Chapter 9: How Could This Be a Trap?
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Let’s rewind a few hours.
Li Ying Tian, Gongsun Ding, and over twenty others were blazing through the skies on their magical beast.
At this moment, the bl**d-red sun was sinking below the horizon, leaving only a smidge of dark golden light in the world. In just a few minutes, it would be pitch black.
“Master, should we send a distress signal to the Six Great Sects now?” Gongsun Ding asked.
“Not yet. It’d be rather impolite to disturb them when the situation is still unclear,” Li Ying Tian replied.
“Understood, Master,” Gongsun Ding said, his spirits dampened.
If the situation was truly as dire as Tang Tong said, they were in serious trouble. Sending a message to the Six Great Sects now wouldn’t get them to Thousand Bird City until at least tomorrow morning at the earliest.
What would happen in Thousand Bird City tonight? Nobody knew.
Besides, the Sect Leader had a way of being prideful and aloof, rarely willing to ask for help unless absolutely necessary. He’d probably have to be dragged into it kicking and screaming.
Thinking this, Gongsun Ding fell silent, just hoping the team from Thousand Bird City would catch up with them soon so they could actually have a fighting chance.
“Caw caw…”
As their magical beast soared over the treetops, a dense cloud of black crows suddenly exploded into the air.
Li Ying Tian’s face turned a shade of thundercloud.
Encountering black crows was a bad omen.
He’d traversed the Chaos Forest numerous times, but he had never seen so many crows at once.
Such an ominous sign made the disciples’ hearts drop, their confidence immediately wavering.
Seeing this, Li Ying Tian’s anger flared.
So what if it was heavenly providence?
Ha! This old man will go against the heavens!
“Boom!”
A wave of heat erupted from him, radiating outward in all directions.
Any crows that came into contact with the wave screeched in agony, bursting into flames and falling to the ground.
The magical beast raced onward, leaving behind a trail of tiny flames that turned to ash in no time.
The crowd was awestruck.
The Sect Leader’s move was equivalent to saying, “If we don’t succeed, we’ll meet our end honorably!”
Gongsun Ding clenched his fists, vowing that he’d rather d*e alongside Thousand Bird City than let it fall.
Before long, they burst out of the edge of the forest and into the human realm.
Ji Shen’s illusions were certainly clever,
even Li Ying Tian couldn’t tell what was real.
If he hadn’t once seen Thousand Bird City in his mind, he might have actually fallen for the enemy’s tricks and missed their last chance to save it.
Plus, with their hearts burning with urgency, they wouldn’t feel truly at ease until their feet landed on the Floating City.
Just at that moment, a streak of shooting stars appeared in the distance.
Gongsun Ding squinted and exclaimed,
“Isn’t that the ten sons of Thousand Bird City, looking bedraggled and disheveled?”
The ten of them were riding flying swords, hovering before the magical beast in an extremely stylish manner, and simultaneously kneeled and said, “Disciples greet the Sect Leader!”
Their voices thundered and their spirit was imposing,
After a stint in Half Moon City, they had become even more dashing.
As fellow inner door disciples with Gongsun Ding, they had clearly surpassed this former prodigy in cultivation.
“Well done, well done. Please get up.
Your timing is perfect because Thousand Bird City is in great danger. Come, let’s slay the demons and cleanse the wicked, and restore the world to order!”
“At your command, Sect Leader!”
With the ten sons of Thousand Bird City joining in, everyone’s morale shot up like a rocket.
Li Ying Tian stood on the magical beast, like a celestial immortal stepping on the wind, with everyone trailing closely behind.
From a distance, the figures of the Thousand Bird City crew assembled into a massive fist, launching towards the Floating City.
As they swiftly neared,
the flying Monster Race from White Feather City caught sight of them.
Before long, a squadron of huge bird demons screeched and charged at them.
Maybe wanting to show off their years of training, the ten sons of Thousand Bird City rushed forward, treating the blocking bird demons like they were cutting through butter.
Cheers of admiration erupted from their companions.
But the very next second, their cheers were brutally cut off, their jaws dropping in shock.
It was as if they had crossed an invisible threshold; the once peaceful Floating City was now enveloped in a thick blanket of black mist, so dense not even a sliver of light could shine through.
“Ha! Mere tricks, how dare you act so brazenly before me!”
Worried for the safety of Floating City, Li Ying Tian immediately summoned twenty red sword blades, whirling forward like a tornado, determined to rip open a gap in the black mist.
As soon as the Sect Leader made a move, it was clear whether it would work or not.
Everyone thought the thick, ink-like black mist would be difficult to disperse instantly.
But under the assault of the sword-tornado, the black mist was torn apart, revealing nearly a quarter of the Floating City to their eyes.
Just a glance made Gongsun Ding’s breath hitch, bl**d rushing to his head, making him want to leap in and wipe out those daring enough to invade Thousand Bird City.
Just seeing a sliver of the Floating City unveiled rivers of bl**d and corpses in every alley, and even now, survivors were still fighting off enemies.
The sounds of battle, screams, and cries filled the air, pushing everyone’s nerves to the edge.
The ten sons of Thousand Bird City gritted their teeth and looked at Li Ying Tian, “Sect Leader, let’s charge in and wipe out these sc*m daring to invade us!”
Li Ying Tian was also bursting with impatience.
This black mist didn’t seem as troublesome as he had imagined; it would only take a little time to clear. Moreover, the forbidden area within the Floating City was critically important and must not be breached by the enemy.
With that in mind, Li Ying Tian ceased hesitating.
“Charge in, protect the forbidden area!”
“Yes, Sect Leader!”
They rushed through the gap created by the Sect Leader and plunged into the black mist.
Just as the group passed through the opening and soared over the Floating City, Li Ying Tian suddenly shouted, “Not good!”
At that very moment they rushed in, the battling crowd disappeared without a trace.
The streets of the Floating City were utterly clean, not a single figure remained, let alone a mountain of corpses!
Illusions? More illusions!
Everyone instinctively looked back, and the black mist wriggled as if alive, quickly filling the gap.
Now, besides the weapons in their hands and a faint glimmer of light, everywhere else was pitch black, as if they had entered a vast, cold, empty space.
There was definitely something off about this black mist.
Li Ying Tian was not one to sit idly by; this time, he summoned fifty flying swords in one breath.
The other inner door disciples also activated their soul swords, hoping to lend their Sect Leader a hand.
But this time, even with Li Ying Tian going all out, the swords of power all stopped dead at the mist’s edge and couldn’t push through at all.
Such an unbelievable occurrence made Li Ying Tian’s eyes widen in shock, utterly unable to believe what he was seeing.
“Quick, to the forbidden area!”
Li Ying Tian’s heart sank, his thoughts spiraling into chaos.
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P.S. Sorry for the late update; hope you can forgive me!
