Front Line of the Beast Tide, Part 19

Su Qing had been here for three and a half years.

Although she would occasionally look up at the sky, it was perpetually covered by dense demonic energy, and her intuition warned her of danger. She had never thought of going up to see.

But Ye Mingshi, as the “treasure” meticulously chosen by the Myriad Beast Forest, was very likely hidden in the most dangerous place.

Su Qing felt more and more that there was something strange.

Xiu Fu also understood her meaning. “How do you plan to go up?”

Having lost all her cultivation, she naturally had no luck or ability to fly with a sword.

Su Qing looked around and chose a giant tree that soared into the sky.

Its trunk was like a straight line.

She strained her neck, still unable to see where it extended to.

“Time is urgent; I can’t think about that much. Just climb as high as possible first.”

She made her decision. Xiu Fu acted quickly.

She broke off a fresh green branch and ignited it with rootless fire.

The crimson-white flame instantly burned along the branches and leaves, sweeping up the tree from bottom to top, like a silent storm.

Even the faint demonic energy above was forcibly expelled in that instant.

“I’ll guard,” Xiu Fu nodded to Su Qing. “You go quickly.”

Before transmigrating, Su Qing couldn’t climb trees, but after living in the mountains for ten years, these life-saving tricks became self-taught.

Because the rootless fire continuously purified the trees, the surrounding demonic energy temporarily couldn’t approach.

She moved agilely and quickly, but because this tree was extremely tall, about a hundred meters high, it took quite an effort.

The higher she climbed, the more Su Qing’s heart sank.

This was because the demonic energy above was even denser, greatly obstructing her vision, like a thick black veil covering her eyes.

The faint light within her body appeared even more pitiful, like a firefly in heavy mist.

In over three years, they had purified many areas, restoring vitality and growing tender branches and leaves.

But Su Qing now suddenly felt uncertain: had they truly succeeded in thorough purification, or would the demonic energy return, starting from the highest point?

If the demonic energy in this world, or the demonic energy within the demonic bone, was not fixed but continuous, then everything they did might only delay the spread of the demonic energy, but it wouldn’t solve the fundamental problem, because their numbers and lifespans were limited.

Soon, Su Qing climbed to the very top of this tree. Below was a bottomless black abyss.

But this was still not the peak of the forest. Su Qing jumped to a nearby, taller tree and continued upwards.

When she reached the top of this tree, she would switch to an even taller one.

After consecutively changing trees more than a dozen times, she finally reached the very top of the forest and saw the scenery above.

Su Qing stood on the tree trunk. The cold wind ruffled her glowing hair, making her figure appear even more ethereal.

A vast and boundless primeval forest spread out beneath her feet.

Layers of tree crowns undulated with the wind, like surging waves on the surface of the sea. She stood alone on this sea, looking up—

At the edge of the sky was a silvery sun.

It was a shimmering disc, more like a mirror than a sun.

This should have been an extremely pure treasure, but unfortunately, this mirror-sun was eroded day and night by demonic energy, causing cracks to appear everywhere, accumulating filth and grime, utterly polluted. Only its center barely retained a sliver of clarity.

This sliver of clarity was not vast; compared to the dark demonic energy, it could even be called weak.

But when it emitted a cold, clear radiance, it slowly thinned out the demonic energy layer by layer with a silent, undeniable power.

If, in this time of eternal night, there was indeed something comparable to the sun, it must be this mirror.

However, this mirror did not seem to belong here…

Su Qing observed for a long time, then suddenly thought of a similar magical artifact, “Heart-Protecting Mirror.”

Three and a half years ago, when Sword School disciples came to support Yinlan City, Yan Chi used a Heart-Protecting Mirror to block the poisonous mist, protecting tens of thousands of common people.

Later, with the concerted efforts of the Sword School disciples, the poisonous mist crisis was resolved, and the Yan family retrieved the Heart-Protecting Mirror, only then allowing the Sword School to enter the city.

A treasure capable of protecting a city by itself was uncommon, and it was also in the shape of a mirror.

Su Qing could confirm that they were one and the same magical artifact.

“Heart-Protecting Mirror, taking the character ‘Protect’ , clearly indicates there’s something important inside,” Su Qing murmured to herself. “If my guess is correct, Ye Mingshi should be in there.”

“Is Yan Chi also protecting Ye Mingshi from being eroded by demonic energy? Indeed, she is the key to breaking this deadlock.”

This discovery greatly invigorated Su Qing.

Even her tired and shattered mental state improved significantly.

She gently exhaled, feeling a heavy weight lift from her heart.

Even if she couldn’t see them, she was certain that outside, her friends, teachers, fellow disciples, the Yan family army, all forces hoping for Yinlan City’s safe return, everyone was using their own methods to resolve this disaster.

She was by no means isolated and helpless.

It was a pity that the immortal bone had already merged into her spirit and could not be removed.

Otherwise, she would definitely throw it into this mirror, letting it compete with the demonic bone to see who was the true master here.

But such a scenario didn’t exist.

The only path now was for her to go in, body and bone.

Moreover, Ye Mingshi was also inside, and her situation surely wouldn’t be good. Su Qing going in might increase the possibility of awakening her. Of course, it was also possible that she would be delivering herself as an extra meal for the demonic bone.

Su Qing stood above the forest, remaining silent for a long time, observing.

As time passed, slowly, the light in the mirror diffused and vanished.

From beginning to end, it emitted light for about an hour.

This was already its limit. In the following half-month, she keenly noticed that the ‘sun’s’ illumination time shortened day by day, and three months later, the duration changed from an hour to about half an hour.

It was imaginable what would happen when this light completely dissipated.

These three months, the camp entered an unprecedented busy period.

A portion of the people continued to participate in purification with Su Qing. She initiated the sixth purification.

At this time, her spirit strength was already at mid-to-late Golden Core stage.

This purification was more focused in terms of time span and purification range. The goal was to collect enough flames for her and the camp’s essential needs in the shortest time possible.

Another small group of people silently began another plan.

Su Qing called this plan “Ascending the Sun.” Rainbow said it should be called “Ascension” or “Treading the Void.” Quanjue, however, thought it should be called “Walking into a Trap,” but she didn’t say it aloud. She hoped Twenty-Six would have smooth sailing.

Although that sun wasn’t a real sun, just hanging high in the sky, not so unattainable, flying across from the ground was not an easy task for the light-beings who had no cultivation.

Fortunately, there was still a group of artifact refiners in the camp.

Although they couldn’t display the same incredible powers as outside, fabricating a launching device on the spot to send Su Qing into the mirror was not a difficult task.

However, after the ancient, massive, and somewhat crude launching device was made, Su Qing fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Have you all played Angry Birds?”

“What bird?” The artifact refiner’s eyes widened in confusion.

She argued, “Don’t judge this thing by its ugly appearance. The principle is correct: using the instantaneous explosive force generated by the elasticity of wood, it can launch you straight into the target along the shortest path!”

She mumbled, “Really, don’t disbelieve me. This design is perfect, achieving maximum effect with minimum material consumption and lowest spiritual energy.”

Such familiar words.

Su Qing recognized them at a glance.

Good.

A student from the Sword School’s Artifact School, definitely a direct disciple of Senior Brother Jingshen.

Never mind, no time to quibble over this.

She wiped her face and walked towards the device, “Since I’m already here, let’s try it first.”

She didn’t look around, but many people, having received the news, surged forward, filling the cleared jungle.

People were pressed against each other, their luminous figures overlapping, creating a bright spot in the small area.

They all watched her with eyes filled with panic yet also hope, softly murmuring something.

Su Qing didn’t listen. Instead, she looked at Xiu Fu. Xiu Fu said nothing, just quietly watched her.

She felt inexplicably calmer.

Who said it was a one-way trip? At worst, she would try again. It would eventually succeed.

“Twenty-Six.” Rainbow called out to her. Her shoulders were tense and somewhat stiff, but she spoke to her with a relaxed tone, “You know we never say goodbye here.”

Su Qing nodded slightly, “I know.”

It was still better now, but in the past, too many people left every day. Everyone was too busy with their own survival, having no time, energy, or mood for farewells.

Ji Xinghong was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled, “So, when we get out, let’s reintroduce ourselves.”

Su Qing slowly “hmmmed.”

Although after getting out, due to the peculiar nature of her immortal bone, she would never actively reveal her true identity.

Her identity as Swordsman Twenty-Six would remain here, and after leaving, she would once again be the unremarkable Su Qing.

But she was someone who could read the room; it was better not to spoil the atmosphere now.

The moment Su Qing, like an arrow released from a bowstring, instantly burst free from the launching device’s restraints, all eyes were tightly fixed on her.

The air around her violently vibrated, as if time itself had stopped at this moment.

Her body, as if pulled by invisible threads, rapidly swept towards the mirror.

Blurred light and shadow intertwined. Trees transformed into distorted lines, rushing past her eyes.

She lightly leaped out of the layered branches and tree crowns, as if leaping out of countless surging waves, like an inverted meteor, returning to the dim night sky.

Su Qing didn’t hesitate. The flame in her chest danced in an instant, enveloping her, protecting her, preventing her from being harmed by the demonic energy, which pressed down like dark clouds.

That shimmering silver sun rushed towards her as if flying backward. The closer it got, the more peculiar it seemed. Su Qing didn’t hesitate and plunged into the mirror.

Perhaps because of the extremely precious vitality that burst forth from her, the Heart-Protecting Mirror did not reject her. A clear light surged from the mirror’s surface, and her figure blurred, completely disappearing from outside the mirror.

Song Huiyi and Song Huisi were missing.

No one knew how they disappeared. According to the Song family’s companion, they went to their tent that morning to look for them but didn’t see them.

They initially thought they had gone out to practice swords, but after waiting for a long time, they realized something serious had happened and immediately reported it to the leading elders.

The sponsors’ children were missing, and two of them at that.

Deng Mingjian and Zhu Yushu both felt their careers were over.

They naturally couldn’t just ignore it. They immediately organized students for questioning and searching.

But no one knew their whereabouts. Because the two Song sisters, unlike other students, did not live in tents, camping out and taking turns on night watch.

They had a separate spatial artifact for living, which was not only extremely safe but also like an exquisite courtyard inside, fully equipped and picturesque.

Tang Yueling originally had one too, but it was burned clean by “Ten Million.” “Ten Million” had already advanced to “Thirty Million.”

Although Tang Qimei and the others wanted to give her their personal spatial artifacts, Tang Yueling refused all of them, forcing her to share a poor life with Tian Ning.

Therefore, other students rarely saw the Song sisters and didn’t know exactly what happened.

All evidence pointed to one thing: the two were devoured by the forest, just like the other missing students.

But Deng Mingjian felt something was off. He suspected that this wasn’t the forest’s doing at all, but that someone had tampered with it.

He gathered the students for a talk, which included Tang Yueling.

Tang Yueling immediately made a Dao Heart Vow, “It was definitely not me who harmed them, otherwise, I will accept any punishment.”

After all, this was called protection, not harm. Even excessive protection was still protection.

Deng Mingjian still wanted to investigate further, but this matter was beyond his interference.

Three months later, three Spirit Transformation stage cultivators from the Song family simultaneously appeared in the Myriad Beast Forest.

A major battle was imminent.

Tian Ning was maintaining Snowfall Sword.

They couldn’t get involved in battles between Spirit Transformation cultivators. Their original plan was to create an opening and use the opportunity to follow behind and search for Su Qing and the other missing students.

Tang Yueling’s face changed. She frowned deeply and whispered, “I originally thought one Spirit Transformation cultivator, or at most two, but the Song family sent three…”

She was extremely intelligent and quickly realized, “It seems there’s something here they want, and now they finally have an excuse to come openly.”

Tang Yueling looked at Tian Ning, a sharp glint in her eyes. “You say, were Song Huiyi and Song Huisi truly ignorantly imprisoned by us, or were they using us to achieve their own ends?”