# 1839
Chapter 1832: Hostage
Great Xia border.
A figure with gray six wings on its back dove down from the clouds like lightning.
The once sparkling sea had become a mire. Countless black mud covered the water surface, occasionally bubbling up, looking disgustingly foul.
Shen Qingzhu frowned, gazing toward the other side of the swamp.
The war fortress that once stood on the sea had been corroded by the mud. Missiles and artillery densely covered the outer walls, but upon touching the endless mud, they all seemed to misfire, silently sinking into the swamp and disappearing.
"What's the status of Sunken Dragon Pass survivors?" Shen Qingzhu asked in a deep voice.
"The mud is strange, but it spreads slowly. Besides the first team that went out to fight, everyone else has evacuated to the western inner wall. Basically no casualties..." A voice came through the earpiece.
Shen Qingzhu nodded slightly, switched channels, and asked again:
"And the other war fortresses?"
"Commander Lin's Seraph avatar has arrived at Chennan Pass. The God of Games and the God of Mind have also rushed to the battlefield, temporarily stabilizing the situation. However, there are still two Cthulhu Faction gods remaining... difficult to handle. Although the other Human Apex have split up to help, the gap between Human Apex and Cthulhu Faction gods is still too vast to compensate with numbers. They probably won't hold out much longer."
"And [Black Goat]?"
"At Snowchill Pass... a sword flew in from who-knows-where, hanging just outside the fortress. [Black Goat] has stopped in its tracks, seemingly very wary of this sword."
"...I understand." Shen Qingzhu paused for a moment.
"Any news from Erhai?"
"Not yet. The dense fog is blocking all electronic signals, but we've sent in a [Medium] squad. We should get a response soon."
Shen Qingzhu acknowledged with a hum. After a moment of thought, he added one final thing:
"Send someone up Mount Kunlun. Release the Fate Monk."
"Understood."
The moment his words fell, Shen Qingzhu shut down the communication device. It wasn't that he didn't want to stay connected with headquarters, but after approaching the muddy sea surface, the voices in his earpiece had already become intermittent.
This Cthulhu Faction deity seemed to have a strong suppression effect on modern technology. The previous missiles and artillery hadn't even had a chance to explode.
Shen Qingzhu flapped his wings, continuously approaching the depths of the muddy sea. The swamp covered at least a hundred kilometers of sea surface. The gray sky and black mire made this world feel like ruined land.
Just as Shen Qingzhu squinted his eyes and warily scanned the muddy surface below, between the gray clouds, a terrifying mud-made head had silently emerged from the cloud layer...
Faced with this swampy sea, everyone had assumed the Cthulhu Faction god must be hidden somewhere beneath the mud. Who could have thought its true form was actually within the clouds above?
By the time Shen Qingzhu sensed the danger, that mud-covered face was already above him!
Boom!!
The muddy, ferocious head opened its massive mouth and bit down, directly swallowing the figure with gray wings, disappearing without a trace!
...
Erhai.
When Lin Qiye saw the two artificial gods crackling with thunder before him, his expression immediately darkened.
He turned to look at An Qingyu, who was walking through the thick fog with measured steps.
"It seems you're more eager than I am." Lin Qiye said coldly.
"I simply acted first... Could you have really let me leave like that?" An Qingyu pointed to the two artificial gods in front of her.
"You just emptied all the blood from your body. You're weak right now. I suggest you don't do anything rash."
Sizzle—!!
A ferocious bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, precisely striking the two artificial gods. Brilliant arcs of electricity spread across the sky, trapping Lin Qiye within.
Lin Qiye stood among the lightning, frowning as he scanned the three figures around him.
Under normal circumstances, in a one-on-one situation, Lin Qiye was confident he could keep An Qingyu in Great Xia. But now with two Chief God-level artificial gods added, the situation became dire.
"Even if you successfully trap me here, do you think you can walk out of Great Xia unharmed?" Lin Qiye said in a low voice.
"Certainly not." An Qingyu answered without hesitation. "So I have to take you with me."
"If I have the commander-in-chief of the Great Xia Night Watch as a hostage, even the Crimson Dust Sword Immortal wouldn't dare draw his sword against me, right?"
Lin Qiye's gaze sharpened. He looked at the two artificial gods before him anew. Understanding flickered in his eyes:
"No wonder... From the moment I locked you in the Asylum of the Gods, you already planned this step? Or did you prepare all contingencies the moment you first saw the countdown on Mount Olympus?"
"Is discussing this really important now?"
Lin Qiye fell silent for a moment, then gripped the [White Slash], which had returned to normal in his body, and slowly said, "Right. Since you've come this far... only the outcome matters."
An Qingyu's gaze flicked to the blade in his hand.
"You still want to resist? Do you think you have any chance of winning?"
"The commander of the Night Watch has no reason to surrender quietly." Lin Qiye replied calmly.
Clang—!!
[White Slash] and [Divine Calamity] both left their sheaths simultaneously!
Two blades of light, one after the other, slashed toward An Qingyu's neck. The latter seemed prepared for this, instantly forming an ice-frost longsword in her palm. Gray light flickered in her eyes as she precisely blocked the strike from [White Slash].
As for the second blade of light, An Qingyu didn't use her sword to block it again. Instead, she sidestepped. The blade cut through the air, only severing a虚幻的残影.
Seeing this, Lin Qiye's brow furrowed slightly.
There was no doubt that An Qingyu was one of the people who knew him best in this world. Whether it was [White Slash] or [Divine Calamity], what abilities they had, how to counter them, whether they could be withstood head-on—she knew everything.
Just as Lin Qiye was about to chase after her, Yu'er and Yu'si flew in from both sides. Brilliant lightning instantly engulfed Lin Qiye's figure. A thunderous explosion echoed across the skies above Erhai!
When the aftershock of the Chief God-level attack dissipated in the air, a crimson shadow charged out once more. Apart from some scorched skin on the surface, there weren't any severe injuries.
Lin Qiye held twin blades, swiftly navigating between the dense lightning. Threads of karma extended from the end of his Crimson Cloak, flowing toward those three figures.
At this moment, An Qingyu seemed to sense something. Those gray eyes swept across a certain empty space. Her body pulled back toward the distance once more!
Several karma threads immediately missed their target.
He can see karma?
Lin Qiye's sharp eyes caught this moment, and his heart secretly startled.
But soon he realized that wasn't quite the case... An Qingyu's gaze kept drifting through the emptiness, not accurately landing on where the karma threads were. It was more like she was on guard against something else.