Chapter 448: Crimson Space

Chapter 448: Crimson Space

Within an indescribable realm, Lu Wu opened his eyes.

An unbearable pain engulfed his entire being, accompanied by a sense of helplessness he had never experienced before. His condition was terrible.

However, at this moment, Lu Wu's focus wasn't on his state or the mysterious space he found himself in.

"Am I still alive?"

Even Lu Wu found this hard to believe.

Amidst the attack, no one understood his predicament better than he did.

His energy was almost entirely depleted, and survival in such an environment seemed impossible.

"Who saved me? Or..."

Lu Wu couldn't even answer this himself.

There was something else that caught his attention, something that didn't seem to be the main focus.

"Wait, where am I now?"

"Is this place hell or..."

Lu Wu's gaze swept aimlessly around.

Only then did he realize how peculiar his surroundings were.

It was a pure crimson space without a discernible ground, disorienting anyone within.

Countless corpses floated in the space, bound in ancient soldiers' attire, suspended in bizarre poses.

Lu Wu was utterly perplexed.

As he pondered, a somewhat familiar aura caught his attention within the space.

"What's this?"

Lu Wu was confused for a moment, but then his eyes widened with clarity: "Old Bone!"

Was this Old Bone's aura? Did Old Bone save me?

Lu Wu began to move, struggling to navigate his body through the crimson space.

It wasn't an easy task, especially in his current state.

His poor condition, combined with the space's uniqueness, made even the slightest movement a strenuous effort.

After much effort, he managed to move less than half a meter.

At this rate, it would take forever for Lu Wu to reach the source of Old Bone's aura.

Frustrated, Lu Wu had no choice but to give up.

Of course, he wasn't giving up on finding Old Bone; he was giving up on going to him.

He couldn't go to Old Bone, but he could make Old Bone come to him.

"Old Bone!"

Lu Wu, lying in the crimson space, gathered his energy and let out a shout, not particularly loud.

In the outside space, this call for Old Bone likely wouldn't carry more than ten meters.

But within the crimson space, Lu Wu's voice traveled an incredible distance.

If the voice had a perspective, it would have seen itself leaving Lu Wu's throat, passing through his mouth, and exiting his body.

Then, with unimaginable speed, it pierced through corpse after corpse, covering an unknown distance, until it reached the central region of the crimson space.

Here, a different corpse lay.

Its uniqueness lay not only in the fact that it wasn't bound or showing signs of injury but also in its attire.

The clothes it wore were distinct from those of the countless floating corpses around it.

Clearly, this corpse belonged to a different faction.

The voice, however, didn't distinguish between them. It directly entered the ear of this corpse and passed through.

Instantly, the corpse, which had been in deep thought for an unknown duration, opened its eyes.

In that moment, as its eyes opened, the aura Lu Wu sensed, which seemed to belong to Old Bone, completely dissipated, replaced by a wholly different aura—one of pure death and slaughter.

As this aura appeared, the entire crimson space trembled. The countless corpses floating within began to shake and wail.

This all happened in the instant Lu Wu called out.

"What's going on?"

Lu Wu was utterly bewildered.

Before he could react, a stranger appeared before him.

"Who are you...?"

Lu Wu stared at the man, clad in black armor, holding a long sword, and looking ordinary. A sense of familiarity and strangeness spread as he stared into the man's eyes.

Lu Wu arrived at an answer he found hard to believe.

"Old... Old Bone? Are you Old Bone?"

The man looked at Lu Wu, saying nothing, just staring intently.

His gaze, initially dazed, gradually sharpened, as if remembering something.

Lu Wu could sense a familiar aura within himself, gradually becoming more apparent. It confirmed his disbelief; the truth was right before his eyes.

The figure before him had undergone a transformation, but Lu Wu recognized him—it was Old Bone. He knew Old Bone's gaze, even though Old Bone didn't have eyes when they were together.

Lu Wu was certain; this was indeed Old Bone.

Old Bone wasn't dead; he was alive and had saved him. This was the best news Lu Wu could have hoped for at this stage, and he couldn't contain his excitement.

As Lu Wu's emotions peaked, Old Bone, who was being embraced by Lu Wu, finally broke his silence. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but the words that came out were strange, as if he had forgotten how to talk after such a long time.

After a few awkward moments, Old Bone managed to utter two words.

"Lu... Wu..."

With those two words, Lu Wu's composure shattered, and tears streamed down his face as he hugged Old Bone tightly.

"This is amazing! It's truly wonderful that you're alive!"

No one could understand Lu Wu's emotions at that moment, not even Old Bone, who was being hugged.

When Lu Wu embraced him, Old Bone felt a strange sensation. He couldn't quite describe it; he felt lost and dazed, and it was as if he were melting.

No, he was melting.

Amidst Old Bone's confusion, he directly melted into a crimson substance that merged with Lu Wu's body.

This sudden turn of events left Lu Wu stunned.

"Old Bone!"

Lu Wu cried out in surprise, his eyes widening as the crimson space before him began to shatter. A surge of power rushed into his body.

Lu Wu's forehead felt as if it had been struck, and he fainted instantly.

Lu Wu passed out, but the energy didn't.

The energy from the crimson space started flowing into Lu Wu's body.

This energy, like a clear spring, replenished Lu Wu's energy space, which had been emptied after he unleashed that sword strike.

The energy space, once cracked and dry, began to heal and restore itself bit by bit.

Illiya's father, witnessing this, heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness, thank goodness this kid didn't die!"

A smile of relief appeared on his face, but he quickly composed himself.

If given the chance to go back, he swore he would never be so foolish again.

His one act of foolishness had caused a massive disaster.

A secret realm was destroyed, the environment within a hundred li was devastated, and millions of lives were lost.

It felt as if he had committed the killings himself, causing him immense distress.

In the human realm, Illiya's father felt an indescribable sense of fear. He didn't dare, nor did he want to, stay in the human realm any longer.

After checking on Lu Wu and confirming he was safe, he turned and left the human realm.

...

Meanwhile, Lu Wu encountered Old Bone in the mysterious crimson space.

As he absorbed Old Bone and the crimson space's energy, he began to recover.

On the other side, at Elder Mountain, Lu Wu's expedition team returned victorious.

Zhao Xuen held the Changping Mystic Realm's core in one hand and carried Zhang Chen in the other as they returned to Elder Mountain.

By the time they arrived, Elder Mountain was bustling with preparations.

Elder Mountain, which had previously shown signs of decline, was now more festive than during the New Year celebrations.

Of course, for the people of Elder Mountain, this day was even more joyous than the New Year.

After all, Lu Wu was dead!

For the people of Elder Mountain, nothing could be more worthy of celebration than Lu Wu's death.

Lu Wu's actions the previous day had completely trampled on the authority of Elder Mountain.

Two elders were killed, and the remaining elders had to respectfully escort Lu Wu out, only to be forced into sealing the mountain.

After this incident, Elder Mountain, already weakened by Dudu's attack, completely lost its standing. The once-revered mountain was on the verge of collapse and disintegration.

The Duke of Jiangnan's previous treatment of Lu Wu clearly showed how much Elder Mountain's status had plummeted in the eyes of the Zero Organization.

The people of Elder Mountain relied on the mountain for their livelihood.

When Elder Mountain was at its peak, even the lowest-ranking staff members, like the janitors, were treated as elites once they left the mountain.

Elder Mountain was in dire straits, and their interests naturally suffered a severe blow.

This made the people of Elder Mountain hate Li Wu intensely.

Now that Li Wu had only been arrogant for a day before dying, the interests of everyone on Elder Mountain were preserved, so how could they not be happy? Each of them was more excited than during the New Year.

"Old Zhao, well done!"

Zhang Mingrui, who was in charge of standing guard, was the first to come forward and give a big hug to this colleague who hadn't gotten along with him for decades.

Zhao Xuen, who usually didn't dare to be slow with Zhang Mingrui, also accepted his hug this time.

What's the harm in a hug now that Li Wu is dead?

The two old men hugged each other, each felt disgusted for a moment, then separated and issued orders.

"Notify the Union that the closure of Elder Mountain is lifted,

Make today the Exorcism Festival.

Let's celebrate and commemorate the end of Li Wu, this demon!"

"Also, send someone to take down the Governor of Jiangnan Province and all those who have had their seals removed by Li Wu!"

...

Obviously, Li Wu's death was such a big event that Elder Mountain was not prepared to let it pass by so calmly.

How could they let it pass by so calmly? They had been humiliated so badly by Li Wu.

After being treated so badly, now that they had finally managed to kill Li Wu, how could they not shake with excitement?

This was no small feat.

This was to restore Elder Mountain's image and re-establish its authority.

Thus, this 'festive' atmosphere spread from Elder Mountain, quickly reaching the entire Union.

With the current level of information development, it didn't take more than a few hours for the entire Union to know about Li Wu's death.

Of course, along with the news of Li Wu's death, there was also a lot of information about Li Wu.

Countless media outlets deeply exposed Li Wu's life.

Soon, everyone in the Union knew that Li Wu was a baby who had snatched milk bottles from others right after birth.

At the age of one, he flirted with young girls, and by the age of three, he had already killed. Recently, he had caused the deaths of millions of people within a hundred li of Elder Mountain and the Changping Mystic Realm.

It was clear that these media outlets were Elder Mountain's doing.

Almost everything that could be blamed on Li Wu was pinned on him by Elder Mountain.

For things that couldn't be blamed on him, they created conditions to shift the blame onto Li Wu.

Very quickly, they created an image of Li Wu as someone despised by all.

This not only further discredited Li Wu but also magnified the achievements of Elder Mountain.

It added a touch of legend, even a tragic color, to Elder Mountain's action of eliminating Li Wu.

Indeed, out of the twelve Elders, only four remained in the end just to take down Li Wu. Just hearing this made it sound tragic.

Li Wu was thus nailed to the pillar of shame in the Union, nailed to the Elder Mountain's medal of merit.

He was portrayed as a demon in the hearts of the ordinary people of the Union.

And on this day, it truly became the Union's Exorcism Day, and the entire Union was celebrating for this day.

Some who were particularly happy and capable not only rejoiced themselves but also shared the joy with the people.

For example, Kutan.

Upon learning of Li Wu's death, he immediately made a grand gesture.

He spent all the money in his hands.

In the capital, he booked dozens of hotels for a grand banquet to celebrate Li Wu's demise and to celebrate the victory for the bigwigs of Elder Mountain.

Look at his move, remembering to make himself happy and flatter the Elder Mountain at the same time. How brilliant!

Inspired by Kutan, many people responded enthusiastically.

In no time, all the high-end hotels in the Union began offering free banquets.

Ordinary people benefited, and Li Wu's identity as a demon was further solidified.

Many crazy people even went to demolish Li Wu's childhood home in Quancheng, not just one house, but the entire neighborhood.

Several schools Li Wu had attended, including Jiangnan University, were all forcibly relocated by the Union, and those who had worked for Li Wu or been his subordinates were subjected to various forms of persecution.

The entire Union, the entire world, was rejecting Li Wu.

They thoroughly treated Li Wu as a demon.

As the opposite of Li Wu, Elder Mountain re-established its authority, and the light on them shone once more.

Under the cover of this halo of holy light, they could once again engage in dirty and despicable deeds.

Sometimes, the line between demons and angels is so clear and bright!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end