C1 The Situation Was Certain Death!

Netherworlds Chronicles.

August 14th, Year 888.

At the Wall of Despair in the far northern reaches.

A biting cold wind jolted Ye Kong awake from his slumber.

He huddled up, struggling to pry his eyes open.

Glancing around, he was taken aback.

A kerosene lamp flickered in the icy gusts.

Walls of solid ice radiated a chilling aura.

A worn straw mat was the only spot available for refuge.

Where am I?

Wasn't I asleep in my own bed?

A sharp pain shot through his head as memories flooded in like a rising tide.

Within moments, he was forced to confront a startling reality: he had traveled through time.

Ye Kong, the direct grandson of Old General Ye from the Jin Dynasty, was meant to live a life of privilege, free from the concerns of sustenance and shelter.

Yet, three years prior, calamity struck. On his return from a victorious campaign, Old General Ye was treacherously ambushed and fell.

The entire Ye family, 364 souls, were slain by an enigmatic assassin.

Only Ye Kong, a layabout with no real skills, survived by sheer luck.

The incident became the greatest unsolved case in the history of the Jin Dynasty.

Since then, he'd been on the run, eventually ending up at the Wall of Despair, where his fate took an even darker turn: he was selected to join the suicide squad.

This so-called suicide squad was nothing more than a one-way ticket to death.

The Wall of Despair, spanning a hundred thousand miles, stood at the continent's northern frontier, beginning at the Ghost Shadow Forest and ending at the Frost-Snow Tooth Mountain Range.

Constructed from millennium-old ice from the frozen rivers, and fortified with ancient spells and magic, it served as humanity's foremost defense against the Darkling Spectres.

On the night of every Mid-Autumn Festival, when the spectres grew restless, the night watchmen would dispatch a hundred-strong team to hunt for obsidian and Valyrian steel.

Beyond the Wall lay untold perils.

Even a grandmaster might venture forth never to return.

And Ye Kong, not even a martial cultivator, stood no chance of survival.

As he processed these memories, a chill settled in Ye Kong's heart.

Then, from beyond the door, faint footsteps approached.

A nonchalant voice drifted in, "Hey, No. 66, do you fancy a shot at life?"

"Yes," Ye Kong replied without a second thought.

Who would choose death when life was an option? To die upon arrival would be a disgrace to all transmigrators.

He had made it this far and had ambitions to fulfill!

"If you're keen on living, I can show you the way."

A man with a bamboo hat entered, his face obscured by the shadows.

But his presence was undeniably powerful.

Ye Kong had no doubts the stranger could end his life with a mere slap.

With increased reverence, Ye Kong said, "I'm listening."

The man gestured with his right hand, thumb and index finger rubbing together.

Ye Kong paused, realizing the man was expecting a bribe.

He frantically searched himself, finding nothing of value to offer.

"Spirit stones," the man said, his tone edged with impatience.

"I don't have any."

The man in black didn't show anger but instead glanced at a small box in the corner.

Approaching it, he effortlessly split it open with a single hand. He extracted eight spirit stones and dumped the dry food into his storage bag.

"Now, you're left with two spirit stones as your fallback. The rations? You won't be needing them—I'll take those off your hands," he said, content.

He then picked up the dagger, its blade gleaming coldly.

"This dagger is effective against Darkling Spectres, but the Darklight Powder within is scarce. It will last for only five uses."

"After five uses, it's useless?"

"Exactly," the man answered crisply.

Ye Kong committed this to memory.

This information alone made the encounter worthwhile.

The higher-ups hadn't shared these details; they'd only stressed the dagger's importance as the sole weapon against Darkling Spectres before hastily departing.

"How do I stay alive?" Ye Kong asked, voicing his most pressing concern.

His strength was negligible.

Among the Hundred-Man Dare-to-die Team, he was the least powerful.

Survival seemed a daunting task.

The more he knew, the better his odds of living.

A beam of light emanated from the man's hand, illuminating Ye Kong's face.

His pallid complexion spoke of frailty, yet his sharply defined features betrayed an unwavering resolve.

His eyes were deep, like an endless void.

The man seemed slightly dazed.

A promising prospect, yet tragically on the brink of death.

His presence here was driven by disdain for the repulsive visages of certain individuals.

Moreover, he sought to instill a glimmer of hope in these youngsters.

Lest they succumb to despair before they even breached the perimeter of the Wall.

Scanning the interior of the house, he realized there was nothing left worth scavenging.

Offhandedly, he remarked, "At the Shadow Tower, there's an old guardian who's survived multiple suicide missions. If you're keen on staying alive, seek his wisdom."

Without waiting for Ye Kong to respond, he drifted away.

"Shadow Tower, the old guardian."

Ye Kong paced within the confines of the house.

Then, the man's voice reached his ears once more.

"Come tomorrow's hour, it's time for you to leave the city. Fish offers you this counsel: Beyond the Wall, trust no one."

Ye Kong let out a wry chuckle.

A twenty-four-hour countdown to death...

He snatched his coat from the wall and headed for the door.

The Northern Territory's night was pitch-black, rendering one blind to their own hand.

Clutching a small lantern, he hastened across the snowy terrain.

The journey to the Shadow Tower was a three-hour trek.

Time was not on his side.

Escape was out of the question.

Not only had each person ingested Talisman Water, which would cause them to explode if they strayed from the Wall's domain, but the vast snowy wilderness beyond was no place for the average soul to survive.

In the still of the night, the sound of sleet whispered through the air.

A hundred-strong contingent was on the move.

Some ran, others skied, a few rode atop snow wolves.

All were bound for the same destination: the Shadow Tower.

Ye Kong's presence in the group was conspicuously discordant.

His uneven gait left him trailing behind the others.

Atop a platform a hundred meters high stood two figures.

"Do you think anyone will make it back alive this time?" one asked.

"Unlikely," replied Fish, the very man who had just spoken. "Obsidian is increasingly rare, and not easily found."

The other person lowered their gaze to the red lantern.

With a slight furrow of the brow, they remarked, "That kid hasn't even stepped into the Martial Arts Realm, and yet they've sent him out. Isn't that just reckless?"

Fish gestured upwards, "It's what the higher-ups want."

He paused before adding, "Perhaps he's crossed some powerful figure out there!"

"Damn it, those people have the audacity to reach into the Wall. Even the Nightwatchers aren't safe from their meddling!"

"Come on! Is there anything they haven't laid their hands on?" Fish said, his face twisted in a sardonic grin.

"The day I grow strong, anyone who dares to reach out to me will lose their hand. And anyone who dares to stick their neck out will lose their head."

"Good on you, Yin Shisan. I'm looking forward to the day we topple those damned old fossils!" Fish said, his fists tightening.

Ultimately, this world respects strength above all else.

Might makes right.

If it weren't for their blatant injustice, he wouldn't have even noticed the young Ye Kong.

Among the hundred-strong team below, the quickest were already miles ahead.

Yet the slowest, Ye Kong, lingered just beneath their position.

"Did you just say something to that youngster?"

Fish let out a wistful sigh, "What could I possibly say? Just some words of caution to ease my own conscience. He's simply too weak; survival is unlikely."

"Nothing is certain in this world. Who knows, he might just pull off a miracle, like finding something in the Shadow Tower."

Suddenly, Ye Kong looked up, his gaze meeting that of the two above.

He murmured to himself, "Odd, I keep getting this feeling that someone's watching me."