Chapter 572

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Protagonist:

Xu Zhangqing

Watching the reaction of the person before him, Bai Ye frowned slightly: "I keep feeling like you..."

Xu Zhangqing snapped back to his senses, his gaze passing over him to greet the rear: "You're here!"

Bai Ye subconsciously turned his head, but behind him there was only an empty, silent corridor — no one at all.

Smack!

The next second, he felt a sting at the back of his neck.

Immediately his consciousness began to blur, and he soon fainted.

His body fell limp, collapsing on the ground without moving.

In a certain sense, it counted as a rare "good sleep."

Xu Zhangqing withdrew his right hand, curling his lip: "I'm at least Golden Core Late Stage; if I were affected by you, that would be too embarrassing."

This person, whether in origin or ability, is not simple.

Letting him go just like that feels unsafe.

At the very least I have to capture him and study him, see what's going on.

I need to confirm his situation first, then consider what comes after.

"Good thing I set up Isolation Talismans in advance!"

"First, throw you into my Personal Space; I'll interrogate you when I have time!"

"Things here are about wrapped up; we leave tomorrow!"

To prevent being disturbed, or someone probing him.

When Xu Zhangqing entered the room, he had already drawn an Isolation Talisman out of thin air.

Therefore, unless someone came over and happened to see, the situation here would absolutely not be perceived by anyone.

Even Su Jinli and Yu Shi couldn't do it.

What's more, those two returned to Broken Moon Flowing Frost right after the wedding banquet.

The only ones willing to stay were Xu Zhangqing, Hu Bugui, Zhao Ziyue, and a few others.

……

……

In a flash, time arrived at the next morning.

The Bai Family specially brought out High-Quality Spirit Rice to host Xu Zhangqing and his group.

As for Bai Chuan, Bai Xuan, Zhang Xue, and the others, they set off early for Qingji Mountain, saying they were going to worship the Wolf Mother, and would have to stay there at least half a day.

So after eating breakfast, Xu Zhangqing didn't wait any longer, but brought Lao Zhao and Lao Hu and flew into Broken Moon Flowing Frost, and everyone soon left this place.

Along the way, as they distanced themselves from human habitation, the surroundings grew increasingly desolate.

As far as the eye could see, everywhere was that kind of dry earth.

One could occasionally see things flying by in the distance.

Due to the complexity of this place, it was unknown whether they were monsters or Spirit Beasts.

Of course, no one curiously chased after them; as long as those fellows didn't come disturb them, they wouldn't care.

They flew for several hours straight, already at least several thousand li from Qingji Mountain.

A city appeared in the distance; Xu Zhangqing glanced at the map and said to those beside him: "Ahead is the Central Region's Bixie City."

Spirit Rong Night's body flickered, and he flew over first to check the situation, but when he returned his complexion was extremely ugly: "The entire city has been abandoned."

Hu Bugui stared wide-eyed: "Judging by the scale, this city isn't small — it could hold at least several hundred thousand people, and... it's just... abandoned like this?"

Spirit Rong Night nodded forcefully: "I didn't see a single living person, only carrion-eating animals; this place clearly suffered a monster attack."

Human Cultivators hunt monsters to obtain various Core Parts.

Likewise, monsters like to eat people.

Ordinary people are food rations.

Cultivators are "Great Food" for advancing one's Dao Xing.

Previously, the Central Region had monsters causing trouble, but not such chaos.

It's all because the Black Rust Dynasty's people colluded with the Yellow Spring Alliance, throwing the whole Central Region into chaos, with similar tragic scenes everywhere.

If not for the Three Great Immortal Sects taking the lead, bringing numerous Cultivation Sects and forces to unite and act, this place would likely have long since become a "Hell on Earth."

Not long after, Xu Zhangqing and the others controlled Broken Moon Flowing Frost to hover a hundred meters above Bixie City; as their gazes swept downward, the whole city's situation was clear at a glance.

Most of the City Wall had collapsed; the blue bricks looked as if they'd been gnawed, covered in damaged marks, piled in crooked heaps at the base of the wall.

A few sections of wall still standing hung tattered cloth banners, fluttering in the wind; the two characters "Bixie" on the fabric had long been corrupted black by blood, leaving only a blurred outline.

Eight or nine out of ten houses in the city had become ruined walls and broken foundations; wooden roofs burned down to blackened beam frames, some beams still slanting inserted into walls.

The Stone Slabs of the main street were cracked full of fissures, the fissures embedded with dark red marks; from afar they looked like a dried blood belt, and occasionally a few curled skeletons could be seen lying by the road.

Some wore commoners' coarse cloth garments, some were wrapped in Cultivators' Daoist Robes, but without exception, all had become cold skeletons.

In the central Square stood a Stone Pillar snapped in two at the waist; the exorcism talismans carved on it were scratched to shreds, and around the broken pillar were piled over a dozen corpses stacked together.

Their appearances could no longer be made out; all had been gnawed incomplete.

A few crows landed on the corpse pile, pecking at remaining flesh; seeing movement above they didn't fly away, but instead tilted their heads and stared.

Spirit Rong Night pointed toward the west of the city, his voice heavy: "Judging by the situation, that side should have been the first to fail to hold out, ultimately leading to the tragedy."

Hu Bugui frowned and looked down, suddenly pointing at a crack: "It's said the Iron-Scaled Demon's scales emit purple light; among the monsters that broke the city, there is this thing."

Xu Zhangqing said nothing, his expression especially grave.

A Golden Core Late Stage divine sense swept over the entire city, discovering that besides cold bones, not a trace of a living person's breath could be sensed.

The whole city seemed to have had all its vitality drained, leaving only ruins and remains, appearing cold and deathly silent under the sunlight.

Seeing this scene, everyone's mood was bad.

When in Dongyu, one might have felt others' descriptions were somewhat exaggerated.

Only when one personally witnessed this scene oneself did one know there was none.

Even the "tragedy" others spoke of was less than one-tenth of the scene before one's eyes.

Previously hearing people say "nine out of ten cities in the Central Region are empty," one still thought it was alarmist.

Only after seeing it did one understand that the so-called "empty" was not people fleeing and leaving the city empty, but that everyone in the entire city had been eaten clean by monsters as "rations" and "Great Food."

At this moment, only the "caw-caw" sound of crows pecking at bones remained here, so clear, and so piercing.

After a long while, Xu Zhangqing called out: "Let's go."

If there were living people here, they would surely have stayed.

Since the people were all gone, there was no need to delay the journey here; they could only continue forward along the route.

Hu Bugui nudged Zhao Ziyue with his elbow: "Old Zhao, you've read many books; since the monsters in the city are all gone, where would they go?"

Zhao Ziyue said thoughtfully: "With this city gone, they will move on to the next one."

Wherever there are people, these beasts will never let them go.

In the time that followed, indeed as Old Zhao said.

The villages, counties, and prefectural cities everyone flew over—none were intact.

Until late at night, they finally saw light and living people.

Ahead was a tall mountain, with several glowing flying shuttles patrolling in the air.

Below, that is, at the mountain's peak, there were many simple houses.

Some were wooden houses, some were stone houses.

It seemed a group of cultivators were protecting many ordinary people living here!