National Guardian's Gone and We're Done

A faint beam of light,

barely penetrated the thick dust, casting a mottled glow upon the winding, grayish-brown vines,

resembling twisted iron chains from an ancient forest, their surfaces covered in a layer of fine dewdrops...

No,

those weren’t dewdrops, but a peculiar slime secreted by the vines themselves,

shimmering with a faint, dark light and forming an intricate web of gossamer-thin veins.

With an unnerving precision, these veins were wrapped tightly around the young girl’s body.

Her skin appeared exceptionally pale beneath the unnatural bonds,

yet miraculously, it still held a subtle trace of Life Force.

Every point of contact with the vines seemed to form an invisible bridge,

delicately linking the dense web of veins to her circulatory system,

as if forming a bizarre symbiosis between the mysterious and the human.

As time slowly passed, these veins burrowed deeper, no longer merely clinging to the surface.

Instead, they slowly penetrated beneath the girl’s skin until they intertwined with her capillaries, becoming indistinguishable from one another.

Through every tiny pore, that strange and Mysterious Power

was silently infused into her body, maintaining vital signs that defied all logic.

In the stillness, the girl’s chest slowly rose and fell, a single breath taken exactly every ten minutes.

Such a rhythm would seem unnerving and impossible to any ordinary person,

but for her, it had become the norm.

Her expression was unnaturally calm, showing no trace of struggle or fear. Her eyelashes were gently shut,

as if she were merely lost in a long, deep dream, waiting for some unknown moment to awaken.

”So you’ve been using Mysterious Power to keep a person alive,” Gao Liceng said, looking at the middle-aged man. This was his greatest secret.

”You’re all going to die!” The middle-aged man completely flew into a rage.

The ground continued to shake, but this time, it wasn’t Chu He’s doing.

It was because Chu He had broken the small mounds of yellow earth that suppressed the Mysterious Power,

and the unchained Mysterious Power below began to rapidly awaken.

More and more vines erupted from the earth like spider legs, transforming into countless tendrils that spread out in every direction.

”This kind of power can’t bring this girl back to life.

Over time, she’ll only be corrupted by the Mysterious Power and turn into an Evil Spirit.

What will you do then?”

Chu He asked, his expression indifferent.

”You don’t need to worry about that.

Do you have any idea how much effort I put into this plan?

Now, you’ve destroyed all of my hope.

I know you’re powerful, but I swear I’ll kill you!”

The middle-aged man was enraged and desperate, his eyes turning bloodshot as he glared.

He desperately channelled the power within him.

Yellow soil flowed in from all directions, converging as if it had turned to liquid.

Even Gao Liceng felt her own power being suppressed.

This Tomb Guardian was far more powerful than Gao Liceng had anticipated.

No wonder when the old man brought her to Cyan Mountain all those years ago,

he had been so respectful toward this Tomb Guardian, who was significantly younger than him.

Chu He simply raised his foot and stomped. A far more overwhelming power erupted like a volcano,

surging into the ground and instantly shattering the middle-aged man’s control over the yellow soil.

A spray of blood erupted from the middle-aged man’s mouth. He collapsed limply to the ground, his breathing as faint as a thread.

However, the injury didn’t bring him to the brink of death.

Instead, it had thrown the balance of his internal power into utter chaos.

”Do you know what divinity is?”

Chu He calmly walked over to the man lying on the ground.

He looked down at the man’s pale face and the stark crimson staining his lips.

”I’ll kill you... I swear I’ll kill you... I’ll kill you!”

The middle-aged man repeated the murderous words over and over.

”If you don’t calm down, I’ll kill that girl right now.”

Chu He stared directly into the middle-aged man’s bloodshot eyes.

Perhaps it was because Chu He’s words were so cold and merciless, completely devoid of warmth,

or perhaps because he sensed the genuine, unbluffing killing intent behind them,

but the middle-aged man’s lips twitched. He finally closed his mouth and shook his head.

”Never heard of it. Even if you don’t kill her now, she doesn’t have much time left.”

The middle-aged man’s attitude shifted abruptly. His killing intent toward Chu He vanished without a trace,

as if he had lost all interest in everything, his heart filled with nothing but pessimism and despair.

”In my opinion, the so-called divinity spoken of by the Deities is just another, higher form of Mysterious Power.

Or perhaps it’s a qualitative transformation of the Mysterious Power.

How, exactly, I can’t be sure.”

Chu He paid no mind to the man’s state or his emotions, simply continuing as if talking to himself. ”That kind of power is brimming with vitality. It can even cause a mortal’s body to evolve to be just like one of the Deities. Even now, I can’t tell for certain whether it’s truly the power of the Deities or not.”

A flicker of movement appeared in the middle-aged man’s numb eyes. He looked at Chu He. ”What exactly are you trying to say?”

’He had a guess, but he didn’t dare to be certain.’

”Perhaps that divine power could completely resolve the girl’s condition,”

Chu He replied.

”Where is this power?”

The middle-aged man struggled, forcing down the chaotic power in his body as he tried to get up. ”You’re not lying to me, are you?”

”Why would I lie to you? For me, killing you would be as easy as crushing a chick.”

Chu He’s reply was incredibly sharp and humiliating, but the middle-aged man paid it no mind. In fact, it made him trust Chu He even more.

”I understand. You want me to join your folklore team, don’t you? I promise, as long as you can find that divine power and help me save this young girl,

my life is yours. If you tell me to die, I won’t even bat an eye,”

the middle-aged man said in a pleading tone.

”Excellent.” Chu He smiled in satisfaction. ’This is exactly the answer I wanted to hear.’

With a flick of his finger, Chu He sent a gentle stream of Heaven and Earth Energy into the middle-aged man’s body. It quickly calmed the chaotic power within him, and some color returned to his face.

The middle-aged man slowly exhaled a foul breath, then spat out a clot of dark blood. Only then did he finally relax, letting out a sigh of relief.

The entirety of Cyan Mountain began to shake more violently. The strange, grayish-brown vines, tough as steel, were spreading at an unbelievable rate.

In the short time Chu He and the middle-aged man had been talking, the vines had already covered more than half of Cyan Mountain.

Gao Liceng even felt that, if given ten days or a fortnight,

these grayish-brown vines would likely overrun all of Huamen City, leaving not a single blade of grass behind.