Chapter 157: Life-and-Death Promise
“Xuanli Zhen should have told you what happened before. So I’ll start from the moment when our sixth squad entered the Extraterritorial Space. If time could flow backward, how I wish I hadn’t taken on this task which changed my whole life…”
Zhu Yu didn’t continue but pulled out an ancient bronze mirror, wiping its surface with his hand. Flashes of blue-green light were emitted from it, and the mirror began revealing a scene from the past, slowly…
While the members of Zhu Yu’s squad were laughing and frolicking, several glowing giants appeared suddenly behind them, each over 10 meters tall, roaring and ready to pounce on them.
The well-trained squad members annihilated the giants neatly and quickly. But before they could make any other moves, more element giants appeared and flocked to them, from all directions, launching their attacks in an organized and targeted way.
The number of enemies was growing, during which, the squad members fought tenaciously and seemingly broke through the siege. Then, a mixed expression of astonishment, anger, and confusion emerged on their faces. But before they could recover, all kinds of element giants charged at them again.
The scene was silent throughout, but that didn’t reduce the shock brought by the war. At some point, Xu Mubai and Li Wuyi came over. They watched the scene in the mirror tacitly, without making a sound.
The tragic extent of the war was startling. Those element giants seemed to have very high spiritual intelligence and knew how to besiege and attack. Even if they were repulsed time and time again, they rushed forward in an orderly manner, after a moment’s regrouping.
Zhu Yu exerted all his strength at that point. Although the four viewers knew about his great powers, they were still stunned and were rendered speechless.
In the scene, Zhu Yu, like the god of war in the flesh, waved his Blood-Dripping Spear to its perfection and swiftly wielded a dozen divine weapons or shields, shining with various holy lights. He protected the other five members of the squad behind him, almost single-handedly, with his own strength. During these moments, he managed to kill nearly a thousand element giants!
Zhu Yu’s strength was so breathtaking that even Zheng Xuan clenched her fists tightly and her breathing quickened. While Lyu Liang deeply admired Zhu Yu’s strength, he also felt very sorrowful and angry at the inevitable consequence, afterward.
Half an hour later, the powers of Zhu Yu’s magic treasures started weakening and he panted heavily. It seemed that he couldn’t hold on for longer. At that point, the five members behind him, stepped forward and protected him tacitly. A charming girl held his arm, seemingly whispering something to him. Zhu Yu shook his head at first and then nodded hard, stepping backward and sitting down, with his eyes closed.
The subsequent war scene made Lyu Liang feel suffocated. The element giants seemed to have perceived Zhu Yu’s being becoming weaker and increased their attacks. And finally, someone in Zhu Yu’s squad sacrificed himself.
A stern-looking youth wearing a bamboo hat, seemed to have run out of Spiritual Qi. Turning around, he said a few words to a comrade beside him and rushed to where there were more enemies. Then, a dazzling self-explosion occurred.
The rest of the members began using the same method, one after another, to retain their dignity to the end, and to open a bloody way of living for Zhu Yu.
The second member who detonated himself, seemed to have a unique Cultivation Method or constitution. After he sacrificed himself, a Void Barrier was formed before them, and tenaciously defended against the enemies’ attacks.
And from the third member onwards, the rest of them seemed to head to Zhu Yu’s right, deliberately, before they detonated themselves, during which, Zhu Yu struggled to rise several times but was stopped by the charming girl beside him.
At the last moment, the girl kissed him lovingly and detonated herself on his right, daringly. At that time, Zhu Yu had sunk into a sea of calmness. As could be judged from the enormous black and white air masses gathering overhead, it seemed that Zhu Yu was on the verge of the breakthrough.
What was most miraculous, was that Zhu Yu’s clean and handsome face, was then swiftly covered with complicated lines, which gave off a faint blood-red glow!
After the girl exploded, a passage, wide enough for one man, swirled open, on his right. Just as the Void Barrier disappeared, Zhu Yu gave a sudden roar. His eyes opened suddenly, and he pulled out a piece of square cloth, showing the Eight Diagrams, from his breast and threw it at the enemies rushing toward him.
In a flash, the whole space was thrown into darkness, and an enormous picture of Yin-Yang Eight Diagrams emerged in the air, spinning rapidly. Within less than half an hour, all the element giants under its cover, turned into ashes.
With a flash in his eyes, Zhu Yu seemed to remember something and dashed forward at a ghostly speed. Then the scene stopped there. As for what had happened afterward, it could only be told by Zhu Yu himself.
As the mirror dimmed gradually, Zhu Yu’s head was bowed low. All the people beside him clenched their fists tightly, and their eyes were wide open, as if they too, had experienced that hopeless, tragic war.
“Holy sh*t! I can’t bear it! Where are these d*mn element creatures from?! Brother Zhu, please tell me! After we deal with the affairs of this world, I will annihilate these bast*rds with you!” Li Wuyi had compressed his bottle into a fine powder and his teeth rattled, in his anger.
With tears in her eyes, Zheng Xuan threw her arms around Zhu Yu, who remained silent, with his head down, and said, “How have you got through all these years? Why didn’t you tell me? The arranged marriage is our fathers’ business, and I haven’t thought of teasing you! Even if I can only be your sister for my whole life, so long as I can see you frequently, I will be satisfied! So what if there’s the Soul Detention Order? So long as you return to the Space of Goddess Nyu Wa, we will protect you with all our several families’ forces! Jiawen and Jiahao trust you wholeheartedly. Although I’m an Immortal General, I trust you no less than they do! I was angry because you didn’t tell me anything and kept avoiding me…”
Hearing her words, Zhu Yu raised his head, showing his tear-stained face. He tapped her head gently and said softly, “Xuan, I’m sorry… I’ve never thought of avoiding you. But for those above, I’m a villain who has done numerous evil things and killed his comrades, while you’re one of the respectable Eight Immortal Generals. It would be like I’m trying to kill the daughter of God Ancestor. Do you think I can still fulfill my wishes when I return to the family of Remote Antiquity?”
“I, I can bear witness! Your squad was framed…” Zheng Xuan said hastily, but stopped suddenly.
“Haha, you understand now? You’re indeed much smarter, being an Immortal General! Yes, I don’t have evidence, no substantial ones. That’s why I must comfort my brothers in my way! Just let me tell you what happened, after what you saw in the mirror just now!” Zhu Yu had by now, calmed down totally.
“To create a chance for me to escape, the members of the squad blasted a passage entrance of the closed space, through self-detonation.” “At that time, I had just finished the breakthrough and finally obtained the qualification to use my family treasure—the Qiankun Picture of Universe, which destroyed roughly a thousand enemies of the Calamity Troop, who were rushing at me, all at once. And just as they disappeared, I vaguely saw a familiar figure! Although it was just a faint trace, I can assure you that he was Ouyang Hao, the captain of the second squad!”
“After that, I left through the entrance, went into hiding and began my recovery. For a dozen days, the more I thought about this thing, the more I felt confused. There were mainly two strange points. One was the place where the Calamity Troop emerged and the number of its members. They should have been kept outside the space. Besides, the place was protected by the Loss Formation, which they couldn’t have broken through, in any case. However, they not only broke in but also came in such large numbers! And the other was their spiritual intelligence. They should have been simple-minded and possess only brute forces, but they showed such high spiritual intelligence, which was so inconceivable!”
“According to these two points, as well as the first giants’ appearance behind us and the closed passage entrance, I came to a conclusion, which was even hard for me to accept—someone destroyed the Loss Formation, manipulated and produced the Calamity Troop intentionally!”
“The appearance of Ouyang Hao convinced me of my conviction. So I decided to learn all I wanted to know, through him! I didn’t go to him directly but lurked around to observe the situation of the people of the Heavenly Alliance. And just as I expected, when most people thought our squad was eradicated and looked sorrowful, Ouyang Hao and his squad seemed to be very panicky. As such, I was not wrong with him!”
“After that, I took action. This jerk was much cowardly than I thought. When I appeared before Ouyang Hao, without even having to search his soul, he spilled the beans. He said he was commanded by Purple Phoenix Fairy to close the passage entrance and observe the situation of our squad. The mirror which showed you the scene, was taken from him for her to record the battle situation.”
“Even so, I searched his soul and got more surprising information—There was a commander behind the attack of the Calamity Troop! According to Ouyang Hao’s observation, the commander was like a mother to them. And under the commander’s instruction, the Calamity Troop not only didn’t hurt him, but also gave him some space to record our battle. At last, when I used the treasure to kill numerous giants, in a flash, since he did not have enough time to hide, he managed to escape, using a Space Talisman. But I still grasped the clue in the end.”
“After I knew the truth, I killed Ouyang Hao and the whole second squad who attempted to stop me, immediately, and this startled the seniors of the Heavenly Alliance. After that, the three Great Elders, Xuanli Zhen, Heaven Hong, and Earth God, united to fight against me. Although I was furious, I began to sober up. I knew that they were innocent, and they treated me very well in my daily life, so even if I could kill them, I didn’t have the heart to do that.”
“Then, two Tao Ancestors came, and I knew that things were now irreparable. So I began breaking the siege, was wounded and managed to escape. I knew that without any evidence, even if I spared Ouyang Hao in order to be my proof, I couldn’t break out of the Heavenly Alliance and would be killed by the Purple Phoenix! And even now, I still suspect that God Ancestor Night Dragon was part of it.”
“Because according to my speculation, the appearance of the Calamity Troop there, no matter who was manipulating it, meant that someone had destroyed the Loss Formation! The formation was made up of ten treasures. It was certain that he destroyed one of them, let the Calamity Troop in, and manipulated it in some other way!”
“Apart from those seniors of the Heavenly Alliance, no one else had the authority to destroy it without being noticed! I trusted the five Great Elders. But as for those Tao Ancestors and God Ancestors, I suspected that they had something to do with it!”
“Then I hid in a secluded place to recover, during which, powerful figures of Supreme Master kept searching for me, and even the Soul Detention Order was issued.”
“After I recovered, there were only two goals in my mind. One was to take revenge on those guilty, and the other was to revive my comrades! Both were extremely difficult to achieve. So I pored over ancient books and records, while eluding capture. And finally, I got a clear idea.”
“Whether to seek revenge or to revive my comrades, what I needed, were located somewhere in the Mortal World. So I went down without any hesitation. Then the Heavenly Alliance sent its people down to keep hunting for me, and I killed several of them. Although I didn’t have the heart to kill some of them, I had no other choices.”
“During the past many years, I have collected three Immortal treasures—the Mountain-River Split Seal, the Sky Destruction Stone, and the Purple-Soul Titanic Tower. So long as I can find the Tai-Ah Sword and the Dragon-Teeth Dagger, I will complete the first step towards getting my revenge. And I have also obtained three of a set of six Million-Spirits Blood Pearls by chance, which is also what I needed. I already know where the rest are but haven’t fetched them yet. And I’m still searching for the last one.”
“Although taking revenge is important, reviving my comrades is what I am really pursuing, in my entire life! The Immortal treasures I have collected are necessary for both purposes! Only when I have obtained these five treasures will I have the confidence to take on Devil Feiwu, Lyu Liang’s Master!”
At last, Zhu Yu stood up suddenly and stared at the starry sky. He said determinedly, “Whether it will take tens of thousands of years or millions of years, I will try to revive them, even at the cost of my life! If I’m still alive at that time, I will take revenge on those of the Heavenly Alliance! Regardless of life or death, I will keep my promise!”