144: shadow

An exceptionally uncomfortable sense of dizziness caused Su Ze to wake from his coma. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was being held by Xiao Xu as they traveled through a peculiar space.

The memories from before he lost consciousness flooded back into Su Ze's mind, and he began to struggle desperately in Xiao Xu's grip.

He cursed angrily, "Let me go! I'm going to kill you, you bastard!"

Xiao Xu still had a smile on his face as he said, "We are currently crossing the connection between two anchor points. We are surrounded by spatial turbulence; if I let you go, you'll be torn to shreds."

Only then did Su Ze notice the bizarre scenes around them. Terrifyingly powerful black cracks drifted past. If not for a faint golden light screen enveloping them, they would likely have been sliced into pieces.

The source of the light screen was the divine artifacts in the hands of the two Dark Guard Captain Generals.

Although William's strength was greater, he could only proficiently master the usage methods of the yata no kagami.

To truly unleash its power, it required the three General Commanders who nourished the three divine artifacts with their lives.

When they had arrived, the light screen formed by the complete set of three divine artifacts was enough to shatter those black spatial cracks and protect everyone.

But now, they lacked the murderous aura of the most important kusanagi-no-tsurugi, and the power of the yata no kagami had not yet recovered.

Even with William using his own power to fill the gap, it only achieved half the result with twice the effort because he could not integrate his power into that of the artifact.

"We won't make it back like this. We must conserve energy by shrinking the volume of the light screen."

But looking around, almost everyone was already shoulder to shoulder, crowded tightly together.

If they continued to shrink it, it meant some people would have to be abandoned.

"For His Majesty the Emperor, for the Yamata no Orochi Great God, I trust you are willing to sacrifice yourselves!"

Before waiting for a response from the others, the two exchanged a glance and drastically reduced the size of the protective light screen.

Instantly, many Fusang Dark Guards were exposed outside the light screen and were immediately shredded to the atomic level by the spatial turbulence.

Even if they activated their beast taming armor, they only survived for a fraction of a second longer.

Su Ze watched with his own eyes as someone beside him was excluded, desperately pounding on the light screen.

But starting from his palms, he began to turn into dust, and then his entire body dissipated on the spot.

Not even blood could be seen, as the blood had also been reduced to the atomic level.

"Willing? I see that their faces are written all over with unwillingness," Su Ze mocked wantonly upon seeing this.

This also drew the attention of the others. The Dark Guard Captain General holding the yata no kagami said, "Lord Xiao, all we need is the blood of the Divine Beast. I don't think it's necessary to keep its master, is it?"

"The warriors of His Majesty the Emperor have already laid down their lives for the greater cause. Keeping an outsider at this time might not sit well with the others."

Xiao Xu remained unmoved and said, "If you put it that way, wouldn't I also be considered an outsider? Should I take the initiative to jump into the outer spatial turbulence?"

The Dark Guard Captain General holding the yata no kagami said, "Lord Xiao, you are mistaken. You are different from him. You killed the nightmare that loomed over the hearts of us Fusang people, achieving a great merit. Even His Majesty the Emperor will reward you."

Xiao Xu continued, "This child has a deep relationship with his beast. If the master dies and the Golden Feather Phoenix Bird follows him into the outer spatial turbulence, then everything we've done will have been in vain."

"And besides, he is a Beast Tamer of a Divine Beast after all. Wouldn't it be a waste to just kill him? I assume your country shouldn't lack the means to control a child, right?"

The two thought for a moment and then peeked at William not far away.

This time, to achieve their mission goal, they had not only lost a top-tier combatant but even one of the divine artifacts had been left behind by an outsider to cover their retreat and was destroyed.

After this, Great Xia would surely retaliate madly.

It was precisely when they were short on manpower and combat power that they recruited Xiao Xu, who had also demonstrated extraordinary strength.

They had indeed not expected that Xiao Xu, whom they had recruited because of his status as the principal of Azure Dragon Beast Taming University, would actually possess such powerful combat strength that even Lin Xi died at his hands.

Moreover, now that he had killed Lin Xi, Xiao Sheng could not possibly let him off. His only path forward was to completely defect to Fusang.

As for Su Ze, he was indeed a bit young now and lacked strength.

However, he possessed a Golden Feather Phoenix Bird that was about to evolve into a Divine Beast, which was also a very rare combat asset.

"Lord Xiao has a point. Let's keep him for now."

After this, the protective light screen underwent two more reductions, leaving the few remaining Fusang Dark Guards in a state of constant fear, worried that they would be the next ones kicked out of the screen.

Finally, at that moment, they saw what seemed to be the end up ahead, and the heavy stone in their hearts was finally lifted.

It wasn't some bright finish line at the end of the darkness; it was itself a massive black shadow.

Everyone rushed toward the black shadow as if plunging into a ripple of water, then suddenly broke free. When they regained their senses, they were already standing on a massive shadow.

From the silhouette, it seemed to be the shadow left by a giant beast, but looking around, no such massive monster beast could be seen.

Su Ze understood; it was because the owner of this shadow was not in this world.

Its body was in the Monster Beast World, while its shadow was projected into the Blue Star world as an anchor point.

It was precisely because of this that the Fusang Dark Guards were able to have so many dark-attribute monster beasts.

They had entered the Shadow Realm of the Monster Beast World through the shadow to capture them!

"Phew... The land of our homeland, we're finally back," the Dark Guard Captain General holding the yata no kagami said with a long sigh of relief.

This mission had been full of narrow escapes for them as well; even though it was successfully completed, they had lost a lot of combat power.

But at this moment, looking at William walking toward him with a smile, his expression suddenly became extremely unsightly.

"I assume you haven't forgotten the reward your country promised for my assistance," William said, reaching out his hand.

Seeing the other's hesitant look, William immediately became impatient.

"What? Planning to go back on your word? Don't forget our cooperation still has a second half. You've caused such a huge commotion in Great Xia; you don't really think they'll just sit back and wait for you to complete your plan, do you?!"

In the end, this General Commander still handed over that Fusang divine artifact, the yata no kagami, with trembling hands.

William grabbed it and examined it happily.

The other General Commander holding the yata no kagami stepped forward and said in a fawning manner, "Lord William is right. So, about our cooperation..."

William replied, "Don't worry, since I've taken the payment, I will naturally get things done."

"I'll set out immediately. Not only have my garrison forces in Fusang been fully mobilized..."

"My country has also dispatched the Thunder Guard and an Old fellow to assist you. The Great Xia Spirit Guards will definitely not be able to disturb you. As for what happens next, that's up to you."

He then put on the yata no kagami and left with a face full of smiles.

Looking at his dejected colleague beside him, the other General Commander said crossly, "Buckle up. The three divine artifacts are a set; only when the three are combined do they have the power of an average divine artifact. Now that one has been destroyed, there's no longer any difference between having one or two left."

"Completing the final preparations is what's most important now!"

The General Commander who had lost the divine artifact replied irritably, "You make it sound easy. If you're so capable, why don't you hand over your yata no kagami!"

"Unfortunately, Lord William didn't take an interest in it."

After dealing with this, they looked at Xiao Xu and Su Ze, who were observing their surroundings not far away. It was time to deal with the two of them.