322: Chapter 320 Surrender in Desperate Circumstances, Unknown Future

Yun Ming looked at Lu Ming and was silent for a moment. "The demonic Cultivators are building a Teleportation Array capable of crossing the Small World and entering the endless Chaos. Do you know about this?"

Lu Ming's pupils contracted slightly. His lips moved, neither denying nor admitting it. But his expression had already betrayed him. He knew.

"I know." Lu Ming's voice was very low, as if suppressing something. "Not only do I know, but I also know where it is."

Yun Ming did not speak, waiting for him to continue. Lu Ming raised his head and looked into Yun Ming's eyes. "I can take you there. But I have one condition." His gaze passed over Yun Ming, landed on the two Soul Transformation Sect Masters behind him, and then returned. "When you leave, you must take me with you."

Yun Ming frowned. "You are a Cultivator at the Late Nascent Soul Stage; the demonic Cultivators aren't taking you with them? You have defected to them for so long, and they won't even give you a spot?"

Lu Ming smiled. The smile was bitter and astringent, as if laughing at his own stupidity, and as if laughing at Yun Ming's naivety.

"The endless Chaos is not something everyone can enter." Lu Ming's voice was low, and he spoke quickly. "Although a Nascent Soul Cultivator can briefly tear the Void Realm and perform short-distance spatial travel through positioning, the time they can stay in the Chaos is extremely short. If they are not careful, they will be torn apart by the power of the Void Realm and the Chaos Qi. It's not just injury; it's direct annihilation, leaving not even the Divine Soul behind. Only if a Transformation God Daoist Lord protects you can you travel through the Chaos for a long time."

He paused, his voice dropping lower. "Those high-level demonic Cultivators, those Transformation God Daoist Lords, when they leave, they will naturally take their confidants and Disciples. As for someone like me…" He smiled bitterly. "I am nothing but cannon fodder they used to resist the Yao Race. They won't take me with them. Even if I took the initiative to defect to them, they would just cast me aside like baggage. If I go to find them, I will only be silenced. I know too much."

Yun Ming was silent for a moment. He recalled what Lu Ming had said before— "What has the Righteous Path given me? It gave me a threshold I could never cross." The Demonic Path gave him the same answer. He had defected to the Demonic Path, and the Demonic Path had abandoned him too. He was like a dog abandoned by its master, struggling alone on this land ravaged by the Yao Race.

"There is one more thing." Lu Ming raised his head and looked at Yun Ming. "The Yao Cultivators are still here. Do you think the Yao Race army has all gone to besiege the Shenduan Sect? No. The Yao Cultivators of Ximing Continent have never retreated. They are still searching, hunting, and slaughtering. Three days ago, I saw with my own eyes a stronghold of demonic Cultivators being breached by the Yao Cultivators; out of over a hundred Cultivators, not a single one survived. I had to risk my life to escape." He paused, his voice sounding astringent. "This is also why I am in such a hurry to flee. If I delay any longer, if I don't die at your hands, I will die at the hands of the Yao Race."

Yun Ming's brows knitted even tighter. He turned to look at the Sect Master of the Divine Forging Sect and the Master of Xuanhuang Alchemy Mansion. The two Sect Masters were also looking at him; their gazes met, communicating silently.

The Sect Master of the Divine Forging Sect spoke first. "Kill him and search his soul. It is the safest and most direct way. There will be no surprises."

The Master of Xuanhuang Alchemy Mansion shook his head. "It is not safe. After all, he is at the Late Nascent Soul Stage and has a powerful Divine Soul. If he were to fight to the death and self-destruct, although we could block it, his Divine Soul would definitely be damaged. The information obtained from searching his soul this way might not be complete; once the Divine Soul is damaged, memories will be lost. If vital information is lost, this trip will have been for nothing." He paused. "Keep him and let him lead the way. With the two of us at the Soul Transformation stage here, he cannot run, nor can he stir up any trouble."

The Sect Master of the Divine Forging Sect was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. Keep him for now. We will talk after we find the Teleportation Array." Yun Ming turned around and looked at Lu Ming. "Lead the way. When we reach the Teleportation Array, if we successfully leave, we will take you with us. But there is a condition."

Lu Ming looked at him. "What condition?"

"From now on, do not kill innocent people again. Your cultivation and your power are not meant for slaughtering Mortals."

Lu Ming was silent for a long time. His expression flickered, as if he were struggling with a difficult internal battle. Then he nodded. "Fine. I agree." His voice was hoarse, and it was unclear whether he was sincere or feigning it. But Yun Ming did not care. He only needed Lu Ming not to play any tricks before finding the Teleportation Array.

Yun Ming summoned the map of mountains and rivers, and a cyan light gate appeared before Lu Ming. Lu Ming looked at the light gate, his pupils contracting slightly. He probed it with his Divine Sense, but could perceive nothing. Behind that light gate, it seemed to be a void, yet it also seemed to be a complete world. His expression changed, not out of fear, but out of shock. He had lived for several hundred years and had seen many spatial Magic Treasures, but he had never seen one like this. The atmosphere behind that light gate was as vast as another world.

"Go in," said Yun Ming.

Lu Ming glanced at him, and without hesitation, stepped into the light gate. The map of mountains and rivers closed, and Yun Ming's Divine Sense probed into the map.

Lu Ming stood on the edge of the world within the map, looking up at the golden light of the fusang divine tree, the emerald green of the enlightenment tea tree, and the land and rivers shrouded in twilight. His mouth hung open, unable to close. His eyes shifted from shock to bewilderment, from bewilderment to awe, and from awe to something indescribable. He saw the wooden houses in the distance, the farmland, and the Mortals working in the fields. He saw Cultivators meditating, children running, and curling smoke from cooking fires. He suddenly felt that he had never truly lived his life. He had always thought that Cultivate was to become stronger, becoming stronger was to survive, and surviving was to become even stronger. He had never thought that living could be for anything else.

Yun Ming did not give him much time to reflect. His voice rang out within the scroll, not loud, but very clear. "Which direction should we go?"

Lu Ming came back to his senses, took a deep breath, and suppressed the emotions in his heart. He closed his eyes, recalled for a moment, then reached out and pointed to the northwest. "That way. Cross that scorched earth, cross three mountain ranges, and there is a valley shrouded in Devilish Qi. The Teleportation Array is built deep within the valley." He paused. "But I am not sure if it is still there. The Yao Cultivators have already breached that area; perhaps the Teleportation Array has been destroyed, or perhaps it still exists. I can only take you there; the rest depends on fate."

Yun Ming did not say much more. He retracted the map of mountains and rivers and transformed into a five-colored Escape Light, flying toward the northwest. The Fuli Heaven-Concealing Record operated at full power, concealing his aura completely. His speed was extreme, the five-colored stream of light carving a thin line across the night sky, impossible even for Divine Sense to capture. Behind him, the Sect Master of the Divine Forging Sect and the Master of Xuanhuang Alchemy Mansion also transformed into two streaks of Escape Light, one on the left and one on the right, guarding his sides. The three streaks of Escape Light intertwined, forming a three-colored stream of light that pierced the night sky and sped toward the northwest.

Lu Ming stood within the map of mountains and rivers, looking up at the sky of the scroll, and was silent for a long time. He did not know if Yun Ming would keep his promise, did not know if Yun Ming would kill him after finding the Teleportation Array, and did not know if those two Soul Transformation Sect Masters would abandon him at the last moment. He knew nothing, could determine nothing. But he knew that he did not want to die. He had never wanted to live as much as he did at this moment. He looked at the Mortals working in the fields in the distance, at the children playing in front of the wooden houses, and at the Cultivators meditating by the river, and suddenly felt that if one day, he could also be like them, not having to live in fear, not having to spend every day in slaughter and flight, how wonderful that would be.

He did not know if that day would ever come. But he was willing to take a gamble. A gamble that Yun Ming would keep his promise. A gamble that those two Soul Transformation Sect Masters would not cross the river and destroy the bridge. A gamble that this Teleportation Array could really take him away from this Small World, to a place where no one knew him, no one hunted him, and no one remembered his past. And then, start over.