"Why didn't you let us in earlier? To watch your own countrymen die?"
Wang Teng questioned the leading general, filled with displeasure. If they had been allowed in when they arrived, none of this would have happened.
The three marks on Xiao Long's body were equivalent to the full power strike of an Immortal Realm expert, and now they had been used to deal with a mere sixth-realm Shitainzu. This was a massive loss!
Furthermore, the "Chaos Bell" on Xiao Long had been exposed, directly increasing the difficulty of their mission tenfold. How could he not be angry?
The person he questioned was Su Tianye, a cultivator at the Great Vehicle stage.
Seeing Wang Teng's agitated state, Su Tianye sneered, "If it weren't for the fact that you have some value, do you think you would be allowed in?"
"What do you mean? Abandoning people to die? Damn it, are you even human?"
Su Tianye couldn't be bothered to explain to Wang Teng. He continued coldly, "It's better to first explain where you came from. Outsiders, and you call yourselves countrymen?"
Wang Teng was stunned, but his tone also turned icy. "My elders told me that all races called human are countrymen!"
This statement choked Su Tianye, but he merely let out a disdainful laugh before departing.
The world was about to perish, what was the use of being countrymen?
However, Wang Teng and Xiao Long were soon taken away by other generals within the city.
"Don't misunderstand the Grand Commander. If someone from our side were in danger, we would definitely go to their rescue," said the general named Hong Yan to them.
"It's a simple matter, why wouldn't you save them?"
Hong Yan revealed a bitter smile. "What simple matter? Do you know the immense price of opening the barrier once?"
"What do you mean?"
Hong Yan gazed at the "Pillar of Heaven" standing in the center of the "Hope Realm" and explained, "The Pillar of Heaven is an Emperor Artifact, and its owner, Emperor Hantian, has already fallen. According to our estimations, without the Emperor's will driving it, it can only operate for another fifty years based on the will left behind by Emperor Hantian.
"And now it has been running for thirty years. We cannot control the Pillar of Heaven. To open this barrier, it requires the life force of a Xianwang, one-tenth of it. The 'Hope Realm' currently has only one Xianwang-level expert, and that is Lord Daokong."
Wang Teng and Xiao Long's expressions changed immediately. They hadn't expected that letting them in would consume one-tenth of a Xianwang's life force.
They suddenly felt a sense of shame. No wonder the Grand Commander's expression had been so displeased earlier.
In Su Tianye's view, the value of these two individuals was definitely not worth one-tenth of Lord Daokong's life force.
If not for the "Chaos Bell" sounding at the end, with their value, they wouldn't have been worth saving at all.
Hearing this, the humans of this world were truly at their wits' end.
The lives of their own kind could only be measured by their value.
The potential of the two of them would make them highly sought after in any cultivation world.
This was because geniuses represented the future of a faction, but this world had no future.
The two had fled all the way here. They had personally witnessed the terror of the outside world, and human settlements were gradually becoming habitats for the Shitainzu.
After a moment of silence, Wang Teng inquired, "Then, what about twenty years from now? When the 'Pillar of Heaven' can no longer provide protection..."
Hong Yan gave a wry smile and said, "I don't know! Who the hell knows! We see no hope!"
His tone and eyes were filled with despair. Others who overheard their conversation also wore grim expressions.
Xiao Long pursed his lips, remaining silent throughout.
This world was so oppressive!
Everyone was so oppressed; even the air felt suffocating.
He saw no happy smiles on people's faces. In the apocalypse, humans seemed to have forgotten how to smile.
"Are we just going to stay here and wait to die?"
Hong Yan looked at the red-eyed Wang Teng and said, "We will fight."
"How will you fight?"
He revealed the back of his hand, where a golden, pillar-shaped mark was present.
"Everyone in the 'Hope Realm' has this mark on their hand. Although we don't know where you came from, I suspect you came from a neighboring dimension. Our Immortal Emperor once said that the dimensions adjacent to ours have basically fallen, and you must have escaped here, right?"
Wang Teng and Xiao Long exchanged glances and nodded in tacit agreement.
They hadn't expected to not even need to fabricate a reason; the people here had already concocted their identities for them.
The matter of crossing dimensions was beyond the understanding of ordinary cultivators. If it weren't for personally seeing the "Dimension Anchor Book," the Azure Emperor and others wouldn't have understood either.
Those who touched the Pillar of Heaven would receive this mark, and with it, they could freely enter and exit the barrier.
Through their understanding, Wang Teng and Xiao Long realized that these people were not simply waiting to die.
Apart from the sole surviving Xianwang, Daokong, who needed to maintain the operation of the "Pillar of Heaven," many would go out to battle.
They would sortie in teams to hunt down the Shitainzu outside.
However, it was common for a team to go out and never return.
Even though the chances of survival for this spark of humanity were slim, practically non-existent, they were determined to take at least two Shitainzu down with them. That was their mindset.
These battles were voluntary, with no one forcing participation, and naturally, no one collected the bodies of the fallen.
Commanders like Hong Yan were responsible for maintaining order within the "Hope Realm."
Humanity under the apocalypse was at its most vile.
Some, thinking they were all going to die anyway, decided to indulge their inner demons, leading to rampant acts of arson, murder, robbery, and kidnapping of women.
But Lord Daokong did not permit such behavior. He said that even if humankind perished, they should do so with dignity.
Even if no one remembered them, this land would.
This environment made both Wang Teng and Xiao Long feel deeply unsettled.
If they failed to protect Blue Star in the future, their world would suffer the same fate as this one.
Led by Hong Yan, they toured the "Hope Realm."
But they saw no hope. They even witnessed cultivators in the Spirit Transformation stage suffering from qi deviation, openly assaulting girls.
Upon witnessing such an event, Hong Yan impassively struck the perpetrator to death with a single blow.
This was not an isolated incident; the apocalypse truly bred wickedness.
At night, the sky was a hazy gray, devoid of stars.
Xiao Long spoke cautiously, "Brother Teng, let's go kill some Shitainzu."
Wang Teng was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "We'll go tomorrow. We'll kill until the sky turns upside down. This damned world!"