Chapter 42 Maturation (Seeking Monthly Votes)

"Splat!"

A sharp claw pierced through the chest of his comrade. The warm blood from within splattered across his own face. Seeing that monster still greedily trying to devour his companion's body, the Spirit Master's eyes turned crimson, and he decisively unleashed his spirit ability to kill both the creature and his fallen comrade together.

Blood and fire breed fear, but they also awaken the primal ferocity hidden deep within human hearts. They had no way out; they had to march forward over the corpses of their comrades and enemies alike!

Fighting their way forward, cutting their way from the outer city into the inner district, they discovered not a single living person remained here—all had been transformed into those inhuman monsters.

Through this prolonged battle of slaughter, the allied forces had come to a grim realization of just how terrifying these creatures truly were.

They possessed immense vitality, capable of regenerating severed limbs; completely devoid of any intelligence, they fought without fear of death; furthermore, anyone killed by them would soon rise again as identical monsters.

The sole weakness was decapitation, the only method to shatter their regenerative capabilities.

The casualties on both sides were visible to the naked eye. The Titled Douluo of the allied forces, needing to conserve their soul power to deal with the roots that struck suddenly from time to time, found it difficult to look after their subordinates. They felt anxious both in their eyes and in their hearts, especially the Titled Douluo from the various sects, whose expressions were particularly unsightly.

Sects were different from nations. When a nation lost a large number of its grassroots population, it could recover within a few short years, but a sect had to cultivate everything from scratch, consuming vastly more time.

Suddenly, someone made a discovery. With a face full of ecstatic joy, he shouted, "They're retreating! They're retreating!"

Hearing this, the others looked closely and saw that it was indeed true. The aggressive momentum of those monsters seemed to have been checked. Glaring fiercely with bared teeth, they began to withdraw.

Seeing this, the taut strings in the hearts of the allied coalition finally slackened, and expressions of surviving a catastrophe crept onto their faces.

However, unlike the rest, the expressions on the faces of several Titled Douluo remained exceptionally solemn.

They could sense it clearly—those monsters possessed no concept of fear whatsoever. How could they possibly retreat out of terror? The only logical explanation was that someone was issuing commands behind the scenes, and at this moment, the identity of that person was blindingly obvious.

This was clearly an invitation, welcoming them inside.

Looking at the path ahead, their expressions turned grave. They all knew that a hard-fought battle awaited them, but having come this far, there was no way they could turn back now—nor would the adversary likely allow them to retreat anyway.

Reorganizing their formation, the Spirit Master troops now stationed themselves at the very rear. Their most crucial mission had been to escort the Titled Douluo into the imperial palace, a task now nearly complete, as they would serve little purpose in the impending battle.

Xuanzi, as the strongest person present, led the others onward.

They quickly traversed the inner city and arrived at the imperial palace, which had long since been reduced to ruins.

Although they had long known what they would face, when they finally witnessed it with their own eyes, some could still not help the rising waves of nausea in their stomachs.

The sticky substance beneath their soles was not mud, but a thick slurry of piled-up flesh. Skeletons littered the ground, and the foul stench permeating the air was so intense that no wind or rain could ever wash it clean.

Looking closer, not far away, the Ginseng Fruit Tree had somehow lost every single leaf. Its crown was completely bare, and its branches whipped and thrashed wildly through the air like the tentacles of some abyssal sea creature!

And right in the center of those numerous branches, that ginseng fruit was breathing rhythmically. Its chest rose and fell in a steady cadence, its expression serene, as if no amount of external clamor could possibly affect it.

At this sight, many turned deathly pale, as if struck by a profound and overwhelming terror.

Xuanzi’s brow furrowed tightly. Seeming to sense something, his pupils dilated to the size of circles, and he bellowed with all his might, "Everyone below Spirit Saint rank, fall back immediately!"

Condensing his soul power, he struck out with a palm. While the crowd was still caught in bewilderment, they were sent flying backward all at once. Yet before they could travel far, they abruptly halted in mid-air and began to plummet downward.

From behind came a chorus of strange shrieks—it was those monsters that had retreated earlier. Unbeknownst to them, the creatures had circled around to the rear of the allied forces, completely surrounding them.

Shock gripped the crowd. Just as they prepared to summon their martial souls to meet the enemy, their movements abruptly froze. Their bodies felt like breached spheres; the soul power they had just gathered suddenly leaked away, their limbs went completely limp, and they collapsed heavily to the ground as blood spewed from their mouths and noses.

To their absolute horror, everyone discovered they had lost all control over their own soul power. The soul power within their bodies was bleeding out uncontrollably, accompanied relentlessly by their very life force.

The Dark Tortoise Douluo unleashed his spirit ability to envelop them all within it, yet it proved entirely useless. Within mere seconds, those whose physiques were weaker due to their martial souls had already shriveled into desiccated husks. Witnessing this, an atmosphere of sheer panic spread instantly.

Xuanzi, who had perceived the danger earliest, kept his gaze locked fixedly on the Ginseng Fruit Tree, a bad premonition gripping his heart.

This damned thing had grown stronger once again. The bizarre phenomenon before their eyes was entirely its doing. Xuanzi could feel a domain-like force field existing in the surroundings, ceaselessly draining the vitality of every living entity within its boundary.

This life force converged into a river, flowing directly into the Ginseng Fruit Tree to nourish the ginseng fruit upon its branches!

Spirit Masters above the Spirit Saint rank possessed the True Body of the Martial Soul, granting them a trace of the indestructible golden body attribute found in the Body Sect's secret arts, allowing them to resist this strange force field.

However, Spirit Masters below the Spirit Saint rank lacked such capability; they were utterly powerless against this plunder and could only watch helplessly as they withered into mummies!

"Hah... huff..."

Amidst the sea of bones across the ground, a single corpse rose to its feet. Its sunken chest still fluttered slightly with a faint breath, its deeply hollowed eye sockets devoid of light, and a dry, eerie chuckle rattled from its throat.

Only the tattered imperial robe upon its body served to identify its identity as the Emperor of Dou Ling.

Having once regained his youth thanks to the Ginseng Fruit Tree, he had somehow regressed, transforming into this half-human, half-ghost monstrosity.

Looking at the mastermind behind all this, Xuanzi said in a deep voice, "You went to such lengths just to end up looking like this? Was all of this truly worth it?"

"Worth... it? Heh."

The Emperor of Dou Ling paused a long time between every word. His utterance seemed to be a response to Xuanzi, yet equally a self-interrogation, until finally, he broke into a raspy laugh.

In that instant, a fierce, brilliant light erupted within his dim eye sockets. Even though his physique was fragile and broken, he seemed at this moment stronger than anyone else.

He questioned, "Titanic Douluo, what is the meaning of life?"

Faced with this abrupt inquiry, before Xuanzi even had time to ponder it, the other beat him to the answer—

"The meaning of life is eternity! If there is no eternity, then life is utterly meaningless!"

"Madman!"

Many muttered curses under their breath as they looked at this frantic creature.

The Emperor of Dou Ling seemed to hear their curses, but instead of anger, he burst into hearty laughter. "A madman? Indeed, this Emperor is a madman! As the saying goes, being one step ahead of others makes you a genius, but being many steps ahead makes you a madman! I am a madman, while you lot are mere mediocre fools!"

"Mediocre fools! You possessed the courage to come here, and that is worthy of praise. For this, this Emperor shall bestow a reward upon you! I grant you the right to witness my ascension to eternity!"

At this moment, the river of blood ran dry, the mountain of bones turned to dust. Accompanied by a crisp, resonant cry echoing through the air, the ginseng fruit...

Ripened!