Chapter 235 – The Light of Dawn, the Splendor of the Spear

The hawk-nosed old man and the horse-faced middle-aged man exchanged glances.

The elephant protector, known for his steady temperament and taciturn nature, had always revered strength and possessed an unyielding will. Before accepting the legacy of evil martial arts, he was a model ascetic.

In both personality and physique, the elephant protector exuded a sense of solidity, stability, and reliability. Such a person would invariably serve as a backbone in any team.

But now.

This sturdy, mountain-like figure was trembling.

He even spoke of his impending death.

The two men were baffled.

What kind of immense, unknown terror could cause someone like the elephant protector to suddenly collapse in an instant?

“Creak!”

The trembling form of the elephant protector swelled to a certain threshold of fear, and his body suddenly expanded.

His black robe split open and the mask on his face fell off.

Soon, a terrifying sight was revealed.

His muscles were so developed they bulged dramatically, tearing through his skin, exposing numerous veins and arteries that writhed like skinned creatures.

In some places, his skin had the texture of stone.

His mouth split open in four directions, resembling a gaping wound.

His face was covered in cracks, his entire left cheek appeared black and ashen, resembling a rock attached to his face.

The elephant protector let out a low roar, making an elephantine trumpet sound.

He planted his feet firmly, digging deep into the ground, his massive frame appearing deeply rooted to the spot.

He then faced a specific direction, his eyes wide open, his already fearsome visage becoming even more hideous and terrifying.

His gaze stretched into the distance.

It looked like he was in fear, unwillingness, yet waiting silently for something to arrive.

“What… is it?”

The hawk-nosed old man and the horse-faced middle-aged man, affected by his emotion, asked in trembling voices.

They then heard the elephant protector utter a few broken, sorrowful words:

“Destiny. The final fate of a blasphemer.”

The two men seemed to realize something instantly, their expressions changed drastically.

At that moment, a thunderous sound, like rapid drumbeats, echoed from afar.

“Boom—boom—boom—”

The sound was deep and heavy, as if something massive was pounding the ground, transforming the entire earth into a drumhead.

The rhythm was rapid, approaching quickly.

The ground beneath their feet started to shake violently, far more intense than the tremors induced by the elephant protector, almost resembling an earthquake.

In the next instant, the pupils of the hawk-nosed old man and the horse-faced middle-aged man constricted sharply.

They saw, on the horizon ahead, a massive black figure standing over five meters tall, stomping the ground with each step as it rushed towards them at an incredible speed.

“An emissary-level from the Elephant Deity Sect?!”

They blurted out unconsciously, and a wave of intense terror surged over them like a tidal wave, engulfing them entirely.

They now understood why the elephant protector reacted the way he did.

As usurpers of the power of the evil deity, facing such divine retribution and pursuit,

There was no escape, only death.

This was indeed the fate of practitioners of evil martial arts, the inevitable price for obtaining power beyond that of mortals.

The two men retreated far back, leaving the elephant protector standing alone in place.

They watched in horror and alarm as the massive figure approached in large strides.

The terrifying evil energy wave from the demon mountain surrounded the figure, creating a distorted field-like phenomenon. Light appeared to be swallowed into its vicinity.

The oppressive presence of the emissary level spread out, stirring the air along its path, imparting a sense of overwhelming weight and immense pressure even visually.

The figure seemed to transform into a black tidal wave, several meters high, overturning soil and stones, cracking the earth, and charging towards them with an overwhelming force.

In comparison, the elephant protector, fully activated and of the same origin, appeared like a small reef under a tsunami wave.

Standing alone in place, waiting to be swallowed by the giant wave.

In the blink of an eye, the figure approached.

The hawk-nosed old man and the Horse-faced Middle-aged Man were engulfed by the tidal wave-like momentum.

As they felt the suffocating, terrifying pressure, they saw the elephant protector about to collide head-on with the enormous figure in the distance. A profound sense of doom settled in their hearts.

The elephant protector’s muscles tensed to the extreme.

His eyes were wide open, even tearing at the corners, his face contorted in a mix of ferocity and fear, as he glared at the terror charging towards him like a rolling demon mountain.

Trembling and terrified, he let out an indignant roar that embodied the pride of a martial artist fighting against his fate.

“Roar!”

The elephant protector roared, his veins bulging as he threw a powerful punch forward.

Then…

“Boom—”

The horrifying black tide rolled past the elephant protector’s side.

The massive figure sped by, causing a gust of wind that blew the hair off the elephant protector’s forehead.

At that moment,

The elephant protector was stunned, the hawk-nosed old man and the Horse-faced Middle-aged Man also stood frozen in shock.

Their forms remained motionless, statuesque in their surprise.

It wasn’t until the drum-like footsteps and the ground-shaking vibrations had completely faded into the distance that the trio slowly snapped out of their daze.

They turned their confused gazes in the direction the elephant deity emissary had disappeared, then looked at each other.

They all saw the same bewildered question reflected in each other’s eyes—

Why did he just run by like that?!

Was he merely passing through?

“Thud!”

“Thud!”

Lu Yuan threw the metal spears one after another through the air, continuing his practice.

The sound of spears piercing the air and metal spheres exploding repeated rhythmically.

Stable and continuous.

The atmosphere around them plunged into an eerie tension.

Peregrine Falcon appeared somewhat agitated, frequently glancing at the communication wristwatch on his wrist.

A burly man in a Red Bear uniform quickly approached from the base of the hill.

Peregrine Falcon went over to him. The two exchanged hushed words, then squads of armed Yellow Bear members orderly emerged from the large base. Silver-gray shuttles quietly ascended, with their gun barrels extending.

Everything unfolded smoothly and silently, the tension in the air mounting.

Liao Yu stood beside Lu Yuan, observing the meticulously executed operations.

He had no idea what was happening.

But he could feel the Yellow Bear base’s pervasive sense of urgency, from top to bottom, as if preparing for an imminent threat.

This sharply contrasted with Lu Yuan’s calm and composed demeanor.

Liao Yu felt utterly at a loss, sensing a massive storm forming in the air.

Standing this close to Lu Yuan—practically the closest—

He found himself in the calm eye of the storm.

At that moment, Liao Yu suddenly heard a strange sound.

“Boom—”

It came from a great distance, as if some gigantic creature was heavily stomping on the ground.

Quickly, the sound grew louder and closer.

With his sharp perception as a True Intent level martial artist, Liao Yu felt a faint vibration through the ground beneath his feet.

Surprised, he watched as tiny pebbles bounced off the ground and landed on his shoes.

It reminded him of ancient battles, where thousands of soldiers and horses would charge, and although the enemy remained unseen, the tremors from their galloping hooves were transmitted distantly through the earth.

Liao Yu seemed to begin to grasp the source of the tense and oppressive atmosphere enveloping the Yellow Bear base.

He lifted his head and squinted his eyes towards the direction from which the sound came.

The next second, his pupils contracted sharply!

He saw a figure.

To be precise, it couldn’t quite be called a “human.” It was a humanoid monster with a head that resembled an elephant’s, standing over five meters tall.

The monster was running towards them in large strides, with each step crashing down like a prehistoric giant elephant stomping mightily on the ground. Wherever it passed, large swathes of earth and stones rolled like waves.

The ferocious and frightening aura that emanated from its body formed a colossal black wave, dozens of meters high, sweeping in from the horizon.

“What is that?!”

Liao Yu exclaimed in horror, blurting out his words instinctively.

Despite being a True Intent level martial artist, he was, in the end, just a regular person.

He had never seen such a creature, the kind that only appeared in movies and novels. The sight of it struck him so profoundly that it shook his entire worldview to its core.

At that moment, a calm voice pulled him from his terrified stupor.

“Bring me my spear.”

The voice said.

Liao Yu suddenly turned his head and saw that, at some point, Lu Yuan had stopped his spear-throwing practice.

Instead, he was now facing the direction from which the elephant-headed human monster was approaching, calmly speaking to the red bear strongman beside him.

“Lord, this coming elephant deity emissary has an evil energy wave even stronger than the last one.”

“Bring me my spear,” Lu Yuan repeated.

The red bear strongman closed his mouth and immediately turned around.

A few seconds later, he returned, holding a two-meter-long, ancient-looking but exquisitely crafted spear that seemed to be made of pure silver in both hands.

The instant Liao Yu laid eyes on the silver spear, his mind was deeply captivated. The spear appeared to possess a kind of magic, constantly drawing his gaze toward it.

As he stared longer, faint illusions began to appear before his eyes.

It seemed as if countless voices were whispering in his ear, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

But soon, the illusions were abruptly cut off as a hand gently grasped the shaft of the spear.

Liao Yu snapped back to reality and saw that Lu Yuan had already taken hold of the spear in a reverse grip, adopting the starting stance of a deadly move from the family-inherited spear technique.

There were slight differences in the details, adjustments that Lu Yuan had made to suit his own style.

After more than half a month of training together, Liao Yu was extremely familiar with this stance.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The elephant-headed human monster’s thunderous footsteps grew closer, and the ground under Liao Yu’s feet started to tremble slightly. The tsunami-like pressure drove the air, whipping up a fierce wind that surged towards them.

Everyone at the Yellow Bear base had turned grim-faced, and Liao Yu also began to feel nervous.

However, Lu Yuan remained calm. He didn’t even glance at the elephant man but instead, slowly and gently caressed the patterns on the spear in his hands.

Then…

“Crack, crack, crack—”

Under Liao Yu’s bewildered gaze, Lu Yuan’s body began to rapidly expand, growing taller inch by inch.

His remarkably stretchy black combat suit was stretched tight, outlining his exaggeratedly developed muscles.

His long black hair cascaded like a waterfall, growing swiftly, then lifting in the billowing heatwaves emanating from him.

Liao Yu widened his eyes, continuously looking upward, helplessly watching as Lu Yuan rose in front of him like a looming black cloud.

In his hand, the silver spear emitted a faint glow, resembling the moon hidden behind the clouds.

“Creak, creak—”

Lu Yuan’s arm, holding the spear, continued to expand, with thick veins bulging out.

Despite the terrifying transformation, his remarkably handsome face remained calm. The ground where he stood, however, began to crack under some immense, terrifying strength, spreading outwards like a spider web.

A massive yet invisible wave of energy emanated from Lu Yuan.

Mist-like mental power gradually formed a vague, shadowy figure with a goat-like head behind him.

As this apparition appeared, the glow of the silver spear in Lu Yuan’s hand intensified, becoming almost blinding.

An indescribable, nearly tangible pressure pushed against Liao Yu’s body, forcing him to stagger backward.

He retreated until he was nearly at the edge of the cliff before he barely managed to stop.

Terrified beyond measure, Liao Yu watched with wide eyes as Lu Yuan slowly lifted his right hand.

The nearly twenty-meter-tall ghostly goat-head figure seemed to flow into the spear.

In an instant, the silver light reached its peak brilliance.

The specific shape of the spear became invisible, and Liao Yu could only see Lu Yuan holding up a beam of silver light, a dazzling, twisting brilliance.

At the moment when the pressure on the mountaintop reached its climax,

Lu Yuan hurled the silver light with immense force.

The solidifying pressure on the large mountaintop vanished along with the silver light.

The air and sound on the mountain seemed to be swept away as well.

Liao Yu, in a daze, collapsed to the ground, watching in his field of vision as the light, like a silver comet, swiftly yet gracefully streaked across the sky.

Instinctively, he clutched his own heart.

At that moment,

He felt as if his soul had been drawn out of him as well.