Chapter 25: The Grim Reaper

The thing Qin Changsheng found hardest to deal with was a girl crying in front of him. His heart softened, and he couldn't help but comfort her: "Don't cry, it'll be alright. I'll go! I'll go and save A-Lie..."

"Don't you go!" Before he could finish, Cao Mengmeng suddenly interrupted him with such intensity that Qin Changsheng stumbled backward and landed on his backside.

He stared in astonishment at the sudden outburst, wondering which part of his words had been wrong.

Cao Mengmeng glared at him, but her fury was not directed at Qin Changsheng; it was turned inward upon herself.

"Do you think I don't want to save him?" Cao Mengmeng’s voice trembled, and tears gushed out like a broken dam. "I want to save him! But I can't—no one can save him!"

Qin Changsheng argued, feeling unconvinced: "Why are you jumping to conclusions so quickly? It looks to me like A-Lie is still holding his own..."

"It’s not that he’s holding his own," Cao Mengmeng interrupted again, her face darkening. "It’s that the Corpse Mountain hasn't even used its true strength yet."

"What did you say?"

Faced with Qin Changsheng’s look of disbelief, Cao Mengmeng let out a deep sigh, stood up, and pulled him to his feet. "See for yourself."

Skeptical, Qin Changsheng walked to the edge of the roof and looked down.

Below, the Corpse Mountain, having had its arm severed by Xifeng Lie, had fully regenerated. It swung its fist at Xifeng Lie once more, as if that were the only move it knew.

And as expected, this punch was again shattered into pieces by the edge of Xifeng Lie’s blade.

The two seemed to be in a stalemate, neither able to gain an advantage.

Seeing the situation, Qin Changsheng remained optimistic: "Look, doesn't that prove A-Lie still has the upper hand? Let’s think of a way—we can definitely save him!"

Beside him, Cao Mengmeng said nothing, her expression unchanged as she continued to watch, as if she had already foreseen the outcome.

Having had its arm shattered twice, even if the Corpse Mountain lacked intelligence, it should have realized something by now. Indeed, once its arm regenerated, the Corpse Mountain did not strike again. It stood frozen in place, as if it had encountered a glitch and crashed.

"Has it given up?" A glimmer of hope ignited in Qin Changsheng’s heart; he felt he saw an opening. "This is it! Let’s hurry and bring A-Lie up!"

"No need." Cao Mengmeng smiled, but it was a bitter smile. "Whatever we do now, it’s already too late."

"What do you mean?" Qin Changsheng found her words impossible to understand. No matter how he looked at it, the Corpse Mountain was cowering, afraid to get close to Xifeng Lie.

Didn't that mean the monster had no way to deal with him?

Watching the optimistic Qin Changsheng, Cao Mengmeng’s voice was as cold as a final verdict: "The Corpse Mountain is preparing to use its full power."

As her words faded, an unbelievable scene unfolded before Qin Changsheng’s eyes.

"No... that’s impossible..." Qin Changsheng stammered. He saw the Corpse Mountain below suddenly begin to swell for no apparent reason.

Its already massive frame grew taller and taller in front of Xifeng Lie, and the shadow it cast gradually engulfed him completely.

At first, Qin Changsheng was confused, but he soon realized it wasn't the Corpse Mountain’s volume increasing; it was the entity stretching itself out.

The countless human bodies that made up the Corpse Mountain began to expand. A "giant maw" gradually tore open where its abdomen should have been. Its upper torso rose higher and higher, as if it were opening its mouth.

Qin Changsheng immediately understood the monster’s intent—this was the motion of a predator preparing to feed. It intended to swallow Xifeng Lie whole!

Xifeng Lie, standing right before the monster, realized it too. He quickly retracted his outstretched hands. Following his movement, the Longyuan blades that had been circling to protect him instantly flew back, clinging to his body and condensing into a suit of armor.

"Longyuan: Blade Armor!"

Xifeng Lie shouted, and the blades attached to him bloomed like petals, thrusting outward in every direction. Longyuan reconfigured itself into a suit of spiked armor covering Xifeng Lie’s body.

Xifeng Lie now resembled a heavily armed sea urchin; whoever tried to eat him would surely pay the price!

However, the Corpse Mountain clearly didn't calculate that far.

The next second, the giant maw on its belly lunged at Xifeng Lie like a rising tidal wave. The stacked human bodies writhed, reaching out with countless hands to grab the blades on Xifeng Lie’s armor, not letting go even as their palms were sliced open by the edges.

They were like vengeful spirits from hell, determined to drag all the living down with them. They seized Xifeng Lie, lifted him, wrapped their mass around him, and pulled him into the maw of the Corpse Mountain!

He had been swallowed!

Qin Changsheng saw Xifeng Lie disappear into the monster’s mouth, and his heart sank.

Was he just eaten like that?

No!

A second later, countless blades pierced out from various parts of the Corpse Mountain’s body, slicing and tearing, attempting to hack the monster into fragments.

Xifeng Lie was still fighting back; he wasn't dead yet!

With Longyuan acting as a protective shell, the Corpse Mountain couldn't simply digest him.

Qin Changsheng couldn't help but smile, clenching his fists tightly: "Look! A-Lie is fine after all!"

"No." Cao Mengmeng’s expression remained unchanged; her tears had long since run dry. "It’s over."

She was right.

The next moment, Qin Changsheng saw that the wounds the swords had carved into the Corpse Mountain’s body healed the instant they appeared. Countless blood bubbles burst along the cuts, each one sealing the wound a little more.

No matter how many blades thrust out from within, they couldn't carve an opening wide enough for him to escape.

The Corpse Mountain looked like a gluttonous man with a distended belly, only this belly was stuffed with a human being.

It didn't seem to care about being pierced by the blades; it only seemed dissatisfied with its bulging stomach. The Corpse Mountain raised a hand, pressed it against its belly, and exerted force.

What was it doing?

The action made Qin Changsheng uneasy, and the question he had just formed was answered in an instant. The Corpse Mountain pressed down hard on its own midsection!

Even from a distance, Qin Changsheng felt he heard a sickening "crunch"—the sound of bones being crushed to dust.

The Corpse Mountain’s belly collapsed, losing any resemblance to a human form. At the same time, a massive spray of blood erupted from the blade holes it had just been pierced with, until everything fell into silence.

Just as Cao Mengmeng had said, it was all over.

Qin Changsheng stared blankly at the scene, his mind unable to accept the sudden reality.

It wasn't until the swords that had been poking out of the monster’s body were pulled back into its bloated mass that Qin Changsheng was forced to admit the truth—Xifeng Lie was dead.

No one could defeat the Corpse Mountain.