Chapter 1091
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Chapter 1091: Blood-Stained Sky
The moment Lin Qiye saw the emblem, an inexplicable sense of calling surged in his heart.
This feeling was strange, as if everything were predestined. When the emblem lying in the snow reflected his charred and decayed face, countless images flashed through his mind like a movie.
Zhao Kongcheng, wielding a sword to slay demons on a rainy night; Zhou Ping, cutting down gods with his sword beyond the mist; Lu Qiu, risking his life to deliver messages at the Dragon Gate; the gods of the Great Xia, sacrificing themselves to become monuments at the border…
In that moment, Lin Qiye saw the brilliance radiating from them.
It was right there on the emblem.
It had always been with him; the distance between it and himself was so close, yet it felt so far away.
With his entire body charred, Lin Qiye trembled as he reached out his hands, cradling this glow as if it were a precious treasure, pulling it from the snow and holding it in his palms.
What had fallen into the snow was not just an emblem, but also the piece of belief and mission that belonged solely to the Night Watchman, which Lin Qiye had been missing in his heart.
It was something he had lost over the past few years, the fundamental reason for his confusion and self-doubt.
The moment he grasped the emblem, it felt as if all his doubts and confusion had found their answers.
Lin Qiye smiled.
He smiled joyfully, even though it caused the charred corners of his mouth to split open into a gruesome wound. His eyes, however, shone brighter than ever.
“Ancient poems from my homeland, poetry from abroad, have all been exhausted… This time, I want to try something different.”
He slowly stood up, gazing up at the towering National Monument amidst the blizzard, his right hand clutching the emblem tightly, raised beside his temple.
The smile on his face gradually faded, replaced by an unprecedented seriousness.
He stood tall, his lips parted slightly, his voice carrying a mysterious rhythm that echoed in the wind and snow:
“I, Lin Qiye, swear before the beings of the Great Xia.
—If the dark night should come…”
……
The howling wind and snow echoed between the mountains.
Countless new recruits stared blankly at the battlefield before the National Monument, frozen like statues.
They witnessed the figure draped in a deep red cloak, standing before the gods with a mortal body, being defeated time and again, gravely injured, yet stubbornly rising again to guard beneath the monument.
When he was first struck down by the God of the Sky, the hearts of the new recruits seemed to stop, an endless despair and sorrow flooding their minds.
When he was struck into a deep pit by the God of Life for the second time, the recruits felt as if their hearts had turned to ashes.
When they saw Lin Qiye rise from the pit, his body engulfed in flames and charred, they could no longer contain their emotions, roaring with all their might. They pounded the ground with their fists, their eyes filled with tears, red and bloodshot.
“Instructor Lin!!”
“Instructor Lin!!!”
“Instructor Lin!!! Kill these damned foreign gods!!”
“……”
This was their first time witnessing such a brutal battle.
It was also their first time feeling so clearly what it meant to be a Night Watchman…
Beside the new recruits, Shen Qingzhu stared intently at the charred figure, trembling slightly beneath the deep red cloak, his fingers digging deep into his palms, nails piercing through flesh, drops of blood falling onto the snow.
He had wanted to rush over countless times, to fight alongside Lin Qiye and the others, but reason held him back again and again, keeping him in place.
He didn’t possess Lin Qiye’s monstrous potential, nor did he have the terrifying creature within Cao Yuan. Shen Qingzhu was just an ordinary person; even if he rushed to the monument and forcibly elevated his realm with the power of ghosts and gods, he would pose no threat before the divine.
Lin Qiye had left them behind, hoping that if anything happened to him, they could protect these new recruits.
These recruits… were the future of the Great Xia.
Shen Qingzhu’s chest heaved violently as he looked at the distant battlefield, feeling for the first time how small he was, so small that he didn’t even have the qualification to gamble his life alongside his brothers.
Anger, guilt, and unwillingness surged wildly in his heart.
He… could do nothing.
Just as Shen Qingzhu sank into deep self-reproach, he saw the charred figure beneath the National Monument slowly raise its fist, placing it beside its temple.
A voice echoed through the heavens and earth.
“I, Lin Qiye, swear before the beings of the Great Xia.
—If the dark night should come…”
The moment the recruits heard this voice, they froze in place, but only Shen Qingzhu seemed to realize something and quickly reacted.
He recalled the words Lin Qiye had spoken to him not long ago and guessed what Lin Qiye was about to do next.
Damn… damn!!
A glimmer flashed in Shen Qingzhu’s mind. He suddenly turned his head and shouted at all the recruits beside him:
“What are you waiting for!! Instructor Lin’s final lesson isn’t over yet!!
Everyone!! Follow Instructor Lin and swear!!!”
Shen Qingzhu’s roar awakened the recruits from their confusion. They quickly stood up straight, their right fists placed beside their temples, their eyes fixed on the charred figure before the monument, still standing tall:
“I, Fang Mo, swear before the beings of the Great Xia!”
“I, Lu Baoyou, swear before the beings of the Great Xia!”
“I, Li Zhenzhen, swear before the beings of the Great Xia!”
“I, Su Zhe, swear…”
“……”
In the end, all their voices converged into one sentence:
“—If the dark night should come!!”
……
In the distance, the voices of hundreds of recruits swearing echoed like rolling thunder amidst the wind and snow.
Aisis stood beneath the monument, glancing at the direction from which the sound came, his brow furrowing slightly, then turning to look at the charred figure slowly walking out of the deep pit.
As the sound spread, it seemed that a powerful force was continuously emerging from him.
That was the “Poet of the Sky.”
“Truly relentless…”
Aisis snorted coldly, donning a green cloak, and walked toward Lin Qiye.
Lin Qiye’s expression was incredibly calm. He opened his mouth, and his voice once again resonated:
“—I shall stand before millions!!”
“—I shall stand before millions!!” From the distant peaks, hundreds of recruits shouted in unison.
“—With my sword against the abyss!!”
“—With my sword against the abyss!!”
As Aisis drew closer, Lin Qiye took a deep breath. The emblem tightly gripped in his hand flipped, and a silver short needle automatically sprang out.
A brilliant light erupted from Lin Qiye’s eyes!
In a flash, he plunged the short needle into his flesh with all his might, roaring:
“—Blood stains the heavens!!”
“—Blood stains the heavens!!!”
