The sky where Dong Zhuo, the gargantuan mountain of flesh, had once stood was now filled only with a hollow, whistling wind. The end of the tyrant who once shook the Demon Realm was surprisingly quiet. Purple bloodstains scattered everywhere mingled with the mud, emitting a putrid stench, and black smoke of residual demonic energy rose like ghostly vapors from the fissured earth.
"Tch. Since the show is over, let's get moving. I can't stand the very air in this neighborhood."
Sun Wukong picked his ear nonchalantly and kicked aside a piece of debris. Whether it was a chunk of Dong Zhuo's flesh or a bone of some demon he had gluttonously devoured in life was impossible to tell. Sun Wukong stepped over the ruins without a thought. To him, the Demon Realm he had returned to after five hundred years felt less like a nostalgic home and more like a trash heap that needed clearing.
Lucifella followed him, her slender hands clutching her charred wings. Her senses, lingering from her days as an angel, were screaming a warning: the ripple of death left behind by this massive slaughter was drawing in an even greater calamity.
"Wait, Wukong. Look over there. Something is shining."
Lucifella stopped and pointed toward a deep crater carved by Lu Bu's halberd. There, half-buried in the mud, was a stone pulsing with an eerie red light. It was the
As Lucifella reached out and lifted it, a faint purifying light from her palm washed away the turbidity on its surface. Instantly, the gem, which had seemed dead, began to throb like a living organ transplanted into a new host.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The fragment vibrated violently toward the north, emitting a bone-chilling resonance. The sound was like the baying of a starved beast catching the scent of prey.
"This little shard is throwing quite a tantrum. Is there something delicious up north? Whining like a stray dog that lost its master."
"It's Cao Cao's 'Kingdom of Wei.' My senses are telling me... the fragments are gathering there. Several shards have already merged into one, forming a massive consciousness. If we leave it be, the Demon Realm will face a systematic disaster far worse than anything Dong Zhuo could have caused."
Lucifella's eyes grew cold. she stared toward the northern horizon where black smoke rose incessantly. It was a land of death where no life could thrive, a bizarre empire where only the dead moved in orderly precision.
"Our target is Xuchang, the capital of Wei. we must stop them before all the fragments are bound together."
The 'Forest of the Dead,' which barred the border of Wei, was a gargantuan scream in itself.
The trees forming the forest were no ordinary plants. They were magical variants cultivated by Cao Cao's necromancers, using the corpses and bones of executed prisoners as fertilizer. Every trunk bore the twisted visage of a human face, and with every gust of wind, the metallic leaves struck one another, producing a soul-shaking screech of grinding steel.
"We must move stealthily from here. Wei's border barrier is extremely sensitive to the biological pulses of the living. Fortunately, if we shroud ourselves with the aura of this fragment, the barrier will perceive us as part of Wei's internal energy."
Lucifella controlled the crimson energy flowing from the shard, draping it over their bodies. It was a form of magical camouflage. However, the moment Sun Wukong stepped into the forest entrance, he wrinkled his nose in blatant disgust.
"The smell is atrocious. I've never seen anyone in their right mind use the living as spare parts for the dead. I'd rather deal with Dong Zhuo's mindless gluttony. This... this is just bad taste."
The forest fog was sticky and cold. In the white darkness where one could barely see a step ahead, blue lights suddenly flickered. It was the 'Iron-Eyed Scout Unit,' the border guard led by Xiahou Dun.
They were on a different level from ordinary undead. Their rotting flesh was reinforced with steel gauntlets etched with precise mana circuits, and within their helmets were embedded special magical eyes capable of detecting the thermal signatures and spiritual tremors of living beings.
Srrrck. Click.
The movements of the undead soldiers climbing the trees were hauntingly silent. They surrounded the two as if they were part of the forest itself.
"Life reaction confirmed. Coordinates locked. Commencing elimination and harvesting of biological parts."
A bizarre, metallic voice leaked from the mouths of the undead soldiers. To them, living beings were merely 'materials' to repair their own broken parts.
"Wukong, don't move! We have to wait until the barrier's pulse stabilizes!"
Lucifella whispered urgently, grabbing the hem of Sun Wukong's clothes. But in Sun Wukong's golden eyes, a murderous intent had already taken root. Golden sparks began to ignite at his feet, making the surrounding metallic leaves shiver and scream.
"Harvesting? Parts? These corpse dolls dare treat me like a commodity. It seems I've become quite a joke over the last five hundred years."
Sun Wukong pulled a tiny needle from his ear. As he flicked it with his fingertip, the needle instantly transformed into a heavy, golden staff.
"Sorry about this, Lucifella. Hiding like a rat was never my style. And more importantly... that stench of rotting flesh is bothering my nose way too much."
"No! If you use your power here, Cao Cao will immediately—!"
Lucifella's desperate plea was drowned out by Sun Wukong's arrogant laughter. Sun Wukong gripped the Ruyi Jingu Bang with both hands and crouched low. The divine power radiating from his entire body burned away the surrounding fog, emitting a blinding golden brilliance.
"I was never one for clever tricks. A real hunter doesn't sneak through the back; he breaks down the front door!"
"Grow, RUYI!"
With Sun Wukong's roar, the Ruyi Jingu Bang expanded explosively. In an instant, a golden pillar hundreds of meters long covered the sky. Sun Wukong swung that gargantuan mass in a horizontal sweep, obliterating the entire forest.
K-BOOOOOOM—!
It was a single swing. The cursed trees that had grown for centuries by sucking souls were reduced to dust before they could even scream. Xiahou Dun's scout unit vanished without a trace, obliterated before they could even realize what had hit them.
With that one strike, as the thick dust settled, a barren plain stretched out in a straight line toward the horizon. In the place where the forest had vanished, the black plains of Wei and the towering walls of Xuchang in the distance appeared like a mirage.
Sun Wukong rested the staff on his shoulder and grinned at Lucifella, who stood there with her mouth agape in shock.
"See? Finding the way just got a whole lot easier, didn't it?"
* * *
The heart of Wei, the Fortress of Xuchang.
Inside Cao Cao's office, where gears and mana wires were intricately entwined, the man was looking out the window. Dozens of magical holographic screens floated before him, showing real-time updates on logistics and military deployments across Wei.
Rumble—
A massive shockwave from the distant border shook the thick glass of the office window. Cao Cao did not flinch. Only the complex figures floating in his eyes froze for a fleeting second.
"This much noise the moment the central fragment disappears..."
The main hologram before Cao Cao flickered red, flashing an emergency message.
[Warning: Border Barrier Zone 1 Destroyed. Intruder Identification Code: Great Sage, Heaven's Equal]
"A return after five hundred years. Carrying the Shard of Greed in person, no less... he's quite the diligent guest."
There was no panic or fear in Cao Cao's voice. Instead, a cynical smile, filled with intense curiosity and greed, spread across his lips. To him, the Great Sage was not an object of dread, but the 'ultimate component' or a 'mighty battery' to be researched and analyzed to complete his vision of Wei.
Cao Cao tapped the desk lightly with his finger. Instantly, a section of the wall opened, and thousands of heavy-armored undead knights, glowing with blue light, knelt in unison. They were a legion of death, their hearts replaced by red mana cores, reacting only to Cao Cao's will.
"Issue orders to all legions. Greet the prey."
Cao Cao pointed toward Sun Wukong's position on the hologram and whispered low.
"It is a chance to taste the flesh of a 'God.' Do not leave a single bone or a strand of hair behind. Harvest it all. He shall become the new heart of Wei."
As he spoke, the massive gates of Xuchang groaned open, and tens of thousands of undead soldiers began their march, making the earth tremble. Above the ashen sky, a legion of gargoyles with black wings took flight like a cloud.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a humble shelter in the refugee camp on the outskirts of Xuchang.
Guan Yu, who had been sitting in a meditative posture, consuming his own Blood Qi to maintain the barrier, slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was fixed toward the border region where Sun Wukong had swung his staff.
"This energy..."
Guan Yu's crimson eyes trembled. An overwhelming and raw divine power he had never felt before. The sheer, reckless confidence that shattered Cao Cao's gloomy mana head-on made the pride of the warrior, which had been slumbering deep within him, begin to stir once more.
He gripped his Green Dragon Crescent Blade tightly. As if sensing its master's excitement, the blade emitted a low resonance and breathed out crimson Blood Qi. The razor-sharp blade had never lost its luster even in this land of death, waiting only for the moment to return to the battlefield.
"It is coming. The wind that will shake this land of death."
Guan Yu stood up and adjusted his worn cloak. On the path of the lonely god of war, the shadow of a companion who would share his destiny was finally coming into view.