Chapter 143: The Real Beginning

In the blink of an eye, Mu You was pinned firmly to the ground by Yantai Mingyue!

What terrifying speed!

Such a massive body had not even stirred, yet in the next second, it appeared directly before him with a momentum so ferocious it was astonishing.

"Let! Me! Go!"

As Mu You spoke, his eyes gradually transformed into shades of ash-black and blood-ink. Dark, inky thunder and flame patterns spread outward from his eyelids, while an overwhelmingly tyrannical destructive power erupted from deep within his body. His thunder-and-flame wings violently broke free from the giant salamander's claws.

"Ah!!"

His muffled roar intensified, and with a resounding boom, Mu You shot straight up into the sky!

"I don't care who or what you are—those who stand in my way shall die!!"

The twin wings of thunder and fire burst forth with blinding, scorching brilliance, spreading wider and wider until they blotted out the entire firmament. Instantly, the earth was cast in gloom, and a heavy, oppressive force of destruction paralyzed every living creature within a radius of miles.

"Hah!!"

That was not all. With his left hand pressed against the earth and his right hand raised toward the heavens, Mu You drew an endless stream of monstrous blood essence from the lake below. It transformed into pure, surging power that rushed violently into the skies.

The heavens instantly shifted and darkened further. Countless sparks of thunder and flame flickered in and out of existence, surging and raging with boundless killing intent!

"My destiny is not for others to control!!"

Lead-colored clouds rolled, thunder cracked, and the sky tore open. Above the celestial vault, two masses of energy—one blood-ink and the other ash-black—materialized out of thin air, gradually transforming into two weapons.

They were none other than the Flaming Phoenix Chaos-Slicing Blade and the Thunder Dragon Halberd!

Mu You soared high into the air, the blade and halberd revolving around him at high speed before plunging downward with crushing force! They transformed into a fiery phoenix and a thunder dragon, hurtling toward Yantai Mingyue.

"Struggling in vain!"

Watching the unstoppable dragon and phoenix of thunder and fire, Yantai Mingyue's expression remained unchanged. With a light wave of her delicate hand, she formed a bizarre seal, and fixing her gaze on Mu You's ultimate technique, she softly cried out: "Azure Sea Listening to the Tide!!!"

The entire lake instantly boiled, surging upward to form a barrier before Yantai Mingyue. A colossal wall of water stood straight between heaven and earth. The fire phoenix crashed headfirst into it first, punching a massive watery cavern straight through the lake, while the Thunder Dragon Halberd pierced through Yantai Mingyue's abdomen with unstoppable force, cleaving her and the giant salamander in two.

"What?! No, this is neither a Spirit Incantation nor a Holy Incantation! How are you able to cross realms to use the power of Divine Decrees? That is something only SS-ranks can barely begin to touch upon! How could you possibly do this, how is this possible? What kind of monster are you?!"

Falling into a pool of blood, Yantai Mingyue stared at Mu You with wide, beautiful watery eyes, trembling with intense, uncontainable terror. Once again, her body was severed in half. The massive loss of blood and overwhelming fear made it feel as if she had been dragged back to that muddy, blood-stained highway from long ago, where nothing existed except impending death.

Tears slowly welled up and fell. So cold. Is it finally over?

To think that an S-rank peak expert could be killed by an A-rank death row inmate—how utterly ridiculous, how tragic.

Perhaps... he might actually be able to kill Mo Han.

Just as Yantai Mingyue's consciousness began to drift, a warm current suddenly flowed from beneath her into her body.

The dizziness gradually faded. Yantai Mingyue opened her eyes to see a young man with a furrowed brow. Beneath his resolute expression lay deep concentration and careful gentleness as he used a bleeding, lacerated palm to gently stroke her severed torso. As the boy's fresh blood melted into her body, the flesh beneath her waist began to regenerate, sprouting delicate new buds.

"Your blood feels very familiar to me. I had an instructor named Dian Shao. He was an orphan with no parents, but his blood carried your scent. That orphan who was thrown off a cliff back then... you must be his mother."

Yantai Mingyue's eyes widened bit by bit, staring in disbelief at Mu You. Her unfocused pupils gradually regained their firmness.

"What you just said... is it true?!"

"Whether it's true or not, you'll have to find out for yourself. So the most pressing matter right now is that you must survive."

Seeing that the bleeding from her wounds had practically stopped, Mu You wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a pale expression. His previous two attacks had completely exhausted the strength within his body and drained a massive amount of blood, leaving even him feeling dizzy and lightheaded.

"Someone in our team knows how to use healing Holy Incantations. I'll take you to rendezvous with the main force so they can mend your body."

Mu You sat down heavily on the ground, panting hard.

"Dian Shao... Dian Shao... Dian Shao... That Dian Shao whose code name was Wolf-Child... Ah, I always wondered why the water circulation system in the Death Row Penitentiary carried a scent so strikingly similar to my own. He was my child! My child didn't die! Thank goodness I didn't commit suicide after my augmentation, otherwise... otherwise I would never have seen him again. It's wonderful, truly wonderful."

At this moment, Yantai Mingyue was babbling incoherently.

Beside her, the severed half of the salamander's body was still twitching involuntarily. Yantai Mingyue raised a hand, retrieved a crimson-gold bead from its spinal cord, and handed it to Mu You.

"This is from an SS-rank Crimson-Fire Salamander. Because it was killed by another SS-rank death row inmate, the Death Row Penitentiary combined its corpse with my upper body, which also elevated my strength to the S-rank peak. The soul power contained within this Crimson-Fire Pearl should be enough to elevate you to the A-rank peak. Take advantage of the fact that the Death Row Penitentiary hasn't declared the end of 'Never Turn Back' yet and refine it."

The Crimson-Fire Pearl felt slippery to the touch, much like a gallbladder. Mu You popped it into his mouth and pressed it against the roof of his tongue, instantly releasing a foul, fishy liquid that slid down into his stomach.

"Damn it! That is seriously disgusting."

Mu You barely had time to complain before a violent surge of energy threatened to tear him apart from the inside out, forcing him to immediately begin the refinement process.

Time ticked away second by second. Even Mu You himself could not understand why the Death Row Penitentiary was delaying the announcement that 'Never Turn Back' had ended. What he did not know was that the trial base outside was already in absolute chaos.

The true beginning of 'Never Turn Back' only commenced when the most dangerous death row inmate of this realm's trials killed the first S-rank peak death row inmate. The genuine trial of 'Never Turn Back' involved a full hundred death row inmates ranging from early S-rank to peak S-rank.

The sky had turned upside down.

Something monumental had happened!!