Wailing filled Black Cloud City…
The descent of the meteor caused the all the stone buildings within the city to shake violently, many of which even collapsed.
Numerous less healthy mortals were hit by the terrifying blast wave in their sleep, causing them to cough up blood and die instantly.
RUUUUMBLE!
Enormous collision sounds were still resounding from the nearby Cloudsoaring Mountain and the earth was still shaking.
All the surviving commoners within Black Cloud City rushed out into the streets and cried out loudly.
On the other hand, even the youngest children of the Nie clan survived the blast wave because they had been cultivating from very early ages and their spirit power had been protecting their bodies.
However, there were still a few aged clansmen who weren’t able to escape in time when the buildings collapsed. They were crushed to death and buried under the debris.
Face cold like deep ocean water, Nie Tian stood on the cracked stone floor as he heard the cries of his clansmen.
Now, he was a hundred percent certain that the rain of flaming meteors that descended from the sky was definitely because of the appearance of the Heaven Gate.
Who would have thought that the opening of the Heaven Gate would actually bring such a calamity to the Realm of Flame Heaven?
Black Cloud City and Cloudsoaring Mountain were both in a state of devastation, and the surrounding cities might have also suffered from the strikes of the rain of meteors.
He noticed that right before the meteors crashed into the land, they had spread out and headed towards the Blood sect, the Ghost sect, the Hell sect, as well as the Spiritual Treasure sect, the Mystic Mist sect, and the Grayvale sect.
He believed that cities like Black Cloud City weren’t the only places that had been devastated. Even mountainous areas that had many living creatures gathered in them also had been bombarded by the meteors.
A large number of people clamored in the streets outside the Nie clan, each and every one of them in a doomsday-like panic.
“The Yun clan! The Yun clan is done for!”
“A meteor crashed right into the Yun clan! The terrifying force is more than enough to eliminate the Yun clan!”
“Are the heavens punishing us?”
Panic spread rather rapidly. Like madly growing weeds, it gave rise to a feeling of despair that made people believe there was absolutely no chance of surviving such a disastrous act of the heavens.
“Why is this happening? Why is it like this?” Jiang Lingzhu was like a duck in a thunderstorm.
“Father! Are you ok?”
It was also at that moment Nie Tian heard Nie Qian’s cries. He turned his head to discover that his grandfather, Nie Donghai, was walking out of a pile of debris with disheveled hair and a dirty face.
Bedraggled as he looked, Nie Donghai’s eyes were shining with a vigorous light.
“I’m fine.” He shook his head, while some lingering fear could still be seen on his face. “Luckily, I finished refining the Spiritfount Pill and rebuilding my spiritual sea in time. Were it not for the reestablishment of my spiritual sea, which allowed me to use my spiritual power to protect myself, I…might not have escaped.”
Nie Qian seemed overjoyed. “You’ve fully healed your spiritual sea, father?”
A trace of happiness appeared on Nie Donghai’s face. “Yes, I have.” Then, he looked up towards the sky, and noticed that there were no longer flaming meteors flying across the night sky.
He tried his best to calm himself and said, “Let’s go take a look in the Yun clan.”
“Let’s go!” Pan Tao said urgently. “Let’s see how the Yun clan is doing after being hit by that giant meteor.”
“Congratulations, grandpa.” Nie Tian sincerely congratulated him.
Nie Donghai cracked a soft smile as he said, “It’s all thanks to that Spiritfount Pill.”
At that time, Nie Tian noticed that the frightening earthquakes and shockwaves that had been caused by the collisions were all gone.
As for the casualties of the Nie clan… he actually didn’t care very much.
Ever since he was a child, he didn’t feel a strong sense of belonging towards the Nie clan. As long as Nie Donghai and Nie Qian were left unscathed, the deaths of others within the Nie clan wouldn’t devastate him.
Soon after, the crowd walked out of the Nie clan under the lead of Nie Donghai.
By the time they arrived in the streets, where people were rushing through hurriedly, Nie Tian surveyed his surroundings, and noticed that a large number of buildings had collapsed due to the tremors. Even more terrifyingly, an enormous, long rift had been torn open in the sturdy stone floor.
Many civilians of Black Cloud City were standing in the streets, letting out miserable wails. Beside them were the corpses that they had dragged out from under their collapsed homes.
There were also many people who had clearly been hit by the rocks that shot out when mansions collapsed, their chests covered in bloodstains.
“Master Nie, do you know what happened? Why did meteorites suddenly descend from the sky? What did we do to anger the heavens and make them want to punish us like this?”
Along their way, many grieving civilians saw Nie Donghai and thus approached to question him with their faces full of tears.
Nie Donghai sighed deeply. Unable to give a proper explanation, he could only keep on walking without saying a word.
After a long time, everyone arrived in front of the Yun clan under his lead.
“Nie Tian, you are here too?” An Shiyi, An Yin, as well as An Rong, An He, and the other members of the An clan were already gathered in front of the Yun clan.
Seeing them come over, An Shiyi heaved a sigh of relief and said, “It’s good that nothing’s happened to you.” Clearly, she was talking to Nie Tian and Nie Tian alone.
Seeing that the An sisters had come out safe and sound, Nie Tian also put his heart at ease and asked, “Why didn’t you go inside?”
“We’re waiting for the aftershocks to end, and also waiting to see… if any survivors will walk out of there.” An Shiyi sighed softly and continued, “However, up till now, there hasn’t been a single member of the Yun clan that has walked out. The place where the meteorite landed ought to have suffered the most violent blast waves. Let alone the Yun clan, even the ones who lived near the Yun clan couldn’t take the strong blast waves and died.”
Only after hearing her words did Nie Tian notice that there… seemed to be no earth-shaking cries echoing out from anywhere near the Yun clan.
Through the broken main gate of the Yun clan, he could only see an ash-brown meteor, which had smashed open an enormous crater in the ground, and almost took up the entire Yun clan’s property.
All of the buildings in the entire Yun clan had been smashed deep into the ground by the meteor. Not a single one had survived.
The Yun clan seemed to have annihilated from Black Cloud City in a flash.
The ash-brown meteor was now the only thing remaining in the land of the Yun clan, with tiny fiery sparks flickering on its surface from time to time.
As a matter of fact, the reason why the An clansmen beat others to the Yun clan, but didn’t dare to go inside, was that they were worried that those fiery sparks were dangerous, and thus were waiting for those fiery lights to extinguish.
“No one from the Yun clan survived?” Nie Qian asked with a soft voice.
An Shiyi thought for a moment and looked deeply at her as she said, “I don’t think anyone in there could have survived, including the Yun clan’s clanmaster Yun Meng.
“Yun Meng also died?” A complicated expression appeared on Nie Donghai’s face as he said begrudgingly, “I finally rebuilt my spiritual sea, and I was planning to straighten things out with him. Who could have thought that… he’d suddenly die like this!”
“I’ll go take a look inside.” Before anyone could dissuade him, Nie Tian had already made his way through the Yun clan’s broken gate.
As soon as he entered, he had a clear view of the whole thing. The entire Yun clan had been smashed in and swallowed by an immense crater and the enormous meteor in it.
There were many sparks of fire flickering on the surface of the ash-brown meteor, which seemed to be slowly swimming towards a mutual destination.
As they glided, the sparks of fire left faint trails on the surface of the meteor, which… were full of twists and turns, as if they contained some kind of unknown wonder within.
“Be careful, Nie Tian!”
An Shiyi, Nie Donghai, and Nie Qian loudly warned him.
Because, at that moment, the reckless Nie Tian had actually climbed onto the meteor to pursue a moving spark of fire. Both of them were headed towards the top of the meteor.
One after another, they charged into the Yun clan and stopped in front of the meteor. With anxious expressions on their faces, they constantly warned Nie Tian not to act rashly.
Meanwhile, Nie Tian sensed that the ash-brown meteor actually wasn’t dangerous at all, other than the fact that its surface was quite hot. Thus, he ignored their warnings and continued to do what his heart told him.
Quickly, Nie Tian had pursued the spark of fire to the top of the meteor.
There were even more sparks of fire gathered there, which had converged into a mysterious pattern.
The pattern looked like a half opened gate that was unceasingly letting those sparks of fire inside.
As the numerous sparks of fire that had scattered all around the meteor gradually gathered and merged into the pattern, the pattern grew brighter and brighter, and at the same time, the gate-shaped pattern slowly opened further from its half opened state…
“A gate?” Nie Tian’s expression flickered as he immediately crouched down to observe it with rapt attention.
“Can this pattern have something to do with the Heaven Gate? Is it here because of the Heaven Gate?” He speculated deeply.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
While he was pondering, even more sparks of fire merged into that pattern, making the pattern even brighter!
Shortly after, while staring at the mysterious pattern, Nie Tian discovered that every last one of the fiery sparks that had scattered all over the meteor had already merged into the pattern.
The light that the gate-shaped pattern emanated had become increasingly harsh and blinding, while a gentle power spread out from within the pattern.
Subconsciously, Nie Tian extended his hand to touch it.
The moment his left hand touched the pattern, it exploded, sending countless flickering sparks of fire flying into his palm like a rainstorm.
Simultaneously, a numbing and scorching feeling spread out to his whole arm as he suddenly discovered that a patterned tattoo had appeared on the back of his left hand.
It was none other than the gate-shaped pattern that he had just touched!
At the same time, the pattern on the meteor disappeared.
“This must be the key to enter the Heaven Gate!” Elated, Nie Tian exclaimed.
