158: Chapter 158: The Simulation Ends, A Life of Tumultuous Journey
[The Old Grandfather did not speak, striking out at Pride with a palm.]
[That palm strike contained his lifelong cultivation; the Void Realm shattered, and the Demon Tomb shook.]
[Pride met the palm strike head-on and retreated three steps.]
["Old Grandfather!"]
[He stared at the screen, his eyes turning red.]
[Pride retreated three steps? Just how strong was this old man?]
[Pride was enraged.]
[Flames ignited in his golden eyes. He reached out and grabbed the Old Grandfather's phantom in his hand, like crushing an insect.]
["If it were your true body, I would show you some respect. But you are a mere remnant soul; how dare you act so insolently before me?"]
[Pride tightened his fingers.]
[The Old Grandfather's phantom shattered, turning into countless specks of light that drifted like fireflies in the darkness of the Demon Tomb.]
[Chu Sheng heard the Old Grandfather's final voice, very faint, like a sigh in the wind: "Run..."]
[Chu Sheng did not run.]
[He knelt on the ground, his eyes bloodshot.]
[He didn't cry, but his expression was more wretched than weeping.]
[The sky full of light specks fell upon him, upon Yu Rumeng, and upon Chu Zhan and Chu Dou, like a silent rain.]
[The Old Grandfather was gone.]
[The old man who had accompanied him since Qingshi Town, the old man who babbled in the ring every day, the old man who taught him the Taixu True Scripture, scolded him for being a coward, and mocked him for being bullied by his wife—was gone.]
Chu Sheng slumped back into his chair, his whole body turning cold.
He opened his mouth to say something, but his throat felt as if it were blocked by something.
The Old Grandfather had dissipated.
[Pride walked up to Chu Sheng and looked down at him. There was no pity in his golden eyes, only a pure hunger.]
["Heavenly Demon Body, Path of Desire, Taixu True Scripture..."]
[He listed them one by one, like reading a menu. "Your flavor should be quite good."]
[Chu Sheng looked up, blood still hanging from the corner of his mouth, and suddenly laughed.]
[He laughed until tears came out: "You want to eat me?"]
[Pride said yes.]
[Chu Sheng said, "Then come."]
[He spread his arms and closed his eyes.]
[Pride was stunned for a moment, then laughed. There was actually a hint of appreciation in that smile: "Interesting."]
[He opened his mouth and bit off Chu Sheng's head in one go.]
[Blood spurted out, and Chu Sheng's body collapsed. The cut on his neck was as neat as if a knife had sliced through tofu.]
[Yu Rumeng screamed, her voice tearing through the silence of the Demon Tomb.]
[Chu Zhan roared, struggling with all his might; even the Demon Generals couldn't hold him down.]
[Chu Dou slumped on the ground, trembling all over, tears flowing silently.]
[But before Chu Sheng died, he detonated the Demon Seed inside his body.]
[The Demon Seed that Pride had planted in him had been refined by him using the Way of Void and Reality from the Taixu True Scripture for three months; it had long since been out of Pride's control.]
[It wasn't a seed; it was a bomb.]
[A bomb fed by all of Chu Sheng's cultivation, irrigated by the Devilish Qi of the Heavenly Demon Body, and entwined by the Path of Desire.]
[The Demon Seed exploded inside Pride.]
[Pride's body froze, and a flicker of pain flashed in his golden eyes.]
[For the first time, this monster showed an expression of pain.]
[But the pain only lasted for an instant.]
[Pride laughed loudly, his laughter shaking the Demon Tomb so much that it began to collapse, with rubble falling from the ceiling.]
["Good! What a Heavenly Demon Body! What a Path of Desire!"]
[He spread his arms and devoured Chu Sheng's flesh, Divine Soul, and cultivation, swallowing the exploded Demon Seed and everything that was Chu Sheng.]
[Pride's aura surged. All the Ancient Demon Kings sleeping in the Demon Tomb woke up, opening their eyes one after another and kneeling in submission.]
[Hundreds of Ancient Demon Kings knelt in unison, like a wheat field swaying in the wind.]
[Divine Ability Realm.]
[A legend among legends.]
Chu Sheng stared at the screen, trembling all over.
"Divine Ability Realm..."
He murmured to himself, "Pride has achieved a Breakthrough to the Divine Ability Realm. I used my life to feed him into it."
He suddenly felt it was very ironic.
He wanted to use the Demon Seed to blow Pride up, but it ended up becoming the nourishment for Pride's Breakthrough.
Was there any way to die more miserably than this in the world?
[Aftermath.]
[Pride emerged from seclusion and swept through the Tianfeng Kingdom single-handedly.]
[Grandmaster Jiang was dead, Ye Gucheng retreated with heavy injuries, and the Tianfeng Kingdom was destroyed.]
[All the kingdoms in the Northern Region were swallowed by the Demon Race within three months, like a bunch of grapes being devoured in one bite.]
[The Righteous Path Sects retreated to the Central Region, and the Duanhun River defense line collapsed.]
[The Demon Race officially unified the Northern Region, and Pride ascended the throne as the Demon Venerable.]
[Ten thousand demons came to pay homage, and a hundred kings submitted.]
[Yu Rumeng fled with Chu Zhan and Chu Dou.]
[She didn't know where to go, but she knew that Chu Sheng wanted her to live.]
[In her arms, she held the last thing Chu Sheng had left her, a Jade Slip he had stuffed into her hands before he was taken away.]
[There were only four words on it: "Live well."]
[Every time Yu Rumeng saw those four words, she couldn't help but cry.]
[Chu Zhan didn't speak; he just practiced with his axe, becoming more ruthless day by day.]
[Chu Dou didn't speak either; he just performed Alchemy, one batch after another.]
[They both knew their father was dead.]
[But they also knew their father wanted them to live.]
[After unifying the Northern Region, Pride began his conquest of the other four regions.]
[A million-strong Demon Race army marched south, and the fires of war were reignited.]
[The Eastern Region, Western Region, and Southern Region were drawn into the war one after another.]
[Pride sat on the throne of the Demon Tomb, his golden eyes staring into the distance, saying: "I want this world to have no more Righteous Path."]
[But all of this no longer had anything to do with Chu Sheng.]
[The screen froze at the moment Pride ascended the throne.]
[The fifth simulation has ended. Calculating score and rewards...]
Chu Sheng sat staring at the simulator in front of him.
He remained silent for a long time.
"It truly was a magnificent life."
He spoke, his voice so raspy it didn't sound like his own.
He thought he would cry, but he didn't.
He thought he would laugh, but he didn't either.
He looked down at the simulation and suddenly wondered: if he hadn't chosen that damn simulator back then, would he have avoided all this?
But in the next second, he laughed—a very ugly laugh.
If he hadn't chosen the simulator, he would have been killed long ago, or remained a servant for his entire life. None of these things would have happened.
He stood up, walked to the window, and pushed it open.
The night wind blew in, feeling chilly.
In the distant sky, one star was particularly bright.
He pushed open the door and walked out.
The moonlight shone on his face, very pale.
[Settlement complete. Please check your score and rewards!]