Chapter 645: This Is Love

The captain smiled upon hearing this, his eyes sincere.

"Senior, that's impossible," he said calmly, his expression relaxed, with a hint of recollection in his eyes. "He was the one who begged to help me back then."

It gave off the impression that he deeply trusted the entity behind the black wooden door, as if they had shared many wonderful experiences.

Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu exchanged glances. Even though they knew each other well, seeing this behavior, they couldn't help but feel a little skeptical.

Xu Qing, without hesitation, retreated dozens of yards to stand beside the Prince and Princess Mingmei, feeling safer there. As for the captain's invitation to join him, Xu Qing simply ignored it. He considered himself a rational person, not prone to excessive madness, and believed everything depended on sufficient value – a point where he differed from the captain.

Thus, Xu Qing felt the captain was superior when it came to suicidal recklessness. Seeing Xu Qing retreat, the captain's eyes showed a hint of resentment.

"He's cursing you very badly," Old Eight said, looking at Chen Erniu again. "He's cursing you as if you're a heartless scoundrel who abandoned him, and he wants to eat your flesh, drink your blood, absorb your soul, and dig out your heart. Oh, and he's very eager for your arrival."

The captain's expression shifted slightly; he was startled but instinctively suppressed it, clearing his throat. "How could that be? We're good friends!"

Seeing that he wasn't interrupted by his elder brother or third sister this time, Old Eight became animated, scoffed, and continued. "My authority is over emotions and desires, so I can sense the supreme deity Yueyan inside the door through the aura here. Her thoughts towards you are filled with extreme hatred and endless madness."

"Tsk, that's a fierce fluctuation!" Old Eight said, sensing carefully with an admiring look. "It's not easy to make a deity's emotions fluctuate with almost human-like changes!"

After Old Eight finished speaking, seeing the captain about to argue, and since he hated being disbelieved more than anything, he glared. "If you don't believe me, take a few steps towards the door and see if the knocking gets more intense."

The captain's heart churned, but remembering his earlier boasts, he gritted his teeth and tried to walk a few steps forward. The moment his feet landed, the knocking on the black wooden door instantly became furious. *Thump, thump, thump, thump!* It was more urgent and frantic than before, and the black wooden door vibrated violently. It looked as if it could burst open from the inside at any moment.

At that moment, even Ning Yan and others, who had no authority over emotions, could feel terror and rage emanating from the violent sounds. They all gasped and retreated more than ten yards.

Old Eight sneered. Seeing this, the captain sighed, "Little Yuanyuan, do you still hate me?"

As soon as he spoke, the knocking on the black wooden door instantly ceased, and silence fell. The captain's words and their implied meaning made Xu Qing's eyes narrow in suspicion, while Wu Jianwu and Ning Yan were also shocked. You Jing, meanwhile, frowned and looked at the door. She wanted to see Chen Erniu die, but now the door was calm.

As for the captain, at that moment, his expression was forlorn as he walked step by step towards the black door. He reached the wooden door, his expression filled with reminiscence, and softly said, "Little Yuanyuan, just wait a little longer; it'll be over soon."

"Actually, I just lied to my friends and also to Little A Qing. By the way, you don't know who Little A Qing is—he's my junior brother in this life. When you come out, I'll introduce you. Sigh, I told them we were good friends, but how could our actual relationship be described as just 'good friends'!" The captain's eyes held a deep emotion as his murmurs echoed in the void, traveling along the path formed by green silk beyond the circle of sentient beings' wishes, reaching Xu Qing and the others' ears.

Initially, they wouldn't have believed him, but as Erniu spoke, the ink-black wooden door indeed stopped knocking, as if genuinely responding. This scene instinctively made Shou Yan, Wu Jianwu, and Li Youfei believe him a little. You Jing, however, frowned.

Xu Qing pondered, observing his senior brother's hands closely, as Erniu sighed and looked back at everyone. "Allow me to reintroduce the one inside the door: my ex-wife." These words struck like lightning.

Ning Yan gasped in shock, Wu Jianwu's eyes widened to their extreme, and his mind reeled. Li Youfei was utterly dumbfounded, and You Jing's heart also jolted.

"Ex-wife, deity... what is going on?"

Xu Qing was different from them; he stared thoughtfully at the right hand his senior brother held. The Prince and others reacted with varying degrees of suspicion. Fifth Sister squinted, and Princess Mingmei looked contemplative.

The Prince suddenly asked, "What are you holding in your right hand?"

Seeing their reactions, the captain was overjoyed inwardly, but outwardly, he maintained his emotional composure and sighed. "Forgive me for making you all laugh. Back then, Little Yuanyuan wanted to become a god, but our philosophies clashed, so we eventually had to part ways. She became her celestial deity, and I remained a mortal."

"But I still love her. That's why, through countless reincarnations over endless ages, I willingly became her anchor. By being the point of her humanity, I prevent her from getting lost in her divinity."

The captain's voice was mournful as he opened his right hand, revealing nothing inside.

Outside, silence fell. Ning Yan and the others were shaken by this past story, which sounded vaguely familiar. Xu Qing glanced at the captain; he had already guessed the origin of this story.

Princess Mingmei looked at the black door, then at Erniu, and said calmly, "If we hadn't come, this would have been the script you wanted my father to write, wouldn't it?"

Old Eight couldn't help but add, "I recall that the supreme deity Yuefen was born a deity, not became one later. Does she need an anchor?"

The captain blinked, about to continue speaking, but at that moment, the knocking from inside the black wooden door erupted again, this time countless times more intense than before. Cracks appeared on the door itself. Indeed, many areas bulged under the bombardment, revealing palm prints with seven fingers. Within the knocking, gasping sounds mixed, conveying greed and longing, along with faint roars echoing within.

Xu Qing's expression grew serious. The Prince and the others also looked solemn. As for the captain, although he was clearly panicking inwardly, he tried hard to maintain his composure, even raising a hand to knock on the wooden door.

"Little Yuanyuan, the time isn't right yet; I can't open the door for you now. Don't be so impatient. Why is your temper still the same as before? I came this time to wake you up, to tell you to stop sleeping, and to remind you to gradually activate the methods you've prepared over the years. You need to complete everything we agreed upon within one year, because in a maximum of one year, I will let you see the sleeping Crimson Mother. This was my promise to you back then, and I will definitely fulfill it. Finally, you need to give me another token—a token that will allow you to bypass the Crimson Mother's suppression and descend directly before her."

After speaking, the captain raised his hand, directly gouged out one of his eyes, and pressed it firmly onto the wooden door. The eyeball quickly sank in, slowly disappeared, and was sent behind the door.

"Place the token in this eye of mine..." Before the captain could finish, chewing sounds echoed.

Xu Qing fell silent. Ning Yan and the others also had strange expressions. The Prince glanced at Erniu, and Old Eight beside him couldn't help but speak. "It ate it."

The captain coughed. "This is love," he said. His body swayed, and numerous eyes grew out, one after another, flying out and merging into the door. The chewing sounds continued until, after consuming hundreds of them, the captain became enraged. "That's enough! If this keeps up, I'll just go find another supreme deity!"

The black wooden door slammed violently from within, as if responding to the captain's words. The sound was so immense that it shattered the path of green silk, and even the outer circle of sentient beings' wishes blurred and became indistinct. It seemed unable to hold up, beginning to dim! It further affected the outside, causing this ruined world to collapse even more.

Xu Qing's gaze sharpened. He took a few steps, reaching the circle, and prepared to receive them. Fortunately, after this furious strike, there were no more sounds from the black wooden door. One of the captain's eyeballs also emerged from the wooden door, staring intently at him. Inside this eye, a grey hair could be seen, wriggling within like a threadworm. A terrifying aura emanated from it; compared to this, the original green hair was clearly inferior.

The captain squinted, a blue light appearing in his eyes. He gently took hold of it with his raised hand, then rapidly retreated. But the moment he retreated, the numerous bulging palm prints on the black wooden door instantly writhed, forming a grotesque face that lunged at the captain, opening its mouth wide to fiercely swallow him.

The captain was even faster, his entire body glowing with blue light as he dashed towards the exit. The path of green silk beneath his feet continued to collapse, and the circle of wishes dimmed further. Seeing this, Xu Qing waved his hand, grabbing at the air to provide leverage, and finally seized the captain's shoulder, giving a forceful pull.

At the same time, the large mouth behind the captain engulfed him. With a *crunch*, it bit into the captain's waist. As blood spurted, the path of green silk completely disintegrated, and the circle formed by wishes also dissipated entirely at that moment, severing everything. Xu Qing then looked at the captain, who was now only half a body.

"Senior brother, are you comfortable now?" Xu Qing sighed.

The captain burst into laughter. "That's right! If you can do something big and come out unscathed, then it's not a big deal at all! Forgive me for amusing you all, this is just my farewell ceremony with my ex-wife."

The captain showed no concern about losing half his body. Speaking proudly, he waved his right hand, took out the recovered eyeball, and with a squeeze, the grey hair strand within the eyeball instantly shot out, piercing the void and heading straight for the outside world. In the blink of an eye, it appeared above the giant sinkhole formed by the Qing Sha desert. It expanded infinitely, growing larger and larger, eventually spreading...