Chapter 243 - 237: Aren’t You Coming Along?
’Could it be...’
’Did all the senior brothers who died in the secret realm go back to their rooms after they got out?’
Just as he was feeling confused, a familiar figure appeared at the edge of the square not far away.
Wang Xiedi looked closely.
It was Dong Changsheng.
He saw him waving anxiously in his direction.
Wang Xiedi’s heart leaped with joy, and he hurried over.
He had been wanting to ask Mr. Dong where the people who had died and left the secret realm before him had gone, and to exchange information about the situation inside.
"Mr. Dong! You’re still around? By the way, have you seen..."
He was halfway through his sentence when he was cut off by an urgent telepathic message from Dong Changsheng.
[Dong Changsheng]: Mr. Wang! Stop talking! Listen to me!
The next second, the information that came from Dong Changsheng made the expression on Wang Xiedi’s face freeze instantly.
[Dong Changsheng]: The demonic sect is empty right now. Ye Longtao has already taken the other junior brothers and headed southeast. They’re preparing to meet up with the Sect Leader, who is coming to get us!
[Dong Changsheng]: Sigh! Ye Longtao was having some conflicts with the junior brothers before, but I managed to turn the tide and sort everything out! Don’t you worry! The Sect Leader is already on his way! You should hurry, too!
’The Sect Leader... is coming to get us himself?’
Wang Xiedi’s heart trembled.
’Is this undercover journey... finally coming to an end?’
He subconsciously glanced around.
The wind whistled through the palace halls, stirring up a few withered yellow leaves that spun across the stone slabs with a soft RUSTLE.
Everything around him was so quiet that Wang Xiedi could hear his own heartbeat.
In this silence, scene after scene from his past slowly unfolded in his mind.
He remembered the Jade-faced Mantis and that absurd, fleeting first love.
He remembered how fainting because of that Grievance Beast had caused him to fail his mission on the spot.
He remembered the sight of Miss Su’s back, never retreating even in the face of danger.
Finally, he remembered his Eldest Senior Brother—the one who was always so infuriating and unreliable, who would look down on him for all sorts of strange reasons, yet would always save him at the critical moment.
The fear, absurdity, humiliation, warmth...
All of it now coalesced into a complex, indescribable emotion that clogged his chest.
’Just like that... I’m leaving...?’
’Leaving this place that has brought me so much torment, yet has also given me thrilling experiences so different from my past?’
He didn’t know what would happen to the Guixi Sect after he left, or what would happen to him.
’This sect, full of secrets and madness, will probably go on staging incomprehensible events, just as it always has.’
He shook his head and gave a self-deprecating smile.
’This demonic sect is so powerful, its foundations so unfathomably deep. Why would it need a nobody in the Qi Refining Stage like me to worry about it?’
[Wang Xiedi]: Mr. Dong, what about you? Aren’t you coming with us? Besides... aren’t Miss Su and Mr. Li still inside!
[Dong Changsheng]: I, Dong Changsheng, have received great kindness from Miss Su and all my fellow disciples. I would never abandon you! Rest assured, as soon as Miss Su and Mr. Li get out, I will inform them of the news immediately!
[Dong Changsheng]: I will hold the rear! When Lin Qingfeng and those other demons emerge, I’ll find a way to hold them back!
[Dong Changsheng]: All of you, run! Any later and it’ll be too late! Go! Don’t let my sacrifice be in vain!!
Looking at Dong Changsheng’s resolute gaze, Wang Xiedi was deeply moved.
He no longer hesitated.
He took one last look at the main hall towering in the distance, at the steps where he had shed his sweat, at this land that had held all his nightmares, and perhaps, his growth.
Then, he turned around, leaving all his longing and reluctance behind him.
The path ahead was a road home, and also a new beginning.
He finally broke into a run, heading toward the Guixi Sect’s main gate.
However, a vague and unsettling premonition lingered in his heart.
...
Watching Wang Xiedi’s retreating figure, Dong Changsheng nodded in satisfaction.
Of course, he wanted to leave too.
’But that’s not how a decent person behaves!’
’Miss Su and Mr. Li are still inside, completely unaware. How could I escape alone?’
’I, Dong Changsheng, am a powerful expert who repays his debts of gratitude. I must repay Su Ling’er and Mr. Li for their kindness!’
He suppressed his own desire to flee immediately and waited patiently for Su Ling’er or Li Chunfeng to appear...
...
The light of the "Dawn Shelter" slowly faded.
The dozens of surviving players, along with the revived players who had swarmed in, had no chance to catch their breath before they immediately launched a new round of attacks.
Under their relentless siege, the health of the [Light-Devouring Shadow] was finally pushed down to the last 20%!
"ROAR—!!!!"
The boss let out a heaven-shaking roar and entered its final berserk phase!
Third Form: Time of Guixi
It activated its final skill.
Boundless darkness instantly swallowed the entire platform.
After going berserk, the boss’s attacks became even more frenzied.
Giant shadow claws swept about erratically as burning meteorites rained down ceaselessly.
All the players were enveloped in a thick, dark fog, their vision restricted to the absolute minimum.
At the same time, a powerful curse descended, and everyone’s health began to drop continuously at an alarming rate!
"This is the final phase! Everyone, pop your pills and tank it! We fight with our backs to the wall!"
"Those at the Great Perfection of Core Formation, get in close and attack with me! Vision is too limited, ranged attacks are useless now!"
"Late-stage Core Formation, protect Lu Wu!"
"Lu Wu! Focus all your healing on the Great Perfection and Late-stage Core Formation cultivators!"
"As for Mid-stage and early-stage Core Formation, fall back for now! Wait for this curse to pass. Don’t come in and get in the way!"
"Foundation Establishment and Fake Core, all of you retreat to the light elevator! There’s nothing for you to do here!"
The tactics were adjusted in an instant.
Under this terrifying health-draining curse, the players with lower cultivation were insta-killed.
Within seconds, they were dead and forced out of the battlefield.
Lu Wu was surrounded by several layers of Late-stage Core Formation players, protected in the very center.
He continuously flicked out pills, sending them into the bodies of Lin Qingfeng and the other core damage dealers, maintaining their precarious lifelines.
Su Ling’er, too, was among those being cleared out.
Lu Wu managed to spare her a glance.
’A mere Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. She can’t tank damage, and she can’t deal any either. I can’t just waste precious pills to take care of a single NPC, can I?’
’It’s already a miracle she’s survived this long.’
’It’s better if she just... dies and gets out.’
Amidst the curse, Su Ling’er also felt her life force rapidly draining away.
The recovery effect from the *True Understanding of Ten Thousand Transformations Returning to the Origin* and the assimilation effect of her demonic transformation were but a drop in the bucket against the terrifying curse.
But after three seconds, her vision blurred, and her body could no longer hold on.
The light and shadows shifted.
When Su Ling’er’s consciousness coalesced once more, she too had appeared outside the Guixi Secret Realm, upon the martial arts training ground...