Am I the Only One Who Can Turn the Tide

Afterward, the two of them packed up briefly and left the Spring Breeze Pavilion.

Upon reaching the ground floor, Su Ji noticed that the street, which had been moderately lively yesterday, was now surprisingly quiet.

Many shops had their doors tightly shut, and the pedestrians on the street were rushing about, wearing inexplicable expressions as they all hurried in the same direction.

Su Ji looked in the direction the crowd was flowing.

At the end of the street, a massive, dense crowd had gathered, three layers deep inside and out, as if watching some spectacle.

He exchanged a glance with Su Jiu, and they followed along.

Squeezing into the crowd, the scene in the center made Su Jiu frown deeply.

A massive prisoner cart made of black iron was parked in the middle of the street.

Inside the cart were over a dozen people with disheveled hair and bloodstained bodies. Their spirits were withered, their eyes hollow; clearly, they had been subjected to heavy torture.

"What crime did these people commit? They don't look like vicious criminals."

"Shh! Keep your voice down! Do you have a death wish?" An auntie selling vegetables nearby hurriedly pulled him back. "I heard... they criticized the City Lord!"

"My heavens! Criticizing the City Lord in Anyang City, that's a capital offense!"

"Isn't that the truth? If not for the City Lord's kindness, how would Anyang City have today's peace? How could we see the sun every day?"

"Exactly, exactly. The Anyang Grand Ceremony is in three days, a city-wide celebration! These people insisted on courting bad luck at a time like this. They deserve it!"

The surrounding commoners discussed spiritedly. In their words, there was a nearly blind worship of the City Lord.

Listening to these words, Su Ji felt it was nothing short of absurd.

A butcher who had slaughtered the entire city had transformed, becoming a savior-like existence in the mouths of the people.

...

Over the next two days, the channels through which Su Ji and Su Jiu could obtain intelligence were extremely limited.

They certainly dared not go to the City Lord's Manor again.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the city became increasingly eerie.

There were more and more soldiers patrolling the streets. Although the commoners still wore smiles on their faces, there was an indescribable stiffness behind those smiles, as if they were painted masks.

On the morning of the third day, just as Su Ji was pondering whether to risk probing the City Lord's Manor again...

*Knock, knock, knock.*

The sound of knocking arose once more.

Su Ji opened the door, and what he saw was that same Dancing Girl.

She looked even more haggard than she had two days ago, with dark circles under her eyes and cracked lips.

"Young Master, you... why haven't you left yet?" Her voice carried a trace of anxiety she couldn't suppress.

Su Ji leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, looking at her with leisure.

"Not leaving for the time being."

The Dancing Girl bit her lip.

Finally, as if making up her mind, she suddenly looked up. "Young Master, you are trapped here, aren't you..."

"I... I have a sister who served a special guest last night. She heard him say... many corpses of immortals have appeared in the City Lord's Manor!"

"I heard that mighty figures from some Holy Lands have died..."

As she spoke, she secretly observed Su Ji's expression.

"I might be able to find a way to help you leave here, Young Master..."

The names of the Five Great Holy Lands were thunderous to the ear.

She didn't think Su Ji would be stronger than the immortals from the Holy Lands.

...

The Dancing Girl had been sold here by her father when she was eight years old.

Before leaving, her father gave her a small bag of wisteria seeds.

He said wisteria loves moisture but endures drought, and is most resilient—just like her.

He said the family really had no other choice; they couldn't even afford food.

Even though the palms and the backs of the hands were both flesh, her brother was only four. She was older, so she should be sensible and share the burden for the family.

He also said that once they had some money to spare, he would definitely come to redeem her.

She believed him.

Later, when she grew older, she realized that talking about resilience to an eight-year-old girl was nothing more than bullying her for being young and ignorant.

Among that circle of people back then, she was probably the only one who believed it.

At that time, in her naivety, she planted all those seeds outside her dark little hut.

Year after year, she watched them sprout, climb, and bloom into a wall full of purple flowers.

She had thought she would be like those wisteria vines—blooming silently in this cage, then withering silently.

Until she met that man who could casually gift her a chance at immortality, allowing her heart, which had long since died, to see a glimmer of light again.

She didn't want this beam of light to be extinguished here in Anyang City.

*Having heard the Dao at dusk, one may die content at dawn!*

...

But Su Ji chose not to answer the Dancing Girl.

Because...

The cooldown for [Glimpse of Destiny] was ready.

The familiar grey and white world shrouded his vision once again.

However, this time...

Su Ji remained stunned for several minutes.

Because what appeared before his eyes were not threads.

But a forked Y-shaped intersection.

[The Ignoble Survival of Another's Sacrifice]

[Can I Alone Turn Back the Collapsing Sky?]

Su Ji looked at the first option.

Unsurprisingly, it meant sacrificing the Dancing Girl before him.

His gaze landed on the second path.

Turn back the collapsing sky?

He wasn't that great or noble.

But...

"I choose this one."

It was already known that the first path was basically a way to survive.

Nothing interesting to see there.

Su Ji wanted to know what Anyang City would ultimately have to face.

The moment Su Ji's divine consciousness descended.

The grey and white world before his eyes shattered with a boom like a smashed mirror!

...

Blood.

The pungent smell of blood, mixed with the stench of rot, flooded frantically into his nose.

Su Ji's consciousness broke free from the chaos, and he slowly opened his eyes.

Beneath his feet were countless severed limbs and broken arms, piled up into a mountain.

He was standing at the very peak of a hill made of corpses.

And this hill was slowly melting into black water...

Looking out, there was a vast, boundless land. The sky was shrouded by a layer of heavy, dark red clouds, so oppressive it made it hard to breathe.

"This is..."

Su Ji looked around. There was no Su Jiu, nor was there that Dancing Girl.

There was only him, alone. The long spear in his hand had already been snapped.

*Boom—*

*Rumble—*

The earth beneath his feet began to tremble rhythmically, as if something heavy was approaching.

Su Ji raised his head, looking toward the source of the tremors.

The expression on his face froze for a moment.

At the end of his vision, a black line emerged.

That line was expanding and spreading at a terrifying speed, as if it intended to swallow the entire horizon.

Monsters.

Endless monsters.

They had various forms—some humanoid, some beast-like, and some twisted creations that defied description.

Their only commonality was those scarlet eyes devoid of any emotion, and the tyrannical aura radiating from their bodies that was enough to freeze one's soul.

The crushing army of monsters surged in from all directions like a tide.

In this moment, Su Ji felt like a speck of dust casually discarded on a sand table.

And that tsunami, strong enough to wipe out heaven and earth, was sweeping toward him, this single speck of dust.

Isn't this lineup a bit too big?

He was just a newly broken-through Foundation Establishment cultivator...

No...

His cultivation at this moment was actually at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm?

Su Ji took a deep breath, frowning at the smell mixed with blood and rot.

The green ancient sword named "Windchant" hung quietly at his waist.

Besieged on all sides, enemies in every direction.

No helpers.

Only himself.

The roars of the monsters were getting closer.

Su Ji gazed at the encroaching black tide—a deluge terrifying enough to drive any Golden Core cultivator to absolute despair. Standing atop a mountain of corpses, he slowly drew "Chanting Wind" from the scabbard at his waist.

Beneath the gloomy crimson sky, the azure blade shimmered with a cold, spectral light.

He gave the sword a testing heft in his hand.

Then, he smiled.

It was a smile tinged with resignation, yet laced with a thrill of excitement he could barely suppress.

"Like I always say... since I'm already here."