Chapter 1218: The Gaze from the Depths of the Turbid Forest

"Holy crap..."

"Am I seeing things? Is that a dragon???"

The boy next to Pao-ge couldn't help but rub his eyes, staring at the awe-inspiring Eastern dragon as if he suspected he were dreaming.

Following the embroidered dragon, more and more figures descended from the sky: some dancing in Nuo masks, some wielding long whips and covered in blood, some stepping on the tops of lava pillars, and some dressed in flowing white robes, looking like ethereal immortals...

If the appearance of the Heavenly Pivot Lord had already made them realize that supernatural powers truly existed in the world, then the scene before them undoubtedly shattered everyone’s worldview completely.

"Wait... did everyone get a notification about evolving except me? How is everyone flying in the sky while we’re still crawling underground??"

Pao-ge couldn't help but speak up.

Ying Fu arrived above the shelter and swept his gaze downward, spotting Jiangjiang and her father hiding in the corner...

But Jiangjiang was already terrified, her head buried in her father’s arms, trembling all over, not daring to look up at what was happening outside.

Ying Fu’s heart eased slightly. He didn't step forward to reveal himself, but instead said in a deep voice to the crowd below:

"Follow the stars; they will guide you to a safe place."

With that,

he turned and left.

Fu Kun struck the ground with his hammer, and a dozen wide staircases connected the shelter to the surface.

The crowd seemed stunned by the sight, unable to react until Lu Xun’s solemn voice rang out, snapping them back to reality:

"Everyone, the reinforcements are here! Move!"

Their eyes lit up. Helping one another, they stood up from the underground and fled along the stairs toward the outside, as if they had finally seen the dawn of survival.

Supported by her father, Jiangjiang looked up, her pale little face filled with helplessness and confusion. As she climbed the stairs with weak legs, she cautiously looked around...

Just then, a somewhat familiar back gradually receded into the distance under the starlight.

Jiangjiang felt the person looked familiar, but couldn't recall where she had seen him. She turned to ask her father:

"Dad, that person looks so familiar... do you know him?"

Her father glanced over and shook his head.

"That’s a flying immortal. He must be as powerful as the Heavenly Pivot Lord. How could I possibly know him?"

"Oh... okay."

Though puzzled, Jiangjiang’s mind went blank with fear the moment she saw the corpses of the flesh-and-blood calamities scattered around. She could only clutch her father’s shirt tightly and run into the distance with the crowd.

"Holy crap, Pao-ge!! Look! Are these all monster corpses up here?!!"

"Stop shouting! I can see!"

"Did... did those people kill all of these? They’re so strong."

"Yeah, I wonder how one becomes like them..."

Though there was fear in the boys' eyes, there was even more longing for such power. Watching the divine figures clearing out the calamities around them, they felt a restless itch in their hearts.

Pao-ge, carrying Xiaoyu on his back, was running at the front of the crowd when he suddenly noticed something and pointed into the distance:

"Look... the one riding the lion, doesn't he look like our Big Brother??"

"Huh?!?"

Several men looked in the direction he pointed and saw a seven-colored lion stepping on auspicious clouds, swirling in the air as if battling some kind of enemy.

And on the lion’s back, a figure in a Tang suit wearing small round sunglasses was incredibly conspicuous.

"It really is Big Brother!!!"

"So Big Brother is a superhero too!"

"Big Brother!!! Big Brother!!!!!"

The boys shouted at Sun Bumian in the sky as if they had gone mad, filled with excitement.

Sun Bumian seemed to hear them. In the midst of the chaos, he glanced over, and upon seeing Pao-ge and the others, the corner of his mouth curled up, and he even gave them a stylish wave.

This response made the boys even more excited; they jumped around like monkeys, never expecting that the Big Brother who had been helping them was actually someone so powerful...

"Keep moving." Shen Nan, wearing a Nuo mask, drifted down behind them and urged,

"We can’t hold them off for long. If you run too slowly, everyone will die here."

The crowd turned back and was startled by Shen Nan’s mask, but they immediately picked up their pace, running with all their might along the starlight.

Seeing all the survivors leave the shelter, Shen Nan’s heart didn't settle; on the contrary, the expression beneath his mask grew even graver.

Breaking into the heart of the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest to rescue the survivors wasn't the hardest part... the hardest part was how to escort them out of the forest and to the underground project after saving them.

One had to remember that this wasn't the edge of the forest, but its core. Even with Chen Ling opening the way with starlight, they couldn't withstand the massive counterattacks of the calamities along the way. If they couldn't hold these calamities back, not only would the people they had worked so hard to save be slaughtered halfway, but they themselves would be trapped deep within.

"Lu Xun, since when can Director Chen use stars too?"

Su Zhiwei watched Chen Ling in the starlight and couldn't help but ask Lu Xun beside her.

"...I don't know either. He suddenly contacted me through the starlight just now." Lu Xun shook his head. "But he can use Yang Xiao’s ability, right? It seems reasonable that he could use mine too..."

As he spoke, Lu Xun hoisted the unconscious Yang Xiao onto his back and quickly followed the crowd as they retreated into the distance.

"By the way, where’s Chu Changqing?"

"He..."

After running a few steps, the two looked back and realized that Chu Changqing, the tree-man, was struggling to move his legs, stumbling toward them with a face full of wood grain that looked as miserable as a bitter melon.

"Wait... wait... for me..." In this state, let alone running, Chu Changqing could barely keep up with a normal person’s walking pace.

Seeing this, Su Zhiwei gritted her teeth, grabbed Chu Changqing’s thick, branch-like arms, and with a heave, hoisted him onto her back.

"Su Zhiwei! You..." Chu Changqing said in shock, "Put me down, I’m too heavy, you can’t carry me!"

"You’re a member of the 'Monarchs' too; how could I leave you here alone?"

Su Zhiwei was quite strong, though carrying someone as large as Chu Changqing was still a strain. But it was at least much faster than Chu Changqing walking on his own. She steadied her center of gravity in a few steps and began to chase after the back of the crowd.

Watching the fierce Su Zhiwei, even Lu Xun’s mouth twitched. He wanted to offer help, but hesitated...

Don't let the fact that they were all men fool you; when it came to raw strength, no one could compare to Su Zhiwei.

Chu Changqing opened his mouth to thank her, but just then, he felt an inexplicable gaze looking toward them from the depths of the Bitter-Flesh Turbid Forest...