The closer they got to Stormbeak city, the louder the rushing at the back of Liang Chen's mind got. The screams clawed at him, the only person who could hear them, the instrument of their revenge. It was like he was standing above a pit filled with rabid hounds, there wasn't a single coherent sound or thought, just a desire to sate their anger. It was sad, but that was the nature of wrath, it swallowed everything else until it alone was all that remained.
"Not much further now, only a minute or two. But I can't get in touch with their leader, Douzhou Shan. If you're right and there was a battle in the area then it seems likely that it took place within the city, there's little other reason for Douzhou to make a move."
Yan Ling sat at the table, holding a small jade orb used for communication. Her other hand was busy feeding Ao Fentian, but her brows were slightly furrowed. She was the disciple of the Star God Sirius and the Nine Star Demon God, there were few others in this universe who could match a status like that. As a result, she had been introduced to countless people and gotten their contact information, no one dared to remain silent if she called.
But now there was no answer, not even the second or third in command were answering when she tried to call them. If there really had been a battle in the city, one that left the top three of the sect unable to answer, then that was a problem in of itself. They were a generally peaceful sect, but you didn't gain control of a city by being weak. Douzhou Shan was close to a pacifist and obsessed with his religion, and he may have stagnated in his cultivation for quite a few years, but he was still a Sovereign God. He wasn't someone you could just kill quietly.
Someone should have noticed, someone should have heard. Even if those within the sect couldn't then someone else within the city should have. Only the few central mansions belonged to the Storm Dancer's, the rest of the city had just ended up being built there over time since it was safe, they weren't actually affiliated with the sect. As such, even if someone attacked the sect, there was no need to attack the rest of the city, there should have been time for someone there to send out at least one distress signal.
"It's poison."
Liang Chen's voice reached her as she fiddled with the orb again. He also sat at the table, picking at some of the prepared food and sliding it over to Sheng Lian, who was cleaning up a small mess that Lan Yun had made while running around with Yumao. His head was turned, his gaze cast beyond the window while his eyes narrowed slightly. She couldn't see it from her position, but she didn't doubt that he was looking directly at the distant city, sensing something she couldn't.
Indeed, Liang Chen could sense it. His soul was poison itself, his existence steeped in that nauseating and fresh scent. But while he could detect the poison within the distant city, the sweet scent that his soul could only describe as delectable, he couldn't actually recognize it. No poison was the same, even those with similar effects achieved them through a different method. As such, to him, they all smelled differently, they had a slight tinge that set them apart from each other. And yet, despite his extensive delving into different poisons, he had never encountered a poison like this.
"Hmmm, poison… There are a few local Sovereign Gods that use the law of poison, but none that have a grudge with the Storm Dancers. As for the people taking part in the war, Teacher has never mentioned anyone using the law of poison."
Yan Ling scoured her memories, she was a Sovereign God now so it was inevitable that she would have to join the war, thus her teacher had told her about what she might encounter. But poison was a bit of a rarity amongst Sovereign Gods, most saw it as something that became harder to use as you got stronger so it was rarely worth the investment to them.
And naturally, the so-called 'local' Sovereign Gods that she spoke of were in fact the Sovereign Gods living within this universe and the three closest ones, there were no other Sovereign Gods living within this galaxy. But if she was asked if any of those Sovereign Gods could have done this, even if they had the law of poison, she would have to say no. Those Sovereign Gods were subordinates of the Nine Star Demon God, and there was no way they would dare to betray him.
"It wouldn't be strange if they've added new people to their forces, this is their third attempt after all, they probably don't want to fail again."
Liang Chen's gaze remained locked on the distant city, just barely visible on the horizon now. He'd studied, he'd listened and read to gather information, so he wasn't entirely ignorant about this war that Tian Shen had started. This wasn't the first time Tian Shen tried to invade this Sphere. The first happened before even Chang Yun's time, the records of that time so blurry no one seemed to know why it ended. The second happened during the time of the Bloodwind Emperor, the Human Emperor, and the Void King, and subsequently ended thanks to them.
And now the third had begun. Tian Shen lost to just three people on the Void King's level during the second attempt, and now there were an entire eight of them. Would Tian Shen not know this? Would he just jump in here blindly and hope for the best? Liang Chen found it unlikely. Tian Shen had something planned, he had something he felt he could put his faith in, something to ensure victory.
Yan Ling gave a short nod, it was a reasonable train of thought. Tian Shen was able to become the Existential Lord, the sole living person to have grasped the law of Existence, would he be foolish enough to start a war he had no chance of winning? She tilted her head back to finish the last of her drink and then put down the glass, picking up Ao Fentian as she stood up.
"I'll hold onto him. Lian, can I leave Little Lan to you and Yumao?"
Yan Ling pointed her gaze to the horizon beyond the window after she stood up, shooting Sheng Lian a request at the same time. There was no telling what they might find there so it would be for the best to have the kids properly supervised. Granted, the very best option would be to just toss them into Liang Chen's interspatial ring, but it was just too sad to toss them away at all times like that.
Sheng Lian had already finished cleaning up the mess so she took hold of Lan Yun's hand with a nod of her head, Yumao remaining nestled on top of her head. He would normally joke around a bit in situations like this, it was a bad habit he had sadly copied from Yan Ling while Liang Chen wasn't looking. But he was sensible enough to hold himself back in times like this, he wouldn't risk the life of Liang Chen's daughter, basically his own sister, after all.
The ship stopped not long after Yan Ling made her request, vanishing shortly after as Yan Ling put it into her interspatial ring. The source of the multitude of screams in the back of Liang Chen's mind unfurled itself beneath the group.
Stormbeak city was silent as it stretched out to cover almost every spot of open land. The a gathering of bright blue buildings served as the centrepiece of the city, but what had once been a beautiful estate had been torn apart, blue stones ground to dust or stained with dark brown blood.
Clothes were scattered throughout the city, some close to the destroyed centre were torn apart but those further apart were completely whole. There were some dark smudges around the clothes, now dry thanks to the passage of time. Liang Chen hadn't seen what happened, but he had a similar poison so he could assume that the one that attacked this city used his poison to dissolve the people.
The air was silent as Liang Chen's group stood there. If Stormbeak City was silent before they arrived then now it had become eerily quiet, it was as if all sound had been sucked out of existence. The wind, the slight sounds of moving grass, even the inaudible howling of the vengeful souls had fallen silent.
"Little Freak… Deep breaths, deep and calm breaths."
Yan Ling's soft voice broke the silence, a hand landing on Liang Chen's shoulder and gently rubbing his arm. The source of the silence was standing right next to her, as strange as it was to say something like that. He just stood there and looked down, but that alone was enough to make even the wind die down.
His face was stiff, an expression some might call emotionless adorning it. But Yan Ling knew him well, she would never believe something so silly. Fury and sorrow, those were the best words she could think of at the moment, but perhaps not even that would be enough to describe it. He was a volcano about to erupt, a tsunami making its way towards land, a storm about to grow out of control. But she could understand it, she herself was angry at what she saw, but Liang Chen was always more compassionate than her so it was inevitable that he would burn that more fiercely.
Liang Chen's eyes scanned the entire city, scanned the screaming souls that had seeped into the soil. And thus he saw it, thus it burned him. The clothes scattered throughout the city weren't uniform, they came in all sizes and colours. And in this instance, the sizes were what he noticed first. Many of them were just too small to belong to adults, some were so small that they couldn't even belong to children.
Whoever attacked this city, their attack had been completely indiscriminate. Fighters and citizens, women and men, old and young, all had died and become sludge that was now dry. Kids playing with their friends, infants suckling at their mothers chest, brothers trying to shield sisters, fathers trying to protect sons. All fell, all died without getting a chance to fight back, all perished without a chance to live.
Liang Chen drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes, soft sounds finally returning to the city. His head tilted back as he opened his eyes again, his gaze piercing into the sky. Vast. A blue sky that spread out endlessly, dotted with white clouds that drift about without a care. Vast. Endless. Empty.
As a child, how often hadn't he turned his gaze skyward and prayed to the heavens? How often hadn't he begged and dreamt of the justice that lay within that caring blue? But it wasn't there, the heavens, the blue, the clouds, it was all just empty.
"Come. Show yourself, you lost and you angry."
His voice echoed across the sky like thunder, his poisonous words spreading through existence. The land trembled quietly as things started to rise from the ground, featureless humanoid shapes rising from beneath the empty clothes that were scattered about. He had briefly told Yan Ling about it, but this was still the first time she saw him using his embryonic Prime Law of Poison to dredge up the shades of those filled with anger as they died.
She couldn't hear it before, but now that he had pulled them up she could hear them too, the ceaseless screams that mixed into one indistinct sound. It hurt. The noise stabbed at her mind, it felt as if it was digging around in her brain with a spoon. To live while having to hear this… Sadly, she knew what it took to live a life where you chose this.
Liang Chen looked down at the shades that rose and screamed, at the poison that their anger had become. The screams were more distorted than normal, it was as if their voices were covered up by coughs, both dry and wet ones. His gaze was still stiff as he looked at them, somewhere in those shades should be the answer to who killed them. And when he found it, he wouldn't just sit around. The sky and the heavens were empty, that endless blue was empty.
Was. It was empty. But now he stood there.