Forge a path to success.

Chapter 84 The Truth
Where did Xiangfuzi go?

The western part of the town, near the beach.

The sea was calm, the waves endlessly surging, tossing up and melting pearl-like illusions. Qi Su, with her back to the shore, was drawing a formation in the sand with her short staff. Behind her were centipede legs, fox fur, and shadow giant armor—all the materials for a teleportation array.

"Who knows? Probably reading somewhere else again." Qi Su said dismissively. "Instead of that, you'd better get ready. The teleportation array is almost finished, time to go, time to go."

Chu Hengkong watched her silently, and Fan De remained silent as well. Qi Su, focused on the array, conveniently avoided their gazes: "This beach used to be a 'port' for receiving the tides, so the speed at which arrays can be constructed is incredibly fast. Those unsophisticated folks probably wouldn't believe it, would they? This is a highly sophisticated technique unique to our divine kingdom..."

Qi Su boasted as usual, but didn't respond. She looked up; Chu Hengkong was still standing at a distance, his expressionless face revealing neither joy nor anger. She glanced sideways to avoid his gaze and said with a smile, "What's going on? Are you still thinking about the Secret Bead? I really don't have time to make it this time. You can do it when you encounter a skilled craftsman later—"

Where did Xiangfuzi go?

Qi Su remained silent for a moment, then slowly raised her head. The assassin's gaze was like a pair of sharp swords piercing her eyes.

"Xiang Fuzi was in charge of organizing town activities. He was the first to arrive at the square every morning and the last to leave after the poetry recitation. He was responsible for maintaining the dragon god statue and looking after the wooden plaque. As one of the few scholars in town, he was responsible for writing letters of authorization for other illiterate townspeople. He didn't have many hobbies. Apart from reading at home, he tended to his flowers and plants. Therefore, he rarely left home outside of activities. Apart from writing letters of authorization, he would come to the church to see me."

His descriptions are plain yet accurate, stemming from meticulous observation. Like an assassin lurking in a crowd, silently observing his target's every move, he sketches a vivid human life in a few words in his notebook. Only in this way can he grasp the target's mindset, deduce their thought process, and detect their unusual movements before others do.

“People like that don’t just disappear suddenly. In this town where no one can leave, there’s no way anyone could go out.” Chu Hengkong emphasized for the third time, “Tell me, where did Xiang Fuzi go?”

The short cane was stuck in the yellow sand, like a crutch supporting the small girl. Qi Su glanced sideways, avoiding his gaze, her smile tinged with a faint sadness.

“Xiang Fuzi is satisfied now, he’s going where he’s supposed to be,” the girl said softly. “We’re all so grateful to you… so please don’t ask any more questions, let’s get ready to leave. If we’re any later…”

"So what if it's later?!"

Qi Su took a step back, startled by the sudden shout. She was prepared to be berated by the assassin, but the furious voice came from the Eye Demon. Vande's body trembled slightly; this shameless fellow was truly enraged now, like a small, menacing monster.

"Say nothing, explain nothing, just try to fob us off with vague words? Do you think we're fools?!" Vande roared. "We just dragged the centipede back yesterday and Xiangfuzi has disappeared today. Even a fool can see the connection! Don't think I don't know about your strange secrets. That mountain was your former cave, that fox used your Qisu's secret technique, and those machines are all controlled by the red-eyed... You're all locked up in this town! Like dogs in a cage!"

The girl's smile vanished. She gripped her short cane tightly, her voice cold: "Yingshi Town does not welcome impolite guests like you. Leave immediately!"

"Where to?" Chu Heng stepped forward. "You told me to leave, but you never promised to help me return to the city."

He hit the nail on the head, and Qi Su immediately fell silent. Chu Hengkong asked, "Is it that you're unwilling? Or that you can't do it?"

"Anywhere is better than here..."

That same expression again, like every difficult child, self-righteous yet self-pitying, so arrogant it makes you want to clench your fists. Chu Hengkong ran out of patience, and he suddenly raised his voice: "What exactly happened in the Netherworld God Kingdom? You won't tell us anything, how are we supposed to help you?!"

Qi Su glared at him resentfully, tears streaming down her face, but failing to dampen the sand. She wiped her eyes hard and shoved Chu Hengkong forcefully.

"This place is already over, a dead end. There's nothing more I can do to help!" she screamed hysterically. "Get out of here! If you don't leave, you'll die too!"

She cried so bitterly, her glistening tears disappearing before they even touched the ground. Her reddened eyes betrayed no resentment, but concealed a deep, mournful despair. Chu Hengkong was speechless. He was not good with women and children, and he couldn't bring himself to press a crying child for answers. In the end, he could only turn away in silence, letting his pent-up frustration fester in his heart.

They walked back to Yingshi Town, where the residents all came out of their homes, seemingly expecting them to wait. The townspeople stood tall, their eyes filled with a proud silence. Chu Hengkong was so angry he wanted to laugh; he felt these people were like tombstones with legs, determined to die here.

"This place is full of lunatics! They don't know what's good for them!" Van der cursed in his pocket. "Do they think I can't guess? So what if they're dead? I just don't understand, what's so shameful about becoming a ghost?!"

He could easily guess what Van Der had said. A being that could walk and move without eating or drinking, yet unable to leave a certain area—he had seen such beings before. They were nothing more than wandering ghosts, the spirits of the dead. But in this chaotic realm of the Netherworld, what was the point of concealing such a thing?
Just how arrogant have these people of God's Kingdom become? Even as ghosts, they dare not speak of it.
His steps faltered. He recalled Xiang Fuzi's boisterous laughter the previous night, and the scholar's wild, joyful song by the campfire. What could possibly make a long-dead ghost so happy? The insect wasn't his enemy, nor his adversary, so what was he so happy about? And what were the others happy about?
In his memory, Xiang Fuzi danced wildly by the fire, his tall, thin shadow swaying in the firelight like a coiled worm. Chu Hengkong's anger suddenly vanished, replaced by a chill down his spine. He told himself this association was baseless and illogical, but then he remembered another commission. It was about the man who hunted spiders. The man with the turban. He realized he hadn't seen that townsman since that day. And coastal fishermen often wore turbans.

—Doesn't a fisherman who uses a net to catch fish look like a spider?
Wild beasts outside the town. The spirits within the town. Incomprehensible identification documents. Intermittent thoughts. All the sights and sounds he had witnessed since arriving in the divine realm flashed through his mind, and an indescribable sense of revulsion surged within him. Chu Hengkong ran swiftly through the town. He arrived at the church and forcefully pushed open the doors. The noise of the iron gates splitting open echoed in the empty church.

Brother Bernfar stood in the darkness, silent, without joy or sorrow.

"So, you've come." The cultivator's tone softened. "Mr. Chu, you still failed to keep your promise."

“You were the one who attacked me first last night,” Chu Hengkong said coldly. “Tell me, Bernfar, why did you come to this town?”

Only this person. In this town filled with the dead, only this heretical monk is an anomaly, different from the rest. Bernhard must know the truth, must understand the facts; otherwise, he wouldn't have covered up Xiang Fuzi's whereabouts last night.

"The truth you seek, the secrets you seek to uncover, have lost their meaning in this world. Yet, to while away this useless time is my mission. Therefore, I am willing to serve, I am willing to explain. Please follow me, stranger!" Bernfa smiled, clasped his hands, and took a step forward. Chu Hengkong suddenly felt dizzy. As he landed, they had already arrived at the foot of Yingluo Mountain from the chapel. Bernfa took out his personal scripture, turning the yellowed pages one by one. The mountain mist swirled around him, and a long staircase appeared out of thin air on the smooth, jade-like mountain wall, like a ladder to heaven, leading from the foot of the mountain to the summit.

Chu Hengkong had never seen such a method before. He felt it was like creation, yet something felt off. But he knew someone knew the truth, and the van der in his pocket was trembling. Since things had come to this, he simply followed Bernhard. The monk walked while flipping through his book, and chanting filled the room.

"Long, long ago, a wise dragon became a god. He built a divine kingdom on earth and taught his people the mysteries of life and the world. As a result, the people of the divine kingdom became learned and courteous, and under his protection, they developed a magnificent civilization."

The mist swirled with the chanting, giving rise to colors and sounds, reenacting stories of the past. Chu Hengkong saw a cherry blossom tree in full bloom, its crown topped with a purple dragon singing melodiously. The tree's branches extended throughout the land, bestowing knowledge and power upon its people. The priests stood beneath jade-carved dragon statues, explaining scriptures to guests from all directions and treating them to lavish meals, showcasing the grandeur of their divine kingdom.

Among the priests was a green-haired girl, young yet intelligent and quick-witted. She was a genius praised by many elders, and her ascension brought glory to her remote hometown.

"However, prosperity is like a fleeting dream, and the rise and fall is a natural law of the world. The glories of the world can vanish in an instant..." Bernhard turned to the next page, "in just a fleeting moment."

His gaze widened, and he saw a fisherman gazing at the ocean. Fish fled, illusory figures wept, and a chilling, colossal shadow rose from the ocean, far removed from the divine realm. Amidst the mournful howling of the wind, the sea of ​​illusions abruptly split apart, countless drops of water vanishing into a void of nothingness. The cataclysmic change that would affect the entire world thus descended without warning.

From that day on, no fish could be caught on the beach anymore.

From that day on, the demons of fantasy began to rampage across the land.

From that day on, no one was able to access the Netherworld Kingdom via air routes.

Shortly after the appearance of the Great Hollow, the frontline battle collapsed, and the Steel Path descended from the sky.

And so, the divine tree was consumed by fire. And so, the dragon god withered in the light. A cold, colossal creature advanced in the flames, slaughtering all living beings. The desperate people clung to the last vestiges of divine light, but the corrupted divine path brought about immense calamity.

“The dead cannot rest in peace; their souls are bound to this dead land. And those corpses that have long suffered…” the monk closed his eyes, “then, in despair, they turn into mindless corpses.”

The perspective returns once more to the remote fishing village, ravaged by war. The once-splendid town is now sealed off in the mountains by machinery, its flourishing civilization destroyed by fire. Pure white steel crushes priests, destroys temples, and indiscriminately slaughters innocent lives. The still-warm bones, distorted and swollen by contamination, transform with the power they once possessed into hideous and brutal monsters.

The warrior who fought against steel became a silent giant.

The scholar who died under the iron heel was transformed into an ugly centipede.

The priest who protected the townspeople with his own body writhed in agony amidst the flames of war, his corpse transforming into a jade-white fox, prostrating itself before the machinery.

Their corpses were manipulated by machines, transformed into ruthless weapons. The beasts howled as they lashed out at more innocent victims. Their pupils gleamed crimson. The spirit of the young priestess, clinging to her staff, approached the Sakura Dragon statue and used her last resources to create a magic circle to protect the souls of the townspeople.

Then the cultivators arrived, and the mist appeared. The souls hid behind the mountain, concealed in the mist, daring not to cross the line, awaiting their inevitable demise.

"A divine kingdom on earth, a purgatory on earth."

The story was finished, and they stood atop the mountain. Brother Bernfar closed the book, and the surrounding mist dissipated, disappearing into the yellowed pages.

This mist was created by him to conceal the small stone town in the wasteland. Chu Hengkong gazed silently into the distance, seeing the world beyond the mountains for the first time through the mist.

He saw nothing.

There was nothing on the other side of the mountain.

A void. An abyss. A desolate wasteland. The earth has been hollowed out, bottomless pits stretching in all directions, almost reaching the horizon. There is no air movement in the sky; the moment the mist dissipates, it feels suffocating, as if even the air itself has been absorbed. In the boundless darkness, only a sliver of pure white shines.

It was a pure white cauldron, an ancient sacrificial vessel floating in the air. A blood-red eye opened in the center of the cauldron, casting a cold, emotionless killing intent at him.

"Now, you are satisfied. Now, you know the truth."

Brother Bernfar turned around, his smile a mixture of mockery and mourning.

"This is the beginning and end of the destruction of the divine kingdom, the source of all the tragedies here. The 'culprit' you dared to challenge is the strongest heretic who single-handedly destroyed the divine kingdom."

"Its name is the Invincible Ultimate Mech, the Truth Empire that ravages all worlds!"

(End of this chapter)