Lu Yu's consciousness fell into darkness, unable to feel his body.

There was no pain, no sensation of hot or cold, not even a heartbeat... nothing, just a void.

Nonetheless, his mind remained clear.

"In this state... am I still alive?"

...

Three days have passed since the final cleanup of the West Suburb battlefield, and the lingering thermal radiation on the battlefield has dissipated.

After the battle ended, Lin Feng hurried to Bluhai City and stood on the original walls, which now mostly lay in ruins, barely recognizable.

He gazed into the center of the battlefield, at that gigantic crater where the hydrogen bomb had detonated.

The demon's den had been destroyed, along with the not fully opened space-time portal. Fortunately, the devices set up on the walls recorded and uploaded the final information.

This observation and study of the demon's den was more or less comprehensive—only the subsequent data analysis needs to be completed to obtain the desired information.

Lin Feng heard that at the last moment, someone saw Lu Yu jump into the space-time portal.

He had also entered the Divine Martial Secret Realm to check the friend list, but it showed no sign of Lu Yu logging into the Secret Realm.

Perhaps Lu Yu had died, or maybe his physical body entered the Secret Realm, preventing contact through the friend system.

Whichever was the case, it was a tremendous loss for Hua Country, losing a great means of resource acquisition.

"The Iron Tomb? Rest assured, Lu Yu, I will thoroughly investigate this matter and clear your name. You are a hero and should not bear any blame."

Lin Feng's words faded into the wind as he turned and left the area.

The place remained on lockdown, many researchers bustling around the battlefield remnants, occasionally casting complex looks at the large crater at the center.

The person who had murdered their mentor, colleagues, and friends died here.

In a sense, to those still alive, Lu Yu is a hero.

If Lu Yu hadn't stepped up to delay the slaughterer's activation of the space-time portal, perhaps the powerful Demon General from the other side would have already crossed over. Facing such a strong Demon General, even a mini hydrogen bomb would have been useless.

Bluhai City would have undoubtedly turned into a haven for demons, becoming a bridgehead for the Divine Martial Realm's demon invasion of Earth.

Only a handful realized this; Li Lifeng was one of them. Otherwise, he wouldn't have risked his life to stop the slaughterer.

Although he ultimately failed, he succeeded in significantly injuring the slaughterer, reducing its strength, allowing Lu Yu a chance to confront it.

Lin Feng also realized it, though his power hadn't reached that level yet, his position granted him access to information at that level, making him more aware of what Lu Yu's stand meant.

Five days later, high-ranking official Xue Ming of Bluhai City was dismissed and disappeared without a trace.

His deeds were exposed, leading to his identity being uncovered. He was a member of Iron Tomb, responsible for spreading false information, framing Lu Yu as the murderer of Gu Daoji and the mastermind behind the destruction of the underground research facility.

All indications showed that Xue Ming likely fled Hua Country, escaping abroad.

In this situation, Hua Country couldn't send people to capture Xue Ming, only issue a wanted order for him and Lu Hongwei.

The evidence of Lu Hongwei being the culprit was also found on an intact surveillance recording, the camera set in a corridor corner only captured a small frame of Lu Hongwei passing by.

After comparing internal intelligence files, Lin Feng confirmed that the video showed Lu Hongwei, one of Iron Tomb's members.

When Lin Feng wanted to dig deeper, to unearth hidden Iron Tomb members within Hua Country, he was summoned back to the headquarters of the Divine Martial Group to command the ninth division.

Someone didn't want him to dig deeper; there was definitely more behind Iron Tomb than just Xue Ming, there were deeper layers of individuals involved.

These people might not be Iron Tomb members, but they had ties to it. If Lin Feng uncovered these relationships, it would be detrimental to them.

Within Hua Country, there were always two opposing opinions: one advocated organizing players into a unified force, and the other advocated collecting all Divine Martial Realm logins, keeping the power in their own hands.

The latter were supporters of Iron Tomb.

Calling them supporters might not be entirely accurate, but they definitely had connections with Iron Tomb, as they wanted to control Divine Martial Realm logins; they had to use some means.

Iron Tomb was a perfect pawn.

When the high-ranking officials no longer needed Iron Tomb, maybe only then would it vanish. Otherwise, once Iron Tomb disappears, there would be a Copper Tomb, Silver Tomb, Gold Tomb...

...

Southern Border, Nanfue Province, Sanshi Village.

A robust young man lay on the mound, holding a blade of grass, gazing at the sky, sunbathing quietly, listening to the sounds of children playing nearby.

This young man was indeed Lu Yu.

Eight days ago, on the day the West Suburb battle ended, he had leaped into the space-time portal and got stuck midway, as it wasn't fully opened.

Later, using the hydrogen bomb explosion's power, he successfully traversed the space-time portal into the Divine Martial World and got severely injured, with the lower half of his body obliterated in the blast.

But that wasn't the worst of it—after passing through the portal, Lu Yu fell straight into a demon's den, it was a true demon's den with a demon general guarding it, equivalent in power to a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

Thus, Lu Yu became sustenance for the demon's den.

Fortunately, he had obtained a Seed of Demons, known as the life source, from Beifeng City before, granting him a chance to resurrect.

He thought he'd resurrect in his body inside the Divine Martial Secret Realm, but unexpectedly, resurrection was random, and he didn't know where he'd be brought back to.

When he just resurrected and crawled out of the Seed of Demons, at his weakest, he encountered the people of Sanshi Village, who took him back to the village.

Now, his strength had returned to one-tenth.

It would take some time to fully recover all his strength, but staying in Sanshi Village, having one-tenth strength was enough.

"Quickly, go back, the Poison Witch Race is coming!" A villager nervously hurried the children playing on the slope back to Sanshi Village and called out to Lu Yu, waving for him to return to the village.

"Poison Witch Race?" Lu Yu rose and walked towards Sanshi Village, trying to recall the name in his mind, which seemed unfamiliar.

It shouldn't be a major race, as Lu Yu couldn't remember seeing information about the Poison Witch Race.

The last time he encountered the Sea Tribe in Yunhai City, Lu Yu had crammed the Divine Martial World species encyclopedia and got to know the main races there, humans, demons, giants... and demons split into many, Sea Tribe, Merfolk Tribe, Sea Dragon Race, Naga Race...

"It's really good that you haven't encountered the Poison Witch Race." A young girl ran up to Lu Yu and said.

Then she looked worried, "The Poison Witch Race is here again, so soon—is the witch's herbs enough?"

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