"What a place full of hidden talents!" Chen Beixun couldn't help exclaiming.
If the Universe Level opponent he'd fought survived, there was little doubt he could grow to become a Domain Lord or even a World Lord.
What kind of existence was a World Lord? A king in his own domain.
"We should go." Chen Beixun pinched An Changyan's nose.
"Mm."
The two of them got up and flew away, transforming into streaks of flowing light.
Slanted Axe Tower had a total of sixty-four large spaces and nearly a million smaller ones. After so much exploration, they'd been given names.
For instance, the space Chen Beixun was currently in was one of the large spaces, called Tuat Space. A Domain Lord had named it after himself. Everyone accepted the name because that Domain Lord had published a map of Tuat Space.
Inside Tuat Space
"The map." Chen Beixun flew through the air and glanced at it. A projection of the map appeared above his arm. He muttered to himself, "I never thought anyone would be so kind."
"There are 'pioneers' everywhere," An Changyan said. "It's perfectly normal."
At that, Chen Beixun smiled faintly. "They just want to bring this battle for supremacy to an end sooner."
"The various factions are constantly at odds right now. It's best to end this sooner and avoid a greater conflict."
"Here... the organizations and factions are enemies. Outside, they're business partners."
Time passed, and the two arrived at the place where Pavadode's coordinates had vanished.
"Not a single trace?" Chen Beixun crouched on the ground, carefully examining his surroundings.
A Domain Lord's battle should have caused a great deal of destruction. Yet there wasn't a trace here—not even any bloodstains.
"It's so clean, it looks like nobody's ever been here," An Changyan said.
"Something's wrong!" Chen Beixun stood up.
The area felt like a slaughterhouse to him—a clean, orderly, systematically run slaughterhouse, as if it were being maintained by someone with extreme obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The more uneasy Chen Beixun felt, the harder he thought. He sensed everything around him growing darker.
A vague terror circled overhead, watching him and looking down on him.
"No! It's not just a feeling. It really is getting darker!" Chen Beixun pulled An Changyan to his side, breaking out in a cold sweat. For once, he felt an unusual urge to avoid fighting.
His body was taking control of him. It sensed that whatever was coming couldn't be beaten.
"Run!" Chen Beixun pulled An Changyan onto the Gold Shuttle and sped away.
The surroundings were darkening rapidly. The ink-black darkness completely blocked their vision.
Everything around them forced Chen Beixun to push himself to his limits.
He moved anxiously through the darkness, relying on Qishan's guidance to barely find a route.
The darkness was far too strange. Without Qishan's guidance, they would probably have wandered in circles.
After a while, light suddenly appeared.
Once Chen Beixun had flown some distance out, he wanted to look back and try to make sense of what had happened.
Boom!
A bolt of lightning struck without warning.
Along with the deafening crash came wild arcs of electricity.
"Demon Island Vine!" Chen Beixun shouted.
Several crimson vines extended from his back and twisted together in front of him, forming a barrier.
The arcs of electricity struck the barrier, crackling loudly.
Chen Beixun frowned, then put An Changyan into the World Ring.
Now he was alone, standing in the air on the Gold Cloud Shuttle.
Chen Beixun felt utterly numb inside. He didn't know what kind of attack would come next. He could only wait quietly for death to arrive.
"An Changyan comes from a great family. She should be safe... shouldn't she?" Chen Beixun thought.
He was calm, as if a mountain could collapse in front of him without making him bat an eye.
His fear didn't grow into something worse. It simply... stayed with him.
Perhaps he'd already accepted his fate. A deep sadness rose in him. He felt he'd let down Qishan's hopes, and the Church's, too. He'd also failed An Changyan and her feelings for him.
"If only I were a little stronger..."
"Then I wouldn't have had to be a slave. I wouldn't have had to watch my friend die, helpless to do anything."
"There's no such thing as a transmigrated nobody rising to greatness. It's just a matter of facing reality somewhere else."
Chen Beixun lifted his head. He stopped thinking about the danger lurking in the shadows.
"If I die, Qishan... choose one of the people who killed me to inherit you," Chen Beixun said to Qishan through their mental link.
"Heh. The road is right beneath your feet," Qishan snorted. "Go on. Walk it boldly."
Chen Beixun gritted his teeth and brought An Changyan back out. He asked her for the E6-grade weapon he'd given her earlier, then put her back into the World Ring.
Chen Beixun gently stroked the rectangular silver-white object in his hand.
An opening suddenly appeared in the silver-white object, just wide enough for him to put his arm inside.
"Heh." Chen Beixun sneered.
Why sit and wait for death? Better to face the fight openly. Even if death was coming, he'd meet it head-on and throw a punch with all his might.
Just then, a whistle sounded in the distance, coming from the northwest. It grew closer and closer.
"Here it comes!" Chen Beixun steadied himself and aimed his left arm toward the northwest.
At once, energy gathered at the end of the E-grade weapon on his left arm.
Boom!
A blue beam shot from the end of the weapon.
A terrifying shock wave spread in every direction!
Three seconds before firing, Chen Beixun had cut off his own arm. He'd set the weapon to maximum power, and the force of an attack like this was more than he could easily withstand.
A brilliant blue light flared in the northwest, like a star. It changed rapidly, shifting into all sorts of shapes as its brightness continued to intensify.
The blue light changed, turning green. The moment it did, its brightness diminished. Now it looked like a green cloud, from which countless dazzling rays rolled out.
"Whew..." Chen Beixun emerged from a dome-shaped shell of Demon Island Vine that had covered him and pressed against the ground.
"Is it dead for sure?" Chen Beixun said.
Three seconds had given him enough time to escape some distance, then use the Demon Island Vine's formidable defenses to block the shock wave.
"Hello!"
A voice struck his mind like a thunderclap.
"You've got some nerve, using an E-grade weapon."
The voice echoed by his ear, but he couldn't find its source.
"My name is Xiang Zhixing. What's yours?"
"What's your name?"
"What's your name?"
The voice repeated itself over and over, each time striking Chen Beixun's heart.
He seemed to have fallen into a distorted space. Time was locked in place, and everything else was locked in place, too.
"My name is Chen Beixun. What's yours?" Chen Beixun said.