Chapter 8: Form is Empty (2)
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Lehua Town was as empty as a discarded soup can,
Only a handful of frail old folks were wandering the streets, gazing helplessly at the distant mountains shrouded in mist.
They simply couldn’t wrap their heads around it: Why had no one returned after the townspeople left for the mountain stronghold?
But within just a day or two, the frightened residents received the answers they didn’t want.
In the pitch-black night, the roofs echoed with sounds reminiscent of footsteps shuffling over tiles.
They snuffed out their oil lamps, trembling, hoping the spirits flitting outside wouldn’t notice them.
But alas, fate had other plans. Before long, shadowy creatures that blended into the night burst through windows, pouncing on the scared folks hiding in the corners.
Brief screams punctuated the air before quiet reclaimed Lehua Town once more.
If someone could have seen the sky, they would have been in for a shock.
A monk clad in a black robe sat cross-legged atop a massive black beetle, surrounded by bright red fallen creatures.
They emitted a dark red glow in the night, resembling meteorites plummeting from the heavens.
“Roar…”
A hoarse yet piercing growl echoed through the air, swirling over Lehua Town.
The monk remained expressionless, his gaze directed towards the mountain stronghold now obscured in darkness.
With the last remnants of humanity in Lehua Town obliterated, the army of fallen creatures pressed on.
Meanwhile, the bonfire banquet in the mountain stronghold was winding down.
After merging with the bandits, the Giant Wave Gang discovered that the chasm between mountain bandits and water bandits wasn’t as wide as they’d thought.
Plus, their leader, Leng Yi, didn’t seem like such a difficult person to work with. Fatty quickly relaxed, commanding the kitchen to whip up a lavish banquet fit for a king.
With supplies from the mountain, they had enough provisions to feast for a week or two.
As for the remaining martial artists in the Demon-Subduing Alliance, Leng Yi tossed them all into the digging squad.
With him like a hawk watching over, these so-called ‘elite’ fighters were careful not to get out of line, most of them mumbling angry complaints while working,
Hoping the Martial Arts Alliance would swoop in to deal with these folks who dared to snub the central plains’ martial world.
On one side of the stronghold stood a sheer cliff.
The Giant Wave Gang’s first order of business was to carve a path down to the valley.
From their observations, the valley—bounded by cliffs on three sides and water on the other—was suspiciously like the human emperor’s rumored hideout mentioned by the Demon Sect’s Saintess.
Leng Yi was determined. Tomorrow he would dig a passage while preparing some sturdy ropes.
He planned to lower a group down to investigate the situation—to see what they might uncover.
If this human emperor truly existed, he wouldn’t hesitate to awaken him, seize control, and shake the entire world to its core.
The more chaos, the better the Giant Wave Gang could rise from the ashes and usurp the Martial Arts Alliance to become the overlord of the central plains.
And as for that red-dress-wearing Saintess, Frost North Snow, although he didn’t know why she hastily left with that monk, it irked him nonetheless.
The moment he spotted her on the ship, he felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if he’d seen her in another life.
Before establishing the Giant Wave Gang, he had been struggling to survive in rivers and lakes, living one day at a time, never truly pondering what tomorrow would bring.
Infighting between water bandits, and the life-and-d*ath struggles with their guards, had been his daily theater of horrors for as long as he could remember.
To survive, he learned to deceive with a child-like face and k*ll with lightning speed.
Before hitting puberty, he often infiltrated enemy fleets as a water bandit, waiting for the opportune moment to eliminate the captains or create chaos that would stall their ships.
Those were memories he wished to bury deeper than the Mariana Trench,
Memories that robbed him of any yearning for the beauty of humanity.
Ten years later, at eighteen, he finally became a notorious cleaver-wielding water bandit.
Every merchant ship he set his sights on was destined to meet its doom.
Even the leader of his gang had to regard him with newfound respect.
But one day, driven by his own brilliance, he became a potential threat to the boss, who set a trap to wipe out his squad.
Surrounded by ten times their number, Leng Yi remained unfazed. Drawing his kn*fe, he faced them.
“Today, you all d*e!”
His enemies burst into laughter, convinced he’d lost his marbles.
But what followed left survivors haunted to this day.
Leng Yi became a killing machine; each slash claimed an enemy’s life.
In the span of just half a stick of incense, over thirty lay dead at his feet.
The rest, terrified by this bl**d-soaked specter, knelt and begged for mercy.
A day later, in full view of everyone, the gang leader met his demise at Leng Yi’s hands.
Desperate to save their own skins, the others prostrated themselves, begging him to take over as the new leader.
Leng Yi accepted the role and rechristened the gang “Giant Wave.”
From then on, the Giant Wave Gang surged into various waters with unprecedented dominance, led by Leng Yi, sweeping all aside and establishing superiority in just a couple of years.
This time, he was in Lehua Town with a massive crew,
Having learned that at least a third of the Martial Arts Alliance’s personnel were gathered there; it was a prime opportunity to weaken them.
Taking the stronghold was merely a side show in his mind—a mere excuse to turn against them.
But it seemed, for now, he had no intention of doing so.
After all, the stronghold’s leader, the demon sect’s Saintess, Frost North Snow, her red silhouette left a lingering impression deep in his heart.
Lying in the ship’s cabin, he still vividly recalled the moment the woman in red suddenly appeared before him.
He had intended to investigate Lehua Town first before making any decisions, but due to her request, he resolved to launch a full assault on the Martial Arts Alliance immediately, joining forces with the stronghold.
As it turned out, the so-called Demon-Subduing Alliance was woefully unprepared for the Giant Wave Gang’s arrival; a storm of arrows sent them reeling into defeat.
However, the mention of the human emperor reappearing on earth, as described by Frost North Snow, piqued his interest enormously.
He could hardly wait to meet him; life without challenge would be unbearably dull.
This trip had not been in vain.
What irked him most was that the Saintess had, without warning, bolted off with a monk.
A new feeling simmered within him—an emotion he had never felt before, tinged with jealousy and indignation. Or perhaps it was just the disappointment of feeling overlooked?
The whirlpool of confusion churned inside him.
But none of that mattered, as long as he could seize the human emperor; everything in the world would be his for the taking!
