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Chapter 456 Fang Qingyu has vanished into thin air!?

Chapter 456 Fang Qingyu has vanished into thin air!?
Deep underground in Shangjing City.

The fluorite embedded in the rock face emitted a constant, faint glow, coldly illuminating the winding, seemingly endless stone steps leading downwards.

And that huge, ancient stone gate standing at the end of the passage.

Before the stone gate.

The old man, with his white hair and beard and dressed simply, remained sitting against the wall, his head bowed as if he were asleep.

The dust of time seems unable to settle on him.

Only that sense of vicissitude, which had been dormant for too long, silently permeated the air.

However, at some point.

This underground space has been silent for countless years.

It stirred up ripples so subtle they were almost imperceptible.

The old man's head had been bowed for who knows how many years.

It moved very slightly.

The eyelids, covered with thick age spots, slowly lifted, revealing a pair of cloudy eyes.

There was no confusion in those eyes, like someone just waking up.

There is only one.
After waiting for far too long, to the point of near numbness, a faint light was rekindled by a tiny flame.

Almost at the same moment the old man opened his eyes.

The stone door before him, which had been silent for just as long, had an intricate surface, its material neither gold nor stone.

It was as if a sleeping galaxy had been awakened.

Countless fine golden lines emerged from the deepest part of the stone gate.

It flows and converges rapidly, like the veins of a living organism.

The light grew brighter and brighter, eventually coalescing and outlining in the center of the stone gate the figure of a child sitting cross-legged, composed of pure golden light.

The child's figure was blurry, and his facial features were indistinct; only an outline was visible.

But at this moment, the outline is fluctuating violently.

This reveals his extreme inner turmoil.

"Old man! Old man!"

The golden-haired child's voice could no longer be contained; his clear, tender voice, filled with unprecedented ecstasy and excitement, exploded and echoed repeatedly in the silent underground passage.

"He's awake! He's awake! Quick, sense it! He really is at the gate of the final barrier! The Mirage Dragon Swamp! It's the entrance to the Mirage Dragon Swamp! He's inside! This time you really didn't lie to me!!! I'm really... I'm really about to be free?!"

The child's voice even had a hint of crying.

That was an uncontrollable outpouring of emotions when the long wait finally came to an end and the dawn was breaking.

The old gatekeeper listened to the children's almost incoherent cheers.

On his ancient face, covered with deep wrinkles, the muscles twitched slightly, and the corners of his mouth slowly curved into an almost imperceptible arc.

Do you think I would lie to you for the rest of my life?

These words instantly silenced the excited golden-haired child.

The jubilant golden light froze for a moment.

Immediately, a deep sense of resentment slowly surfaced on the child's face.

He remained silent for several seconds before speaking softly, his voice filled with endless grievance and accusation:
"You said the exact same thing when you tricked me into coming here to guard this damn broken wall."

The words fell.

A brief silence fell over the passageway.

The smile that had just appeared on the old gatekeeper's face froze instantly, then turned into an undisguised embarrassment that slowly dissipated.

His cloudy old eyes drooped slightly.

They avoided the child's resentful gaze, which they could almost sense even if they couldn't see it clearly.

He didn't argue.

Because there is no way to refute it.

Come to think of it, it really was him, he was from their human race.
I'm sorry to this being born at the beginning of time.

The innate spirit should have been carefree and at ease.

With vague hopes and seemingly noble reasons, He is bound here, guarding this captured and solidified period of time, and the secrets concerning humanity buried within it.

Anticipation after anticipation.

Disappointment after disappointment.

Countless promising young talents of the human race entered the Primordial Martial Arts Arena.

However, the vast majority, even those who did not fully comprehend the origins of the first world, could not grasp it completely.

Therefore, they had no choice but to withdraw.

To be able to traverse two worlds and obtain two kinds of original inheritances is already extremely rare, enough to be revered as an ancestor in the outside world and be regarded as a legend.

Such achievements naturally made them very satisfied.

I will not ask for anything more.

Over time, it has become widely believed that the primary function of the Original Martial Arts Wall was to provide training and training.

It is to help people comprehend one or even two powerful primordial forces.

This is already an incredible stroke of luck.

But no one knows.

This is by no means the true value of the original Martial Arts Wall.

This wall, this historical cycle solidified by a special force, has an ultimate meaning.
The old gatekeeper's gaze seemed to pierce through the heavy stone door, as if landing on the forty-ninth, the very first, world entrance that no one had ever set foot in.

His thoughts drifted to the distant past.

It drifted towards that place, passed down orally from generation to generation.

Yet no one can verify the authenticity of this ancient covenant.

The author of The New York Times
The succession of the Human Emperor.

As to who originally passed it down, the passage of time is too long, and the truth has long been buried in the deepest part of the river of time, making it difficult to verify.

The old gatekeeper only knew that since he took over this position...

The only top secret I heard from the previous gatekeeper was that this wall was created by the first human emperor, Fuxi, who used all his creative power and joined forces with many sages.

To capture a wisp of primordial energy from the very beginning of time and space.

By integrating all paths, it ultimately creates something.

Its purpose is not simply to preserve insights into cultivation techniques, but to select and cultivate those who can truly inherit the lineage of the original Human Emperor and are qualified to lead humanity through the final catastrophe.
Heir.

This secret is too heavy a burden.

To this day, only he, the dying gatekeeper, and the little innate spirit who was tricked into becoming a guard for countless years inside the stone gate still know the truth.

So they kept waiting.

We've waited far too long.

Waiting for someone who can traverse the previous forty-eight worlds and gather forty-eight different fundamental insights into one.

Finally, they pushed open that final door.

Go and touch, go and inherit the power of the first and the last.

Only in this way can the original martial arts are restored.

Only then can we say that it has truly realized its greatest value since it was created.

When Fang Qingyu was originally sent here by that old bastard Hong Qitian, Hong Qitian patted his chest and guaranteed that this boy was definitely extraordinary and would surely succeed.

But the little gatekeeper was already used to this kind of "boy who cried wolf" rhetoric and didn't have much hope at all.

After all, the greater the hope, the more painful the disappointment.

结果
Who would have thought?

In just twenty years!
For beings like them, it's nothing more than a fleeting moment.

The young man named Fang Qingyu actually broke through the levels at an unbelievable speed, unstoppable, and had already stepped onto the edge of the forty-eighth world.

And they ventured into the most bizarre and unpredictable Mirage Dragon Swamp!

That is the path to the final destination.

The threshold of the forty-ninth world!

Once he successfully crosses the swamp and finds the entrance, he will truly be just one step away from touching the ultimate inheritance!
And this also means
The little gatekeeper had longed for freedom for countless years.
It's no longer just a mirage, but a future that's within reach!

Even if Fang Qingyu ultimately fails to obtain the complete inheritance of the forty-ninth world.

But as long as he can break in, he can prove that the road is passable.

This original martial arts arena is not a hopeless dead end or a deception.
That's enough.

That would be enough to prove that the human race's destiny has not ended, and one day, a completely perfect successor will appear.

When that time comes, he, the guardian who has watched over the gate for eternity, will naturally be able to complete his mission, be relieved of the burden of countless years, and regain his freedom.

The little gatekeeper knew all too well the human race.
In fact, he longed even more than himself for someone to take the last inheritance.

Because that means more than just his freedom.

This also signifies that humanity's true power, dormant and suppressed for countless years, is finally about to erupt in a momentous event.
A formal rise to power!

……

Inside the original martial arts wall.

Mirage Dragon Swamp.

Fang Qingyu transformed into a streak of lightning and plunged into the boundless swamp, shrouded in misty, multicolored miasma.

The instant he crossed that seemingly invisible boundary, an extremely strange and indescribable feeling instantly enveloped his entire body.

It wasn't an attack, nor was it intimidation; rather, it was a sense of distortion at the level of rules.

"wrong!"

Fang Qingyu's heart sank suddenly, and his speeding figure came to an abrupt halt in mid-air.

The silver electric snakes swirling around his body crackled and popped.

He scanned his surroundings warily.

As far as the eye can see, there are still towering ancient trees, their gnarled roots protruding from the swamp like black dragons, strange vegetation so dense that it blocks out the sun, and colorful miasma that permeates the air with a faint sweet and fishy smell.

The scene seemed no different from when he looked out over the swamp.

But Fang Qingyu's mind was screaming warnings.

That feeling was exceptionally strong.

Previously, in the outside world, everything in this world was enormous; every blade of grass, every tree, and every stone was ridiculously large because of their sheer size.

Fang Qingyu, standing among them, appeared insignificant in comparison.

However, his physical sensations and perception of space are normal; he knows that things have become bigger, not that he has become smaller.

However, the moment they plunged into the swamp, this perception was turned upside down!

The surrounding trees and vegetation still looked enormous, but this enormousness no longer gave Fang Qingyu the feeling that "they are very big," but rather a strong sense of self-awareness that "he himself has become small"!

This is a sense of dislocation that originates from the very essence of life.

It was as if an irresistible force of law acted upon his life form the moment he stepped into this place, shrinking him proportionally!

Fang Qingyu subconsciously raised his hand to look.

His hands were still long and strong, with clear skin texture, showing no signs of change.

But he could feel it very clearly: he had shrunk.

This shrinkage is not a visual error, but a definition at the rule level.

In the outside world, his height and body length were fixed values, but after entering this place, these values were forcibly modified by the rules of heaven and earth here.

Although it still looks like a human, its internal structure has been compressed.

"Oops."

Fang Qingyu's expression instantly turned serious.

These two situations may seem to have the same result, but they are fundamentally different.

The impacts are vastly different.

If an external object grows larger while he himself remains the same size, then his strength will remain constant without any decrease, giving him confidence when facing a massive enemy.

It simply means that more attacks are needed to inflict effective damage.

However, if one's own size is forcibly reduced by the rules.
That means everything about him has been compressed proportionally.

His power ceiling, total blood volume, energy reserves, range of divine sense, and even the scale of the blade light unleashed by the "Clear and Turbid" strike, and the actual distance that the "Imperial Thunder Pivot" lightning escape can cover in one strike.
It's possible that everything shrank along with his body!
His terrifying strength, which he previously relied on to fight beyond his level and sweep across the ten directions, is likely to be greatly diminished here!
Who knows how many times smaller this bizarre rule shrunk him?
One percent? One-thousandth? Or one ten-thousandth?

In this completely unknown situation, can the power that could previously cut down a demon king in half still be used to split open a seemingly ordinary swamp weed in front of us?

Fang Qingyu's heart sank.

This world is far more dangerous than any other before.

However, misfortunes never come singly.

Just as Fang Qingyu was trying to calm down, carefully perceive the changes in himself, and assess the extent of the damage to his strength...
Boom!Boom!Boom!
Those familiar, heavy footsteps, like the beating of a giant drum.

Another loud roar came from not far behind, and it quickly approached.

The earth trembled, and violent ripples spread across the surface of the swamp.

The two giants of the Kuafu tribe also rushed into this strange swamp.

Their massive bodies pushed through the dense miasma and vegetation, and their scarlet eyes instantly locked onto Fang Qingyu, who was hovering in mid-air.

"Kid! You can't escape!"

The roar swept in like a storm.

The shock caused Fang Qingyu's spiritual energy to become disordered.

Clearly, the strange rules of this swamp seem to have relatively little impact on these two native giants, or perhaps they have already become accustomed to them.

Their speed remained terrifying; the enormous bone clubs, accompanied by a vicious wind that could crush everything, swept directly towards Fang Qingyu!

The area was so vast that it covered almost all of Fang Qingyu's possible evasion routes!

Fang Qingyu's pupils contracted sharply, and he had no time to think any further.

"Yu Tingshu!"

Lightning flashed again, and he escaped like a winding silver bolt of lightning, narrowly missing the edge of the massive bone club.

boom! ! !
The bone club crashed down, tearing up large swamps with terrifying force. Mud mixed with broken vegetation shot into the air, forming a huge crater.

Fang Qingyu avoided a direct confrontation.

But the terrifying wind pressure and energy aftershocks still made his blood and qi surge, and his protective aura flickered uncertainly.

"Their power has truly been weakened!"

Fang Qingyu clearly felt the impact of that dodge.

It consumes far more energy and mental strength than external factors!
The opponent's strength doesn't seem to have decreased much!
With one side gaining and the other losing, the situation instantly became extremely dangerous.

Fang Qingyu dared not linger any longer, and transformed into lightning, rushing desperately deeper into the swamp.

Now is not the time to investigate; we must first get rid of these two deadly pursuers.

Seeing Fang Qingyu flee again, the two giants roared and took long strides to give chase.

The enormous foot stomped into the swamp, splashing up towering waves of mud.

However, after chasing for about half a cup of tea's time, as they went deeper into the swamp, the colorful miasma around them became increasingly dense, almost tangible, severely obstructing their vision.

Even the range of divine sense detection was greatly suppressed.

Fang Qingyu's figure appeared and disappeared in the miasma, becoming increasingly difficult to spot.

more importantly.

The two giants began to feel a distinct discomfort.

Their movements seemed to have become somewhat sluggish? Or perhaps awkward?

It's as if there's a slight problem with one's own coordination, a sense of disconnect between the instructions issued by the mind and the actual actions performed by the body.

One of the giants abruptly stopped, his enormous brows furrowing deeply. He spoke in a muffled voice to his companion, a hint of barely perceptible irritation in his tone: "Something's wrong! The 'Mirage' laws here are getting stronger! I feel like I'm losing control of my strength!"

The other giant also stopped, a hint of apprehension flashing in his large, bell-shaped eyes. He surveyed the dense, multicolored miasma around him and said in a deep voice, "We can't pursue him any further. Clan rules strictly forbid that entering the outer perimeter for pursuit is already the limit during this special period. Anyone who dares to trespass into the inner perimeter will be killed without exception! If we continue this pursuit, even if we catch that brat, we won't escape severe punishment when we get back!"

The giant who spoke first showed resentment on his face, looking in the direction where Fang Qingyu had disappeared, and said bitterly, "Are we just going to let him get away like this? He stole a trace of the Holy Mountain's essence!"

"Hmph! Run?" Another giant sneered. "Do we need to lift a finger to break into the inner perimeter of the Mirage Dragon Swamp? The disordered laws of 'Size at Will' there are enough to make any intruder lose themselves, ultimately causing their true spirit to dissipate and turn into nutrients for the swamp! Even if he's a bit special and manages to survive, there's absolutely no chance he'll ever come out again!"

He paused, then made a decision: "Go back! Report this matter to the clan immediately, and let the elders and clan leader decide! This boy is strange; he was able to arouse the source of the sacred mountain. This matter is far more important than recovering a trace of the source energy!"

The two giants reached a consensus and no longer hesitated.

As if they couldn't bear to stay even a moment longer, they immediately turned around, took heavy steps, and quickly retreated back the way they came, soon disappearing into the thick miasma.

The moment you break free of the swamp and breathe "normal" air again.

Both giants couldn't help but take a deep, greedy breath, their faces showing expressions of relief.

"Ugh, this godforsaken place is no place for giants!"

A giant shook his head, as if trying to shake off the discomfort.

“Who says otherwise?” Another giant glanced back at the desolate swamp with lingering fear. “Sizes are reversed, true spirits are shrouded in dust; if you stay here too long, you might even forget who you are. I wonder how this hellish place came to be, that it seems to target creatures of enormous size like us.”

"Let's go quickly, it's important to go back and report!"

The two giants said no more, and strode away rapidly towards their tribe's settlement.

……

The Great Wall at Sea, A7 Theater.

In the heart of the City of Injustice, at the top-floor conference room of the command building.

The atmosphere was so heavy that water seemed to drip out.

The oval conference table was full of people.

Wei Banmeng, Chu Kuanglan, Lin Kang, Su Wanqing, Xiao Jiu, Jiang Qi.
All the core leaders of the Dawn Legion and the City of Injustice were present at this moment.

A gloomy atmosphere hung over everyone's face; their brows were furrowed, and their eyes held a mixture of anxiety, worry, and an undeniable weariness.

The war lasted for two years, and news of its escalation was frequent.

But as the highest decision-making body, the pressure they bear is unimaginable to outsiders.

Troop replenishment, resource allocation, battle scenario simulation, and response to a powerful enemy.
Every decision concerns the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers.

But what's even heavier than these is...
Growing internal skepticism.

The meeting had long since concluded, but no one left.

All eyes turned to the closed door of the conference room, as if waiting for something.

at last.

A soft click.

The conference room door was silently pushed open.

A figure walked in slowly.

She wore an elegant white dress, was barefoot, and had skin as white as jade. Her beautiful face still wore that same aloof expression that never changed.

His ruby-like eyes swept calmly over the crowd, without the slightest ripple.

It was Jiang Wei.

Her arrival made the air in the conference room seem to freeze instantly.

All eyes were fixed on her, as if they were physical objects.

Wei Banmeng took a deep breath and spoke first. Her voice was a little dry due to the long silence and pressure: "Xiao Jiang, you're here."

Jiang Wei nodded slightly and walked lightly to the seat reserved for her, but did not sit down immediately. She simply looked at everyone quietly, as if waiting for them to ask questions.

Xiao Jiu rubbed her temples, her face showing undisguised weariness. She cut straight to the point, asking the question that had been weighing on everyone's minds for far too long, almost becoming an obsession: "Lady Nuba, there are no outsiders here today. These are all old brothers and sisters who followed Qingyu from Qingjian City all the way from the North Pole. We just want to know one truth. Where did Qingzi go? Is he alright?"

This problem is like opening a floodgate.

Chu Kuanglan suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes filled with crimson blood. He placed his hands on the conference table, leaned forward, and said in a hoarse and urgent voice, "Yes! Sister Jiang, what secret mission is Qingzi on? It's been two years! A full two years! Not a single piece of news! Even the most top-secret mission should have a time limit, right? We don't believe the rumors outside, but... but we're not sure!"

Lin Kang remained relatively calm, but his clenched fists betrayed his inner turmoil. He said in a deep voice, "Lady Nuwa."

"In the past two years, especially in the Arctic Dawn City area, and among the people who later migrated there, the frequency of inquiries has increased, and their emotions have also become more intense."

"We need an explanation that can appease them."

Su Wanqing added softly, "Even if it's just to tell us that he's still safe, it would give us something to look forward to."

The pressure, invisible yet palpable, weighed on Jiang Wei.

All the doubts, worries, and expectations ultimately converged on her.

Because everyone knows that if even she doesn't know Fang Qingyu's whereabouts, then it's probably really...
Under the burning gazes of the crowd.

Jiang Wei remained silent for a moment.

Her stunningly beautiful face remained completely expressionless.

His red eyes were like a bottomless ancient well.

Then, she slowly shook her head.

A cool, clear voice rang out, as calm as ever.

But this made everyone present feel instantly devastated.

"I do not know."