Chapter Sixty-Six: At Last, the Summit

Seeing that he truly had no clue where to begin, Chen Qi gathered his thoughts and turned his attention back to the others.

After that brutal battle, everyone looked a little battered, but none of them had been injured. It seemed they had narrowly escaped a calamity.

The round-faced woman nearby looked especially excited. She paced back and forth through the marsh, as though rejoicing over everyone’s safety.

Taking advantage of the brief moment while the others regulated their breathing, Chen Qi glanced at the progress of his title quest.

Current Beast Spirit Resentment: 147/300

Most of it had likely come from the serpent beast’s disgraceful death under a sneak attack, or from the toad beast’s one death and one escape. The two dead beasts had provided Chen Qi with a great deal of resentment.

That meant he was already nearly halfway to completing the advancement quest for his title. And this was only not long after he had finished the first step of the title quest.

“I wonder whether it can actually be completed in this world.”

Chen Qi murmured to himself inwardly, harboring great hopes for the advancement of the title he carried.

One thing worth mentioning was that he had quietly removed the title Beast Spirit Slayer. He seriously suspected that the reason the toad beast had ambushed him was not merely because his aura was too weak, but also because this title drew hostility wherever it went.

With his slight frame and thin limbs, he probably could not withstand such “affection” from these beasts.

In addition, three of the six ferocious beasts required by the decapitation mission were already dead.

This made Chen Qi begin to hesitate. Could he find an opportunity to ask his senior sister to intervene and help him complete the task?

No matter what, though, he could only bring it up casually when the others returned. For now, he had no choice but to keep it buried in his heart.

The group did not choose to linger in the marsh. They soon set out again, hoping to get out of this vast poisoned swamp as quickly as possible.

Perhaps because the powerful beasts within the marsh had all joined forces to block them, the latter part of the swamp had been left eerily empty.

Under the oppressive pressure of Yun Tianxin’s aura, they encountered no more formidable beasts. A few blind, reckless ones were casually dealt with by her, and at last the small team emerged from the marsh.

Ahead lay a forest of blackened trees restored to dry land; behind them stretched the boundless toxic swamp they had just crossed. Chen Qi could not help cheering together with the others, breathing deeply the air free of miasma.

Then everyone sat down where they were, drinking water and eating, savoring this precious moment of rest. In the marsh, they had not dared pause for even an instant, lest they sink into its depths.

Yun Tianxin, somehow already perched on a treetop, looked down at the scene with a smile and did not stop them. She remained alert, carrying herself with the responsibility of a leader.

With a soft thud, Chen Qi ignored the dust on the ground and lay spread-eagle upon it. His eyes narrowed in enjoyment as he stared at the hazy mist overhead, now gradually returning to normal.

At last, he had time to continue thinking and sorting through everything.

First came the blade he had unleashed after plunging into the poisoned tide.

There was no doubt about it: the power of that strike was unlike anything he had ever drawn before, far beyond the limits of a first-tier ability.

Even without comparison, he was certain it surpassed Sun Ruohai’s painstakingly developed ultimate technique, that blood-qi wolf head.

This blade was different from the fast-and-slow strikes he had previously mastered, the parrying techniques he had gradually come to understand, and the blade breathing method he had independently comprehended. When he swung it, it was as if he had forgotten everything, with nothing in his mind but the long blade itself, as though no technique at all had been used.

Chen Qi gripped his long blade with one hand and forced his mind to empty, trying to make his thoughts a blank sheet so he could reproduce that same overwhelming force.

He had a premonition: if he could even grasp the faintest trace of that strike, his blade arts would undergo a qualitative leap, to the point where a single charged strike from him might exceed the power of another person’s skill.

Soon, Chen Qi opened his eyes in disappointment and sheathed the blade.

He vaguely understood a principle. The utilitarian thoughts in his heart were the greatest obstacle to reproducing that strike.

The more he tried not to think, the more restless his mind became. It was the very definition of going the wrong way down the road.

To forget, to forget—yet not through deliberate effort to forget. So subtle, so profound, as if it were a kind of insight drawn close to the dao of the blade.

Suppressing the tremor of longing and excitement within him, Chen Qi seized the time to repeat his thoughts about the so-called unknown risk.

Earlier, in the marsh, he had only given it a passing thought and had not consciously delved deeper.

Now, in a safe environment, Chen Qi soon frowned again.

Although he very much wanted to attribute the unknown risk to the beasts in the swamp—their number and quality both far beyond the records—none of the team had suffered any casualties, and the way the decapitation mission had unfolded seemed at odds with the obscure hint of the Seedspace.

In other words, the unknown risk had still not revealed itself. He, Chen Qi, might still face a catastrophe that could wipe him out entirely.

At that thought, Chen Qi could not help but show a wry smile.

He was only a lowly outer sect disciple, yet he had taken on pressure far beyond what his strength and status should have borne.

Even if this so-called unknown risk truly came to pass, what could he do?

Whom could he protect?

Yun Tianxin? He was afraid he would only need her protection instead, and might even drag her down.

Sun Ruohai? By then, he himself would probably be fighting only to save his own skin.

Noticing Chen Qi’s sudden bitter smile, Sun Ruohai, who was nearby, raised an eyebrow and leaned closer, his face full of confusion.

Chen Qi did not answer. He sprang up from the ground and stood straight, then said in a grave voice as though making a solemn declaration:

“Brother Sun, observe the terrain around us carefully and remember the route we took through the marsh. It may become our way out!”

This was what Chen Qi had thought of in that instant. Facing the unknown future, the only thing he could do was to make himself as ready as possible and seize hold of what he could control.

Only then, even if he died, would this journey through the Seedspace not have been in vain.

Sun Ruohai’s confusion deepened, and he seemed ready to question him aloud. But after catching sight of Chen Qi’s solemn expression and dry lips, he ultimately said nothing.

In the end, he chose to trust Chen Qi and, together with him, memorize the layout of this mountain forest and the route they had taken through the swamp.

The others, who were resting, paid no mind to the two men’s odd behavior. Only Yun Tianxin in the tree took it all in.

Her moist, crimson lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something. In the end, it became only a long sigh, leaving a faint trace of guilt upon her beautiful face.

She clearly believed that the excessive danger of this journey, combined with her own failure to protect them well, had made this newly admitted junior brother of hers overly sensitive.

After a brief rest, the group continued along the mountain path toward the summit.

The black vegetation all around seemed unchanged for ten thousand years. The mountain path twisted and turned a hundred times in a hundred paces, sometimes flat and broad, sometimes rugged and difficult, and at other times requiring them to cut through the blocking growth with inner force.

Chen Qi took it all in. While forcing his brain to remember everything, he also traced the surrounding landmarks in his mind, linking them into a mental map.

Sun Ruohai, meanwhile, suppressed the questions piling up in his chest and imitated Chen Qi, deep in thought.

At last, after climbing the final steep rise, the group finally caught a clear view of the summit not far ahead.

The peak was still enveloped by a layer of miasma that seemed eternal and unchanging. The road leading upward was extremely steep, the altitude rising rapidly, and yet once the summit was reached, the terrain suddenly sank inward to form a basin.

It was like an upright stone bowl, its center mysterious and hidden from sight. In the records, it was marked as the habitat of a fourth-rank ferocious beast—the Thousand-Eyed Miasma Demon.

“Senior Sister Yun, I have something to say!”

A voice, male and poorly timed, suddenly rang out and shattered the group’s gaze. Once again, everyone’s eyes locked in unison on Chen Qi.