An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 424 Meaningless Death
Shia, enveloped in the power of the blood crystal, slowly descended. Her face was deathly pale, and she dared not look Cang Kai in the eye.

The divine messenger glanced at Shia, then looked at Cang Kai and said with a faint smile, "It seems I need to hand over the stage to you."

Having said that, he took off with great interest and flew to the side, watching the two of them from a distance.

Now, its yellow-green eyes were filled with the same mockery and tyranny as before.

"sorry"

Shea’s voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, but a long, emerald-green sword appeared in her hand.

Cang Kai's left eye had been slashed during the previous battle, and blood was streaming down his face. He could only open it halfway. He glanced at her up and down with a sideways look, then suddenly chuckled, raised his hand, and threw out his spear! It landed right at the feet of the divine messenger in a provocative manner.

The messenger's brow twitched.

Seeing her opponent lose this legendary item, Shia panicked even more, stammering, "You, you don't need to do this, we, we..."

“Little girl, no need to explain,” Cang Kai laughed, opening his arms wide, his blood-covered face full of composure. “Come on!”

The lizard envoy frowned and sneered, "Only cowards retreat before battle."

Cang Kai ignored him, while Xia trembled even more violently.

She said, her voice already trembling with tears.

Seeing that Shia was on the verge of emotional collapse, Cang Kai's fierce expression, which had been hardened by the fierce battle, softened a little. He said gently, "Little girl, it's alright. We've all been through this."

"Only when people truly face life and death can they gain awe for death. Our beliefs are born from passion, but they are only tempered into indestructibility in the face of life and death time and time again."

"There is nothing shameful about being defeated by death. If death were a ditch that could be easily crossed, how could human courage and noble pride be demonstrated?"

Cang Kai looked at Xi Ya, or perhaps at the drones scattered throughout the corners behind her, and his voice boomed like thunder: "Sword up! Remember today's pain and keep moving forward. You will eventually become a great warrior!"

Shea stood frozen in place. She had switched from holding the sword with one hand to two, but the tip of the sword was still trembling. Her lips trembled, and she leaned forward, but she could not take a step forward no matter what she did.

The lizard envoy's eyes gradually turned fierce. He had gone to great lengths to create this situation of mutual slaughter. If Cang Kai were to actively seek death, what fun would there be?

This is a hunting ceremony! A hunt!

The sacred hunt is a struggle of wits and strength, utilizing every available resource, constantly shifting between prey and hunter, a fight to the death! It is not about letting humans promote ideas that should be completely rejected!

What do these damned guys think hunting is?!

However, the lizard messenger could not intervene personally. The ritual had already been disrupted enough. If it were to interfere even in the battle, the ritual would lose all its meaning.

Thinking of this, the lizard messenger looked at the dying rebel traitor beside him. The moment their eyes met, the other party instantly understood its meaning.

"Cang Kai!"

The man struggled to raise his wounded body and roared, "You coward!"

"Do you think it's brave of you to deliberately seek death? No! You're running away! You're running away from your responsibilities!"

"A true hero should accept defeat and do everything possible to survive! Only by surviving can there be hope! Now you're just going to die? What about those who followed you and believed in you?"

His voice carried clearly throughout the entire cave.

As Cang Kai's close friend for many years, he knew that Cang Kai would not change his mind because of his few words, but his words would be broadcast to billions of people across the planet.

The pressure from those people, their disdain for Cang Kai's escapism, and their view that he was a hero but a coward—perhaps there's even a tiny chance that could make him change his mind.

To his disappointment, Cang Kai only looked at him with a calm expression tinged with disdain from beginning to end.

He turned to the drones in the sky, as if he were giving a speech to everyone.

"I've said it before, everyone can live today, but I must die."

"No matter how firm your belief is, it cannot change the material world, nor can it bridge the power gap of several orders of magnitude."

"The moment the altar is activated and the gods descend, we are defeated. In this generation, we will have no hope. The only thing we can do is to preserve the fire for future generations."

"This is a difficult and treacherous road, so difficult that there is no glimmer of hope in sight, so difficult that even sacrificing one's life seems like a foolish and futile effort, so difficult that it may take hundreds of millions of people to give up their entire lives and repeat this cycle thousands of times before they can see even a sliver of dawn."

"But compatriots, do not be deterred by the despair before us. As long as we keep the flame burning, one day, one day we will usher in our victory!"

"Let's move forward, no matter how long that victory takes, no matter if we ever see it!"

His solemn and calm voice echoed in the cave, and even the traitor who had tried to persuade him stood there stunned with a complicated expression.

Drones hovered overhead, their cold lenses conveying no information, yet giving the impression that behind the lenses lay a torrent of emotions.

No one knows what the people will think after hearing these words. Will they be excited? Or disdainful? Will their beliefs be strengthened? Or will they surrender completely?
After all, this path is too difficult. He is asking that there be selfless people who are willing to give everything for their compatriots, like moths to a flame, for generations to come. Is this really possible, or is it just a beautiful wish?

Perhaps the only person who firmly believes that they can ultimately win is Cang Kai.

"Tap, tap, tap."

He walked confidently toward Shia.

At this moment, Xia was completely frozen in place like a stone, and she did not swing her sword until Cang Kai walked up to her.

"Let's do it," Cang Kai smiled. "You're a friend who fights alongside us. You fight for me, so how could I let you die?"

"I"

Shia lowered her gaze, her expression changing drastically. The veins in her hands, gripping the longsword, bulged and even made a "crackling" sound.

She knew that once she thrust out this sword, all the pride she had cultivated as a member of the royal family since childhood would be shattered.

But do I really have the right to choose? Do I really want to ruin my promising future, which has just begun, on this unknown, inferior planet?

Shea gripped the sword tighter and tighter until the hilt began to deform and the tip of the sword began to vibrate!
"puff."

A sharp blade pierced through Cang Kai's chest.

Shia looked up in surprise. Zoltan, covered in blood, burst out from the space behind her, his slender dueling sword like a black serpent, piercing Cang Kai's heart with pinpoint accuracy.

Zoltan, you

"Now is not the time to be soft-hearted! Survive first, do everything you can to survive!"

Zoltan said in a low voice quickly, then turned to the divine messenger and shouted, "I want to use my points to exchange for the [Litus Flower]!"

This sudden turn of events surprised even the divine messenger. It was certain that there was no one else beside it, and it seemed that Zoltan had overheard its conversation with Shia through some special means.

That's not surprising. After all, it's a shadow. How can it protect its master if it doesn't know the master's condition at all times?

It glanced down at Cang Kai, whose chest was gushing blood, and said, "Hunting points will only be calculated after death."

Zoltan hissed, "The destructive energy in my sword has shredded his life force; you can sense it!"

"At this point, unless a higher being reshapes its body, complete death is only a matter of time!"

The divine messenger looked at Zoltan with a playful smile, but did not make things difficult for him. Instead, he flicked his finger, and a golden petal floated towards him.

"Although it's a bit against the rules, consider it an advance reward for you."

Zoltan snatched it away, crushed it into juice with a flick of his magic, and hurriedly fed it to Shia, who was staring blankly at Cang Kai.

Then he extended his mind to scan Shia's body back and forth until the vast life energy erupted in Shia's body, constantly changing her form, before Zoltan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sia, Sia"

Zoltan held Shia's hand, as if he wanted to say something, but then he noticed that his body was slowly fading away.

This means that Cang Kai is completely dead, he has gained enough points to complete the mission, and needs to leave.

Some trials allow the participants to linger for a period of time after passing them, but for the hunting ritual, this does not give them the opportunity to continue interfering with the ritual.

"To survive, only by surviving can..."

After uttering only a few words, Zoltan's figure completely disappeared.

Shia's pupils gradually focused, her face began to twitch, and all the muscles in her body began to tremble from the effort.

"I advise you to save your strength."

At this moment, the lizard envoy's cold voice rang out: "The effect of the Lithops Insect is strong, but not strong enough to give you the opportunity to challenge a Heroic Spirit."

“I don’t mind your murderous intent towards me, but this kind of pointless challenge will affect the subsequent hunt. If it affects the aesthetics of the ceremony, I will have a headache.”

"especially"

The lizard envoy looked at Cang Kai's body: "Especially since the main course has already been wasted."

It sighed softly, "I wonder if this flimsy hero-saves-the-damsel-in-distress trope will satisfy the gods." *Clang!*

A sharp buzzing sound exploded in the space. Not far away, the body of the rebel traitor was shredded by the sword energy. Shia sheathed her sword, her eyes having turned cold at some point.

Without uttering a word, the power of the blood crystal surged, and she vanished from her spot in the blink of an eye.

“That’s more like it,” the lizard envoy said with a smile. “Hopefully, this final hunt will be a little more exciting.”

Because the wrath of the gods had previously killed a large number of prey on the entire floating gunship, as well as almost all the low-level prey, and Cang Kai had also killed two king-level prey, hunting points were in severe shortage.

Even if the three awakened ones kill all the prey, their points will still be far from enough for them to complete the entire level.

In other words, a spectacular battle of wits and bloodshed is destined to take place in this hunting ground.

Of course, the drama of compatriots killing each other has already been playing out for a long time.
The divine messenger looked at the now quiet cave, where only rubble and a few lonely corpses remained.

It walked to Cang Kai's corpse and suddenly stepped on his head!

"What I hate most about humanity is your self-righteous virtues and beliefs!"

"Even the weakest slave sees me as nothing more than a powerful beast."

"What right do you, a weakling, have to act so superior?"

"Do you think that by making sacrifices and overestimating your abilities, you have become a species with more advanced emotions?"

"How ridiculous! These are just self-deceptive comforts. The truth of the world is always a dog-eat-dog world!"

“Cang Kai, I know you are still conscious. Even after death, the soul of a King-level expert can receive information for a short time.”

"You'll see what your death has brought you!"

It pointed, and images immediately appeared all around.

In a valley within the hunting grounds, two groups of rebels were slaughtering each other. Those rebels who refused to fight their comrades had already died at the beginning, and now only those who wanted to survive remained.

Outside the hunting grounds, after Cang Kai died completely, his last shred of resistance was extinguished.

The guerrillas began waving white flags, and the people chanted divine pronouncements, celebrating the death of those who had blasphemed.

Some even dragged out the families of the rebels before the ceremony was over, tied them up with ropes, and escorted them to the courtroom.

"This is the hunt the gods have been waiting for!"

Hunting exists not only within rituals, but also outside of them.

These acts of betraying others to protect themselves, and the fear of falling into their own trap if they don't frame others, are also a form of hunting.
Watching these people experience fear because of the ritual, and harm others because of that fear, is also part of the pleasure that the ritual brings.

“Your rebels will be tried one by one. Not to mention their families, even those who have the slightest connection with them will be dragged out by the people who are afraid of being implicated and will live a miserable and painful life. And everyone who survives will remember the consequences of rebelling against God.”

"What you call sparks, sacrifices, and paths are nothing but wishful thinking on your part!"

"Your existence is meaningless. The resistance you have instigated has only added more suffering and death to this land!"

As he spoke, the lizard envoy seemed to see Cang Kai's pained and unwilling expression, and a morbid pleasure appeared on his face.

"boom!"

Cang Kai's head was crushed by force, and broken bones and brain matter exploded all over the ground.

The heroes of humanity in the past are now nothing more than blood-stained corpses, subject to humiliation.

The lizard messenger glanced at the corpse with disdain, finally losing interest in it. He then soared into the sky and left the area.

The cave fell into complete silence.

"."

A phantom spirit appeared in the corner.

Chu Xiu looked at Cang Kai's corpse and sighed softly.

In fact, he originally intended to develop Cang Kai into his divine messenger.

Firstly, it helps the remaining awakened ones pass the trials to verify their hypothesis about teleportation; secondly, it leaves a mark in this area.

He still remembered the huge metal sphere at the center of the god's corpse. Although he couldn't take it away or use it for the time being, such a high-level material would one day come in very handy. Its value was incomparable to that of a thousand or a hundred independent anchor points.

Cang Kai is the perfect candidate, with outstanding talent and a firm will, making him a rare and exceptional choice for a divine messenger.

Unfortunately, Chu Xiu's spirit was too weak and he was not qualified to intervene in any battle. He could only watch helplessly as Cang Kai was killed.

Now, his body is completely devoid of life force, so even if Chu Xiu teleports the anchor point over, it will be impossible for him to merge with it.

"It seems we'll have to choose someone else."

"I just don't know if we can still stall this trial."

His consciousness surged, and he tried to contact the three Awakened Ones and search for other suitable candidates.

Unfortunately, all three were moving at high speed, and Chu Xiu had to put in a lot of effort to even pinpoint their location, let alone transmit information.

As for the others, the generals were all engaged in fierce battles, and the only ones who could allow him to slowly set up the ritual were two mediocre ferocious-ranked individuals.

But now that things have come to this, there's no time to be so particular. Chu Xiu sighed softly, his spirit body swaying as he prepared to leave.

However, just as his consciousness was about to fade, Chu Xiu suddenly let out a soft "hmm," as if he had discovered something and showed a surprised expression.

In his gaze, faint, ethereal threads converged from all around and entered Cang Kai's corpse.

These invisible threads are almost impossible to detect in reality by any means; they can only be noticed from a perspective projected from a higher dimension, as if they existed in another dimension.

Following these threads, Chu Xiu's consciousness passed through Cang Kai's body, and he discovered that within Cang Kai's body, there was a sphere of light composed entirely of these threads.

When these invisible threads become dense enough, although they are still invisible in reality, from a higher dimension, they emit a faint white light, as if they have a physical form!
"Could this be... the power of civilization?" Chu Xiu looked surprised and uncertain.

As the master of civilization, he was naturally very familiar with the power of civilization. Whether it was fighting against the power of other civilizations or using his own power of civilization to fight enemies, he had a clear understanding of it.

However, this was the first time he had seen the power of civilization from a higher-dimensional perspective, and the first time he had a real sense of these usually abstract forces.

"But why would Cang Kai attract the power of civilization?"

After hearing Zhao Jie mention the path to godhood, fragments of the world, and treasures formed from the power of civilization, Chu Xiu learned about them in detail and naturally understood that the power of civilization was actually the result of the datafied emotions and beliefs of civilization.

This is why the people in the prayer tower were able to provide a continuous source of power for him during the battle with the killer.

He also knew that even in a world with a low degree of datafication, the power of civilization would naturally accumulate and manifest itself in a special way. For example, some groups would give birth to "kings" who were far more powerful than ordinary individuals.

If nothing unexpected happens, Cang Kai's exceptional talent is likely due to the influence of the power of civilization.

If the hopes and prayers of the entire civilization are concentrated on one person, then the power of the civilization may be attracted and gathered. The ball of light in Cang Kai's body must have been slowly condensed over a long period of time.

However, it is far from being condensed to the point of being able to materialize.

But why was Cang Kai still able to attract the power of civilization after his death?

Chu Xiu's expression shifted slightly as he looked at the projection left behind by the lizard envoy, which had not yet dissipated.

The projected image shows the crowd violently smashing open the houses where the rebels' families lived, dragging them out, and shouting insults and beatings at them. They angrily denounced Cang Kai's deception and used their actions to demonstrate their arrogance towards the gods.

But is anger merely a manifestation of fear?

In the depths of people's hearts, on those dark and quiet nights, do they remember that someone once fought for them? And how many people are silently mourning Cang Kai?
Threads of silk converged from all directions, and these threads continued to flow, eventually filling the entire cave!
With so much power from civilization, reshaping the body became possible.

"I see."

"I will respond to the prayers of this entire civilization."

His consciousness vibrated in the air, and the energy gathered by his spirit spread toward Cang Kai's corpse.

Establishing a summoning ritual is not complicated. It only requires energy to vibrate in a special way to transmit a signal to a higher dimension. Chu Xiu had already mastered the method of the ritual in the records of the Inheritance Hall.

As for the materials used in the ceremony.
Chu Xiu whispered, "Let us rekindle the flame with the blood of martyrs."

As spiritual energy was injected, the blood flowing from Cang Kai emitted a dazzling red light. It flowed on the ground as if it were alive, forming one strange symbol after another!

These symbols extend outwards and combine in a regular pattern, resembling a sinister painting!

Suddenly, all the symbols lit up, and a tremendous amount of energy converged at the intersection in mid-air. In the next instant, a huge hole appeared at that intersection!
Chu Xiu's face emerged from behind the large hole. He pointed a finger and a stream of light shot out, entering Cang Kai's body.

(End of this chapter)