Chapter Forty-Three: The Black Spear Unleashed

The crowd drifted farther and farther away, and Shen Lie realized his consciousness was beginning to blur, as if his soul were gradually slipping from his body.

"Am I dying?"

"Is this really the end for me?"

"I haven't lived enough!"

"My life shouldn't be this short!"

"I haven't even married yet..."

He kept questioning himself in his heart, unwilling to let his life end just like this. Though he knew his resistance might be useless, he was determined not to give up.

"There must be a way!"

"I have to think of something."

"The power of my bloodline? Useless, I can't move!"

"The Hammer of Apocalypse? Still useless."

"The mysterious energy within the mark on my brow?"

"Ah!"

After countless desperate attempts, Shen Lie finally thought of the mysterious energy within the leaf-shaped mark on his forehead. To his surprise, it truly worked—his body's bindings were instantly undone!

"Ahhh! Break! Break for me!" The moment he regained his freedom, Shen Lie let out a heart-wrenching roar, swiftly drew the black spear from his waist, and, heedless of the toll on the energy within his mark, poured every ounce directly into the spear!

The black spear erupted in radiant light. Shen Lie swung his arm, fiercely slashing down on the invisible black line!

It was as if a soundless snap echoed in the void. Shen Lie felt the black line break in response, and immediately, the sweet breath of freedom returned to him.

Having severed the black line in one blow, the energy within the spear was not yet spent. Shen Lie's eyes flashed; he lunged forward, swinging the spear left and right in quick succession, hacking twice more at the space before Du Lili and Professor Liu. He could not see if the black line bound anyone else, nor did he know if his strikes had any effect. After those two blows, the energy within his spear was utterly depleted, and he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

"Hmm?"

The instant Shen Lie fell, a soft exclamation issued from within the bright red sedan chair. Suddenly, the chair lit up, and countless black lines shot forth, causing despair to flicker across Shen Lie's face even as his lips twitched.

But to his astonishment, the black lines did not bind him again. Instead, they converged in midair, eventually forming a strange and intricate black rune!

The moment the rune took shape, it vanished into thin air. The next instant, Shen Lie felt a burning sensation on his arm. Looking down, he saw a complex pattern etched there—the very rune formed by the black threads!

"Damn it!" Shen Lie was horrified by this bizarre phenomenon, shuddering involuntarily. He immediately tried to drive the thing away with the scant energy remaining in his mark. Yet no matter how he attacked it, there was no effect. The pattern seemed an inborn part of his body itself; the mysterious energy washed over it as if it weren’t even there.

"Who are you?" Realizing his own power was helpless before this new problem, Shen Lie thought of seeking the one who had tied the knot. But when he looked again toward the sedan chair, it was gone without a trace.

The passage once more filled with the clamor of survivors. Had the number of people not been reduced by nearly a third, he might have thought the recent horror nothing but a nightmare.

"Thank you!"

A clear, crisp voice snapped Shen Lie from his daze. He turned to see Du Lili, sitting on the ground massaging her head, and Professor Liu groaning quietly beside her.

"It's nothing. I think we should leave this place at once—there's nothing good about it," Shen Lie replied, still shaken. He glanced at the rune on his arm, then at the spot where the red sedan chair had vanished, unsure whether it had gone on to the town or simply disappeared into thin air.

"Wait, where's Ma Zhanlin?" Shen Lie scanned the crowd, suddenly realizing Ma Zhanlin was missing. His face changed as he remembered something.

"Ah, that chair took him. The end times have changed too much. Who knows if humanity can ever reclaim its place?" Professor Liu struggled to his feet, sighing bleakly after a long silence.

"By the way, thank you this time, Xiao Shen. If not for you, these old bones would never see the day when humanity rises again," Professor Liu added, his gaze lingering a moment on the black spear in Shen Lie's hand.

Shen Lie waved it off, signaling there was no need for thanks. He returned the black spear to his waist. A third of the energy within his brow-mark had been spent; he did not know how many more times the spear could be used, but so long as his life was spared, he had no cause for regret.

"Squad Leader Yang, we can't stay here a moment longer. No matter how frightened the survivors are, or how many grieve for lost loved ones, we must leave at once."

"No need to say more. I don't have time to worry about others' feelings. I'm going ahead," Shen Lie cut off Yang Weiguo before he could speak, sparing no further thought for Du Lili or Professor Liu. He took a deep breath and, without hesitation, strode quickly ahead.

"I'll head out as well. Professor, take care!" Du Lili, having steadied her shaken heart, followed closely behind Shen Lie. After such an ordeal, a new and unspoken light shone in her eyes whenever she looked at him.

"Professor, what now?" Yang Weiguo glanced from the disordered group of survivors to Professor Liu, at a loss for what to do.

Curiously, though the red sedan chair had taken away a third of the people, none of Yang Weiguo's soldiers were among them, so his own spirits were not as heavy.

"Let everyone know the situation—every man for himself. Those who wish to go forward, let them; those who want to return to town, don’t stop them. Our mission has failed," Professor Liu said, his voice laden with fatigue. It was he who had given the order to move, but he had underestimated the dangers of the passage. From over a thousand, only three or four hundred remained. Perhaps scattering into the fog would not have been any worse.

"Professor? Ah, all right," Yang Weiguo wanted to protest but found nothing to say. With a stomp of his foot, he turned to inform the others.

Shen Lie moved rapidly forward. Whether it was that fortune follows disaster, or the forest was simply not so vast, after not much distance he suddenly saw light ahead, and found himself emerging beyond the trees.

At last, the forest was behind them!

"We finally made it out!" Du Lili exclaimed with joy behind him. But instantly, both she and Shen Lie gasped in shock.

"What...what is this? Shen Lie, do you think we still have any hope of getting out?" Du Lili’s voice was full of unwillingness. Before them stretched a horrifying scene: at the center of the red mist that shrouded all, a crimson pool churned and frothed. At one side of the pool, a narrow, black rift oscillated back and forth, red water slowly seeping from the fissure.

On the other side of the pool stood a gigantic, bizarre tree—completely barren, with only seven bare branches. Six of the branches hung empty, but on the central trunk, a single flower had bloomed.

A white flower streaked with red.