Super Soldier in the City

"I refuse to accept this, I’m unwilling, why can you have Na Yi when I cannot!" Aliza roared repeatedly. The more he behaved like this, the more certain Li Yifei became that the worm inside Bunong was related to him. Thus, Li Yifei’s expression also turned cold, and he scoffed, "With an attitude like yours, you’re not worthy of Na Yi. Na Yi and I truly love each other, while you only hide behind the scenes and do despicable things. How could you possibly be worthy of Na Yi!"

"No, it’s not like that. As long as I kill you now, I can be with Na Yi. Even though she’s been living with you for over a year, I won’t resent her," Aliza said, as he descended into a frenzied state. It seemed that at any moment he could kill Li Yifei and then be with Na Yi.

Li Yifei, on the other hand, looked at him as if he were an idiot. Li Yifei could sense Aliza’s momentum weakening, even though his expression remained crazed, it was useless; his momentum was fading. So, it was likely that Li Yifei didn’t even need to make a move, and the opponent would already be unable to withstand it.

In fact, it was exactly as Li Yifei had expected. In Aliza’s near-mad state, his body was shriveling at a visibly rapid pace. Soon, he shrank from three or four meters tall to two meters, and he continued to shrink, for Aliza’s original height was not even 1.7 meters.

This transformation surprised Li Yifei greatly. He knew the opponent could become like that and could also revert. However, witnessing the transformation process in person was still somewhat astonishing, indeed quite different.

Li Yifei crossed his arms, not making a move, as he watched Aliza revert to his original appearance, his spirit flagging, his body collapsing to the ground, his face full of unwillingness.

"What now, weren’t you going to kill me? Suddenly, you just wilted?" Li Yifei sneered.

This question seemed to choke Aliza, his chest rising and falling dramatically, unable to speak for a long time. He was cultivating here, completely unaware of Li Yifei’s presence, not knowing someone was tailing him. Otherwise, he would never have transformed to cultivate, as disturbance during cultivation is highly undesirable. The sudden appearance of Li Yifei completely threw him off, and the ensuing anger led him to attack Li Yifei. Unfortunately, even after transforming, appearing invincible, he was still no match for Li Yifei. So, as his transformation ended, he had even less hope of defeating Li Yifei.

As for why Aliza underwent such a transformation and how he encountered such an opportunity, Li Yifei did not know, so he planned to ask for clarification.

"Aliza, speak. You know what I want to find out, so don’t force me to take action," Li Yifei stood in front of Aliza, looking down at him, and said in a flat tone.

Of course, Aliza was unwilling to speak. However, his willpower weakened as he grew more feeble, and with a little pressure from Li Yifei, he immediately couldn’t take it anymore, having lost his previous firmness. But, this could also be because even after all that, he hadn’t won against Li Yifei, hadn’t defeated him, thereby utterly crushing Aliza’s hopes, causing him to sink into despair.

This place was a sect’s secret location, called the Fire Sect, a well-known sect of the Miao Ethnic Group here. Yet, this sect was very adept at killing. The worms they bred were extremely evil, not much less than the Black Miao of the past, intolerable by contemporaries. However, the Fire Sect was not ostentatious, focusing deeply on the art of killing and on deadly worms, without taking joy in it. Instead, they were very mysterious, choosing to stay hidden, building their sect here, passing it down through generations, with few disciples ever going out, staying daily to cultivate, raising worms, and practicing the art of killing. They practiced killing to pursue the secrets of life and death.

According to legend, if one comprehends the secrets of death, one can break the divine rules and transcend mortal life spans. At that time, men would become gods, which was the ultimate pursuit of this sect.

However... after some unknown event, the people of this sect never appeared in secular society again, even nearby sects didn’t know where they went or whether the whole sect moved or their legacy was cut off. Because hardly anyone knew where this sect was, it became a mystery. In reality, the people of this sect suddenly chose collective suicide.

This was the scene Li Yifei saw when he descended, they constructed a gigantic coffin, and according to their different levels, chose to commit suicide at different layers. In the Fire Sect, all disciples committed suicide, with the lowest-level disciples at the top layer and the sect leader at the bottom, layer upon layer, totaling about a hundred people.

Aliza discovered this place accidentally; the entrance was originally within Xiaowu’s territory, a place Na Yi frequented. Aliza knew this place as he had secretly followed Na Yi here a few times, wanting to see what she was up to, watching from the shadows.

So, after Na Yi left, and Aliza had been dealt with by Li Yifei, suffering greatly, he came here to reminisce about Na Yi, looking at where she once stayed. Yet unexpectedly, one day, he saw a very fine worm and was tempted. As he pursued it, the worm suddenly burrowed under a stone. Aliza hurriedly guarded the stone, and after finding a tool to turn the stone over, he found a wormhole underneath. He quickly began to dig; it’s not easy to find such a good seed, so he had to get it.

But Aliza didn’t end up catching the worm; instead, he unearthed a world—this was a cavern, the same place Li Yifei leapt into. At the moment of discovery, Aliza was astonished, not expecting that such an artificially created cave lay beneath the ground, with its traces highly prominent. He dared not venture down at the time, and the worm had evidently gone in, but this place was too vast for him to capture it.

Still, the sudden emergence of the entrance stirred a sense of adventure in Aliza. With the situation below unknown, Aliza did not dare to descend recklessly, so he temporarily covered the entrance, returned to the village, made some preparations, and brought some tools before coming back the next day. Looking at the entrance, he decisively jumped down.

The cave was not shallow; Aliza nearly broke his leg, resting for a while before proceeding down the cave. He walked for half a day; just like Li Yifei did the first time he came down, Aliza too was amazed and frightened, as a larger underground space suggested increasing eeriness, a situation unrecorded in the village’s history.

While contemplating returning, curiosity drove him forward. For someone cultivating worm objects, corpses and bones weren’t particularly terrifying, especially since most bones belonged to various beasts, with only a few humans’ among them. This made it a bit more bearable for him.

Of course, this was just the beginning. When he reached what could be called a great hall, Aliza was utterly stunned; there were so many corpses... Aliza was so scared that he was dumbfounded, forgetting how to run.

He realized he had discovered a sect’s ruins, and this sect, for unknown reasons, had sealed themselves within, resulting in many deaths. Curiosity drove him to explore further. Braving fear, Aliza climbed onto the coffin, witnessing countless bizarre, bloody, and terrifying corpses. Yet, seemingly having seen so much, Aliza became less afraid, gradually adapting to this environment.

After all... there were no worms or frightening things here, aside from corpses... and corpses posed no danger. Aliza became increasingly excited, hopeful for some discovery. In an ancient sect, there could be valuable things, even just obtaining some worms, methods to refine or cultivate them would be a substantial gain.

Feeling humiliated, Aliza was even more determined to continue down. As he saw those corpses along the way, his courage grew. The more tragically these people died, the more it seemed there must be something valuable below.

After an unknown length of time, Aliza finally reached the bottom of the coffin. There was only one corpse here—a colossal being, excellently preserved, appearing freshly dead. Beside this creature lay a large jade-carved box filled with various items. Once Aliza overcame the fear induced by the corpse, he found a way to open the box and discovered a book inside.

It documented the past history of this mysterious sect, chronicling the experiences of successive sect leaders. Though brief, it filled Aliza with great delight. Beneath the book lay another booklet, outlining a unique cultivation method.

Aliza, thrilled beyond measure, forgot exhaustion, forgot everything, grasping that book of techniques, diving into studying it. Perhaps a day passed, or maybe two, and he finally comprehended it, resolving to set it into action.

He knew the consequences and benefits of such acts—becoming strong, but rendered inhuman. The Fire Sect was researching death, like modern scientists, probing the life and death of humans, animals, even cells. Aliza decided to inherit this technique.

At that time, he harbored less sinister thoughts, such as killing Li Yifei, but he needed power, must achieve it. Only through strength could he reclaim everything, acquire everything. So, Aliza began training, taking six months to prepare to absorb the corpse of the previous sect leader. The Fire Sect’s cultivation method involved directly absorbing others’ corpses, no, not corpses, but shells; inheriting those shells equated to inheriting the deceased, along with what they had inherited.