Chapter 229: Danger is Nearby
The Longxiang Army’s camp was about twenty kilometers in a straight line from Yumen Pass. Outside Yumen Pass, the Gobi Desert was nearly a flat road; under normal circumstances, galloping for half an hour would suffice, but the four people led by Luxianbei moved slowly.
As the Longxiang Army clashed with the “monsters” of the Shaman Queen, the flames of war ignited instantly and blossomed like fireworks in the vast yellow sand, spreading everywhere.
Amidst the roars and shouts, fueled by bl**d and bones, the fire grew fiercer, and in the crackling of the flames, the sounds of grief intertwined.
Whether it was the Longxiang Army, which had been lurking in the vast Gobi for a long time, or the various righteous heroes gathered by Longxiang, or the warriors from numerous tribes who had submitted to the Shaman Queen, they were all like moths drawn to the flame, gathering constantly towards the fiercest fire, fearless of d*ath.
The brutal battle and fierce conflicts erupted not just in one place; almost every few kilometers, a battlefield could be encountered, varying in scale from dozens to hundreds, like meat grinders running at full power on the desert, continuously churning through flesh and bl**d.
The wind whipped up sand and gravel, carrying a subtle scent of bl**d, with deep gray ashes seemingly from something burning, dancing like butterflies amid the grains of sand.
Yet, this intensely engaged war, and everything related to it, seemed irrelevant to the four escorting two iron boxes back to Yumen Pass. Whenever encountering any combat, they would quietly detour around it, guided by Zhu Sanming’s familiarity with the surrounding terrain, even if it meant taking a detour of several kilometers or even more.
They seemed to be a rare breed amidst swarms of moths, flying against the light, diverging from the flames, out of place.
In Luxianbei’s words to Shen Baiwei, “No matter what, we must deliver the two iron boxes back to Yumen Pass. Since a battle has already broken out more than ten kilometers away, could there be one closer? Under the city walls?”
“It’s not time to fight yet. Before we must engage in battle, we need to conserve our strength as much as possible.”
Luxianbei was always inclined to envision the worst possible outcomes, and the worst possible result for their journey was arriving at Yumen Pass only to find the Shaman Queen’s army already at their gates. At that point, entering the city would be unavoidable…
They continued to move forward.
Along the way, aside from the occasional comments from Zhu Sanming while leading, the four mostly remained silent.
The two young Longxiang Army armor soldiers bore their mission in mind, as they thought of their comrades fighting valiantly, and had no mood to engage with anyone else.
Since being pulled by Luxianbei and coldly ignoring the rest of the Longxiang Army, Shen Baiwei seemed to have been shocked into silence, not speaking anymore, and as they continued on, she began to ignore even more d*ath, rendering her completely numb.
Like a soulless puppet, she sat dumbly on the horse, color drained from her face, her gaze hollow, in a daze.
Noticing Shen Baiwei’s abnormal state, Luxianbei quietly inquired, “Are you okay? If you’re feeling unwell… um, should I get you some hot water?”
Shen Baiwei glanced at the flickering flame appearing in Luxianbei’s palm, rolled her eyes, and silently shook her head, “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”
To come up with an idea to heat water for a girl at this moment, even calamity could be considered unique.
“That’s good to hear.” After hearing Shen Baiwei’s words, Luxianbei nodded and withdrew his attention from her.
Although Shen Baiwei’s state seemed not quite as she had claimed, that she was perfectly alright, at this moment, Luxianbei was preoccupied and had no energy to delve into what affected Shen Baiwei’s condition.
Ever since she shared a long-distance gaze with the Shaman Queen, her witch species’ urban legend core seemed to have taken a stimulant, becoming extremely agitated.
The sharp bone spines of the urban legend core quaked, pressing against her heart, causing it to beat irregularly, bringing relentless, unbearable pain.
The chilling spirit energy surged with her disordered heartbeat from the urban legend core, which was almost merged with her heart, spreading through her bl**d vessels to her limbs, as if trying to freeze her body.
The urban legend core of the witch species seemed to be urging her in a cruel way to follow the instinct from Lilith’s power.
Just like when the urban legend core, infused with [Royal Authority], heard Xia Lianqing and the requests from numerous urban legend-transformed Longxiang Army soldiers, seeing the suffering of life at Yumen Pass would compel her to save.
Under the influence of the Shaman Queen’s power, Luxianbei’s witch urban legend core was also awakened to its instinct, prompting Luxianbei to k*ll, to create chaos, to gain more bl**d to nourish it, allowing it to grow into a terrifying being like its mother.
Like the night, the moon, the storm, and bl**d and d*ath…
Luxianbei nearly mobilized all of her spirit energy to suppress the agitation of her witch urban legend core, but the result was a fragile stability, ready to collapse at any moment, accompanied by intense physical pain.
If not for her body having been reshaped through Wang Ying’s flesh and bl**d, its strength now unparalleled, she could have accidentally torn the spirit energy clashing within her into pieces.
What troubled Luxianbei was that the pain coursing through her body didn’t feel like suffering; instead, it filled her with an extraordinary excitement, even more than when she accidentally absorbed the “treasure” of the Moon Palace Fairy during her journey of dreams come true!
It was as if the pain in her body, and all the suffering in this world, had become a source of her joy.
Sometimes, looking at the figures of Li Tietou and Zhu Sanming ahead, she even conceived some cruel and horrifying thoughts.
“What if I tortured them right before reaching our destination?”
“Let them watch their important mission crumble to dust in an instant, listening to their cries of despair, witnessing their unwilling eyes gradually lose focus—what a wonderful thing it would be!”
“Forget about Shen Baiwei; how beautiful she looked in that small room! Like a work of art!”
“And…”
This extreme and distorted excitement also brought severe hallucinations, whispering sounds barely audible to the human ear, rising from deep within her chest—pain, anxiety, panic, depression…
Those whispers roared, inciting, howling, merging with the angry shouts from the battlefield, the heart-wrenching wails, and the jarring buzzing of clashing weapons, creating a nearly perfect fusion, blurring the boundaries between reality and illusion.
For a moment, Luxianbei couldn’t tell whether these terrible voices came from inside her body or from some unseen battlefield.
And beneath the cover of those horrifying voices, familiar yet strange descriptions of authority echoed in her mind.
“It is the mist that blinds the eyes, the star that leads the storm, her child, and the lips that extinguish light and kiss darkness; as red as carnage and decay, as pale as sorrow and silence; it is the formless fear and the tangible chaos…”
“…”
The descriptions of the witch species’ authority quietly became more complete and detailed; this was no good omen…
How could this be? Was it merely influenced by the power of the Shaman Queen?
Fortunately, for now, she could still suppress it, Luxianbei thought.
———
More than an hour had passed since departing from the Longxiang Army camp. Although Shen Baiwei had remained silent, her thoughts had not ceased the entire time.
Though from Luxianbei’s perspective, she seemed to have been stimulated and closed herself off, Shen Baiwei knew very well that it was not the case.
She was just worried whether agreeing to the Longxiang’s request had been the wrong decision, and whether she could hold out long enough to successfully escort the two iron boxes to Yumen Pass…
In fact, just like Luxianbei, influenced by the agitation of her witch urban legend core, she was also eroded by the spirit pattern authority, and that intense erosion began the moment she agreed to Longxiang’s request.
Those chaotic black lines, representing the harbingers of the punishment of time, danced wildly inside her, like thousands of sharp threads constantly slicing through her flesh, bones, down to her nerves, cells, and even her soul.
At the same time, in her vision, the others couldn’t see the illusory and hideous giant snake that lingered at a distance, its terrifying body covered in enormous scales appearing sporadically in the vast yellow sand. When it crawled, the faint scraping sound of the scales against each other was clearly audible, accompanied by the chilling aura stirred by its flicking tongue, gently brushing against her cheek…
Shen Baiwei couldn’t remember where she had read it, but a significant number of venomous snakes injected venom into their prey using their fangs, and the prey wouldn’t d*e immediately.
d*ath often approached them gradually over a long time, and during that time, the venomous snake would linger nearby, patiently waiting for its prey to succumb to the poison.
Shen Baiwei felt that the moment she agreed to Longxiang’s request, she became the prey injected with venom, and that the spirit pattern authority, which had never fully been under her control, was the snake waiting for her to d*e from the poison.
“…”
What would happen if the spirit pattern authority devoured her?
Would I d*e? Or would I be trapped forever in that terrifying room, not to separate from those past “selves”?
Maybe, because of the uncontrolled spirit patterns, I would turn into a terrifying monster…
Shen Baiwei thought, glancing at Li Tietou and Zhu Sanming ahead, then slightly tilting her head to discreetly look at the calamity behind her, and silently sighed.
Should I tell them that the danger doesn’t lie in the battle they do not know when they will encounter, but has always been right by their side?
If they left me now, wouldn’t it be safer for them?
Such thoughts rose in Shen Baiwei’s mind, as if provoking the unseen giant snake, an intense feeling of invisible binding suddenly enveloped her body, as if being constricted by a giant python, tightening gradually.
The sensation of suffocation hit her; Shen Baiwei, already weak, felt her consciousness swirl, her body swaying a few times before she fell from her horse to the ground…
“Thud!”
A dull sound resonated, sending unsettling spirit energy fluctuations spreading out, invading the awareness of Luxianbei. She pulled her mind back from the struggle with her witch urban legend core, tilting her head to observe the unconscious Shen Baiwei on the ground, her brows furrowing into a tight knot.
What the hell? What’s going on? Didn’t she say she was fine and not to worry? How come I’m still holding on, yet she collapses first? Luxianbei thought.
