Chapter 156: The Path Paved by the Dead for the Living

【The path to survival is tough, you lead the Army of Survival, fighting demons day and night.】

【Your body wears out in battle, overused time and again, now riddled with wounds beyond ordinary comprehension.】

【Perseverance trait in effect…】

【You struggle to live, maintaining the flow of Qi and Blood, unleashing greater strength to help carve a safer path.】

【Your body worsens.】

【Luckily, you see the dawn’s light.】

【After traversing mountains and rivers, overcoming countless dangers, you and the Army of Survival finally see the end of the Ten Thousand Mountains.】

【People laugh heartily, tears in their laughter. You watch, feeling joy, yet silently plan to stay behind alone.】

【You are a dying soul, with no life left.】

【Rather than lingering, you choose to do one last thing for them, to block the most terrifying demons.】

【But, the people you’ve long protected refuse you this time.】

【They drug your soup, rendering you unconscious. When you wake, Wu Yingxue has gone to hold the enemy.】

【You rush to the battlefield at full speed.】

【You see her, blood-soaked, spear shattered, legs half-crippled, a tragic sight, a resolve to die so you may live.】

【Paper flowers stained with blood, silent and cold.】

【Once, you thought she had discarded the paper flower, but now you see she kept it close.】

Time, like a cycle.

Xu Xi first met Wu Yingxue when she was being chased, severely injured.

Round and round.

Xu Xi “finds” her near death again.

Under her trembling, tearful gaze.

Xu Xi doesn’t criticize the princess’s self-sacrifice, nor scold her harshly, but gently takes her bloodied hand.

Infusing Qi and Blood into her depleted body.

Helping her stand again.

“Sorry, Yingxue.”

“I came too late.”

Xu Xi’s voice is soft, like a feather floating, soothing, exuding a strange comfort.

Yet, this voice.

Becomes the last straw for the girl.

Her dull eyes, watching Xu Xi, tears silently fall, expressing uncontrollable grief.

“…Sir, no.”

“…Please, don’t do that.”

Wu Yingxue senses something.

Her body trembles, using all her strength to keep Xu Xi by her side.

Bloodied fingers cling to Xu Xi’s robe, but he just looks at her gently, shaking his head slightly.

“Yingxue, you’ve done enough.”

“Leave the rest to me, okay?”

Gently pressing her wrist.

Pushing away her already weak hands.

Then, Xu Xi hands the blood-stained, soggy paper flower to Wu Yingxue.

The girl has indeed grown, much more than Xu Xi remembers.

Xu Xi is pleased, and moved.

The once impulsive young princess, after ten years, has become someone trustworthy.

Xu Xi loves this growth, and looks forward to her becoming even more outstanding.

So.

He will carve a true path for Wu Yingxue, for everyone in the Army of Survival.

…

Crack, crack.

Xu Xi steps towards the dragon-robed demon, his body emitting cracking sounds, under the demon’s indifferent then shocked gaze.

The feeling is subtle.

The pseudo-world of Qi and Blood slowly ascends to a true world.

Substantial, tangible.

Merging with flesh, built with acupoints.

Yet, the figure exuding domineering Qi and Blood reveals a despairing silence, igniting life’s flame in the vast night.

“Defying the Principles of Heaven and Earth, scattering the Martial Soul?”

“Madman, you’re a madman!”

“A good Human Immortal, yet you do such foolish things!”

The dragon-robed demon is furious, facing the increasingly formidable Xu Xi, feeling the world’s upheaval, he involuntarily steps back.

Xu Xi knows what he’s doing.

It’s the dead returning to the world.

The dying burning everything.

Using himself as fuel, igniting the final flame.

In the rising flames, Xu Xi, once a quasi-Human Immortal, truly becomes a Martial Dao Immortal.

Power surges within, Qi and Blood dye the sky red.

“Let’s fight, we have many scores to settle.”

Xu Xi’s aura grows stronger.

The demon transforms into a green-scaled flood dragon, dragon eyes like sun and moon, claws grasping mountains.

Roaring, the Ten Thousand Mountains tremble.

Xu Xi remains calm, his attack unchanged, simply clenching his fist, punching forward.

This punch is for A Niu.

Boom——!!!

Qi and Blood like an ocean, engulfing all.

A simple, slow fist, with overwhelming force, illuminates the world, striking towards the flood dragon.

Man and dragon battle, myth relived.

The intense fight is beyond Wu Yingxue’s comprehension.

She only knows, much blood, so much blood, falls from the sky.

Some demon blood.

Some, Xu Xi’s blood.

“Fool, big fool,” cries echo in the silent night.

The best fool in the world, the stupidest idiot.

Before.

The girl especially liked having Great Master Xu shield her from storms, feeling safe.

Only this time, she doesn’t want it.

No matter what, she doesn’t want it.

But, the world’s course doesn’t change by human will, Wu Yingxue can do nothing, she can only watch the sky, the final burn.

…

After an unknown time, the sky’s battle quiets.

With a piercing dragon’s cry.

The roaring fist pierces the dragon’s body, its force creating a wide, flat path through the mountains.

A display of martial might.

A path for the living, carved by the dead.

In the silent night, after the dragon’s fall, a figure falls from the sky.

Shattered? Near death? Horrifying?

The body is too ruined, words fail to describe, leaving a strong visual impact.

“Sir!”

“Sir!”

Without hesitation.

Wu Yingxue, half-crippled, falls, crawls, rushes to the falling figure.

She sees, clearly sees.

The familiar figure’s shocking wounds.

Torn flesh reveals bones, some organs.

Weak breaths, fading into nothingness.