Chapter 55: Is It Still Not Enough?
Twenty-three days had passed since Wang Jie first attempted to see Qi with his eyes. He had lagged behind Liu Ying by twenty-two days before he could finally perceive it.
Chu Yao once again marveled at Liu Ying’s talent and declared that he must take her away. To Liu Ying, however, his words sounded less like a promise and more like an empty boast. Yet, she had no time to argue.
The first batch of volunteers for the sacrificial altar had already departed from the three great bases, heading toward the coastline. Flying vessels carried them one after another.
Hours later, at the coastline, people stood in a solemn, silent line, trudging toward the altar like specters of the dead. The first to step onto the altar was a middle-aged man, clad in simple clothing, who lay down beside Bai Yuan.
Bai Yuan watched him quietly.
“I never thought I’d get to die alongside the Three Gods and the Five Extremes,” the man murmured. “At least I can say my life wasn’t in vain.”
“Lord Bai Yuan, will my child truly be cared for?” he asked, his voice tinged with desperation. “And my mother… she’s over eighty. She’s blind and doesn’t even know the world has changed. She still thinks it’s peacetime, just that we’re too poor to afford food. Will she have a peaceful end?”
Bai Yuan looked at him solemnly. “Unless Blue Star is destroyed, we will honor our word. I swear it.”
The man exhaled deeply, as if a great burden had been lifted from his chest. “That’s good to hear.” With those words, he threw himself forward, smashing his head against the fangs of a mutated beast. Death claimed him instantly.
Next came an elderly man, who lay down with a sigh. “As long as my old wife is still in the base, that’s enough. Forty years together… still not enough. Damn this apocalypse, may it all burn.”
One by one, they came, each carrying their own lingering obsessions, each with someone they wished to protect. Just as the common folk had shielded the cultivators, so too did the cultivators stand for the children behind them.
Some broke down at the altar’s sight, others went mad, screaming in defiance. Some rushed at Shu Mu Night, trying to land a single desperate strike before their heads were effortlessly severed.
This place had become a purgatory.
The sand of the shore had been dyed thick with blood.
An elderly woman climbed onto the altar, struggling to find something. When she did, she smiled softly. “Old man, I’d be afraid to stay alone. Let’s go together and find the children.”
Shu Mu Night watched impassively as lines of people ascended the altar. Fear and despair clung to them, yet still, they marched forward.
Such was the nature of humanity.
Even in a place where beasts dared not tread, ordinary people forged ahead, step by step.
Even the cultivators of the Armor One Sect were shaken by the sight.
Ting He’s eyes brimmed with tears. She had never imagined witnessing such a scene.
She had seen planets perish, had seen death beyond measure, yet those deaths had been like fleeting fireworks—never like this.
Was this truly right?
She clenched her fists, silently watching.
Watching this abyss of blood that even the sun could not pierce.
Meanwhile, in Upper Capital City, Wang Jie was doing calisthenics.
His strength had increased eighty-fivefold.
The progress was smaller than before, yet still, it grew.
No more news came from the outside world. Wang Jie abandoned distractions, focusing solely on refining his Qi.
The next day, Bai Xiao arrived, falling to her knees before Wang Jie, begging him to save Bai Yuan.
Bai Yuan lay beneath the sacrificial altar, buried beneath countless corpses, still alive, watching as endless people marched toward doom.
Shortly after Bai Xiao’s arrival, Older Sister Tang came and took her away.
Wang Jie gave no promise.
After sending Bai Xiao back, Older Sister Tang found Zuo Tian.
“How many more must die?”
Zuo Tian’s voice remained calm, devoid of emotion. “I am controlling the timing. There’s no need to rush.”
Older Sister Tang’s eyes burned red with fury, her gaze bloodshot.
Zuo Tian looked at her. “If it’s painful to watch, then stop watching. Cut the broadcast. No more footage from the coastline.”
“You feel nothing at all?” she roared.
Zuo Tian replied indifferently, “Sacrifices must be made. If someone must be the villain, let it be me. Announce to the world that it was my idea, that I am controlling this.”
Older Sister Tang’s glare was seething. To her, Zuo Tian was no different from Shu Mu Night—save for the lack of blood on his hands. He was a man without emotion.
Zuo Tian smiled. “You don’t want Blue Star to be destroyed, do you? The longer this continues, the stronger Wang Jie becomes. The greater his chance of defeating Shu Mu Night. Isn’t that what we need?”
Her fingers trembled as she turned and left.
Zuo Tian watched her departing figure. “Wait for my signal. You and I… will be the last ones.”
She hesitated for a moment, then left.
But in the end, the broadcast was never cut.
Those who died for Blue Star deserved to be remembered. More importantly, those who still had loved ones—those who wished to see them one last time—had the right to do so. No one could take that away.
As the altar grew to nine hundred seventy meters high, Wang Jie’s power soared to eighty-sevenfold.
Nine hundred seventy meters—seventy meters of that height made up entirely of human corpses.
A mass of bodies covered the sacrificial altar, climbing higher with each sacrifice.
Every person who ascended was walking into the depths of hell, though hell was supposed to lie below.
Tens of thousands had perished, and even the trial participants—those hardened by suffering—were shaken, staring in silence at the altar on the coastline.
They had seen death countless times before.
Yet the destruction of an entire planet—the deaths of tens of billions—felt insignificant compared to the horror of this moment.
Qi Five gathered the trial participants, delivering a message: they had located the strongest mutated creatures on Blue Star. He sought their aid in luring these creatures toward Shu Mu Night, to slow his construction of the bridge.
Silent agreement spread among them.
Perhaps, at this moment, they too hoped these creatures would kill Shu Mu Night and put an end to this nightmare.
Back in Upper Capital City, within a small courtyard, Wang Jie sat idly, playing with beans.
A single soybean hovered before him, rising and falling, occasionally slipping from his control.
He was using Qi to manipulate the bean.
As Chu Yao had explained, if one could maneuver the bean freely with Qi, it signified entry into the fundamentals of Qi manipulation—the first step toward integrating Qi and Strength, thus unleashing a surge in combat power.
Yet Wang Jie had not mastered it. His eyes strained as he focused intently on the bean, teetering on the verge of going cross-eyed.
Meanwhile, Liu Ying had already succeeded. The bean danced effortlessly around her, twirling as if imbued with life itself. Witnessing this, Chu Yao could not help but marvel again at Liu Ying’s astonishing talent in Qi cultivation.
Beyond the confines of this small courtyard, the world’s turmoil did not intrude.
Gradually, Wang Jie forgot all else, pouring his entire focus into the bean.
Four days passed before he could guide the bean in a complete revolution around his body without it falling. Even so, it left him drenched in sweat.
On the fifth day, the earth trembled.
The bean fell.
Wang Jie snapped his gaze toward the south. The tremors originated from that direction. The once-clear sky darkened instantly, rolling clouds brimming with torrential water vapor surged forth.
Seal Power.
A surge of Seal Power was spreading, indicating the presence of a mutated creature.
Had a mutated beast engaged Shu Mu Night in battle?
At the coastline of Southern Nation Base, Qi Xue Yin sprinted southward, her every breath heavy. Behind her loomed a monstrous wolf, stretching a thousand meters in length and standing hundreds of meters tall. Its fur bristled like steel spikes, and its piercing eyes locked past her, fixed upon the coastline, where it unleashed a deafening roar.
At that very moment, a colossal lizard on the shoreline exhaled mist, surging forth with an overwhelming Seal Power, lunging straight at Shu Mu Night.
More and more Trial Participants had lured powerful mutated creatures toward Shu Mu Night, yet they all fell at his feet, one after another.
No matter how powerful a single mutated creature was, it could not stall time indefinitely.
Those heading for the Sacrificial Altar dwindled in number.
Wang Jie shut himself in his room, refusing to see anyone. The only thing he took with him was a handful of soybeans.
The Sacrificial Altar had reached a height of 990 meters—it could no longer rise.
To build the bridge, it had to reach 1000 meters.
Shu Mu Night turned his gaze toward Southern Nation Base. “So, this is the extent of those willing to die for Blue Star. A pity… it’s still not enough.”
Bai Yuan lay beneath a mountain of corpses, staring northward through the gaps of blood-soaked bodies.
Had they reached their limit?
How long had they held out?
Not long enough.
Just then, a sea of insects surged forward.
For the third time, Insect Xuan had unleashed an Insect Tide.
Yet he did not fight. This time, he remained hidden—for Shu Mu Night would not spare him.
If he dared to show himself, he would die.
Shu Mu Night was rarely angered. He could tolerate being delayed by those who willingly sacrificed themselves—for in their deaths, they might bring an unforeseen change to the Bridge-Building Method.
But these insects… they were a nuisance.
And he had no choice but to deal with them.
He regretted not killing the Heavenly Insect People last time.
Lifting his blade, Shu Mu Night began his slaughter.
The Insect Tide managed to delay him for another three days.
In Upper Capital City, Wang Jie embarked on his final calisthenics routine. He knew nothing of the outside world’s situation, but he understood this would be his last session.
There was no more time to delay Shu Mu Night.
This time, his strength surged to eighty-nine times its original power.
And then, a strange realization struck him—this was his limit.
He could not surpass it.
Eighty-nine times… was this where it ended?
He bathed, donned a fresh set of clothes, and stepped out of his room.
The floor was littered with soybeans, their scattered forms casting tiny black dots in the sunlight.
“Let’s go. To Southern Nation Base.”
The aircraft was already prepared.
At the coastline, just outside the Sacrificial Altar, Shu Mu Night brought down his blade one last time.
The last of the insects perished.
Turning his head, he saw two aircraft descending in the distance.
From one stepped Older Sister Tang and Hong Sword.
From the north, Lian Qin arrived.
Among the Three Gods and the Five Extremes, they were the final ones willing to die here.
Only Zuo Tian was absent.
Older Sister Tang seethed with fury. That coward had fled.
No one wished to die—not even Lian Qin. As the ruler of Southern Nation Base, she had wielded power with grace and had been more than willing to lower her stance to align with the strong. So long as Blue Star remained, she could have lived comfortably.
But reality was cruel—Blue Star was destined for destruction.
She couldn’t even approach Shu Mu Night.
She gazed upon the Sacrificial Altar, towering into the heavens, its very clouds dyed in blood. Her thoughts drifted to Wang Jie. That single battle he lost… it had sealed Blue Star’s fate.
The three of them advanced toward the Sacrificial Altar from different directions.
The muddied footprints, soaked in blood, testified to the countless souls who had walked this path before them.
Further away, Trial Participants stood in silence, unwilling to intervene. They could only watch.
Shu Mu Night moved.
He turned to Lian Qin and stepped forward.
Her heart pounded, excitement and unease intermingling. Could it be…?
Shu Mu Night approached.
Lian Qin stood still, watching him draw nearer.
But his gaze was not upon her.
He was looking beyond her.
What lay behind her?
Southern Nation Base.
Millions of lives.
He walked past her without sparing a glance, heading northward.
The chilling, suffocating aura of blood made Lian Qin tremble. Spinning around, she let out a desperate, piercing scream.
“Is it still not enough?!”
Her voice echoed across the shoreline, reverberating through the silent, blood-drenched battlefield.
All eyes turned toward her.
Especially Bai Yuan and those who knew her.
None had expected Lian Qin to dare speak to Shu Mu Night in such a way.
The millions within Southern Nation Base stood frozen, stunned into silence.
The warriors of Armor One Sect remained still, watching, as her cry lingered like an unrelenting wind, drifting through the vast and desolate land.
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation