Chapter 154
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Chapter 154: Title
Cen Ji observed their slightly disheveled appearances but noted their vigorous energy, confirming they’d likely escaped unharmed.
His gaze lingered on two unfamiliar foreigners accompanying Captain Yuan. “Captain Yuan, who might these be?”
After a brief pause, Captain Yuan replied with implicit instructions for surveillance. “We rescued them. Arrange accommodations—they’ll return with us.”
“Understood.” Cen Ji signaled an armed subordinate to escort the strangers away, ensuring privacy for their forthcoming discussion. “Captain Yuan, we’ve received intel from…”
Nearby, the Ghost in Red smoothed her rumpled garments. Noticing Yu Yue’s hesitant approach, she inquired, “Something to say?”
Yu Yue fidgeted under her gaze. “I—I just wondered if you faced any dangers inside, Senior?”
Before the Ghost in Red could answer, Yang Xingyu strode over, giving the anxious girl a comforting shoulder pat. “With Young Master Leng present? Perish the thought.”
“Besides, Xiao Tianji joined us too.” Yang Xingyu appeared far more disheveled than the Ghost in Red, his face smeared with dirt and exhaustion.
Emerging from the jungle revitalized, Yang Xingyu stretched gingerly, residual aches reminding him of the deity’s lingering wrath. Though spared direct confrontation, the aftermath alone proved harrowing.
His weakness glaringly apparent, he resolved to intensify training—not just physical cultivation, but mental fortitude and combat instincts. Glancing at his calloused palms, his attention shifted to the silent Qiao Feiyu.
Yang Xingyu slung an arm around Qiao Feiyu’s shoulders. “Ease up, Old Qiao. Losing to a deity’s no shame.”
Qiao Feiyu stiffened, shrugging off the contact. “Who’s glum? We’re not comrades.”
Undeterred, Yang Xingyu persisted, “Shared hardships make brothers! How about post-mission sparring?”
Qiao Feiyu’s expression darkened. “Seeking bruises?” The gulf between Awakened Powers and martial artists’ cultivation was no trifle.
Yang Xingyu’s grin faltered at the bluntness. “Friendly exchanges! This mission exposed my flaws. Train with me…” He hesitated, “…just go easy?”
Aloof nearby, Leng Xingwen contemplated his first deity encounter. The low-tier entity’s power paled against its divine title—had his full strength been unleashed, victory might’ve been his.
Yet considering his companions’ limitations and rising risks, he’d shattered Xiao Tianji’s jade tablet. His motives dueled: loyalty to the red-clad senior and duty to Captain Yuan.
Reckless? Perhaps. But promises held weight, and foreign deities held no terror for Leng Xingwen—mere insects beneath his blade.
On the other side, Captain Yuan was recounting the jungle incident to Cen Ji.
Meanwhile, the entire team accelerated their packing pace, determined to evacuate and return to their homeland with maximum urgency.
Two hours later, their former campsite stood empty, replaced by a fully assembled vehicle convoy ready for departure.
As Yang Xingyu boarded his transport, Qiao Feiyu lobbed an object toward him.
"A hidden weapon? Should I catch it barehanded… What’s this?" Yang Xingyu reflexively snatched the projectile, only to find a barely breathing creature in his palm.
Qiao Feiyu’s icy tone drifted from the front passenger seat: "You picked it up – you deal with it."
Yang Xingyu dangled the motionless squirrel skeptically. After a contemplative pause, he muttered, "Maybe we should ditch it. Barely alive anyway – just wasting rations…"
His words froze mid-sentence as the limp creature suddenly stirred. Tiny claws and a bushy tail coiled around his wrist, accompanied by faint chittering.
"Not dead after all? Could’ve fooled me…"
Dust swirled behind the departing convoy, granting relief to would-be jungle infiltrators who knew they stood no chance against the armed soldiers.
Deep within the foliage, a girl concealed in Kabatu’s divine domain sensed the retreating presences. She descended gracefully from her arboreal hideout.
Injured deities proved rare quarries – failing to exploit their vulnerability would squander this golden opportunity.
Seki observed the Eastern Practitioners clashing with Kabatu through her Abyssal Deity-gifted concealment. When the Eastern great prophet manifested, her breath hitched – certain she’d been exposed.
The mirror that terrified Kabatu chilled Seki’s blood too. Its reflective surface seemed capable of piercing through all veils of secrecy.
Had strategic observation not been crucial, Seki would’ve fled instantly. Fortunately, the dim-witted Kabatu refrained from confronting the artifact directly.
Recognition of the divine artifact ignited covetous sparks within her. If deities could be Sacrificed, why not their hallowed instruments?
Yet Seki restrained her hunger. Preying required careful target assessment – no deity wielding such power could be trifled with.
Memories surfaced of Blue Star’s celestial beings who’d materialized earlier – their overwhelming might had forced her to avert her gaze, fearing exposure beneath their divine scrutiny.
Though numerous Eastern deities possessed divine artifacts, Seki calculated her Abyssal-granted powers might suffice for theft. But retribution from their pantheon loomed large.
These weren’t isolated weaklings like Kabatu. Among them stood equals to the Abyssal Deity itself.
Survival demanded caution. Hence her westward exodus to escape divine attention, her African relocation seeking lands devoid of ancient gods.
Here, fledgling deities proved fragile yet ideal for her purposes.
Black liquid seeped from her temples, coalescing into a facial mask. Her frame elongated and reshaped until settling at 185cm – a lithe, androgynous form unmistakably masculine.
Clad in silver-gray suit with platinum-white cropped hair, "he" emerged among Kabatu’s protected tribe.
The tribe had barely let their guard down after Leng Xingwen’s departure when an uninvited guest materialized abruptly, catching them off guard in stunned silence.
Seki sprang into motion, her trajectory unerringly aimed at the Kabatu deity’s altar.
By the time tribespeople scrambled to intercept "him," their efforts proved futile against "his" preternatural swiftness.
The air crackled with divine presence as the Kabatu deity manifested.
Though hypersensitive to intrusions within its domain, the deity had failed to detect this invader’s approach.
Incandescent with wrath, its divine body coalesced into corporeal form, divine might surging toward the audacious trespasser.
Dark tendrils of abyssal power materialized behind the man, voraciously consuming the incoming divine assault. In that same heartbeat, Seki claimed her prize.
The "man" pivoted with deliberate grace, Kabatu’s sacrificial stone tablet resting in his palm, his lips twisting into a predatory smirk as he faced the seething deity.
"The Kabatu deity… is mine now."
Ebony corruption crawled across the deity’s form as abyssal power entwined the relic, their connection synchronizing the infestation.
Kabatu’s thunderous roar shook the clearing as it marshaled divine energy to purge the invasion – only to watch helplessly as its own power nourished the parasitic darkness.
Revulsion surged through the deity’s essence, an primal urge to eradicate this abhorrent force overwhelming reason.
This couldn’t stand. Though formidable, the invader hesitated – perhaps the totem body could yet be salvaged.
Kabatu hurtled toward the black-haired figure dominating its altar, prepared to sacrifice centuries of accumulated divine essence from the source world rather than let corruption reach its divine core.
Seki’s eyebrow arched in amusement. The pitiful totem body held no interest – her true quarry pulsed with divine radiance: the deity’s power, corporeal vessel, core, and rank. Though this backwater god likely hadn’t achieved proper divine rank yet.
As abyssal tendrils gorged on divine energy, Seki felt the deity’s desperate gambit – a corporeal detonation that would annihilate hundreds of leagues.
"Self-immolation?" Her laughter crystallized the air as darkness intensified. "How fitting that faith-manifested deities value devotees so lightly."
The abyssal surge crested, stripping divine body from core. A worthy harvest, though the shimmering core’s escape through self-mutilation pricked her professional pride.
Kabatu’s essence fled, its once-proud divine body now crumbling as the invader departed with casual elegance, stolen power swirling about him.
Seki dissolved into shadows, satisfied. This plundered divinity would serve well enough… and crumbling domains always welcome return visits.
…
The jungle’s divine aura waned like fading breath. Below, Kabatu’s tribe prepared fresh Daoist rituals and sacrifices, unaware of the totem warriors stalking through emerald shadows – or the adventurers slipping through their sacred groves.
