Chapter 144 - Crimson Asura Realm (XIII)

Chapter 144 - Crimson Asura Realm (XIII)

Trigger Warning: Suicide

Editor: Kitty

Luo Jian squatted down, lowered his head, and gazed at the dying wolf lying on the grass.

The wolf had chased him for ten years in total. At the beginning, it could not beat Luo Jian, and it still couldn’t beat Luo Jian now. However, it could defeat almost anyone except him now.

Luo Jian had always thought that this wolf was a player with a strong will and was extremely vengeful. Otherwise, how could he have been so persistent and unremitting in chasing after Luo Jian? But after a long time, Luo Jian also slowly began to find that this fool was not quite like the monsters that players had morphed into.

It seemed that this wolf was really just a wolf. It had a huge body and sharp claws, but in the beginning, it was weaker than any other person in the Asura Realm. It had followed Luo Jian all the way through the Asura Realm’s circles, and just like Luo Jian, it remained stuck in the cycle of life and death. In order to not be too far away from Luo Jian, it struggled to defeat all kinds of enemies every day.

Its means of attack were so simple—nothing more than the ordinary wolf’s clawing, biting, and scratching. Its skills were not worth mentioning compared to those of people who possessed all kinds of terrifying skills like those that could set fire to things or spout water using magic, those that could burrow into the ground, or those who could teleport. But miraculously, with the passage of time, this wolf was shockingly able to win against all kinds of players and monsters.

Because it became faster over time, its claws also became sharper over time. If it bit someone, it would always bite at the vital parts of their body. Its body was flexible and powerful. It knew that no matter what kind of abnormal ability the enemy had and what kind of exotic skills they possessed, those were only means of attack. And as long as it could avoid these attacks, it would have room to counterattack against them.

But it was not able to beat Luo Jian. The wolf was even immune to Luo Jian’s hypnosis. It knew that Luo Jian had quite a knack for utilizing his skills, and the prerequisite to using his skills was that he must be seen. Anyone would fall into a state of ‘hypnosis’ when they saw Luo Jian. Therefore, it never looked Luo Jian straight in the eye but relied on its olfactory sense to detect him.

It also knew that Luo Jian had many weaknesses. Luo Jian could emulate all kinds of extremely powerful weapon forms, and therefore, Luo Jian had plenty of skills at his disposal. Luo Jian knew how to use these skills to attack others as well. However, because Luo Jian knew how to use many skills, he couldn’t specialize in one. He had learned to use a lot of skills but was not proficient in any one of them.

Nevertheless, the strong consciousness that Luo Jian trained on the battlefield made up for his defects. He knew that he was not very skilled in using any of the imitated weapons, so he simply needed to make do with all kinds of weapons. Luo Jian’s battling style was characterized by various kinds of attacks. He also began to explore the coordination of various weapons to improve his combat abilities.

Ten years in the Asura Realm went by like a flash. Luo Jian did not even feel the passage of time and did not bother to calculate how long had elapsed. He was so addicted to the battling that he could not stop, much like a wound-up machine that was perpetually in motion. He was stuck forever in the horrifying and crazy…… state of being a red-eyed killing machine.

He honed his skills in combat. He became more and more skilful in using various weapons and various ways to manipulate his abilities. He had used his advantages to turn defeats into victories and successfully turned the tables around.

But Luo Jian relentingly became ignorant of the fact that he became a legend.

When Luo Jian killed everyone in an instant and moved all the way to the advanced circle in the Asura Realm, he numbly walked to the stage where the final winner would be determined, and everyone under the stage could only silently admire him and look at his back.

However, what everyone did not expect was that Luo Jian went to the tree and met with the mysterious strong man under the tree and soon came back again. When he silently returned, the people on the battlefield had already gotten up and continued the cycle of killing. If someone noticed Luo Jian’s return, they would not be able to get away from the battlefield, so Luo Jian kept his non-existent aura up all the way as he crossed the entire Asura Realm and came to the edge of the battlefield where there was no fighting. It was a peace zone.

The wolf followed him again. And once again, it provoked Luo Jian. Like before, he was defeated by Luo Jian again.

Luo Jian squatted down, touched the wolf’s head, and asked, “Why are you constantly following me?”

The wolf was not completely dead and did not speak, but it breathed heavily. It gazed at Luo Jian with its bright, red eyes.

Blood-red irises.

Luo Jian’s hands shook.

In fact, in the Crimson Asura Realm, almost everything seemed tinted with bright red, dark red, and blood red. Under the red rays of the sunset, these red rays would splay across all surfaces. Other than that, there was always blood on the battlefield. Luo Jian was no longer sensitive to the colour red. He thought that somewhere in his distant memories, there was a man with bloody red eyes.

“Xing Yan…” Luo Jian yelled, but even he did not understand who he was calling. His persistence had been wiped away by time. All sensations of his had become numb in the process of killing. He thought he was still alive, but perhaps, long ago, Luo Jian was already dead.

Luo Jian remembered what Ying had said to him before he left:

“Luo Jian…… If you want to get out of this secret chamber, you have to think of yourself as someone who has died.

“Only the dead can escape from these infinite chambers.”

When one died or did not exist, one would need to use another identity to face a whole new challenge. If one wanted to live, one would have to give up a lot of things that were precious or hard to discard.

“Stop following me,” Luo Jian said to the wolf. The tone of his voice sounded somewhat sorrowful: “After today, you will never see me again.”

Luo Jian stood up and seemingly wanted to leave, but just as he spread his legs and stepped forward, he felt that something tug the hem of his trousers. He lowered his head downwards and saw the wolf pitifully rubbing his head against him as it bit Luo Jian’s pants.

The wolf could not speak. It could only whine twice. It seldom made such a sound. Luo Jian had battled with it countlessly and had been bitten to death countless times while the wolf had been stabbed to death by him countless times. However, he had never heard this wolf make such a sound. It sounded slightly upset as if it could sense that Luo Jian was leaving. It was using its own manner to make Luo Jian stay.

Luo Jian felt touched, so he could not help but squat down and touch the wolf’s head. Its fur felt very comfortable. Luo Jian could not help but pet him in admiration. But finally, he abandoned the wolf and walked in the direction of the forest alone. He had to find a quiet place where there was no one else, and he needed to be alone.

Such places could be found everywhere in the Crimson Asura Realm. After walking in the woods for a long time, Luo Jian returned to the small forest where he used to fight with the wolf. Because of the self-recovering setting of the Crimson Asura Realm, this forest had been restored back to how Luo JIan had first seen it. It had reverted back to the forest where withered but thick branches were all around.

In the woods, the tree trunks with the cross marks carved by Luo Jian had also been restored. The tree trunks appeared very clean, and no traces of his carvings were left behind. Luo Jian walked along the path and went back to the place where he had first awakened. He wandered over to the huge rock. Luo Jian jumped on the rock and sat cross-legged on it.

In the crevice of the rock, there were several weeds with tenacious vitality, and those were also the grasses that Luo Jian had first seen when he woke up.

The setting sun was still sprinkling rays of sun on the blades of grass, dyeing them red.

Luo Jian gazed at the grass for a long time, thinking about certain matters. Suddenly, he felt that his brain was empty and there was nothing in it. He intended to recall all that had happened a long time ago. He recalled his life, every person he met in his life, every happy or sad event, and no matter whether he was happy or sad, that was what Luo Jian had experienced.

It was Luo Jian’s life.

But today, he must abandon all these things. He must wipe the person ‘Luo Jian’ completely from the world and allow him to disappear so that everyone who knew of Luo Jian would think that he was dead.

“I’m dead.” Luo Jian repeated this sentence.

He swayed with his weapon, turning the bloody red umbrella into a short knife. The appearance of a short knife was originally formed by Luo Jian’s subconscious. He was imitating Xing Yan’s weapon. In the initial stages, this knife accompanied Luo Jian through a long journey.

And at this moment, Luo Jian had to use it to end himself.

So Luo Jian held the knife, took a deep breath, and placed the blade of the knife to his throat.

One could revive if one died in the Crimson Asura Realm.

But Luo Jian was an exception now. Ying had the right to modify part of the space in the Crimson Asura Realm. He had modified Luo Jian’s settings. Now, Luo Jian could be revived. If he died now, he would really be dead. His body would be completely expelled from this space at the moment of his death. He would truly die forever.

Perhaps because he felt confused and lost in his heart, Luo Jian also questioned whether his choice was correct. But now he had no other alternatives. In front of him, there was only this path. If he did not go forward, there was no difference between the current him and the him who had died.

Perplexity was just another manifestation of cowardice.

Luo Jian closed his eyes and grasped the handle of the knife with his fingers. He stuck the knife against his fragile neck and cut it slowly. He could clearly feel the pain of cutting his throat. Blood flowed onto him, and the warmth slowly fled from his useless body.

One second before darkness completely engulfed Luo Jian, he heard something familiar in a trance. Someone said:

“—No matter where you are, I will be able to protect you……”

Therefore, at that moment, time seemed to stop.

Luo Jian did not know how long had elapsed, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in a field.

It was a natural and simple field, only seen in rural areas. There were muddy roads that had not been touched by human construction, formed by people trampling on them. Far away, there were low and tall yellow brick houses and ragged scarecrows standing in the middle of the fields. The afternoon sun shone on the golden wheat. It was different from the static air in the Crimson Asura Realm. Here, the wind blew on his face, and when the wind blew onto his skin, it brought forth a cooling feeling.

Luo Jian was in a trance. He could not help lowering his head as he looked at his body.

This was not his body…… but it was also his body. He had been crammed into another body, a body that had been prepared for him. This body had been on standby, but today, this body belonged to Luo Jian.

As if he had been reborn.

T/N: New arc, starting from next chapter! This chapter is unedited. This chapter is now edited.

Thank you so much, Kitty for your Ko-Fi. A bonus chapter will be published this week.

Kitty’s very busy and cannot edit so many chapters a week, so I’m looking for another editor to help in editing EIC chapters. If you think you can commit to editing 2 chapters/week and would like to try working with us, please DM me at discord!