"Let's go, we'll follow."
Pei Hongjing said.
Several bodyguards walked before, behind, and to his sides. The two hired Awakeners gritted their teeth, hesitating and fearful, but still followed.
The group walked through the silent resort.
It was quiet, but soon, faint, eerie roars could be heard.
The bodyguards' faces changed drastically.
So did the two Awakeners.
At this moment,
Hei Dao, walking at the front, stopped. An invisible airflow emanated from around him. The surrounding temperature seemed to plummet, and the two Awakener consultants, who were about to persuade them further, froze.
A terrifying pressure descended, and a chill crawled up from their spines to the crowns of their heads. Their throats felt as if they were being choked.
"Roar~!"
Water rippled in the distance, as if struck by something, revealing faint grayish-black outlines.
Four were relatively small, ranging from calf to lion size, but there were two more grayish-black figures... they were more ferocious and terrifying, with giant bodies three to four meters tall.
Terror surged in everyone present. The surroundings began to distort, various horrifying sounds rushed into their minds, and people seemed to become dazed.
Pei Hongjing was equally terrified.
He saw them, those two monstrous figures larger than a minivan, covered in tentacles, eyeballs, and gaping maws.
His reason was rapidly crumbling.
But in the next instant,
Boom—!
The figure in the black windbreaker vanished instantly. The great sword, trailing a long red blade glow, slashed down like a hot knife through butter. With almost no obstruction, the blade glow dragged across the distorted, large fiend, cutting it in two. The red light then hissed as it devoured and annihilated the remaining body.
Having unleashed one strike, Hei Dao, without looking back, swung his giant fiend-slaying saber violently...
A crescent-shaped blade glow, over ten feet long and crimson red, flew out, slicing open the other large fiend. It continued to fly for another twenty meters before slowly dissipating, leaving behind a neat, straight crack on the ground as if it had been cut inch by inch with a cutting machine.
At this point, less than two seconds had passed.
The remaining four small fiends, acting on instinct, lunged forward.
Hei Dao stood in place, an invisible killing intent emanating from him, stirring the wind and clouds. The lunging small fiends suddenly faltered, freezing in place, their bodies shattering like bubbles.
He sheathed his sword and scanned the surroundings again. "There are no more fiends."
...
Gulp~!
Someone swallowed nervously, and the bodyguards finally came to their senses.
The two Awakeners trembled, afraid to speak, looking up at the divine being.
Pei Hongjing was equally astonished.
He didn't doubt Hei Dao's ability to deal with large fiends, but the swiftness and decisiveness... no, this was beyond swift and decisive, it was an outright instant kill, they were not on the same level!
This was a veteran member of the Spark!
How many more powerful individuals like this were there in the Spark? How many were even stronger than this Mr. Hei Dao?
Pei Hongjing was not an ignorant person, but seeing Hei Dao unleash blade energy and sword Qi, he was still filled with excitement and couldn't contain himself.
Because, according to that person, he also had potential. He could walk this path and become stronger and stronger.
As long as he cooperated with the Spark wholeheartedly, exchanged contribution points for various treasures and cultivation opportunities, becoming strong was just a matter of time.
They all had bright futures!
Pei Hongjing smiled.
He would set a small goal first: spend a small fortune.
...
With Pei Hongjing's financial support, the renovation of the resort proceeded very quickly.
During this period,
Apart from occasional excursions to eliminate nearby fiends, Hei Dao spent most of his time guiding and planning the base.
Training grounds were being constructed.
At the same time,
In a cramped rented room somewhere in the Eastern Huang Nation, Luo Hao's fingers flew across the keyboard, typing rapidly. "As expected, this world has already bred many monsters, yet we ordinary people are completely kept in the dark."
"Damn it!"
Luo Hao had the thought of making this information public, but after calming down, he realized what good it would do? Besides increasing social panic and likely getting him invited for tea, it would be useless.
Even if ordinary people knew about monsters called 'fiends,' if they encountered one, the doomed would still die.
It was pointless.
The end of the world had arrived, yet he was powerless.
He reminisced about his chuunibyo days, fantasizing about a day when the apocalypse would come, and he would single-handedly guard the gates of heaven with a sword, his sword energy traversing thousands of miles. But now, the apocalypse seemed to have arrived, yet he couldn't even deal with a single fiend.
If he encountered one, could he escape?
"What is wrong with this world?"
"Peace and stability are the most beautiful things."
His fingers continued to tap rapidly, but the more he saw, the more blank his expression became.
Suddenly,
"Ding!"
A golden square box popped open on the computer screen. Luo Rui blinked in surprise. "Is it a virus?"
He frantically typed, his fingers almost a blur, but the golden box on the screen remained. Even when he used his ultimate trump card and pulled the power cord, plunging the entire screen into darkness, the golden box persisted.
Luo Rui: "???"
He then noticed the content on it, and his eyes widened gradually.
"If you had a chance to change your fate, but the price was to embark on a thorny and unknown path, do you have the courage and determination?"
"Please answer the following questions carefully: (Click to expand)"
...
Two days later,
At the southern exit of Shuize City, Luo Rui boarded a black minivan.
He noticed that besides the driver, there were four other people in the car, three men and one woman.
"Are you also among the chosen ones?"
"Of course! Are we about to walk the path of the extraordinary?"
"Can we learn flying swords or magic?"
A boy with a youthful face was extremely excited, gesticulating and muttering about 'great opportunities,' 'defying fate,' and 'soaring ninety thousand miles,' phrases that made Luo Rui feel so awkward he wanted to pick at his toes.
He hadn't been this chuunibyo even in his chuunibyo days.
Moreover, Luo Rui felt things weren't that simple. Based on the information he had found and the question on the golden box, Luo Rui vaguely realized that extraordinary power existed, but it came at a price, and they would likely have to defend against those terrifying monsters.
But he still came.
The minivan drove on, arriving at their destination.
The driver who brought them said, "I'm only responsible for bringing you here. Whether you can walk up there or not is up to yourselves."
Luo Rui looked up. The resort on the mountain was shrouded in mist.
Except for the dense fog, there was nothing special about it. Was it difficult to walk up there?
Unfortunately, the driver knew nothing.
But since he had come this far... Luo Rui took a deep breath and walked along the main road towards the resort.
Gradually, the fog grew thicker.
At some point, he found himself in dense white mist, where even trees ten meters away were only vaguely visible.
At this moment,
Inside the mountain resort, Wang Chui stared at the stone monument before him in awe. "The strange artifact my mentor gave me is truly powerful... It's a shame this artifact cannot be dismantled."