Part 3
Back then, He had clearly tampered with things. Those attacks weren’t meant to harm the soul. Even if the shell was destroyed, Gege could be reborn.
That was why He had forcibly awakened from His slumber before His heavy injuries had healed. He had followed the scent and found Zou Lin, who bore the mark.
How could the mark He left on Gege end up on Zou Lin?
Qing Huang was burned smaller and smaller, and the black mist grew thinner. The sensation of being scorched was naturally agonizing, yet He didn’t care in the slightest.
He only stared fixedly at the corpse on the ground as it was scorched dry and then burned to ash.
A mass of mist belonging to Qing Huang remained silently in place.
Besides His own aura, an extra scent appeared on the previously empty ground.
Equally powerfulâanother High-Rank powerhouse.
“As I thought”.
Burned to the size of a fruit, Qing Huang stared coldly from within the mist at that thread of aura that was almost impossible to detect.
“You really are haunting Gege like a ghost…”
“Bai! Po!”
“Itâs on fire”.
Luo Shizhen was like Xuanzang from Journey to the West, staying inside the circle Sui-laoshi had drawn with his companions and watching the situation from afar.
“Thatâs a huge fire. Is that Bizarre being burned to death?”
It would be great if it were burned to death; then this mission would have a perfect conclusion.
Lu Qiujin was also watching. As a Wood element user, he had an instinctive dislike for fire:
“The fire started too suddenly. It was likely done by the Bizarre”.
Cheng Yunshao: “Yes. I remember that no one in Guillotine or Sui-laoshiâs group is Fire element. This fire must have been set by the Bizarre”.
Luo Shizhen: “A High-Rank Bizarre that can control fire? Let me think what that could be”.
He began scrolling through the Bizarre directory on his phone.
As he was looking, a furious cry rang out. Before everyone’s eyes, a massive avian beast soared into the air from the flames, its long tail feathers as red as fresh blood.
Cheng Yunshao recognized it instantly. “A Phoenix?”
Luo Shizhenâs eyes widened. “A real Phoenix?”
Chu Xiao: “Legend says the Phoenix can be reborn from ashes. This fire was likely summoned by Him”.
Luo Shizhen immediately grew worried. “Heâs been reborn; will His combat strength increase?”
As it turned out, the Phoenix’s rebirth did not increase His strength. On the contrary, because He had started His life over, His strength had weakened.
Hua Yi looked at his detector. “He’s roughly Rank 6 now, upper-middle”.
Sui An also gazed at the Phoenix. “No wonder He detected as Rank 7 yet His strength far exceeded Rank 8. It seems He had reborn more than once before, so His strength decayed, causing the Rank 7 reading”.
“After Him!”
This Phoenix was incredibly difficult to deal with. Even if killed once, He could reborn. If this kind of Bizarre wasn’t snuffed out now, it would be a major problem later.
So, even though they knew He would be hard to catch, everyone gave chase.
The Phoenix flying above looked similar to the descriptions passed down from ancient times, but with one difference: He was staggeringly large, practically blotting out the sun.
His vision was equally impressive, and He instantly spotted the group of young humans under heavy protection.
“Humans, if I hadn’t forcibly awakened from my slumber, do you think youâd be able to wound me with such meager skills?”
He stopped looking at the High-Rank Guardians chasing Him. At this moment, fighting them was not a good idea.
Humans were fragile, but their numbers were vast. Once He was pinned down, He would face a battle of attrition.
Qing Huang set His sights on the young humans whose auras clearly weren’t strong.
He knew that humans were very protective of their young, unlike Bizarres. As long as He attacked the younglings, those troublesome Guardians would naturally shift their focus to protecting them.
The Phoenix spread His wings, blotting out the sun as He flew through the air draped in flames, and spat a massive fireball at the ground below.
He could clearly see the surprised expressions and defensive movements of the human younglings below.
They couldn’t block it. These human younglings would die on the spot as His revenge against the Guardians.
At the moment the fireball was spat out, the Phoenix flew past and locked eyes with Luo Shizhen, who was looking up at Him.
Luo Shizhen gazed warily at the Phoenix, gripping his dagger tightly, terrified that He would swoop down.
The Qi essence on his body seemed to feel the pressure and retracted violently into his body, without a single thread remaining outside.
The flames pushed that gaze apart, but Qing Huangâs heart suddenly felt a mysterious, sharp painâ
It was as if something was trying to claw its way out of His heart and roar, and every feather on His body stood on end, warning Him not to attack.
This feeling… could it be that Gege was here?
Qing Huang immediately focused His mind to sense the area below.
But with a quick scan, He could sense nothing except the faint aura on the humans.
He gave a cry, assuming it was simply the wounds the humans had inflicted that were hurting.
When He looked back, He saw the flames being forcibly blocked by a mass of spiritual power. The human younglings were unharmed.
For some reason, the Phoenix’s heart suddenly didn’t hurt as much.
He saw that human youngling again.
He was frowning, carefully helping a companion up and seemingly whispering concern.
Once upon a time… Gege had been just like that.
In the Phoenix’s mouth, He still clutched a thread of white mist. He was wounded, and the white mist was continuously devouring His aura, worsening His injuries. Yet even so, the Phoenix refused to let go of the white mist.
He flapped His wings and dove into a crack in the sky used for escape.
Only His gaze remained uncontrollably fixed upon Luo Shizhen.
He vanished.
Chu Xiao struggled to stand steadily. The impact of the flames against the spiritual power just now had sent several of them to the ground.
Luo Shizhen was the most resilient and was the first to stand up and help everyone up.
As he helped everyone, he couldn’t stop himself from looking toward the empty horizon.
Chu Xiao: “Shizhen, whatâs wrong?”
Luo Shizhen swallowed hard. “Iâm hungry”.
He wanted to eat roasted chicken.
Recommended Reads
