Beside him, Earth Monkey listened to Earth Tiger’s words with a pounding heart.
He was blatantly challenging everyone, openly voicing the long-hidden rebellion plans.
But was there any better way at this moment?
With just one battle and one statement, all the “Earth-level” and “Human-level” members were forced to pick sides.
“You even want to kill the Heavenly Dragon…” Earth Dragon muttered fearfully, staring at Earth Tiger.
“So what?” Earth Tiger scoffed. “I’ve already stirred up this much trouble—I’ve fought the Zodiacs, smashed the Train, and shouted the rebellion slogan. You think if I back down now and don’t kill the Heavenly Dragon, he’ll let me off?”
Earth Dragon lowered his eyes, realizing the situation was far worse than he’d imagined.
“Since there’s no way he’ll spare me anyway, we might as well take him down along the way,” Earth Tiger said. “It might not be me who does it, but it’s just a matter of convenience.”
A student beside Earth Dragon, seeing his teacher’s prolonged silence, couldn’t help but ask, “Teacher… what do you say…?”
Earth Dragon pondered for a long moment before finally waving his hand. “What can I say? Everyone saw it, right? I stepped in immediately to suppress them. Unfortunately, I was defeated, severely injured, and can’t fight anymore. The rest is up to the others.”
With that, he turned and, supported by his student, slowly left the scene.
Earth Tiger watched Earth Dragon’s retreating figure, feeling that things were going smoothly.
So the “Train” wasn’t as terrifying as they’d thought. If they could just find a way to create an opening—even for a split second—it would be enough to insert their grand plan.
But the method to temporarily unite these thousands of scheming “Zodiacs” was far too difficult, beyond what most could imagine.
Earth Tiger glanced down at the cracks he’d made earlier. His fight with Earth Dragon had shattered large sections of the floor, revealing something beneath the “Train.”
He crouched slowly and pried open a piece of the floor.
Beneath the “Train,” just like the shattered wall earlier, lay what looked like an endless, pitch-black void.
Earth Tiger pulled out a “Dao” from his pocket and tossed it into the crack. The “Dao” fell like it was sinking into an abyss, disappearing deeper and deeper until it vanished into the darkness.
He frowned, then calmly replaced the floor panel.
“Teacher…” Human Monkey crouched beside him and whispered, “What’s wrong?”
“Hard to say…” Earth Tiger mused. “If the other side of the wall is a void, I can understand that. But if the floor leads to a void too… doesn’t that mean the entire ‘Train’ is floating in the sky?”
“What?” Human Monkey’s brow furrowed. “The ‘Train’ is floating?”
“I’m not educated, so I don’t know much about science…” Earth Tiger continued, “But something this massive, with so many people inside, floating in the sky… that just doesn’t make sense.”
A storm of questions erupted in Earth Tiger’s mind, leaving him with no immediate answers.
If the “Train’s” underside was this starry void… then where was the “Land of Finality”?
Everyone said the “Train” floated above the “Land of Finality,” but now it seemed the two spaces weren’t in a simple up-down relationship.
To avoid causing panic, Earth Tiger quietly resealed the floor, pretending nothing had happened. He’d have to wait and ask Qi Xia’s opinion. Otherwise, if everyone started wondering why the “Train” was floating, their rebellion would derail.
“What do we do next?” Human Monkey asked.
“Next…” Earth Tiger paused, then glanced at him. “Wait, why are you asking me? Don’t I usually ask you?”
“Oh…” Human Monkey grinned sheepishly, revealing pearly teeth. “Teacher, after your passionate speech earlier, my opinion of you has changed. I figured you’d have a plan now.”
“The ‘plan’ is already in motion,” Earth Tiger said. “Kicking down the door and shouting ‘Heaven-level, come out and die!’ was the whole plan. Now we just have to figure out how to fight them. But Old Black…”
He stood and looked toward where Black Sheep had been standing earlier—now empty. It seemed Black Sheep had already begun mobilizing.
Though they needed to confront the “Heaven-level,” what should he do now? Go alone to face Heavenly Tiger, or wait for Black Sheep’s return?
He shook his head and turned to speak to Human Monkey, only to hear a sudden shout—
“Teacher, look out!!”
Earth Tiger snapped his head up just in time to see a blur streaking toward his face. He tried to block, but it was too late.
Something slammed into him with unimaginable force, sending him flying. The impact nearly snapped his neck.
Earth Tiger and the thing tumbled across the ground, shattering floor panels and walls before finally skidding to a stop in a cloud of dust.
Human Monkey and the others rushed forward, but Earth Tiger barked from the ground, “Stay back!!”
He pulled the thing off his face and held it up, his hair standing on end.
The small, blood-soaked figure reeked of iron and milk—it was unmistakably Heavenly Tiger.
“Giggle…” Heavenly Tiger, cradled in Earth Tiger’s arms, flashed a dimpled grin. “Eat you…”
Earth Tiger stared in horror at the child’s blood-crusted face, his baby teeth packed with bloody shreds of flesh.
The sight of Heavenly Tiger being held like an ordinary child, suspended in Earth Tiger’s grasp, was eerily surreal.
“Find Old Black!” Earth Tiger yelled to Human Monkey, still gripping Heavenly Tiger. “You’re not needed here!”
“But… but Teacher Black Sheep—”
“Tell him ‘no rush,'” Earth Tiger snarled through a pained grin. “I can hold out.”
“Got it…”
“And—fat monkey!” Earth Tiger barked.
Earth Monkey stiffened. He knew he was being called out but didn’t want to admit it.
“Stop pretending you don’t hear me! Who the hell can’t tell you’re a monkey?!” Earth Tiger snapped. “Find that gaudy-ass quail! What good are you just spectating?!”
The moment he finished speaking, Heavenly Tiger wriggled free, leaped aside, and kicked Earth Tiger with a bare foot, sending him crashing through a door into the same room he and Yan Zhichun had earlier smashed through.
Heavenly Tiger giggled and skipped in after him, both vanishing down the corridor.
The onlookers finally grasped that this “rebellion” wasn’t as simple as it seemed.
Even if they could overpower Earth Dragon, there were still the “Heaven-level” to contend with.
Earth Tiger, who’d beaten Earth Dragon into submission, was instantly floored by Heavenly Tiger—proof of the overwhelming power gap.
Human Monkey knew the “Human-level” were useless here. After exchanging glances with Earth Tiger’s students, he quickly sprinted toward Black Sheep’s location.
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