On the feathered back of a giant bird-beast.
Several people stared at the blood moon on the horizon, as if some tiny black specks were gradually obscuring it.
A'nan's flight speed suddenly increased. It was clearly exhausted, yet it mustered its last breath and dove with all its might.
In her mind, Youtiao's serious prompt sounded for the third time:
"Host, please note! Host, please note! The villain's darkening value has reached 99%, at the final critical point!"
The previous two prompts had been at 50% and 80%.
In just a short moment, the darkening value had surged to the final threshold.
"This darkening is not of his own will but caused by an external force beyond his control. Allowing the protagonist team to kill him before the villain's darkening is complete is the optimal solution given by the system." Youtiao paused. "But I know you won't do that. Even if there's only a shred of hope, you'll fight for him."
Chai Xiaomi's eyes were steadfast: "You're right."
Youtiao: "Then, good luck, my friend."
Chai Xiaomi: "Aren't you afraid of mission failure?"
Youtiao: "Come on, if the mission fails, you're the one who dies, not me. I'll at most lose some points. What am I afraid of? This system still has two thousand points, plenty to deduct."
Chai Xiaomi: "..."
Youtiao suddenly turned serious: "Actually, I've seen all kinds of hosts. The powerful, the clever, the ones who strategize from afar."
"But you're different."
"You're the bravest one I've ever met."
Chai Xiaomi was stunned.
It was the first time someone had called her brave. She had always thought of herself as a coward.
"Knowing you'll lose, yet you still bet everything; terrified to death, yet you still choose to charge forward. The hardest armor in this world isn't forged from iron—it's cast from love. And you're wearing it right now. So, Xiaomi, you definitely won't fail."
Before the bird-beast had even landed, a thick wave of blood rushed toward them.
The people on feathered back froze in place.
Mountains of corpses.
Seas of blood.
A youth stood at the center, drenched through with blood, long beyond distinguishing whether it was the enemy's blood or his own. On the silver neck collar, beads of blood fell drop by drop, clearly audible in the deathly stillness.
Around him circulated an ice-cold, bone-piercing aura. Wherever it passed, even the grass on the ground silently turned to ash.
Hair strands wildly flew in the night wind. His once heterochromatic pupils were now completely swallowed by an extreme blackness, pitch-dark like a bottomless abyss, with no trace of sanity remaining.
Black totems climbed up from his neck, densely covering the entire face like a ferocious mask welded onto the flesh.
More terrifying was his body.
He just stood there.
Behind him, aura of slaughter condensed into countless thick black tentacles, like deformed limbs sprouting from his spine, twisting and probing wildly like living things. Every time they swept across the ground, they left a scorched black mark.
Any living thing that approached would instantly be entangled by those tentacles, drained, devoured. Before even a scream could sound, it would turn into a withered husk.
Before him, only three people remained.
The High Priest, the Shamaness, and the Patriarch.
They too were stained with patches of blood, all of them wounded.
A giant horde of countless swarming insects, under the High Priest's command, continuously changed shape to attack the youth, surging forward and rapidly retreating.
Every time the aura of slaughter was about to grab those insects, the swarm evaded with astonishing speed.
Wu Li's face, a fusion of totems and blood, could barely hold a ferocious, satisfied smile.
It was not the lazy sarcasm he usually wore, but a smile of extreme gratification—the smile of a monster drunk on slaughter, craving nothing but more killing.
He no longer allowed any living thing to appear before him.
Youtiao stared wide-eyed and nearly stumbled over his words: "Holy mother! We can't let the villain keep killing! He's at 99% of the critical point. Just one more person he kills, one more life he takes, and the darkening value will definitely hit 100%!"
"This damn High Priest is deliberately provoking the villain, using wave after wave of insects to fuel the aura of slaughter, letting it consume and devour the villain's true will..."
Before Youtiao could finish, Chai Xiaomi was already running toward Wu Li.
On the other side.
The High Priest hadn't noticed their arrival. His full attention was fixed on the terrifying youth before him. His gaze swept over the scattered corpses of the tribe members, with not a shred of pity in his eyes. Instead, a near-insane excitement flickered within.
Beneath the shadow of his hood, he looked at Wu Li with a pathological obsession and longing, like appraising a perfect treasure soon to fall into his hands.
"High Priest," the Shamaness said, her aged face full of terror. She stared at a few scattered stones on the ground. "This is an ill omen. The divination predicts the destruction of our tribe. Retreat now, while there's still land and time."
The High Priest said softly: "This is the outcome you divined for yourself, isn't it?"
The Shamaness's whole body stiffened. She realized a hand had silently pressed against her back.
In the next instant, a violent force shoved her, hurtling her body toward that maddened youth.
Toward slaughter. Toward death.
The Patriarch couldn't stop it and cried out in shock: "High Priest, what are you—"
"Hahahaha..." The High Priest howled with madness. "Haven't you noticed?! This pitiful mongrel grandson of yours is almost gone! When his will is completely devoured by the aura of slaughter..."
His deep voice trembled with wild joy: "I can then use the power of Gu to control this immortal body! It will be more effective than the mother Gu. A soulless husk will be entirely mine to command, with no rebellion, no resistance!"
He spread his arms, as if embracing the "masterpiece" soon to be completed.
"At that time, he will be my invincible weapon, my most perfect and ferocious Gu! I will be the most powerful shaman on this entire land! Hahahaha!"
The Patriarch suddenly understood everything. His pupils shrank violently. The High Priest had gathered the tribe here not to punish Wu Li, but to sacrifice them all to this aura of slaughter, to help it devour Wu Li's soul more quickly.
All the tribe members were nothing more than fuel fed to that aura.
"You can dream on!!!"
Suddenly, a crisp and resonant voice rang out.
Just as a tendril of the aura of slaughter was about to snatch the Shamaness away, a slender figure rushed forward, blocking the wildly squirming tendrils.
The aura of slaughter did not distinguish who approached. A living thing nearby was nothing but prey, nothing but fuel.
Countless tendrils instantly turned and shot toward that figure like black snakes.
The Shamaness's murky aged eyes flashed with cunning. Seeing someone rush in to die for her, she felt not a shred of gratitude. Instead, using that figure as a shield, she raised her hand to push hard, shoving the slender body deeper and more securely into the aura of slaughter.
She herself used the recoil to stagger backward in rapid retreat.
Someone had died for her.
Perfect.
Several thick, black tentacles coiled tightly around the young girl’s legs and waist, hoisting her abruptly into midair.
The tentacles tightened more and more, a bone-chilling cold seeping into her pores, spreading through her veins to every limb.
Chai Xiaomi could barely breathe. She felt her blood solidify and stagnate within her vessels, and tears of pure instinct were forced from the corners of her eyes.
But she did not struggle. She did not resist.
Instead, she gently placed her trembling hand over the tentacle around her waist, as if soothing a frightened beast, and whispered in a tender voice:
“Lili…”
“It’s me, Mimi, your wife…”
Yet the boy’s face remained unmoved.
He smiled coldly, his eyes void of any emotion, and more tentacles heeded his call, surging toward her from every direction.
One of them coiled viciously around the girl’s slender throat!
Struggling for air, Chai Xiaomi lifted her hand with difficulty and let her fingertips lightly touch the tentacle strangling her. She did not try to pull it away—only caressed it gently, as she had done countless times before to calm his emotions.
“It’s okay…”
“Even if you’re beyond recognition, I still know you. No matter what you become, I’ll stay by your side.”
“A husband and wife are meant to face storms and hardships together. How could you bear to come here and suffer alone?”
