Chapter 74: A clean world, taking Xixi to set off fireworks

Fēiléichéng.

Outside the city.

Violent rain fell like pillars, as if heaven had seen the wickedness of the world and poured down a downpour to wash it away.

In the leisure pavilion.

One person sat upright, clad in black robes, a cat-face mask covering his face, his body stooped, carving a wooden figurine in the pavilion with a chisel.

The shockwaves from raindrops shattering on the ground merged together, kicking up a gale that poured into the pavilion, blowing the wood shavings that had slid off the chisel.

Moments later, the wooden carving took shape.

It was neither a Buddha nor a deity.

It was the likeness of a graceful and pure maiden, dressed in flowing robes, holding a serpent‑head slender sword, glancing back with a heroic air between her brows.

Behind the cat‑face mask, his eyes lingered with a complex feeling on the somewhat rough carving.

Forty years, in the blink of an eye the beauty has faded…

No one remains youthful forever.

His reason for descending the mountain without bringing most of his divinity was not simply to seek some spiritual child; more than that, he wanted to see the former beauty again.

Alas, time is a sharp long blade that even cultivators struggle to withstand.

Having failed to forge a divine foundation, he could hardly sustain his qi and blood, gradually weakening and exhausting, his beauty gone.

Outside the pavilion, the gale wrapped in the violent rain howled without cease.

And in the four directions around the pavilion, each bore immense divinity, warping the firmament so that the violent rain could not touch it.

Four masked figures stood in the rain‑screen, far from the pavilion, positioned in a quadrature, encircling the pavilion—or rather, the old man wearing the cat‑face mask inside it.

"Four divine foundations acting together—such a formation… it seems something big is about to happen in the city."

The old man spoke softly.

He looked at the four, their four divine foundations blazing like the sun.

"Furious True Lord, Heart‑Startled Shock, Furious Maitreya, and… Suspended Thought Flowing Sword…"

"The Xu family truly lives up to its name as an aristocratic clan; others are already moving against your foundations, so you not stopping them or holding the line is fine enough—why come here to dally with an old man like me?"

Li Qingshan laughed.

His eyes revealed undisguised hatred and killing intent.

……

……

Xu Ji Divine Cultivation Academy.

In the spacious courtyard, the ground was littered, countless sword marks crisscrossing the bluish‑stone slab.

Between the black clouds, electric serpents roamed!

"Huff… huff…"

Drenched, Granny Mu's face was deathly pale, her grip on the serpent‑head long sword trembling incessantly.

Around her.

Yang family cultivators wearing child‑face masks stared at her with icy gazes.

"I… am ultimately just old…"

Granny Mu's heart sank slightly.

Her qi and blood could no longer sustain such intense combat.

"Xu Mu, give up; we only want to take the spiritual child… you don't need to sacrifice your life—you're a cultivator at the peak of nurturing nature, so cherish yourself."

Leading them, the burly man wielding a heavy hammer spoke in a low voice.

His voice was coarse, laden with qi and blood blended with divinity, aiming to sway Granny Mu's emotions, to stir deep fear; once fear surfaced, his Heart‑Startled Shock divinity would swiftly erode her spirit.

This battle left no room for doubt.

In fact, there was never any doubt to begin with.

"Yang Kaihe… don't think that wearing a mask means this old lady won't recognize you…"

"The whole Yang family wears infant‑spirit masks—have you all joined the Infant‑Spirit Sect? Ridiculous! The illustrious Fēiléichéng clan, acting like sneaky ghosts! I spit!"

Granny Mu lifted the serpent‑head slender sword, its blade still bright white after decades, flashing a bone‑piercing chill.

"If you want to seize my Xu Mu's children, you'll have to step over my corpse!"

Divinity… suddenly blazed like fire!

It burned quietly amidst the violent rain.

Granny Mu chose to fight to the death, not retreating; at her age, what is there to cherish about life?

"If you refuse the toast, you'll drink the penalty."

A faint voice came from the burly man wearing the startled girl‑child mask.

The next moment, the heavy hammer he gripped with one hand was swung up violently.

Qi and blood erupted explosively; on the burly man's frame, muscles coiled like flood dragons, shaking and shattering raindrops into granules of powder.

However, just as Yang Kaihe was about to swing the hammer to finish off this qi‑and‑blood‑depleted old lady…

His ear twitched suddenly!

Yang Kaihe's pupils narrowed beneath his mask.

A familiar bursting sound tore through the rain curtain.

Like a bird whose tail feathers have been pinched off, emitting a shrill shriek!

"An explosion?!"

A pitch‑black wooden crow, carrying burning sparks, contracted its wings like a howling dark arrow, shrieking as it shot forth!

The heavy hammer jerked upward, smashing toward the extremely fast black crow!

Boom——!

Explosion burst forth!

Rolling flames burst forth instantly, a powerful shockwave scattering the countless raindrops falling from the dark clouds!

Mu Popo, about to risk her life, froze.

Watching Yang Kaihe, engulfed in flames and staggering backward, a flash of astonishment appeared in her eyes.

She jerked her head back, the violent motion even sending up splashes like bursting lotus blossoms.

Reflected in her pupils was a figure even larger and more burly than Yang Kaihe!

Black and looming like a mountain, on the shoulder of that burly figure sat a little girl whose eyes were fixed on the explosion, glowing bright and shiny.

"Li Nuanxi?"

Mu Popo furrowed her brows.

Then she turned to look at the burly figure's face, only to see a cute, calf-like face…… Damn! Ox Demon!

Mu Popo's face changed dramatically as she cried out in shock.

The hand gripping the sword felt as if all its strength had been drained.

Ox Demon……

Ruthless and vicious, the Ox Demon that specializes in twisting children's heads!

"Xixi, run fast!"

Mu Popo felt somewhat hopeless.

Wolves ahead, tigers behind……

These children, how bitter their fate!

As spirit children, are we destined to become stepping stones on others' cultivation paths?!

"Grandma! Little Ox brought me to save you!"

However, Mu Popo soon heard Xixi's excited shout as she waved her little hands; the little girl's face flushed red, clutching an oil-paper umbrella, her eyes bright, showing no sign of being captured or threatened by the Ox Demon.

It seemed…… not quite as she had imagined.

Mu Popo stared in shock.

The Ox Demon merely glanced at her coldly.

"Step back."

His indifferent voice, rough yet carrying a mighty vigor.

Mu Popo instinctively gripped the python-headed thin sword and retreated several steps.

She then saw the Ox Demon raise a strange contraption, several metal tubes aiming at Yang Kaihe, who had been blown away by the explosion.

The metal tubes began to spin at high speed, as if completing hundreds of cycles in a single breath.

"Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha……"

Glorious tongues of flame erupted from the metal tube mouths, like a fiery lotus blooming in the rainstorm!

Wooden black crows shot out from the metal tubes, flinging meteoric tails of fire, screaming swiftly toward Yang Kaihe.

Engulfing Yang Kaihe…… in an instant!

Bursting blossoms of explosive fireworks, even a downpour could not extinguish them.

The Ox Demon raised its chin, pupils reflecting the firelight, its cold killing intent raging wildly.

Anyone who dares to move his precious daughter……

They must die!

Li Che's wish is simple: he only wants to give his daughter a clean and peaceful world.

Therefore, he will sweep away all impurity!

"Namu Gatlin Wood Crow……"

Roar!

The rapidly spinning metal tubes gradually slowed, blue smoke drifting from their mouths.

Mu Popo, drenched in sweat, turned her head to look toward Yang Kaihe……

Yet she saw Yang Kaihe, whose martial arts had reached the pulse and whose nature was like a river, now reduced to utter misery: his clothes torn, his skin split open from the blast, his mask shattered, revealing a terrified face.

"Ox Demon…… Ox Demon!"

Yang Kaihe's mouth dripped with fresh blood.

He again recalled the scene from the alleys where the Ox Demon had bombarded him with relentless explosions.

Back then, several others had shared the burden with him.

But today……

Only he was hit by the barrage!

If he hadn't made a breakthrough in his martial arts, he would probably have been killed by this first round of mechanized bombardment!

Flee!

Yang Kaihe stamped his forefoot hard, intending to swing the heavy hammer to create an escape route.

However……

The Ox Demon, with one hand holding the strange contraption, triggered the mechanism again.

Countless exploding black crows came screaming forth, dragging their fiery tails!

No! No—!

Boom—boom—boom—boom!

Yang Kaihe had just fled a few steps when his figure was instantly submerged again by the flames.

When another round of explosion ended, the firelight faded.

Yang Kaihe had already become a charred corpse, exuding intense heat, completely devoid of vitality.

"Sixty shots aren't enough; then let's fire another sixty……"

"I've prepared six thousand shots; can't I blast you to death?"

Li Che said lightly.

However, the brows beneath his mask furrowed slightly; the power of the Homage Gatling Woodpass Crow really needs further improvement.

Even blasting a single Yang Kaihe takes half a day; so against Divine Foundation cultivators, after firing six thousand rounds…… it might not be enough to kill them.

The violent rain continued pouring, yet the entire Divine Cultivation Academy was utterly silent.

The remaining Yang family cultivators stood frozen like wooden chickens.

Who would have thought that the Yang family's most promising disciple, closest to achieving Divine Foundation, would be blown to death just like that.

Niu Mo hadn't even personally made a move.

The next moment, these Yang family experts all felt their hairs stand on end.

They frantically fled toward the outside of the Xu Family Divine Cultivation Academy……

Li Che glanced over, yet he wasn't polite either; unleashing a barrage, each Woodpass Crow shrieked, dragging its tail of flames as it shot out.

Accompanied by crimson fireworks bursting across the courtyard!

These Yang family experts all followed in Yang Kaihe's footsteps, perishing in the art of explosion.

Xixi sat on Niu Mo's shoulder……

She was overjoyed to death.

What a splendid rain of fireworks!

In her young heart, a deep imprint was etched!

"Fireworks…… I want to play with fireworks too!"

Fireworks and Xixi…… are a perfect match!

The Yang family experts were completely annihilated.

Niu Mo skillfully searched these corpses, and aside from obtaining a Universe Jade from Yang Kaihe's body, the others only had a dozen or so leaves.

After finishing the search of the bodies, only then did they walk out of the Divine Cultivation Academy where everyone stood frozen like wooden chickens.

Carrying Xixi.

Mu Po Po finally came to her senses, leaning on her python-headed wooden crutch, her frail body drenched by the rain, she pursued……

"Niu…… Great Hero, where are you taking Xixi?"

In the rain.

The stalwart Niu Mo, as massive as a mountain, planted his feet, adjusted the crooked oil-paper umbrella in Xixi's hand with care.

Only then did he continue onward.

Only then did a low, rumbling voice, carrying murderous intent, overwhelm the raging storm and drift into Mu Po Po's ears.

"Go to the Yang family."

"Set off fireworks."

Please keep reading, please vote for monthly tickets, please recommend for support! It's not yet released; once it is, there will surely be an explosion of updates!





(End of Chapter)