Where Immortals Once Walked

“You wield the power of the gods, huh? I’d like to see that!” The black flood dragon burst out laughing. “It’s been far too long since I’ve had a good, satisfying fight!”

It had not even finished speaking when, all of a sudden, hundreds of massive fireballs came falling from the sky, crashing onto the very ground where the two stood.

These massive fireballs burned gold and crimson, laced with streaks of white, evidence of a searing, unimaginable heat. Each fireball was wrapped around a chunk of obsidian over three meters wide, and their impact was so violent and thunderous that it seemed as if they would punch straight through the earth.

Each one smashed into the ground with a deafening explosion, gouging out deep craters. Due to the intense heat emitted by each of the fireballs, the soil at the impact sites was instantly vitrified into glossy, glass-like patches.

What was truly terrifying, however, was that all this devastation was packed into a radius of barely thirty meters. As a result of this descent of fireballs, the golden-armored soldiers were reduced to pools of molten bronze.

Are those two still alive? Not far away, He Lingchuan clapped his hands tightly over his ears, fearing the blast might shatter his eardrums.

The more powerful a divine technique, the longer it would take to prepare. That black flood dragon could call down a meteor shower with just a flick of its tail, making it look effortless. But aside from the fact that this world was its home turf, it was likely that its earlier banter with the two had just been a clever ruse for preparing its divine technique in secret.

There was nothing more troublesome than a sentient artifact spirit, especially one as cunning as any human.

The black flood dragon seemed to have a perfect grasp of the situation below. With a low hum, new figures began to emerge from the swirling black smoke on the ground.

New demon apes rose from the ground, now fueled by the continuous downpour of fire from the skies. This time, they were even larger and more ferocious than those before, and they moved with unnerving speed. Streams of magma flowed across their bodies, sizzling loudly as each drop landed on the ground.

The moment they took shape, they charged off in another direction.

There, a heap of rubble—mostly debris from the fallen southern wall—offered the perfect cover.

However, such tricks were useless against the black flood dragon. It did not even need to see to know the precise location of its foes.

The two were not anywhere near where the fireballs had struck. Sun Fuping had probably used an escape spell to drag Nian Songyu and himself about seventy meters away at the last possible second.

But just as the two resurfaced, the ten defensive artillery atop the city wall abruptly swung around, all aiming squarely at their position. The black flood dragon, entirely at ease, spoke from the gate tower, “You blew up my house earlier. Wasn’t that fun?”

Bolts, flaming boulders, and spiked shells were all let loose at once, pelting the two in a deadly barrage.

Nian Songyu had been thrilled to use the spiked shells earlier, but now he looked positively miserable. His turtle shell shield bristled with shards, and he had even taken two spikes to the leg.

His whole body was currently shrouded in a faint azure glow. He had already managed to weather two volleys of bolts and a round of flaming boulders. Unfortunately, Sun Fuping had not been exaggerating. Mandate tokens were all but useless here, and every bit of true energy he expended now cost him many times more than usual.

Still, he managed to buy Sun Fuping a little more time. With another earth-burrowing escape spell, the two of them shifted sideways by another thirty meters.

Back on the gate tower, the black flood dragon scratched its head lazily as it said, “Well, there’s no rush. This is just the warm-up. The real fun has yet to come.”

No sooner had it spoken than swarms of bats came pouring out from the vent holes in the city wall. In a matter of moments, the sky above the southern wall was blotted out, as the bats easily numbered in the tens of thousands.

Immediately, half of the bats dove toward the ground and transformed into five lithe sand leopards; the rest split into groups in midair, morphing into monstrous birds with bat wings and sharp beaks.

The demon apes were strong but slow, giving Nian Songyu plenty of room to maneuver. Noticing this shortcoming, the black flood dragon summoned the agile sand leopards to patch up its offensive gaps, while the monstrous birds launched an aerial assault. With coordinated attacks from both above and on the ground, it was as if the flood dragon wanted to see whether the two of them could escape to the heavens themselves.

Yet, it also became clear at this point that Nian Songyu was no pushover. Once the sand leopards joined the fray, wielding both shield and blade became too unwieldy, so he simply stowed the turtle shell shield and drew a changdao instead. From a distance, He Lingchuan could see two streaks of azure light darting up and down. Nian Songyu’s movements were swift, precise, and ruthless; his changdao moved as though it were a dragon weaving its way through the air. In the face of Nian Songyu’s excellent bladework, neither the sand leopards nor the demon apes could get close to him.

But in the black flood dragon’s world, how could anything come without a price? In just this short time, Nian Songyu had suffered at least a dozen wounds of varying severity, his blood soaking through his clothes. The worst blow came from one of the bird monsters as it swooped down. Although he had managed to slice the bird cleanly in half, its sharp beak still managed to leave a gash running from the corner of his forehead all the way down to his chin, nearly gouging out his eye.

Watching all this, He Lingchuan muttered, “This is insane. Since when could monsters change forms like this?”

Even though the former He Lingchuan had not been well-read, he still knew one ironclad rule of this world: whether human or monster, neither could completely transform into another creature, unless they naturally possessed the ability to mimic or change form.

Put simply, humans could not turn into monsters, and monsters could not turn into humans; a bat was a bat, and it could not just turn into a leopard or a bird. A toad monster, however, could still grow from a tadpole to an adult toad, because that was its natural progression.

Humans could, through specific divine techniques and other means, alter parts of their bodies, but those alterations never lasted, and they always came with a heavy price and side effects.

This was why it was regarded as an ironclad rule of the world, as it was never meant to be broken. Yet, these bats were shapeshifting their wings. Was that not a blatant transgression of the rules?

Mao Tao managed a bitter smile. “In a place like this, is there anything too strange to be believed?”

Suddenly, He Lingchuan heard a sharp gust of wind from above and quickly signaled for silence, but it was already too late.

A monstrous bird landed on the ruins, less than three meters away from them. The two sides stared at each other in shock.

It was only when it landed that they realized how massive this thing was. Standing upright, it was nearly as tall as He Lingchuan himself.

It had bat-like wings, which were thin and membranous, with a breastbone jutting out like a dragon’s keel. When folded, the tips of its wings bore hooked claws, each black talon longer than a human finger.

Its beak was shaped like a scythe, long and razor-sharp, and a single peck could almost certainly shatter a skull.

Mao Tao, terrified, drew his waist saber, but He Lingchuan subtly gestured with his fingers, whispering, “Don’t move!”

Being stared down by those mud-yellow eyes, He Lingchuan’s scalp tingled. This thing was a monster made from the fusion of several beasts. Aside from sand leopards and bird monsters, who knew what else it could become?

Besides, these things could not be killed for good. No matter how hard they tried to kill it, it would not die.

While He Lingchuan was thinking of a solution, the bird monster cocked its head, as if considering something too.

Neither man dared so much as to breathe.

After a few heartbeats, the bird monster lost interest, turned away, and with a flap of its wings, flew off.

Mao Tao was drenched in sweat. He let out a long breath. “If I make it out of here alive, I’ll burn extra incense at the temple and have my wife set out a whole spread of meat for the ancestors. Our ancestors must be watching over us!”

That was a monster that even State Preceptor Sun and Commandant Nian are having trouble handling.

“This has nothing to do with your ancestors,” He Lingchuan said, staring at the black flood dragon atop the city gate. “Why don’t you think it hasn’t been hostile toward us?” All these monsters had been summoned by the black flood dragon, serving as its eyes and fists, moving at its command. For the bird monster to see He Lingchuan and let him go could only mean the flood dragon held no intention of attacking them.

The two of them, as well as Nian Songyu, had been running wild in the illusion, setting fires everywhere earlier, so why was the black flood dragon willing to spare them?