Chapter 156: The Path the Dead Carved for the Living

[The path to survival is difficult; you lead the people of the Qiuhuo Army, fighting demons day and night.]

[Your body is worn down in battle, having experienced overdraft time and again, it has long become riddled with holes—a state of decay difficult for ordinary people to comprehend.]

[Persistence trait in effect…]

[You do your utmost to stay alive, struggling to maintain the operation of the Qi and Blood World, thereby bursting forth with even greater strength to help the people carve out a safer path ahead.]

[Your body has become even worse.]

[Fortunately, you see the dawn of hope.]

[Trekking across mountains and rivers, enduring countless dangers, you and the commoners of the Qiuhuo Army finally see the end of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.]

[People laugh heartily, tears falling amidst their laughter; looking at this scene, besides feeling happy in your heart, you silently plan to stay behind alone to cover the retreat.]

[You are a dead man stepping into the end, with no vitality left to speak of.]

[Rather than lingering on in a dying state, it is better to do one last thing for the people: block the most terrifying demons for them.]

[But the people who have been protected by you for years chose to refuse you this time.]

[The people drugged the soup, causing you to fall into a coma; by the time you woke up again, Wu Yingxue had already gone to block the enemy in your stead.]

[You rush to the battlefield at the fastest speed.]

[You see her covered in blood, her long spear shattered and her legs half-crippled; it is a tragic sight that moves anyone who sees it, a determination to willingly face death so that you may live.]

[Paper Flowers stained with blood, silent and desolate.]

[In the past, you thought the girl had long since discarded the Paper Flower, but now it seems she has always cherished and kept it by her side.]

Time is like a cycle of Reincarnation.

The first time Xu Xi met Wu Yingxue, she was being pursued and was heavily injured.

After going in circles.

Xu Xi "picked her up" on the verge of death once again.

Under the gaze of those eyes that trembled as if wanting to cry.

Xu Xi did not criticize the County Princess's self-assertion, nor did he scold her with harsh words; he just gently took that blood-and-mud-stained palm as he had before.

Injecting Qi and blood into the girl's exhausted body.

Helping her stand up again.

"I'm sorry, Yingxue."

"I arrived too late."

Xu Xi's voice was very soft and slow, like a feather floating in the air, gentle and soothing, revealing an inexplicable sense of peace.

But it was this very voice.

That became the final straw that broke the girl.

Her dull and lifeless eyes looked at Xu Xi while tears silently fell, speaking of uncontrollable grief.

"…Master, don't."

"…Please, don't do that."

Wu Yingxue sensed something.

Her body trembled, and she used her last bit of strength, wanting to keep Xu Xi by her side.

Her blood-stained fingers tightly gripped Xu Xi's robes, but Xu Xi only looked at her gently and shook his head slightly.

"Yingxue, you've done well enough."

"Leave the rest to me, okay?"

Lightly pressing the girl's wrist.

Pushing away the already weak hands.

Then, Xu Xi handed the blood-stained, somewhat soggy Paper Flower into Wu Yingxue's palm.

The girl had indeed grown up, much more than Xu Xi remembered.

Xu Xi was gratified and deeply moved.

The young County Princess who once acted on whims had, ten years later, shown a side that commanded respect.

Xu Xi liked such growth and looked forward to the County Princess becoming even more outstanding.

Therefore.

He wanted to carve out a true path ahead for Wu Yingxue and everyone in the Qiuhuo Army.

…

Crack, crack.

Xu Xi stepped toward the Dragon-robed Demon; under the other's gaze—which went from indifferent to startled and uncertain—bursting sounds echoed from within his body.

That feeling was very subtle.

The pseudo-world condensed from Qi and blood was slowly sublimating into a true world.

With substance and form.

Merging with flesh and blood, constructed with acupoints.

Yet that back, which fully displayed the overbearing dominance of Qi and blood, revealed a desperate deathly silence, blooming with the spark of life in the vast dark night.

"Defying the principles of heaven and earth, scattering the soul of the Martial Dao?"

"Madman, you madman!"

"Instead of being a proper Human Immortal, you actually do such a stupid thing!"

The Dragon-robed Demon was shocked and furious; facing Xu Xi, whose Aura was becoming increasingly terrifying, and feeling the upheaval as heaven and earth changed color, he actually couldn't help but take several steps back.

Xu Xi of course knew what he was doing.

It was the dead returning to heaven and earth.

A dying person burning everything.

Using himself as fuel to ignite the final spark.

In the rising of those flames, Xu Xi, who was already a Quasi-Human Immortal, truly became a Martial Dao Human Immortal in every sense.

Power surged within his body, and Qi and blood dyed the sky red.

"Let's fight; there are many accounts to settle between you and me."

Xu Xi's Aura became even more vigorous.

The demon was enraged and transformed into a Green-scaled Flood Dragon; its dragon eyes were like the sun and moon, and its claws could seize a thousand mountains.

Its roar made the Hundred Thousand Mountains hum incessantly.

Xu Xi's expression was calm; his way of attacking was no different from before, still simply clenching his five fingers and throwing a punch forward.

This punch was for A-Niu.

Boom—!!!

Qi and blood like a sea completely submerged all things.

The ordinary and slow fist, carrying an endless and surging momentum, illuminated the world in all directions as it struck toward the flood dragon.

Man and dragon fought, a myth reenacted.

The battle was too fierce, reaching a level that Wu Yingxue completely failed to understand.

She only knew that there was a lot of blood, so much blood, constantly falling from the sky.

Some was demon blood.

And some was Master's blood.

"Idiot, big idiot," the sound of crying echoed in the silent night.

He was the best idiot in the whole world, and also the stupidest fool in the whole world.

In the past.

The girl especially liked having Grand Master Xu in front of her to shield her from the wind and rain; that feeling made her feel safe.

Only this time, she didn't want it at all.

No matter what, she didn't want it.

But the course of the world never changes according to human will; Wu Yingxue could do nothing, she could only look at the sky in tragic helplessness, watching that final burning.

…

After an unknown amount of time, the battle in the sky calmed down.

Accompanied by a piercingly shrill dragon cry.

The roaring force of the punch pierced through the flood dragon's body, its remaining momentum falling into the surrounding mountains without weakening, forming a broad, flat, and no longer rugged path to heaven.

That was the manifestation of a Martial Artist's great power.

It was also the path the dead carved for the living.

In the silent night sky, following the fall of the flood dragon, another figure plummeted from the sky.

Shattered? On the verge of death? A horrific sight?

That person's body was in such a terrible state that even if one exhausted all words, it would be difficult to describe even a fraction of it, giving others a strong visual shock.

"Master!"

"Master!"

Without any hesitation.

In her half-crippled state, sometimes falling, sometimes crawling, Wu Yingxue rushed to the spot where the figure had fallen at her fastest speed.

She saw it, she saw it clearly.

The shocking wounds on that familiar figure.

Within the mangled and torn flesh, bones could be clearly seen, as well as some internal organs.

The faint breathing was gradually fading into complete nothingness.