Chapter 1243: Void
The Earth Monkey beside him was listening to the Earth Tiger's speech, his heart pounding.
He was openly provoking everyone, laying out the long-hidden rebellion plan for all to hear.
But was there really a better way at this moment?
With just one battle and one sentence, he had forced all the "Earth" and "Human" levels to pick a side.
"You want to kill even the Heaven Dragon..." The Earth Dragon looked at the Earth Tiger with some lingering fear.
"So what?" The Earth Tiger let out a disdainful laugh. "I've already stirred things up this big. I've attacked the 'Zodiacs,' I've smashed the 'Train,' I've shouted the slogans of rebellion. Are you telling me that at the final moment, if I don't kill the Heaven Dragon, he'll just let me off the hook?"
The Earth Dragon listened, his eyes lowering, feeling that the situation was even more serious than he had imagined.
"Since there's no way he'll ever forgive me anyway, we might as well take him out while we're at it," the Earth Tiger said. "Even if I'm not the one to do the deed, it's all part of the same deal."
The student beside the Earth Dragon saw his teacher remaining silent for a long time and couldn't help but ask, "Teacher... what do you say...?"
The Earth Dragon thought it over for a long time, then finally waved his hand and spoke. "What else can I say? Everyone saw it, didn't they? I stepped in to suppress this immediately. Unfortunately, I lost the battle, was severely wounded, and can no longer fight. The rest is up to others."
With that, he turned around and, supported by his student, walked away from the scene step by step.
The Earth Tiger watched the Earth Dragon's retreating back, feeling that things had gone relatively smoothly.
So it seemed the "Train" wasn't as terrifying as imagined. As long as you could find a way to create an opening, even if it lasted only an instant, that was enough to insert a grand plan.
But finding a way to temporarily unite these thousands of "Zodiacs" with their hidden agendas was far too difficult for an ordinary person to conceive.
The Earth Tiger looked down again at the crack he had made earlier. The commotion from his fight with the Earth Dragon had shattered large sections of the floor, seemingly revealing something beneath the "Train."
He slowly crouched down and pried open a piece of the flooring.
Beneath the "Train," just like the previously shattered wall, it appeared to be some kind of pitch-black starry sky.
The Earth Tiger pulled a "Dao" from his pocket and tossed it into the crack in the floor. The "Dao" fell as if into a bottomless abyss, traveling deeper and deeper into the crack until it vanished into the darkness.
He slowly furrowed his brow, then nonchalantly placed the floorboard back.
"Teacher..." The Human Monkey crouched beside the Earth Tiger and whispered, "What's wrong?"
"It's hard to say..." The Earth Tiger said thoughtfully. "If the other side of the wall is the void, I could understand that... but if the floor is also the void... doesn't that mean the entire 'Train' is floating in the sky?"
"What?" The Human Monkey furrowed his brow at the Earth Tiger's words. "The 'Train' is floating in the sky?"
"I may not be educated, and I don't know much about science..." The Earth Tiger continued, "but something this big... with so many people living inside it... floating in the sky just doesn't make sense, does it?"
Countless questions exploded in the Earth Tiger's mind, leaving him with no answers for the time being.
If what was beneath the "Train" was something like this starry sky... then where was the "End of All Lands"?
Everyone said the "Train" floated above the "End of All Lands," but now it seemed these two spaces weren't in a simple up-down relationship.
To avoid causing panic among the others, the Earth Tiger could only put the floorboard back and pretend nothing had happened, hoping he could ask Qi Xia for his opinion when he saw him. Otherwise, if everyone started wondering why the "Train" was floating in the sky, the rebellion plan would start to go off the rails.
"What do we do next?" the Human Monkey asked again.
"Next..." The Earth Tiger paused, then looked at the Human Monkey. "Wait... why are you asking me? Don't I usually ask you that?"
"Oh..." The Human Monkey gave a sheepish smile, revealing his white teeth. "Teacher, after watching your passionate speech earlier, my opinion of you has changed a lot. I think you probably have a plan now."
"The 'plan' is already done," the Earth Tiger said. "Kicking the door open and shouting 'Heaven level, come out and die!' was my entire plan. Next, I need to figure out how to fight the 'Heaven level.' But Old Black..."
The Earth Tiger stood up and looked toward where the Black Sheep had been standing. There was no one there now. It seemed the Black Sheep had already started mobilizing his people.
Though he was supposed to go after the "Heaven level," what should he do now...? Go find the Heaven Tiger alone, or wait for the Black Sheep to return?
He shook his head, turned to speak to the Human Monkey, but then heard the Human Monkey let out a cry—
"Teacher, look out!!"
The Earth Tiger jerked his head up and saw something whose form he couldn't make out hurtling toward his face. He tried to raise his hands to block it, but he couldn't dodge in time.
He only felt something slam into his face, knocking him flying with incredible force, nearly snapping his neck in the process.
The Earth Tiger and the thing rolled together across the ground for several circuits, shattering countless floorboards and smashing through several walls before finally coming to a stop in a cloud of dust in the distance.
The Human Monkey and the other students saw the dire situation and tried to rush over, but the Earth Tiger, lying in the distance, shouted to stop them.
"Don't come over!!"
He reached up, pulled the thing off his face, and held it up in front of him. A chill ran down his spine.
This small thing, reeking of blood and the sour smell of milk... it was unmistakably the Heaven Tiger.
"Hee hee..." The Heaven Tiger, held in front of the Earth Tiger, gave a smile that revealed a dimple. "Eat you..."
The Earth Tiger saw that the child's face was smeared with dried blood, and even between his baby teeth were bits of bloody flesh. It was utterly terrifying.
At this moment, the Heaven Tiger was being held aloft in the Earth Tiger's hands like an ordinary child, the scene disturbingly warm yet eerie.
"Go find Old Black!" the Earth Tiger shouted to the distant Human Monkey while holding onto the Heaven Tiger. "I don't need you here anymore!"
"B-but... Black Sheep teacher, he..."
"Go tell him 'no need to rush,'" the Earth Tiger said with a furious grin. "Tell him to take his time. I can hold out here."
"Okay... I understand..."
"And... that fat monkey!" the Earth Tiger called out again.
The Earth Monkey paused, feeling that it was directed at him, but he didn't want to admit it.
"Don't pretend you didn't hear me! Who can't tell you're a monkey?!" the Earth Tiger said through gritted teeth. "Go find that colorful quail! What's the point of just standing there watching the excitement?!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the Heaven Tiger broke free of the Earth Tiger's grip, jumped to the side, and kicked him hard with a bare foot. The Earth Tiger's body crashed through a door and tumbled into a room—the same room where he and Yan Zhichun had broken through the wall earlier.
The Heaven Tiger followed him in with a face full of smiles, and the two of them disappeared into the corridor.
The crowd outside saw this and finally understood that this "rebellion plan" was nowhere near as simple as it had seemed...
Even if they could force the Earth Dragon to retreat, there were still the "Heaven level" Zodiacs.
The Earth Tiger, who had been able to pin the Earth Dragon down in a fight, was knocked down by the Heaven Tiger the moment they met. The overwhelming disparity in combat strength was instantly laid bare.
The Human Monkey knew that in this kind of battlefield, a "Human level" was useless. He could only exchange glances with the Earth Tiger's students before hurrying off in the direction of the Black Sheep.