Zhen Youdu's eyes lit up with a faint green glow. He swung his armed leg and flung the Guan Dao, which pierced through the flock of crows with a clang.
Bai Ye emerged from among the crows.
"Invaders, die!!"
Zhen Youdu roared in a deep voice, unleashing a bizarre pressure that immediately caved in the cave's ceiling exit. The crows, missing their target, could only turn and fly back in a frenzy.
"Tsk, this is a bit tricky," Bai Ye chuckled coldly, landing on the stone wall and clinging to a rock with one hand.
Zhen Youdu charged like a cannonball, and the two clashed wildly in mid-air.
"Well done, thank you for luring him away and holding him back," Duan Chen gave Bai Ye a thumbs-up in the air.
Bai Ye: ??????
Immediately after, Duan Chen's figure flickered as he appeared before Zhen Caodan.
A slash of his saber went upwards, leaving a deep, bone-exposing gash on Zhen Caodan.
"Ah!!"
Zhen Caodan recoiled in pain, clutching his wound and glaring ferociously at Duan Chen, "You're playing dirty!"
"Whether I'm playing dirty or not, the winner takes all."
Duan Chen smirked wickedly, a cold killing intent flashing in his eyes.
Zhen Caodan panicked. He hadn't expected the helper he finally found to be tied up by 'his own people.'
Seeing the saber light about to sever his neck, he suddenly yelled—
"Duan Chen! Don't you want to know about that sealed memory!!"
*Swish!*
The black saber stopped 0.1 centimeters from Zhen Caodan's throat.
Blood dripped down, and Zhen Caodan swallowed.
"You, say that again." Duan Chen narrowed his eyes, a dangerous warning in them.
"I, I, I used to be a security guard at the [Forbidden Gate]. You were practically a child I watched grow up. This scar on my forehead was from you! After that incident, everyone thought you were dead!"
"Do you still remember the patch of red flowers in front of the Red Sun Kindergarten? You used to love them..."
Suddenly, Duan Chen's vision was filled with that sea of red flowers, a pitch-black door standing amidst them. A hooded boy stood behind the door, looking at him with a sinister smile!
Zhen Caodan smirked and roared at Zhen Youdu in the air, "Kill him quickly!!"
*Boom!*
Countless saber slashes rained down from the sky, striking with world-destroying force.
Duan Chen gritted his teeth and raised his shield, his vision still obscured by the dazzling red flowers.
"Damn it, aim properly! If you hurt me, you'll be forever barren!" Zhen Caodan, too close to Duan Chen, was also caught in the area-of-effect attack.
"So that's how it is, you were controlling him," Wu Suowei revealed a look of sudden understanding. "What was the medium?"
Duan Chen's eyes burst with a strange blue light. Using his mind-reading ability, he instantly understood Zhen Caodan's secret.
"It's blood, the blood on the armor!"
A crow swooped down and smeared bloodstains on the armor with its black feathers.
Zhen Youdu's body trembled violently. He stopped in mid-air, his aura significantly diminished.
Zhen Caodan's eyes bulged with rage.
"Damn it, that was what I painstakingly..."
*Bang!*
A bullet pierced Zhen Caodan's forehead.
"Painstakingly... uh..."
His body swayed, and he crashed to the ground.
A blood-stained glass ball rolled out from beneath him, tumbling to Duan Chen's feet. It was inscribed with the sinister black number [5].
The illusions in Duan Chen's eyes faded, dissipating like mist.
The boy within the door seemed regretful. Before disappearing, he mouthed something.
Duan Chen squinted, trying to make out the words. The boy seemed to be saying—
[Trust no one, not even... God...]
Wu Suowei walked up slowly from behind, patted Duan Chen's shoulder, and the mist completely dispersed.
His eyes, calm and unperturbed, looked directly at Duan Chen.
"Don't be swayed by the evil god."
"Heh, do I look like someone easily swayed? What a scumbag says is not worth taking seriously."
Duan Chen snorted and stomped on the glass ball at his feet, crushing it.
Wu Suowei narrowed his eyes slightly.
His intuition told him that Duan Chen seemed to be hiding something.
Had he already remembered something?
"What did you see?" Wu Suowei asked coldly.
Duan Chen waved his hand indifferently, "I already told you not to be swayed, does it matter what I saw?"
Wu Suowei looked at his profile, falling into a moment of thought.
In mid-air.
The frenzied Zhen Youdu suddenly quieted down, like an electric toy running out of battery, and slowly descended to the ground.
Several crows exploded around him. He merely waved them away as if they were flies, completely unconcerned that they had splattered his armor and bodies.
"Hmm?? What's going on? Giving up?" Bai Ye narrowed his eyes, temporarily ceasing his assault.
Zhen Youdu shook his damaged body, looking at his grandson, Zhen Caodan, lying in a pool of blood.
His grandchildren were already over fifty, their hair white and beards long, yet he still stood, a monstrous figure.
He then looked around.
The withered, decaying little red flowers, the corpses with their chests gouged out scattered about, iron plates with the characters [West], [Earth], [Tile] hanging from their waists.
The shattered chains, coffins, and altars...
Within the prison, only a sliver of a gap was visible in the dome.
Was light shining in?
No.
There was only the dust and motes, also prisoners of this place.
*Step, step, step...*
Zhen Youdu withdrew his gaze and walked towards Duan Chen.
"Be careful, Duan Chen, one blow from him and even an evil god can't save you," Bai Ye said with a light chuckle.
To everyone's surprise, Zhen Youdu suddenly fell to his knees with a *thump*, two streams of blood flowing from his eyes.
"...Used by a junior, Zhen Mou, I am ashamed of the ancestors of the Zhen family village!!"
Zhen Youdu wailed, his voice filled with grief, echoing and reverberating through Yin Mountain.
Duan Chen was baffled as to why this man was kneeling before him. At that moment, Wu Suowei slowly walked up to him, looking down at him like a deity.
"Do you still desire power now?"
Zhen Youdu sighed and shook his heavy head.
"It's no longer necessary..."
"Too much time has passed, too much... let everyone rest."
Wu Suowei looked up at the sliver of sky, his gaze seeming to penetrate into the endless past.
"Oh my, oh my~ You're still kneeling to a god now? Don't you think that's foolish? If a god could truly protect you, your grandchildren wouldn't be dying before your eyes," Bai Ye, no longer afraid, landed beside them.
"Believing in a god was your biggest mistake."
Duan Chen flicked Bai Ye on the head, "Shut up, stop trying to sow discord."
Bai Ye blinked, stuck out his tongue innocently, and retreated, "Aye~ It's all up to you."
"Wu Suowei, what is going on here?"
Duan Chen glanced down into the abyss. Since Zhen Youdu had been released, the unrest below had intensified, as if something was trying to break free from the darkness.
An unsettling aura of evil emanated from it.
"You want to know?" Wu Suowei turned his face, looking at Duan Chen calmly. "Then use your own eyes, and see for yourself."
Wu Suowei extended his hand and covered Duan Chen's left eye with extreme speed.