Chapter 344: Tearing Through the Darkness

Meng Chuan held his brush, pausing just before the stroke.

So many people had become unforgettable over the past few years.

"Shhh—" Meng Chuan's brush gently touched the paper. He began to meticulously draw a handsome man with a flame mark on his brow, an extraordinary demeanor, and sharp eyes. The painting was of Marquis Tianxing.

Marquis Tianxing was a world-renowned divine archer. Among powerful fiendgods, archers were rare, and Marquis Tianxing ranked among the very best in the entire world. He was the master of Meng Chuan's wife, Liu Qiyue. Meng Chuan had met Marquis Tianxing many times and had been impressed by his bearing. However, more than five years ago, Marquis Tianxing died in battle, one of the twelve Marquis fiendgods from Archean Mountain who perished at that time.

Capturing Marquis Tianxing's demeanor and inherent temperament on paper was quite challenging. Meng Chuan painted with great concentration, taking over two hours to complete it.

Meng Chuan continued his daily routine of deep underground reconnaissance and demon monarch hunting, and maintained his blade art practice. However, he now dedicated two or three hours to painting.

After finishing Marquis Tianxing, Meng Chuan began painting another Marquis fiendgod beside him: Marquis Gong Xu.

Marquis Gong Xu was also one of the Marquis fiendgods from Wu State. He was a powerfully built and imposing fiendgod. When Meng Chuan's father, Meng Dajiang, was framed for colluding with the Sky Demon Gate and imprisoned in Wu State's jail, Marquis Gong Xu was responsible for guarding Wu State City. A little over a year ago, while guarding a region, Marquis Gong Xu unleashed numerous True Yuan threads to deal with a large number of demon monarchs. A team of fourth-level demon monarchs launched a coordinated sneak attack. Marquis Gong Xu fought against multiple enemies, and although he managed to kill one fourth-level demon monarch, he still died in battle.

Meng Chuan had limited interactions with Marquis Gong Xu. He painted the scene where Marquis Gong Xu righteously prevented him from taking his father away. Having experienced it personally, the memory was vivid, making the painting naturally more authentic.

Although the people in the painting were real, they were no longer alive. This pained Meng Chuan's heart.

The third person Meng Chuan painted was Xue Feng.

Xue Feng was incredibly talented, even having one foot across the threshold to becoming a Regalia fiendgod. His future was boundless; if he had continued to grow, he might have become another King Anhai or King Zhenwu, or even surpassed them. Yet, he was ambushed and killed by the demon monarch 'Huang Yao'. Meng Chuan admired Xue Feng's character and grieved his untimely death.

As a youth, Meng Chuan had heard his grandaunt speak of the extraordinary talent of 'Fifth Young Master of King Anhai's family': reaching the Unity realm at ten, comprehending 'Force' at thirteen, and becoming a fiendgod at fifteen.

When he entered Archean Mountain, Xue Feng was also the most dazzling disciple of his time.

Even after descending the mountain, Meng Chuan's cultivation speed in skill realms was not as fast as Xue Feng's. In the World Gap, Xue Feng reached the Law Domain realm, while Meng Chuan reached the 'Peak of Dao realm'. Of course, Xue Feng was five years older than him.

Meng Chuan had also witnessed Xue Feng's dedication to Yan Jin.

"Xue Feng." Meng Chuan painted the last scene he saw of Xue Feng: a gravely wounded Xue Feng facing the demon saint Huang Yao. He showed no fear, only calm acceptance.

As a fiendgod guarding a region, he had long been prepared to die.

Meng Chuan painted daily. Some of the Marquis fiendgods he depicted were very familiar, others he had interacted with rarely, and some he had only heard about or seen in images from Scarlet Blood Cliff.

For those he hadn't seen in person, he could only paint them from the 'Scarlet Blood Cliff mementos'—images captured when they were full of vigor as they descended the mountain.

Meng Chuan painted a total of eighteen Marquis fiendgods. He also painted some patrol fiendgods; many of them had died in battle over the years, and some Meng Chuan had seen personally or even knew relatively well. So, he briefly sketched some of them.

This painting took Meng Chuan twenty-one days to complete.

Late at night.

Meng Chuan gazed at the painting.

The eighteen Marquis fiendgods were all quite prominent, with Xue Feng, Marquis Tianxing, and Marquis Gong Xu positioned near the center of the painting.

Behind the eighteen Marquis fiendgods, fifty-one patrol fiendgods were depicted, becoming increasingly indistinct, and even in the faint, distant outlines, more fiendgods were vaguely visible.

This painting was a group portrait of the fiendgods, as if they were all still vividly present before him.

Meng Chuan lifted his brush and wrote a few words on the far right of the scroll: "In Memory of Them."

Beside it, he wrote another passage:

"Five years and seven months have passed since numerous great demon monarchs entered the human world from Guangyu Pass. From Archean Mountain alone, eighteen Marquis fiendgods and five hundred and eleven patrol fiendgods have died in battle. The war grows increasingly brutal, and casualties continue to mount. Painted by Meng Chuan on a winter night in the twelfth lunar month."

Meng Chuan put down his brush and silently looked at the painting before him.

He wanted to release the intense suppressed emotions in his heart, and he also felt that these people should not be forgotten, which was why he had to paint them.

"If the war can be won,""I hope future generations will know that there was once a group of heroes who fought desperately for humanity.""They ought to be remembered forever."

Meng Chuan murmured to himself.

Setting down the brush, Meng Chuan walked out of the study.

Snow covered the ground, and the deep winter night was intensely cold, but Meng Chuan paid no mind. Although he had completed the painting, he also understood... even if the war was won, people might not truly know about these heroes a thousand or ten thousand years later. Perhaps only those who deliberately researched, sifting through old papers, would find the names of many fiendgods.

"Of course, Xue Feng and the others probably didn't care if they would be forgotten.""All they fought for was to win this war."

Meng Chuan also sensed that the spiritual light emanating from his Essence Soul was gradually receding.

For the past half month or so, painting had indeed probed his inner self and brought about a transformation in his Essence Soul. However, despite significant improvement, it remained at the fourth level. The 'fifth level of Essence Soul' was one of the thresholds for becoming a Creation Realm expert, and its difficulty was indeed extremely high.

"I've been at the fourth level of Essence Soul for seven years now, and these seven years have been exceptionally brutal," Meng Chuan thought to himself. "My Essence Soul has improved a lot, increasing severalfold in quantity, but it hasn't yet reached a qualitative change."

"As long as I keep improving, a breakthrough won't be far off."

Meng Chuan felt no discouragement. Since he was constantly improving, he was getting closer and closer to the fifth level of Essence Soul.

Standing in the courtyard, Meng Chuan looked up at the night sky. "This endless darkness, when will it finally be torn apart?"

Being in the midst of it, Meng Chuan couldn't see any hope of victory. When would they triumph? All he knew was that they were enduring torment, constantly fighting, yet the darkness before him remained. More and more world entrances were appearing, bringing an increasing number of demon monarchs into the human world, each more powerful than the last. And in the Demon Realm, a large group of demon saints and emperors were still watching covetously.

"Clang."

Meng Chuan drew his Demon Slaying Blade and continued practicing his blade arts.

He swung his blade, stroke after stroke.

He practiced the Endless Blade, the blade art into which he poured most of his energy.

Every stroke was deliberate, striving for ultimate speed.

"Fast.""Faster.""Break through all obstacles." Meng Chuan exerted himself, unleashing his blade art as if to cleave through the oppressive darkness completely! To carve out a path of hope.

"Whoosh."

Suddenly, the speed of Meng Chuan's blade art dramatically increased, far surpassing its previous swiftness. In an instant, it transformed into a streak of light! A light that tore through the darkness!