All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 668 - 44: A Free Heart (2/5)

Chapter 668: Chapter 44: A Free Heart (2/5)

Knowing these legends and their origins, Qu Tong was truly excited. He understood that he was about to embark on the right path of the Great Dao, with a future of incredible breadth far exceeding the misfortune of wasting a life in the Wilderness, a fortune that no Cultivator could refuse.

But nobody told him that the Evergreen Wood meridians required special nutrients as inhibitors for stable growth; otherwise, they would gradually invade the Flesh and Blood and turn a person into a plant.

If one does not join the company, that’s also fine. In that case, there would be no free inhibitors available. And if expelled from the company, one would only be able to buy them on the Black Market for twenty times the market price.

He could never return.

The tribal family members who learned of the news did not blame Qu Tong too much. They consoled the young man at that time, saying that if he could advance to Foundation Establishment, they would still have the chance to move to the safety zone, and Feather Transformation Cultivators were indeed on the right track of the Great Dao.

But how could the company possibly cultivate a Cultivator from the Wilderness to reach Foundation Establishment?

If a Feather Transformation Cultivator does not cultivate Formation skills and Artifact skills, then they could never hope to break through the cultivation realm on their own for the rest of their life. After Qu Tong reached the Peak of Qi Refining, he would no longer have the possibility of making any progress.

Ultimately, the reason the company cultivated him was because the lives of city dwellers were just too expensive. Sending city Cultivators out on field missions to explore Wilderness mines was a loss-making endeavor. It was better to catch these somewhat talented Wilderness people and make them Feather Transformation Cultivators who couldn’t break away from the company, to do the work and undertake the most dangerous jobs for the most ordinary salary without having to pay for workers’ compensation.

As such, Qu Tong had no choice but to accept.

So he worked for the company, went on field missions, and gradually rooted himself in Xuanye City, got married, had a daughter, lived a life neither rich nor poor, and was also able to support his hometown.

For people from the Wilderness, this was also considered a decent ending.

The premise is, this is the ending.

On a New Year’s Day, Qu Tong took his wife and daughter to the city center for a big meal. Although it was only the most ordinary boiled fish, the family was very happy, but just after they finished their meal and were on their way home, they encountered an ever-present occurrence in Xuanye City — gang fighting.

It all started with a verbal spat between two scions of noble families, which then escalated into a brawl, followed by both sides pulling connections and starting a fight — something that happens every ten days or half a month. But this time, Qu Tong was dragged into it.

A stray bullet hit a gas pipeline and caused an explosion, instantly killing Qu Tong’s wife and daughter, and although his cultivation allowed him to withstand the blast, he was knocked out for a good while.

By the time he came to, he couldn’t even find a few whole bones.

Anger? Despair? Grief?

Actually, there was none.

As soon as the overwhelming rage and hatred surged in his heart, and Qu Tong was about to go full force to kill all those wretched gang members and noble offspring, his Heavenly Mechanism Prosthetics shut down.

The company detected his abnormal emotions and knew of his intention to attack the two leading noble profligates, so they shut down his prosthetics in the first instance, rendering him immobile, causing him only to kneel on the ground. He had to wait until the gang fight was over and both sides Sound Gold Withdraw Troops, wait until a heavy rain washed away all blood and bones, and only then did the company’s people come to retrieve him.

After becoming the company’s dog, even his heart was no longer free.

The company’s reprimands, admonishments, and punishments were trivial matters. Qu Jie used his long-dulled talent and wisdom to hack his own prosthetics, escaping with a batch of company property and leaving Xuanye City for the Wilderness.

He couldn’t return home to his tribe, that would only implicate them, and the tribe would not welcome a Feather Transformation Cultivator who defected from Xuanye City, a potential Demon Man.

He had no roots or future; his everything had been severed, he could only drift in the Wilderness.

He was even unable to join the Guiyi Army: he had served the company for too long. If he were still in the city, the Guiyi Army might absorb him as an undercover informant, but now that he had left, such a half-mad Cultivator was commonplace in the Wilderness, the Guiyi Army would not risk accepting him.

He became a Tribulation Cultivator.

A Feather Transformation Tribulation Cultivator of Nine Layers of Qi Refinement was enough to make the surrounding Wilderness tribes and safety zone caravans compromise, pay protection fees rather than resist. With his strength, Qu Tong actually lived a little more comfortably than he did in the city, although he no longer had time for Cultivation, to derive joy from analyzing the principles of magic Artifacts, but at least, he could live like a walking corpse, living freely yet emptily.

Until now. He lost himself and his mind once again, about to become a blade in someone else’s hand, to be used when needed and to die when not.

"Let’s go."

After wiping the Heavenly Mechanism Armor clean — gear that even the company had never issued to him — Qu Tong’s chip signal transmitted, the armor unfolded like a shell, with Evergreen Wood root-like tendrils emerging from the black carapace covering his spine, connecting and interfacing with the armor, making the blue Spiritual Patterns on the armor light up layer by layer.

The Heavenly Mechanism Armor completely enveloped him, the steel humanoid figure said to Iron Skull: "It’s time to complete the mission."

It’s also time... to die.

Arriving at the surface, meteors fell like rain and tornadoes were like forests; Qu Tong was somewhat unfazed — unlike those ignorant true Wilderness people, he, after all, had entered the city and the company, knew that the northwestern battlefield was like this almost all year round.

"Capture that guy, and the ones above would be willing to let us go, even follow them to leave."

Iron Skull said this with hope emerging in his protruding eyes. Qu Tong did not know why he became a Tribulation Cultivator, the only thing known was that from his photo, he was quite handsome in the past, with the appearance of a well-mannered researcher. But an experiment accident or a fight had left him in his current state.

He dreamt of returning to the city, in stark contrast to Qu Tong, who only wished for a bit of freedom in the Wilderness. But regardless, they were just dogs now.

At this moment, the lookout who was scouting outside also hurried back to report: "Boss, second brother, there seems to be some movement up ahead!"

"What is it? Demon Beasts or those Wilderness people?"

Iron Skull frowned, his single eye seemingly ready to pop out, as he hurried to the watchtower at the entrance of the stronghold, only to see a mercenary troop taking advantage of the dead angle of the Fortress Area to cross the automated sentry guns’ line of fire, steadily approaching the center of the Fortress Area, or rather, inside their stronghold.

"Wait, isn’t that our target?"

Suddenly, his gaze narrowed, focused on the front of the mercenary team, a figure agile beyond measure, operating a Sword Box in reverse to snipe the automated gun turrets: "An Xuan... Yes, that’s him!"

"He’s actually taking the initiative to attack our camp?!"