–He cannot be allowed to leave, or many will die.–
The air behind Yang Zicang began to tremble. The grayish-white, translucent nightmare swiftly coiled through the air, surging into the distance.
The fleeing monster suddenly stopped atop the highest hill, its gaze fixed upon the vast, boundless black soil stretching endlessly ahead.
–A new world…–
A barren wasteland, lifeless and desolate.
Justiceer let out a sigh.
–I almost forgot… I am already dead.–
Justiceer looked up at the sky. The luminous orbs floated around him, hovering above his head.
–But if my life could flare up one last time—a single flash of brilliance—history would ultimately remember me, wouldn’t it? Just like them.–
In his mind, countless figures emerged.
There was the Asura, who drove a small stele through the earth and plunged into it; the Moon Angel, who disguised as a human and wandered the land for a thousand years, collecting bloodlines for the Shadow Lands; the half-human monster who ignited itself and hurled its soul into the void; the Oath Moon Envoy, who led its ‘other half of fate’ to the world’s end; and countless Silver and Gold Advisors who toiled tirelessly for humanity’s future.
–A protagonist needs an antagonist; justice needs evil… As a former courier, this is my last chance to make a final contribution to the Court.–
Justiceer slightly turned his head, glancing at the Paleshade Wyrm charging toward him from behind.
[My name is A’mu. My father is the blacksmith of Huntian Village in the Old Mountain Domain, and I am the village postman.]
He had the chance to unfold his force field, and he had the opportunity to vanish in an instant under the distant creature’s gaze—but suddenly, he felt weary.
Suddenly, a voice emerged within the monster’s mind.
{Your duty remains unfulfilled.}
Inside his body, the halo that had always been suspended beside his heart was pushed by an invisible force, forcibly stuffed into the ethereal gem at the core of his heart.
On the gem, there was a curled-up silhouette.
[Blood Ring, the third layer…]
Justiceer’s face instantly twisted in agony as his body writhed, doubled over in torment. A pure power rapidly blossomed from within him.
–Why… does it have to be…–
Vroom! The Paleshade Wyrm charging from afar pierced right through his body.
The ethereal, spectral figure of a person was yanked out and sent hurtling into the sky.
But this psychic entity shattered into countless fragments in an instant.
The larger part was gradually devoured by the Paleshade Wyrm, while the other illusory figures—each with different appearances and sizes—scattered in all directions, standing or lying limp on the ground in a daze. These were several distinct figures, yet only the one swallowed by the Paleshade Wyrm bore a passing resemblance of five or six out of ten to Justiceer’s own appearance.
Among the remaining broken silhouettes, a small number quickly merged back into Justiceer’s body. The monster thus did not collapse; it roared at the sky, and a spreading radiance was born from its chest.
An unparalleled aura continuously surged, as if a mountain were about to emerge from within its body, its muscles bursting with immense force.
Revitalized yet emotionless, Justiceer looked up into the distance. The moment Yang Zicang’s gaze met it, its figure suddenly appeared before him!
Boom!
An arm carrying unimaginably dense energy smashed down, and around its fist seemed to bloom countless fleeting moss, vines, and seas of flowers.
An overwhelming sense of crisis flooded Yang Zicang’s heart.
This kind of might was not something Yang Zicang had never seen before—only that those who wielded it before had been the Defender and Zhao Anlong!
Boom, boom!
The air exploded; the two standing together were instantly blasted away, and a large patch of flesh and blood splattered from beneath Yang Zicang’s chest.
{Third Circle: Rampant Vines.}
Whoosh! The monster’s figure flickered in all directions, like a vine wildly spreading.
Countless afterimages flashed around Yang Zicang, each punch sending his body flying, leaving him unable to even mobilize his Moxel ability in time to adjust his trajectory and dodge.
In just two seconds, Morris was drenched in fine beads of sweat from tension, his Chronos pouring out in torrents.
–Brother Yang!– Chin Mong, sprawled in the distance, screamed hoarsely.
Too weak—he was still too weak, they all were too weak. Even when pooling their powers together, their meager strength could barely bolster Brother Yang any further.
Chin Mong turned his gaze to the monster, now grown even stronger, and felt the Moxel within his heart.
The Paleshade Wyrm tore through the monster’s psychic construct.
Justiceer Amu’s psychic construct let out its final roar, its voice fading completely from everyone’s minds, yet his body still fought on with wild abandon.
–No good… where he’s meant to go should be much farther away.–
Chin Mong watched the figure blasted away beneath the giant fist, his eyes nearly splitting with fury.
This was all his fault, but now he was no longer the same as before.
The Moxel on his chest emerged, and a slab of ground materialized beneath his feet.
–You fool—get the hell over here!–
Chin Mong hurled a stone he had picked up toward that distant monster.
The monster, devoid of humanity, flickered before him, vanishing along with the ground the moment its fist struck him.
But the next second, the anxious Chin Mong cried out in alarm and fell to his knees.
Boom, boom, boom!
He heard countless continuous muffled rumbling erupt within his body.
The Lunar Shadow, possessing a three-ring bloodline with a transformed power, could no longer be contained by him.
Energy that could destroy his body kept birthing within him, as if about to crack out of its shell, ripping and blazing through Chin Mong’s flesh.
Thorns grew from the fissures in his skin, hot mist wafted from his face, like a scorched demon.
–Chin Mong!–
The crowd ran toward him. Yang Zicang, who had gotten up from the ground, shouted angrily, –Release it! I can handle it!–
–No… Brother Zicang… it’s different now… it’s been born… an even stronger power…–
From it, Yang Zicang could feel that terrifying, transformed power—even if it was just newborn, it was indeed beyond what the current him could resist.
He truly had no confidence in defeating it, and could not even counterattack; speed, strength, and reaction were all at a level no human could reach.
Yang Zicang ran to his side.
Struggling, Chin Mong raised his hand and grabbed hold of the young man’s arm before him.
–I can… kill it now… the me right now… don’t leave.–
Chin Mong’s agonized face was cupped by a pair of hands.
–I won’t leave!–
–I… have a wish… I want to join… Cargo Crew…–
Yang Zicang, also stained with blood beside him, tremblingly pulled out the translucent order letter from his trouser pocket.
A folded beam shot toward the young man kneeling before him—thorny vines were constantly bursting from within his skin, and the fine thread connected straight across their chests.
Chin Mong’s pained eyes flickered… as if he hadn’t expected Yang Zicang to have such a valuable item; he should have seen an order letter before.
[Yang Zicang has invited me to join Cargo Crew.]
Chin Mong let out a couple of hoarse whimpers from his throat, his expression easing into relief.
[Complete Fragment begins peeling off: No.8.]
Crack! Yang Zicang felt something snap between them.
[Complete Fragment recount: No.1.]
[Complete Fragment begins re-assigning: No.2.]
He had marked the contained monster—a mindless beast— that in an instant clicked perfectly into place with Chin Mong like a puzzle piece.
The golden light on Chin Mong shattered, and the triangle before him spun ceaselessly, trembling unstably as if on the verge of total collapse.
–How is this possible.–
Yang Zicang stared blankly at his Moxel.
Suddenly, he realized he was drifting away. Beneath Chin Mong, the blocks of scenery erupted once more, but this time many within them had grown withered.
Having borrowed the power of Justiceer, Chin Mong felt his pain ease.
–So this is the kind of power.–
Watching the phantom plants and seas of flowers on his arm—springing into life only to vanish, then reappearing and fading again—Chin Mong felt his muscles and spirit ceaselessly transforming into energy sources that sustained them.
Originally, they were sustained by another kind of energy, which he himself did not possess.
As a result, his body was rapidly consumed, and even Chronos was powerless.
–So this is the power of another world. How formidable.–
Thoughts began to blur. Approaching the end of his life, Chin Mong revealed a smile.
His triangular Moxel began to spiral out of control.
One after another, additional rings emerged within it as if trying to shatter it from within.
The others, still mid-run, found themselves repeatedly thrust back into distance.
Yet in their eyes, Chin Mong’s figure remained piercingly clear, as if standing right before them.
They saw it—the Moxel on the youth’s chest was evolving toward a Quad!
But this was destined for failure. The infusion of immense power caused its irregular flickers to grow ever wider, sometimes dissolving into the void, only to be yanked back.
Emaciated Chin Mong stretched out his arm, gazing at the vivid energy coalescing outside his withered limb.
The monster’s roars echoed through the void, until this unstable Quad abruptly burst and dissipated into nothingness.
The oppressive pressure faded away.
{Mengmeng, your fame has exceeded 100.}
In the sky, several orbs of light floated down, whispering beside the person who knelt on the ground, their body covered in brambles that sprawled across the land.
{Mengmeng, be good—you defeated the big villain. We will always remember you.}
The sheen of Moxel vanished completely, and Chin Mong’s head hung low, no longer stirring.
{We also obtained a treasure trove of precious reference information.}
A tiny, drifting speck of light materialized into a spirit, who planting a kiss on his cracked and weathered face.
Yang Zicang, clutching his wound, limped over. He stepped through the range of thorny vines, arriving beside the petrified vine statue that was once Chin Mong.
Chin Mong had borrowed the monster’s power, causing the monster to collapse with the rift of Moxel and die with his own death.
The others finally caught up, their expressions laden with sorrow. This often introverted guy had managed to unleash such overwhelming energy.
–He…– Lyu Zhi choked with grief; among the group, he was the one who regularly paid attention to this youth, often finding a chance to chat with him.
–If only this guy had talked things over with us, this wouldn’t have happened.– Qian Zhongsheng sighed.
–Who knew there was a monster coiled inside him, growing stronger to match whoever’s the strongest of us.–
–He must have been terrified—scared that everyone would be scared of him.–
Fan Xiuyun wiped her eyes with her filthy sleeve. –This kid was supposed to be my apprentice, and now he just up and left with such a grand display.–
Shiu Siuchuan forced a bitter smile: –Guess the old have to see the young off first, huh.–
Lyu Zhi punched Shiu Siuchuan in the arm, glaring at the bastard beside him with burning fury.
–Chin Mong said he really wanted to go back to Earth. He said there was a girl he liked—he wanted to confess to her. The guy told me that over and over. Tsk.–
They all fell silent.
–He was strong.–
After more than ten seconds, Yang Zicang raised a blood-stained hand to touch his own leathery, fissured face, rough as cracked earth.
–He could have become one of the mightiest few on this land—if only he’d found partners he could trust.–
They looked at the scattered patches of different landscapes around them—lining the two-to-three-kilometer-wide earth like densely packed little fields.
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