Chapter 949: Charge the Mountain Gate! (1/2, Requesting Moon Tickets)

For some reason, Sanyue suddenly remembered when he participated in that joint crackdown on the strange beings in Qingsi County with so many sects.

Back then, his blood truly boiled, as if his youth itself was burning.

"I wonder how Captain Ye and the other players are doing now…"

Just as Sanyue was thinking this, he suddenly saw dust rising in the distance, rapidly approaching this way.

"Sanyue."

"Yeah, I saw it."

Sanyue leapt to his feet, activated 【Flame Eyes】, and stared intently at the distant dust.

【Flame Eyes】 was merely an ordinary technique of the Flame Sect; as a mountain guard disciple, it was offered at a discounted price, requiring slightly less sect contribution.

As long as you put in a few extra patrols, you could easily accumulate enough contribution to exchange for it.

Although Sanyue was a slacker, he only slacked off during work—he still showed up for patrols—so he had long since obtained 【Flame Eyes】 and cultivated it to proficiency.

In fact, because he slacked off so much, he had no other powerful techniques to cultivate, so he ended up making 【Flame Eyes】 his primary technique; and in a certain sense, while other mountain guard disciples barely cared about 【Flame Eyes】, this slacker had trained it to an exceptional level, far surpassing his peers.

Now, with his third-layer 【Flame Eyes】 fully activated, twin flames flickered instantly in his eyes.

Everything in his field of vision appeared warped, as if scorched by intense heat.

But at the same time, he could see farther, locking onto the source of the dust.

Within the heat-distorted view, two riders were galloping furiously, heading straight for the Flame Sect's mountain gate.

Due to the great distance and the swirling dust, his Flame Eyes couldn't make out their exact faces.

But when he saw the horses beneath them, Sanyue immediately relaxed.

Because the hooves of those two horses bore flame-patterned markings.

That was… True Flame Horses!

Only high-ranking disciples of the Flame Sect were permitted to ride them.

"They must be high-ranking sect disciples returning home. Riding such fine horses and rushing so urgently—there's probably some major event. Let's head to the gate and wait. Don't want to get caught slacking and have someone report it up top—it'd be bad."

Even slacking has its basic rules—you can't let them catch you red-handed.

He slowly led Qiyue back to their post.

The other gate-guarding senior disciples were also lounging lazily beside the gate; one glanced at Sanyue and Qiyue returning, gave them a sidelong look, and yawned.

"Any situation?"

"I saw senior disciples returning on True Flame Horses."

"Understood."

One of them poked a companion who seemed to be snoring; the Flame Sect gate guards, still half-asleep, rubbed their eyes, forced themselves awake, and assumed defensive stances, waiting for the arriving seniors.

Although the sect's higher-ups were currently trapping the Ice Sect's elite and engaged in something crucial,

in reality, for ordinary daily life in the Flame Sect, their orders were simply to leave the mountain gate for about an hour, then return to resume guard duty—no one knew what was truly happening above; such important matters were beyond the clearance of lowly gate guards like them.

Tighter security was stationed halfway up the mountain; at the foot, they merely maintained routine vigilance.

Just as they took their positions, they indeed saw the dust rising in the distance.

With the speed of True Flame Horses, by the time they became visible to the naked eye, they were already nearly at the Flame Sect's mountain gate.

Sanyue and Qiyue forced themselves to snap to attention, feigning seriousness.

Sure enough, within moments, the two True Flame Horses charged down to the mountain's base—and without the slightest pause, they exploded!

Sanyue saw it clearly: the two horses, barely having reached the foot of the mountain, their tongues lolling as if drained of all strength, were instantly stamped on the head by the two black-robed figures, who used them as stepping platforms—blood and flesh burst open, leaving only headless corpses, their internal organs and skeletons exposed, dying right there.

The two black-robed figures, using the exploding horses as launchpads, shot upward like projectiles—swiftly, one to the left, one to the right, surging straight up the stone steps!

Boom—!

The stone steps shattered under their explosive charge, rocks flying everywhere like a violent storm of shrapnel, sweeping toward Sanyue and the others!

"Wait—! They're…"

The gate guard who had just realized what was happening screamed in terror—but before he could finish, flying rocks pierced his mouth and exited through the back of his skull, blood gushing from the wound; his eyes widened, already lifeless, dropping dead on the spot.

"E-Enemy attack! E-…"

"Run! They're not Flame Sect!"

"Sound the alarm! That's…"

Those who finally reacted screamed and tried to turn and flee—but the pursuing black shadows caught up instantly; in a flash of crossing motion, the senior disciples' bodies tore into dozens of bloody chunks, splattering across the ground.

One of those chunks landed right in front of Sanyue—a piece of flesh floating midair was half the senior disciple's face, frozen in its earlier expression of terror, making Sanyue's heart pound violently.

He was the fastest to react.

The instant he saw the horses explode into blood mist, his heart dropped—he knew something was wrong, grabbed the still-dazed Qiyue, and spun around to flee.

Then he heard the chaos behind him—and the chunk of flesh, the senior's half-face, flying past him.

His breathing grew rapid.

His heart throbbed as if gripped by an invisible hand.

An overwhelming sense of dread pressed in from behind; Sanyue's mind went utterly blank.

He hadn't expected the danger to come so suddenly, or death to arrive so abruptly.

"San—"

Feeling the warmth in his palm, hearing Qiyue's terrified voice beside his ear, he suddenly twisted with all his strength.

His body, which had been running up the steps, spun one hundred eighty degrees—and in the motion, he hurled Qiyue with all his force toward the dense forest beside the stone steps.

"You go first!"

"Sanyue!!"

At that moment, Qiyue, high above, cried out through tears, while Sanyue, standing still, shouted in a low, steady voice.

'This might be the coolest moment of my life.'

Sanyue's mind flashed with his final thought, and then—he saw it: the black-robed figure's form stretched like black ink drawn instantly across the canvas, appearing before him in an instant, a vast black hand already covering his face.

His legs trembled, tears nearly spraying out.

At the very moment death drew near, he truly felt the terror of it.

Yet everything was to end.

That was what Sanyue believed—until the very instant the black hand fully obscured his vision, he felt a pause, and then… he heard a whisper, as if murmured to himself.

"How is it you…?"

(End of Chapter)