Chapter 436: Prostrate on the Spiderweb

In the wilderness, six or seven crystal springs of various sizes appeared, and then, one after another, "Grand Sages" emerged from the continuously erupting crystal clusters, each one intently glaring in Ailin's direction.

The little puppet's hair stood on end on the spot.

But just as Hu Li was summoning a volley of fox-radish missiles to fire at the nearest enemy, a sound of something cutting through the air suddenly came from high above, followed by a flash that split the sky and landed in a nearby crystal fissure. Accompanying that flash was a familiar voice—

"Take my Wuji Precious Seal!"

A blazing fireball erupted from the fissure, the explosion accompanied by the harsh screech of crystal tearing, and crystalline dust filled the air as a mushroom cloud rose!

Yu Sheng looked up and saw True Person Yuanhao, with the great formation of construction materials floating behind him, standing in the sky in his white robes. Beside him stood Xuan Che, whom he had just rescued from the brink of death—as for why he had almost died just now, don't ask yet.

True Person Yuanhao cupped his hands in Yu Sheng's direction, but before he could even greet him, a bolt of lightning suddenly lit up within the mushroom cloud.

The next second, a thunderous electric light shot straight into the sky, stirring up wind and thunder, pulling forth thousands of lightning strikes from the clouds that descended like a storm upon the direction of True Person Yuanhao and Xuan Che. At the same time, a fierce wind arose, blowing away the smoke and dust. After the mushroom cloud dispersed, the "Grand Sage" whom True Person Yuanhao had just struck with a brick was still standing in the fissure.

The crystalline shell was battered and scarred, but it was clearly still "alive." Its body was shattered in many places, yet with the continuous replenishment of crystalline material, all its injuries were rapidly healing.

"Stubborn," said True Person Yuanhao, realizing that this enemy below was different from the insects he had dealt with before. He grew serious, and the grand formation of a thousand magical artifacts behind him rapidly shifted and reorganized according to the transformations of the Five Elements and Four Symbols. A thick layer of spiritual energy instantly condensed into a shield. "Che'er! Hide behind your uncle!"

Seeing this setup, Xuan Che didn't dare to run wild—mainly because he had just been half-killed by a brick, and now he couldn't escape even if he wanted to. He could only quickly retreat and hide behind his senior uncle's formation. The next moment, the sky was filled with lightning, pouring down like a storm, striking at him and True Person Yuanhao with the might of heaven and earth's destruction!

At almost the same time, the other "Grand Sages" also started to move, pouring their fury onto all hostile targets on the battlefield.

Thunder, crystal clusters, storms, boulders falling like cannonballs, and monsters that seemed to have once been human but were now unrecognizable, constantly surging from the fissures in the earth.

Yu Sheng opened his door and threw Zheng Zhi back to Wutong Road No. 66.

After all, in such a chaotic battlefield, that nephew of his had such a frail body that any stray hit could wipe him out on the spot—True Person Yuanhao, when he got into a fight, flinging bricks all over the place and hitting teammates along with enemies.

Two "Grand Sages" were finally reduced to ashes under the bombardment of Hu Li and True Person Yuanhao, and the crystal fissures beneath them were also completely destroyed. But almost instantly, new fissures appeared elsewhere, and the figure of a "Grand Sage" emerged once more from the erupting crystal clusters.

And if it wasn't an illusion, with each regeneration, the appearances of those "Grand Sages" were clearly becoming more chaotic and twisted, closer to piles of misshapen lumps, and their attacks seemed even more frenzied and hysterical.

"Hu Li!" A sense of unease stirred in Yu Sheng's heart, and he shouted loudly, "Can you use that move one more time? That one—what was it, something impact—"

Before he could finish, Hu Li shook her head vigorously: "No, after using that move, I need to rest for a long time!"

Yu Sheng frowned, and at the same time, the chaotic, low murmurs in his mind intensified once more—

He had started hearing these low, chaotic murmurs not long after leaving Mo City, and he knew exactly what they were.

That was the sound of the "Astral Embryo" from within its pupating "cocoon"—the dreamlike countdown to doomsday coming from deep within this planet.

The Astral Embryo had sensed the changes on the surface, sensed that something was destroying its "cradle." This powerful and chaotic dark angel was trying to destroy the discordant "sounds" moving above it, because its ascension... was imminent.

The pupation process had to be interrupted before the ascension body matured.

Crystal clusters swept through like a storm, as if tearing the sky apart. Thunder churned within the clouds, striking down at the earth.

Ailin was hidden in Yu Sheng's arms, her small body jostling as Hu Li darted across the battlefield. She clung tightly to Yu Sheng's arm, occasionally poking her head out, staring wide-eyed in a certain direction.

Another new "Grand Sage" was emerging from the fissure—its huge, swollen, malformed crystallized body swaying in the wind and rain, looking particularly savage and grotesque.

Anger, extreme anger, and... what else?

Resentment, bitterness, hatred... and fear.

The puppet slowly tilted her head. She felt that the flow of time around her had suddenly slowed down, even the jostling of the silly fox bounding up and down had become much calmer. In this slowly flowing time, she stared intently at that frenzied crystalline figure, and gradually, a strange... glint of excitement began to appear in her crimson eyes.

She saw it—inside that crystalline shell, there was a painful soul being devoured and bound, struggling violently. Wisps of black threads slowly seeped out from that soul, growing and spreading within its crystal prison, then slowly seeping out of the crystal, floating invisibly in the air.

When had those threads started wrapping around that soul?

The last time it was killed?

The flow of time around her had slowed to near stillness. Ailin's little head couldn't quite comprehend what was happening, but she instinctively reached out toward that trapped, suffering soul inside the crystal prison.

And so, the black threads wrapped around that soul suddenly became active, as if sensing the "call" of the "mother nest" from a "progeny." They wove into an invisible web, slowly connecting with the spider threads at Ailin's fingertips.

Ailin knew why those "Grand Sages" resurrected from the crystal kept staring at her.

"It's fear..."

She laughed happily, crawled out of Yu Sheng's arms, and on this battlefield where everything seemed nearly frozen in time, she began to crawl forward along the spider thread, toward that "Grand Sage" of the Hermit Society that had been devoured by the Astral Embryo.

"It's fear!"

The puppet's face held a hint of excitement, a glow slowly emanating from her crimson eyes. She passed through those crystal clusters flying through the air, passed through those boulders hurtling crosswise, passed through those crystal monsters crawling out of the ground...

She passed by Luna, who was leaping into the air, intercepting lightning with the blade at her fingertips.

The C-shaped clip in her stationary state looked so ridiculous.

Ailin crawled on the spider thread, that random thought popping into her head.

Then, she saw that "artificial saint's" body suddenly tremble. On this battlefield where everything was nearly frozen, Luna seemed to sense something. She turned her head slowly, as if searching for something in the air.

Ailin gave a small, silent gasp and hurriedly crawled forward faster.

"Crawl, crawl, crawl, I'm the fastest crawler... That C-shaped clip scared me half to death..."

She looked back, but Luna was still frozen in midair. That moment of her slowly turning her head seemed to have been just her imagination.

The little puppet was puzzled for a moment, but her tiny little brain quickly dismissed it.

Because... sweet fear was waiting not far ahead.

She looked up and saw the crystal prison silently dissolve. A soul, pierced through the body by countless black threads, cowered in the darkness.

That soul was initially tall, but the next second it shrank as if it were a tiny insect.

Ailin tilted her head, looking down at this tiny figure prostrate at her feet.

She felt that it had been many, many years since she had looked down on others from this vantage point.

But a very, very long time ago... she always seemed to use this perspective to talk to those little figures.

...What were those little figures?

The puppet didn't remember.

She stretched out her finger and poked that soul.

"Hey."

The "Grand Sage" felt his body constantly falling, as if sinking endlessly in a nightmare from which he could never wake. The immense pain and anger drowned all his memories and perceptions. Suffering spread through his soul like poison.

Endless torment and anger that could not be released were a greater torture than death.

When had this all started? From the first time he lost control in a hallucination? From the time he opened his eyes and saw all the believers prostrating before the crystal in the cave? Or even earlier... from the moment when that shameful betrayal was quietly brewing?

He should have known—this betrayal was bound to happen sooner or later. No one could stay on the side of "humanity" after long-term contact with a dark angel. That being who called itself "Yun Qingzi"... had been untrustworthy from the start.

But a bit of wishful thinking and urgency in his heart still made him commit a great mistake.

Now, the eternal, pain-filled prison was the result of all this.

"Hey."

A voice that exploded in the depths of his soul suddenly pierced through the boundless chaos, jolting the "Grand Sage" awake.

He "opened" his eyes in shock.

Then, within a second, he unhesitatingly tore out his own eyes—at the soul level.

An immense pain rose from his soul. In the darkness, he covered his eyes and let out hysterical screams, but even so, he inevitably and irretrievably saw what should not have been seen, and at the same time understood all the "knowledge" related to that scene—

The great spiderweb called "the End" covered the world. Every thread on the web was a woven fate, and the nodes of the web were the gathering points of all the "omens of disaster" in the world. And the one prostrate on that web, the master of suffering and fear, silently looked down upon him.

(End of chapter)