They had to hurry to the Royal Capital!
"You don't have to worry about cleaning up out here. They'll take care of themselves," Hua Cheng said.
The state preceptor placed Yin Yu's body on the back of one of the bonefish, and the bonefish carried the bone dragon skull, along with Quan Yizhen and Yin Yu, into the distance. Meanwhile, the other bonefish started to collect the pieces of the bone dragon that had fallen apart and began to puzzle the skeletons back together. It did indeed seem that they would take care of themselves.
There wasn't a moment to lose, and without another word, Xie Lian directed the giant divine statue to fly into the sky. Shocked, the heavenly officials all called out to him.
"Your Highness, where are you going?"
"You can't be thinking of chasing after him?! We finally escaped…" "We have to pursue him!" Xie Lian said. "He went somewhere heavily populated! There's no time to waste—everyone please hang on tight!"
A die flipped out from between Hua Cheng's fingers. "Gege, are you ready?" he asked, voice low.
Xie Lian nodded. Hua Cheng tossed the die and said, "Teleportation Array, activate!"
The giant divine statue was filled anew with spiritual power and charged upward with all its might!
As expected, once they made it through the clouds, they could see the vibrant crimson of the fiery demonic giant glowering brightly against the black expanse of the horizon. They had also been transported to the skies above the royal capital!
When the people in the human array on the ground saw a flaming monster suddenly appear in the sky, looming overhead and descending toward them, some were stunned, some started screaming, and some were so terrified they almost fled.
Shi Qingxuan, too, sucked in a few sharp breaths, but he quickly snapped out of it and yelled to the crowd with all he had. "It's all right!
Nobody panic! It won't reach us down here—someone will stop it before it does! It's just the gods fighting, that's all! Ha ha ha ha!"
"Is that really true, Ol' Feng? It won't be funny if a huge monster like that thwaps us down!"
Shi Qingxuan laughed wildly. "It's true! Don't you see that I'm here too? If anyone is gonna die, I'll be first! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…" He was panicking so hard he'd lost his mind again.
Xie Lian directed the divine statue to fly over, dodging the walls of fire the giant was spouting until he could grab onto it in a desperate attempt to drag it back up and away from the ground.
All the while he was shouting, "Everyone, get down there, quickly!"
The heavenly officials were already terrified by the way Xie Lian was piloting the divine statue—they couldn't wait to get off. They all hastily jumped off like dumplings being dropped into the pot.
The moment they landed, everyone got another shock when they saw Shi Qingxuan.
"Lord Wind Master? Why…why are you here?"
"Why do you look like that…?"
Shi Qingxuan was overjoyed. "Don't ask so many questions! Come, come, come, join us quickly—join the human array and help support it! We can't let the vengeful spirits break out!"
Most of the heavenly officials hesitated. It was Lang Qianqiu who rushed over first.
"I'll give you a hand!"
Now that someone had taken the lead, the other heavenly officials joined in one after another. The human array was expanded and strengthened once again, growing even more secure. Xie Lian sighed in relief and continued to pull the fiery demonic giant upward, but suddenly, he heard a loud cracking noise. The fiery demonic giant had separated into parts once more!
One of its legs broke away from the main body and plummeted downward. Even just a leg could kill a huge number of people if it was allowed to continue on its deadly course and crash—not only would the human array be destroyed, but perhaps the entire street too!
Yet unexpectedly, the leg was only halfway down when it shattered to pieces and exploded in midair. Millions of tiny, glittering sparks harmlessly melted into the darkness of the night and spread across the sky, like smoky dust raining down after a magnificent fireworks show.
"Why would it explode on its own?" Xie Lian wondered in surprise.
Just then, a figure appeared in the midst of those fireworks and started flying upward against the air current. With a few more hops, it landed on the fiery demonic giant's body.
Once he got a good look at the figure, Xie Lian exclaimed in delight, "General Pei! You're all right—thank goodness!"
He'd been fully prepared to perform a funeral service for Pei Ming— completely free of charge!
Wielding a sword in one hand while the other smoothed back his locks, Pei Ming's hair remained perfect and his charm unruffled. "Not quite all right, but mostly all right," he said with dignified grace.
Still not cooked, even after being roasted and boiled—martial gods were certainly very resilient.
"Where are Banyue and Pei Xiu?" Xie Lian asked.
"They're fine," Hua Cheng said. "Gege, look over there."
Xie Lian turned his head to do so. Sure enough, Banyue was leading Pei Xiu to land on the roof of a house in the distance. It seemed that the Palace of Ming Guang had been sealed tightly enough that the boiling black seawater didn't completely flood the place, so everyone was mostly fine.
"Where are Xuan Ji and the others?" Xie Lian asked.
"I defeated them, of course!" a voice declared proudly.
That voice had come from Pei Ming's hand. It was only then that Xie Lian noticed Pei Ming was wielding the sword Mingguang!
"General Pei, you actually dare wield that sword?" he asked.
"It's a bit complicated to explain," Pei Ming replied with a chuckle.
Rong Guang chuckled as well. "How is it complicated? Didn't you kneel before me to apologize, say you were wrong, and beg me for forgiveness?! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Feels great, feels amazing!"
"…" "…" With that, Xie Lian could guess how it'd probably gone. The three ghosts had likely delayed killing anyone in favor of fighting amongst themselves about which of them was getting a raw deal. Rong Guang had emerged the overwhelming victor and kicked Xuan Ji and Kemo aside—but by then, everything outside was rumbling, the ground was moving, and everyone was sent flying all over the palace. The situation was dire, but they couldn't break out as they were—their only chance was to join forces. Rong Guang forced Pei Ming to admit his wrongs, and he was elated when Pei Ming did as he wished and apologized.
Even after losing a leg, the fiery demonic giant wasn't angry. It began to leisurely repair itself—other boulders and golden palaces shifted toward the missing limb, and it wasn't long before it was fully rebuilt. Although slightly smaller in size, it was still enormous.
Wielding the sword Mingguang, Pei Ming charged toward the Palace of Divine Might.
"General Pei, be careful!" Xie Lian exclaimed.
But Pei Ming's attack power had exploded with Mingguang in hand.
Although Rong Guang had an evil personality, the pair still knew how to work together best—as expected of Pei Ming's longtime subordinate. Quan Yizhen hadn't gotten anywhere close to the Palace of Divine Might before he was smacked away, but Pei Ming got much farther—he stormed straight inside!
While they fought, Rong Guang scolded Pei Ming from within the sword Mingguang. "Do you see?! I told you—if the two of us stood together, we'd be invincible! Nothing can stand in our way! If you had listened to me, would you still be a mere General Ming Guang after so many centuries?"
Veins popped on Pei Ming's forehead. "Can you stop talking?!"
Qi Rong was hiding near the Palace of Divine Might, and he shouted arrogantly, "Friggin' manwhore! I suggest you don't seek your death by coming up here! Get the hell out!"
Mingguang slapped him so hard that the smack echoed in the air— thwack! "What the hell is this green thing?! Don't block the way!"
Qi Rong almost spun a few times from the strike, but Guzi hugged his leg and struggled to steady him.
"Dad…are you all right?" he asked worriedly.
Although Qi Rong was outraged to lose face in front of Guzi, he knew he wasn't tough enough to face Pei Ming head-on when the man and his sword were both bursting with killing intent. But his mouth was still as tough as ever, and he hollered, "USING DESPICABLE MOVES AGAIN!"
Unexpectedly, Guzi didn't respond—instead, he slumped to the ground in a heap. When Qi Rong looked down, he saw that Guzi wasn't moving.
Glaring at him, he picked the boy up by the collar to wildly shake him back and forth.
"Foolish son, what are you playing at?"
Guzi was unconscious—his eyes were shut, and his forehead was burning.
Even though Xie Lian was still straining to pull the fiery demonic giant up, he took notice of the situation below.
"Qi Rong! Why haven't you left?!" Xie Lian shouted. "It's still burning down there, and we've been flying high in the air and deep underwater! That child is too young to endure the strain! He'll die!"
Qi Rong looked up to cuss at him. "DON'T YOU DARE LECTURE ME! I know when you're bluffing! This brat is cheaply raised; how could he die so easily?6 Think I can't tell that you just want to trick me into leaving?
You'll kill me the moment I do!"
Even if Xie Lian didn't make a move against him, Lang Qianqiu was still waiting down below!
Inside the Palace of Divine Might, Pei Ming and Jun Wu had started fighting one-on-one. The flames of war singed Qi Rong again and again, and he screamed as he jumped in all directions to evade them.
"You're a ghost, and even you can't take this fire! You really expect a child to handle it?!" Xie Lian exclaimed angrily.
Tucked under Qi Rong's arm, Guzi's face was burning bright red, but Qi Rong's mouth was as tough as ever. "Heh. Too bad, I won't go! I won't go! WAH! WHAT THE FUCK!"
A thrown flame exploded out of the palace and hit Qi Rong square in the face. He fled, crawling and stumbling in a circle, his backside nearly scorched. Finally, he bounced up, unable to hold back his complaints.
"Um, Jun Wu, you th… Boss man! Can you turn down that vicious heat a little?! You've burnt this…me!"
Xie Lian could tell he had wanted to say "Jun Wu, you old thug, you've burnt this ancestor!" but he valued his life enough not to give voice to such a statement. The way things were now, though, Jun Wu would hardly care—he was currently fighting Pei Ming with a disturbing smile on his face. The fires around Qi Rong were growing bigger and bigger, and there was practically no place left to stand. Although he was a ghost and couldn't die from burning, it was still torture.
Soon after, Guzi let out a devastating shriek from where he was tucked under Qi Rong's arm, like the fire had singed him. Qi Rong lifted him up to check, and sure enough, Guzi's forehead was bloody, and a small, burnt shoulder was visible through a large scorched hole in his robes.
The injuries had roused Guzi from unconsciousness by force, and he started hugging Qi Rong and bawling. "Dad, it hurts! I'm scared!"
Qi Rong had probably never encountered a situation like this before.
Cold sweat rolled nonstop down his forehead, and for once his lips were frozen, at a loss for what to say.
Guzi covered his wound with his hand. "Dad, are we going to burn to death?" he asked through his tears and snot.
"Um… Um, well…" Qi Rong stuttered.
Guzi sniffled. "Even though your domain is very pretty, it doesn't seem like such a great place… The people here don't like us either. Why don't we find a different place to live—?"
Qi Rong couldn't take it anymore. He charged into the palace hall, wanting to grab Jun Wu but not daring to get close. He could only yell from afar, "Hey, can we talk, Jun…boss man? It's fine if you wanna keep setting fires! This is your territory, so burn whatever you want! But… Hee hee hee… Can you, um…" Xie Lian was going to fall off the jade crown platform out of sheer anger at Qi Rong's foolish antics. "Stop trying to get yourself killed—just get out of there! I promise not to touch you!"
But Qi Rong still wouldn't listen to him. Guzi was crying so loudly, and Jun Wu was ignoring him—he clearly didn't care about Qi Rong's existence in the slightest. Probably upset that he was losing face in front of his cheap son again, he rushed over.
"What's up with your temper?!" he yelled at Jun Wu. "I told you to stop with the burning, didn't you hear me?!"
"Qi Rong!" Xie Lian shouted.
Before Qi Rong even got close, Jun Wu raised his hand. A ball of fire shot forth to consume him whole!
Qi Rong let out a shrieking cry.
"Guzi!" Xie Lian shouted.
Even if Qi Rong wasn't reduced to cinders by such a huge fire, he'd be injured severely—and Guzi would be burnt to ashes outright!
Pei Ming saw that Qi Rong had a small child under his arm and wanted to mount a rescue, but Jun Wu was gaining the upper hand and he couldn't get away. He calculated the time in his head and knew they were probably beyond saving.
"My Lord, there was a child with him! There was no need to be so cruel!"
But both Xie Lian and Pei Ming could see that Jun Wu's eyes no longer saw anything as exempt from his brutality, child or not—all he could see were enemies and obstacles. With a swing of his arm, he sent another raging ball of fire flying from his palm, taking Pei Ming along with it.
"General Pei is on fire!" the officials below cried in alarm.
Suddenly, torrential rain poured from the skies. While it didn't put out the flames of war on the giant's body, it did extinguish the fire on Pei Ming.
A black shadow leapt from the crowd into the sky and caught the general as he fell.
"Lord Rain Master!" Xie Lian called out.
Riding the black ox with her chin held high, the Rain Master inclined her head in greeting. Pei Ming, who was draped behind her across the ox, had suffered an accumulation of miseries—burnt to a crisp by raging fires, drenched like a drowned rat by pouring rain, hair a total mess. When he blearily blinked his eyes open, he realized it was the Rain Master who had caught him. Although she was wholly focused on guiding the ox and wasn't looking at him at all, he knew his current unhandsome state was visible to everyone else. Rather embarrassed, he quickly sat upright.
"Lor—" A ring of black smoke puffed out the moment he opened his mouth.
Rong Guang was mad with rage. "I can't believe you needed a woman to save you—and what's more, it was Yushi Huang! Pei Ming, you're such an embarrassment!"
Pei Ming was vexed, and another series of black smoke rings puffed out as he retorted, "Can you shut up?!"
The Rain Master landed smoothly while pulling Pei Ming upright, and she was welcomed by Pei Xiu and Banyue.
Millions of chunks of rubble were still rolling from the body of the fiery demonic giant. The falling rocks blazed with fire and hurtled toward the ground like a meteor shower.
The rain poured harder, but the fires refused to be extinguished—it seemed Jun Wu had infused it with more spiritual power to fuel the flames.
And even if raindrops could put out the fires, that would hardly solve their problems, as the hail of giant boulders would still riddle the royal capital with thousands of giant craters and injure or kill countless civilians. The huge divine statue was straining to pull the giant back, so Xie Lian couldn't break away to assist. He didn't know how many martial gods were present, nor whether they could catch every single falling rock without missing.
Terribly anxious, Xie Lian turned to Hua Cheng. "San Lang, what should we—" Hua Cheng was standing right behind him, and he placed his hand over Xie Lian's. "There's no need for gege to worry. Just focus on what's in front of us, and don't mind what goes on below."
His voice was right next to Xie Lian's ear, his breath warm and gentle, and he gestured for Xie Lian to look with a slight motion of his chin. Xie Lian gazed at the direction Hua Cheng had indicated and saw that a figure clad in red was slowly approaching the human array with his hands clasped behind his back. Xie Lian squinted and felt himself being overtaken by shock and confusion.
That was…Hua Cheng? Another Hua Cheng?
What was going on? Xie Lian whirled around to confirm. Wasn't Hua Cheng standing right behind him?
Hua Cheng chuckled lightly. "Don't be so alarmed, gege. Your real San Lang is the one right here. No lie, exchange if fake."
Then was the one down there a clone Hua Cheng had left behind when he snuck into the Heavenly Capital? No wonder Jun Wu hadn't suspected anything; and here Xie Lian had been wondering whether he had eyes monitoring the area. Perhaps he was monitoring, but he simply saw that "Hua Cheng" was still guarding the royal capital and hadn't suspected a thing.
Shi Qingxuan didn't have the time to look at the sky, so he didn't see Xie Lian and Hua Cheng up there. When he saw "Hua Cheng" approaching, he quickly called out.
"Crimson Rain Sought Flower! You've finally come back! What the heck were you doing, being gone for so long—have you thought of a way to connect with His Highness? No, no, no, you'd better think of a way to help me deal with the situation here first! Do you see all those fiery rocks raining from the sky? Think fast! Blow a breath or make those countless little butterflies of yours fly up and chase them away or something, otherwise we'll die—" "Hua Cheng" didn't say a word; he simply stared coldly and allowed Shi Qingxuan to spout his giant pile of words in one breath. Finally, as if he was growing impatient listening, he cut him off.
"Deal with it yourself."
"Deal with it myself?!" Shi Qingxuan exclaimed. "Don't joke at a time like this! I'm not His Highness, your humor makes no sense to me. How can I deal with those rocks on my own—" Before he finished his sentence, "Hua Cheng" seized the back of his collar and yanked him out of the human array. Shi Qingxuan reacted amazingly fast; he hauled the people on his left and right together the moment he left the array so the human chain wasn't broken. Yet unexpectedly, "Hua Cheng" wasn't done after he pulled him out—he turned his hand and smacked Shi Qingxuan, sending him flying.
All of the beggars were shocked. "Ol' Feng?!"
"Why'd you hit him?!" some of them complained loudly at "Hua Cheng."
Although Shi Qingxuan was sent flying, he only tumbled and rolled a few times. He immediately crawled out of his sprawl on the ground and found his footing again. "It's fine, it's fine, I didn't die! He didn't really hit me—he was just lending me spiritual power!"
"Really…?"
Shi Qingxuan examined his hands, then looked at his body, which was emitting spiritual light from head to toe. "Hua-chengzhu, there's no need to act like this just because you can't see His Highness, you know? If you want to lend me spiritual power, do it nicely! I don't mind eating a few more of those weird-tasting candies, so there's no need to hit people, all right? Why don't you focus a little more on the sky instead! There are still so many rocks up there—" Just then, "Hua Cheng" flung something at him. Without thinking, Shi Qingxuan reached up and caught it, but his entire face blanched when he saw what he had caught.
It was the Wind Master Fan.
Seeing this from atop the giant divine statue, Xie Lian couldn't hold back his questions. "San Lang, wasn't the Wind Master Fan with… The one down there is…?!"
"Don't worry about it," Hua Cheng said. "I called him over at the last minute to lend a hand."
Shi Qingxuan clutched that familiar, beloved fan, his neck stiff, and slowly turned to "Hua Cheng."
"Deal with it yourself," "Hua Cheng" repeated coldly.
The flaming meteors were about to crash into the ground, and the people within the human array could practically feel the waves of heat assaulting their faces. They were awash in sweat both hot and cold.
"Ol' Feng, what you said is true, right? Will everything really be okay?"
"Your Highness, please think of a plan quickly!" the heavenly officials cried out.
Shi Qingxuan gripped the fan, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
Red flooded his eyes bit by bit.
A moment later, he whirled around and swung his arm, and a whirlwind blew up from the flat ground and into the sky. The flaming meteor shower was blown away in an instant, sent back from whence it came!
At first, the beggars had been scared half to death and seemed ready to flee at a moment's notice. But that wild wind had utterly blown their minds.
Their eyes bulged, their mouths went slack—they were the very picture of shock.
It was a long moment before one said, "A…a god?"
"Whoa! Ol' Feng, could you actually be a real god?!" someone called out.
Shi Qingxuan's hand was still shaking from swinging the fan, and he was panting heavily. It was a while before he gathered himself. "D-duh…!"
he replied arduously. "Didn't I tell you all a long time ago? How 'bout that?!
I told you all it wasn't bullshit!"
"No, no, no bull! I believe you now! Wow, Ol' Feng is a god! Let's tell everyone that we know a god! Now we've struck it rich, ha ha ha ha…" "Ol' Feng, let's talk! Take us flying when you've got the time, 'kay?!"
Seeing all this, "Hua Cheng" snorted softly and turned around to leave.
Shi Qingxuan was still gripping the Wind Master Fan, absentmindedly answering the others' jokes even as his complexion alternated between red and white and cold sweat dripped from his forehead. He looked up like he wanted to ask a question, but the person who could answer him was already gone.
A distance away from the human array, new, strange noises could suddenly be heard from within the darkness.
Squeak, squeak, squeak. Squeak, squeak, squeak.
Those with sharp eyes cried out when they saw the source. "What are those things?! An army of…rats?"
"And what's that behind them? People? Why are they pale as ash…?"
"They don't look alive…" "What?" Xie Lian gasped.
It was an army of corpse-eating rats and empty-shelled people—those monsters from Mount Tonglu had been transported here! The empty-shelled people wobbled over with stiffened limbs, and the corpse-eating rats that had survived on human flesh swarmed like a black tide. It appeared that Jun Wu would stop at nothing to destroy the human array—he no longer cared about anything else and was willing to throw the Mortal Realm into absolute chaos!
"Watch over General Pei. I will protect the array," the Rain Master instructed Banyue and the others.
Pei Ming had been lying there puffing black smoke for a while, but when he heard that, he started to push himself up. "I'm fine, I can go protect the array."
He tried to struggle upright, but he just fell down again. Even Pei Xiu couldn't watch anymore.
"Forget it, general. Just…mind your wounds and let Lord Rain Master take care of it."
This was probably the first time Pei Ming had been so thoroughly humiliated in front of a woman, and it was also the first time a woman had saved him. He couldn't tell if he was angry or if it was simply his pride throwing a fit, but his face went dark red for some reason or other. The Rain Master ignored his attitude and smiled.
"There's no need for the general to push himself."
Then she left, riding the black ox.
"Lord Rain Master!" Pei Ming called.
Just then, another hand came crawling up to catch him by the neck.
"Pei darling…" a haunting voice cooed.
Pei Ming was still struggling to come to terms with what had just happened, but the moment he heard that voice, he felt nothing but exasperation. "Why are you still here?"
Xuan Ji had actually been around the entire time, as Banyue had captured both her and Kemo after Rong Guang injured them. Banyue brought them along when she escaped.
Hearing Pei Ming's unkind tone, she instantly turned malicious.
"Why am I still here? I've always been here! What are you doing, staring at Rain Master? Have you fallen in love with someone else again?
You want to go chase after her now, huh? What's so good about her?! I won't allow it!"
Finally at the end of his patience, Pei Ming shoved her away as he exclaimed angrily, "Xuan Ji, why is that the only thing in your brain, even now? It has nothing to do with falling in love; I've barely exchanged two words with the Rain Master!"
This was the first time he'd ever raised a hand against Xuan Ji. She fell to the ground from the sudden shove, completely stunned.
It was a good while before she said incredulously, "Pei darling, I think of you because I love you. Is that so wrong? You've never been so mean to me before. Do you really hate me so much?"
Pei Ming used his sword to help himself stand. "I can't get through to you."
But Xuan Ji still wouldn't give up. "Tell me! Are you really going to leave me? I've done so much for you! Aren't you touched at all, now that you've seen what I've become? Don't you feel any guilt?"
"Didn't I already answer that centuries ago?!" Pei Ming shouted.
Xuan Ji was dumbfounded, completely at a loss on what to do. She clutched the hem of his robes in a death grip, but she could only stagger and hop after him on her broken legs. "Pei darling… Pei darling… Wait, why don't we talk a bit more…?"
Banyue watched. While she knew Pei Ming had abandoned Xuan Ji first, Xuan Ji had killed countless people afterward and tried to kill them time and time again. But right now, she was a little pitiful.
Pei Ming looked back at her. In the end, he only said, "Xuan Ji, it's time to wake up."
"Wake up what?" Xuan Ji was confused.
"I'm part of the reason you became like this, but the rest was all your own decisions. You're the only one who could be moved by all the things you've done. I'm a steel-hearted man. Don't love me—love yourself."
He yanked his robes from Xuan Ji's hold and left without looking back.
Shi Qingxuan didn't have much spiritual power remaining after swinging the fan, so after a brief bout of a panic, the only option was to have the Rain Master and several martial gods take over as the first line of defense for the human array. Yet unexpectedly, a rowdy commotion erupted from all around.
"Quack, quack, is this the royal capital, quack? Such big houses, quack!"
"Why are you making a fuss? Chengzhu's houses are bigger!"
"Yeah, and they're not as pretty as Chengzhu's houses either!"
All sorts of oddly shaped heads appeared from the alleyways, at the ends of the streets, over the eaves of houses; it was extremely lively. The monster and ghost citizens of Ghost City had joined the fray!
When Heaven's Eye and company saw them from within the array, they shouted impatiently, "What's with those ghosts?! Go away! Go back!
This is the emperor's domain—how dare you come to mess around in the royal capital?!"
"You, pig spirit! You dare show your face in front of me?!"
"I'm not hallucinating, am I…? That's a duck…a duck beating a rat?"
A volley of graveside fruit offerings was flung at them in response.
"Shut up, you nasty cultivators! We're giving you some face here! So shameless!"
"Who'd wanna come to this dump? We're only here on Chengzhu's orders!"
"Kneel and thank us!"
The black, swarming tide of corpse-eating rats still had eyes blazing red with greed, yet the situation was playing out much differently than they had expected. They charged forth with murderous intent, but they were greeted by a band of nefarious creatures many times their size—a band that smashed and stabbed wildly at them with pitchforks and rakes. These creatures had their own hungry, red glint in their eyes, more vicious by far.
"So many rats!"
"Come, come, come, hee hee hee! I've been waiting a long time for you! I've never had aperitifs that have been aged two thousand years—the nutritional value must be superb!"
"Can we manage to eat all of these things?"
"Chengzhu said if we can't eat 'em all, we can sell 'em!"
The corpse-eating rats saw the situation going downhill and lost their nerve, retreating in terror and tripping the empty-shelled people in the process. The dire situation was instantly defused, and Xie Lian sighed again in relief as he turned back to say, "Thank goodness for San Lang."
Hua Cheng smiled. "They wanted to come on their own—it had nothing to do with me. Rather than thanking me, gege, be careful."
His tone turned serious at the last two words. Xie Lian looked back and saw that the fiery demonic giant was making another move—it had placed its hand by its waist as if it was about to pull something out.
Xie Lian's heart lurched.
It was a sword.
The giant was already a handful as it was, but adding a sword to the mix? Was that any different from giving wings to a tiger?
Xie Lian felt a sense of foreboding, and he yelled to the people below, "Everyone, be careful!"
Though the ghosts were caught up in the heat of the rat beatdown, when they heard Xie Lian, they looked up and cried out 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 began.
But before he finished his sentence, a sharp sword that blazed with fire and burst with murderous aura came slashing down. Xie Lian released his grip on the giant and barely dodged the attack. The sword's aura and the heat of its strike thoroughly alarmed him.
The divine statue had already barely been fending off the other giant— but now it couldn't return a single blow!
Under such dire circumstances, he wished he could summon a few martial gods to transform into a sword to help. But Quan Yizhen was currently lying in the broken pieces of a bone dragon, cruising around on the back of a bonefish in Black Water's lair as he slowly recovered. Lang Qianqiu was being used like he was a hundred men, supporting the human array against the vengeful spirits rampaging harder and harder. Feng Xin and Mu Qing had for some reason been missing since they left the Heavenly Capital. Only Pei Ming was available, but he was probably useless for the cause—thanks in no small part to his resolute refusal to be shown up by the Rain Master, he was preoccupied helping cut down the rats even though he was charred completely black and still spouting smoke rings. There was no one Xie Lian could actually use!
A voice came from below. "Just wait, Your Highness! Your sword will be here momentarily!"
That was the state preceptor. Xie Lian rushed to the edge of the jade crown platform.
"What? Where's my sword?"
The state preceptor cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled up at them. "Crimson Rain Sought Flower, activate the Teleportation Array!
Connect it to Mount Tonglu! The sword is coming!"
Hua Cheng resolutely tossed out a die. "Activate!"
Something rumbled above them within the pitch-black layers of clouds.
Xie Lian squinted and looked up.
There really was a sword up there!
The divine statue leapt and reached for the longsword. Xie Lian formed a hand seal, before using both hands to grip it, and the giant divine statue gripped the hilt in the same way. And then it slashed toward the Heavenly Capital!
The giant raised its sword to parry the attack, yet when the two swords clashed, something happened that no one could have expected—the sword in Xie Lian's hand cut through the sword wielded by the fiery giant!
With the earth-shattering sound of tearing metal, the fiery demonic giant came to an abrupt stop. It then shattered into several pieces which tumbled to the earth below.
A one-hit knockout? Xie Lian never expected this sword to be so powerful. He stared at the blade in the hands of the giant divine statue, completely stunned.
Scintillating and fine and extremely sharp. What was this sword?
The state preceptor had told Hua Cheng to open a Teleportation Array to Mount Tonglu, and it suddenly dawned on him—this was probably a sword forged from the bodies of the three mountain spirits!
But he had no time to dwell on that, for it would be no laughing matter if that massive thing crashed to earth. Xie Lian hurriedly directed the giant divine statue to fly down and grab the enormous, crumbling boulder. Once he had a grip on it, he changed course, flying some distance away before carefully landing in a more remote location.
Only then did the giant divine statue sheathe the sword at its waist and stand in place. One hand came to rest upon the sword's hilt, while the other opened to reveal the two figures it was holding in its palm like it was cradling a pair of flowers. The gentle smile returned to its face as it resumed the posture of the Flower-Crowned Martial God and stopped moving.
Not a single rock had hit the ground. Everyone in the royal capital was completely unharmed!
After a long moment, all the people, gods, and ghosts looked at each other. "Is…is it over?"
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng hopped off the giant divine statue's palm and met up with everyone back at the capital. Shi Qingxuan's cold sweat had turned hot, and he tucked the Wind Master Fan into his waistband—broken once more after only one use. He hurried over to them, hobbling and wobbling, hopping and dragging his leg.
"Your Highness! Is it over? Is everything taken care of?"
A few other heavenly officials gathered around as well. "Where's the Emp…Jun Wu? Your Highness, have you defeated him? Is he dead?"
From the sidelines, the state preceptor said, "How could that be? His Highness…he wouldn't be defeated so easily."
Hua Cheng extended a hand to Xie Lian. "Gege, let's go and search."
Xie Lian nodded and gave him his hand. Hua Cheng gently pulled him to the top of the wreckage. The ghosts had already lost interest in the corpse-eating rats, since the rats had been beaten thoroughly and fled—so they all jumped up as well, excitedly chattering among themselves that they wanted to "clean out the heavenly capital."
"Stay back," Hua Cheng directed them. "Anyone irrelevant to the search may not approach."
It'd be certain death if they bumped into Jun Wu, after all. The ghosts jumped back down and continued to guard the base of the ruined giant.
However, there was no trace of Jun Wu within the pile of wreckage that was once the Heavenly Capital. Xie Lian and Hua Cheng looked everywhere, even raising the golden roof of the Palace of Divine Might, but they found no one.
Lang Qianqiu turned to Pei Ming. "General Pei! I've got something to do; please take over for me for a moment."
Pei Ming was feeling petulant and depressed. He couldn't measure up to the Rain Master's total number of rats killed, and now he was being dragged over randomly to hold up the array. Still, he didn't say much, just rubbed his nose.
Lang Qianqiu leapt onto the wreckage and rummaged around. Finally, after raising a caved-in roof, he exclaimed, "Found him!"
Xie Lian heard him and went over. "Qianqiu, careful!"
He thought Lang Qianqiu had found Jun Wu, but he had actually uncovered a charred black ball—like a shriveled worm in a giant shell. They could hear tiny coughs coming from it.
Feeling his heart tighten, Xie Lian hurried to help Lang Qianqiu peel away the charred shell. A small child rolled out, curled in on himself and hugging his head. His whole body was red, likely from burns—however, his life was not in danger, and he was still coughing.
After he rolled out, a ball of vivid green ghost fire crept out and floated around him.
Xie Lian looked at it. "This is…" Lang Qianqiu seized the ball of ghost fire with one hand, his eyes sparking with fire. "The heavens have eyes! Qi Rong, you didn't die completely, and you still ended up in my hands in the end!"
Qi Rong had really become the "Night-Touring Green Lantern." When Jun Wu had shot out that blast of fire, Qi Rong must have protected Guzi—it was the only reason why the child hadn't burned to death. Xie Lian was a little surprised in spite of himself. After all, it was more Qi Rong's style to throw Guzi in front of him as a shield.
Hua Cheng could immediately tell what he was thinking. "Tossing the child out to block the fire wouldn't accomplish much; he'd burn to ash in an instant. Shielding or protecting didn't make that much difference to him."
Even if it didn't really make a difference, Qi Rong still chose to protect him.
Despite being reduced to nothing more than a ball of vivid green ghost fire, he still didn't disperse. He started screaming in terror when Lang Qianqiu grabbed him.
The recently rescued Guzi was roused by the ruckus and hugged Lang Qianqiu's leg. "Gege, don't kill my dad!"
"Let go!" Lang Qianqiu exclaimed angrily. "I'll tell you right now— it's useless even if you beg! I won't show you mercy!"
To demonstrate, he gripped Qi Rong harder. Qi Rong was his enemy, the one who annihilated his clan—Xie Lian couldn't interfere, but he was afraid that Lang Qianqiu would accidentally hurt Guzi in his fury. Xie Lian got ready to pull the boy back, but unexpectedly, Guzi tackled him and caught him in a hug.
"Scrap gege, save my dad!"
"Guzi… He really isn't your dad," Xie Lian said. "Can't you tell by the way he treats you?"
However, Guzi insisted, "He is my dad! My dad didn't use to be good to me, but then after he was really good to me. He gave me lots of meat to eat, and he even said he would take me to live in big, beautiful mansions… He's really good to me, scrap gege! Will you please save him?"
"Foolish son, don't beg him!" Qi Rong started scolding. "That blackhearted snow lotus won't save this ancestor! In fact, he can't wait for your old man to kick the bucket—he doesn't care one bit whether I live or die!"
Hua Cheng side-eyed him. "Are you worried that Lang Qianqiu won't be able to kill you, so you're making sure I'll finish the job?"
The moment he spoke, the ball of ghost fire shriveled a bit—Qi Rong was still quite afraid of him. But if he was going to die either way, he'd go all out.
"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 scorned me, thought I was a fool, a madman, a mental case—you looked at me with nothing but contempt. You've always looked down on me! What right do you have to look down on me?! You couldn't even destroy measly little Yong'an, you useless piece of trash!"
"You—" While Hua Cheng didn't move, Xie Lian could sense something and quickly held him back after uttering that single word. "Never mind, drop it."
Hua Cheng didn't even bother with a fake smile. He scoffed. "So what if he looks down on you? Is there anything about you that's worth high regard?"
Fuming and flustered, Qi Rong sputtered at him, "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. "Heh! Even though he was picked up for cheap, it's still better than what you bloodline-ending impotent cowards can manage! Don't even dream of having one, NOT EVEN IN EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS! HEE HEE, HA HA HA HA…" Struck speechless, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng simply stared at him.
Although Hua Cheng didn't waste any further words on Qi Rong, he raised his brows at Xie Lian and mouthed the words, "You never know."
Xie Lian knew he was only joking and gave a weak smile. As he laughed, Qi Rong's mad voice grew smaller and smaller until finally, the jumping ball of vivid green ghost fire fizzled out.
Lang Qianqiu didn't know whether Qi Rong's ghost fire had gone out on its own or if he was the one who choked it out, and he stood there, dumbfounded. Guzi was just as shocked, and he hurried over to pull each of Lang Qianqiu's fingers open. When he saw nothing in his palm, he fell to his knees and started digging at the pile of charred residue on the ground, sifting and searching until his hands were covered in black soot. But there was still no green light, and all he could do was clutch onto Lang Qianqiu's robe.
"Where's my dad…?"
Lang Qianqiu didn't know how to respond to his begging, so he looked at Xie Lian. Xie Lian didn't know what to say either and simply sighed before turning to leave.
Behind him, he could still hear Guzi's incessant pleas. "Gege, where's my dad? He's still around, right? He said he already cultivated to be the, um…the most powerful king of the three realms, so he can't die. He's still here somewhere, right?"
The constant irritation known as Qi Rong was finally gone. But not only did Xie Lian not know what to say, he couldn't even understand what he was feeling. To be honest, Qi Rong's words could not be rebuked—it was true that he'd never regarded his younger cousin very highly, ever since they were young. At first he had felt sympathy for Qi Rong; later, it was head-pounding exasperation, and he did his best to ignore him. Out of sight, out of mind. But if he was accused of always having regarded Qi Rong with contempt, then…that seemed fairly accurate as well.
It wasn't just contempt—he had once hated Qi Rong so much he wanted to crush him to dust and scatter his ashes all over the world. But he'd lived for so long and experienced so much, and when he looked at Qi Rong now, there was nothing left but annoyance and fatigue. Perhaps a little contempt remained, but it hardly mattered at this point.
No joy, no grief.
They continued their search, but it was fruitless. When they came down from the wreckage, Shi Qingxuan had been waiting on the ground for a long time.
"Your Highness, how'd it go?"
Xie Lian shook his head. "We couldn't find him."
"How can that be?!"
The heavenly officials started discussing the matter among themselves.
"Could he really have died? Turned to ash or something?"
"It'd be much too scary if he's still out there hiding!"
"Where could he hide, though? There are so many people watching!"
Shi Qingxuan looked around. "Your Highness, I have a question I've been wanting to ask for a while. Where are Nan Yang and Xuan Zhen?"
It was a valid thing to ask—no one had seen Feng Xin and Mu Qing for a long time. The heavenly officials started chattering again.
"Those two generals couldn't have met with the same problem as General Pei, right? Were they trapped in their own palaces in the Heavenly Capital?"
"That's impossible—I saw General Nan Yang come out! He said he was looking for someone…"