The embodiment of the Extremely Effective Monarch widened his eyes in disbelief, his face full of shock: “Why is this happening!”

As he spoke, his knees gradually bent, and he fell to the ground, kneeling.

“This is impossible!”

The Extremely Effective Monarch supported his body with both hands, trying to struggle to get up.

But all his efforts were futile.

Two seconds after saying these words, he was pressed to the ground by an invisible gravity field, face down, tightly adhered to the ground.

Metal and mineral fragments deeply penetrated his skin.

Yet, the physical pain paled in comparison to the shock of the confusion in his heart.

“I was clearly released from the card long ago…”

“Why would it still… betray…”

He could not get an explanation or an answer.

A physique slightly superior to Earth humans couldn’t allow him to survive under a hundredfold gravity.

His body organs couldn’t support their own weight, collapsing, decomposing, and shattering directly!

Under the ruthless crush of the hundredfold gravity, his bones pierced through his muscles, his internal organs were crushed into pulp, and his brain matter turned into a pool of mush.

This guy who called himself the new Extremely Effective Monarch was dead.

At the same time, a modestly dressed, gray-skinned young man with white hair appeared beside his corpse.

“…”

Though no one knew who this white-haired, gray-skinned youth was, he was holding a guy who looked dead like a dog.

That person’s aura was almost identical to the new Extremely Effective Monarch who just met his end.

No explanation was needed.

Everyone knew that this “defeated captive” was most likely the true body of the Extremely Effective Monarch.

“The mastermind behind the Eternal Civilization has actually shown up voluntarily.”

Ma Ran’s eyes flickered, his expression serious.

At this moment, the captured true form of the Extremely Effective Monarch looked haggard.

But his gaze was fixed firmly on the Demon Child, and after observing for a moment, he suddenly burst into mad laughter: “Hahaha! I was right after all!”

“This Demon Child, he isn’t human at all!”

“He…”

“Ugh.”

The Extremely Effective Monarch’s words were interrupted halfway by a slap from the white-haired, gray-skinned mastermind of the Eternal Civilization.

“I didn’t give you permission to speak.”

After saying this, the white-haired, gray-skinned young man expressionlessly glanced around, furrowed his brows slightly, then pointed lightly in the direction where Li Xing was: “All the cards are extensions of my ability.”

“What you have accomplished to this degree is quite impressive.”

“As a reward…”

“I will grant you the honor of being killed by my own hand.”

Boom!

The suddenly increased gravity forced Li Xing to kneel on the spot.

Another light tap of his finger.

Wu Di fell prone.

In the blink of an eye, the two only saw darkness, unable to see anything.

This was “blackout vision,” caused by the blood flowing from the head downwards under pressure, sharply reducing blood volume in the brain.

If it weren’t for some inner Qi protecting their vital organs, the two would have died instantly at this moment!

At the critical moment of Earth’s team being in a desperate situation, Su Qiangwei unexpectedly saw that Ma Ran did not run towards Wu Di and Li Xing but instead rushed towards the Demon Child’s direction.

If it were anyone else doing this, Su Qiangwei might have thought it was a subconscious act due to fear, trying to seek refuge with their strongest ally to survive.

But the person doing it was Ma Ran.

Su Qiangwei believed that he surely had a deeper meaning.

Thoughts flickered in her mind like electric fire stones.

The girl reacted swiftly, and immediately used the combined abilities of [Domain Summoning] and [Target Extension], locking onto Ma Ran, Wu Di, Li Xing, and the Demon Child together.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Three figures appeared in front of Su Qiangwei in the blink of an eye.

This trial of combined abilities was centered around [Domain Summoning], which had been tried once during the Lotus City Demon Mountain battle.

It could pull all high-intelligence life forms within the selected range to the ability user’s side.

However…

Su Qiangwei only managed to pull in Ma Ran, Wu Di, and Li Xing.

The Demon Child Zhang Kuang was not summoned over.

On the battlefield, the Demon Child was nowhere to be seen.

At this moment, Ma Ran held an exaggerated pink straight-blade Tang Blade in his right hand, while his left hand was gripping a simple metal spear.

He slowly released his left hand, and the spear gradually floated into the air, transforming into a red-haired, blood-eyed youth.

Su Qiangwei widened her eyes, activating the [Subspace] ability to protect everyone.

“My inner Qi and spiritual power are almost drained.”

“This space can hold for about ten more seconds…”

The girl’s words were interrupted halfway as she felt a thick, warm torrent of inner Qi, like a mighty river, flowing from Ma Ran’s arm to her shoulder.

Su Qiangwei used her hands to hold her eyelids open, preventing the Earth squad from dying instantly due to her blinking, she then faintly said: “Alright, with this guy here, I can hold on for at least half an hour.”

This was a conservative estimate.

Ma Ran possessed nearly two thousand forty-eight acupoints worth of inner Qi, making his inner Qi recovery akin to a super power bank.

Originally, Su Qiangwei felt extremely tired and exhausted, about to collapse, but with the massive influx of inner Qi, she immediately perked up, and the inner Qi Ma Ran poured into her body replaced her fat, becoming the energy material for Superpower Erosion loss.

The girl’s gaze slightly shifted, landing on the somewhat ethereal face of the Demon Child, she sighed, some memory fragments flashed past her eyes like flickers.

At the main base of the Eternal Civilization, when Ma Ran passed through the “phone booth,” he was holding the Demon Child.

Why?

Because the Extremely Effective Monarch was right, the Demon Child wasn’t a “human” at all!

His true form was actually…

A long spear.

When he first descended to Earth, the words the Demon Child said still lingered fresh in Su Qiangwei’s memory.

“The urgent task is to find my spear!”

What spear to find?

Wasn’t the Demon Child himself that spear?

“Ah… am I dead?”

Wu Di was shrouded in the shadow of death, his eyes temporarily blinded by the effects of excessive gravity, a bit bewildered: “Seems like I’m not…”

“Wu Di. Wu Di!”

“If I die here, will anyone remember this name?”

Suddenly, a familiar voice reached his ears.

“What is the name of your spiritual soldier?”

Wu Di was all too familiar with this voice!

If it’s not Demon Child, who could it be?

Indeed, just like Brother Ran, Demon Child is a good person, cold on the outside but warm on the inside!

Even at this moment, still caring about me!

The buzzing in his ears seemed to diminish significantly.

He looked toward the direction from which the voice came, his vision a blur, only able to vaguely make out the shadow of a long spear.

“Hey? Demon Child, you’ve found your spiritual soldier? Congratulations!”

Wu Di instinctively said: “My sword hasn’t been named yet…”

The other person responded briefly: “Just call it ‘Wu Di’.”

“?”

“Even if you die, your name will be passed down with your spiritual soldier, remembered by people.”

“Just like me.”

Upon hearing this, Wu Di’s vision gradually became clearer.

A simply designed large spear stood before him.

And beyond the long spear, a humanoid illusion with red hair and blood-red eyes shrouded it.

Seeing this scene, Wu Di felt his scalp tingle, his mind feeling as if it was being electrified, his cheeks tingling, causing his entire body to uncontrollably tremble.

“Demon Child, you… you…”

Though headstrong and straightforward by nature, he was not an idiot.

With all the evidence laid out before him, if he still couldn’t grasp the truth, he wouldn’t have been able to become the first class member of the Grass Hut Academy in the first place.

All the strange behaviors of Demon Child back then, now could all be explained clearly…

“My spear loves wine as much as I do!”

“It is my comrade through life and death. To me, it’s more important than anything!”

“My hair should be black.”

“Swords have sword rhythm, blades have blade marks, every spiritual soldier has its own character.”

“Spiritual soldiers don’t change with the owner’s will, but grow more and more like its wielder.”

“Observe the weapon, know the master.”

The large gun that Demon Child once used to roam the world, sweeping across the universe and subduing Cangming Star, was forged not with quenching liquid, but with fine wine…

Including the peculiar reactions after I said those nonsensical things at the beginning…

“Clearly, Sword Master gave me a stronger impression than you. (Sword Master only has a remnant soul left, while his flesh and soul shattered, and his Spirit Sword severely damaged.)”

“Yet, you tore through a space wormhole, coming from Cangming Star to Earth without any incident, only to have lost your spear…”

“It doesn’t add up logically!”

Which is stronger, Sword Master or Demon Child?

No one could say for sure.

But all the mysteries from before have now been dispelled by the answer before us.

Wu Di stared blankly at Demon Child, suddenly becoming tongue-tied, completely clueless about how to begin speaking.

Beside him, Su Qiangwei held her eyelids open with her hands, sighed softly, and said, “So Zhang Kuang has already perished in the space-time wormhole.”

“The Demon Child we are familiar with, who arrived on Earth, has always been Zhang Kuang’s lifebound spiritual soldier from the very start…”

Crack!

A faint sound of breaking glass suddenly emerged from the subspace.

Sounds not meant for subspace also rang in everyone’s ears.

“An independent space? Not a bad ability.”

The Longevity Black Hand, with gray skin and white hair, coldly commented: “Few can shatter this space and directly harm those inside.”

“However…”

“All it takes is a little time, with enough powerful gravity, it can cause the collapse and distortion of the space.”

Before anyone within the subspace could respond, the voice of the Extremely Effective Monarch’s main body also came through: “What’s this about ‘losing the spear on the way to Earth’?”

“It was merely a memory confusion caused by unprotected interstellar travel!”

“On the way from Earth to the Eternal Civilization Main Base, his confused memories were reintegrated!”

“The real Zhang Kuang, when he fought across Cangming Star in his early years, was probably already dead!”

“It was the identity of Demon Child that established the Blood Lotus Dynasty, achieving unification, and from start to finish, it was just Zhang Kuang’s spear!”

“It’s truly touching how a weapon could go to such lengths to fulfill its master’s last wish…”

Hearing this, Li Xing, who had remained silent, widened his eyes, feeling a cold chill run up his tailbone to the back of his head.

His personal perception and world view were completely overturned!

Was the Extremely Effective Monarch’s theory correct? Or was Su Qiangwei’s guess more accurate?

Either theory, whichever is the truth, constitutes a total overthrow of his cognition!

Besides Demon Child, no one else could know the truth.

Wu Di immediately looked at Ma Ran, bewildered: “Brother Ran…”

With the wisdom of a “Prophet,” he should be able to deduce the truth, right?

Ma Ran shook his head, still expressionless, but a rare hint of helplessness tinged his voice: “I don’t know either.”

“I have great respect for Demon Child, so…”

“I’ve never inquired about these matters.”

“You only need to remember one thing, and it’s enough— the Demon Child who descended upon Earth has always been just the one before you.”

Li Xing and Wu Di both nodded in agreement with this statement.

This was the point they could most readily accept after having their cognition overturned.

The deductions from the Extremely Effective Monarch and Su Qiangwei partially matched.

That is…

The “Demon Child Zhang Kuang” known to Earth Humans and the Longevity Star People wasn’t the black-haired, blood-eyed Zhang Kuang himself, but a spiritual soldier that traveled through the cosmos with Zhang Kuang on Cangming Star.

Red tassel as hair, divine iron as flesh.

Bloodless yet soulful, thus a Demon Child!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep