Chapter 1008: Chapter 784: The Gate of Freedom
Twenty minutes ago, just as dawn broke.
After a leisurely walk for over half an hour, Ye Xueya stopped outside the silent gate.
The once bustling and lively mansion, even in the dead of night, was now deserted. The bustling servants were gone, and the main gate stood wide open.
Open to anyone who wishes to approach.
"So quiet indeed."
Ye Xueya sighed softly and knocked on the nearby door, "Is the General home?"
No response came, and she stepped forward, entering uninvited like an unwelcome guest.
She gazed around at the opulent surroundings, focused on admiring them. No matter how many times she visited, everything before her remained so exquisite and beautiful.
Continuing forward, she reached the empty beach.
The once youthful and vibrant scenery, where beautiful girls frolicked, had vanished. Only silence remained.
Under the sole lit lamp and parasol, a man sat in a rocking chair, quietly gazing at the city across the bay, and staring at the sky ablaze with red.
As if appreciating an unrivaled spectacle.
"Do you have any beer?"
Ye Xueya folded her umbrella, hung it near the liquor cabinet, and looked at the General’s collection. "I prefer a strong malt aroma. Any recommendations?"
The General waved indifferently, "Once you’re used to it, they all taste pretty much the same."
"Oh well, I’ll just grab anything then."
Ye Xueya smiled broadly, grabbed two cans, and sat on the chair next to the General.
They both gazed at the distant battlefield.
"From this angle, Kyoto truly looks beautiful," she said as she popped the tab of her beer can, "It’s nice to have power and influence, to enjoy such exclusive scenery."
The General raised his hand, flicking the ash of his cigar, "That little brat on horseback, he’s from Dongxia? I remember last time he came with you."
"Ah, Yuan Zhao, right? Yeah." Ye Xueya nodded, "A kid can grow up in a moment. If the old man at his home knew, he’d be thrilled."
"Being reduced to a mere background, a secondary character for contrast—what’s there to rejoice?"
The General sneered, "That’s always the way of this world. In war, no matter how many heroes shine, ultimately everything only serves to accomplish one. Others fade into obscurity, or die buried in wasteland."
"It’s different, General."
Ye Xueya shook her head, "For the Yuan Family, death isn’t scary. What’s scary is not living boldly and when dying, going unnoticed.
That crowd doesn’t care about the results but is more persistent than anyone about the process and manner. That little brat isn’t going for fame or success. He just wants to do what he thinks is right. Even if he dies for it, he won’t regret."
"Sounds like a quick way to die."
"That’s why as elders, we need to guide patiently."
Ye Xueya laughed, shaking the beer in her hand, suddenly asked, "Lord General, sacrificing a hundred thousand people for freedom... is it really worth it?"
"Isn’t that exactly the value of freedom?"
The General answered calmly, "To attain the most precious things in this world, one must spare nothing."
"..."
In the long silence, Ye Xueya tilted her head back, finished a can of beer, wiped her mouth, but didn’t touch the other can on the table, just sighed, "Back when the White Crown King didn’t make you the Owner of the Genealogy, it might’ve been quite a good decision indeed."
The General did not answer.
Still, expressionless, simply staring silently at the edge of the sky.
As the light of extinction descended, the Chalatustra’s Great Mystery Ceremony enveloping Yingzhou malfunctioned, causing an invisible fracture to gradually emerge in the sky above Yingzhou...
"Eight hours left until the Five Constants’ emergency meeting begins, General."
Ye Xueya said, "To address the impending inter-world conflict, the Astronomical Society and its genealogies will surely eliminate all unsettling factors in the Current Circumstances..."
She said, "If it becomes known that the General conspired with the Golden Dawn, deliberately instigating a hybrid uprising, intending to dismantle Yingzhou’s framework, leading to a repeat of the Feuerbach incident just to escape your shackles, then... what would the outcome be?"
"That no longer concerns me."
The General replied indifferently.
He could feel the gravity imposed on his Sky’s Command by the Yingzhou Phylogeny dissipating slowly. Soon, the shackles bound on the Eagle God would completely disintegrate.
He would gain freedom.
Beyond that, he didn’t care.
Apart from freedom, he cared about nothing at all.
"Actually, there’s no need for this." Ye Xueya suddenly remarked, "I have another proposal."
The General slowly turned back, scrutinized her face, couldn’t help but sneer, "Why should I consider your proposal?"
Ye Xueya shrugged, "Because you may not be able to escape..."
Along with her words, a silent tremor emanated from the sky above Yingzhou. After a long wait, the door the General hoped for gradually opened.
Revealing the Endless Sea beyond Current Circumstances.
Yet beyond the rift, amid the boundless ocean, a frantic lightning suddenly illuminated.
No thunder spread.
It seemed like an illusion.
Only a slender figure slowly emerged.
"The older one gets, the more one holds grudges, Lord General." Ye Xueya smiled, "Last time you bullied a child before Xuan Niao, and he remembered it well."
Along with her words, in the Endless Sea, a tumultuous wave suddenly calmed, the ocean instantaneously became tranquil, smooth as a mirror.
Beneath that person’s feet.
Silence came abruptly.
The General slowly lifted his eyes, in his emerald eyes, icy killing intent burst forth.
Ye Xueya opened the second can of beer, took a hearty gulp, feeling the comfort and delight of finally being able to cast the net after a long wait.
"Shall I introduce you?"
She said, "That uncle guarding behind the gate of your freedom is the Current Circumstances Guardian for the Asia Region this month, the renowned executor of Heaven’s Punishment.
At the same time, he is your number one hater, with nineteen alt accounts berating you daily on Twitter, and has been blocked by you seventeen times as a network cancer."
With her words, the outlines of a majestic Rui Beast emerged, its eyes lifted, shooting out a cold and fierce flame.
"...Is this Kylin?" The General couldn’t help but sneer, "I don’t like cheap wine."
"I don’t like old men either."
The newcomer bowed their head, glanced at the long octagonal Iron Whip in their hand, "Doesn’t feel very fulfilling to fight..."
In that instant, the clouds above the sea shattered loudly.
An expansive bright light shone down, illuminating the white hairs of the prematurely aging middle-aged man’s temples, but the gleam was not from the sun, rather from the seemingly endless... thunderous light!
Countless fierce thunders transformed into a sea.
[Ten Directions of Rivers and Mountains · Brightness Permeates]
Fu Canlight.
——Dongxia’s First · Fu Canlight!
.
.
After the embodiment crafted through long ages was ruthlessly eradicated.
The Healer’s visage in the darkness showed an angry gleam, countless lips under the tattered cloak opened, roaring silently. Thus, in the distance, among countless entwined massive arms, from behind the gate of Paradise of Bliss came countless shrieks and rumbles.
Hell trembled, pitch-black tides surged, once more rising toward Current Circumstances...
Sparing no cost to unleash power.
But at that instant, the ground displayed countless shattered frost splendors.
"It’s about time."
Liu DongLi put down the telescope: "It’s getting cold, the Healer group should also go bankrupt."
With Liu DongLi’s words, the incomplete figure behind him raised hands towards the entrance, grasping forcefully.
The clouds trembled dramatically, countless pale ice crystals emerged from within, enveloping the portal, and then, the mythic extreme cold descended at this moment.
A disaster of frost hail, falling from the sky!
The freezing chill froze the moisture in the clouds into sword-like frost hail, the sparse light rain suspended mid-air, accompanied by the full force of the Miracle Imprint, suddenly contracting towards the center. Tens of thousands of frost-colored brilliance gathered in the whirlwind, transformed into what could be termed a disaster—a desolate white tornado.
In an instant, it swallowed the bridge to Paradise of Bliss.
Now each piece of frost hail became an indestructible sharp blade, with the full force of Ten Disasters, descending in the cold divine will that freezes everything.
That indeed is power enough to destroy an entire city, now accompanied by the reckless deployment by its user, just a flick of the fingers tore and shredded the countless entwined massive arms, inch by inch from within the frost wind tornado, until even the smallest fragments froze in the terrifying low temperature, shredded, continuously collided, turning into ice crystal dust invisible to the naked eye.
When the tornado of the frost hail disaster suddenly dissipated, Lawrence kneeled on the ground, vomiting frozen blood.
Now, he had already... shattered into pieces!
Or rather, after being dismembered, he was reassembled, forcibly completing the lost limbs with ice crystals, then refreezing the cracks in the body at one place.
Riddled with holes, yet paradoxically maintaining integrity.
Liu DongLi reached out, withdrew a syringe, and injected the precious potion he had snatched from the technology department into his neck, giving the dying shell a thread of vitality again.
"Hold on, I didn’t save you to let you die here..."
Lawrence shook his head, smiled indifferently, the broken fingers reached into his coat for a pack of cigarettes, but the cigarettes inside had also been frozen solid.
Liu DongLi touched his pocket, tossed his own pack to him, along with a lighter: "Smoke less, your lungs are only half intact."
Lawrence tilted his head, his trembling fingers lit the cigarette, took a deep breath, a bit of warmth rushed into his chest, as if even his frozen heart started beating again.
"I knew damn well saving me wouldn’t be any good..."
He struggled to lift his eyes, glanced at the descending radiance in the distance, his expression turned complicated: "Honestly, this is still the first time I’m teaming up with the Astronomical Society."
Liu DongLi laughed: "What’s the matter? Planning to purge traitors?"
"Let’s talk about it next time. He did well, have to let him finish the job..."
Lawrence was silent for a long time, couldn’t help but sigh, "But what about you? Are you running away again? Come back to Canaan with me, Liu DongLi, Mr. Peron is waiting for you."
"Not me, I’ve been a lackey to the Astronomical Society for so many years, going back means I have no common ground with the old man anymore."
Liu DongLi scratched his head, shrugged helplessly: "I’m over thirty now, going back to mooch off the parents isn’t a solution, right?"
Lawrence didn’t persuade further, just smiled self-mockingly.
"Then leave." He said, "I’m tired, won’t see you off."
"Thanks, Lawrence."
Liu DongLi waved goodbye, "Next time, I’ll probably bother you again."
He turned, walked towards the ruins ahead.
But behind him came Lawrence’s voice.
"Liu DongLi..." the man leaning against the rubble lifted his eyes, asked hoarsely, "Are you really here to save the Tanbo Inner Circle?"
"..."
In silence, Liu DongLi said nothing.
Just couldn’t help lifting his gaze, looking at the solemn radiance in the distance, gazing at the figure walking on the earth.
Like a hero.
That was indeed what he once admired, gave all he could to become.
Sadly, the former Phoenix had long remained forever at the Feuerbach Mansion, perished alongside those he wished to save.
Since then, wandering the earth was left only with lost souls.
"Of course not, Lawrence."
Liu DongLi withdrew his gaze, headed forward without looking back: "I’m doing it for myself."
All along, I’ve merely... wanted revenge.
