Chapter 1894: Wielding the Sword and Consumables

Boundless deep space.

The aftermath of the explosion churned in the void. A shrunken version of the red paper star was now shattered by the shockwave… The scarred red paper trembled, then, like wings spreading, slowly parted to the sides…

A figure wearing a red-bottomed, black-patterned opera robe walked out, coughing lightly.

The red paper tentacles behind him wrapped around two unconscious figures: the Heavenly Pivot Monarch, Lu Xun, and the South Sea Monarch, Chu Changqing.

The Seven Monarchs’ plan to ignite the Red Star had been very successful. They didn’t try to shatter the Red Star with brute force, but instead used the Red Star’s own energy to ignite and detonate it… There were no fragments flying, no disaster-level meteor showers descending on Earth, and the energy was directly annihilated in the void.

But for some reason, after 70% of the Red Star was ignited, it stopped abruptly. The broken Red Star core rushed directly out of the explosion and fell toward Earth.

And even Chen Ling only had time to save Lu Xun and Chu Changqing, who were furthest from the Red Star.

Su Zhiwei, Yang Xiao, Qi Muyun, Wu Tongyuan…

All of them died in battle.

But destroying 70% of the Red Star in one go was the most they had ever managed to destroy in the countless simulations Chen Ling had run in the Akashic Tower, and it was the closest they had ever come to victory!

“Director Chen…” Chu Changqing slowly opened his eyes.

Among the Seven Monarchs, Chu Changqing had consumed the least and suffered the lightest injuries. He saw Chen Ling and the Red Star fragment still falling toward Earth, and he stood there, stunned.

Did they… fail?

Seeing him wake up, Chen Ling immediately spoke:

“Leave Lu Xun to you. Take him back to Earth safely.”

After saying this, Chen Ling turned into a streak of light, rushing rapidly toward the final Red Star core!

The Star-Breaking Defense Line, although it had only worn down less than 10% of the Red Star, had significantly slowed its falling speed through continuous explosions. That these crossbow arrows could achieve this much was already beyond Chen Ling’s expectations.

One must know that even the nuclear weapons humanity launched before the Great Cataclysm might not have achieved this much.

And next, the human sword of slaughter rising from the earth made Chen Ling’s hanging heart relax slightly…

“He… really did make a move, didn’t he?”

In the Akashic records Chen Ling had seen, there was a world that created a peak-state Bai Qi. In that world, Bai Qi carried the human sword of slaughter and cut off half the Red Star with one strike.

But in that world, the South Sea Monarch sacrificed himself to grant Bai Qi extreme life force, and the Infinite Monarch turned himself into armor, wearing it on Bai Qi to isolate the Red Star’s influence on the Soldier God Path, which was how they achieved that step.

The current Bai Qi had no way to effectively isolate the Red Star’s power, relying only on himself and the human sword of slaughter…

Could he cut off this last 20% of the Red Star?

……

The Red Star’s storm churned wildly in the void.

The Red Star wreckage, surrounded by raging fire, and the giant black sword rising against the wind from the earth, approached rapidly.

Under the Red Star’s storm, the ancient murderous aura wrapped around the giant sword’s hilt fluttered and danced like a candle in the wind, appearing as if it wouldn’t last much longer before dissipating…

Jian Changsheng’s soul stared fixedly at the rapidly enlarging red shadow, taking a deep breath.

He knew it was his turn.

“Master… no, Bai Qi!” Jian Changsheng steeled his heart and turned to look at the ancient figure occupying his body. Based on the principle of speaking one’s mind before death, he poured out his dissatisfaction like a barrage of cannonballs,

“You cunning Lord Wu’an!”

“I’m telling you, I’ve tolerated you for a long time!”

“You occupy my body, you don’t take a bath for days, you don’t eat, you spend all day soaking in murderous aura, raising me, little old me, like a beggar on the side of the road. Look at my face, how weathered it’s become??”

“While occupying my body, you’re holding my soul hostage, making me watch myself get tossed around by you like this, and you even hit my brothers in front of me… I’ve wanted to say this for a long time, do you have some kind of sick hobby?”

“I’m warning you, after cutting the Red Star, you’d better treat my body well, otherwise…”

“Otherwise I’ll curse you to become a vegetable and say goodbye to my body forever!”

Jian Changsheng fiercely gave Bai Qi the middle finger!

Then, feeling guilty, he didn’t even look at Bai Qi’s reaction, turned his head, and rushed toward the Red Star storm descending from the sky!

Jian Changsheng’s soul continued to rise, almost single-handedly taking on the incoming Red Star storm for Bai Qi, like a human shield.

His God Path and soul were churning in the storm, and the excruciating pain that struck his soul directly made his face contort. It was like an ordinary mortal standing before a surging fire tornado, his body being burned to charcoal bit by bit, then annihilated without a trace…

Only at this moment did Jian Changsheng truly realize what kind of pain the Fifth-Generation Red King and the successive Soldier Path demigods who had been annihilated just now had experienced… Fortunately, the Soldier Path demigods who could reach this step were all tempered through fire and blood, and even extreme pain wouldn’t make them yield. If it were demigods of other God Paths, they probably wouldn’t have had the firm enough will to persist.

But it was precisely because of his existence that the influence on Bai Qi was minimized, and the sword of slaughter, which had been teetering, stabilized once more.

Just as the Red Star storm was about to tear his soul apart, a palm suddenly grabbed the back of his neck.

Swish—

Jian Changsheng felt the world spin, and his soul, which was in extreme pain, fell directly back into his body.

At the same time, a tall phantom clad in ancient armor walked out of his body…

The phantom looked back at him, his gaze deep and complex.

“……Master?”

Jian Changsheng stood there, stunned.

“You were right, someone always has to be used,” Bai Qi said calmly. “But you seem to have forgotten that the only person in the world who has wielded this sword of slaughter isn’t me… it’s you.”

“You have more experience than me in how to control this sword well.”

“So…”

“The one who should become the consumable is me.”

Jian Changsheng’s pupils contracted sharply.

Jian Changsheng had thought of ten thousand possibilities, but he never imagined that Bai Qi would return his body to him at this time… In the end, he was just a lucky person who happened to walk the Soldier God Path. What right did he have to compare himself to Lord Wu’an?

In terms of seniority, ability, and determination, Bai Qi was far above him. This was why Jian Changsheng was willing to hand his body over to Bai Qi, and even willing to sacrifice his soul again to pave the way for Bai Qi…

He knew his own insignificance, knew his own shortcomings… He would be satisfied if he could make even the slightest contribution to humanity.

But now…