"Captain Qingping?"
Zhou Xing looked at the monster in front of him, his expression a little dazed, but out of long habit, he still pulled out his long blade.
Qingping grabbed his own wrist. The bit of consciousness he had left was still fairly clear. Using the left half of his body that he could still control, he locked down the right side, then bared his teeth at the young man in front of him in a grin.
"Kid, that leg of yours will probably end up like mine."
Zhou Xing stared blankly at the senior in front of him.
That blood-soaked giant mouth, which had grown fangs like a beast trap, showed an unexpectedly bright smile.
He did not even have time to think about what Captain Qingping meant about his leg. He only heard him speak again, his tone full of regret, "Ha... I was planning to work another thirty or forty years, then retire and enjoy life. Now it looks like this is the last thrill I'll get in this lifetime."
Zhou Xing frowned, and the hand holding the blade suddenly trembled.
Those beast-like pupils in front of him lit up. Qingping raised his head. "Kid, haven't you always wanted to go to the front line?"
"Then you should know what to do when facing a comrade who has fallen into mara. Use that blade in your hand and cut off my head. If you do that, you pass the first test."
Zhou Xing slowly stood up and looked at Qingping.
The escape ship was not very big. He only needed to take one step forward and swing once.
But...
He realized he could not move his foot.
All this time, Captain Qingping had treated him well.
He had learned about the past from him, learned martial arts from him...
The feelings that grew from their past interactions made it hard for him to strike.
"What are you still standing there for? Do it!" Qingping urged.
Zhou Xing lowered his head, avoiding his gaze. "But... Captain Qingping, you're not even..."
"You damn fool! Who cares whether I'm a mara-struck body or not! If you don't cut me down now, you'll die!" Qingping cursed loudly.
"How did I never realize you're such a damn coward!"
"Captain Qingping, yelling at me won't help." Zhou Xing gritted his teeth, talking back while trying to prepare himself mentally.
Although Qingping's state was not exactly mara, he was clearly an even greater threat to the outside world than one...
Zhou Xing swallowed and tightened his grip on the blade again.
He knew clearly in his heart that he had to swing this blade.
However, before Zhou Xing could finish preparing himself, Qingping suddenly relaxed his stance. A fierce light burst from his eyes. In an instant, he sprang up, and the long blade in his hand howled as it slashed down.
The strike came fast. Zhou Xing did not even have time to react.
But years of martial training made his body move on instinct. He leaned to the left while raising his blade to block on the right.
The blades collided with a sharp, clear sound. Then Zhou Xing's blade swept horizontally forward, instantly severing Qingping's neck.
The head that had long turned into a beast fell down, turning into filthy blood that splashed all over Zhou Xing.
The huge monster's body slumped against him, resting on his shoulder.
In a daze, he seemed to hear Qingping's voice by his ear. "Well done."
Gently pushing Qingping's corpse away, Zhou Xing stood there frozen for two seconds, as if he had not fully come back to his senses.
But very soon, the young Cloud Knight's gaze became firm again.
He turned to look outside, and his pupils suddenly shrank.
He saw a pitch-black giant beast charging toward them. That thing had a massive body, a crocodile-like head, scales covering its body, claws like an eagle, and legs like a horse. In almost the blink of an eye, it reached them and slammed down with a claw.
BOOM!
A huge noise crashed into his ears. His vision began to shake. Zhou Xing curled up as the escape ship was smashed away and rolled through space, only stopping who knew how long later.
Then, before he had fully regained consciousness, he saw a horrifying scene through the window.
There was more than just one giant beast like that. They were everywhere.
These monsters roamed through space, destroying fleets and slaughtering the living.
Whether it was the Whistling Flame Merchant Guild or the distant family fleet, all were affected.
Monsters kept being born, then breaking out from inside to kill.
Just as Zhou Xing was stunned, the previous monster charged up again, its sharp claws stabbing toward him.
Faced with such a fast and powerful attack, faced with such a huge monster, in this narrow space Zhou Xing had nowhere to dodge, and he could not even summon the thought that he might block it.
However, just as the claw was about to pierce the ship and run him through, the monster suddenly stiffened.
The next instant, its chest burst open. Blood and chunks of flesh sprayed out. A jade-green blade cut the monster into pieces.
Immediately after, with the monster no longer blocking his view, Zhou Xing saw that the same thing was happening everywhere else that monsters were attacking.
Jade-green longswords that appeared out of thin air wiped out the monsters with overwhelming force.
Invisible energy flowed, forming a scene like a storm in space. Within this star field, at some unknown time, thousands of swords were already standing tall.
A massive sword formation, vast enough to contain dozens or even hundreds of planets, unfolded here. The vicious beasts inside the formation had nowhere to hide.
"This... who did this?!" Looking at the shocking scene before him, Zhou Xing muttered blankly.
He even had the illusion that the General had personally arrived.
Looking at the enormous sword formation, looking at the monsters being ground into dust within it, Nero withdrew his gaze and let out a sigh.
Although he still did not know how to deal with this so-called mirror holder, Nero was very sure that this was the same one he had met in his dream, but for now he would set up the formation first and protect everyone.
[T/N: Mirror holders are a faction dedicated to revive the Aeon of Beauty. They collect the Aeon's relics scattered across the universe]
"This should be about enough." Nero muttered.
Afraid that his power would not be enough, before unfolding the sword formation he also added the power of the Hunt and the Elation Paths.
In other words, aside from not entering his full release state, Heaven's One Flash, he could already be considered as going all out.
However, judging from the current situation, setting up such a large-scale sword formation was not especially easy, but it also did not make him feel too burdened.
Nero raised his hand to rub his chin and began thinking about the remaining issues.
One was to deal with the abnormal phenomenon in this star field. The other was to drag out the culprit and beat him up...
He looked around. Since just now, Tingyun and Robin had both been frozen in place, only staring ahead blankly, or rather, staring at that mirror holder in their sight.
Who knew what mirror holder was saying to them at this moment...
As if able to hear Nero's thoughts, mirror holder in his field of vision suddenly spoke, "Miss Tingyun thinks the Foxians' average lifespan of two to three hundred years is too short. Miss Robin seeks a world where everyone will be happy..."
The mirror holder lifted his head and looked at Nero.
"As for you, I admit your strength is powerful. But how long can you maintain such a large-scale attack?
"Stop wasting your strength. As long as you say one sentence, that you are willing to return to the embrace of the God of Beauty, I will immediately withdraw all my methods.
"You should be very clear. My goal is only you. With just one sentence from you, you can easily resolve all the difficulties here."
However, Nero completely ignored mirror holder filling his vision, visible even when he closed his eyes.
"Stop talking. I'm thinking."