunderstand. This is merely their game. As for the dead… they don’t care at all. The game has only just begun.”

At that moment, the earth trembled even more violently.

The Longyi whirled his head toward the battlefield and saw a figure rising into the air at the center of the player army’s main force.

That figure was the God King.

At that moment, he raised his right hand, and a Battle Array Token floated upward above his head.

Purchased for 25 million sacrificial power, the ten-thousand-man Battle Array “Wu Jian Yan Zun,” capable of accommodating 10,000 to 99,999 players, activated.

“Brothers, I’ll form the head—you all take your positions.”

As the God King’s voice echoed through the battle group channel.

Instantly, the clouds above the battlefield were torn apart by invisible force; countless luminous spiritual runes surged from the token, weaving into a vast array framework centered on the God King, like a flowing river of stars.

Countless runes darted and combined rapidly, finally coalescing into intricate patterns covering the earth; golden-red flames ignited along the edges, as if turning the entire sky into a forge for refining divine weapons.

Instantly, the bloodied player army moved.

Three pre-formed battle arrays collapsed and dissolved; the figures within sprinted toward the God King’s ten-thousand-man array.

Following a drill rehearsed countless times before, they took their positions at the glowing nodes.

As more and more players took their places, the token above the God King blazed with brilliant light.