Journey to the End of the Night

At this time, Mu Zhengqi still did not forget to strike a pose of lofty justice.

The man half kneeling on the ground retched, seemingly finding him extremely disgusting.

He looked up at Baili An and said, "Kid, by leading this pack of wolves and leopards to you, I owe you a life."

Baili An frowned slightly, "My life is my own; I don't need others to owe it."

The man laughed loudly, placing the extraordinarily exceptional sword on the ground.

His palm clutched the hilt tightly as his gaze fiercely glanced sideways at the five people behind him. Coldly, he said, "Men die for wealth as birds die for food. Today... you will pay the price for your greed!"

Mu Zhengqi sneered with disdain, his longsword pointing at him as he said, "Ridiculous! With just you, how could you possibly kill me."

The man slowly unsheathed his sword, a section of the bright blade illuminating his dark pupils, and when the longsword was fully drawn, it seemed a sharp cry of a bird of prey pierced people's eardrums.

The little deer in Baili An's arms, its snow-white fur bristling as if startled by something terribly frightening, showed its teeth in a usually gentle creature.

Boom!

Even with the cave's thick rocks blocking, the sound of thunder exploding outside was shockingly clear, resounding through the entire cave.

The sound of the falling thunder was incredibly close, almost as if it was exploding right above their heads.

The man kneeling on one knee had already drawn his longsword halfway out of the scabbard, his imposing Sword Intent not deliberately directed at Baili An but went straight towards the five people behind him.

Led by Mu Qizheng, those five felt like they were instantly immersed in a cold abyss, their entire bodies freezing numb, their swords falling from their hands.

They couldn't suppress the emotion of fear rising within them.

"I have a sword..."

The blood-soaked man's eyes were resolute, his dark, sharp eyebrows seemingly coated with a vast Sword Intent, and the remaining half of the sword body was unsheathed slowly along with his icy words.

"Can attract thunder... shatter mountains!"

The hand gripping the sword seemed to suffer from an incredibly ghastly backlash, with tendons tearing and bloody flesh in disarray.

Yet he still persisted in drawing the sword, his gaze heavily turning towards Baili An.

His mouth bloody, he almost gritted his teeth as he said, "Stand back."

Without any hesitation, Baili An reflexively drew his small sword and hugged the deer tightly.

Ignoring his severe injuries, his feet stomped hard on the ground, and his body shot out toward the small silvery tree.

He quickly cut open the Barrier with his sword, leaped into it, and quietly watched the Barrier swiftly close.

Baili An heard the increasingly terrifying sound of thunder. The only exit was already blocked by those five people; he had no escape and could only hide within the Barrier.

Presumably, the Spirit Treasure Tree, which had existed for a full five hundred years, could somewhat withstand the thunder.

Boom, boom!

With one sword, he summoned thunder!

Baili An looked up in awe at the silver-white thunder, thick as a dragon's waist, crashing down like a collapsing pillar.

The silvery leaves quickly withered and fell, turning to dust under the force of the thunder.

The entire tree shook violently and non-stop.

Baili An watched as the layer of Barrier seemed unable to withstand the rapid spreading of light fractures, his gaze deeply moved.

How powerful was this man's heritage that his swordplay could be so formidable?

Even a five-hundred-year-old Barrier couldn't withstand the power of the Thunder-Attracting Sword?

The entire cave was replaced by an excessively glaring daylight brightness, the figures of those five people along with the image of the half-kneeling man with a sword swallowed by the light.

The Barrier was blasted apart, and the entire cave collapsed, with massive rocks rolling down.

Baili An tightly embraced the frightened deer, pressing it under him, protecting it from the falling boulders with his back.

Pain and darkness eroded his consciousness.

In the moment before he lost consciousness, Baili An still strangely wondered: Wasn't I already a dead man? But why do I still feel pain?

...

...

After a night of heavy rain had finally ceased, Baili An awoke amidst a burning pain.

The moment he opened his eyes, the rising sun in the sky, as bright as the world's fiercest poison, scorched his almost unscathed body, causing heart-wrenching pain.

His eyes were nearly blinded by that thin ray of sunlight!

Somehow finding the strength, he forcefully pushed away the boulders on top of him.

The skin on his back, bruised and bloodied from being crushed by the rocks, painfully burned under the direct sunlight as if someone had poured a pot of boiling oil over him.

He quickly took out the Glazed Umbrella from the Jade Spring and, with rushed motions, opened it, finally blocking the malicious sunlight.

The painful ordeal ceased.

But now, half of Baili An's handsome face had been scorched, with one eye barely able to see clearly, having been burned by the sunlight.

The deer had been awake all the time but was immobile under Baili An and the rocks.

Seeing Baili An's severely bloody and terrifying form, it did not run or show fear.

Instead, it lowly whined and cried, its round, tearful eyes full of sorrow.

Baili An, sitting on the ground, held the umbrella, panting as if frightened.

After regulating his breath for a moment, he gave a bitter smile, lifted his hand, and touched his mangled cheek.

Although he could now move and jump, feeling alive once again...

The sun had risen, and the throbbing pain clearly told him.

He was dead.

He had become a dead spirit, a demon not belonging to this world.

From now on, he could only live under the cover of night.

"Oh well, everyone has their own way of living; even being dead, one can still live towards death."

Baili An consoled himself, feeling much better.

He turned over, looked at the tumbling rocks, lowered his head to the deer, and said,

"Last night, Mu Zhengqi and others from the Holy Beast Palace wanted to kill me. Though they were led here by that man, in the end, he kindly warned us. Even though his chances of survival are slim, it's still not right to merely use these rocks as his grave, don't you think?"

The deer gently nodded its head, turning around very considerately and began digging the rocks with its hooves to help Baili An search for corpses.

Baili An also began searching, pushing countless fragments and boulders aside.

He saw the mangled corpses of those five Holy Beast Palace disciples, calmly glanced at them, then averted his gaze without lingering, and continued to dig in the right direction.

Finally, his dusty hand uncovered a longsword that had been drawn the previous night, the very sword that man had used.

Baili An solemnly sheathed the sword, pushed a large rock aside, and saw that man.

Surprisingly, this man's physical body was exceptionally robust.

Even without the protection of the Spirit Treasure Tree's Barrier, having been crushed by the boulders, he had not turned into a bloody mess like those five people.

Although he was severely injured, the most serious injury in his body had been the backlash from drawing the sword the night before.