The Veil Descends

Time seemed to stand still.

Kang De remained expressionless.

The excruciating pain that tore at the soul, the chaotic fragments of memories in the mind, the failed hunting plan, Cuixisi's escape... everything has already faded away in a clamor.

He gazed at the vast, flowing Purple River, filled with countless high-purity demonic gifts, churning and surging, corroding everything, its origin and destination unknown.

A Xing just fell into the river.

It all happened so fast, he didn't even have time to process it.

It's not that thinking has weakened, but rather that the brain refuses to process such information.

He suddenly remembered the wind and flowers of the Holy Seal Archipelago, the crazy and terrifying days he had just crossed over, the day he saw a pure white gorilla, and the years that had passed from fear to longing to despair to numbness, with that white figure always sitting beside him, silently watching him, and always listening quietly whenever he poured out his heart or had an outburst.

Thinking back to how we used to explore every corner of this island together, sometimes with Parrot on our shoulders, sometimes Pigeon, but always with A Xing following behind.

He also thought of the chaotic and bloody night in Glittering Sand, watching the knight turn into starlight and disappear. He had sworn to make sure that it would never happen again, but now he watched helplessly as she fell into this terrifying river that was no different from lava to living beings, without any struggle or splash.

"A Xing!"

Kang De's eyes turned bloodshot, and he roared, trying to charge down, but the Dragon Girl held him tightly. The dragon's strength was so formidable that even his enhanced body could not break free.

"Kang De! Don't be impulsive!"

"Let me go!"

Kang De roared, his figure transforming into a streak of light as he entered the White Mist World, appearing nearby the next moment and breaking free from the silver dragon's grasp. "Horus! Accelerate!"

The Transformers roared, "Father, now..."

"Shut up!" Kang De roared, "Or get out!"

"I refuse! Father! It's my responsibility to make sure you do the right thing!"

"Then come with me to find A Xing!"

"Listen, Father, I don't want to say things I shouldn't, but if..."

"No ifs!" Kang De roared. "If I can't find it, I'll go to Earth and steal a nuclear bomb to kill this bastard! He wants to restore the glory of the dragon race, doesn't he? Then I'll raze Dragon Island to the ground, I'll drain the blood of every dragon, I'll make the Long Yi completely extinct!"

Lily transformed into human form and flew over, grabbing Kang De's arm. "Calm down! Now is the time to stay calm! Kang De, this isn't the time to act impulsively, we must..."

Kang De's eyes were bloodshot, his whole body trembling. He clenched his teeth, breathing heavily, like a raging lion, staring intently at Lily, spitting out words through gritted teeth. "Leave. You must leave now, far away, down to the ground. I can't guarantee what will happen next..."

"Kang De!" Dragon Girl grabbed Kang De's wrist like an iron clamp, "We must leave first!"

"Let go!"

Just then, the River of Origin surged and churned, splashing water, and a massive, twisted, deformed body vibrated its wings and soared out, eight sharp whip-like tendrils piercing the air. "Kang De!"

Taking advantage of the brief respite, Cuixisi, who had just exchanged blows with A Xing, rushed into the River of Origin. The ever-flowing mysterious elements instantly entered her body, Aberrant Dragon devoured and absorbed them, filling her entire body with energy, repairing her damage, and strengthening her body. Almost instantly, she was back to almost full strength!

The twisted monster roared and attacked Kang De: "Die!"

Eight whips pierced the air with a loud bang, breaking the speed of sound and arriving in an instant. Lily's expression changed drastically. She pushed Kang De far away, clenched her fist, and turned around to retaliate.

However, she was deeply moved by what Kant had done about the ape, and her previous quick attack had consumed a lot of her strength. Her super-fast punches blocked the first wave of attacks, but Trissis was replenished by the River of Origin. At this time, the mutated power flowing through her body was used to attack. While Lily's new power was not yet generated, four more whips quietly arrived.

Blood splattered as Kang De, suspended in mid-air, saw a sharp flying blade pierce through Lily's abdomen, tearing open the flesh of her back, with a few drops of golden dragon blood sliding down its sharp edge.

The other whips transformed into tentacles, rapidly enveloping us from all directions.

Lily was the sacrifice.

The Dragon Girl swung her fist with all her might, scattering the restless tentacles, but the whip blade piercing her body continuously seeped out mysterious elements, infecting the silver dragon's body. She roared, "Run!"

Amidst the roar of artillery fire and the rapid bursts of armor-piercing rounds, which pierced through the twisted whip blade and propelled the projectiles forward, Kang De surged forward, reaching out to grab the writhing whip that was piercing Lily's body.

The Power of the Fire Thief surged at full speed. Kang De roared, yanked hard, and the Extraction annihilated the whip, snapping it in two. Below, Cuixisi cried out in pain, "What kind of power is this?!"

Kang De grabbed Lily and pulled her into his arms. A gash appeared in the Dragon Girl's abdomen, through which golden dragon blood and purple fluid swirled, her noble bloodline fighting against the corrosive mutation.

Her face was pale as she cried, "Go! Go quickly! We need reinforcements!"

"Father, we must leave!"

Horus made the decision himself, unleashing a blast of air from its thrusters and hurtling upwards.

Kang De pressed his hand against Lily's lower abdomen, the Power of the Fire Thief seeping in, Extraction the life-corroding venom.

Amidst the roars and howls of the beasts below, Cuixisi flapped her wings and took flight. "You can't escape!"

The Aberrant Dragon had fully recovered its strength, and with a roar, it continued to get closer to Kang De.

"Father!"

Horus shouted, "Take her back to the White Mist World immediately! We must retreat at once!"

With A Xing missing and Lily severely injured, they are now unable to fight against Cuixisi, who is backed by the River of Origin. This operation can be described as a complete failure, and they need to formulate the next countermeasure.

The mutated corruption within Lily's body had been completely eradicated, but the previous struggle against and suppression of this terrifying erosion had taken a heavy toll on the Dragon Girl, and her wounds were slow to heal. She weakly said, "Don't hesitate..."

Cuixisi's speed even surpasses Horus's jet propulsion. If she keeps running away, she will be caught sooner or later. At this point, she has lost the ability to fight. The best choice is to escape into the White Mist World.

But...

Kang De looked at Lily, whose face was pale and weak.

The Aberrant Dragon Luzi was brought into the White Mist World and survived. The initial hypothesis of the experiment is that the mysterious elements resisted the annihilation rules of the White Mist World.

He didn't have time to conduct further experiments, so he hastily equipped Lily and A Xing with gear containing harmless mysterious elements as a last-ditch effort.

He said at the time, "Trust me."

These two women believed him without hesitation.

He assumed the mysterious elements processed by the Fire Thief were harmless.

But just now, A Xing fell into this river.

So, should we bring Lily into the White Mist World?

What happens if the guess is wrong?

He carried Lily as they flew rapidly upwards through the deep, vast underground world. Time was of the essence, and danger was imminent. Kang De, usually a decisive and ruthless man, hesitated at this moment.

Because he could no longer afford such a risk.

If his guess was wrong, the moment he brought Lily into the White Mist World, that terrifying rule of annihilation took away the Dragon Girl's life and soul... He couldn't bear such an outcome.

"Hurry up and do what you want to do!"

Lily said weakly and urgently, "Didn't you say you had a way? I believe you, I've always believed you, so hurry up and do it... or it'll be too late!"

Kang De lowered his eyes.

Yes, they believed in him.

To protect him, they did it without hesitation, even knowing the risks involved in using mystical elements.

Horus also said that they were willing to take such a risk for Kang De.

Lily is the same now; she still chooses to trust, even if it means taking a risk.

"Sorry."

Kang De said softly, "I'm going to break my promise."

Lily was stunned, then heard Kang De call out, "Horus!"

The Transformers responded, "Here!"

Kang De paused for a moment, then said, "Leave immediately, take Lily with you, return to the entrance to the Underworld the way we came, and then head straight to the surface."

Even the Transformers, with its exceptional processing capabilities, was momentarily stunned before vehemently protesting, "I refuse! Father! There's no point in you staying! In terms of pure reaction and survival skills, you can't hold him off for even a second!"

"I'm not trying to stop him."

Kang De said calmly, "I'm going to kill him."

"I cannot agree with this! You can't act impulsively! This is..."

"I don't need your approval! I only need your obedience! Now take Lily and leave, or we'll be caught up with by him here and die together!"

Kang De coldly replied, "You can forcibly carry me with you, but only I can open the Phase Gate. Obey me, and we can survive together; otherwise, we'll both die here!"

Horus's voice was filled with extreme rage. "But you have no chance of winning if you stay here!"

"Bullshit!" the Fire Thief roared. "Do you think I'm a piece of trash with a combat power of only five without you by my side? Don't be so arrogant! Get out of here right now with her!"

Horus pleaded, "Father! Father!"

"... Listen to me, I am your father," Kang De said calmly. "You know I'm more afraid of death than anyone else, so I won't die. I will live, and I will live to bring her back."

After a brief silence, Kang De's armor trembled and his suit folded and contracted, transforming into two steel wings that spread and reformed, gripping Lily's waist and back.

Air jet.

Lily looked panicked. "Kang De, what are you going to do?"

Kang De smiled and said, "See you in a bit."

The Dragon Girl tried to struggle, but her severe injuries prevented her from exerting any strength. The vector nozzles propelled her with flames, accelerating her towards the passage above. Kang De watched the flames disappear before lowering his head.

The mutated monster charged forward in a frenzy.

Fighting alone.

It felt like I was back in Glittering Sand.

Alone and surrounded by enemies, he fought his way out in a bloody battle.

But he wasn't really fighting alone.

The Divine Ring of Stellar Authority shone with dazzling holy light, forming a radiant armor. Kang De extended a blade of light, his wings of light unfurled, and he hovered in the void, gazing down at Cuixisi.

The Aberrant Dragon paused for a moment, then burst into excited laughter.

"Heroic deeds! Even the humblest ant can occasionally accomplish feats that astound dragons," its voice twisted and roared, "But it's all meaningless; fate has already foreshadowed the end!"

Kang De said softly, "Yes."

With victory already secured, and the humans before him having inflicted immense damage and posed a significant threat, Cuixisi was no longer in a hurry to pursue Lily. Having escaped death and turned defeat into victory, he now completely trusted the Dragon God's oracle. Even if Lily escaped, she would eventually be captured and sacrificed by him. He was determined to savor the fruits of his victory.

He said in a low voice, "What, looking for your friend? Is that your woman? Do you see these hard stones? Do you see what happened to them after they sank into the River of Origin? Mortal bodies entering the Spirit River of Origin will only become dregs and dust. Your woman has vanished without a trace!"

"I don't believe it," Kang De whispered. "I must find her."

The images in his memory, the Extraction fragments of his soul, the Space-Time Flashback —he saw A Xing, the one carrying the flag, who, along with her companions, performed the sacrificial ritual, and was even closely related to the formation of this River of Origin... He believed that A Xing must still be alive.

He must believe it.

He had no choice but to believe.

"Then I'll send you to see her," Cuixisi said cruelly, "Painfully, slowly, gloriously."

Kang De's composure and calmness made him uneasy. This Cathayan had many tricks up his sleeve and had even almost killed him. An inexplicable intuition made him abandon the idea of toying with his prey.

The Aberrant Dragon launched a surprise attack, its whips and vines flying.

Faced with this fierce attack, Kang De closed his eyes.

"Thank you for your trust... Now it's my turn."

He opened his eyes, his wings of light unfurled, and he plunged downwards, his blades extending.

Below, the Aberrant Dragon roared and howled, its flying blades piercing through everything.

Just as the battle was about to begin, the Phase Gate opened, and Kang De's figure vanished into it, flashing with a ghostly light, instantly arriving beneath Cuixisi.

The Aberrant Dragon quickly turned around, preparing to intercept and retaliate, but Kang De did not launch a surprise attack from behind. Instead, he spread his arms and calmly fell.

Below is the vast, flowing Purple River.

Under Cuixisi's astonished gaze, the Fire Thief fell into the River of Origin without making a splash; the churning, flowing liquid mystical elements instantly engulfed his body.

"... A suicide pact?"

A look of confusion flashed in the Aberrant Dragon's eyes. "Strange ants."

But it doesn't matter anymore.

The oracle is what matters; Lily is the seventh sacrifice, so...

It was about to leave when it suddenly turned around, its swollen face showing disbelief.

--Given the bizarre and exaggerated facial deformities, the fact that it could display such an expression clearly indicates extreme astonishment.

In the River of Origin, which melts everything, corrodes living beings, and theoretically contains no alien matter, a figure slowly rose, parting the vast river like a reef.

His shirt melted away at a visible speed, revealing his bare torso. A shimmering purple fluid slid down his chest, the Magic Creature enough to corrode a dragon flowing over his skin like droplets of water, yet unable to penetrate it completely.

No, it wasn't that it couldn't penetrate, but rather that an invisible force was devouring this monstrous and violent substance, Extraction, decomposing, and absorbing it, making it docile and harmless. Cuixisi saw purple mist rising around the human's body, with a faint purple halo flowing around it. It saw the other person look up.

"What... what's going on?"

The scene before him filled him with disbelief. "No, impossible! Without the ascension of consciousness, even the Dragon Emperor cannot freely access this divine power, because this is a grace that no Mortal World body can bear... Who are you? Kang De! What are you?!"

Kang De stretched out his hand, a handful of liquid elements flowing between his fingers. "I don't know what sound you heard, but I've heard similar sounds before. It revealed a destiny I didn't accept, gave me gifts, charted my path, and said that destiny cannot be changed, everything is already predetermined."

"If this is fate..."

"Then I accept it."

He gazed at the Aberrant Dragon with its four wings spread in the sky, his eyes gleaming with a purple light.

"They were willing to take risks for me, trusted me wholeheartedly, and were willing to do dangerous things, even using this unknown and dangerous power... I've said it before, and so am I."

"I will face my destiny and future head-on... as long as I can bring her back."

"Just bring her back!"

A brilliant purple light shone forth, and the will of the Curtain Closer entered the mirror world of Earth, projecting onto the sky above Zhuerban, the capital of Gambia in West Africa. A vast and powerful soul was calling out and giving orders. Deep underground in Zhuerban, the sleeping insect hive throbbed like a heart, and the brilliant silver light breathed in and out, flashing and fading away.

The divine power of time and space flows and operates.

Behind the Fire Thief, a ghostly light shone, and a circular Phase Gate opened like a vortex, as if a black sun had risen from above the River of Origin.

On the other side, the sky was clear and the sun was warm. The Grewind Swarm, with wings forming a cloud, blocked out the sunlight and surged out of the portal. After being sealed and exiled for countless years, they sounded the horn to return to the Mortal World!

The Veil is falling!

￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥

PS1: Update... That felt good, time for bed!