B11C8: Fellow Taoist Heavenly Flame is quite something!
Hou Fei rubs his chin and says thoughtfully with a frown: “Um, you’re right. That Wu Kongxue is really powerful. After all, he’s a 12th tribulation loose devil. A large group of other loose devil experts has also returned. Now we can’t trample on those common loose devils anymore.”
He then says to Qin Yu with a laugh: “No need to think so much, big brother. Let’s relax in the Qingyu Immortal Mansion for some time first. Given the restrictive spells set up by Immortal Emperor Ni Yang in the past, how can a 12th tribulation loose devil possibly find us? I don’t believe that Wu Kongxue fella can search with his devil sense day and night.”
There is a faint smile on Qin Yu’s face: “Relax for some time? No, we should leave late tonight.”
“Late tonight? So urgently?” Hou Fei is doubtful.
“You want to become a fire-raiser again, big brother?” Hei Yu looks at Qin Yu.
“Only Xiao Hei understands me.” Qin Yu says smilingly. When Hei Yu hears that what Qin Yu wants to do is really the same as what he thought, his eyes immediately glitter. On one side, Hou Fei also understands after pondering a bit.
He looks at Qin Yu with blazing eyes: “You’re very ruthless, big brother.”
Qin Yu gives an indifferent smile.
Very ruthless?
This is not ruthlessness. Hou Fei is not a member of the Qin clan so he does not know at all how important the Qin clan is to its members. When he was little, he already knew how heavy his father’s responsibilities were as the leader of the Qin clan. All of this is for the sake of the Qin clan!
Qin Yu is largely to blame for the Qin clan suffering so many losses this time.
“Wu Kongxue, Reverend Ming Liang.” His eyes glitter with coldness. “The younger generation suffered countless casualties. Over 90% of my clan’s members were killed. They didn’t give a d.a.m.n about their accidental ma.s.sacre so now I’m going to make them face the dire consequences of it.”
The heavenly flames on the surface of the Yinyue mountain range have already dissipated. But now the mountain range is a vast, sterile expanse of charred remains.
In the sky above the Yinyue mountain range,
Wu Kongxue is glancing down with a grim expression. Below him, a large group of loose devils is searching carefully on the surface of the Yinyue mountain range. Of course, the target of their search is none other than that all-important Heaven-Sundering Diagram. But they have already been searching for almost 2 hours without result.
The Heaven-Sundering Diagrams are treasures created by Immortal Emperor Ni Yang. Their auras are contained inside most of the time so after Qin Yu and some others went into the Treasure-Storing Tower of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion in the past, they could not discover them in the beginning even though they were hanging on the walls. This is also the reason why Wu Kongxue told everybody else to personally search for the painting.
“Sir, several hundred loose devils have been searching for so long without finding the Heaven-Sundering Diagram. Could it have been burned up?” Pei Yan says on one side.
“Use your brains.” Wu Kongxue looks coldly at him. “What kind of treasure do you think the Heaven-Sundering Diagram is? How could it possibly have been burned up by the heavenly flame? You must understand that I got hold of the diagram before so I know it very well. Now what I’m worried about the most is that … Xu Hei, the loose devil who took care of the diagram, was already burned to death and the diagram was s.n.a.t.c.hed by that Reverend Heavenly Flame. It would be terrible if that was the case.”
Pei Yan immediately sees the light: “Ah, it would be terrible if Reverend Heavenly Flame really obtained the diagram after burning that loose devil to death then ran away with it.”
“Don’t worry.” Wu Kongxue says coldly: “Now we don’t even know where that Reverend Heavenly Flame fled to. But before searching for him, there’s one thing we must do.”
“What is that?” Pei Yan asks.
“Find Xu Hei’s close friends or schoolmates and ask them who has his soul jade slip. We’ll only need to take a look at his soul jade slip to know if he’s dead or alive. If he’s alive, most probably the Heaven-Sundering Diagram is still on his body. If he’s already dead and the loose devils down below can’t find the diagram, then … chances are it was already taken away by Reverend Heavenly Flame.”
When Wu Kongxue says the last sentence, his expression becomes even more unsightly.
That mysterious Reverend Heavenly Flame escaped from his hands and, even worse, was able to do so because of his carelessness. If the Heaven-Sundering Diagram was really taken away Reverend Heavenly Flame, he will have to take huge responsibility for this.
“Reverend Heavenly Flame didn’t seem to be powerful at all, but somehow he could release so much heavenly flame in a breath.” Wu Kongxue is exasperated inside.
It took n.o.body knows how much heavenly flame to shave such a thick layer off the entire Yinyue mountain range.
However, as soon as he thinks about how that mysterious Reverend Heavenly Flame suddenly vanished after taking a hit from him, he become hesitant: “Could this Reverend Heavenly Flame have been a wolf in sheep’s clothing? He pretended to be a weakling but in fact wanted to exploit the fighting between us and Mount Qingxu to gain an unfair advantage?”
At this moment, through a transmitter, Pei Yan is communicating with Dame Lian Yue, who is leading the loose devil army to rush back in the distance.
“Lord Wu Kongxue.”
He says excitedly, his face full of delight: “Lord Wu Kongxue, just now I informed Her Ladys.h.i.+p about what happened here. She already asked a grand uncle master of loose devil Xu Hei and found out from him that Xu Hei is definitely alive!”
“Alive?”
Wu Kongxue cannot help secretly letting out a sigh of relief. He then asks hurriedly: “Then can Xu Hei’s school find out where he is now?”
“They do not know his whereabouts. All the experts of Xu Hei’s school tried to message him, but they simply could not get through. It seems … he cannot receive any messages.” Pei Yan’s face is full of doubt. “Are there places that can obstruct messaging?”
“Of course there are.”
Wu Kongxue gives a calm smile: “Some special places such as the mansions of immortals are totally isolated from the outside world. Even transmitters are useless in those places.”
“It hasn’t been long since the heavenly flame started to burn, but now I can’t find Xu Hei’s aura at all and I don’t know where he is either.” Wu Kongxue is actually feeling somewhat depressed inside. He cannot help thinking about Reverend Heavenly Flame.
“Reverend Heavenly Flame, this time you’ve really p.i.s.sed me off.” His eyes glitter with a blood-red light.
After a long time —
A tremor and shattering noises are heard from under the surface of the Yinyue mountain range. Suddenly — the tip of a mountain splits in two and a huge sword shape flies out of it. That sword shape is several tens of meters tall and 2 to 3 m wide. There is even a silhouette of a human within the sword shape.
Seeing this human, who has suddenly appeared, Wu Kongxue’s eyes pop out of his head. He cannot help exclaiming: “Xu Hei.”
The loose devil that has just broken out of the interior of the Yinyue mountain range is none other than Xu Hei, the custodian of the Heaven-Sundering Diagram.
The huge sword shape begins to disappear slowly, revealing that human inside it. This is a young man who is a little fat like a baby.
“Lord Wu Kongxue.” Xu Hei flies up to Wu Kongxue, his face full of excitement. “I have finally seen you again. Sir, just now those heavenly flames were all over the sky and the earth so I was worried to death.”
“Where’s the Heaven-Sundering Diagram?” Wu Kongxue asks without thinking. What he is worried about the most is the diagram.
Loose devil Xu Hei says immediately: “The Heaven-Sundering Diagram is safe. I knew very well that this diagram was not allowed to fall into the enemy’s hands even if I had to die. In the beginning I wanted to go into the main body of the mountain range with an escaping art, but … there were a great number of restrictive spells set up in the Yinyue Palace so I could not use an escaping art.”
Wu Kongxue does not know if he should cry or laugh.
These restrictive spells protected the Yinyue Palace by making it impossible for the enemy to use escaping arts to come in and launch a sneak attack. But when the heavenly flames raided the Yinyue Palace, a large number of loose devils were burned to death because at the time they could not flee into the main body of the mountain range. The heavenly flames were all over the sky and the earth so those loose devils and the Yinyue Palace’s disciples were basically unable to move. If they could not go into the ground, they would surely die.
“How did you go into the ground?” Wu Kongxue asks smilingly.
A wave of terror appears on loose devil Xu Hei’s face. “Senior, in the end I …”
“In the end you personalized the diagram by blood, right?” Wu Kongxue’s face hardens.
Xu Hei suddenly kneels down: “Lord Wu Kongxue, originally I did not intend to personalize this Heaven-Sundering Diagram by blood, but it is too important and the heavenly flames were dropping. I was not allowed to let it fall into the enemy’s hands at all costs so I had no choice but to personalize it by blood then use the protective function of the Heaven-Sundering Sword Energy.”
Wu Kongxue utters a cold humph: “The Heaven-Sundering Sword Energy is the sword energy left behind by an immortal emperor. You were lucky to use it for once.”
Xu Hei says respectfully at once: “The Heaven-Sundering Sword Energy is indeed very powerful. Even when touching the heavenly flame, it was still able to protect me from the attack of the heavenly flame. Afterwards … it easily penetrated the restrictive spells and I immediately went into the main body of the mountain range.”
Wu Kongxue certainly knows what happened later, nothing but Xu Hei hiding inside the main body of the mountain range until coming out just now.
He is actually very shocked inside: “That Heaven-Sundering Sword Energy is really fantastic. This Xu Hei fella isn’t strong but after activating the protective sword energy, his whole body seemed to be isolated completely from the outside world. Not even my devil sense could detect his aura at all. Could it be, aside from having a protective function, the Heaven-Sundering Sword Energy also performs a function of containing the user’s aura to avoid detection?”
He has guessed correctly.
When the user is surrounded by the Heaven-Sundering Sword Energy, their aura is totally isolated from the outside world. This is also a great ability of Immortal Emperor Ni Yang’s Heaven-Sundering Sword Art.
“Alright, give me the Heaven-Sundering Diagram. Now your ident.i.ty has been exposed so you’re not fit for keeping it anymore.” Wu Kongxue says indifferently.
Although Xu Hei secretly likes this treasure because it has the protective Heaven-Sundering Sword Energy, he fears Wu Kongxue even more. So, despite the unwillingness in his heart, he immediately removes the blood bond between him and the diagram with a respectful expression then hands it over to Wu Kongxue.
After receiving the Heaven-Sundering Diagram, Wu Kongxue feels much more relaxed inside.
“Oh?” He frowningly turns his hand over. An object similar to a transmitter appears.
“Big brother Wu Kongxue, the loose devil army led by Dame Lian Yue seems to have suffered losses.” Fire Devil flies up to Wu Kongxue from down below. When Wu Kongxue received Dame Lian Yue’s message, he also received it.
The contents of the message are very simple.
After Wu Kongxue, Fire Devil and some other experts had left, Dame Lian Yue gathered the loose devil army. They then withdrew from Mount Qingxu and moved towards the Yinyue mountain range. But Reverend Ming Liang should have also found out what had happened to the Yinyue mountain range so he seized this opportunity to lead the loose immortal army to rush out of the Ten Development Illusionary Formation and pursue them.
During the chase, the loose devil army and the loose immortal army started to fight each other again.
In stark contrast to the previous battle, this time the loose devil army has been at a disadvantage.
This is because more than half of the 11th tribulation and 12th tribulation experts on the loose devil side already left in a rush for the Yinyue mountain range before. As a result, the super experts on the loose immortal side have been very aggressive, especially Reverend Ming Liang, who has simply been unmatched by anybody.
Forced the point where she has no choice, Dame Lian Yue has asked for help from Wu Kongxue.
“Everybody, we have found the Heaven-Sundering Diagram so our mission has been accomplished. But without us, the fighting capacity of the loose devil army has decreased greatly. Besides, the loose devil army is being surrounded and attacked by loose immortals. So, please rush to the battlefield at your top speed, everybody.”
Wu Kongxue immediately tells the other loose devils through his devil sense. Right afterwards, he, Fire Devil, Pei Yan and the other experts all hurry to the battlefield using teleportation.
The loose immortal side and the loose devil side have been fighting over several hundred thousand li on the way from Mount Qingxu to the Yinyue mountain range. More than 10,000 loose pract.i.tioners have been killed or injured. On this path, several tens of thousands of common Xiuzhenists have suffered collateral damage and the number of mortals affected has even surpa.s.sed several tens of millions.
On the way, blood has been flowing in rivers and explosions have been heard nonstop like thunder.
“Ha-ha … Lian Yue, today I’m going to make your loose devil side remember how fearsome us Xiuxianists are forever.” Reverend Ming Liang is like a dazzling sun. On this battlefield, he is an invincible being.
His presence greatly boosts the morale of the loose immortal side because he can casually handle almost any tough expert of the devil path here.
Wu Hei is the only one on the loose devil side who has managed to resist him.
“Ming Liang, don’t be too arrogant!”
The shouting of a furious voice drowns Reverend Ming Liang’s loud laughter. It resounds through the entire battlefield, which is several thousand li in extent. At the same time, a terrifying b.l.o.o.d.y stench quickly spreads throughout the place as a blood-red beam of light shoots over from the horizon in the distance. Its target is none other than Reverend Ming Liang.
Various other beams of light also shoot over, following that blood-red beam of light closely.
“Lord Wu Kongxue has come!”
“It’s Lord Wu Kongxue!”
The power of the loose devil side is greatly improved right away.
“Humph!” Reverend Ming Liang utters a cold humph. His whole body turns into a dazzling white beam of light, charging at the blood-red beam of light.
Countless other loose devils and loose immortals can only see the blood-red light and the white light bombard each other, get entangled with each other and cause explosions unceasingly … In short, n.o.body dares to come within several tens of li of the place where the 2 beams of light are fighting. But the s.p.a.ce has not been shattered yet.
“So strong,” Wu Hei cannot help narrowing his eyes. He can see clearly that Reverend Ming Liang and Wu Kongxue do not waste any excessive energy when attacking each other. Their control of their energies in every move is extremely accurate. It is only because of this that the s.p.a.ce has not been shattered.
After a while,
The 2 beams of light move apart. The blood-red one turns into the no. 1 expert of the devil path, Wu Kongxue, whose blood-red robe is flapping. The white one turns into the no. 1 expert of the immortal path, Reverend Ming Liang, who is dressed in a pale blue robe.
Qin Yu has quietly appeared in a remote mountain forest on the Yinyue mountain range alone.
“If I guess correctly, when such a big incident occurred in the Yinyue mountain range, Reverend Ming Liang’s intelligence network must have learned of it. He most probably should have also figured out that some experts of the loose devil side had returned in advance. If he hadn’t seized this opportunity to wreak havoc on the loose devil side, he would be a real fool.” Qin Yu glances at the already desolate Yinyue mountain range. There is a faint smile on his face. Right afterwards, riding his middle-grade immortal weapon, he rushes towards Mount Qingxu at his fastest speed.
Everything is in the palm of his hand.
After flying for a while, he sees the loose devil side and the loose immortal side fighting in the distance and immediately takes a detour.
“The fighting is really fierce. I wonder how many loose pract.i.tioners have died.”
He has been flying at least 100,000 li and have been surprised to see countless severed limbs and dried, black pools of blood on the way.
“Most of the dead here were probably common mortals, but quite a few loose devils must have been killed. Reverend Ming Liang is really ruthless. He has been pursuing the loose devils all the way over a distance of several hundred thousand li … This time he has really been enjoying himself, but … falling to the bottom of a ravine from the top of a mountain, this is the most agonizing kind of experience.”
Before long, Qin Yu arrives at Mount Qingxu.
Because the loose immortals already left to chase the loose devil side, the Qingxu Temple’s disciples have all come out of the Ten Development Illusionary Formation and started to tidy up their postwar school. The Qingxu Temple is now in a much better situation than the Yinyue Palace. Its elite disciples and very many experts hid in the Ten Development Illusionary Formation so it suffered very few losses.
At the moment, Mount Qingxu is buzzing with activity. Various Xiuzhenists can be seen clearly raising huge rocks one-handed, starting to construct their dwelling places.
“Senior brother, those loose devils were really disgusting. They unexpectedly destroyed most of our school’s structures. That beautiful scenery is all gone. These thieves of the devil path should be exterminated.” A disciple of the Qingxu Temple is chatting with his senior brother.
The senior brother says with a cold humph: “Reverend Ming Liang of our Qingxu Temple already went into action by personally leading several tens of thousands of loose immortals to pursue the loose devils. They will destroy those formidable schools and experts. Afterwards, we’ll get into action and destroy the small schools.”
The Qingxu Temple has always been the no. 1 school of Xiuxianists. Its disciples have often bullied other schools’ disciples, but this time its headquarters was almost reduced to rubble by other people, so all the living disciples are extremely furious.
“What’s that, senior brother? Purple flame …” The junior brother raises his head looking at a ma.s.s of purple flame which is falling down extremely fast from the sky and says doubtfully.
The senior brother also pauses.
“Ah, it’s the heavenly flame!” His face turns very pale in the blink of an eye.
Immediately after the first ma.s.s of heavenly flame lands, over 100 huge purple fireb.a.l.l.s shoot down at Mount Qingxu. In just a while, the entire airs.p.a.ce of Mount Qingxu has been filled with countless falling purple fireb.a.l.l.s. All of a sudden, the mountain is turned into a sea of heavenly flames.
The loose devil side and the loose immortal side have finally agreed to call a truce. But the super experts such as Wu Kongxue and Reverend Ming Liang are still taunting each other.
“Who’s that Reverend Heavenly Flame, Ming Liang? He destroyed my Yinyue Palace’s headquarters and the Yinyue mountain range.” Dame Lian Yue says coldly.
“Ha-ha, of course Reverend Heavenly Flame is an extraordinary expert on our loose immortal side. Destroying evil and upholding justice are what we should do as loose immortals. Fellow Taoist Heavenly Flame really did so to the satisfaction of everyone.” Reverend Ming Liang is very complacent.
When he was still in Heavenly Palace and received the news from common Xiuxianists outside that the Yinyue mountain range had been destroyed by heavenly flames, he was immediately delighted and knew that the chance to strike back had come. At the moment, he is still very grateful to that mysterious Reverend Heavenly Flame in his heart.
“Destroying evil and upholding justice, you said it well. But your Qingxu Temple, I …”
“It’s bad, senior brother. The situation is bad.” On one side, after Reverend Ming Shan looks at his transmitter, his whole face goes pale to the point of being bloodless.
Meanwhile, Dame Lian Yue has received a message too. After all, she also planted some spies around Mount Qingxu.
As soon as she looks at this message, her face is full of disbelief. She immediately looks at Reverend Ming Liang and laughs out loud like crazy: “Ha-ha, destroying evil and upholding justice, what a destroyer of evil and an upholder of justice! Fellow Taoist Heavenly Flame is quite something! He’s such a dear friend. Too bad, your Mount Qingxu has also been reduced to a complete mess by heavenly flames!”
End of b11c8.