# Chapter 43: Cancer
Year 833 of the Falling Stars Era, Winter, Moldavia Territory, Banks of the Magellan Never-Freeze River, Evening.
The setting sun sank westward, clouds and sunset glow filled the sky, and the light of stars and moon was increasingly obscured by thickening cloud layers, darkening the world below.
But suddenly, a fierce wind arose, thunder exploded from the void in midair, and a startlingly intense light flashed across the sky like lightning. Unlike real lightning, this dark red, crack-like scar of light did not disappear—it solidified in midair, lingering for a long time without dissipating.
Moments later, the light faded, and the dark red fissure revealed its true nature—it was a gash hanging in space, as if carved by a sharp blade. Irregular crack-like lines spread from both ends of the rift into the surroundings, and beyond the fissure, a bizarre and terrifying world could be seen, where countless fungi and venomous insects multiplied. A blasphemous aura radiated from that source, spreading rapidly outward.
"Boom!"
As if drawn by this aura, thunder suddenly roared from the dark clouds above the Magellan Never-Freeze River. The next moment, lightning flashed, thunderclaps echoed across the mountains and ridges, and freezing rain mixed with blizzards poured down, transforming the world into a dim, hazy, frozen realm.
As a bolt of lightning split the night sky, a deformed human figure suddenly flew out from the rift in midair. It traced a long arc through the snow curtain before crashing to the ground.
And a man carrying a long spear, whose muscles and bones were twisted by a terrifying force, also stepped out from the massive space-time rift.
Joshua stood before the rapidly closing space-time rift, circulating life energy throughout his body to repair his injuries. In that instant when he had manipulated the Dragon-Hunting Sword Lance and clashed with He Er La Si, his body had suffered tremendous impact. Most of his flesh and blood had been torn and deformed by the incredibly terrifying pulling force. If not for the divine power within his warrior's bones, even his skeleton might have been twisted and compressed, perhaps even crushed into bone fragments and powder.
The final divine technique used by the cult's High Priest contained inconceivable, mighty power. If He Er La Si himself hadn't lost control, causing it to dissipate midway, Joshua couldn't guarantee his own survival. But regardless, everything was now proceeding as he had estimated—using the force of their all-out strike, the warrior had torn open a space-time rift back to the Mycroft Continent and forcibly expelled He Er La Si from his plague world home ground.
The air was filled with a foul, stinking odor—the result of atmospheric exchange during the few breaths when the plague world and the Mycroft Continent connected. The high-heat, high-energy clouds produced by the battle between two Ultimate-rank experts leaked from the rift, triggering freezing rain and blizzards. The extreme cold also suppressed the evil plague spreading through the air, preventing it from propagating wantonly.
Before long, Joshua had largely repaired his physical injuries. In the distance, the forest where He Er La Si had fallen was also rapidly withering.
"Good!"
A low, anger-filled voice rose from the ground. In the center of a forest that had withered into dry trunks, the cult's High Priest, having also completed his self-healing, raised his head to gaze at Joshua in midair. Though his tone was furious, it carried a hint of admiration: "I didn't expect your mastery of space-time to be so profound, that you could accurately find the space-time weak point to return to the Mycroft Continent... It seems you are indeed among the strongest below the Legendary realm."
The subspace He Er La Si had opened was located in the void outside the world. In the void, the distance between worlds was both infinitely far and infinitely close. Apart from some natural space-time narrow passages, only experts proficient in space-time string resonance who could determine precise coordinates could use their own power to travel between worlds. Otherwise, one could easily become lost in the endless void. That the warrior could instantly find the coordinates to return to the Mycroft Continent truly earned his admiration.
But this was actually overestimating Joshua... He had simply wanted to punch a hole in the space-time barrier. Whether it led to another world or the endless void, it was better than letting He Er La Si remain on his home ground, launching one terrifying attack after another that even shocked Joshua himself. Even if it led to the empty, most dangerous void, at least he could temporarily expel He Er La Si, and perhaps even seal away this nearly unkillable powerful Transcendent being.
Deprived of the life energy support from the plague world, the various biological weapons that had distorted from He Er La Si's body gradually reverted to normal human arms and organs. He had not yet achieved Legendary status or completely transformed his life form, and he had deficiencies in energy, so on the Mycroft Continent, he could not use his full power.
He Er La Si's true body was located in the plague world. The form that usually walked in the Mycroft world was merely a spare vessel. In the past, Legendary experts in the Western Mountain region had also surrounded and attacked him, but at most they caused him to lose one vessel, while his true body remained unharmed, allowing him to continue ravaging the Western Mountain after a while.
But this time, he had believed he could defeat Joshua, yet his spare vessel alone could not overcome the warrior, so he had drawn him into the plague world to fight with his true body. Subsequently, Joshua had used a mutual-destruction method to kick them both out of the plague world. Now, it was his true body that was damaged, not an insignificant avatar. The energy consumption between the two was also on an entirely different level.
But even so, the current He Er La Si still gave Joshua an extremely dangerous feeling.
"It's hard to imagine that you're not even thirty yet possess such immense life energy. If I couldn't sense only the howls of beasts and monsters from the power within you, I might even suspect you had slaughtered hundreds of thousands, even millions of humans."
Extending his now-restored hand, He Er La Si grasped the air. Patches of black mist spread and then condensed, and he held a long sword formed from dim flowing light. His eyes were full of contemplation: "The number of magical beasts in the entire Northern Empire is limited. Even a black tide couldn't gather so many powerful monsters... You couldn't have condensed your life energy on the Mycroft Continent."
The cult's High Priest pondered for a moment, then chuckled lightly: "I see. Given how familiar you are with opening space-time rifts, you must have gone to other alien worlds to plunder life energy."
"You're hesitating."
But Joshua did not respond. He gripped his spear, the blade of the Dragon-Hunting Sword Lance pointing downward, aimed directly at He Er La Si: "Why speak so much in battle?"
He could see that the cult's High Priest's true body, due to rapidly switching forms, had not yet adapted to the Mycroft world's environment, so he was trying to buy time with words. How could the warrior let his enemy have his way? Naturally, he would strike while his foe was weakened and take his life!
Weng!
In Joshua's hand, the spear vibrated. The next instant, his entire form turned into a streak of light, charging rapidly toward He Er La Si!
A single spear thrust, like a meteor falling to earth. Joshua activated the Blazing Prison Breath, concentrating thousands of degrees of heat into his arms and spear tip, condensing into a energy-concentrated blade capable of vaporizing everything. He also applied the energy flow pattern from the Fusion Core Star's explosion, its residual effects bringing waves of orange-red, high-temperature scorching wind through the air.
But He Er La Si also displayed speed not inferior to Joshua's. He snorted coldly, held his long sword, and met the attack head-on.
In an instant, a storm of blood and gore exploded outward.
This was not a battle between ordinary experts, but a close-quarters struggle between two near-Legendary, Ultimate Peak combatants. One could only see two beams of light in midair rapidly contacting, separate, and then collide again, producing continuous booming sounds. The spear and long sword clashed, producing grating, teeth-aching screeches. He Er La Si and Joshua fought at over a dozen times the speed of sound in a narrow space, their distorted air and vacuum fault lines causing light to temporarily warp, making it impossible to see the details of their battle.
Both their bodies had reached an extreme point. Even dragons and abyssal behemoths did not possess such tough physiques. The slightest collision between them caused violent explosions in the Magellan Never-Freeze River below.
A moment later, the two separated, facing off for a thousandth of a second.
At this point, Joshua's chest was torn open. Several ribs protecting his heart on the left side had been severed by the long sword imbued with evil plague poison. In his beating chest cavity, blood flowed as if it had a life of its own. The warrior's leg bones had been broken by tremendous force, slightly bent.
He Er La Si was in even worse condition. His body had fifteen large holes, pierced through front and back, completely charred. These had blasted his spine into three sections, pierced his heart, and even his forehead had a large hole from which brain matter was leaking.
But such injuries were insignificant to both. A thousandth of a second later, they converged again as if teleporting, resuming their battle.
Spear, sword, fist, kick—every technique a human could use was wantonly unleashed upon each other. The storm of mutual attacks caused sparks to fly from their bodies, which were tougher than steel, creating one huge wound after another. But under the effect of rapid self-healing, all these wounds healed just as quickly.
The land near the Magellan Never-Freeze River was now a complete mess. Continuous shockwaves and blasts had depressed the ground for several kilometers in radius. If not for the battle's residual effects, the river water would have already flooded in, turning the area into a lake.
In an instant, the energy long sword in He Er La Si's hand was shattered by the Dragon-Hunting Sword Lance, but the powerful explosion also knocked the spear aside. Seizing this opportunity, He Er La Si did not retreat but advanced, breaking into Joshua's inner circle and grabbing the warrior's left shoulder. He circulated his energy, exerted force, and tore away a thick layer of tough flesh, revealing the divine rune-inscribed bones beneath. At the same time, Joshua simply abandoned his spear and drove a thrusting hand into He Er La Si's chest, shattering his flesh ribs and crushing his heart and lungs completely.
Another injury-for-injury exchange. But unlike Joshua, He Er La Si's heart was merely a decoration. Although he was slightly inferior in close combat, because of this trait, neither suffered fatal injuries.
By now, the cult's High Priest's body had long since alienated, with no vital points whatsoever. He Er La Si, only a step away from Legendary, had a life form somewhat similar to a young void behemoth—as long as his life energy was not extinguished, he would never die.
And Joshua, because he needed an energy circulation burst core and a thinking center, still had two important weaknesses: his heart and brain. Although these could be repaired, if severely damaged, his combat power would drop significantly for a period, and he could be killed by a sudden ambush.
While Joshua pondered how to kill He Er La Si, He Er La Si was also contemplating how to slay this enemy who had troubled him for the first time.
Divine techniques were ineffective. Magic was ineffective. The warrior's body was surrounded by a mysterious force—not life energy, but an order aura that the High Priest found extremely repulsive. It easily dispelled the weakening curses and divine techniques He Er La Si occasionally used, and evocation magic couldn't even get close before being scattered by the majestic life energy.
Close combat was even more disadvantageous. He Er La Si considered himself one of the few top martial artists in the Mycroft world. He had learned various weapon techniques since childhood—sword, spear, blade, axe, staff, and longbow—all of which he mastered and could skillfully use in battle. But Joshua's martial skill exceeded his imagination. He Er La Si found it hard to understand how a young man not even half his age could surpass him so much in this area. Even if he had trained in martial arts since birth, he couldn't have honed his skills to this level.
The only areas where he could surpass Joshua were his vast life energy reserves and abilities usable only in the plague world.
Neither side left the other much time to think. The Dragon-Hunting Sword Lance was recalled by the warrior, and a new energy weapon condensed in the High Priest's hand.
In the distant sky above.
A white-haired old man and a robust warrior with dark golden hair stood on the clouds, gazing at the battle in the Moldova Territory.
"Israel, are you really not going to intervene?"
The Ultimate-rank Archmage, who had just returned to the Mycroft world from the void observatory and rapidly teleported to the Northern Lands, spoke in a playful tone to the Empire's ruler beside him: "You rushed back from the Holy Mountain in such a hurry—was it just to watch the show?"
But Israel shook his head and said to his teacher in a calm tone: "Originally, I did intend to stop it, but now it seems completely unnecessary?"
"He's here."
The two watched the battle on the banks of the Magellan Never-Freeze River, their eyes full of emotion.
Even Nostradamus dared not claim certain victory over He Er La Si's power. In the most optimistic scenario, he could at most use his skilled space-time magic to temporarily seal this monster with nearly endless life energy in the void. More likely, this old man would be worn down by the opponent's infinite endurance and eventually drained of life energy by his natural talent ability.
And Israel, though confident he could kill He Er La Si through certain special methods, knew the other was no fool. If a Legendary expert made a move, he would simply flee directly, using various divine techniques and magic. Even the Empire's Emperor couldn't guarantee he could catch him.
"A strong person, no matter how powerful or ambitious, even if he sets his sights on my position—I'm not afraid."
"What I fear is someone without desire. A person without desire doesn't even know what they want—how can they lead others forward?"
Israel slowly murmured to himself, his cloak rustling in the high-altitude wind: "Joshua has no desire for power, wealth, beautiful women, fine wine... He has no desire for almost anything, only single-mindedly looking forward to battles with the strong."
"How could I take away what he enjoys?"
Suddenly, the Legendary Dragon Knight's pupils contracted. He said coldly: "The decisive moment is coming!"
It was exactly as he said.
As if by mistake, the power in Joshua's spear suddenly stalled for an instant during a thrust, allowing He Er La Si's long sword to knock it aside, leaving an opening in his chest. The cult's High Priest naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity. Though he wondered why the warrior would reveal such a low-level flaw, even if it were a trap, he could afford the price.
So He Er La Si's long sword exploded, transforming into a surging shockwave that temporarily halted the warrior's defensive posture. Then he suddenly charged into Joshua's space, one hand condensing life energy and thrusting forward, his right palm plunging directly into Joshua's left chest.
Blood splattered. The two extremely different types of life energy created tremendous repelling force upon contact. Joshua's life energy surged wildly, trying to push He Er La Si's hand out of his body, but the cult's High Priest's life energy was originally more abundant than the warrior's. While fist and foot exchanges didn't matter much, now that he had penetrated deep into the body, it was unstoppable.
"This time, you lose."
The thick force shattered Joshua's ribs. He Er La Si's right hand pierced through the internal organ membrane and directly grasped the warrior's heart. A hint of a smile lifted the corner of his mouth. His natural talent ability activated, and the void energy-draining power began rapidly extracting Joshua's life energy.
The warrior's complexion visibly paled. It felt like a dam bursting—his abundant life energy flowed away like floodwater. He could clearly feel his life rapidly decreasing. However, He Er La Si's expression was also ugly. The warrior's life energy contained an order force that made him extremely uncomfortable, but he couldn't stop now. He could only continue draining Joshua's life energy, striving to kill him completely in one go to avoid complications.
The incredibly abundant energy, which even surprised the cult's High Priest, surged into his body. Joshua's life energy seemed to retain activity even after being absorbed, stirring and destroying within his body. To avoid his own body collapsing before killing Joshua, He Er La Si could only forcibly control Joshua's life energy, condense it into a core, and suppress it within his body, planning to slowly absorb it later.
But at this moment, the warrior also revealed a smile.
"I've been waiting for this moment."
At the warrior's heart, a cyan flash suddenly lit up. Order force surged from the Azure Orb like a tidal wave, mixing with Joshua's life energy and flooding into He Er La Si's body. In an instant, the cult's High Priest was enveloped in cyan light, unable to move.
With a slightly trembling arm, Joshua pulled He Er La Si's hand out of his chest. Expression unchanged, he inserted his own hand into the wound, adjusted the position of his somewhat shrunken heart, then casually slapped his chest. High-temperature battle qi flowed through like a fire stream, and a flame light mixed with ash burst from his back. The wound had healed.
The warrior's face now bore many aging wrinkles, and most of his black hair had turned white. But even so, his eyes still emitted heat like molten lava. Joshua approached He Er La Si, bound by order force, and without hesitation grabbed his own left arm, then pulled hard.
In an instant, blood and flesh splattered. He pulled an arm bone, still attached to tendons and blood vessels, from his own body. But astonishingly, not a single drop of blood flowed from such a severe wound. And on this arm bone flowed black-red patterns, inscribed with divine rune light.
"I knew that you, too greedy and selfish, wouldn't directly crush my heart. Instead, you would use this opening to drain my life energy dry and kill me completely."
Holding his own arm bone in his right hand, Joshua showed no hesitation. He aimed at the core condensed from his own life energy that He Er La Si had absorbed, and thrust down decisively.
"You sucked this in yourself." The warrior said somewhat mockingly. "I couldn't have done this."
Puchi.
The black-red arm bone, after piercing through He Er La Si's body and the life energy core he had condensed, suddenly radiated infinite light. A majestic, shocking, bloody and cruel aura emanated from this section of arm bone, releasing infinite majesty—Joshua's life energy, stimulated by Joshua's own divinity, immediately broke free from He Er La Si's suppression and began madly spreading throughout his body.
Like cancer cells.