Chapter 1446: Humanity's Starshine Moment (Seven) (Combined Chapter)

Chapter 1448: When Humanity's Stars Shine (Part Seven) (Two-in-One Chapter)

"...Hmm?"

Cangyun Domain.

Chu Changqing seemed to notice something, his gaze turning towards Xuanyu Domain.

At the same time, countless beast eyes, dense as stars, silently blinked beneath the sky-obscuring hide. The "hide-sky," radiating world-ending pressure, also seemed to sense the disappearance of another destructive aura, and surprise flickered in all the beast eyes.

For hundreds of years, this was the first time a world-ending aura had vanished from this world.

Chu Changqing's gaze returned to the hide covering the sky.

"Scarlet Star is gone. You have no reason to stay here... It's still not too late to turn back now."

A sneer simultaneously appeared in Wanzai's countless beast eyes. The primordial mother of the Illusory Mountains showed no intention of leaving, as if certain of devouring Cangyun Domain. One of its pupils contracted slightly, and a gaze, almost solidified, enveloped the earth!

Chu Changqing's pale hair floated in the void, and he retreated instantly. As Wanzai's aggressive gaze swept across the land, the entire ground seemed to be stripped away by an invisible power of rules, revealing the dark, putrid soil rooted by the calamities of the Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest!

After this, the second, third, and fourth eyes began to exert their power!

As the next gaze swept over, the soil was stripped away again. The surface layer of earth directly vanished, revealing the tangled flesh-and-blood calamities lurking beneath, along with the stones originally embedded in the ground...

The next second, even the stones were continuously peeled away, visibly shrinking from head-sized to fist-sized, then to egg-sized...

Finally, everything turned into tiny dust, drifting in the void.

This ability, almost obliterating reality, forced Chu Changqing to cautiously move along the edges of the gaze. But immediately after, the stripped human skins stood up one by one from the ruins, eerie beast eyes swirling in their sockets, surrounding Chu Changqing from all directions!

More and more of Wanzai's beast eyes opened, and the strength and range of the stripping power insanely intensified, leaving less and less space for Chu Changqing to move.

The white-haired Chu Changqing's speed was significantly slower than before. Even though each wave of his hand could conjure creatures of various forms, they were instantly stripped bare by a single gaze from the beast eyes above, resembling cooked shrimp.

And those stripped skins would immediately stitch themselves back into the form of their original creatures, baring fangs and claws as they lunged at Chu Changqing.

"Little Chu..."

"You... you've disappointed me greatly..."

An eerie voice, mimicking Lu Xun, echoed menacingly beneath the sky.

As Wanzai opened its thirteenth pupil, thirteen gazes from different directions completely sealed off all of Chu Changqing's escape routes. Invisible laws, like skinning blades hidden in the void, slashed towards Chu Changqing's form!

Chu Changqing's pupils contracted slightly. Just as he raised his hand to act, his entire skin vanished in an instant!

His exposed flesh immediately hung in the air, his blood-colored facial features still retaining a trace of shock and terror. His large eyeballs, no longer covered by eyelids, almost popped from their sockets, and every muscle line and blood vessel on his body was clearly visible!

Chu Changqing, stripped of his skin, looked up at the sky-obscuring hide, his hoarse vocal cords emitting a final sound:

"I... I gave you a chance..."

Whoosh—

Immediately after, the blood vessels covering his body were simultaneously stripped away!

Flesh!

Organs!

Under the gaze of the "Thirteen Eyes," Chu Changqing became a blood-red skeleton in just two seconds. Everything was stripped away from him layer by layer; even when only bones remained, they were instantly drawn out, leaving only a puddle of bone marrow scattered on the ground...

Staring at the "Chu Changqing" who was undeniably dead, for some reason, a hint of bewilderment flickered in Wanzai's dense beast eyes.

Tap—tap—tap...

Cangyun Base, underground.

Dull footsteps echoed in the confined space. Ancient white hair gently brushed as Chu Changqing walked through the long-sealed underground corridor, his weary eyes filled with exhaustion...

Upon sensing Wanzai's arrival, Chu Changqing had already entered the true core area deep beneath Cangyun Base. The one currently entangled with Wanzai outside was merely "Biological Model No. 1 Chu Changqing," a one-to-one replica he created using himself as the biological template.

Although Chu Changqing was one of the Nine Lords, he still fell within the biological realm. It was not difficult for him to cultivate a replica using himself as a sample. However, a replica was ultimately just that, a replica, endowed with very little of the Nine Lords' power, and estimated not to last long against Wanzai.

Chu Changqing lowered his head, coughing lightly, his weak voice echoing in the corridor... Strands of ancient white hair silently drifted to the ground.

Finally,

He stopped before a towering stasis pod.

"It's such a mess outside, yet you sleep so soundly," Chu Changqing snorted.

Inside the stasis pod, a man hung silently suspended in the liquid. Beneath his scientific lab coat was a slightly formal professional white shirt, and a black-and-blue tie was meticulously knotted, as if even in stasis, he maintained the dignity of an adult.

Chu Changqing glanced at him, calmly opened a transparent umbrella he'd seemingly picked up from somewhere, and clenched his other hand into a fist...

And slammed it violently into the man's face!

Bang—!!!

As Chu Changqing swung his fist, the stasis pod instantly shattered, its liquid contents gushing out in all directions, like a burst pipe, creating a torrential downpour underground!

The heavy rain splattered against Chu Changqing's transparent umbrella, not a single drop wetting his form.

His pale green eyes gazed forward through the rain. In a daze, a man stumbled to his feet from the scattered debris, tugging at his shirt and tie.

"Damn it... did I gain weight or did this tie shrink from being in the stasis pod too long? It almost choked me to death!"

"Your bodily functions don't change in stasis, so it's your tie that shrunk," Chu Changqing replied calmly, still holding his umbrella. "If I hadn't come, you'd probably be the first of the Nine Lords in history to be strangled by a tie."

"...Aren't you exaggerating a bit?"

"We agreed we'd all go into stasis and be as comfortable as possible... and yet you secretly put on a tie?"

"Us working stiffs are used to the grind... hehe."

Qi Muyun pushed up his round-rimmed glasses on his nose, smiling awkwardly.

Rumbling—

As the ground above continuously trembled, the smile on Qi Muyun's lips instantly faded. He looked at the white-haired Chu Changqing before him and slowly spoke:

"I can't believe it's you who came to wake me personally..."

"Does that mean..."

"...I'll live a little longer?"

Chu Changqing looked into his eyes and countered, "Do you want to live longer?"

"What kind of question is that? Who doesn't want to live longer?" Qi Muyun said helplessly. "But don't I have to consider the organization's needs? You're a crucial pillar of our Nine Lords, holding power over our very lives... We all trust you; whoever you extend life for, we'll agree unconditionally."

Although he said this, it was impossible for Qi Muyun not to be nervous.

Now, Chu Changqing was like a judge of life and death, whose single word could decide the fate of the Nine Lords... Standing before him, Qi Muyun suddenly felt like he was facing his old office boss, the agonizing wait and oppressive feeling making him extremely uncomfortable.

However, he was only nervous about the process; he wasn't afraid of death.

Every one of the Nine Lords who entered a stasis pod had already prepared themselves... Perhaps the moment they next opened their eyes, they would face death. This was also why Qi Muyun had secretly put on a tie.

The attire they wore when entering the stasis pod would likely be their "final appearance" upon death.

Unable to wear colorful burial shrouds, a tie at least made them seem more solemn and respectable.

"No, just tell me! I've accepted whatever comes, death or life, just don't keep me in suspense, okay?" Qi Muyun, unable to bear the tension, asked directly.

Chu Changqing looked at him for a long time, then finally nodded:

"You will live."

Upon hearing this, Qi Muyun was taken aback.

"Then... what about him? Your power can only sustain one life, can't it? If I live... what happens to him?"

"He will live too."

The air suddenly fell silent.

Qi Muyun stared blankly at Chu Changqing, his gaze immediately sharpening!

"Chu Changqing, what are you going to do?"

"I made a mistake, Old Qi," Chu Changqing said, a faint smile on his pale face. "And mistakes come with a price... don't they?"

Qi Muyun's face also began to whiten as he simply gazed into Chu Changqing's eyes...

There was no longer any of his former brilliance in his eyes—only gloom, desolation, self-reproach, and guilt... Those eyes, once as radiant as emeralds, now seemed shattered into countless fragments, each exuding suffocating pain.

Qi Muyun was speechless for a moment.

He didn't know what had happened outside to devastate this once spirited biological genius to such an extent, but he knew that since Chu Changqing had personally awakened him, he had no intention of leaving any room for himself...

"..." Qi Muyun opened his mouth, and finally spoke hoarsely, "What do you need me to do?"

Chu Changqing gently raised a hand and placed his fingertip on Qi Muyun's lips. His fingertip automatically split open, and a stream of crimson blood flowed down his finger, entering Qi Muyun's abdomen.

Qi Muyun's fists involuntarily clenched, but he did not resist. Instead, he closed his eyes resignedly, feeling the warm, metallic taste of blood permeate his chest.

After an unknown period, Chu Changqing finally removed his fingertip from Qi Muyun's lips.

"From now on, take 1000 milliliters of blood from me every day," Chu Changqing said. After willingly giving blood, his face grew even paler, and his voice became much weaker. "Stop for one day, and you will die."

Qi Muyun opened his eyes, wiped the blood from his mouth, and gave a bitter smile:

"This feeling isn't pleasant... Can I still back out now? How about you choose someone else to live?"

Chu Changqing glared at him.

Qi Muyun immediately fell silent.

"So, what now?" Qi Muyun pointed upwards. "Something seems to be stirring up trouble above. Should we kill it?"

"I have no combat ability right now. Do you think you can kill it by yourself?"

"Uh..."

"Stall it."

"Stalling it isn't a problem... What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to wake that person," Chu Changqing paused. "This farce needs to end."

"Is the main DPS finally returning? If he's here, the pressure will certainly be much less," Qi Muyun nodded. "But I can only stall it for twenty minutes at most by myself. Although this place is relatively closest to Lingxu Base compared to other bases, the actual distance is still great... Given your current condition, will you make it in time?"

Chu Changqing's gaze turned northwest, his voice calm and resolute,

"I'll make it."

"Watch out!!"

"Wanzai is approaching here!!"

Tu Tian, bearing a blood-stained battle standard, rapidly moved across the battlefield. He was already covered in wounds, even his shoulder and knee joints were so torn that bone was visible, but he still gritted his teeth, shouting with all his might!

At the same time, the expressions of those trapped by the giant flesh-eating plants instantly changed.

Because the plants' roots and leaves were interwoven into a dense mass, obscuring the streets, they could barely see the sky above, nor the "hide-sky" slowly moving towards the battlefield. Yet, the terrifying, world-ending oppressive feeling already made everyone's hearts tremble.

The others couldn't see clearly, but Tu Tian, carrying the flag and moving above the battlefield, saw everything distinctly.

As the hide-sky approached, dense beast eyes opened beneath its surface, and vast sections of the city were "stripped"... Asphalt roads were directly peeled away to reveal the soil, towering buildings were reduced to chaotic frameworks of rebar, cars on the streets turned into scrap metal, and even the scattered streetlights lost their outer covers, exposing segments of their filaments...

Even the flesh-eating plants clinging to the buildings instantly turned into mutilated fibrous strands, stripped of their life.

Wanzai made no distinction between friend and foe!

Anyway, the calamities attacking this city were not from the Illusory Mountains but from the Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest. Therefore, Wanzai simply didn't care about their survival; it only wanted to completely transform this domain into a new "Illusory Mountains"!

Just then, a faint thunder rumbled from above the hide.

Rumbling—

Tu Tian froze, halting his movement above a building in bewilderment.

He had never heard such a deep and dense thunder...

He looked up and saw chaotic, cloud-like mist had, at some unknown point, obscured the skies over Cangyun Domain. Thunderous plasma, almost solidified, flowed down from between the clouds, like destructive water poured forth by a thunder god, descending from the heavens!!

Rumble Rumble Rumble—!!!

At this moment, hundreds of millions of bolts of lightning exploded simultaneously. All the thunder plasma from the sky poured onto the surface of the hide covering it. The sky flashed wildly, its blinding light nearly burning Tu Tian's retinas.

Immediately after, an extremely foul burning stench spread throughout the entire domain, and simultaneously, an eerie, menacing shriek erupted from above the hide!!

"It actually willingly approached the sky..."

"What a fool."

A wet lab coat silently fluttered. A man quietly tied the black-and-blue tie of his shirt and looked up at the sky.

The aura of a Nine Lord exploded amidst the roar of a myriad of thunderbolts!

Cangyun Lord, Qi Muyun.