When calamity struck and with no means to defend themselves, the common folk could only run.
Some of the weak and frail were caught in the stampede leading out of the city and were instead trampled to death.
Jin Yujie broke into delighted laughter. He could best Wang He by killing all these people.
The lives of these ordinary humans meant nothing more than the instrument he needed for a frivolous if not brutal contest.
Roaring with laughter, Jin Yujie threw himself off his perch. In mere seconds, he caught up to the panicking crowd of escaping people.
Swoosh!
He activated his oil lamp, blowing hard at it to send a huge wave of flames at the mob.
Jing Hong and Hua Qingwu reeled with horror at what they saw.
Every single warrior who witnessed the savagery could hardly remain sane.
“What evil is this?! This monster is trying to burn them all alive?!”
Sharing a quick look, Jing Hong and Hua Qingwu performed hand seals simultaneously. A large sheet of white light shot up speedily from the ground, creating a wide barrier of light.
The wave of fire slammed into the wall of light. But the wave was too large and too wide. Merciless tongues of flames reached from all sides of the wall, easily overrunning it and devouring every single person unfortunate enough to be in its path.
Jin Yujie was surprised to see the sudden appearance of the barrier, although that restored a grin to his face.
“So there you are!” he cried, referring to Jing Hong and Hua Qingwu, “long and far have we searched for you!”
Jing Lei and the others formed up beside Jin Yujie just in time to catch sight of Chu Xun’s spouses.
“Let’s see how are you going to escape now, consorts of the Devil,” sneered Yu Xiyuan vilely.
“You scum! Are you not afraid of retribution?!” Hua Qingwu screamed fiercely, feeling responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people.
“Retribution? If killing a few insects warrants heavy retribution, then the Devil should be dead by a blast of lightning from Heaven for the blood he had spilled,” snorted Wang He.
“Chu Xun only killed people who deserved their fate! How could you equate yourself to him when you have been killing innocent people!?” Jing Hong asserted her point coldly.
“HAHAHAHAHA!” Jin Yujie let loose a peal of arrogant guffaws, “If that’s the case, I’d like to kill even more! I’d like to see what sort of retribution would come my way!”
He activated his lamp again and blew hard, launching more waves of searing inferno.
The flames swept furiously like a mob of charging beasts, easily overwhelming Jing Hong’s and Hua Qingwu’s barrier of light and ravaged everything in its path, claiming the lives of more innocent people.
“You evil monsters! Just you wait! The Devil will make you pay for this!” cried a warrior defiantly.
“The Devil? That useless coward? For all we know, he’s hidden in some hole, watching all this quietly. But let him come! If he dares to come, I’ll have him incinerated into ashes!” Jin Yujie declared loudly with only the deepest contempt and loathing for Chu Xun.
“Go!” cried Jing Hong suddenly.
She and Hua Qingwu wanted to speed away from here, hoping to lead the sons of Immortals away for the victims to flee.
“Thinking of running? Be my guest,” Leng Rui hissed insidiously, “do that, and I’ll assure you this: we’ll kill every single earthling we can find here.”
Jing Hong and Hua Qingwu could feel their blood boiling with rage. “How could anyone be so wicked?!”
“Quick! Take as many as you can and run!” Jing Hong cried to the warriors around them.
If they could not run, that left them only one course of action: fight.
“What do you think you are? Heroes?!” Yu Xiyuan sniggered vilely, “Let’s have a race: whether you’re fast enough in saving them or are we fast enough in killing them all!”
“RUN! QUICK!”
The warriors screamed with panic, shepherding the common people to leave this place as quickly as they could.
Swoosh!
Jin Yujie activated his oil lamp again, sending another wave of death that claimed the lives of more people.
Jing Lei decided to join the fray as well. Electrical sparks burst to life in his palm as he condensed enough power to make a lightning ball the size of a football in his hand. He hurled it at the group of fleeing evacuees only to hit the barrier of light instead, melting a hole right in the middle of the sheet of light.
The damage to the barrier of light resulted in a blowback that caused enough internal wounds to Jing Hong and Hua Qingwu for their faces to turn ashen-pale as they wobbled unsteadily. But they held on, performing hand seals to quickly repair the damage to their barrier.
“That looks fun. My turn this time.”
Leng Rui marched forward, channeling his powers. His body gave off a pale, bluish glow and he conjured a dragon forged of water and ice. The dragon effortlessly penetrated the barrier of light, passing through it unimpededly, and dove into the crowd.
The dragon erupted like a bomb, sending an expanding ring of frost and ice that turned every person in its path into frozen icicles.
Leng Rui broke into horrifying and maniacal laughter of glee. He snapped a finger and a long cascade of cracking and snapping of ice followed as the icicles all shattered piecemeal.
“You’re not doing proper justice to one of the most powerful techniques of your house, Leng. I remember the householder of your family’s Ice Age Magic could easily turn anyone within a radius of a thousand miles into ice,” remarked Yu Xiyuan in jest.
“Surely you don’t expect me to be as powerful as my father, whose powers are definitely so many times greater than mine. But my rendition of this technique is enough to deal with these insects,” Leng Rui uttered with undisguised malice and cruelty.
“I’m joining the front too,” added Wang He, taking out his golden talismanic strip once more.
“Hold it right there, Wang. You’re not using that Talisman of Destruction again, are you? You’ll take all the fun away. Moreover, we need the Devil’s women alive.”
“Ah, damn. What a shame,” Wang He shook his head. Without any warning, he fired another blast that whizzed just beside the edge of the barrier, causing another explosion that resulted in another dozen deaths.
“Leave the rest to me,” said Jing Lei, marching towards Jing Hong and Hua Qingwu, “this time, we cannot allow them any chance to flee.”
Crackle!
Sizzles and sparkles burst with every step Jing Lei took as he conjured another ball lightning that he hurled once more at the barrier of light.
Boom!
The ball lightning hit the barrier of light, causing an explosion with waves of electricity dancing all over its surface, damaging it enough that the whole wall of light shattered like glass, and the splinters all dissipated into the air.
Jing Hong and Hua Qingwu staggered backward as if they had been hit by a sledgehammer, their faces all as white as death.
“We’ll leave these two beauties to you, Jing Lei. But please be gentle,” Jin Yujie teased amid sneers and snickers, “you can leave those insects to us.”
“Well, let them go. They’re just insects. Killing them injures our dignity enough,” said Yu Xiyuan.
Jin Yujie was about to deliver another blow when Yu Xiyuan’s comment made him stop, not wanting to put his dignity to risk.
That came as a relief to Jing Hong and Hua Qingwu. At least that would allow the rest of the common folk to get to safety.
Just then, a crying voice pierced the silence.
“Mummy… Mummy…” a little girl barely five or six emerged from amongst the debris and rubbles, looking heavily bruised and disoriented. She must have just recovered from the explosions around her.
“A straggler,” Wang He remarked as white wisps of energy accumulated in his hand.
“Oh, just kill her and be done with it. I detest hearing children cry!” Leng Rui scowled with pure disgust.
“You animal! She’s just a little child!” screamed Jing Hong, looking absolutely horrified for the first time.
“You earthlings are nothing but slaves to the Assembly of Immortals, and slaves live or die by the word of their masters,” Wang He grinned wickedly as he fired a blast at the little girl.
Overwhelmed by rabid grief, Jing Hong darted at the little girl in desperation.
“You’re facing me,” Jing Lei raised a hand to fire a lightning blast at Jing Hong. “How dare you allow yourself to be distracted.”
A defiant Jing Hong launched a jet of True Energy in response.
But the consequent explosion saw Jing Hong crash into a pile of rubble with blood dribbling out the edges of her lips.
Hua Qingwu peeled after her, eager to help save the little girl too, but she was too late.
Wang He’s attack killed the little girl, blowing her into a rain of blood and scraps of viscera.
“YOU MONSTER! I’LL KILL YOU!” screamed Hua Qingwu with frenzied rage. She swung her sword at Wang He, firing an energy bolt at him.
But another ball lightning from Jing Lei slammed into her back from behind, causing enough damage for her to cough up mouthfuls of blood as she also crashed into the rubble.
A frantic Wang He beheld the energy bolt that Hua Qingwu fired at him in her fury. Seeing it screaming towards him filled him with enough fear that he could barely move. The wounds he suffered from his fight against the Flaming Qilin throbbed still and before he could even think, his body instinctively leaped sideways to evade the blow.
Boom!
The energy bolt missed him and caught a huge boulder instead, pummeling it to bits.
Wang He’s face twisted grotesquely with indignation.
Bang!
Jing Hong burst out from beneath the rubble, charging forward fearlessly with her hands swiftly performing hand seals.
Demon-slain Finger—Three Fingers Shocking Gods and Demons!
Demon-slain Finger—Four Fingers Shocking the Sky!
Violent tremors reverberated across the air as a pair of monoliths both huge and massive came crashing down at Jing Lei and the others – Jin Yujie and the rest of the sons of Immortals – respectively.
Jing Lei snorted and fired a lightning bolt at the huge monolith coming at him.
Meanwhile, Jin Yujie and his comrades all joined their powers as one to launch an attack of their own.
Jing Hong used the chance to dart towards Hua Qingwu. Wrapping her arm around Hua Qingwu’s waist, she carried her and bolted towards the city’s western gate.
Boom! Boom!
Two successive eruptions caused several other buildings to collapse, kicking up waves of dust and winds.
“Running, eh?” Jing Lei cackled.
All the sons of Immortals gave chase, tearing after the women speedily.
“Leave me, Jing Hong! Leave me and run!”
Hua Qingwu was quite badly hurt. The injuries she was suffering included severe concussions to her insides that her organs were displaced and Jing Hong could not achieve her full speed with Hua Qingwu as a piece of baggage.
“Quiet!” Jing Hong hissed coldly. She could never look Chu Xun in the eye if she chose to leave Hua Qingwu behind.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
Jing Lei and the others had found them.
Jing Hong turned around and saw Jing Lei catching up from behind, the distance between them ebbing rapidly.
In mere seconds, Jing Lei was barely a hundred meters behind.
“None of you are running without our say-so.”
Jing Lei snarled, firing another lightning bolt at Jing Hong from behind.
Jing Hong braced herself for the attack, knowing she must protect Hua Qingwu. One more attack and Hua Qingwu could die. Jing Hong conjured a magical shield. She needed to take the blast herself.
But Jing Lei spared no expense in this attack. He had put in enough power that the lightning bolt incinerated even the air that it popped.
Just when the bolt was about to hit the magical shield that guarded Jing Hong’s back, something giving off a greenish glint came screaming through the air from the horizon and smashed into Jing Lei’s attack.
Blast from the collision of both projectiles knocked Jing Hong off her feet, sending her hurtling through the air with Hua Qingwu securely in her bear hug.
Whoosh!
Something else – similarly green and swift like the unknown object before – streaked across the air, howling as it swooped down on Jing Lei like a modern homing missile.
Jing Lei’s face squirmed with fear for the first time. Immediately, he fired a lightning blast at the green object.
Boom!
The green projectile easily defeated Jing Lei’s lightning bolt, and the sight of it not losing any speed or force at all even after the collision filled Jing Lei’s face with disbelief and shock as he quickly dove away for dear life.
ARGGGHH!
But he was not quick enough; the long, greenish projectile smashed into his shoulder, blasting off a huge chunk of flesh as he grunted in pain.
BOOM!
The green object continued its flight, felling a tall and strong tree in one clean stroke.
Jin Yujie and the other sons of Immortals rejoined Jing Lei. Was Jing Lei really hurt?! They stared at the fallen tree before peering at the green bolt. It was an arrow more than two meters long.
The air screamed once more. The sons of Immortals looked and immediately sensed two figures racing towards them at great speeds.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Even before they could see who the newcomers were, another salvo of five green arrows came screaming through the air towards them.
“Jing Lei!” Wang He cried.
In a flash, Jing Lei reappeared right beside his comrades.
Wang He swiftly produced a talismanic strip and a dome of golden lights appeared, shielding Wang He and his comrades inside from harm.
Five arrows shot and smashed into the golden shield of light, eliciting a ringing din like the tolling of a bell.
Wang He’s face fell with horror. Lines of cracks stretched all around the talismanic strip as the glow of the magical shield turned dim.
“What now?!” yelped Wang He frantically. One more hit and the magic of his talismanic strip would fail.
“Let’s go! We’re leaving!” growled Leng Rui.
Something – or someone – dangerous had arrived. But who else could it be here on Earth?!
Gritting his teeth, Wang He quickly produced another talismanic strip. He chanted a long incantation and the strip of paper burst into flames.
The six sons of Immortals cast a long and resentful gaze at Jing Hong and Hua Qingwu from a distance. In a blinding flash of light caused by the burning piece of talismanic strip, they were gone.
