Not far from the battlefield between Lu Yunze and Sun Huaimeng, in an inconspicuous corner.
Watching Jiang Sui, who had been fished out, the Black Cat asked:
“How is it? Still alive?”
“Still alive, but my whole body feels terrible.”
Jiang Sui lay on the ground, her fair back covered with wounds, wet hair plastered to her face, and the color drained from her cheeks as if washed away by water.
Crawling through the sewer was bad enough, but she had been knocked into the water on top of that.
Fortunately, Jiang Sui didn’t lose consciousness immediately, and with the Black Cat’s help, she managed to avoid ending up as a floating corpse in the sea.
But right now, Jiang Sui felt it would have been better to die.
Her whole body reeked of the sewer, and her limbs were weak. Every movement sent piercing pain through the wounds on her back.
She desperately wanted to get revenge right now.
“That damn old cat…”
But for her own safety, she needed the Black Cat to apply medicine and treat her wounds first.
Fortunately, Jiang Sui had brewed quite a few healing medicines in her spare time.
Soon, as the medicine took effect, the pain on her back faded.
She knew this was only emergency treatment, but she still got up and put her clothes back on.
“In such a hurry?” the Black Cat asked.
“Yeah, I need to find that Sun Huaimeng as fast as possible.”
The weather was cold, and her clothes were soaking wet.
Jiang Sui shivered, took out a crimson crystal, and warmed herself by its faint glow.
“I don’t remember you being this eager for revenge.”
Hearing this, Jiang Sui paused her movements while fiddling with the crystal.
“I discovered her secret. Senior, what do you think that thing in the sky is?”
“Probably some big killing weapon developed by a Secret Arts Practitioner. In any case, it’s very dangerous.”
Jiang Sui chuckled upon hearing this, then explained.
When she fought Sun Huaimeng in the sewer, the enemy had cut Jiang Sui’s back, but Jiang Sui’s scythe had also managed to wound her.
Through the torn fabric of Sun Huaimeng’s clothes, Jiang Sui had seen the secret on her body.
“A cross pattern entwined with thorns.”
As soon as Jiang Sui said this, the Black Cat understood.
“She’s from the Black Star Cult?”
The Revival Society has ties with the Black Star Cult.
This was the big secret Jiang Sui had discovered.
With the Black Star Cult also getting involved, the scale of this incident was completely different.
In this small city, multiple factions had gathered.
Everyone was in complete chaos, each acting for their own interests.
“Senior, do you think Donghai City is really going to be destroyed again?”
Jiang Sui rubbed the surface of the crystal with her finger, an expression of profound meaning on her face.
On the other side of the battlefield.
Having taken Lu Yunze’s punch head-on, Sun Huaimeng stumbled backward and fell to the ground.
Her head was still spinning.
Just as she opened her eyes, she saw Lu Yunze charging at her, raising his heavy sword.
Sun Huaimeng opened her mouth wide and let out a sharp sonic scream, making Lu Yunze’s brow furrow in pain.
The heavy sword’s landing point deviated, stabbing into the ground beside Sun Huaimeng.
Taking advantage of the opening, Sun Huaimeng rolled over and stood up, putting distance between them again.
“Haha, trying to outsmart me? You’re still too green!”
Lu Yunze’s heart sank.
He had finally seized an opportunity, only to waste it.
And Sun Huaimeng had fully recovered, ready to torment him again like before.
He knew that he couldn’t hold out much longer like this.
Perhaps because his injuries were getting worse, the dark whispers in his mind became clearer, even causing Lu Yunze to experience a moment of dizziness.
His consciousness wanted to disconnect, but the pain from his wounds kept pulling him back to reality.
Unable to win anymore.
Unable to protect anyone…
Anger, unwillingness, sorrow…
All kinds of emotions gathered in Lu Yunze’s heart.
His battered body could no longer suppress their eruption.
Lu Yunze refused to accept it.
But he resented not knowing how to win.
What should I do?
What do I want me to do?
Those negative emotions, like rising flames, made his body burn hotter.
Sun Huaimeng only saw his resentful expression and smirked.
Thump!
Lu Yunze heard his own heartbeat.
The image of yesterday surfaced in his mind.
Back then, by chance, the flames that inexplicably burst out had defeated Chen Miao.
And now, he felt the same as he did then.
Something was about to burst out of his control.
But no.
Just randomly venting wouldn’t let him beat Sun Huaimeng.
She was far stronger than Chen Miao.
At the critical moment, Lu Yunze thought of Jiang Sui.
If she were here, she would use her body as a medium, comfort him, and calm him down.
Lu Yunze’s racing heartbeat really did slow down.
He picked up the heavy sword from the ground.
“Last struggle?”
Sun Huaimeng nodded with interest.
“Then I’ll play with you one last time.”
As she spoke, she charged again, determined to defeat Lu Yunze from the front.
Lu Yunze was not affected by her. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused on controlling the flow of that power inside him.
‘Don’t let it burst out like yesterday.’
‘Obey my command.’
‘Come out wherever you want.’
‘That’s right, here!’
Lu Yunze opened his eyes and swung the heavy sword.
Sun Huaimeng was still not in front of him.
Swinging the sword now was just cutting at air.
I’ve won!
Sun Huaimeng knew he wouldn’t get a second chance to attack, and her grin stretched almost to her ears.
But in the next second—
The heavy sword in Lu Yunze’s hand suddenly burst into fierce flames.
The flames were a strange black.
Even Lu Yunze’s hands couldn’t feel the heat radiating from them.
Yet their burning posture was more violent than ordinary flames.
As Lu Yunze swung the sword, he also released a blade of air formed by black flames.
Sun Huaimeng was stunned by the appearance of the flames, and the blade of air was so fast that she had no time to react.
Even though she stopped in time and took defensive measures, the blade still pierced through her body.
The blade flew off into the distance, cutting down several trees before finally slamming into the wall of a building.
Everything—Sun Huaimeng, the trees, and that wall—
was engulfed by the burning black flames.
Bam!
Lu Yunze stuck the heavy sword back into the ground, gasping for breath as he stared at the blade.
The black flames didn’t last long; they soon extinguished by themselves.
But after the flames disappeared, the originally plain blade seemed to have been carved by a master craftsman, revealing patterns resembling flames.
What’s more magical was that after releasing the black flames, Lu Yunze’s restless heart suddenly became incredibly clear.
All those negative emotions from before had been swept clean.
No.
More accurately, they had been burned to ashes.
This strange black flame used negative emotions as fuel.
It didn’t emit heat, but it ignited everything it touched.
Lu Yunze always joked that he was terrible at naming things.
But now, a very fitting name instantly came to mind.
—Negative Flame!
“So I still have room to grow stronger.”
Lu Yunze regained his confidence, only then noticing Sun Huaimeng still screaming in pain.
He walked up and snapped his fingers lightly.
The flames went out.
Despite the high defense brought by her Beast Transformation, Sun Huaimeng was exhausted by the Negative Flame.
She lay on the ground, barely clinging to life.
“Do you want to go another round?”
Lu Yunze extended a finger.
A black spark slowly ignited on his fingertip.
“No, no more!”
Sun Huaimeng shook her head desperately.
“I surrender. No more fighting.”
Her legs had been burned badly; she could no longer move at high speed like before.
And she didn’t want to suffer the agony of the Negative Flame again.
Lu Yunze made a fist and extinguished the spark.
The fuel for the Negative Flame didn’t only come from himself.
If the opponent had also accumulated a large amount of negative emotions, the flame would burn even more fiercely.
Lu Yunze stabbed the heavy sword into the ground beside her, pointed at the thing in the sky, and asked:
“Now, tell me what that is.”
“It’s… the God’s Hand.”
“What?”
Lu Yunze was stunned for a moment.
“You believe in a god… no, are you from the Black Star Cult?”
Sun Huaimeng nodded.
Lu Yunze drew a sharp breath.
He hadn’t expected the Black Star Cult to be involved too.
He wanted to continue questioning her.
But the ground began to shake violently again.
The arm floating in the sky had finally completed all its preparations.
It continuously absorbed the black gale around it.
Its size kept expanding.
Until it became bigger than the entire street.
Standing below, looking at the enormous hand that blotted out the sky, Lu Yunze couldn’t help but hold his breath.
If that really was the King in Black Robes’ arm, it was an enemy that couldn’t be defeated by relying solely on his own power burst.
“Hey, is there any way to stop it…”
Before he could finish speaking.
The giant hand suddenly pressed downward with force.
The black whirlwind swept through the entire street again, fiercer than ever.
The shop windows shattered with a crack.
Trees and lampposts were uprooted.
The road itself was peeled off a layer.
“Ahahaha! This is the might of a god!”
Sun Huaimeng lay on the ground, raising her hand as if trying to overlap it with the giant hand in the sky.
Using his heavy sword for support, Lu Yunze barely avoided being blown away.
He suddenly remembered Luo Yao and Luo Heng, who were still lying not far away, and immediately turned and ran toward them.
The commotion was massive.
The raging wind even reached Luo Qiaoying’s mansion on the other side of the city.
The mist in the bathroom seemed to block out the cold.
It made her want to soak in the warm bathtub a little longer.
But Luo Qiaoying still got out of the tub.
She put on her usual bathrobe and went downstairs.
Ring—
The phone kept ringing.
“Is it done yet or not?”
“Miss Qiaoying is still bathing. It’ll be quick.”
Facing calls from the Execution Division and the Police Station, Ye Qianlan had a headache.
“Damn it, if you don’t hurry, Donghai City is going to get blown away!”
“I know, I know. Pressuring me won’t help. You all know about Miss Qiaoying’s condition.”
Then she hung up the phone firmly.
Behind her, Luo Qiaoying’s voice sounded.
“Qianlan, how bad is it?”
“Very bad, Miss Eldest Daughter.”
“I see.”
Just out of the bath, Luo Qiaoying’s hair was still wet.
Her whole body gave off a faint floral scent from the bath gel.
“Bring the medicine. I’ll take another bath later.”
“Understood, Miss.”
Taking this opportunity, Luo Qiaoying slowly walked out of the house and stood by the roadside.