Chapter 30: The Will of the World
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“Crack, crack…”
Mo Xiao leaped from branch to branch through the jungle, following the guidance in his heart as he searched the forest for his teacher.
The deeper he went, the stronger the stench of blood became. His keen senses immediately told him that his teacher must have engaged in a fierce battle with someone here.
Looking down from a tree trunk, he first saw a body lying in the weeds.
Cold sweat instantly covered Mo Xiao from head to toe, but he quickly recognized from the figure that the corpse was definitely not his teacher.
Mo Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.
He hurriedly jumped down from the tree and anxiously searched the surroundings. At last, beneath a secluded tree, he discovered that familiar figure.
Under the hazy, chill moonlight, the slender young man sat beneath the tree with a dagger buried in his chest. Crimson blood slowly dripped from the blade.
His upper body rested against the rough trunk, while he cradled a pitch-black greatsword in his arms. Strands of hair clung damply to his temples, soaked with sweat. His eyes were shut, his face pale, and his breathing faint and unsteady. Clearly, his injuries were severe.
That once beautiful and distinguished face now bore an additional wound, running from his brow ridge down to his cheek.
The wound was not frightening. Instead, it lent him a fragile, porcelain-like quality that made anyone who saw it feel their heart tighten involuntarily.
“Teacher!”
Mo Xiao felt a sharp pain in his chest and hurried toward the tree.
Yet just as he reached out to support Mo Xuanyu’s shoulder, a black greatsword suddenly came to rest against his neck, radiating bone-chilling cold and killing intent.
Mo Xiao froze in place. At some point, Mo Xuanyu’s left hand had seized the hilt and drawn Nightmare Moon, moving so quickly that Mo Xiao had been unable to react.
Strangely, Mo Xuanyu himself seemed entirely unaware of it. It was nothing more than an instinctive defensive action.
Only after making that unconscious movement did Mo Xuanyu gradually awaken from his slumber.
Since no one had disturbed him, he had accidentally slept longer than intended.
He slowly opened his unharmed left eye. A misty sheen lay over its pale-blue iris as his cold, distant gaze settled on Mo Xiao.
“Teacher… I’m sorry I came so late.” Mo Xiao lowered his head slightly. Closing his eyes, he surrendered his life to Mo Xuanyu’s judgment.
“Wolf.”
Mo Xuanyu’s pupils slowly focused as he recognized the person before him. He then withdrew Nightmare Moon.
“Help me up. Cough, cough…”
Mo Xuanyu extended a hand toward Mo Xiao. The movement tugged at his wounds, and he lowered his head to cough up several pieces of flesh clinging to blood.
Mo Xiao was frantic. He draped Mo Xuanyu’s right arm over his shoulder and supported him as he rose, his eyes reddening.
“Your injuries are serious.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
Unlike Mo Xiao’s panic, Mo Xuanyu knew his own condition perfectly well. It looked frightening, but it was not life-threatening.
He placed Nightmare Moon into his storage space. Then, under Mo Xiao’s horrified gaze, he reached up and grasped the dagger in his chest, slowly pulling it free.
The sound of flesh scraping against steel made Mo Xiao’s heart ache even more.
He felt guilty—guilty that he had not realized sooner that his teacher was missing, and guilty that he had not arrived earlier.
Mo Xuanyu pulled out the dagger and tossed it into his storage space. It was of green quality and worth at least a little money; there was no reason to waste it.
The Holy Geometry interfered with the cognition of anyone other than Chosen Ones, so Mo Xiao felt no surprise at any of Mo Xuanyu’s actions.
Pale-blue psychic energy gathered around the wound in Mo Xuanyu’s chest. Fresh crimson flesh gradually grew, filling the injury.
“Wolf, bury his body.”
Mo Xuanyu’s gaze fell upon Carmen.
Mo Xiao nodded without asking why. Only after confirming that his teacher could stand on his own did he release him and walk over to Carmen. Using his sword, he dug a pit and buried the body.
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Although Mo Xuanyu and Carmen had been enemies only moments earlier, Mo Xuanyu respected such a fiercely loyal and powerful warrior. He naturally could not leave him exposed in the wilderness.
That would have been too pitiful.
After burying Carmen, Mo Xiao returned to Mo Xuanyu’s side. He took out the letter he had found earlier and handed it to Mo Xuanyu, then recounted everything that had happened in the tent.
Mo Xuanyu opened the letter and glanced over it. As expected, this was the genuine letter sent by Mentor Peter. But the appointed time had already passed, and even if he hurried there now, it would be too late.
“Teacher, are we still returning to the military camp?” Mo Xiao asked.
Mo Xuanyu looked up at the moon, then finally nodded.
“Let’s go back.”
Since Carmen had come to kill him alone, it meant that no one else knew about the matter.
This was where the Holy Geometry’s influence revealed itself.
According to the Holy Geometry’s faction assessment, Mo Xuanyu still belonged to the Kingdom faction. He had not been shifted to the Allied Army faction.
If the Sun King had truly grown suspicious of Mo Xuanyu, believed him to be a traitor, and wanted him dead, the Holy Geometry would certainly have changed his faction.
The fact that his faction had not changed meant that the Sun King did not actually want Mo Xuanyu dead. He had merely found an excuse to send Carmen to fight him.
Yes, the Sun King had most likely wanted nothing more than for Mo Xuanyu and Carmen to fight one another to the death on the front lines.
But that raised the question: why?
Mo Xuanyu suddenly recalled the words the Sun King had spoken earlier in his study.
“Mora, I can feel that the day this world breaks through is not far away.”
“All that remains is one decisive battle—a battle that will determine the future of the entire continent.”
“Look forward to it, Mora.”
“I will become the first transcendent in history to break through the limits.”
Extracting the key points from those words and combining them with what had happened this time, Mo Xuanyu came to a conclusion:
Perhaps a life-and-death battle between powerful individuals could also accelerate this world’s advancement to the Second Tier.
That was the Sun King’s true purpose.
Having realized this, Mo Xuanyu looked at Carmen’s grave with a trace of pity.
This fiercely loyal knight had ultimately died at the hands of the king he had served.
To the Sun King, it did not matter whether Mo Xuanyu or Carmen died. As long as the plan proceeded smoothly, either outcome was acceptable.
There was no such thing as affection in his heart.
He pursued only one thing: breaking through to a higher realm and becoming the supreme ruler and god of this world.
Then the Sun King would guide the entire world according to what he believed was right.
“Let’s go.”
Mo Xuanyu turned around. With Mo Xiao supporting him, the two of them walked toward the edge of the forest.
“Teacher, your eye…”
Along the way, Mo Xiao did not know whether he should ask.
Mo Xuanyu tilted his head slightly and looked at him.
“Is it frightening? The wound on my face?”
“It isn’t frightening.” Mo Xiao’s earlobes burned as he answered instinctively, “You are still the gentlest teacher in my heart.”
At that, Mo Xuanyu smiled faintly. Just as Mo Xiao had said, the smile was exceptionally gentle.
The wound over his eye was also gradually healing. By then, only a dark red scar remained.
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Hot breath brushed against the side of Mo Xiao’s neck, making him even more embarrassed.
After his battle with Carmen, Mo Xuanyu had gained a great deal. In addition to vastly enriching his combat experience, he had also acquired the skill Specialization in Mixed Martial Arts.
This directly brought about a qualitative transformation in his combat strength.
The two of them emerged from the forest. Mo Xiao whistled, and a horse grazing nearby quickly came running over. They climbed onto its back and rode back to the military camp.
“How long have I been away from the camp?” Mo Xuanyu asked. Sitting sideways on the horse, he leaned against Mo Xiao’s sturdy back and closed his eyes to rest.
“Two hours already,” Mo Xiao replied. He had been frantic the entire time.
Holy Geometry Notification: Your current Talent Ascension progress has reached ninety-nine percent. A transformation may occur at any moment. Please take note.
Mo Xuanyu stared at the notification in his mind and slowly yawned.
He was tired—overwhelmingly, indescribably tired.
He wanted to sleep…
Back at the military camp, Mo Xuanyu asked Mo Xiao to take several clean garments from the chest. He then undid his buttons and began to change.
Mo Xiao hastily turned around and stared blankly at the kerosene lamp before him.
Well… this was certainly a very kerosene-like kerosene lamp.
As the flame flickered, Mo Xiao listened to the rustling of clothes behind him. His body grew rigid, and he could only close his eyes and tell himself not to let his thoughts run wild.
“Done.”
Mo Xuanyu leaned over from behind him and lifted the kerosene lamp, extinguishing it.
“Good night, Wolf.”
“Good night, Teacher.”
Mo Xuanyu returned to his bed and fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow. Mo Xiao, however, felt no trace of sleepiness. He stood outside the entrance of Mo Xuanyu’s tent for the entire night.
To distract himself, he began wondering why his teacher had fought Carmen when the two of them had seemed to get along quite well before.
Unfortunately, he seemed to have been born unsuited for politics. Even after thinking about it all night, he still could not figure out what had gone wrong.
Just as dawn began to break, a member of the Sun King’s personal guard rode into the military camp on horseback and shouted,
“By order of the Sun King! Where is your supreme commander? Bring him out at once!”
“What are you yelling about? Our leader is sleeping! If you disturb his rest, I’ll beat you senseless!”
A two-meter-tall senior knight was drawing water for a bath. In the freezing snow and ice, he poured an entire bucket of cold water over his head, and the muscles and scars covering his body made the onlookers shiver.
The guardsman’s attitude immediately improved somewhat. He coughed twice.
“Please hurry and wake him. I’m anxious to return and report to the Sun King too.”
After a while, Mo Xuanyu appeared before the guardsman.
“What orders does the Sun King have?”
In truth, he had already vaguely guessed why the guardsman had come.
The guardsman held two letters. Upon seeing Mo Xuanyu, he immediately threw the letter in his right hand into the nearby bonfire, then opened the decree in his left hand.
“General Carmen Lance is gravely ill and is no longer fit to serve as supreme commander of the Moon God River campaign. Mo Lavenas will now assume full authority as supreme commander. All personnel are to be informed accordingly.”
After delivering the decree, the guardsman displayed the seal upon it, representing the authority of the Sun King.
The surrounding officers were all stunned by the proclamation. Only Mo Xuanyu remained expressionless as he accepted the decree.
Just as he had expected, the Sun King did not care who won the duel.
He had even prepared one decree each for Mo Xuanyu and Carmen, ensuring that whichever of them emerged victorious could return to the military camp and assume command of the entire army as a matter of course.
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