Ch.228: Burning Flames of Karma; Demonic God Descends Upon Royal Capital 3
Just in its current state the giant was already a handful, if there was now a sword, wasn’t it no different than giving wings to tigers?
Xie Lian felt a sense of foreboding and yelled to the people below, ”EVERYONE, BE CAREFUL!”
The ghosts were just in the heat of beating down the rats, and having heard him, they all looked up, exclaiming in awe ”WHAT A GIANT GRAND UNCLE… AH, NO, XIE DAOZHANG!”
“Chengzhu looks like he’s having a good time up there, quack!”
“No, we’re not playing around…” Xie Lian said, but before he finished his sentence, that flaming sharp sword covered with murderous aura came slashing down. Xie Lian released his hands, barely dodging the attack, and felt alarmed by this aura of the sword and the heatwave of this strike.
That giant divine statue was already barely fending off the other, but now, it was practically no match for it!
Under such dire circumstances, he wanted to call forth a few martial gods to transform into a sword to help in spite of himself, but Quan Yi Zhen was currently lying in the broken pieces of the Bone Dragon in Black Water, cruising around to recover; Lang Qian Qiu was being used like he was a hundred men, supporting the human array up against the resentful spirits that were rampaging harder; Feng Xin and Mu Qing for some reason had been missing since they’ve arrived here, and only Pei Ming was free, but he was also cutting down the rats, completely burnt black, spitting smoke rings and resolutely refused to be shown up by the Rain Master, so he was probably useless for the cause. There was actually no one Xie Lian could use!
Just then, a voice came from the ground, ”JUST WAIT, YOUR HIGHNESS! YOUR SWORD WILL BE HERE MOMENTARILY!”
The one who yelled was Guoshi. Xie Lian rushed to the edge of the jaded crown platform, “WHAT? WHERE’S MY SWORD?”
Guoshi circled his hands around his mouth and yelled, ”CRIMSON RAIN SOUGHT FLOWER, ACTIVATE THE DISTANCE SHORTENING ARRAY! TO MOUNT TONGLU! THE SWORD IS HERE!”
Hua Cheng resolutely tossed out a dice and said, ”Activate!”
Above them within the pitch black layers of clouds, something was rumbling. A moment later, Xie Lian squinted as he gazed over.
There really was a sword!
The divine statue leapt up and reached for the long sword. Xie Lian used both hands to grip the hand seal he formed, and the giant divine statue also gripped the hilt in its hands, then it slashed towards the ”Heavenly Capital”!
The other also immediately raised its sword to parry the attack, yet when the two swords clashed, something that no one had imagined happened – the sword in Xie Lian’s hand had cut through the sword of that fiery giant!
Amidst the earth-shattering sound of metal breaking, that fiery demonic giant came to an abrupt stop.
Then suddenly, it broke into several pierces, and soon after, it fell rapidly towards the ground.
Xie Lian had never expected that this sword was this powerful; a one strike knockout? He stared at the sword in the hands of that giant divine statue, completely stunned.
Scintillating and fine, exceedingly sharp. What was this sword?
He then remembered Guoshi told Hua Cheng to open the Distance Shortening Array to Mount TongLu, and it dawned on him – this was probably a sword forged by the bodies of those three mountain spirits!
But, he had no time to think more on it. If that giant thing crashed down it wasn’t going to be funny. Xie Lian immediately directed the giant divine statue to fly down, holding that gigantic boulder that was about to fall apart, and changed course, moving it some distance away before carefully landing at a place much further away and more rural. Only then did that giant divine statue sheath the sword back by its waist and stood in place, a hand resting on the sword while the other opened a palm to reveal the two figures, as if it was holding a flower. It stopped moving, its smile back on its face as it returned to the posture of the Flower-Crowned Martial God.
Not a single falling rock crashed to the ground. Everyone at the royal capital was not harmed one bit!
It was a good moment before all the people, gods, and ghosts looked to each other, ”Is… is it over?”
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng also hopped off from the palm of the giant divine statue, and met up with everyone. Shi Qing Xuan’s cold sweat had already turned into hot sweat, and tucked the Wind Master fan that was once again broken after one use at his waist, hobbling and wobbling, hopping and dragging as he skipped over, ”Your Highness! Is it over? Is everything taken care of?”
A few of the other heavenly officials gathered over too, ”Where’s the Emp… Jun Wu? Your Highness have you defeated him? Is he dead?”
On the side, Guoshi said, ”How can that be? His Highness… He wouldn’t have been defeated so easily.”
Hua Cheng extended a hand out to Xie Lian, ”Gege, let’s go up to search.”
Xie Lian nodded and gave him his hand. Hua Cheng gently pulled and pulled him to the top of the wreckage. The ghosts had already lost interest in the Corpse-Eating Rats that had been beaten and fled in a flurry, and so they all jumped up too, vigorously babbling that they want to “Clean the Heavenly Capital out”, but Hua Cheng said, ”Stay back. All irrelevant persons must not come close.” Otherwise, if they really did bump into Jun Wu, it’d be certain death. Hearing this, the ghosts could only jump back down, continuing to guard the bottom.
However, within the former Heavenly Capital that had now been cut into a giant wreckage, there was not a trace of Jun Wu. Xie Lian and Hua Cheng looked all over, and even raised the golden roof of the Great Martial Hall, but they didn’t see anyone.
Just then, Lang Qian Qiu suddenly turned to Pei Ming, ”General Pei! I’ve got something to do, please help take over for me for a moment.”
The number of rats Pei Ming cut down wasn’t more than the Rain Master, and he was just feeling petulantly depressed when he got dragged over the uphold the array out of the blue.
Still, he only rubbed his nose and didn’t say much. Lang Qian Qiu leapt onto the wreckage and rummaged all over, when finally, after raising a caved in roof, he exclaimed, ”FOUND HIM!”
Xie Lian heard him and went over, ”Qian Qiu, be careful!”
He had thought Lang Qian Qiu found Jun Wu, yet unexpectedly, what he found was a ball of something charred black, like a worm shriveled in a giant shell, and there was even the tiny sound of coughing.
Xie Lian felt his heart tighten, and immediately peeled away this charred shell together with Lang Qian Qiu to see, and a small child actually rolled out, his body curled, hugging his head, his whole body red, probably from the burns. But his life was not in danger and he was still coughing.
After he rolled out, a green ball of greasy ghost fire also creeped out, floating. Xie Lian looked at it, ”This is…”
Lang Qian Qiu seized that ball of ghost fire with a hand, his eyes blowing flames, ”The heavens have eyes so Qi Rong you haven’t died completely, and still ended up in my hands in the end!”
Qi Rong had really become the ”Night-Touring Green Lantern”. Now that they thought back, when Jun Wu had shot out that trail of fire, Qi Rong had protected Gu Zi, which was why this child didn’t burn to death. Xie Lian was a little surprised in spite of himself. After all, by Qi Rong’s character, if there was fire it’d be more his thing to throw Gu Zi out to shield himself.
Hua Cheng instantly knew what he was thinking about and said, ”Even if he threw the child out to block the fire it wouldn’t do much, he’d burn to ashes in an instant. To protect and to use as a shield isn’t very different in his book.”
Even if that was the reason, he still protected. Qi Rong was burnt to nothing more than a green ball of greasy ghost fire and he still didn’t disperse, caught in Lang Qian Qiu’s hands, and he started screaming in terror. Gu Zi, who they just saved, was roused instantly and he hugged Lang Qian Qiu’s leg, ”Gege, don’t kill my dad!”
Lang Qian Qiu exclaimed angrily, ”LET GO! I’m telling you now, even if you beg it’s useless, I won’t show mercy!” Then he gripped harder. Qi Rong was the enemy who annihilated his clan, Xie Lian couldn’t interfere at all, but he was afraid in Lang Qian Qiu’s fury he’d accidentally hurt Gu Zi, so Xie Lian was going to pull Gu Zi away, yet unexpectedly Gu Zi tackled over and hugged him, ”SCRAP GEGE, SAVE MY DAD!”
“Gu Zi… This really isn’t your dad.” Xie Lian said, ”Can’t you tell by the way he treats you?”
However, Gu Zi said, ”That IS my dad! My dad didn’t used to be good to me, but then after he was really good to me. He’d often give me meat to eat, and even said he will take me to live in big, beautiful mansions… he’s really good to me, scrap gege, will you please save him?”
Qi Rong started scolding, ”Foolish son, don’t beg him! This black hearted snow lotus won’t save this ancestor! In fact, he can’t wait for your old man to die, he doesn’t care whether I live or die!”
Hua Cheng side-eyed him, ”Are you worried that Lang Qian Qiu can’t kill you, so I have to be dragged in too?”
Qi Rong was still quite afraid of him, and the moment he spoke the entire ball of ghost fire shriveled a bit. Nonetheless, he was going to die either way, so he stopped caring, ”HUA CHENG YOU FUCKER, I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU! Xie Lian, don’t think I don’t know. I took you for a god in the heavens, BUT YOU! WHAT DID YOU TAKE ME FOR? YOU NEVER TOOK ME FOR ANYTHING! You ignore me, reject me, think I’m a fool, a madman, that I’m mental, look at me with contempt. You’ve always looked down on me! WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO LOOK DOWN ON ME? YOU CAN’T EVEN DESTROY A MERE YONG AN, YOU USELESS TRASH!”
“You…”
Xie Lian only uttered one word, and while Hua Cheng didn’t move, Xie Lian could sense something and quickly pulled him back first and said, ”Nevermind, drop it.”
Hua Cheng didn’t even want to bother with a fake smile, and humphed, ”So what if he looks down on you? Is there anything about you worth a high regard?”
Qi Rong was fuming and flustered, ”I SPIT AT YOU, I SPIT! SO, SO WHAT IF YOU ALL LOOK DOWN ON ME? THIS ANCESTOR… THIS ANCESTOR… THIS ANCESTOR HAS A SON!”
“…”
“…”
Qi Rong started cackling maniacally, ”Hehe! Even though he was picked up cheaply, but at least it’s still better than you bloodline-ending impotent cowards! DON’T EVEN DREAM OF HAVING ONE IN EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS! HEHEHAHAHAHA…”
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng watched him speechlessly. Hua Cheng also didn’t want to waste anymore words on Qi Rong, and only raised his brows at Xie Lian, mouthing the words, ”You never know.”
Xie Lian knew he was only joking, and smiled weakly. Yet unexpectedly, as he laughed, Qi Rong’s mad laughter grew smaller and smaller. At last, that ball of green, greasy, ghost fire that was jumping up and down had fizzled out.
Lang Qian Qiu didn’t know whether if Qi Rong’s ghost fire was snuffed out on its own or if he was the one who choked it out, and he stood there, dumbfounded. Gu Zi was also dumbstruck, and he went up to pull each of Lang Qian Qiu’s fingers open. But when he saw there was nothing, he fell to the ground and started digging at that pile of charred residues on the ground, scratching to the point his hands were covered in black soot but still there was no green light, so he couldn’t help but clutch onto Lang Qian Qiu’s robe, ”Where’s my dad…”
He begged Lang Qian Qiu but Lang Qian Qiu didn’t know what to say, so he gazed at Xie Lian.
Xie Lian didn’t know what to say either, and only sighed, turning around to leave. Behind him came Gu Zi’s incessant voice, ”Gege, where’s my dad? He’s still around, right? He said he’s already cultivated to be the what… the most powerful king of the three realms, he can’t die. He’s still around, right?”
The annoying Qi Rong finally disappeared.
Yet, not only did Xie Lian not know what to say, at this moment, he couldn’t even understand what he was feeling.
To be honest, if he thought about it closely, Qi Rong’s words indeed seemed to be irrebukable.
Ever since they were young, he really didn’t regard this younger cousin of his very highly.
At first he felt sympathies for Qi Rong, later it was exasperation, headache, and he did his best to ignore him; out of sight, out of mind. But if it must be said he looked at Qi Rong with ‘contempt’, then… that seemed fairly accurate too.
It wasn’t just contempt. He had also once hated Qi Rong so much he wanted to crush his ashes and scatter them all over the world. But having lived for so long, having experienced so much, when he looked back to look at Qi Rong, there really was nothing left except annoyance and fatigue. Perhaps there was a little contempt, but that no longer mattered.
No joy, no grief.
They continued their search but it was fruitless. After they came down from the wreckage, Shi Qing Xuan had already been waiting on the ground for a long time, ”Your Highness, how is it?”
Xie Lian shook his head, ”We didn’t find him.”
“How can that be?!”
The heavenly officials started discussing, ”Could he really be dead? Turned to ashes or something.”
“If he’s hiding then that’s too scary!”
“Where can he hide, though? There’s so many people watching!”
Shi Qing Xuan looked around and said, ”Your Highness, I’ve a question I’ve been wanting to ask since earlier. Where’s Nan Yang and Xuan Zhen?”
It’s true, it seemed no one had seen Feng Xin and Mu Qing for a long while now. The heavenly officials started chattering again, ”Those two generals couldn’t be the same as General Pei, right? Stuck in their own palaces in the Heavenly Capital and didn’t come out?”
“That’s impossible… I saw General Nan Yang come out! Besides, he was looking for someone at the time…”
——
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