Chapter 441 - 180: "Even If a Mayfly Enters the Sea, I Will Still Burn My Blood to Incinerate the Heavens.

Chapter 441: Chapter 180: "Even If a Mayfly Enters the Sea, I Will Still Burn My Blood to Incinerate the Heavens.

"We’ve reached the Yellow Springs Entrance Defense Line."

"Your apprentice, Tian Yi, and Night Watcher Ninety-seven of the Eternal Night Hall’s West Outgoing Action Team have died fighting back the Ghost Tide."

"The Mortal Realm sent timely reinforcements. The Yellow Springs Entrance Defense Line has not fallen."

"The Ghost Tide has been annihilated."

"Is this the outcome you wanted?"

"I..."

Zhang Yide’s eyes were bloodshot. Teetering on the edge of a breakdown, he shrieked, "I... I didn’t mean to get Tian Yi killed! I didn’t know he would stay at the Yellow Springs Entrance Defense Line! He reported to me the day before yesterday that he was heading to the Celestial Punishment Mountain Range after leaving the Mortal Realm!"

"I was the one who gave him a last-minute assignment to go to the Yellow Springs Entrance Defense Line. The person in charge there was newly appointed, so I sent Tian Yi to offer some guidance."

"I..."

Zhang Yide was on the verge of a complete breakdown. He had subconsciously ignored the consequences of passing information to the Ghost Race. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what might happen; he just refused to think about it. It made him feel better.

"I... I only passed that one piece of information to the Ghost Race! I just wanted to leave myself an out, that’s all! I..."

"There is no way out."

Qiu Yisi moved closer to Zhang Yide again, leaning on his Dragon Head Staff with both hands. "Between the Eternal Night Continent and the Ghost Race, only one can survive," he said slowly. "This is a war with no retreat."

"Those who betray the Eternal Night Continent must be executed."

"But death is a complicated matter."

"Cooperate with us."

"Tonight, you will pass intelligence to the Ghost Race. Tell them that a large number of people from the Western Eternal Night Continent Plain Defense Line have gone to reinforce the Jiangbei Mortal Realm, out of fear that the Mortal Realm will be attacked again."

"Tell them the Western Eternal Night Continent Plain Defense Line is undermanned tonight. They can send reinforcements to the Western Plains and launch a major offensive."

"Cooperate fully, and I can give you a quick death."

"..."

Zhang Yide’s expression flickered between uncertainty and fear. He barely hesitated before his eyes reddened and he nodded heavily.

"Good."

Qiu Yisi laughed and patted Zhang Yide’s shoulder. "No need to put on that regretful act. If you hadn’t been caught, you wouldn’t feel a thing."

"People only ever feel regret when they’re about to die."

"You’re dead for sure."

"But at least you can do something decent before you die. When you see Tian Yi in the afterlife, you won’t have to be completely ashamed to face him."

"Do you know?"

"Tian Yi was the member of the Action Team I valued most. His death... it actually saddens me a little."

"Wait!"

Zhang Yide suddenly seemed to remember something. "I gave Tian Yi a pendant with Sea Heart Grass in it!" he said urgently. "It can preserve his life temporarily after his body gives out!"

"No need. His Life Token has already shattered."

After a long silence, Qiu Yisi looked at Zhang Yide and suddenly laughed again. "No one in the entire Action Team knows this, but Night Watcher Ninety-seven was my son."

"I’m actually quite sad right now."

"For a moment there, I was really hoping you’d show some spine and refuse my offer. That way, I could have used every single one of the Action Team’s one hundred and seven methods of torture on you."

"The person I valued most, and my only son."

"Gone. All of them, in a single night."

"I really..."

"...really want to tear you to pieces right now."

With that, Qiu Yisi didn’t linger. His steps trembled slightly as he leaned on his Dragon Head Staff and walked out of the house. A wisp of flame suddenly flared up on the back of his neck. As if swatting a mosquito, he skillfully slapped it out, then crushed an Elixir in his palm and pressed it against his skin.

The members of the Outgoing Action Team inside the house, however, were not so gentle.

Their faces grim, they closed in around him.

Traitors like him were utterly despised within the Eternal Night Hall.

Their team leader had to follow regulations and couldn’t do anything out of line, but they didn’t care about that. When they learned that the dead Night Watcher was their leader’s only son, their expressions grew even more grim and furious.

"What... what are you doing?"

Zhang Yide instinctively backed away, looking in a panic at the members of the Outgoing Action Team surrounding him.

「Outside the house.」

Sitting on the steps, Qiu Yisi clutched the Dragon Head Staff to his chest. He listened to the cacophony of angry shouts and scuffling from inside, his expression dazed as he gazed through the pouring rain at the dark clouds hanging in the distance.

「A long moment later.」

He took a piece of candy from his pocket and, with a trembling hand, put it in his mouth.

Tears slid unbidden from his eyes, tracing paths down his wrinkled cheeks and onto a neck covered in age spots and countless scars.

’My son always loved sweets when he was alive.’

’I wonder...’

’...if he got to taste something sweet before he died.’

’A Night Watcher’s fate is activation.’

’But...’

’...that’s not the fate of a son. I never wanted my son’s fate to be activation.’

「After a long while.」

Qiu Yisi slowly lowered his head, staring at the puddles on the ground and murmuring, "Your dad can’t do this for much longer. In a little while, when your dad is old, he’ll go to the front lines and kill a batch of Ghost Objects."

"And then..."

"...I’ll come down and be with you."

As he spoke, he slapped out a cluster of scarlet flames that had erupted on his arm. The scarlet flames inside his body were becoming difficult to suppress. Once he chose a successor, it would be time for him to step down.

’Originally, the successor I had chosen was Tian Yi.’

’It’s hurt for a lifetime.’

’Soon, the pain will stop.’

...

「The sun rose.」

A hundred Flying Ships had already returned to the Mortal Realm. Chen Fan stood on a Flying Ship Deck, gazing at the rapidly approaching Jiangbei Defense Line in the distance.

He had finished the basic fortifications of the Yellow Springs Entrance Defense Line.

’If it’s attacked again now... it should be able to hold out a little longer for reinforcements from the Mortal Realm.’

’Besides... the cost of supporting it with the Mortal Realm’s cruise missiles is too high. I need to reinforce the Yellow Springs Entrance Defense Line again to ensure it doesn’t fall. Its strategic value is immense. If the Yellow Springs Entrance Defense Line were to fall, my Mortal Realm would be caught between two fronts.’

It was time to eat again.

Amidst the smoke from cooking fires, people on the Jiangbei Defense Line began to run about in the rain.

But few of them knew that the Yellow Springs Entrance Defense Line had nearly been wiped out last night. And none of them knew that thousands of kilometers away, a defense line called the Yellow Springs Coastal Defense Line had already fallen.

Nearly one hundred thousand people had died last night.

In a place few would ever know about.