Essence Devouring Art

”There is only one Innate Grandmaster in Baoshan County. With your cultivation, My Lady, as long as we’re careful, we’ll be able to eat our fill at every meal.”

As she spoke,

the little maid revealed a greedy expression. Deep within her large, watery eyes, several wisps of ghastly white flame flickered.

”Whoa~”

While the master and servant were talking,

the convoy had already arrived at the gate of Baoshan City.

To be precise,

it was a newly built, temporary city gate.

The surrounding wall, built from massive blocks of rock, resembled a gray dragon prostrating itself upon the earth.

Behind the wall,

was a new residential area built on flattened land, where one could see dense rows of uniform stone and wood houses.

Beyond this new residential area lay the original outer district of Baoshan City.

This was the common situation for major cities after the cataclysm. To accommodate refugees from all over, the urban areas were expanded again and again.

In some places with large populations,

they had even expanded out to a fifth or sixth ring.

”Everyone in the carriages, get out for inspection.”

At the new gate of Baoshan City,

the City Guard Chief, Xu Qiang, a burly man, reached out and stopped Lady Xue’s convoy. His expression was serious as he performed his routine duties.

”Excuse me, Officer.”

A portly, wealthy-looking middle-aged man quickly jumped down from the lead carriage. He cupped his hands and bowed, saying:

”My wife has caught a bit of a chill and shouldn’t be exposed to the cold. Could you perhaps make an exception?”

As he spoke,

he tried to press some Silver into Xu Qiang’s hand.

”What are you doing? Are you trying to test me?”

Xu Qiang barked coldly, giving him no face whatsoever. ’The higher-ups are cracking down hard on corruption. Is this guy trying to get me to break the rules?’

”Hiding something, are you? Search them!”

With a cold snort,

Xu Qiang waved his hand, and several city guards immediately swarmed forward. They didn’t use excessive force, but simply carried out their duties, carefully searching every carriage.

At the same time,

they also questioned and registered the information of all personnel.

”Sir.”

After a while,

a young city guard with a slightly flushed face walked over. He bowed and mumbled shyly, ’What a sickly beauty... I don’t know how that fatso got so lucky...’

”What are you mumbling about?”

Xu Qiang frowned and snapped. The young man shivered and quickly reported:

”Reporting, sir! It is indeed a sick person. The talisman paper on me didn’t react. There’s no problem.”

”Whether there’s a problem or not will be decided after they pass the next checkpoint.”

Xu Qiang, however, remained vigilant. Even after letting them pass, he kept a close watch on the convoy.

’After all, too many people of all sorts have been flocking to Baoshan City recently. If anything goes wrong on my watch, I’ll be in a world of hurt.’

In the center of the convoy.

”Phew~”

Inside the carriage,

the little maid patted her ample chest, looking at Lady Xue with lingering fear. Lady Xue, in turn, gave her a reassuring smile.

That city guard who just came to inspect them

was carrying something they found repulsive.

If not for Lady Xue’s profound cultivation,

they would have likely been exposed.

However,

now that they had passed this checkpoint,

they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

With their false identities as cover,

they just needed to be a little cautious from now on—eat their fill, but not to extinction.

Then they would be wolves in sheep’s clothing who had entered the sheepfold. They wouldn’t have to worry about food at all.

RUMBLE RUMBLE~

The wheels rolled, gradually passing through the city wall.

Xu Qiang stared intently as the carriages passed through the gate tunnel one by one, and the tension in his heart gradually eased.

But...

just as the carriage carrying Lady Xue was passing through,

the unexpected happened.

CLANG CLANG CLANG—

Without any warning,

from the top of a recently constructed tower in the center of Baoshan City, a deafening clang of metal on metal rang out. It echoed throughout the city, clearly audible in every corner.

BUZZ~

At the pinnacle of the bell tower, a brilliant small Sun flashed and vanished, shooting out two streams of crystalline electricity invisible to the naked eye.

In an instant, they crossed several miles of empty space

and entered the space between the eyebrows of Lady Xue and the little maid in the carriage under the city gate.

At the same time,

within Baoshan City,

at the Bai Ze Bureau branch.

”How dare they! To offend our Human Race in broad daylight!”

The moment he heard the bells, the expression of Grandmaster Zhang City, who was stationed in Baoshan County, turned cold. He immediately took out a palm-sized, crystalline Token from his robes.

Along with the ringing of the bell,

the Token was now glowing and heating up.

A black light!

Wraith!

Zhang City instantly confirmed the type of Alien Species. He gathered the Bai Ze Guards who had assembled at the sound and sped towards the city gate.

At the city gate,

inside the carriage,

after the two streams of electricity shot into the space between their eyebrows, Lady Xue and the little maid shuddered violently, not yet having reacted to what had just happened.

Then they heard—

”Demon, die!”

BANG!!

Amidst a furious roar,

Xu Qiang stomped on the green bricks, tearing through the air as he swung his longspear in a wide arc, smashing it viciously onto the carriage.

The Power of the Hejin Stage

directly shattered the carriage to pieces, and the force was so great that even the horse pulling it was crushed to its knees on the spot.

BOOM—

Amidst the exploding fragments of the carriage that filled the sky,

Lady Xue and the little maid, their faces grim, smashed through the wooden debris and flew into the air. They looked towards a group of heavily armored guards in white, their powerful auras palpable, who were rushing over from within the city.

Hearing the ceaseless ringing of the bell,

how could they not understand?

They had been exposed!

”Have these humans gone mad? To place such a city-wide warning Grand Array in a mere county town...”

Lady Xue cursed through gritted teeth. Not daring to linger, she grabbed the little maid and flew out of the city at top speed.

Although Baoshan City only had one Grandmaster,

she was now terrified by the warning Grand Array. She didn’t dare gamble on whether the city might be hiding some treasure that could be used against her.

”Ah, monsters?”

”Run!”

”Everyone, silence!”

The city-wide alarm bells, combined with Xu Qiang’s sudden attack while shouting ”Demon,” instantly threw the city gate into chaos.

However, under the suppression of the city guards.