Spirit Realm

At the peak of Flame Volcano.

“Cough cough!”

Ying Xingran’s expression was pale. He coughed violently while covering his mouth with a towel.

A faint smell of blood came from it...

The three great reverends, Luo Zhichang, Fang Qi, and Jiang Hao, and the seven great inner sect elders, Mo Hai, Tan Dongling, and more, were now all gathered on this rock overlooking the entire city beneath the foot of the mountain.

At this moment, the many bustling streets of the four great districts of Armament City, the Earth, Fire, Water and Wind districts, had all been set alight.

When viewed from the peak of Flame Volcano, it seemed like there were numerous fire dragons circling inside Armament City. A terrible scream could be heard from time to time in the places where these fire dragons were found.

There were many martial practitioners dressed in different uniforms roaming all four districts, hunting down Armament Sect’s foreign delegates and Blood Spear martial practitioners.

Fights had broken out everywhere inside Armament City. Many of the areas were in ruins, and there were countless screams coming from many of the streets...

There were even more martial practitioners gathered outside Armament Sect, surrounding Armament Sect and even Flame Volcano itself.

“Dark Shadow Tower! Dark Asura Hall! Cloud Sky Mountain! Seven Fiends Valley! Purple Mist Sea!” Ying Xingran uttered through gritted teeth while coughing violently. His eyes shone with deep-seated hatred.

“Dongling, is there any news yet from Lang Xie and Feng Rong yet?” exclaimed Chief Reverend Luo Zhichang.

Tan Dongling’s expression was dark. “They haven’t come back yet. Perhaps… they have run into an accident.”

Everyone else’s expressions had turned dark as well.

Lang Xie and Feng Rong were Blood Spear’s pillars. They were responsible for dispatching Blood Spears to destroy their enemies. Now that their backbone, Lang Xie and Feng Rong, had gone missing, it caused a hopeless feeling to rise in the three great reverends and seven great inner sect elders.

They were just artificers. They had dedicated their entire lives to the path of artifact forging, so they had not spent too much time on the martial path.

If they really had to fight to the death, they could not be of any use at all. A martial practitioner of equal rank could break their wings and destroy them with ease.

“Lang Xie will be safe.” Chief Reverend Luo Zhichang comforted the others and himself, “He is stronger than you can imagine. Unless Eight Extreme Temple and Profound Heaven Alliance have dispatched their own experts, no one should be able to stop him if he wants to leave! Even if the strongest experts of the five great forces had mobilized, they may not necessarily be able to kill him either. Lang Xie is even stronger than his master was in the past!”

Everyone’s expressions shook slightly.

“Qin Bing has also gone missing. I wonder what accident has befallen him,” Jiang Hao sighed softly.

“It must be because of Tang Siqi and Lian Rou’s matter that he went out of the sect!” Ying Xingran said with a scowl, “I had specifically instructed that no one was to disturb him from artifact forging. Someone must have contacted him for him to find out about Tang Siqi and Lian Rou being caught. That Yi Yuan came from Purple Mist Sea, right?”

“Correct, he is from Purple Mist Sea,” Mo Hai answered.

“Then it must be him!” Ying Xingran stated with a snort.

They all nodded silently and looked at the flames below within the city. With tense expressions on their faces, they watched all of the martial practitioners from various forces.

“The reason they’re surrounding us and not attacking is because they want to capture us alive. They still need us to forge artifacts.” Fang Qi pondered for a moment before he sighed, “The reason they’re hunting after foreign delegates with combat power and killing Blood Spear’s men all over the city is to break our fangs and claws.”

“The moment Blood Spear is exterminated, the moment all foreign delegates with combat power have been killed, we artificers will have no way to resist at all, and they’ll be able to do whatever they want,” Jiang Hao interrupted.

“Let’s wait. Let’s wait for Lang Xie and Feng Rong to come back. If Blood Spear truly is eliminated, then Armament Sect… may very well not exist for much longer.” Chief Reverend Luo Zhichang also sighed deeply.

……

At a street near Armament Sect’s entrance.

While carrying Tang Siqi, Qin Lie stopped at a dark corner of an alley and looked at Armament Sect’s entrance from afar.

Wu Tuo, Cloud Sky Mountain’s martial practitioners, and Shi Jingyun were now guarding Armament Sect’s outer sect entrance. They were also whispering and talking to each other.

The moment he saw Wu Tuo, Qin Lie’s heart sank. He knew it would be almost impossible to step into Armament Sect.

Afraid that Wu Tuo and Shi Jingyun would discover him, he quietly crept backwards after just a momentary pause. He withdrew to a black stone building very far away.

The moment he came in he could smell a thick stench of blood. When he focused his gaze, he noticed that there were six bodies that died not too long ago in this stone building built from limestone.

Judging from their clothes, they should be outer sect’s foreign delegates, and they were also those with incredible fighting abilities.

It was obvious that this place had been cleaned up before. Those foreign delegates around Armament Sect had all been killed by the “cleaner.”

As he circled around the bloody corpses, Qin Lie carried Tang Siqi and arrived at a dark room inside. After releasing the leather ropes binding Tang Siqi and straightening her body, he said, “I’ve checked around for a bit. All roads heading towards Flame Volcano have been sealed. It will not be easy for us to return to the sect now.”

From the moment he saw Wu Tuo, he already knew what they were planning.

They wanted to eliminate Armament Sect’s combat ability inside the city and control Armament City first. Then, they would capture all of the artificers in Flame Volcano like they were sitting ducks.

It was very obvious that they did not wish for those artificers to die. Moreover, they also coveted Armament Sect’s years of wealth.

After some thought, Qin Lie then guessed that the moment the matter inside the city was finished, the heads of the five forces would gather together beneath the foot of the mountain of Flame Volcano and formally negotiate on how to divide Armament Sect’s resources for themselves.

—Resources like spirit materials, spirit stones, and spirit medicine, and the partitioning of the city, Armament Sect and Flame Volcano, as well as how they were dividing up the artificers.

They needed to clear this up before they really set foot into Armament Sect.

Before that was done, the reverends and elders would be trapped inside Flame Volcano. They would not be allowed to take a single step anywhere.

The truth was that killing was happening everywhere inside the city right now. As long as the elders weren’t stupid, they should know that Flame Volcano was still relatively safe.

Tang Siqi blinked her eyes with a somewhat hasty expression. It appeared that she had something to say.

But she couldn’t speak.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say.” Qin Lie frowned, “Right now I can’t think of anything either. I don’t know where I should go, and there are men from the five forces everywhere in Armament City. All the city gates should be on the highest alert. It may not be too easy to exit the city right now.”

He looked at Tang Siqi and said again, “The road back to the sect has been sealed as well. If we recklessly show up there, there is a high chance that we will be captured alive, so this path is not accessible either. In this case, I’m not sure what we should do. We can only find a hiding place in the city for now. What do you think?”

Tang Siqi’s eyes stared straight at a single point—the spatial ring on her clean white fingers!

“There are things inside your spatial ring? Can I take them?” Qin Lie asked tentatively.

Tang Siqi hurriedly blink three times in a row.

“Then I’ll try it.” Qin Lie was surprised. He extended a finger and pressed once on the spatial ring, and a wisp of his mind consciousness suddenly slipped inside it.

A round and smooth pill that looked like a red gem was the first thing that entered his mind. He suddenly understood what Tang Siqi was trying to have him do.

He moved his thought, and the rosy, gem-like pill fell into his palm. Holding the pill he asked again, “This pill can release your bindings?”

Tang Siqi quickly blinked again.

Qin Lie nodded, moved himself closer, and sniffed the pill once. He could smell a thick stench of blood. It was as if this pill was formed from a special type of fresh blood. Its smell… was very pungent.

“Are you sure?” Qin Lie asked again.

Hastiness appeared on Tang Siqi’s face as she continued to blink once more to show that there was no problem with the pill.

Qin Lie no longer said anything. With one hand he lifted Tang Siqi’s small, shapely chin and pressed that rosy pill into Tang Siqi’s lips.

“Gulp.” Tang Siqi swallowed the pill with slight difficulty.

An obvious blood aura emanated from her body. As if the blood had set off her frozen blood, it caused her veins to grow active again.

“Cough cough cough!” Not too long after, she suddenly began to cough intensely. Her long frozen body was finally able to move again.

“This is a blood sealing art often used by Blood Spear. The Blood Circulation Pill is the best way to remove it. It took me a long while before I could activate the Blood Circulation Pill with a wisp of consciousness.” Tang Siqi’s eyes were opened wide. She was obviously still feeling somewhat uncomfortable, and it took her a while before she could finally speak smoothly, “There is a secret passage here that can enter straight into Armament Sect!”

“Here?” Qin Lie was shocked.

Tang Siqi glared at him and exclaimed, “Have you not read the secret scriptures the sect master has passed you?”

“I didn’t have the time,” Qin Lie nodded.

“The reason I know about this secret passage is because I’ve read it before in a secret scripture.” Tang Siqi moved her limbs as her beautiful face became slowly clouded by worry. “It has only been a day and such a massive change has already occurred inside the sect. Sigh, I hope that Sect Master and the others have a plan.”

While saying that, she ignored formalities altogether and grabbed Qin Lie’s hand. She pulled him out of the room and headed towards the fake mountain area at the back.

Qin Lie was initially a bit unused to being held by her warm, small hands, but seeing the urgency on her face, he obediently followed.

Very soon, Tang Siqi had brought him to the fake mountains at the back. “It is right inside the small cave inside the fake mountain. There should be a huge rock blocking the cave’s entrance. Once we push that away, we will be able to enter straight into the sect through the stone passage. This passage was opened by a passionate sect master a few generations ago. It was so that he could leave and meet his lover conveniently…”

Tang Siqi curled her lips and explained.

Qin Lie entered the cave inside the fake mountain with her. This fake mountain area wasn’t that big in the first place, and the small cave inside was even narrower.

The cave could only fit one person. After the duo had entered, they even had to lower their heads and bow their waists, almost pressing their bodies against each other with very slow footsteps before they could walk inside.

“The lord has orders to check the areas that we’ve cleaned up every two hours. Go inside and have a look!” It was at this moment a cold voice was issuing orders from outside.

Then, heavy footsteps came from the entrance of the stone building.

Inside the fake mountain, Qin Lie’s expression abruptly changed. He suddenly hugged Tang Siqi inside that dark hole and attempted to press close to her ears, asking her to stop for the moment.

However, the narrow cave was dark and they were both lowering their waists as well. When he suddenly pressed forward, he seemed to have missed his target...

“Wh-what are you kissing me for?” Tang Siqi exclaimed with a mosquito-like voice. Inside the dark cave, her face was burning feverishly.