Choice and Destiny

"Hiss------!"

Heiqi continued to charge deep into the spatial tunnel, ignoring the boy's exclamation. Instead, he let out a loud cry and gave his back a vigorous shake, leaving the boy stunned.

Having spent over a decade with Heiqi, Ye Chen knew deep down that this action was the horse's unique way of expressing disagreement.

Back when a young Ye Chen was learning to ride, whenever he made a mistake, Heiqi would shake his back just like this to remind him to pay attention to his oversights.

Now that Heiqi was repeating this behavior, it was naturally meant to convey a message to Ye Chen.

Ye Chen's expression froze. His gaze instinctively flicked toward the long blade he had just used to strike the Abyss Elite, only to discover that the surface of the blade was covered in pitch-black sludge, as if it had been overtaken by river moss!

He had clearly shaken off all the Abyss flesh that had clung to the blade earlier, yet even so, the scattered remnants left on the edge had regenerated and multiplied in the blink of an eye.

These disgusting things had even turned the tables, completely covering and devouring the blood of Ye Chen that had been on the blade's edge. They then writhed and spread frantically, greedily crawling toward the palm Ye Chen used to grip the hilt!

My blood... can't even suppress the regeneration of this Abyss Matter?

Witnessing this, Ye Chen was horrified and instinctively wanted to throw away the long blade along with the Abyss Matter.

However, at that moment, a surge of scorching Auling Power flowed rapidly from the horse's back into Ye Chen's body, then poured into his long blade. It boosted the purifying power that restrained the Abyss, burning the Abyss Matter on the blade away instantly and leaving the steel smooth and gleaming once more.

"Hiss------!"

After saving the boy for the second time, the old horse let out another long cry, allowing the boy to hear his inner thoughts in a flash.

Do not make contact with them; leave everything to me!

Hearing Heiqi's voice, Ye Chen's brows relaxed with emotion, and for a moment, his throat tightened, leaving him unable to speak.

As things stood, Heiqi was the only family he had left to rely on, and just like Lyle, he would use his formidable strength to protect his life at all costs.

This mount was exactly like his master; as a powerhouse, he was fiercely protective of his own.

"Thank you, Heiqi. I will do my best not to hold you back."

Ye Chen paused for a long time before finally squeezing out these words of gratitude in a choked voice. Heiqi did not respond, instead silently carrying Ye Chen forward as he leaped ahead, focusing all his attention on finding the exit of the spatial tunnel.

A few minutes later, behind the man and horse, the Abyss Elite that had been knocked over by Ye Chen's Blood Bullet, along with two others that had been slashed back by Heiqi's Pitch-Black Scythe, regrouped. They then resumed their ghostly movements, chasing directly after Ye Chen and Heiqi.

Ye Chen looked back and realized that the three Abyss Elites had already recovered from their injuries. His brows tightened, and he immediately took the Red Blood Flower Tea from his handkerchief, gulped down several mouthfuls, and focused all his energy on forging a second "Blood Bullet."

In such a desperate situation where the enemy held the advantage, the only thing he could do was use this final resort to assist Heiqi from the sidelines.

The Abyss Elites moved shoulder to shoulder. Once they closed the distance to a certain point, they simultaneously launched a siege on Heiqi, who posed the greatest threat.

"Heiqi, they're coming again!"

At Ye Chen's warning, Heiqi clamped the long scythe in his mouth and turned back to launch a surprise counterattack. However, the enemies dodged quickly; their flesh only suffered a few shallow cuts from the Pitch-Black Scythe. They immediately crossed paths, attacking every part of Heiqi's body from different, tricky angles.

Heiqi moved with seasoned expertise, flapping and turning under the onslaught of the three monsters while continuously swinging his long, sharp scythe. The three monsters followed closely, dodging and weaving while lashing out with the fangs hanging from their arms.

One horse and three monsters engaged in a deadly, back-and-forth chase amidst the ever-changing stardust scenery. In less than a minute, they had exchanged hundreds of blows. The intensity of the struggle was far beyond anything Ye Chen could intervene in.

However, even under the cutting of the sharp scythe, the pitch-black bodies of the Abyss Elites suffered constant wounds, yet they returned to perfect condition in the blink of an eye due to their terrifying regenerative power.

On Heiqi's side, to protect Ye Chen from being contaminated by the Abyss in the slightest, he took countless attacks head-on that he could have otherwise dodged, and blood began to stain his pitch-black fur.

Moving at such high speeds while fighting three opponents, Heiqi clearly couldn't accurately strike the Abyss Core of any of the black monsters, and the constantly accumulating wounds on his body meant he could only temporarily hold his ground against this group of Abyss Monsters.

The situation for the boy and the old horse was undoubtedly becoming increasingly perilous.

Ye Chen was drenched in sweat. While gripping the reins tightly, his gaze shifted back and forth between the three Humanoid Octopus monsters, but no matter how he searched for a flaw, he could not find a suitable moment to fire.

If this continues, Heiqi won't be able to hold on.

Just as Ye Chen was filled with anxiety, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared at the distant end of the spatial tunnel—the exact same light that had appeared when the Broken Statue opened the tunnel entrance.

Clearly, that was the exit of this spatial tunnel.

Ye Chen's eyes lit up, and he immediately shouted a reminder to Heiqi. Although he didn't know if fortune or disaster awaited them on the other side, he could only pray that the light would help them escape this dangerous predicament!

Heiqi dodged another fierce round of attacks from the Abyss pursuers and cast a difficult glance toward the light at the end of the tunnel. A glimmer of hope flickered in his strained eyes.

He gritted his teeth, endured the excruciating pain, and forcibly broke through the encirclement of the three Abyss Elites, charging toward the tunnel exit with all his might.

Realizing the intent of Ye Chen's side, the three Abyss Elites immediately began to dissolve themselves. Connecting their bodies at the points of rupture, they rapidly fused into a terrifying giant beast with hundreds of tentacles and hundreds of eyeballs. It then surged forward, chasing after Ye Chen and Heiqi at full speed.

Clearly, the pursuers from the Abyss did not want to let their targets escape the spatial tunnel; they wanted everything to end within this colorful, starry space!

The aura of the fused Abyss Elite rose rapidly, as if it had suffered significant backlash.

However, at the same time, its speed and power jumped by several levels, and in the blink of an eye, it caught up to Ye Chen and Heiqi.

The next moment, countless fangs-bearing tentacles flooded over the boy and the old horse like a tsunami.

Ye Chen did not hesitate to fire, using a "Blood Bullet" to carve a small opening through the pile of tentacles.

Heiqi spotted this opening, bit down hard on his scythe, and swung his neck desperately, carving a bloody path forward through the thicket of tentacles.

However, the tentacles from the Abyss seemed to grow endlessly; the more they were cut, the denser they became. The momentum of the blockade increased, and the light at the end of the tunnel became increasingly faint and ethereal in the eyes of Ye Chen and Heiqi.

"Hmph-woo------------!"

Just as hope was about to vanish completely, the old horse Heiqi seemed to have made up his mind. He suddenly raised his head and let out a loud cry, then violently reared up, throwing the boy on his back through the small gap in the pile of tentacles, launching Ye Chen with all his might toward the final glimmer of light in the distance.

"Heiqi!?"

Caught off guard as he was thrown from the pile of tentacles, Ye Chen reached out in shock and cried out. He never expected the horse to act so decisively and ruthlessly.

However, Old Ma, who was about to be completely engulfed by the tentacles, no longer shouted at the youth, merely nodding silently toward him, just like that man, making his choice heroically and facing his fate with composure.

The tentacles shrouded Heiqi's entire body, yet Heiqi took advantage of this, suddenly opening his maw wide to bite down fiercely onto the terrifying beast's body, dragging its form back in turn, making it unable to swim forward another step or pursue the youth's figure any further.

The vicious beast roared, and the black horse let out a long cry.

The two fierce beasts grappled together just like that, eventually tumbling toward the other end of the spatial tunnel.

"Heiqi------------------!"

The youth roared in despair, but as he flew into the center of the light and into the exit of the tunnel, Old Ma's figure finally vanished at the edge of the youth's vision along with the vicious beast, disappearing together at the far end of those myriad stars.

Trial Arc concluded, Survival Arc begins.