A Demon's Path Chapter 86

Liu Xintang's expression fiercely changed atop the city walls. He finally understood why Ling Xiao said they should hide in the Castellan's Mansion. But even if he wanted to do so now, it was already too late. There were thousands of Celestial Soul Masters up there on the wall with him. Was he supposed to just watch them die?

Shen Xuan squinted his eyes. He knew if he didn't retrieve that treasure, there would only be death awaiting him. Without the slightest hint of hesitation, he waved his hand. A violet light shot up into the sky. It turned into countless violet threads and weaved itself into a net that tightly enveloped the city walls.

Boooom! The lengthy sound of an explosion erupted out from within the city. It was so loud that even the deaf could hear it! It was as though a hole had opened up in the heavens! Countless rays of blood red light surged out, shooting at the Castellan's Mansion and the top of the city walls.

The citizens in the Castellan's Mansion were shaking in fear. They dropped to their knees and hugged their heads in a final attempt to save their lives. The thought of the red light striking them and condemning them to eternal damnation ran through their minds. But their fear was ill-founded. The red light shot down until a few meters above the Castellan's Mansion, where it hit an invisible barrier like rain falling into the ocean. It only created a ripple before disappearing without a trace.

Atop the city walls, Shen Xuan's violet net intercepted the blood red rays of light. Crackling sounds rang out upon impact like flickering electrical sparks. It only lasted for a moment. But to all Celestial Soul Masters on the wall, it felt like eternity passed by twice.

The lid covering the sky seemed to have opened up at this moment. A gentle golden light spilled over Seadragon City, cleansing the sky of this blood red light.

After the last rays of red were gone, the golden light also disappeared. The moon cleared up, shining down on the earth incomparably bright.

…

Whoosh! Elder Qing fell from the sky and dropped into the sea. A large fountain of water shot up into the air.

Qin looked at the unconscious Elder Qing floating on the surface of the water with a pitiful look in her eyes. She scooped him up and placed him on the small blue whale's back. "You've worked hard, Elder Qing. Let Little Blue take you back." She lightly patted the small blue whale's head. It intuitively knew what she wanted. The small blue whale shook its tail and rapidly swam off toward a stretch of land in the midst of the Demon Archipelago.

Qin was now alone as she stood above the water. She stared at Seadragon City with a look of injustice on her face. "That good-for-nothing absorbed the Blood Moon Array's attack. Just how much luck can one person have? Humph!"

…

Ling Xiao looked up at the sky and mumbled to himself, "So this is the Celestial Soul Ward? Its power really is out of this world! It's a pity it isn't perfect. I wonder whether this place would've weathered the storm if I hadn't reinforced it with multiple defensive arrays and used the Soul Stone Plate to absorb the brunt of the attack."

If the people of Seadragon City knew that even Ling Xiao himself didn't have complete confidence, their hearts might've literally jumped out of their chests in fright.

Liu Xintang finally understood why the Demonic Clan didn't launch an assault on the beach. Tonight's main event was the Blood Moon Array. The demonic beasts skitting in and out of view on the shoreline served as a bedcover for the activation of the array. An involuntary laughter escaped his lips. The enemy had played him for a fool and pinned him down atop the city walls!

Shen Xuan retracted the violet net that had saved their lives. A most unpleasant expression formed on his face. "That boy Ling Xiao seemed to know what would happen from the start. Why didn't he tell us?!"

Liu Xintang revealed a bitter smile and said, "Let's head back for now. We'll talk about it later. Without Elder Ling, my city would've been done for."

The Celestial Soul Masters in Seadragon City were busy the whole night. They dealt with the aftermath; gathering the corpses for a proper funeral, washing away the blood dying the city red, and clearing the remnants of the buildings from the roads. This lasted until sunrise.

Only after Liu Xintang personally had confirmed the scene of terrors was cleaned up, did he allow the citizens to leave the Castellan's Mansion. But the citizens of Seadragon City still fell silent when they saw what was left of their city, their home.

They worked from dusk 'till dawn, living one mediocre day after the other. How could it have ever crossed their minds that the war with the Demonic Clan would be so terrifying? A great many things became clear to them as their eyes took in the scene before them.

The peace Seadragon City had enjoyed for so many years was only possible thanks to the Castellan and the Celestial Soul Masters he personally trained. When some citizens thought of the scenes last night, watching on as the Undead chewed on the Celestial Soul Masters, they felt ashamed of themselves. They'd always harboured resentment toward the Castellan's Mansion. Why did the Celestial Soul Masters receive such preferential treatment? They never did anything, always lazing about! Or so they thought… After walking down the steps of the Castellan's Mansion this morning, they finally understood the price these Celestial Soul Masters had to pay. They gave their lives to secure the safety of all citizens! Even if they, the citizens of Seadragon City, were forced to pay a little more, it wasn't all for naught. The Celestial Soul Masters deserved it!

Liu Xintang had a haggard look on his face. His mood was damp. "My fellow people, Liu is incompetent. I destroyed your homes. I've already informed the Valley Master. He said that he'll rebuild a new Seadragon City on the plains outside the city. We can relocate there as early as today. The Valley Master will also compensate each family with 100 orange gems per head."

Once the depressed citizens heard a new city would be build and they'd even receive monetary compensation, their moods immediately came back to life.

"Castellan, this is not your fault!"

"Castellan, you're a good person!"

Countless words of praise were flung at Liu Xintang, his citizens endlessly worshipping him.

When Shen Xuan heard all this, a bright smile lit up on his face. But beneath it was an expression as foul as could be. He was in an extremely unpleasant mood! Liu Xintang hadn't done a thing! He was just giving them lip service! The one who had to fund the expenditure was his Sunken Wind Valley!

Liu Xintang naturally wouldn't claim all the merits for himself. He pointed at Shen Xuan and said, "Young Master Shen is the Valley Master Jr. of the Sunken Wind Valley. It's all thanks to Valley Master Jr.'s help that everyone can receive compensation for your losses so quickly this time around! Valley Master Jr. is also the one who'll be handing out the reimbursements. If you want to thank someone, thank him!"

Seeing as the God of Wealth was standing before their eyes, the citizens were even more grateful. The sounds of extolation never stopped flowing from their lips.

Shen Xuan's mood immediately turned from sour to sweet. He giddily took out a large pile of gems from his chain depository and allocated them to the families residing in Seadragon City. He had retrieved far too many gems, more than his hands could carry. In fact, there were so many he could compensate a population 40 times that of Seadragon City!

Ling Xiao looked at the farce playing out before him. He helplessly shook his head and cursed, "Blast it! The arrays I set up cost hundreds of yellow gems. Who's going to reimburse me?"

The white-haired Li Yuanchong shot a ruthless look at Ling Xiao in scorn. "Don't tell me everything the Elders of my Sunken Wind Valley gifted you isn't enough to compensate your losses. Also, that Soul Stone Plate-"

"Hey, hey, hey, hold it right there!" Ling Xiao solemnly, seriously, vivaciously, and cutely said. "This is only a tool I used to protect the citizens. I spent so much effort to get a Soul Stone Plate in exchange. You want to rat me out?"

Li Yuanchong looked at Ling Xiao with a serious expression in his eyes. "I won't speak of this matter. I can't be bothered. When are we sparring?"

"That's enough. We'll talk about this if you still have some life in you when we get back home." Ling Xiao really didn't want to fight this lunatic. Even he had felt a slither of the fluctuations from Li Yuanchong's soulforce during that one deciding attack all the way in the Castellan's Mansion. Only the heavens knew if Li Yuanchong had another trump card like that up his sleeve.

"Hao… Can he be saved?" Li Yuanchong's expression dimmed slightly.

Ling Xiao sighed. "Perhaps. If you can find the Soul Returning Grass that is."

Li Yuanchong gazed in the direction of Zheng Hao's room, firm determination in his eyes. "Hao, wait for me. I'll get that grass and wake you up. next time, I'll have a good spar with you."

Ling Xiao didn't know the bond between Li Yuanchong and Zheng Hao stemmed from fighting each other ever since they were little children in the Sunken Wind Valley. Looking at Li Yuanchong with his white hair, he recalled Li Yuanchong's grandfather, Li Xuanyi. When he compared them now, he would think the grandson was the grandfather, and the grandfather the grandson.

The farce outside finally came to an end. The citizens returned to what was left of their homes and searched around for any valuables that were still intact. But to their dismay, they realized there wasn't a thing that had survived through the destruction.

Shen Xuan furiously stormed into the Castellan's Mansion. His face was clouded over. "Elder Ling, I want you to give us an explanation! Since you knew what the enemy was up to, why didn't you warn us?"

Ling Xiao looked at Shen Xuan as if he was looking at a monkey. "I didn't know this would happen. It was just something I suspected. You know how strong my mental strength is and my sixth sense is exceptional too. But it wasn't until I saw it in a book on demonic arrays that I realized this was the Demonic Soul Masters' Blood Moon Array. If I told you guys, Hey, I suspect someone has set up an array, would you have believed me?"

Ling Xiao's question caught Shen Xuan off guard. If he claimed he would've believed Ling Xiao, everyone would know he was lying, and if he said he didn't, he had no reason to blame Ling Xiao. Finally, he asked in a bored tone, "How come you have a book on demonic arrays?"

Ling Xiao looked at Shen Xuan like he was an idiot. "Know thyself, know thy enemy… Since we were going to be fighting against demons, I naturally did some research on them. I bought books on both Demonic Soul Masters and the Demonic Clan from Glorious Star. One of them even has an entire section on which demonic beasts crave human dong. Do you want to take a look?"

Everyone unleashed a barrage of curses at Ling Xiao.

Chapter end