Leap into the Seal

In the world of demons, the strong devour the weak.

Even in failure, Chen Guan could accept the price.

He still had Baobao.

Yin Tianzheng's fingers were embedded in the fractured metal plates. "Everything you've said is based on the premise that you can survive. What makes you think you'll last a single second inside that thing?"

Chen Guan didn't answer him. Instead, he turned and asked back, "Do you want it to blow up half of Shanghai here, or gamble that I can take it away? Or perhaps you'd rather wait for some powerful rescue that might never arrive."

"Old Master, pick one."

Yin Tianzheng closed his eyes and then opened them.

"Do I even have a choice?"

He began adjusting his hand gestures, pressing his palms back into the shattered metal plates as spiritual power surged beneath the surface.

"I can tear the seal open one more time, but after this breach, I won't have the strength left to close it."

His gaze swept over everyone and settled on Chen Guan. In the old man's murky eyes, an indescribable emotion churned.

"What happens once you're in there, whether you live or die, that's your own affair now."

"Enough."

Chen Guan released Baobao. Fortunately, the inter-dimensional opening wasn't affected. After securing his main body, he said, "Guan Jinyue, can I ask you for one thing?"

"Go ahead."

Guan Jinyue had already guessed what he was about to say.

"If something goes wrong, move my leopard away from here."

"Leave it to me."

She agreed. Chen Guan had risked his life to bring back her sister. It was only right.

Still, Guan Jinyue watched that leopard. He could give his life for people he didn't even know, so why couldn't fate ever show kindness to good people? Her sister was the same... and so was he...

Yin Chen walked over and stood directly in front of Chen Guan, his expression complicated.

"Do you ever plan to consult us before pulling stunts like this?"

Chen Guan looked down at him with an amused smile. "Even if I did, you couldn't stop me."

Yin Chen gritted his teeth and shoved an ice-blue pearl into Chen Guan's hand.

"A Water-Repelling Pearl. There's ocean down there. Don't drown yourself."

Chen Guan clenched the pearl, pocketed it, and patted Yin Chen on the shoulder.

Long Ao approached, offering no sentimental words. "Come back alive."

Hong Yuan raised her battle axe and swung it with a flourish.

"If you die down there, I'll use this to carve your tombstone."

Her methods were as peculiar as always.

Su Yuehe silently cast a stack of buffs over him.

An Changqing sheathed his sword, slapped Chen Guan on the back, and said nothing.

Some words didn't need to be spoken.

The farewells were over. Yin Tianzheng plunged his palms back into the broken metal plates. The old man's body trembled violently as blood poured from both his nostrils and the corners of his mouth.

The moment his spiritual power sank into the earth's veins, every golden rune beneath their feet flared so brightly it stung the eyes.

"Seal breach in three seconds."

Chen Guan walked to the widest point of the crack, gazing down at the darkness below.

The darkness gazed back at him.

Hungry. Desperate. The anticipation of a creature that had slumbered for eons, finally catching the scent of prey—a longing that seeped from the marrow of its bones.

Baal's voice rang out one last time.

"I never agreed to collect your corpse."

Chen Guan smirked in his mind.

"Won't need you to."

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One..."

The golden runes shattered completely. Darkness surged upward from the depths of the tower.

Chen Guan took the final step, plunging headlong into the boundless chaos.

"He actually jumped."

Long Ao rushed to the edge of the fractured opening and peered down.

Thick black mist boiled upward like a rising tide, spilling madly through the cracks.

An Changqing stepped in from the side, grabbing Long Ao's shoulder and yanking him back.

"Don't get too close."

"Chen Guan took the most dangerous part with him. All we can do now is hold this platform and make sure the problem doesn't spread across the entire city."

He turned his sword blade sideways, blocking the wisps of black energy escaping from the gap.

"We have to trust that he has his own plan."

Guan Jinyue cradled the vessel holding her sister's soul, standing in the wind.

She looked down at the leopard lying quietly on the ground—the one Chen Guan had specifically entrusted to her care before he left.

"He won't die."

Her cold gaze slowly swept across everyone on the platform.

"A man like him, who calculates everything, doesn't fight battles he can't win."

"And there's someone he cares about, waiting for him."

...

At that moment, Chen Guan was accelerating downward through endless darkness.

The freezing wind roared past his ears, stripping away what little warmth remained on his skin. The chaotic black mist, which had been clawing its way up through the tower's cracks, shifted direction.

During the fall, Chen Guan released all suppression of his divine power aura.

The same-source energy of a demon god surfaced on his body, glowing with a dark golden sheen.

In that pure black abyss, the light was glaringly conspicuous.

He adjusted his falling posture, steering himself along the current of the black mist.

The surging fog around him paused the moment it touched this aura—as if its automatic target-seeking had suddenly developed a conflict in its perception.

But the hesitation was brief. In an instant, the black mist from all directions went utterly berserk.

It abandoned the cracks in the Oriental Pearl Tower, condensing midair into countless solid black tentacles that swarmed and lunged at Chen Guan from every side.

Chen Guan didn't dodge. He met them head-on.

The moment the black mist slammed into his body, all his physical senses were completely overturned.

The steel structure of the tower and the whistling wind vanished simultaneously.

He fell into a spiritual world made of blood.

Countless fragmented, brutal images raced through his nerves, forcing their way into his mind.

He saw a blue planet shatter to pieces in an instant. He saw countless living beings writhing and screaming amidst seas of fire. Ash stained with blood drifted from the sky, and beneath his feet piled mountains of bone.

Screams and wails of every kind struck directly at the core of his consciousness.

A pain like his soul was being torn apart surged through his nerve endings, spreading fast.

Baal's voice cut through his mind with unprecedented seriousness.

"Steady your will! Don't let these fragmented memories swallow you. These are the instinctual memories of the demon's remnant body!"

"It's trying to assimilate you with this tidal wave of negative emotions. If you can't hold on to your true self, you'll become nothing more than a mindless shell of hunger and devouring."

Baal's warning was quickly proven true.

Chen Guan could feel his once-sharp thoughts growing sluggish, bit by bit.

Those horrific images carried a powerful pull, trying to strip away his human consciousness.

"Right now, you must seal your heart. Cut off all external perception."

Baal's voice continued.

"Don't look at the images. Don't listen to the sounds. Imagine yourself as a stone without any emotion."