Huo Bing
Ling Tian focused his eyes, he could see the inside of the city with great details, he analyzed many things and pondered for a while. Lian Qiu had fallen to the ground in shock, he was in a daze and didn't notice Ling Tian coming toward him.
He got slapped in the face and woke from his daze, "What was that for?!" he blurted in confusion, momentary forgetting the situation.
Ling Tian saw he was out of it so he said calmly, "I have analyzed the situation. The army hadn't stopped here at all and continued to march with maximum speed because they have not looted the city, the shops still have their items; I saw a few demons roaming the city and gathering corpses to toss on that corpse mountain, which means the army is going to use this place and that means they will return and build a fortress here for war since they didn't leave it be and have left a few demons cleaning it up. The so-called war you told me is starting again..."
Ling Tian pointed towards the ruins of the city and said, "If you carefully observe, you see that they have not destroyed the materials that made the buildings of the city, rather the buildings themselves which means they want to remake this strategic point for themselves; Also, all the craters and lands destroyed is outside the city itself. The march lines show that the army is headed north which is where the capital 'Dao heaven city' is according to the map. I bet they are under siege as we speak. The enemy seems to be pushing for as many advantages as possible..."
Ling Tian's senses had improved incredibly after the breakthrough of his body cultivation to the mid-inner heaven realm. He could see everything with extreme details even at the distance of 40-50 miles! Hear the flaps of a butterfly from miles away and even if very loud sounds reached him at point-blank range, his ears were enhanced and durable enough to not have any problems despite being so sensitive. His nose could smell the blood from 40 miles away and he could feel the faintest breeze and winds, he could perhaps use the circulation of air to see his surroundings with his eyes closed.
Lian Qiu was at a loss for words, Ling Tian continued with a faint smile, "This strategy gives them a headstart but it also gives the two of us a rare opportunity..."
Lian Qiu gulped, "Brother Ling, you don't understand! If another war with the Devil Empire is starting, then we are doomed because we lost one of the pillars of the Dao Empire!"
He looked at Lian Qiu and nodded, "That might be true but you are underestimating your own empire, they must have thought about this situation and they surely have a countermeasure to at least buy time."
Lian Qiu shook his head, "No! The Dao Emperor has been in secluded cultivation for a few years; Sect master once said that his Master, the Dao Emperor, is reaching the end of his lifespan, The Empire has no one to lead it but the prime minister who based on sect masters word is 'A snake seeking to devour the entire empire' I don't think they have the measures to defend a surprise attack of this level. Based on the barrier being partially destroyed, they have immortal ascension experts attacking. If only the Dao Emperor's daughter hadn't died..."
Ling Tian frowned, "If what you say is true, then Dao Empire might be no more soon... But, the opportunity still stands in this limited time; Currently, this city is not looted and filled with treasures and no one is guarding them. They don't expect someone to dare come here."
Ling Tian had a certain look as he continued, "Which means we can loot all the valuables for it to not fall on the Devil Empire's hand. You can also search for survivors if you want to, if there are any, they should know details of what exactly happened..."
Lian Qiu was at a loss for words; Ling Tian didn't hesitate as he used telekinesis to draw Wave Repulser and make it float in front of him. He calmly stepped on it, one foot in the middle of the handle and another in the middle of the blade. He hovered mid-air as he turned to look at Lian Qiu, "Follow me!"
It was his first time flying; He brought his Qi out of his body and formed waves under the sword and began surfing on those Waves of Qi to move forward, all the while using telekinesis to counter gravity. The Qi waves made the sword slightly lean forward and tilt and the waves pushed it forward at great speed. If a mortal was to stand on it, they would surely fall but Ling Tian had superhuman balance, agility, and dexterity due to his body cultivation.
The method of flying was the same one as the method Lian Qiu's fan had used. He had observed it and applied it here, it worked perfectly. He remained on low altitude because he wanted to sneak in not to attract the attention of the Greater Demon. He was surfing as he moved between trees at 90 mph and approached the city. This method needed much less Qi compared to Lian Qiu's fan but it also required great balance and endurance since all the body had to constantly coordinate to stand on the sword and surf. Ling Tian was able to do it effortlessly due to his body cultivation.
His telekinesis had grown much stronger, he hadn't tested it but he did not feel the slightest amount of effort to negate gravity on himself and his sword as he used his Qi to propel him forward at high speed. He used Wave Repulser because he used its ability to cancel all the waves created due to his movement and thus, he moved silently between trees as he got closer and closer to the city.
Lian Qiu cursed under his breath, "Damn it, Let's see if there are survivors..." and followed him, sitting on top of his giant fan with a cautious expression. His eyes constantly scanned the surroundings searching for threats. He wasn't as fast as Ling Tian but he managed to keep up.
Ling Tian observed everything closely because of the spacial cracks and messed up gravity, all these he avoided; he wasn't going at max speed because he knew Lian Qiu wouldn't be able to keep up. the latter could go at 80 mph at most. He was a small realm above Lian Qiu after all. Lian Qiu was at the early-Inner Heaven realm.
They soon reached the city, the due walked in cautiously from the other side to not get discovered by the greater demon. The walls were mostly gone so going in was easy. Ling Tian whispered, "Where were the most valuable things held in this city?"
Lian Qiu similarly whispered as they sneakily walked street after street between the rubble, "The Tower we visited and you bought stuff, and the main tower that had a lantern on top. That was the residence of the city lord and treasury of the city..."
Ling Tian thought about it for a while and based on their location he said, "Let's go to the treasury first since it is closer to us."
They moved towards their destination and avoided the demons quite easily. Ling Tian could smell their scent and hear them move from far away, even Lian Qiu that had peak human level senses could tell their relative location. The demons smelled like sulfur and burning wood mixed with ash; Due to their big forms, they caused the ground to trembled slightly when they moved and produced stomping sounds.
The ground was covered with blood and red pools were everywhere accompanied by corpses or body parts but they ignored them. Lian Qiu had seen the slaughter in Dark Demon city so he had grown stronger in this matter. The bloody scent caused discomfort for both of them but they endured.
Soon, they reached the tower, no demon surprisingly was around so they sneaked in. The place was a mess but they due didn't stand to observe, they descended to lower levels below ground and found the treasury.
After climbing down many stairs, Ling Tian finally stood inside of the treasury. The walls were black and white shining pillars were everywhere. The room was massive and filled with spirit stones to the brim. They ignored the spirit stones in the outer layer and moved deeper. A while later, the duo stood in the core of the room. The ground was covered in purple spirit stones, all were top-grade.
Lian Qiu and Ling Tian began taking them like maniacs, soon they had filled their storage spaces. Ling Tian had harvested more than 60,000 top-grade spirit stones and there were more... He felt a little pity but he did not take more. He smiled genuinely as he felt a sense of confidence engulf his heart when he thought how rich he was.
He saw a small door that led to a lower-level. He ignored the crazed Lian Qiu who had forgotten everything and crazily stored spirit stones and descended. He entered a room and to his surprise, this room had been looted. Apparently, the items here were worth too much to be left behind.
He sighed as it was very empty. He still decided to explore it. This room was filled with bookshelves and he concluded that the items here must have been manuals and techniques... At the very end of the room, he found a bunch of scattered papers. These were left behind!
He picked up a few and briefly read them. A while passed and he put them down, "Incomplete techniques... These are not worth much to others but since I don't know any technique but the sword art and skill given by system... I might as well take them. They can't be low-grade since they are here..." he murmured and took them.
He had long ago taken out all his previous spirit stones to fil his storage with top-grade ones. He sacrificed a few top-grade ones and put all the papers in his inventory.
He rejoined Lian Qiu and saw the latter was still gathering. He grabbed the latter's collar and dragged him out. He knew they didn't have much time so they had to hurry up. Lian Qiu realized this as well as he stopped struggling and left with him.
"Let's head to the tower now..." Ling Tian was interrupted when he heard a scream.
The scream sounded like that of a young girl. Lian Qiu said solemnly and moved quickly toward the source of the scream, "A survivor!"
They moved fast and soon entered a certain street, it was in ruins so it was hard to recognize it but Ling Tian realized it was the same street he had swindled that shop. He focused and saw the exact same shopkeeper on the ground, the man had lost both his hands and his chest was caved in, however, his eyes looked at the little girl in front of him with tears. "Run! You can't!"
The girl was at most 9 years old, she had a wooden sword in her hand as she looked at a Demon who was 30 feet tall with determination and anger. "Daddy, I will save you! I won't let you die just trust me! This monster must pay!!" her bell-like and melodious voice, was filled with anger and hidden sorrow. She had no fear when faced with such a frightening opponent that overshadowed her small frame.
"No, Bing'er run away!!!"
The Demon lowered his head and observed her with a sneer. Her fiery crimson hair fluttered due to the Demon's breath hitting her right in the face. Her icy blue eyes looked at the demon's fiery red ones with a glare, her delicate and cute face had an expression filled with anger and fury. Any other girl in her place would have broken down in fear but she raised her wooden sword with both her hands and hit the demon right in the face with all her power. The Earthern Demon didn't even notice as he stood to his full height. She was blown back due to the mere wind produced from the demon moving causally.
The Demon raised it's bigfoot and brought it down with tremendous force, she did not feel fear even at that moment, she merely looked at her father with sadness. "Daddy, I couldn't protect you... Sorry..."
The father on the side cried tears. Ever since her little girl had realized her father was all alone and she was his only reason for living. She swore like a knight to protect him, she loved the idea of being a hero, using a sword to be a knight that protected her father.
She wanted to be her father's hero. Her father spitted out blood when he tried to speak, but he thought, 'Huo Bing, you are my hero. My dear daughter, let us be together in the next life...'. She saw his eyes and began crying. She and her father were hidden in their basement as the city was destroyed and had luckily survived only to end up in this situation due to that demon. Her father was a terrible fighter and thus he was defeated... He didn't even know 1 technique, all his cultivation achieved through pills and money. He was a shopkeeper after all.
Just as the Demonic foot was about to stomp on her, a shadow appeared and effortlessly stopped it with its hand, a small carter formed beneath them. She looked up and saw a very handsome and majestic young man holding the Demon's foot effortlessly. The young man used his other hand to pat her head as one of the swords on his back moved on its own and cut off the demon's foot.
Black blood and lava splattered on the ground, The Demon roared in pain and she had to hold her ears, the sound was so loud her ears felt like they would explode. Ling Tian looked at the Demon coldly and the other sword named 'Blood Bringer' drew itself out of the scabbard and appeared in his hand. "Let's test this one..."
Ling Tian's eyes shone a bloody red as his sword intent activated. He remembered his state of mind from that day and channeled it again. The red sword began shining in the same color as his eyes and a terrifying aura of slaughter and death appeared. The Demon grew afraid as he felt the aura and tried to escape. Ling Tian slashed the air and a red and long Qi wave shot towards the Demon. Before the latter could dodge, it split in half cleanly. It was an Earthern Demon so it was not Ling Tian's match at all. The attack continued to cut everything in half for a few hundred meters.
Ling Tian looked to the side and noticed the man who was on the verge of death look at him with terror, he was not surprised but when he noticed the little girl looking at him with wide eyes that held no fear, he was definitely surprised. The girl looked away and jumped at her father's side and looked at Ling Tian. "Please, save him!"
Ling Tian approached the man and saw his condition and shook his head, "I am sorry but he is beyond saving, his heart is severely damaged and all his organs are in a mess..." The little girl began crying silently as she held her father's hand. "Daddy, Daddy, I am so sorry..."
The man's eyes were however fixed on Ling Tian. He recognized him, he felt disbelief at the level of his power and cultivation. 'He was hiding his cultivation after all that day and he still scammed me...'
He wanted to say something but he couldn't open his mouth. All cultivators have to go through the Houtian level so he had a little body cultivation like all cultivators and if not for that, he would have died long ago.
He looked at his daughter and felt helpless and worry, 'What will happen to her? Bing'er...' the light in his eyes began fading.
Ling Tian had experienced something similar recently so he felt pity for the father and daughter pair, he also had scammed the old man before so he felt like he owed him a little.
He sighed and said, "Don't worry, I will take her to safety at least. Sleep peacefully..."
'Bing'er, since your mother died; I tried to make sure you don't feel lonely, I am sorry that I can't be there for you anymore... My dear daughter... Live on happily...' The father died with a relieved smile as he heard his words.
The little girl's cries intensified, suddenly ling Tian lifted her up and put her on his shoulders. "We are in deep trouble little girl, cry later and hold on with everything you have..."
Lian Qiu ran towards them and said with panic, "The Demons noticed the commotion and are coming... I don't think we can outrun them!" Ling Tian suddenly put one hand under Lian Qiu's head and one under his leg and lifted him in a princess carry. "You can't but I can, Everything is under control don't panic. Just hold on tight," he said as he jumped on Wave Repulser and Blood Bringer went back to its scabbard.
He began flying to escape the city... Lian Qiu felt a deep sense of shame being carried in a princess carry, he thought, 'This bastard... He is a monster! How the hell does he breakthrough so fast? I must cultivate or I will be left behind...'
The little girl Huo Bing looked at the two as she held tight onto Ling Tian's head and thought, 'This older brother is a little strange... Daddy...' Tears began gathering in her eyes again...
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