Chapter 78: Blazing Netherfire, Flames Engulf the City

“Lu Qian?” Wang Ming was momentarily stunned, replying, “I truly have no idea where Lu Qian is!”

Bang!

No sooner had he spoken than the Shadow Crow hurled Wang Ming high into the air, then let him crash heavily to the ground.

“Ah! My lord, I really don’t know,” Wang Ming cried, grimacing in pain, feeling as though his very organs had been shaken loose.

“You don’t know?” The Shadow Crow’s tone was cold.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The crow slammed Wang Ming up and down five or six more times.

A large pit formed in the ground, and Wang Ming lay at its bottom, barely clinging to life.

“My lord, I truly don’t know.”

Wang Ming was indeed not lying. Although he had a decent relationship with Lu Qian, all he knew beforehand was that Lu Qian had set out on a journey, without being told the specific destination.

“Go find out,” the Shadow Crow, wreathed in ghostly flames, hovered in the air and spoke to the vacant ground nearby.

Whoosh!

A chill wind swept by, and a ghastly, pale-faced specter appeared.

The ghost sniffed Wang Ming, then swirled up with the wind and vanished.

Moments later, it reappeared before Li Mingyou, holding a sheet of paper.

“My lord, I found a letter in the room.”

A gust of wind blew the paper before Li Mingyou, letting it float midair. He glanced over it—it was a letter from Lu Qian, stating he was at a place called Tongquan City.

“You dare lie to me?” The Shadow Crow’s eyes glimmered darkly as ghostly fire gathered above, forming a massive inferno.

Just as the fireball was about to descend, shouts echoed from the distance.

“I’ll spare your life for now.”

The Shadow Crow’s wings quivered and he sped off, vanishing beyond the horizon in an instant.

The true might of a cultivator in the Spirit-Nourishing Stage lay partly in being able to send forth one’s spirit, to possess beasts or magical artifacts. Traversing a thousand miles in a day was nothing. Moreover, the spirit could exert the full strength of the cultivator, and if danger arose, it could flee thousands of miles in an instant, far outpacing one’s physical body.

Wang Ming lay on the ground, coughing blood, and cursed, “Madman!”

But where had that letter come from? Lu Qian hadn’t contacted him for over a year.

Descending the mountain, the Shadow Crow grew larger as it was bathed in ghostly fire, its wings stretching nearly thirty feet across. With a mighty beat, it tore through the turbulent air, soaring among the clouds.

The ghostly fire blazed, blue light swirling, radiance piercing the clouds and bathing a hundred yards of mist in eerie turquoise. For miles around, the rolling flames were visible.

Such a spectacle drew the attention of all the experts on the mountain, who soared up to watch. To an outsider, it might have seemed as if a master had come to challenge them.

The Shadow Crow sped through the billowing clouds, arriving outside Tongquan City in less than a day.

Li Mingyou sat with eyes closed, cultivating his spirit, his intangible sense sweeping across the land for miles, all the terrain and features imprinted upon his mind.

“Go search,” he commanded.

The Shadow Crow spat out a black banner over a yard long, its cloth covered in countless demonic glyphs drawn in fresh blood. The black aura, snake-like, pierced the clouds and descended upon the city, transforming into dozens of ghastly specters.

These ghosts, incorporeal, passed through walls and earth. Within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they spanned the whole city.

The aura ascended and formed a shadowy figure in the sky.

“My lord, there’s no trace,” it reported.

“Return,” Li Mingyou roared in anger, the black banner vibrating as the ghostly aura was absorbed back in.

“Lu Qian, you fiend! Come out and face me!”

The Shadow Crow shrieked into the sky, its voice reverberating throughout the city.

With a sweep of its wings, a swath of ghostly fire arced across the heavens, hurtling down like a comet.

That greenish, ghastly glow illuminated the city beneath the night sky.

The fire traced a path and crashed into the city below.

In an instant, the flames consumed wooden houses, a fifth of the buildings becoming a sea of green fire.

“Fire!”

“Help!”

“Someone, put out the flames!”

From above, the people below looked like ants scattered on a hot pan.

No matter how much water they poured, they found in despair that the green fire would not go out. Even the smallest spark would instantly burst into flames, burning everything to ash before it vanished.

Tongquan City was filled with wails and desperate cries for help.

Some even fell to their knees, worshiping the Shadow Crow in the sky, begging the great lord for mercy.

Nobles, commoners, the high and the low—all were equal in the face of mortal terror.

Some of the more worldly elders hastily organized groups to gather up virgins, hoping to appease the fiend.

But their efforts were in vain.

Li Mingyou closed his eyes, extending his senses, but still felt nothing of the aura he sought.

He was left cold and disappointed.

With a beat of his wings, the ghostly fire winked out.

In a mere dozen heartbeats, thousands in Tongquan City had perished in the firestorm.

Those who survived now felt as if they’d been spared from catastrophe, falling to their knees in gratitude before the Shadow Crow.

Humans are indeed complex creatures.

Though the crow was the perpetrator, once the slaughter ceased, the survivors were filled with gratitude.

Those who had tried to put out the fire were blamed for failing, mocked for their futile efforts.

“Hmph! Ignorant fools,” the Shadow Crow scoffed, flapping his wings and soaring away.

It was not out of sudden kindness that he relented, but simply that he did not wish to waste his energy.

Since his efforts found nothing, it was likely Lu Qian was not in the city, perhaps hiding elsewhere nearby.

Even if he slaughtered the whole city, no one would dare say a word. After all, Tongquan City was not under the jurisdiction of the Temple of the Nether Path. If it were, he might have hesitated; the slaughter of a temple’s own city, without sufficient reason, could not be easily justified.

“Hm?” At that moment, Li Mingyou’s heart stirred.

He gazed toward the distant mountains, laughing darkly, “A cultivator’s aura—could it be here?”

Deep in the mountains.

Yao Yue soared through the air, the wind roaring past her ears, her heart filled with exhilaration.

Three demonic eagles circled with her, their sharp eyes scanning the land below.

Yao Yue delighted ever more in this sense of power—her hands could easily rend steel, her gaze could pierce ten miles.

Suddenly, a distant blaze erupted, lighting the sky.

She looked toward the flames—it was in the direction of Tongquan City.

At that moment, Li Mingyou’s curses rang out.

Hearing Lu Qian’s name, Yao Yue quickly descended.

Crash!

As she landed, a dozen water python warriors in black-scaled armor, with long fangs, surrounded her. Xi Yue stood at their center.

“Miss Yao Yue, what just happened?” Black Eagle asked.

“I think I heard the master’s name,” Xi Yue said, her delicate brows furrowed.

Yao Yue nodded. “Yes. Whoever it was, they come with ill intent; we must…”

Whoosh!

A gust of ghostly wind arose.

To everyone’s shock, a thick ghostly mist had formed around them. Within the mist, shadowy figures loomed, faces pale and chilling, their bodies hunched, arms raised before them.

The Shadow Crow tore through the sky, the searing ghostly fire blazing like a sun, burning at their backs.

“The master you speak of—is his name Lu Qian?” The Shadow Crow cackled grotesquely.

As the group found themselves surrounded, Lu Qian remained deep in seclusion, showing no sign of waking.

If his meditation was broken, all his efforts would be for nothing.