txolops Chapter 90 Refining the Heart in the Mortal World, One Arrow at Sunset
Chapter 90 Refining the Heart in the Mortal World, One Arrow at Sunset
Chapter 90 Refining the Heart in the Mortal World, A Single Arrow at Sunset
After several rounds of drinks, the campfire gradually died down.
Wangcai, the village dog, lay on the ground with its ears pressed against the earth, and suddenly let out an uneasy whimper.
A distant rumble of thunder-like vibrations came from the ground, not from the sky.
"Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!"
Er Gou, who was on lookout duty at the village entrance, stumbled into the square, his face full of terror. He didn't even notice that he had lost a shoe in the process: "So many soldiers have come outside! They're all in black armor!"
"army?"
Ah Chen, who was drinking heavily, suddenly stood up and smashed the wine bowl in his hand on the ground.
The drunkenness in his eyes had mostly dissipated, and he pressed on, "This is the edge of the Great Wilderness, where did this army come from?"
"It's the Great Abyss Empire! Those black flags with dragons on them!" Er Gou's voice trembled.
Before the words were finished, a loud explosion rang out.
The sturdy fence at the village entrance, meant to keep out wild animals, crumbled into a shower of wood chips in an instant, as fragile as withered branches and fallen leaves, in the face of this enormous impact.
In the firelight, a group of soldiers clad in heavy black armor, wielding long spears, and exuding a chilling aura, surged in like a black tide.
They have no faces, only cold, hard masks; they have no mercy, only mechanical killing.
The leader rode a strange beast covered in blue scales and held a blood-red longsword.
He looked down at the panicked villagers in the square, a cold laugh escaping from beneath his mask: "By order of the High Priest, search for the vessel of the gods."
"Kill all the men, take the women with you."
"Those who resist, die."
That night, the once warm campfire turned into a raging inferno of red lotus fire that devoured everything.
Laughter turned into screams, and singing turned into wailing.
Gu Yan watched helplessly as those familiar villagers fell one by one into pools of blood.
The old woman who sewed his clothes was pierced through the chest by a long spear; the little boy who always chased after chickens was mercilessly trampled into mud by warhorses.
These are the mortals on the fringes of the cultivation world, their lives as worthless as grass, being harvested one crop after another throughout the year.
"Ayan! Take Aman away!"
Covered in blood, Ah Chen wielded his enormous iron hammer and charged towards the black-armored soldiers.
The hammer swung, smashing armor and skulls, but it could not break the despairing gap in numbers.
"I'm not leaving! I'm going to fight them!"
Aman cried out and picked up a stone from the ground to throw at the soldiers, but was kicked to the ground by one of them.
"Is this the vessel of God?"
The leader riding the strange beast walked up to Aman, flicked his long sword, and tore open Aman's sleeve, revealing the skin on her chest that was beating unusually violently.
"The heartbeat frequency of this is in accordance with the high priest's standards."
The leader's voice was laced with greed: "Take it away, but be careful not to damage this offering."
Two soldiers stepped forward and lifted Aman up like a dead dog.
"Let her go!"
Gu Yan let out a roar and drew his black bow to its full extent.
"Whoosh!"
The arrow struck the leader's breastplate.
"clang!"
With a crisp snap, the arrow broke.
The arrow, forged from fine iron, left only a white dot on the black armor.
"Too weak."
The leader didn't even glance at Gu Yan, and casually waved his hand.
A terrifying shockwave slammed into Gu Yan and slammed him to the ground.
"puff!"
Gu Yan spat out a mouthful of blood, and his internal organs shifted.
He lay prone in the muddy pool of blood, his fingers digging tightly into the soil, his nails turned up, dripping with blood.
He could only watch helplessly as Aman was dragged away, her eyes filled with despair and reluctance, gradually disappearing from his sight.
"Ayan—live on—"
That was the last thing she said to him.
Then, the fire engulfed everything.
Gu Yan lay unconscious in the ruins, clutching the black dragon's reverse scale that A Man had given him tightly in his hand. Blood stained the scale, and also stained his originally pure and flawless Dao heart.
I've had this dream for a long time.
So long that Gu Yan thought he had died that night.
But he didn't.
He and Ah Chen crawled out of the pile of corpses, ate charred tree bark, and drank bloody muddy water, and survived.
The flames of revenge burned for three whole years.
For the past three years, they have lived in anonymity, disguised themselves as demons, and continuously honed their skills, all for the sake of one day avenging their grievances.
Gu Yan's interface underwent a dramatic transformation through his repeated frenzied killing and training.
Countless times he drew his bow, countless times he held his breath, countless times he teetered on the edge of life and death.
Those originally meager figures have now become dazzlingly valuable.
-
Archery: Pinnacle (Mortal Limit) , Swordsmanship: Pinnacle (Mortal Limit) , Knife Skills: Pinnacle (Mortal Limit) ————
[Traits Acquired: Guaranteed Hit, Armor Penetration (ignores heavy armor defense), Soul Chaser (arrows inflict mental shock), Rapid Fire (instantly fires nine arrows), Mind's Eye (no vision required, directly targets weak points).]
[Movement Technique: Ghostly Shadow (Grandmaster)]
[Internal Skill: Everlasting Glory Skill (Grandmaster)]
[Special Skill: Sunset Arrow (Using this body as a bow and the soul as an arrow, burning lifespan in exchange for a low-probability fatal blow).]
Three years of drinking ice water cannot cool the burning passion in one's blood.
Three years of honing our skills, all for this day.
The Great Abyss Empire, the Altar of Heaven.
A bronze altar, hundreds of feet high, soared into the clouds, surrounded by banners that blotted out the sun. Thousands of soldiers in black armor stood silently below the altar.
At the top of the altar, a huge bronze cauldron was burning with raging flames.
Above the cauldron, a bright red heart floats.
The heart was still beating, and with each beat it emitted a strange fluctuation that caused the heavens and earth to change color and the wind and clouds to reverse.
That's Ah Man's heart.
Beside the cauldron stood an elderly man dressed in a magnificent priest's robe, bowing in worship before the heart, chanting, "Great Ancient Dragon God! Please accept this pure offering and grant us eternal life!"
Just then.
The clouds on the horizon parted.
There were no thousands of troops, only two people.
A man stood beneath the vast sky, sword in hand, his sword energy like a dragon—it was Achen.
A man holding a bow stood atop the mountain, his eyes as cold as ice—it was Gu Yan.
"Who?!"
The commander of the black-armored army in charge of guarding the area shouted a stern question.
The two had no interest in wasting words with him.
A black beam of light, faster than sound, faster than thought.
"puff!"
Those were Gu Yan's arrows.
[Special ability activated: Guaranteed hit, armor penetration.]
That arrow ignored the distance and the protective aura, piercing directly through the commander's throat, sending his body flying dozens of feet backward before crashing heavily into the city wall.
"kill."
Gu Yan's voice was very soft, yet it exploded like thunder.
"kill!!!"
Ah Chen let out a roar like a wild beast, and drew his longsword.
One man and one sword, transforming into a streak of light, charged straight at the formation of thousands of black-armored soldiers.
Gu Yan stood on high ground, the black bow in his hand like the scythe of death.
With each twang of the bowstring, a high-ranking general of the Black Armor Army fell.
Every arrow hits its mark, every shot is accurate.
His arrows can curve, accelerate, and even split in mid-air.
That was the ultimate control of power and rules by a master archer.
"Stop them! Stop them now!"
The high priest on the altar panicked; he sensed the murderous intent that was enough to destroy everything.
"Ayan, that old man is yours now!"
Covered in blood, Ah Chen single-handedly held off a thousand troops, securing that one and only chance for Gu Yan.
Gu Yan took a deep breath.
At that moment, the world seemed to slow down in his eyes.
The movement of the wind, the drifting of the clouds, and even the frequency of the heartbeat became crystal clear.
He slowly drew back the black bow.
This time, he did not nock an arrow.
All the energy and blood in his body, his soul, and the hatred he had harbored for the past three years converged at his fingertips.
A golden arrow, entirely formed from condensed energy, appeared on the bowstring.
Special Skill: Sunset Arrow.
Gu Yan's hair turned white at a visible speed, the price of his lifespan burning away.
"This arrow was for Aman."
Let go.
"collapse!"
A dragon's roar echoed throughout the heavens and earth.
The golden arrow pierced the sky, distorting space and creating a rolling sound wave wherever it passed.
The dozens of layers of defensive barriers erected by the high priest crumbled like paper when faced with this arrow.
"No! This is impossible! This power cannot be wielded by mortals!"
The high priest let out a desperate roar.
"Pfft."
Golden light pierced through his brow, taking away all his ambition and life.
With the death of the high priest, the once stable altar began to shake violently, and the black-armored army lost its command and fell into chaos.
Gu Yan ignored the fleeing soldiers.
He staggered up the altar step by step.
The heart, suspended in mid-air, seemed to sense his arrival, beating even more violently and emitting rings of soft red light.
Gu Yan stretched out his hand, a hand that had never trembled before, having slain countless powerful enemies, but now it was shaking violently.
He gently touched the heart.
The warmth it emanated felt like the roasted sweet potato Ah Man had given him years ago.
"Ayan, you did it."
In that instant, Gu Yan seemed to see the girl in the red dress and flower wreath standing in front of him, smiling sweetly at him.
"Ayan, don't be sad."
"This is my fate, and it will also be your calamity."
The girl's figure began to dissipate, along with her heart, turning into countless specks of red light that merged into Gu Yan's body.
[Special energy source detected —]
[The mortal world refines the heart, and karma is settled.]
[Skills are being solidified —]
As the system notification sounded, the world before Gu Yan's eyes began to collapse.
The sky shattered like a mirror, and the earth turned into nothingness.
Those three years of blood and tears, that unforgettable love and hate, all became blurred at this moment.
Only that Dao heart, in this great dream of the mortal world, was tempered until it became crystal clear and indestructible.
"call."
Gu Yan suddenly opened his eyes, panting heavily, his clothes soaked with cold sweat.
The excruciating pain of losing a loved one, the weakness that felt like my life force was being burned away, those unforgettable moments still linger in my mind.
He looked down and found himself kneeling in that gloomy underground palace, his hands still in that loosely clenched position.
In his palm, there was no heart, only a black reverse scale, radiating a faint warmth.
-
"here it is----"
Xiao Chen's hoarse voice came from the side.
Gu Yan turned his head and saw Xiao Chen looking at the sword in his hand with tears streaming down his face. His eyes were filled with endless sorrow and killing intent, clearly indicating that he had not yet emerged from that illusion.
"Slap, slap, slap."
A series of crisp applause rang out from the depths of the underground palace.
The red-eyed old man with only one eye put down his teacup, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face, which resembled withered tree bark.
"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!"
The old man stood up, his single red eye gleaming with a greedy yet admiring light.
"The first brew of this Three Lives Tea is called 'Wanting But Not Getting.' Not only did you two drink it, but you were also able to break through the illusion and sacrifice living beings to achieve your goal. It has truly broadened my horizons."
He pointed to the two empty teacups on the table and said in a low voice, "It seems you all should enjoy this second cup of tea."
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