Chapter 227: This Path Must Be Walked Alone
Dungeon 9, Central Castle.
Ding Ning and Hua stood together. After a few days’ rest, she was already in much better shape.
Although she hadn’t fully recovered, at least if she met other lords now, they wouldn’t notice anything off.
After several days, she stepped out of the castle and came to the entrance of the passage.
A few lords were still working hard to clear the trees from the passage. Besides them, there were several powerful subordinates helping out.
The Dark Forest spread quickly, and even with everyone cleaning together, progress was still slow.
Having another lord didn’t help much with speeding things up, but even evil spirits didn’t want to see someone else idly sitting by, reaping easy gains.
They truly wanted to get out—on the other side was unclaimed territory, and getting out earlier meant occupying a bigger slice.
Sure, they could clear the Dark Forest later, but why go through extra trouble when you could grab something easily?
Hua followed behind her, masking her aura.
Now she could ensure those lords couldn’t detect her weakened state, but she still had to play it safe.
Seeing her approaching, the group of lords laughed aloud.
"It’s been ages, you’ve gotta be over it by now, right?"
"Come on, wouldn’t it be nice to go out early and reunite with your hubby?"
"I checked out the situation outside, and it’s not looking good out there."
...
The lords looked toward Ding Ning as they spoke. Everyone knew a little about the current situation outside. No one blamed Ding Ning for not joining them in clearing the Dark Forest—it was her so-called husband who was doing the best out there now.
Most people had their own pawns in play.
But even those pawns were largely powerless in the face of the Dark Forest’s relentless spread.
If you opened a dungeon, it’d become a haven for surviving humans; if you didn’t, and hid your real strength, you’d struggle to survive in others’ dungeons.
Either way, nothing compared to Jiang Che’s freedom.
He could do whatever he wanted, completely unrestrained.
"Heh, you all really care about my personal life," Ding Ning let out a soft laugh, her eyes sweeping over them, emotionless.
"I don’t need to go out just yet, but thanks for your concern." She looked over in the direction where the Rabbit Sister was. "Rabbit Sister, there’s something I want to discuss with you. Is that okay?"
The rabbit-man’s eyes flickered for a moment; she glanced at Ding Ning and then at the group behind her.
She nodded lightly, then followed Ding Ning to the side.
At first, she was against connecting the world to the humans—like Ding Ning, she opposed it.
But things happened so fast, so suddenly.
She and Ding Ning hadn’t even had time to react before the gate was already open.
She wasn’t stubborn—since the passage had opened, she needed to fight for her own interests.
The lords watched them head off to the side, raising a barrier. No one said anything more, but the light in their eyes was unreadable.
"Rabbit Sister, you know I have a husband on the human side."
"I want him to get stronger, so he can protect himself. So, would it be possible for him to clear your dungeon too?"
"As payment, I’ll have him arrange someone for you over there, to create a dungeon territory for you." For lords like them, only new territory was truly valuable now.
"Clear my dungeon? Why?" Rabbit Sister didn’t immediately agree, even though Ding Ning’s offer was tempting.
The situation between the two worlds was complicated. Whoever struck first would win, and all these lords were currently stuck here.
"If I’m not mistaken, since you split off half of Dark Star’s energy body last time, his growth is already reaching its limit."
"Even if he clears another SSS-level dungeon, it won’t help him grow much more."
The exp from an SSS-level dungeon only matches Tier Five Peak.
Rabbit Sister understood basic levels—since humans first entered their territory, she couldn’t help but learn these things.
"That’s true, but I want him to get as close to the limit as possible." Ding Ning didn’t mention that clearing ten dungeons might change things, she just picked another reason.
"To be honest, I plan to deal with Dark Star—then there’ll be an empty king position."
The Evil Spirit Realm only had ten SSS-level lords, and they’d always called that spot the ’king position’."
Now, the kingship was full; unless a lord died, those below could only keep approaching SSS-level Tier Sixteen, but never break through.
"Double king?" Rabbit Sister’s eyes widened as she looked at Ding Ning. Like the other lords, she assumed Ding Ning was just playing around, or at best, that the person she was grooming would only reach the SS-level lord’s height.
He’d be easy to control, and wouldn’t pose a threat of rebellion.
"Yep." Ding Ning smiled gently, her eyes curving like a fox’s.
"Tsk—" Rabbit Sister frowned. What all of them feared most was one power monopolizing everything.
Whether it was Dark Star or Ding Ning’s so-called human husband.
She didn’t trust humans, either—she figured this human was just fooling Ding Ning, and once he became king, he’d show his true colors.
"Ning, you’re being a bit naïve." Rabbit Sister sighed. Among all the lords, her relationship with Ding Ning was pretty good.
They often discussed together, and most of the time, their opinions were aligned.
"Rabbit Sister, just help me out, okay?" Ding Ning clung to her furry paw like a spoiled child.
Rabbit Sister looked into her eyes, seeming unsure about something, then nodded.
"But I can’t just open my dungeon to him." Rabbit Sister said seriously. "If you like him, if you want to help him become king, he needs to have king-level strength."
"My dungeon won’t go easy on him—not even a little. He can come challenge it; I won’t intervene, but if he dies inside, well, that’s his fate." Rabbit Sister stared straight into Ding Ning’s eyes.
"If he really dies, I’ll find you someone prettier."
"Deal!" Ding Ning nodded. She never expected the other lords to make things easy for Jiang Che anyway. She’d put him through devil training, so he’d survive even if they made things harder.
Rabbit Sister looked at Ding Ning, surprised by how readily she agreed. For a moment, she couldn’t tell if Ding Ning genuinely liked that human or not.
If she really liked him, how could she so easily accept him risking death?
"If he dies by accident in my dungeon, it won’t affect us, right?"
"Of course." A look of sadness flashed across Ding Ning’s eyes.
Because on the path to becoming strong, the further you go, the more you have to walk alone.