Chapter 36: The Abyss’s Embrace

The battle reached its ultimate white-hot intensity.

At the very peak of Dragon Leap Valley, Ye Yu found himself cornered. Several Gray Dragon Fiends had relentlessly driven him onto Dragon’s Gaze Platform, leaving him with no escape.

He gazed at the pure white light curtain, a brilliant spectacle that illuminated the entire sky.

A profound sigh of lament rippled through his heart in that moment.

Once, one of Ye Yu’s greatest dreams had been to witness his idol, the Magical Girl, unleash her ultimate technique. He had yearned to see that magnificent display with his own eyes.

Now, he watched as a brilliant, vibrant beam pierced through the colossal, mountain-like Lion-Demon Tiger.

Ye Yu, already forced to the edge of a precipice, found his dream had come true, yet he couldn’t feel happy about it at all.

The reason, he realized, was quite simple.

His enemies were right before him, and his Magical Girl Dad clearly wouldn’t make it in time to save him!

As a native-born resident of Nanyun Province, Ye Yu was intimately familiar with Dragon’s Gaze Platform in Dragon Leap Valley, a popular spot for daredevil challenges.

He had attempted the challenge many times before. However, in the past, there were always numerous professional safety railings, and his reassuring family stood behind him, providing a sense of security.

But now, as he looked at the completely vanished platform railings, at the bottomless abyss, and listened to the biting cold wind and the intermittent roars of fiends echoing from below the valley, a chilling realization dawned upon him.

Standing there, he discovered for the first time just how terrifying Dragon Leap Valley truly was!

He recalled the monstrous Elder Gu, who had just provoked his Magical Girl Dad, saying, “You never thought your child would be thrown down, did you?” This, coupled with the talk of body modification, sent shivers down his spine.

He then observed Elder Gu, who had crept up behind him. The man could no longer be called human; ‘aberration’ felt like a far more fitting description.

In that moment, though Ye Yu’s legs trembled uncontrollably from fear, he ultimately turned around. He mustered his courage to face Elder Gu and the surrounding fiends.

After all, only two options lay before Ye Yu:

Jump off the cliff voluntarily.

Be captured by Elder Gu and then thrown off.

Since he was going to fall either way, Ye Yu, a boy with a fiery spirit, declared, “I choose to stand tall!” He swiftly placed his two delicate, small pink fists on his flat chest.

Taking a horse stance, and utterly devoid of any weapon, Ye Yu assumed a standard combat posture.

Yet, Ye Yu was unaware that while his movements were technically flawless, his current petite stature, combined with the incredibly smooth white silk stockings he wore, made him appear quite different.

Those white-stockinged legs trembled intermittently, and despite his tightly strained little face, he exuded no hint of lethality. Instead, he gave off the impression of a soft, easily bullied little dumpling.

“Hahaha~ Hahahaha~”

It seemed Ye Yu’s counter-attack stance was simply too lacking in menace. The Gray Dragon Fiends surrounding him on the platform all let out a chorus of mocking, peculiar laughter.

Upon hearing the fiends’ taunts, Ye Yu felt his chest swell with indignation.

He had never imagined that his focused battle posture would one day be ridiculed by fiends. ‘Am I to have no dignity?’ he fumed inwardly.

“Elder Gu, wasn’t it agreed that this boy, Ye Yu, would be left to my discretion? You see…”

Just as Ye Yu, whose pride had been wounded, began to seethe, a low yet polite voice resonated through the air at an opportune moment. Following the voice, a young man emerged from behind Elder Gu.

This man was none other than Yang Wei, who had consistently assisted Elder Gu in silently driving Ye Yu away. Perhaps fearing discovery, he was entirely cloaked in black at that moment.

As he spoke, a glimmer of light flashed in his lewd, narrowed eyes, fixed on Ye Yu. His tongue, like that of a predator eyeing delectable prey, licked his chapped lips.

Elder Gu, the monster that he was, observed Yang Wei’s demeanor. He noticed the lecherous glint in the younger man’s eyes and the distinct ‘tent’ beneath his clothes. A fleeting flicker of disdain crossed Elder Gu’s own eyes, but he quickly nodded in satisfaction.

Ye Yu, witnessing this entire exchange, watched Yang Wei suddenly appear, bowing and slinking towards him with a lewd air. He felt a wave of nausea, yet also a strange sense of relief.

After all, compared to the slimy, utterly hair-raising ‘group’ of Gray Dragon Fiends, or the formidable-looking aberrant Elder Gu, Yang Wei, though lewd, was at least human and presumably weaker.

Moreover, considering his current attributes enhanced by his disguise, it was hard to say who would win in a real fight. If he could prolong the battle with Yang Wei for a minute or two, until his Magical Girl Dad arrived as backup, he might just have a sliver of a chance to survive!

“Hehehe, pretty boy, you have nowhere left to run now!”

Just as Ye Yu was calculating his chances, Yang Wei, full of youthful vigor and having received Elder Gu’s permission, stepped onto Dragon’s Gaze Platform, which was less than three meters long and two meters wide.

At this sight, Ye Yu’s nerves tightened. After all, he had never been in a fight since childhood, apart from the white demon tiger he had just contracted.

He had certainly never experienced a ‘life-or-death struggle’ before. This was, by all accounts, a first.

As Yang Wei, with his ‘tent’ pitched, drew ever closer, Ye Yu’s small, white-stockinged feet began to gather strength, aiming for the opponent’s vulnerable ‘tent’.

After all, in the current situation, winning meant vindication, while losing meant utter humiliation. In a battle concerning both life and dignity, Ye Yu had no intention of adhering to martial ethics.

*Clang, clang, clang*

Yang Wei’s leather boots struck the iron platform, producing a series of crisp metallic sounds. As the footsteps grew clearer, Ye Yu’s fair, delicate face became increasingly solemn. A murderous aura began to subtly emanate from his refined, pale forehead.

“Hahahaha, pretty boy, weren’t you quite arrogant this morning? When you made me lose face, did you ever consider that I would delve into your ‘insides’?”

Yang Wei strode into the center of the platform, his steps accompanied by crude remarks. Perhaps because the cat-girl-like Ye Yu appeared utterly harmless, Yang Wei began to hastily unbuckle his pants as he spoke.

Even without practical combat experience, Ye Yu recognized this audacious move as an opportunity. He bent his knees slightly, intending to gather strength for a swift strike to incapacitate the lewd senior’s ‘tool of crime’.

Crack!

A crisp sound of steel rebar snapping suddenly echoed from beneath the iron platform.

As the sound rang out, Ye Yu felt the ground give way beneath his feet. Immediately, a powerful centrifugal force surged through him, his vision plunged wildly downward, and he began to lose his balance.

He looked upwards, utterly bewildered.

Why had the perfectly fine Tiger Leap Platform suddenly broken for no reason?

If Ye Yu’s eyes were filled with bewilderment at that moment, then Yang Wei, a member of the ‘Fools’, stared with utter disbelief.

He had meticulously inspected the platform before stepping onto it. Now, with the iron plate broken and only Elder Gu and his controllable fiends nearby, everything became painfully clear.

Realizing this, Yang Wei, already plummeting, roared in a mix of fury and indignation.

“Elder Gu, I clearly helped you! Why?! You ********, I ****!”

Elder Gu, standing at the cliff’s edge with his tentacles extended, did not respond to his colleague Yang Wei’s enraged accusations.

His protruding eyes flickered towards a fleeting green-clad figure that had actively plunged into the Demonic Abyss from the other side. Watching the silhouette, Elder Gu’s brow furrowed slightly.

However, recalling the perils of the Demonic Abyss, Elder Gu ultimately did not intervene. Instead, he turned his gaze back to his lifelong enemy, his old classmate, the Magical Girl.

He watched as his opponent, the Magical Girl, frantically rushed towards him—no, towards the platform where Ye Yu was falling. Elder Gu’s unique maw curved upwards. After driving away the surrounding Gray Dragon Fiends, he slowly rotated a delicate ring on his fingertip.

As the ring spun, Elder Gu’s body suddenly erupted with multi-colored poisonous clouds and smoke. In mere moments, the toxic mist enveloped the entire platform.

Wherever the smoke reached, lush trees withered, weeds dissolved into drops of green liquid, and animals were instantly reduced to mere bones.

As the smoke continued to seep out, Elder Gu himself began to dissolve, like a melting popsicle.

A wave of profound weakness and powerlessness washed over his body.

Before his consciousness faded, Gu Pengzhe looked at the Magical Girl, who was now unconscious and plummeting from the sky. A gentle smile crossed his face.

‘Now all our grievances are settled, Little White!’

As a whispered murmur faded, the next second, Elder Gu himself transformed into toxic clouds, dispersing into the air. However, no one noticed that within the ring Elder Gu wore, a slender snake-like shadow subtly emerged.

Not long after, a team of well-trained, uniformly dressed Ability Users finally ascended to the peak of Dragon’s Fang Peak.

While everyone frantically tended to the unconscious travelers and the comatose Magical Girl, a dashing officer in a sharp suit walked alone to the platform.

He held the ring, adorned with dragon scales, in his palm. As he stroked its patterns, he sensed a tremor of life within it.

His lips curled into a profound smile.

‘This time, it will be a masterpiece of the human world!’