The refugees were filled with awe.
The four squad leaders instructed all the Chen soldiers: "The higher-ups think we're moving too slowly. You need to organize the able-bodied men among the refugees to make stretchers and carry the elderly forward. Also, the higher-ups have ordered that the number of refugees cannot be reduced any further. If I see you mistreating these refugees, you'll be in big trouble!"
This 120-man unit had essentially become Qing Chen's unit, while the other units of the Chen family remained completely unaware of it.
During breakfast, Chen Jiazhang said solemnly to Qingchen, "Kid, did the old guys give you the marionette?"
Qing Chen nodded with a smile.
Chen Jiazhang immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, that's good. I was worried that you guys were really that abnormal now. By the way, Li Shutong only has you as his apprentice, right?"
Upon hearing this, Qingchen knew that his senior brother was genuinely depressed and drinking heavily, rather than pretending.
The other party is now too embarrassed to even return to Forbidden Land No. 002.
Qingchen suddenly asked, "Uncle-Master, I'm a little curious. Even if you can't break through the Reverse Breathing Technique, you're still an A-level expert. You shouldn't be so dejected as to be like this. You and I are both people who have passed the Inquiry of the Heart, and our minds should be the most resilient in the world. I don't understand why you made this choice. How did Chen Chuanzhi disrupt your life-or-death challenge back then? How did he know where you were challenging yourself?"
Chen Jiazhang was silent for a moment: "Didn't your master tell you?"
"No."
Chen Jiazhang said, "Chen Chuanzhi and I have been close friends since childhood at the Chen Family School, and we are also the closest among our cousins. During that life-or-death situation, I asked him to be my protector, but I didn't expect him to suddenly turn on me. If I hadn't reversed my breathing technique, I would have died there. But he was very well prepared, with 12 paintings on his body. I couldn't do anything to him, so I had to escape temporarily."
Chen Jiazhang: "He also warned me not to go back to the Chen family and not to try to seize power, or he would kill my parents. I had known him for 27 years, but I never knew that people's hearts are hidden from each other."
Chen Jiazhang continued, "Your master, Li Shutong, was in love with Chen Chuanzhi's sister, but they broke up because of me, and Chen Chuanzhi's sister also turned against Chen Chuanzhi."
Qing Chen was stunned. No wonder his master attacked the door immediately after becoming a demigod.
If it weren't for the connection with Chen Chuanzhi's sister, perhaps Master would have killed Chen Chuanzhi back then.
Li Shutong spared Chen Chuanzhi's life, so the Chen family owed Li Shutong a favor, which led to Chen Yu's intervention in the Battle of the Century.
Therefore, Chen Jiazhang, the senior apprentice, did not become depressed because his path as a knight was cut off, but because of the betrayal of his close friend and his guilt towards Li Shutong.
Chen Jiazhang said, "I've figured something out in recent years: there must be a way to break the Reverse Breathing Technique... Once you're shackled by the Reverse Breathing Technique, you can still forcibly break the shackles as long as you continue to complete all eight life-or-death trials of the Knight. Unfortunately, I don't have that chance anymore."
"No chance left?"
Chen Jiazhang explained, "Many years ago, I completed the sixth and seventh life-or-death trials using the reverse breathing technique, but I didn't have the chance to complete the eighth trial involving aquatic creatures, so I couldn't break the shackles of the reverse breathing technique."
The Reverse Breathing Shackles are used to forcibly switch from reverse breathing to normal breathing when engaging in challenges, causing the ice-blue markings on the face to turn into flame markings, restoring the combat power from that of an ordinary person to peak.
However, from then on, an additional shackle was added to the gene lock, and even if one completed a single life-or-death challenge, it would not be possible to break through the strength level.
Qing Chen suddenly asked, "I'm curious, is it possible to ask an A-level water element awakener to control an inland lake and forcibly create a 30-meter wave?"
Chen Jiazhang shook his head: "A thirty-meter wave is as high as a ten-story building. To push such a high wave horizontally for thousands of meters, such a wave could submerge a small town. An A-level water element awakener cannot do it. It would require a demigod. But in the history of the Federation, there have only been two water element demigods, one named Zhou Qi and the other named Zhang Yu. They were figures from hundreds or thousands of years ago."
Qing Chen thought about it carefully, and he realized that he had never heard of any water element awakeners in the Federation.
But... are they available overseas?
If they exist overseas, could we capture them and use them to help Li Shutong and Chen Jiazhang through life-or-death situations?
Of course, he can only try to catch it when he becomes a demigod...
"Uncle-Master, are you planning to keep drinking like this?" Qingchen asked.
Chen Jiazhang said absentmindedly, "Qingchen, in the novels we used to read, gods would be banished to the mortal world if they made mistakes. You can imagine how miserable the human world must be. We're just finding joy in suffering, why go and invite more suffering upon ourselves?"
Qing Chen fell silent.
Just as Qing Chen and Chen Jiazhang were talking, a messenger jogged over and gave orders to the four squad leaders: "Move out and continue advancing. We expect to arrive at the outer perimeter of Forbidden Land No. 8 by 8 p.m. tomorrow night. At that time, there is a possibility of encountering Huotang within the Forbidden Land. Your unit is ordered to lead the refugees to explore the rules. Anyone encountered by Huotang members must be killed without exception."
Qing Chen's heart skipped a beat. This Chen Group Army was indeed heading for the fire pit!
His expression was solemn. If Huotang were to encounter a regular army of this level without knowing anything about it, even if he knew the rules of the forbidden land, he would suffer a great loss.
...
...
To the west of Forbidden Land No. 8, an off-road convoy is traveling from west to east, its destination being Forbidden Land No. 8.
Right next to the off-road convoy, there was also a horse escort. The horses were no ordinary species; they were even taller and more imposing than the towering fire pit people.
If ordinary horses were placed next to them, they would look like miniature ponies.
More than ten young men dressed in fur robes rode on horseback. As the horses swayed, the bone ornaments around their necks rattled and clattered together.
At the very front, the young girl Qin Yiyi rode on the back of a black horse, leading the way and protecting the off-road vehicle convoy.
The girl's loose hair was tied into more than a dozen small braids with red and blue agate hair ornaments. She sat on the horse, lost in thought.
In the SUV beside them, the elder rolled down the window, glanced at the girl, and called out, "Little ancestor, snap out of it, we're almost at Forbidden Land Number 8. We'll rest outside the Forbidden Land for half a day before going in. Then we'll go pick some fruit, fill the car, and head back."
Qin Yiyi glanced at the Grand Elder and said, "After you finish picking the fruit, you can go back. I want to go out and play for a while."
"You're the goddess of our hearth, where are you going to play?" The elder was getting impatient. "It's only the beginning of spring, and we still have four forbidden places to harvest plants. I'm getting old, so you need to quickly familiarize yourself with these tasks. When you become the elder, you'll also have to lead the clansmen to the forbidden places to harvest."
"I don't want to be the Grand Elder..."
"The gods have chosen him, so who else would take the position?" the elder said irritably. "Stop thinking about that kid. If he cared about you, he would have come to the hearth to find you long ago. And what happened? You went north to fight for him, got tricked by Li Shutong, and then by Qing Shi's shadow. In the end, you didn't even get to see him. Isn't that bullying? My dear ancestor, listen to me, we don't do business that's forced. If he doesn't come to the hearth, don't go looking for him either, understand?"
Qin Yiyi pouted: "I can't hear you!"
As she spoke, she squeezed the horse's belly with her legs and spurred it forward, leaping more than a hundred meters away from the Grand Elder's vehicle, not wanting to listen to the Grand Elder's nagging.
At this moment, Shenzi Jiacuo immediately spurred his horse to catch up: "Yiyi, what's so good about the men outside? They're all so delicate. How can they compare to the bold and vigorous men of our Huotang? The men of the Federation are all terrified at the sight of blood. One punch and they'll scream. What's so good about them? By the way, do you eat divine beef? I have some with me."
Qin Yiyi glanced at him sideways: "That's your prejudice. He's not what you think."
Shenzi Jiacuo stubbornly said, "All the men in the Federation are the same, they have no sense of responsibility. If he comes to the fire pit to find you, every warrior in the entire fire pit who has undergone the horn-cutting ceremony will challenge him to a duel. I bet he definitely won't dare to come."
Qin Yiyi glanced at Shenzi Jiacuo: "You guys should be able to beat me first. If you dare to bully him, I'll beat you up for him."
The divine child scratched his head: "If he hides behind you, then we'll look down on him even more."
"Who cares if you look down on me?" Qin Yiyi rolled her eyes. "When are you going to stop looking down on Federation men? The Federation has some very powerful figures too, like his master, Li Shutong. Even the Grand Elder was captured by Li Shutong back then."
Shenzi Jiacuo asked in confusion, "Huh, that's not what the Grand Elder said. The Grand Elder said they were friends, and he was just a guide for his friend back then. The Grand Elder also said that Li Shutong wasn't that powerful; in fact, he could have beaten him with one hand."
Qin Yiyi glanced back at the Grand Elder's vehicle. The Grand Elder slowly rolled up the window, pretending not to have heard anything.
Qin Yiyi roughly understood why the people at Huotang looked down on Qingchen.
After all, the Grand Elder could defeat Qing Chen's master with one hand...
At this moment, the people at the fire pit could see the outline of Forbidden Land No. 8 in the distance. Everyone cheered and started thinking about the delicious snake and rabbit meat in Forbidden Land No. 8.
Shenzi Jiacuo followed Qin Yiyi closely, his hand on the knife, ready to face danger at any moment.
...
...
Countdown 78:00:00.
The Chen forces finally reached the edge of Forbidden Land No. 008.
In terms of sheer size, Forbidden Land No. 008 is comparable to Forbidden Land No. 003. It stretches for over a thousand miles from north to south across an entire mountain range, becoming a natural barrier for the Chen family as they enter the southwestern border region.
Moreover, there are numerous rules; there are at least seven known rules, and the number of unknown rules is still unknown.
Even Huotang, who came here, wasn't omniscient about this forbidden place; he only managed to stay safe thanks to the pollen of the Windflower.
It is said that the reason this place is so dangerous is that in the previous civilization era, there was a city here. At that time, it was invaded by a group of "experimental subjects", which forced the Qing clan to drop a nuclear bomb, ultimately leveling the city to the ground.
These experimental subjects were even somewhat related to the deity Ren Xiaosu.
Ren Xiaosu was originally a knight. Under the guidance of his father, Ren He, he completed eight life-or-death challenges and became an A-level superhuman.
However, he was diagnosed with cancer and was sent by Ren He to the research lab of the Fire Seed Company to find a way to fight the cancer.
When all methods were exhausted, it was still impossible to stop the cancer cells from spreading throughout the body.
Ultimately, the Spark Lab took a risk and chose to let Ren Xiaosu coexist with cancer cells.
Cancer cells are a strange thing; they grow randomly and have no lifespan limit.
Ordinary cells naturally decay after dividing dozens of times, causing humans to age, but cancer cells do not; theoretically, they can even live forever in a petri dish.
At that time, the head of the Spark Research Lab proposed an idea: if the orderly growth of cancer cells could be controlled, then when Ren Xiaosu coexists with cancer cells, it will be the time when Ren Xiaosu achieves immortality.
Later, the spark was successfully ignited. Ren Xiaosu, with his powerful knightly physique, survived the cancerous transformation and directly became a god. However, his body was still very fragile at that time and could not withstand the process of his spirit and will assimilating with the world.
Therefore, Ren Xiaosu's father went to steal the forbidden item ACE-004 Black True Sight Eye for his son, using this forbidden item to suppress the excessive growth of Ren Xiaosu's mental will.
In this way, Ren Xiaosu can wait until his body is stronger before unlocking his mental will.
These combined factors created the sole deity of the Otherworld.
The Knight's Body, the Black True Sight Eye, cancer, and the Fire Seed healing techniques are all indispensable.
Back then, the demigod Yan Liuyuan and Ren Xiaosu were fellow patients in the same laboratory, and he was also the son of the person in charge of the Fire Seed Company.
In order to save his son, the person in charge asked Ren Xiaosu to donate bone marrow to Yan Liuyuan, which created the strongest brothers in the world, Ren Xiaosu and Yan Liuyuan. This is also the reason why Yan Liuyuan's spirit and will have been assimilated by 85% of the world and has not been completely destroyed.
Yan Liuyuan is the person in this world who is closest to a god. However, he is on the verge of physical collapse and can only barely suppress his mental will with the Black True Sight Eye. Only after suppressing it for a period of time can he be reborn.
And in that laboratory, there were countless experimental subjects, the result of failed treatments.
Although they coexist with cancer cells, they become neither human nor ghost, with an extraordinary craving for protein, sweeping through the city like zombies and slaughtering civilians.
In the end, the Qing family dropped a nuclear bomb, destroying the city and hundreds of thousands of experimental subjects, creating the Forbidden Land No. 008 that exists today.
No one in the city knows how many extraordinary individuals are hidden within, so to this day, no one knows exactly how many rules govern Forbidden Land No. 008.
The only thing that can safely enter and leave this place is the hearth.
At this moment, all 120 soldiers on Qingchen's side were equipped with personal tactical recorders, which could record videos at any time.
As the vanguard, they were to follow the refugees and be among the first to enter Forbidden Land 008.
Because rules cannot be discussed in forbidden areas, once someone is found to have violated the rules, the video on their chest will transmit the process of violating the rules in real time to the back for aggregation and analysis, so as to determine what the rules actually are.
The rules cannot be mentioned; the forbidden land does not like anyone discussing them.
Urged on by the messenger, more than 1,300 refugees were driven into Forbidden Land No. 008 by 120 Chen soldiers.
Qing Chen and Chen Jiazhang exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.
Just 20 minutes after they entered the forbidden area, a refugee who was trying to escape suddenly collapsed to the ground and began convulsing.
In the live video, a soldier was trying to verify whether he was dead when the squad leader of the second squad suddenly said, "I'll verify it myself."
As he spoke, he knelt down and placed his fingers on the deceased's carotid artery: "Death confirmed."