Preparation

As the battle progressed, the fight between Chen Qiang and Toby grew increasingly intense.

Toby was surrounded by various gemstones of different colors floating in the air: red for explosions, blue for freezing, deep green for lethal poison, purple for illusions, black for consumption, cyan for whirlwinds, and yellow for flashes of light.

These gems were fired continuously at Chen Qiang, detonating rapidly in front of him. Chen Qiang would dodge the deep green poisonous gems, but he would simply tank the impact of all the others as he charged toward his opponent.

However, every time Chen Qiang neared him, Toby would use the yellow gemstone at the top of the cavern to rapidly shift his position, launching yet another wave of attacks.

Although their battle appeared fierce, the moments of actual close-quarters combat were rare. Aside from the few times Chen Qiang seized an opportunity to strike with the Seastone chains on his body, he spent most of the time on the receiving end of the assault.

Yet, Chen Qiang's cheat ability was truly formidable; even after continuous fighting and being covered in blood, he didn't have a single wound, as they healed the moment they appeared.

As the battle wore on, the advantage of Chen Qiang's side became increasingly obvious. After all, the timid fear the fierce, and the fierce fear those who have nothing to lose—and Chen Qiang's side consisted almost entirely of people who had nothing to lose. An hour into the fighting, the slave traders began to flee.

Once the first person ran, more slave traders followed suit. They wanted to rush out of the city, simply hoping to survive, but a group of people stood in their way—people who had discarded their fear of death.

Even if they suffered grievous injuries, they would bite a chunk of flesh off their enemies. In such a battle, even if the traders were powerful enough to take down one opponent, more would immediately swarm them.

Imagine stabbing someone through the heart, only for them to grab your hand with their dying strength, tackle you to the ground, and sink their teeth into you.

This caused the psychological pressure on the traders to mount until, finally, the remaining thousand-plus slave traders fled back into the city in terror.

Although Chen Qiang's side had emerged victorious, the casualties were significant. Of the more than five thousand slaves who had arrived, fewer than three thousand remained standing. The losses were undeniable.

Yet, there was no fear in the eyes of these survivors; instead, their gazes were even more resolute because of the battle they had just endured.

Chen Qiang had told them not to let fear occupy their hearts. As long as their inner resolve was firm, no matter how powerful the enemy, they could not be defeated. He told them to believe that everyone is the same: no matter who you are, if a blade cuts you, you will bleed; if your head is cut off, you will die.

As long as you do not fall, as long as you do not give up, victory will eventually belong to you. Besides, you are already slaves; do you want your descendants to be like you, worrying about imminent attacks, being captured as slaves, or being killed by pirates? Is this the life you want?

So, do not look at the fact that you have no one behind you right now. The reason you persist in fighting has never been for yourselves, but for those standing behind you—those you wish to protect.

This was what Chen Qiang had told the slaves after they were rescued and brought here. They felt it was the truth. If they ran away now, perhaps they could escape, but what about later? If they were captured as slaves again, what would they do? Would they be lucky enough to meet someone to save them again?

That was impossible to imagine. Therefore, they were not just seeking revenge; they were using the blades in their hands to carve out a path to the future.

Because Chen Qiang's people fought with a near-suicidal lack of fear, they managed to strike such terror into the enemy within an hour that the traders fled back into the city, not daring to show their faces again.

When Toby saw his side retreating and noticed several powerful slaves heading over to support Chen Qiang, he realized the situation had changed.

He was no match for Chen Qiang to begin with, thanks to the man's bizarre regenerative abilities. He had only come out with the slave traders to help them stall Chen Qiang, hoping to use the gems to board a ship and escape once they had seized one.

But now, that idea seemed entirely unrealistic. The slave traders were a useless bunch; they had only been fighting for an hour and had only lost half their numbers before retreating, completely failing to meet his expectations.

Since they had already retreated, there was no use in complaining. He couldn't stay here to withstand a siege from the entire group; he wasn't Chen Qiang, he didn't have that kind of recovery, and he would die if he kept holding out.

Without hesitation, once the slave traders retreated, he quickly used the gems on the cavern ceiling to leave the area and return to the city.

After the enemy retreated, Chen Qiang had the survivors move all the corpses to one place and stack them up, then arranged for the remaining slaves to board the ships and leave.

At first, the slaves were unwilling to leave. They wanted to follow Chen Qiang and build the world he spoke of—a world of equality, without oppression or war.

But Chen Qiang told them that only by leaving, spreading out to every corner of the world, and sharing his philosophy with more people could the world they longed for arrive sooner.

They were the seeds. Once they were scattered across the world and their ideals took root, the seeds would sprout, eventually growing into towering trees that would topple this decaying world and build a perfect one upon its ruins.

"Lin! You should leave too!"

Seeing the slaves board the ships and slowly depart from the harbor after giving Chen Qiang a resolute salute, Chen Qiang turned to Lin, who had been standing by his side since the battle ended.

Lin looked at him, puzzled. She didn't understand why he was saying this. Hadn't he agreed to let her follow him? Why was he asking her to leave now?

"Don't you have a piece of my finger with you? You can leave here with peace of mind. The next thing I'm going to do is destroy this place completely. I might end up buried here, but since you have my finger, I will be reborn by your side once I've destroyed this place!"

"Alright then!" Since she had joined Chen Qiang, Lin trusted his words implicitly. Furthermore, she longed for the world he had described, and she had seen the light in his eyes when he spoke of it. She believed he wouldn't throw his life away before seeing that world come to fruition.

So, after only a moment of hesitation, Lin nodded and agreed to his request.

"Remember to sail the ship far away. I don't want to appear later only to find the World Government surrounding me!"

Seeing her agree, Chen Qiang helped her onto a ship and said with a smile as she departed.

"Mm! I will!"

Lin nodded her adorable head in response.