Chapter 1348: The Path of Ultimate Evil

Someone once told Qi Xia:

“The Land of End is relatively time-frozen compared to the outside world.”

Now, it seems that was indeed the case.

Even if it wasn’t completely frozen, time here passed far more slowly than outside.

After all, when Qi Xia first set foot here, he could still see the lingering powder drifting in the sky.

Despite having spent so long in another place, it seemed like everything here had just settled.

Breathing in the air, gazing at the unfamiliar surroundings, his feet planted firmly on the real ground—even Qi Xia couldn’t describe the emotions swirling inside him.

Was it nostalgia…?

Or hatred?

After what felt like an eternity, Tianlong also returned to the “Peach Blossom Spring” he ruled, his eyes weary.

But he felt no joy.

Stepping onto this land meant that his and Qinglong’s reign had officially begun its descent into failure.

Yet even Tianlong hadn’t anticipated that coming here was only a fragment of that “eternity.”

This impossibly long journey was still far from its end.

Qi Xia inspected the “door” of the “Bliss Bank” and discovered that re-entering it no longer led back to the City of Flesh but instead brought him out from the wardrobe in the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey’s room.

Now, one side of the door led to the “Bliss Bank,” while the other opened into the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey’s chamber.

Naturally, the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey’s room had an exit, but beyond it lay only void—the “corridor” had been shattered.

At this moment, Tianlong also realized that his “disintegration” of the “train” had only affected the corridor. In his dying moments, he believed destroying the corridor would send all the rooms adrift in the emptiness.

As a result, countless rooms, severed from the corridor, now floated scattered across unrelated expanses of nothingness.

But faced with these fragmented rooms drifting through the void… what could Qi Xia do now?

Once again, Tianlong had underestimated Qi Xia’s resolve.

With the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey’s room as his starting point, Qi Xia already had a plan. Though it would take an unfathomably long time, there was no safer alternative.

He began summoning the doors of each room from the infinite starry void, using the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey’s chamber as his origin.

Having spent seven years on the “train,” though he couldn’t claim to know every detail, he still remembered the general distribution of its inhabitants.

Starting from the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey’s room, he summoned one door after another, connecting them with strands of flesh and blood before using each new door as a fresh origin to summon others.

In this void, if he willed himself into a “Zodiac’s” room, its door would drift toward him.

Like a cosmic architect, he wove the shattered space back together with his bare hands.

After an unimaginable span of time, Qi Xia had haphazardly linked every room on the “train” with ropes of flesh—including the locomotive and all “Celestial”-ranked chambers.

From afar, the structure resembled a grotesque, pulsating tree, its branches of flesh stretching toward countless dimly glowing doors in the endless dark.

This time, he would lead everyone to escape—not into a false world built from flesh and blood, but into a new one where they could truly live.

Returning to the “Bliss Bank,” Qi Xia began contemplating the next step.

For this plan to unfold smoothly, certain prerequisites had to be met—conditions he couldn’t fulfill alone.

By now, Qi Xia’s “Belief” had reached its zenith over countless centuries. He attempted to create real, living humans from his memories.

The first person he recreated was “Craftmaster,” Zhang Lijuan.

The second was “Soulmover,” Zhang Chenze.

Seeing them again, Qi Xia smiled for the first time in what felt like eternity.

He had never imagined reuniting with them this way. Just their familiar faces brought him an unprecedented sense of peace.

Neither of them, however, could have guessed that their “god” had created them only to kill them.

To them, it felt as if they had parted with Qi Xia just yesterday. Yet he spent days explaining their current predicament.

Their reactions were no different from before.

Zhang Chenze quickly grasped the stakes, while Zhang Lijuan, though only half-understanding, was still willing to help.

Qi Xia tasked Zhang Lijuan with reconstructing the corridor, replacing the existing flesh. Since the rooms were already in place, this step wasn’t difficult for her.

She had once run through those halls and remembered their wooden structure.

The group gathered materials from the Land of End, crafting a convincing wooden corridor. Once completed, Qi Xia dissolved the supporting flesh, letting it dissipate into the void.

The “train” was officially restored.

“Zhang Lijuan, I owe you one,” Qi Xia said. “If we ever truly escape, even at the last moment, I’ll make sure you get out.”

Zhang Lijuan nodded blankly, unsure if she fully understood.

Finally, Qi Xia created a third person.

A new version of himself.

The two exchanged a knowing glance, their plan solidified in an instant.

“If the ‘Rebels’ board the ‘train,’ you will become a ‘Participant,'” Qi Xia said.

“If the ‘Rebels’ board the ‘train,’ I will become a ‘Participant,'” the other Qi Xia repeated.

“Even if you lose your thoughts, your consciousness, you will still become a ‘Participant’ on that day.”

“Even if I lose my thoughts, my consciousness, I will still become a ‘Participant’ on that day.”

“You will only become a ‘Participant’ on the day of reckoning.”

“I will only become a ‘Participant’ on the day of reckoning.”

After these three oath-like declarations, Zhang Lijuan and Zhang Chenze exchanged bewildered glances, staring at the two Qi Xias, unsure of their scheme.

“Lastly… you must alter the positions of the ‘doors’ at the final moment,” Qi Xia added. “They are the flesh of your body. You will deliver salvation when it matters most.”

“Understood…” The other Qi Xia nodded, engraving every word in his mind.

Then, Qi Xia handed Zhang Chenze a knife and pointed at his duplicate. “Kill him.”

“Huh?”

Zhang Chenze was stunned by the sudden command.

“Kill him. ‘Soulmove’ him into the entire corridor,” Qi Xia said. “I owe you too. I’ll repay you when the time comes.”

Neither of them fully grasped his intentions, and Zhang Chenze recoiled at the idea of killing someone.

But faced with such an eerie situation, her rationality prevailed, and she ultimately agreed.

Placing her left hand on the “train’s” floor, she drove the knife into the other Qi Xia’s neck with her right.

Under the effect of “Soulmove,” the entire “train” became a dormant “Participant,” awaiting awakening.

Watching this, Tianlong nearly broke into a cold sweat.

Wait… if the “Rebels” boarded the “train,” then the “train” itself would be a “Participant”?

What kind of twisted logic was this?

He remembered “disintegrating” all “Participants” in his dream, but back then, the “corridor” had also been a “Participant”… Did that mean he had unwittingly shattered the entire “train’s” corridor in his unconscious state?

“White Sheep… you…” Tianlong was at a loss for words. He realized that dismantling this plan wasn’t as simple as slaughtering everyone.

Even if they defeated all the “Rebels” on the “train,” the “train” itself would crumble on the final day.

Finally, with their consent, Qi Xia killed Zhang Chenze and Zhang Lijuan in exchange for a “better future,” burying them carefully by the roadside.

This was the nature of this despairing realm. To truly lead everyone out, his hands would inevitably be stained with blood.

Even if everything rewound seven years, he would begin killing and deceiving anew—all to guide them toward a brighter world.

The greatest evil paving the way for ultimate good. The most wicked cause striving for a righteous end.

If there truly were a “god” in this world, even they would not condone his actions.

So he could rely only on himself.

In this land of despair, he would lead all his family to freedom.