Chapter 1179: Loneliness

"So, we've been expelled?" Zhang Shan asked with a smile.

"No... it's not 'expulsion,'" Chu Tianqiu replied. "I don't want to expel anyone; it's just that 'Tian Tang Kou' no longer exists. You don't have to risk your lives for these three illusory words, so escape while you can."

"So, that means you're not our leader anymore?" Xiao Yanjing asked from the side.

"I don't have to respectfully call you 'brother' anymore, right?" Jin Yuanxun said.

"You all..."

"We can do whatever we want, then?" Li Xiangling asked with a laugh.

Hearing everyone's questions, Chu Tianqiu felt a sting in his nose, and a complex mix of emotions swirled in his heart.

"So, from now on, you can't give us orders," Zhang Shan said. "If I want to die here, that's my choice, right?"

"Yeah," Jin Yuanxun nodded. "Today, I suddenly feel like picking a fight, and this spot is perfect. If I die, so be it."

"Tianqiu..." Wen Qiaoyun added from the side, "Do you really think these people are only risking their lives for the three words 'Tian Tang Kou'?"

"I..."

The many members of "Tian Tang Kou" simply maintained their composure, as if Chu Tianqiu hadn't said anything at all.

Many of them had been with "Tian Tang Kou" since its founding. Perhaps there were gaps in their memories with Chu Tianqiu, but their current bonds remained unbroken.

When he saw that even with "Tian Tang Kou" disbanding, these people still chose to die here, Chu Tianqiu finally understood the feeling that had been lingering in his heart.

It was a heavy sense of loneliness that had persisted for so long and was only now beginning to fade.

Only by seeing so many people standing behind him did he realize the depth of the loneliness he had once endured.

It was a loneliness of going against the crowd; a loneliness of staring at the ground during gatherings; a loneliness of wanting to speak but always fearing no one would understand.

He felt an urge to cry, but he knew he wasn't sad and, in theory, shouldn't shed tears.

Yet, when he touched his cheek, the tears had already fallen.

Perhaps emotions that bring tears aren't limited to sadness—sometimes, it's from smiling like this.

Once, he had charged into "Tian Tang Kou" with a vague wish.

He had intended to save the lost travelers in "Zhong Yan Zhi Di," but in the end, it was "Tian Tang Kou" that saved him.

Yes, its very purpose pointed toward paradise.

"I get it now..." Chu Tianqiu said. "I finally get it... What comes next isn't about 'Tian Yi,' but 'Wo Yi.' After all, that 'Tian' character... I added it myself later."

He slowly extended his right hand, with four bloody eyeballs wedged between his fingers.

"Tianqiu... you..." Wen Qiaoyun sensed something was wrong and reached out to stop Chu Tianqiu. "You look like you're in 'Guo Du Hui Xiang'..."

"Just a hundred people, that's all," Chu Tianqiu said with tears streaming down his face and a laugh. "I'll take back what I said—'Yi Dang Bai' can really be done; it just depends on the price you pay."

He gently pushed Wen Qiaoyun aside and tossed all four eyeballs into his mouth, crunching them.

In the next second, his hair stood on end, and his pupils turned a deep, blood-red. A strange magnetic field began to ripple around him.

"I'm the one preparing to peer into the 'Shen Zhi Meng Jing,'" Chu Tianqiu said in a hoarse voice. "I'm the one who's going to tear a crack in Tian Long's dream... How could I lose here... to something as insignificant as 'Tian Yi'?"

In the distance, Di Shu frowned at the sight. The aura around this person was too bizarre.

He resembled Qing Long, but not entirely.

Chu Tianqiu pointed at a withered tree, and in an instant, it disintegrated into countless fragments. Then, a fierce wind whipped them up, hurling them like a swarm of locusts at the dozen or so people in front.

Under the immense forces of "Jing Feng" and "Nuo Yi," the fragments burrowed into the participants' skin, leaving them mangled and bloody in seconds.

Chu Tianqiu advanced through the gale, waving his hands like a conductor performing outdoors in a storm. The fragments swirled around him at high speed.

The participants finally realized that Chu Tianqiu, who had been holding back until now, might be the strongest "Hui Xiang Zhe" in the group. But he seemed on the verge of complete madness, and if they could withstand this assault, he might collapse on his own.

With that in mind, the participants grabbed corpses from the ground and held them up as shields to absorb the onslaught of sharp fragments.

Chu Tianqiu was prepared for this. Once the corpses were riddled with fragments, he clenched his right fist tightly, triggering a series of micro-explosions that spread across the bodies. Blood and flesh burst forth in muffled booms, injuring a large swath of participants.

He himself slowly bent over, gasping for breath in huge gulps.

This "Zhong He Hui Xiang" caused excruciating pain in his forehead, as if his very soul was being drained.

"No, I'm still afraid..." Chu Tianqiu muttered to himself. "How can I enter his dream like this..."

He pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling as if his brain had activated some protective mechanism, using pain to warn him that what he was doing was extremely dangerous.

"You need to free yourself..." Chu Tianqiu seemed to be speaking to his own mind. "Pain only comes from fear... but there's nothing to fear here..."

Seeing a gap in Chu Tianqiu's attack, the participants charged forward to surround him. The "Tian Tang Kou" members rushed in to shield him with their own bodies.

In the chaos, one participant lunged with a sharpened iron pipe, thrusting it straight toward Chu Tianqiu's chest.

"Why are you stopping us from escaping?!" the person shouted, his eyes bloodshot as he unleashed all his hatred.

At the critical moment, Wen Qiaoyun leaped forward, tackling the attacker to the ground.

Chu Tianqiu's eyes widened in shock, and suddenly, all his headache vanished, suppressed by something else.

"Damn it!" Zhang Shan shoved aside the people in front of him and hurried to Wen Qiaoyun's side, forcibly separating her from her assailant.

But the next second, he saw that Wen Qiaoyun's abdomen had been slashed open with a huge gash, the sharpened iron pipe lodged inside like a drainpipe, pouring out blood.

"Qiaoyun..." Chu Tianqiu looked up, his eyes now completely blood-red.

Without hesitation, he flipped his hand and produced another eyeball.

"You won't die... Qiaoyun... I still have one 'Sheng Sheng Bu Xi'... I'll use it right now..."

"No..." Wen Qiaoyun reached out toward Chu Tianqiu, her voice weak. "Tianqiu... don't... I was meant to die anyway..."

"What are you talking about..." Chu Tianqiu glared at her.

"Don't lose all your reason... Don't swallow that thing..." Wen Qiaoyun said with a bitter smile.

Chu Tianqiu clutched the eyeball in his hand. He knew that what he needed to save wasn't just Wen Qiaoyun, but that bottomless loneliness as well.