Forge a path to success.

Chapter 65 Heavenly Spear
Severed arms and flesh flew through the air, fiery blood gushing from the cut surfaces. Now, Besen and Kanin's bodies were fused, so he was no longer an intangible illusion. Only with a physical body could power be exerted, but precisely because of this, he could be wounded!
Chu Hengkong only had time to open his eyes after drawing his sword. He met a pair of burning eyes, the vertical pupils resembling bluish scars. Kanin didn't look at his missing limbs; he only stared at Chu Hengkong's sword.

“You’ve got it, assassin,” he whispered, his voice like a snake’s. “But I…don’t want to lose either!!”

Blood gushed from his wound like a fountain, instantly transforming into a flaming snake's head. The giant snake bit Chu Hengkong, pushing him backward. Blinding flames erupted from its mouth; it intended to self-destruct along with Chu Hengkong!
Ji Huaisu rushed out from behind, striking the snake's head with her light shield and forcing it to release its grip. She landed with Chu Hengkong, but a second snake head emerged from its forked body, biting Chu Hengkong's sword. Taking advantage of the assassin's distraction, it pulled the rock sword away and threw it far off the battlefield.

There was no time to retreat and retrieve the sword. Chu Hengkong steadied himself and had no choice but to fight bare-handed. Kanin was protected by the two giant snakes. He drew several magic circles with flames and thrust his claws into the center of the magic circles.

(Wake up, Kanin!) Besen shouted in his mind, (We've been struggling for so long to win, haven't we? But if this continues, you'll burn yourself out. A dead man can't be a city lord...)
Besen's calls weakened; after merging with the contractor, he could sense Kanin's thoughts. Kanin was actually thinking about crows, about birds soaring across the sky, gazing at the magnificent sights above.

"Don't do that, friend." It heard its partner laugh. "When have we ever been afraid of dying?"

(You really are insane beyond belief.) Besson's voice faded away. (Go for it, you big lunatic.)
Kanin let out a nasty laugh: "Deep Fusion... The Fire Serpent!"

His entire body melted in the blue flames, and several "bubbles" swelled up in his lower body, from which emerged nine blue snake heads. These giant snake heads formed the most aggressive feature of the ambitious demon. A single, burning eye opened amidst the many snake bodies, emitting a beam of pure, light-like power. The two who were about to attack immediately dodged, the line of fire cutting through the ground and burning a fiery path across nearly half of the courtyard!
"What the hell is this ridiculous thing?" Ji Huaisu shouted.

Chu Hengkong roared back, "How the hell would I know? Aren't you a demon expert?"

"I've never seen anyone play this crazy before! Holy crap, jump!"

The ground rumbled and shook, and countless points of light emerged from the cracks burned by the fire. Each point of light was a snake's head, and countless snake heads burst forth from the ground, like a burning forest rising from the earth and dancing wildly in the city!
Chu Hengkong and Ji Huaisu barely managed to stand, leaping and bounding forward on the snake's body. New snake heads appeared every moment, ready to bite; they seemed to be weaving through a living net, at the center of which lay the ambitious Kanin. Ji Huaisu charged recklessly using her light shield, while Chu Hengkong leaped and dodged repeatedly.

The fire of ambition burned within them constantly, and the spirit fueled by the talismans was waning. They had to eliminate Kanin before the critical moment, or face certain death. But the Fire Serpent Forest grew endlessly, and despite their desperate efforts, they drifted further and further away from Kanin. Kanin's objective was different; he controlled the swarm of snakes to block their path from afar, while he himself rammed into the headquarters building with brute force. The nine heads of the Fire Serpent possessed immense destructive power; its massive size could crush several floors into dust with a single sweep.

It's almost at the 30th floor of the temple! When the totem of the core of the dragon is destroyed, Ji Qiu Peak outside the city will lose all support!
"Use your ultimate move again!" "I said I can't use it! Where's your lightning whip?!" "Not enough range!"

Their space for movement dwindled, and they were forced to stand back to back, completely surrounded. There was no room to maneuver. The sounds of destruction echoed from afar, like the final note of a world's demise. Burning snakes surrounded them on all sides, an endless swarm pressing down like a collapsing blue sky.

At that moment, Chu Hengkong heard a slight disturbance, and a clear light flashed in his vision. A water cannon pierced through the blue flames, carving a bright path through the swarm of snakes!
The second and third water cannons followed, a dozen or so identical attacks closing in, suppressing the Flame Serpent's advance with a desperate, all-or-nothing momentum. The water bubbles originated from the edge of the battlefield, from the hastily assembled resurrected troops. Every able-bodied soldier had arrived, maneuvering armored vehicles to break through the encirclement. Jie An, standing at the forefront, shouted: "All troops, water power mobilize! Pave the way for the captain and scout!!"

"Order!"

The soldiers adjusted the cannons, linking them together to form a transparent bridge. Chu Hengkong and Ji Huaisu leaped up, breaking through the swarm of snakes to reach the bridge, and charged towards the demons through the gushing water!

Sensing the anomaly, Kanin manipulated his swarm of snakes to attack the tank, but new troops quickly followed, extending the fragile bridge directly to his main body. Within moments, the two enemies were upon him, but Kanin's movements slowed due to the immense strain on his body.

He squeezed the power within him, manipulating the flames amidst agonizing pain to create dozens, even hundreds, of miniature magic circles. He stared at the relentless pursuing enemy, his roar like a rumble from the depths of the earth: "To this extent! Are you so willing to be driven by others?!"

"If I want to be the city lord..." Chu Hengkong clenched his fist, "I will build my own city!"

They reached the end of the water bridge, where cyan "seeds" emerged from the hundreds of miniature magic arrays created by Kanin, flickering like candlelight. The seeds of fire erupted erratically, creating a deadly minefield in the air. Ji Huaisu was struck by the flames and fell, but Chu Hengkong broke through the fire seeds' blockade. He held a shield of light in his hand.

"Catch!" Ji Huaisu swung his arm with his last strength, the Shadow Blade that had been released from his hand spinning back and forth before landing in a firm hand. Chu Hengkong gripped the Shadow Blade tightly, twisting his body, and all nine snake heads surged forward simultaneously, with the blue eyeball among the many snake bodies. The first snake head bit head-on, but he used the snake eye as a springboard to leap again, dodging the encirclement of the second and third snake heads. He raced across the burning snake bodies, approaching his target amidst the excruciating pain of his burning flesh. The fourth and fifth snake heads surrounded him from the left and right, spewing flames, but Chu Hengkong waved his tentacles to block most of the attacks. At this moment, a fierce wind swept in, and the sixth head tore at him from behind. He hastily used a backbend to dodge the attack. Burning scales grazed his face, the burns blinding half of his vision. Chu Hengkong endured the pain and swung his blade, using the Shadow Blade to sever the giant snake's head. At this moment, his feet lost their footing, the snake heads he had been using as stepping stones crumbled, and he fell from the air, as the last three snake heads surged forward together!
The giant serpent's maw loomed larger and larger before Chu Hengkong's eyes. With nowhere to escape in mid-air, he was swallowed whole by the fiery serpent. The serpent's body instantly swelled, a massive force about to incinerate the assassin with its breath. But a jet-black blade pierced through the serpent's body from within, swiftly drawing a line of death across its surface. In the instant before the explosion, Chu Hengkong desperately swung his blade, bursting forth from within the serpent's body.

He had already reached the core of the Fire Serpent, his strange and ever-changing sword light transforming into a black crescent moon, bypassing obstacles and slashing through the blue eyeballs!
The demonic eye shattered, revealing the heavily wounded Kanin at its core. The slash had nearly cleaved him in two; his handsome face was disfigured, and his chest and abdomen were almost completely ripped open. But his heart remained intact; the burning heart continued to beat, its smooth surface reflecting his expressionless face.

Chu Hengkong had lost half of his vision earlier. His strike was therefore only an inch shallower. A fatal inch!
"Die under the sky, assassin!"

A blue flame shot from Kanin's eyes; the simplest and fastest attack, at this moment, had no secret technique that could surpass it. Chu Heng's sword-wielding hand fell limply to his side; he had no time to swing his blade one more time. Time was only enough to make the simplest choice: death or escape.

Chu Hengkong couldn't escape; the azure fire struck him head-on, instantly scorching his flesh. The charred corpse, enveloped in flames, fell from the snake-like body... However, amidst the raging fire, a pair of resolute eyes opened! At the last moment, he chose to attack, using stillness to withstand the final flames, transforming the momentum into the foundation for his next attack.

He gambled on his own ability to hold on, risking his own life for the enemy's!
"Your life will perish in the air!"

Amidst a chilling, hellish pronouncement, Chu Hengkong twisted his muscles, deflecting the flames of ambition. His tentacles spun as they contracted, gathering the enemy's attacks, the strength within his body, and the last remaining shred of willpower. All of it converged, completing its retraction in less than a thousandth of a second.

The silver spear was fired, the air roared, and transparent sonic booms spread out several times. Like an archer who could never hit his target, he fired a lightning-fast shot at the demon. This spear pierced through the fire of ambition, pierced through the demon's serpentine head, and passed through countless obstacles, shattering its glassy heart in one fell swoop.

Shatter Kanin's delusions!
·
An ambitious man with a broken heart falls from a great height, accompanied by light and shattered flames.

His last breaths were exhausted, and the pact between man and demon had come to an end. His body was dissipating, fading away bit by bit, like a dying ember. His fading eyes gazed at the sky, and within them was a black raven.

He watched as the crow snatched gold leaf from all around and stuck it onto its feathers. The crow then looked even more majestic and beautiful, flapping its luminous wings and soaring into the sky, transforming into a golden-winged bird. It was about to fly to the highest place, to bask in the sunlight beyond the heavens.

But for some reason, the crow gradually stopped flying. It was about to break through the sky, but it just couldn't get close to the finish line. Kanin, who was watching from the sidelines, became anxious. He reached out to the crow, wanting to give it one last push.

He couldn't reach out. Then he heard his partner's voice, as weak as his own, as helpless and honest.

"It's all settled, Kanin," Bessen said.

That was the end.

His vision cleared. He saw the gold foil on the bird's wings melt, and flesh scorched by the intense heat. Light shone down from the heavens, sunlight hotter than flames and more dazzling than gold. The peerless warrior stood in the light, and for a fleeting moment, his gaze met Kanin's.

They sought traces of the heretics, but found only pale corpses. The gamble had truly come to an end. He fell amidst the flowing light and fire, transforming back into the charred raven.

But at least for a moment, I stood high in the sky.

Kanin smiled silently, shattering into colorless ashes on the ground. His obsession and madness were buried in the dust.

(End of this chapter)