Forge a path to success.

Chapter 126 The Awakening of Geniuses
Snow-like sand swirled in the air, forming a vast, continuous blue chain leading straight to the igloo. At the bottom of that chain stood the Ice Man, Sethlen, his expression ferocious, his body stiff, his limbs transforming into ice crystals, within which malicious dust trembled. Sethlen's power was surging wildly; he had been struck by an overwhelmingly malevolent force.

The stone goblin's sand has already seeped into its body!
Qingye froze completely, unable to comprehend how the situation had suddenly deteriorated to this point. The brown covering in the igloo was only about half-covered; a rescue operation should have been possible in time. At that moment, Sethlen let out a howl that was not human, and ice crystals gathered, surged, and transformed into icy waves that swept in all directions.

A ring of light surged forth, forcefully sealing the ice crystals within the formation. Ji Huaisu slammed her shield into the ground, urgently adjusting the formation. Her face was ashen from the chill: "Move! There's no time for you to stand around!"

"Yes!" Qingye answered reflexively. She hurriedly swung her sword to try to sever the blue chains, but the ice dust chains, like the stone demon's body, could gather and disperse freely. No matter how the blade cut them, they would only break and reconnect, like the stone demon's silent mockery.

The young, heartbroken individual was in utter confusion; she truly didn't know what to do. Heartbroken individuals were naturally skilled in killing, not rescue, and the stone demon's abilities far exceeded her expectations. Even using her most powerful techniques might not solve the problem. All the knowledge she had been taught pointed to only one answer…

"It's time to make a move, you heartless one."

The long-haired man silently approached them, and Qingye instinctively drew her knife in defense. When their eyes met, she sensed his imposing aura and realized that he had been there all along, but they were too weak to notice.

“You’re too inexperienced. For the Calamity species, one is no different from all. He was finished the moment Tear’s defenses were breached. The power of both sides is completely connected, and the speed of the feeding process depends solely on the Stone Golem’s mood.” Shaks lit a cigarette. “You come from a prestigious family, you know what you’re doing. At this point, you have no choice but to take down Tear.”

Qingye remained silent. She had indeed anticipated this; having studied for so long since childhood, she had long since learned to consider problems from the worst possible perspective. When making the contingency plan, she had thought it through very clearly: everyone should do their best to save them; if they couldn't be saved, then the only option was to kill—decisive, straightforward, and without fear of getting their hands dirty.

However, the actual execution was completely different from the plan. When she was conceiving the idea in her mind, she could think of killing someone as easily as throwing away a bag of garbage. But when she actually faced the Ice Man's face, she realized the deep despair in the man's heart at the moment of the outburst.

That was an expression she would never forget: her lips were bluish-purple, her eyes bulged, as if she had fallen into an abyss of profound fear. A man wouldn't look so pathetic unless he was terrified to the extreme; in such a desperate moment, he chose to do everything in his power to protect the small town.

And now, is she going to kill such a person with her own hands? For...the greater good and duty to more people?

Qingye's mind went blank; she could barely hold the knife. Then she heard Ji Huaisu's voice, still decisive and unwavering: "Killing the Ice Man will cause the Ice House to collapse, and we certainly can't commit murder for the sake of righteousness. The fact that you haven't acted yet shows that you also think it's wrong, doesn't it!"

“If I take action, they’ll all die together.” Shax exhaled a puff of smoke.

Everyone understood what he meant. Shax had no way to save them either; he had only waited until now to see if these few people could be of any use. The sniper stubbed out his cigarette, turned away listlessly, and spoke in a cold tone.

"You have one minute left."

"Then there's still time."

It was Vande who spoke at this moment. Having experienced the race against time with the Immortal Machine, a minute was more than enough to make one last gamble. It cautiously maintained the hypnosis and took over the command: "The current problem is that the Dust of No Destiny and the Turbid Tears are mixed together. If we only remove the sand and leave the ice crystals intact, our plan can proceed smoothly."

"I don't have that method..."

“Others have it.” Vande activated his communication artifact. “Dude, did you hear that?”

The assassin's voice came from within, steady, firm, and reliable.

Give me thirty seconds.

·
Above Jinye City, at the top of a desert vortex.

The shrill laughter of the stone goblins rose and fell, as thousands upon thousands of their clones floated in the air, waving their sand wings and swooping down with unrestrained force. They scattered multicolored dust, ignited continuous explosions with hot winds, and blasted the man in the sand with overwhelming power.

Yet the assassin would not fall, like a reef steadfastly held by the tides. He withstood the onslaught of sandstorms with raging fire, neutralized the impact of explosions with sheer willpower, and the piercing howl of the deathly winds that obliterated everything could not match his extreme speed. He fought against the stone demon with his unyielding spirit, never showing any sign of weakness, which amazed the golden leaves in the air.

"Dragon Township Fist Technique, Secret Inscription Technique, Demonic Power... Could that golden light be the Annihilation Force Field?" Jin Ye specially created a mouth for speculation. "Such a concentration of power in one person is rare even across the Thousand Dust Islands! I'm truly curious about your condition... Just how much pain are you enduring to be able to fight me..."

"Using these extremely energy-intensive supernatural powers in battle, how long can you sustain yourself?"

Jin Ye chuckled, having already grasped the crux of the matter. Chu Hengkong's strength stemmed from his endless array of methods, but abilities exceeding the limits of his essence inherently meant excessive consumption. Both the Flame of Ambition and the Annihilation Force Field were extremely mentally taxing, and the One Qi for a Thousand Autumns was an extreme method of exchanging life for combat power. Even a machine as powerful as the Immortal Machine had to carefully manage its energy usage, let alone a mere Steel Bone with transplanted true mechanical parts.

"Unwilling to refute? Or unable to speak?" It looked down at the silent killer, "As a reward for your perseverance until now, I will show you my true power!"

It reveled in the thrill of unleashing its power; nothing could better exemplify the triumph of a petty person than the stone demon in this moment. Yet this petty person possessed genuine power; among the calamity-ridden species venturing into the evil path, the more unrestrained their actions, the greater their power grew. Torturing Sethron and destroying the city had pushed his emotions to their peak; at this moment, Golden Leaf's strength was twice as great as when it first appeared.

It raised its hands, and a massive amount of dust surged forth, like a blooming lotus closing its petals. The dust petals were mixed with damp, cold water; the water element drawn from its turbid tears made them murky, solidified, and hardened like steel. At the center of that flower was the silent Chu Hengkong; the air within the petals was being rapidly permeated by the magic of the golden leaves, and the hyper-vibrating particles heralded death.

Under the stone goblin's masterful control, pure density and weight transformed into a deadly attack. The steel petals became the earth in the air, all the air within the flowers replaced by "erasers." There was no room for evasion or maneuvering; it would crush the assassin into dust in the most brutal way!
"Ten seconds," Chu Hengkong said.

Even as disaster loomed, he remained unmoved, more so than a stone demon capable of controlling mountains. The assassin completely relaxed, even ceasing to circulate his immortality technique, letting the sand and dust carve streaks across his face. He turned the white spear around, released it, and the spear, now unsupported, fell, its tip still catching a sliver of blue flame.

"Five seconds."

The stone demon suddenly felt an inexplicable tension. It couldn't understand why its opponent remained so confident; as a point mass 2, he should have already revealed all his trump cards. But it could sense the opponent's emotions—a straight line without a ripple, as if looking at a dead man. The stone demon accelerated its casting speed, sparing no effort. In less than three seconds, the steel flower had completely closed, and the white spear struck the petals first, its tip passing through as lightly as if it had no volume. "—Wildfire."

A brilliant blue flame erupted, igniting the dust. The blue enveloped the steel lotus, and the raging fire burst forth from the bud like a firebird soaring through the sky!

The painstakingly crafted flower instantly crumbled, its charred petals falling to reveal the killer's indifferent face. Its dust, its soil, even its body—everything it could control—was ablaze, as if being devoured by a more ferocious, more greedy beast. Yet, the flames extinguished instantly upon touching the ice crystals, and even when they penetrated the building, they remained unburned. That beast only saw him as its target; only the stone demon was its prey!
The Embers of Ambition

[Rating: 3 (5)]

【Origin: Mysterious Realm of Senluo - Huilong City】

【Effect:……

4. Wildfire

It is activated after a certain period of charging. A substance/life form/energy is selected as the target, and the inner fire will burn fiercely, treating the target as kindling. This continues until the target is completely consumed, or the ambition fades away.

The duration depends on the level of heightened arousal. Currently, the duration is thirty seconds.

In the previous battle, Chu Hengkong had already figured out the characteristics of the Stone Demon's immortal body. Its existence was based not on spirit but on matter; complete elementalization meant that every grain of sand was its physical body, while its ghostly form had transformed into "magic" that controlled matter. Destroying part of the ghostly form with the Annihilation Field was merely severing the threads that controlled the sand; the Stone Demon could convert more power and create more threads with just a breath.

Such a creature has no self; its physical body can be replenished by external substances, and its ghostly body is equivalent to its own energy. The solution, as Van Der said, is either to physically destroy all its matter or to inject it with a deadly poison that instantly spreads throughout its body.

Chu Hengkong chose the second method; his "poison" was the Flame of Ambition. The Demonic Remnant Flame is a relic that strengthens as the holder's particle level increases. After Chu Hengkong reached particle level 2, it also displayed a deeper level of power—the Wildfire, which was remarkably effective against Calamity-type creatures.

The Heartfire's chosen target is the Stone Demon, and within these thirty seconds, the Flame of Ambition will only burn dust. Right now, the sandstorm is overwhelming, and the firewood is plentiful. It feeds on the sandstorm, rising wildly like a spark falling into wild grass, quickly igniting a prairie fire.

Chu Hengkong thrust his spear into the base of the lotus, and the fire in his heart followed the spear's edge to the ground, burning the dust locks that bound the ice man!
·
"Good! As expected of the power of a great demon! The fire of ambition is fucking awesome!"

Vande waved his tentacles, ecstatic, while Miss Qingye was practically dumbfounded. She pointed to the sky, stammering, "The...the great demon...?"

"Don't worry, they're not demon contractors, they're our spoils!" Ji Huaisu gave a thumbs up.

Qingye began to scream: "How dare you take the power of a great demon out in public?!"

"I'm not worried about having too much debt, nor do I care about having too many lice! I'm not afraid of a little more trouble!" Ji Huaisu's face turned from green to blue. "Brothers, are you ready yet? Captain Huaisu is already holding on with all his might!"

Gulibo kept trembling: "But, but, the link is still there!"

"What did you say..." The Eye Demon was stunned, and subconsciously looked up. Exactly as calculated before, it used the Wildfire of Ambition to directly reach the ground, clearing away all the dust in its field of vision.

But the chains binding the Ice Man were still there! The icy, dust-like restraints swayed in the blue flames, clearly severely damaged by the fire, almost completely melted, with only a few remaining strands clinging to it. Van der immediately calculated the melting time: at least another 15 seconds. Those extra few seconds were the difference between life and death. The sniper would fire before the chains burned completely, or the Ice Man would be devoured.

But this is logically impossible; the dust has already been burned off, so how can a one-sided chain continue? Who exactly is supporting it?

“No…” Van der muttered to himself, “No…!”

It couldn't be just a coincidence. Even someone as unlucky as Chu Hengkong had a chance to turn danger into safety. Such frequent coincidences seemed like malicious intent. It focused all its energy on observing the chains, even forgetting to maintain the hypnosis. Through the scorching flames, it could see the "core" inside the ice lock. The seemingly invisible iron chains gleamed, reflecting the ice man's terrified face.

It remembers. It recalls this thing. An unfortunate chain. A torrent of despair...

"—Olek Seton Tantal!"

Vande shrieked, its voice changing, now tinged with rage beneath its intelligence. A genuine fury emanated from its small body, no less intense than the blue flames of the heavens. Twilight shone brightly in the Eye Demon's eyes, the twilight light freezing the iron chains, allowing everyone to see its true form hidden behind the curtain.

It looked at Ji Huaisu and said in a clear voice, "Knight, draw your sword!"

Without a moment to think, Ji Huaisu drew his Shadow Blade and slashed down with all his might. The iron chains, already on the verge of breaking under the scorching heat of his heart, were brought down by the Shadow Blade's strike. The Demon of Misfortune's iron chains snapped instantly, the blue light vanished, and the iron rings that fell to the ground rang out with a crisp sound.

Sethlen let out a hollow roar, and a terrifying cold wave erupted at that moment!
The misfortune was not over yet; this was the final link in a chain of misfortunes. The original plan was for Qingye to cut the Ice Man, and for Ji Huaisu to seal the power. But now that Ji Huaisu had severed the chains, there was no time to seal it again. The power of Zhuolei erupted; it would attack the person closest to it, completely freezing Ji Huaisu.

A slender figure shoved aside the knight, taking her place to shield her from the icy chill. It was Qingye! She bravely slashed at the frost, her dark, jade-like sinful bones emitting a profound light!

(End of this chapter)