Chapter 84: The Soul of Freedom

Chapter 84: The Soul of Freedom

Chen had never experienced this feeling of suffocation that seemed to extend to his very soul.

Even though there were times he couldn't speak for a long time, sometimes waking up in the middle of the night due to inexplicable fluctuations of power, and often feeling out of place with the entire world.

But aside from some confusion and fear in his youth, as he grew older, he came to understand and accept his uniqueness.

To others, his aloofness and indifference might seem like a lack of a sound mind, and his view of the world as dull and uninteresting, but he enjoys this state and considers himself free.

He isn't afraid to stand against the world, but the current "her" is afraid, suffering, and resenting the world.

Yet, all these emotions of "hers" dare not, cannot, and must not be revealed.

Thus, all the spikes that should have been pointed outward are turned inward, piercing her own heart and soul, causing bleeding wounds.

But even so, faced with her mother crying before her, shaking her head, the most she could offer in response was a prolonged silence, followed by a head shake.

"I don't want to."

The weeping mother suddenly looked up, her eyes blood-red, seemingly in disbelief that the daughter she had struggled to raise would be so defiant on this matter.

Even her crying voice turned shrill.

"What are you saying! What are you telling your mother?!"

Chen Zijin took many deep breaths to suppress the feeling as if the whole world was oppressively dark: "I said, I do not,"

"How can you not!! How can you not listen to your mother!! Ahhh! How can you be disobedient?!"

The woman's shrill scream came out: "When you were little, I raised you, made your favorite foods every day! Every night I was afraid you wouldn't sleep well and went to cover you with a blanket!"

"You ungrateful girl! What has your mother done wrong to you? How could you break my heart like this?"

The sharp voice made Chen Zijin feel worse, as if the invisible chains trapping him tightened a few more turns.

He was still trying to speak up, but the woman in front of him had already hysterically sat down on the ground.

"My hard-raised daughter doesn't listen to me anymore, what's the point of me living?! Why do other people's children have so many good qualities, why does my child break my heart?!"

"I don't want to live anymore! I don't want to live! Ah, I really don't want to live!"

The woman, while crying and hitting herself, looked at Chen Zijin, seemingly waiting for him to show a guilty, hurt, and sorrowful expression.

But Chen Zijin, within this body, watching the woman's pretentious act, felt even more disgust and revulsion.

If he could speak, he might have uttered the most vicious, heart-stabbing words he'd never normally say.

"Why don't you speak? What kind of woman are you, just watching your mom sadly sitting on the ground?!"

"I've said it's for your good! That man has a car, a house, and a dowry of three hundred thousand, why won't you listen!"

Snap.

Bang!

Chen Zijin felt his body being harshly pushed.

That push seemed to give him a breath from the oppressive emotions.

"I don't, want to."

Chen Zijin looked up at the mother across from him, her face still wet with tears but showing no kindness, only ferocity.

"I don't want to."

"You stubborn girl! Why won't you agree, why won't you! What exactly do you not agree with?!"

Chen Zijin's body instinctively wanted to retreat and bow his head in silence, as if "they" could only respond with silence when unable to escape or resist.

Yet, Chen Zijin still clenched his teeth, suppressing the feelings of depression and frustration.

"I don't want any part of it!"

"That man is ten years older than me! He's had two wives die! He has three daughters! All he cares about is my looks and my ability to bear children! If I marry him, I'll end up like his previous wives, forced to bear children frantically until I give birth to a boy! Why should I marry such a man? What gives him the right to demand that of me!"

Once these angry words were shouted, it was as if chains were broken, allowing more to be said.

"Such a man with not a single redeeming quality, indulging in all kinds of vices, who only gained some wealth by luck during demolition, utterly incompetent, can be called trash. Not to mention marrying him, he doesn't even deserve a second glance from me!"

Chen Zijin, through the body of the girl, roared these words.

Leaving the mother stunned in place, as if she heard something utterly impossible.

Her expression twisted as she stared dead at Chen Zijin, who saw in her eyes slowly morphing into the image of his own mother.

At that moment, Chen Zijin felt as if he was about to escape from the cage, only for it to be quickly reconstructed and tightened around him. Before he could react, the woman, looking exactly like his mother, screamed and shouted!

"Since you refuse to listen to me! Then I'll just go die! But remember! It's you who killed me! It's you who not only failed to repay the mother who raised you but also caused her death, you will forever be a sinner! You will forever live in fear and regret——"

Saying so, she truly turned and violently slammed into the wall behind her!

As she turned, her face, which should have been beautiful and serene, revealed an extreme malice and mockery.

No human could maintain their composure under such circumstances.

No human could escape such a terrible knife and cage, all in the name of love.

The moment her forehead touched the wall and burst into bright red blood, it was the moment of its victory, with no human heart devoid of love or fear.

Thus, in the world of the Path of Life, not a single human has left alive in hundreds of years.

Just as the mother awaited the final blow brought by the threat of death, it suddenly felt unable to move.

A hand, seemingly frail and pale yet possessing terrifying power, firmly pressed against its forehead.

The next second, it was uncontrollably reverted to its original monstrous form and then repeatedly and violently smashed against the bloody wall.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!

"You, ugh!"

…

"Let go, let—!"

……

"I am, I am your—"

Bang!

The head of the monster, still attempting to speak, exploded in an instant, drenching the pale, slender hand in blood and flesh.

Then, the expressionless girl spoke: "You truly are foolish to say the very thing you shouldn't have."

"My mother and father are like steel walls willing to stand against the world to protect me. They are guardian spirits who would rather enter the world's cage themselves than to imprison me."

"Do not insult the love I possess with your selfish, greedy, hypocritical, and petty version of love."

True love is not a cage, but the strongest fortress.

The girl gradually reverted back to Chen Zijin's form, a look of reminiscence flashing through the young man's eyes, before he fiercely swung his curved sword around him.

The flesh and blood cage before him then collapsed thunderously.

Flesh is inherent and inseparable.

But the soul is free and should not be imprisoned by flesh.

Ultimately, this is but a tug of war for the soul, seeing who can more persistently maintain their self and more gently reconcile with the world.

……

Of course, if reconciliation is impossible, then battle ensues.

Thunderous rumbles—

The massive tremors accompanied by dazzling golden light caused Fear outside the flesh cage to suddenly look up, his eyes uncontrollably showing astonishment.

Even as the flesh globe cage crumbled bit by bit under the golden light, and the whole world began to wobble under this light, Fear's eyes also betrayed a hint of [fear].

"Impossible! No one can enter the mental cage and still come out alive! Let alone, let alone!"

That cage contained a large part of his power of fear!

Is this human really human?!

Human exiles, no matter how strong or emotionally stable, should not be devoid of fear and mental fragility!

Among those who died in the [Fear]【Path of Life】world, there was even a former quasi-king level exile.

And this Chen Zijin is merely a ruler-level, merely a human who arrived in the land of exile just half a year ago!

As the sky-reaching, earth-penetrating flesh cage completely collapsed into ruins, the youth standing amidst the flesh, yet untainted by a single drop of blood, lightly shook his curved blade.

That blade then transformed into the shape of a golden, splendid handgun.

"Yo."

"Isn't this the number one who has always been leading the way on the Path of Life?"

"I am the rule-breaking number sixteen, and now, I bid you farewell from this world."

Bang!

The golden bullet shot out instantly, Fear's face slightly twisted but disdainfully ignoring the golden bullet, instead swinging a wave of black energy filled with intense fear from his hand, piercing through the golden bullet and directly aiming at Chen Zijin's face.

He refused to believe that there exists a human without fear!

Even those formidable devouring monster beasts are merely meals that cannot resist his energy and are devoured by him!

Thus, this human was merely lucky! He could not possibly, absolutely could not escape from the control of [Fear]—

With such conviction, a golden bullet pierced through Fear's forehead. Initially unconcerned, the next moment he screamed uncontrollably.

His body began to disintegrate and perish because of this single bullet?!

What he found even more unbearable was the youth opposite him, who, even surrounded by his overwhelming fear, was slowly smiling at him.

"So... this is the taste of fear."

"Haven't felt it in over twenty years, was about to forget it completely."

Fear's eyes suddenly widened.

"Impossible! How can humans have no fear!!"

He spoke angrily, hurling another orb of ultimate fear energy towards Yue, who had been standing by all this while.

It seemed he wanted Yue to experience that insane fear and pain.

Then, he saw an expression almost identical to Chen Zijin's on Yue's face, even more arrogant and numb.

The tall man, with his shoulders crossed, eyes bright, looked at the youth opposite him and spoke words exactly like his.

"So, this is the taste of fear."

"Truly, never tasted it before."

Against the backdrop of a collapsing world, the standing youth and the nonchalantly standing man faced each other in the air.

Allowing the energy of this world to be wildly plundered and absorbed between them.

And then, they both smiled.