Chapter 311: A Massacre Between Two Kings
It was a good thing that the enormously strong creature wasn’t paying attention to its surroundings and it hadn’t detected that a human was hiding in the neighboring rocks.
The sounds of thunder rumbled through the rock as the being moved further and further away, until it disappeared.
Jiang Chen sighed slightly, “The spirit creatures of the Valley of Destruction are really strong. Although many fortuitous encounters await the secular disciples in this valley, danger also looks behind every corner.”
He finally knew why no one would be eliminated in this trial.
Was there a need to eliminate people? How many would make it out alive?
What was the point of eliminating anyone with such a high mortality rate?
Jiang Chen was almost starting to wonder if even three thousand would survive from the eight thousand that had entered the valley.
The four sects had said they wanted to select three thousand people to enter the sects, but Jiang Chen felt that not even three thousand would survive after this trial.
But of course, it was a pessimistic estimation.
“I don’t need to worry about these things. Everyone has their own fortune and we all walk our own paths. I, Jiang Chen, must focus on my own road.”
Jiang Chen thought no more of the matter after his thoughts had travelled here.
However, after that enormous disturbance, Jiang Chen was even more cautious.
It didn’t seem like the world below ground was that much safer either. The one behind that disturbance was something not in the slightest bit inferior to the Fire Raven King.
This kind of creature could very well threaten his life, so it was logical for Jiang Chen to be so cautious.
A lotus vine squeezed out of the rock wall in a nondescript corner of the cliff, probing the proximity whilst Jiang Chen remained hidden in the crack in the wall.
His scalp tingled with numbness as he gazed downwards with the God’s Eye.
Everything was charred cinders, like it was the aftermath of Armageddon. There wasn’t the slightest bit of green or life that greeted the eye.
It was like this area had been abandoned by the heavens and had become a barren wasteland in the universe.
Jiang Chen once again looked at the mountain face with the Cloudflame Flower. Complete destruction was present, the flower no longer existed.
The most frightening thing was that there were countless criss-crossing gouges and deep swipes on the pockmarked mountain face. It looked like a strong power had raked over it as the gouges were several meters deep.
Jiang Chen was flabbergasted by the destruction.
To create such deep and long gouges on the mountain face meant that it wasn’t an ordinary powerhouse that created them.
Jiang Chen knew that this was something that he never would’ve been able to do. It wasn’t hard to form gouges on the rock walls, what was difficult was to create such organized, deep, and long gouges.
They didn’t look like they’d been done on purpose, but they were natural traces left by a strong creature walking past.
“Just what happened here?” Jiang Chen dumbly looked at the tattered surroundings as he murmured to himself.
Through the God’s Eye, he could tell that there was no life left in the surroundings. It was like the Fire Ravens and the strong lifeform had never existed.
Or, perhaps this strong power had vanished with the arrival of this scene of desolate devastation.
“Impossible!” Jiang Chen didn’t believe his eyes. If such a power could make all the Fire Ravens disappear in a second, it would be simply too frightening.
Jiang Chen squirmed out of the crack in the wall and he had the sudden feeling that he was the only one left beneath the heavens as he trod upon the cracked, burnt earth.
There was still a bit of warmth left in the earth beneath his feet, seeming to remind Jiang Chen that it hadn’t been long since this scene had taken place.
Charred soil greeted his eyes wherever he walked. The vast forest had been reduced to cinders and the towering trees had been reduced to ashes.
The closest things that he could find to life were the countless number of skeletons. He could judge from their shapes whether they were humans or spirit creatures.
When he looked at this scene of utter destruction, Jiang Chen could only sigh. He’d seen at least a hundred skeletons on his way.
And this was only the area that he was passing through. Given that there was a radius of a hundred li, the numbers of those who died was surely greater than three thousand.
Jiang Chen met swift time. He wasn’t met with any harassment or danger along the way.
It seemed that all of those alive in that radius had been burnt to death, and all life had been buried in the rampaging flames.
“The Cloudflame Flower is gone and the Fire Ravens are also gone… just what happened here?” Jiang Chen’s mind was full of questions.
However, he was a broad-minded person and so even though he hadn’t obtained the Cloudflame Flower, he didn’t feel particularly regretful. All gains and losses were up to fortune and luck.
Even though he hadn’t obtained the Flower, it didn’t seem to be such a bad thing now.
When he looked at the scene of misery and suffering, and the skeletons strewn all over the ground, he rejoiced in that at least he was still alive.
To have the ability to travel through the end of the world after all of this had hit, he felt a kind of happiness that was something that the skeletons lying on the ground didn’t have —
The happiness of living.
As for the Cloudflame Flower, since it was destined not to be his, Jiang Chen naturally didn’t care much about it.
Although the item was nice, it wasn’t as good as being alive.
When he walked a bit more, Jiang Chen suddenly took a sniff. He had fully extended all his senses and he had abruptly detected a hint of blood in the charbroiled air.
Although this hint of blood was faint, seeming to be far away, Jiang Chen was certain that it absolutely was blood.
Practitioners were very sensitive.
“The scent of blood is in the air, is there a battle taking place?” The thought flashed through Jiang Chen’s mind as he quickly followed that hint of blood.
The fires had raged for a hundred li for three days and nights, so logically speaking, there should be nothing left alive after this. Without living creatures, why would there be a battle?
“Can it be the Fire Ravens? Or have more humans barged in?”
He considered it carefully and felt that it wasn’t quite right. The few survivors lucky enough to be alive would be scrambling to leave this destroyed area, how would they dare come in here?
“Hmm? What’s that?” Jiang Chen could smell the blood scent becoming heavier and heavier. His God’s Eye suddenly wavered as he saw blood spots on the road in front of him.
Jiang Chen followed the blood forward and he suddenly halted his footsteps.
There were many corpses on the path in the plains in front of him — the Fire Ravens.
Each Fire Raven was the size of a human being, but these Fire Ravens were all in an exceedingly gruesome state at the moment. It looked like they’d been hit by some enormous power and they were all a bloody mess.
Some had even been flattened into a meat pancake.
If it wasn’t for their unique red feathers and the sharp beaks, Jiang Chen probably wouldn’t even have been able to recognize that these corpses had been those proud Fire Ravens from a few days ago.
“The Fire Ravens alright!” Jiang Chen’s heart grew stern, the memories from the past three days resurfacing in his mind. How arrogant and surefire had the Ravens been then?
They’d been high spirited and vigorous, considering themselves to be without peers three days ago. They’d practically been the ultimate ruler of this area with the leadership of the Fire Raven King.
However, their corpses were now haphazardly thrown all over the ground, and judging from the looks of things, there were at least three to five hundred corpses along the path.
What kind of frightening power was this that it’d been able to slaughter almost five hundred Fire Ravens like this?
Cold strands grew in Jiang Chen’s heart as he looked at this scene.
This didn’t halt his forward progress however. The more bizarre things were, the more he wanted to investigate the matter.
Chirp chirp chirp chirp!
Ear piercing chirps suddenly disturbed Jiang Chen’s thoughts. He wasn’t unfamiliar with these chirps — they were from the Fire Ravens.
These chirps seemed extremely anxious and even panicked at the moment. In addition, judging from their numbers, it seemed that a large group of them was chirping at the same time.
“What’s going on?” Jiang Chen could tell from these sounds that the Fire Ravens were all hurtling in the same direction without care for anything else.
Things seemed rather urgent.
“I’m going to go take a look.” Jiang Chen came to this conclusion and he also moved swiftly in that direction.
Roughly thirty li away from his current location, an uncountable amount of Fire Ravens were circling anxiously over a destroyed and desolate patch of land.
The Fire Raven King that Jiang Chen had seen last time was also here. What was different was that he was covered with injuries, and many of them kept seeping blood. His proud, flame red feathers were also askew and he looked quite bedraggled.
However, even though he’d lost the look of a king, the Fire Raven King was still just as ferocious. His feathers were all upright and his vicious gaze was nailed firmly on the ground, brutal and ruthless.
There was an enormous spirit creature on the ground almost a hundred meters long. It was crouched on the ground and panting heavily.
It kept snorting like a cow and it sent the dust on the ground flying all over the place.
The beast was enormous and its waist was four or five buckets thick. It was covered with red scales and each of them gleamed with a cold, sinister light.
“Stupid bird, so I stole one of your Cloudflame Flowers, is there a need to fight to the death for it?” The enormous creature panted as it asked lowly.
The Fire Raven King was incensed, “Idiot bug, don’t you know that this Cloudflame Flower is my only hope of assailing the saint rank? Your theft of my flower is destroying my only hope of advancing. I want you to die and then I will swallow your flesh and blood!”
“Pfft, you? Half of your children and descendants are dead and you yourself only have half a life left, and you still want to kill me? When did a peak of the spirit rank dare speak so loftily as to kill me, a saint rank spirit creature?” The enormous creature’s tone was filled with disdain.
The Raven King sneered, “Saint rank creature? That’s right, you are of the saint rank, but don’t think that I can’t see that your life is at an end and your training is about to dissipate. This is why you threw caution to the winds to seize my Cloudflame Flower in an attempt to slow down your training draining a way. It’s a pity that your strength and noble bloodline are still no match for age in the end. You’re old, so old that you can’t even handle me of the peak of the spirit rank. So today will be the day of your death!”
The Fire Raven’s tone was full of hate and killing intent.
