Chapter 253: Hand in Hand

Qin Lie and Song Tingyu stood shoulder-to-shoulder on top of the Flowing Cloud Rainbow Butterfly’s colorful back.

The back of the Flowing Cloud Rainbow Butterfly was incredibly smooth. There were many colorful and beautiful patterns on it, and it even let out a rainbow-like luster.

Song Tingyu, who was dressed in colorful clothes was covered by these shining patterns and appeared to be unbelievably beautiful. Her seductive and soul-snatching eyes brimmed with a gentle light that could melt even a man with a heart of stone…

Qin Lie stood together with her and watched the poisonous bog growing smaller and smaller below them; they watched Flame Volcano getting closer and closer. His expression couldn’t help but turn serious.

They would head to the sky over the former Armament Sect and throw down Terminator Profound Bombs. They would use the Terminator Profound Bombs to cause mass slaughter of the Nether Realm’s evil races.

Qin Lie had never dealt with the evil race of the Nether Realm, nor had he ever seen a single evil race before. He had only seen a few nether beasts from the Nether Realm—the Ghost Bird and Profound Nether Beast.

According to Xie Jingxuan’s words, the Ghost Birds and Profound Nether Beasts were not even pure Nether Beasts from the Nether Realm. They were new nether beasts that were bred by the evil races to adapt to the environment of the Nether Battlefield.

Supposedly, these types of nether beasts were not as strong as pure Nether Beasts from the Nether Realm.

The Soul Devouring Beast was a purebred of the Nether Realm. Once it had escaped from Nether Battlefield, it completely terrified Scarlet Tide Continent.

“The nether beast’s adaptability is slightly stronger compared to the evil races of the Nether Realm. Therefore, there should be more nether beasts passing through the evil nether passageway during the invasion’s early stages.” Song Tingyu explained, “Even with the nether beasts’ adaptability, they would normally not dare to move during the day. They fear the sun’s strong light.”

It was high noon at that moment. It was the sun’s strongest time of the day.

“Back then, Miss Xie Jingxuan and I had killed a Soul Devouring Beast at a natural stone forest. Why could that Soul Devouring Beast operate outside without depending on its unique environment?” Qin Lie asked doubtfully.

“Xie Jingxuan… Hehe, you know her?” Song Tingyu smiled and asked with some interest.

“Mn, you can say that. I aided her in killing a Soul Devouring Beast before.” Qin Lie explained the matters briefly.

Song Tingyu listened to him with a smile and did not express any opinion about him and Xie Jingxuan. Instead, she said, “Among the nether beasts of Nether Realm, that Soul Devouring Beast could be said to be a ferocious beast that is extremely special and dangerous. Its strength lies in its ability to consume souls. Therefore, a Soul Devouring Beast’s strength also comes from its soul. It can ignore the restrictions of the environment and live even in a foreign world.”

Qin Lie listened attentively.

“Not all nether beasts can acquire strength from souls like the Soul Devouring Beast,” Song Tingyu explained seriously. “Most nether beasts need nether demonic energy to survive. Nether demonic energy is the source of their strength as well as their tether to life. Just like we need to breathe air, most nether beasts need to breathe nether demonic energy. Of course there are some exceptions to the rule, like the Soul Devouring Beast, but they are very rare.”

“Are the evil races of Nether Realm also like the nether beasts, needing to breathe nether demonic energy to live?” Qin Lie asked.

“Most of them are. Only some high rank evil races can live without breathing in nether demonic energy for a short time. These powerful evil races are extremely scary, but their numbers are few as well. Before the situation becomes clear, they should not come over easily.” While flying towards Armament City, Song Tingyu explained her knowledge about the evil races of Nether Realm in great detail.

Qin Lie achieved a certain level of comprehension about the Nether Realm, nether beasts, and those evil races after her explanation.

Dusky nether demonic energy surrounded Flame Volcano and Armament City like black smoke.

When they arrived at the back of Flame Volcano on the Flowing Cloud Rainbow Butterfly, an oppressive atmosphere slowly down on them, causing them to feel uncomfortable all over.

A portion of thin nether demonic energy had already spread to this area. It made the air become dark and wet. Even sniffing it would cause someone’s heart to feel dull and depressed…

Qin Lie’s expression changed slightly.

He hadn’t expected nether demonic energy to spread so quickly. In just half a month, the nether demonic energy had already spread to the back of Flame Volcano.

At its current speed, it wouldn’t be long before it would spread to the poisonous bog and covered Armament Sect’s new location, would it?

“Starting to get worried for Armament Sect?” Song Tingyu’s attractive eyes shone with the light of wisdom. She saw through Qin Lie’s mind instantly.

Qin Lide nodded darkly.

“Relax. For a short time, nether demonic energy will not continue to spread to the poisonous bog.”

“You’re saying that they won’t spread the nether demonic energy to the poisonous bog?” Qin Lie’s eyes lit up.

“If they are not stupid, they would not do something so arduous and fruitless. They would definitely spread nether demonic energy somewhere else.” Song Tingyu brought up the topic of the evil race’s intelligence, and deep worry appeared on her exquisite face, “The Nether Realm’s evil races are not wild beasts. They too have astounding intelligence, and there are also high rank races. Moreover, those powerful evil races are all insidious, vicious, and cunning. None of them are easy pickings!”

“Are they very powerful?” Qin Lie frowned.

“They’re incredibly hard to deal with.” Song Tingyu sighed for the first time.

While the two of them spoke, they gradually entered an area where nether demonic energy was thick.

Every part of Qin Lie’s body screamed in discomfort. His chest felt heavier there. He could not help but think evil thoughts in his mind, and he felt as if his soul was being gradually polluted.

“In this environment, even good men will turn into devils!” he suddenly exclaimed.

“That’s why you must use spirit energy to form shields of light to prevent nether demonic energy from affecting you, just like this.” Song Tingyu smiled casually.

A beautiful shield that looked like a rainbow wrapped around her perfectly curved body. Black smoke sizzled on the shield, preventing the nether demonic energy from entering and protecting her completely from its influence.

Qin Lie was dumbfounded for a moment before he nodded and channeled his Frost Arts as well.

Cold streams of energy flowed around his entire body. A thin layer of crystalline ice then covered his entire body.

Inside the icy crystal, Qin Lie immediately felt his mind returning to normal, no longer affected by nether demonic energy’s influence.

“If an evil race of the Nether Realm detaches itself from this area filled with nether demonic energy and enters a place filled with this world’s spirit energy, they would have to form a shield with nether demonic energy to defend against the influence of the natural spirit energy as well.” Song Tingyu smiled lightly, “Moreover, they would only be able to come out at night. If they were exposed to the sun in broad daylight, they would feel intense pain and become extremely weak.”

“No wonder they are converting the land little by little, steadily spreading the nether demonic energy to the horizon. It’s because they’re suffering from this restriction,” Qin Lie realized.

“Of course. If they’re fighting on Scarlet Tide Continent, then naturally they’ll have to endure all kinds of limitations. If we enter the Nether Realm, we will feel incredibly uncomfortable, just like they do here. We may even be overcome by nether demonic energy in the end and become extremely weak…”

The duo flew through the dark skies covered by nether demonic energy and slowly approached the location where Flame Volcano once was. Beneath the dark sky, they discovered that Flame Volcano had collapsed and was split into several huge parts.

There were many black caves within the shattered mountain. Among them were caves that were filled with incredibly thick nether demonic energy, emanating shockingly evil energy.

The plaza where the spirit pattern pillars once stood was torn into twelve huge, bottomless pits that seemed to merge together to form an extremely wide hole.

Twisted spatial energy and shocking howls came from the huge hole as if there were vicious beasts rushing over from that place.

The six huge pits blasted apart by the six Terminator Profound Bombs were now filled with all kinds of gray, tainted water. Demonic insects that were appearing constantly from the tainted water, were apparently using the tainted water to reproduce. If one watched them closely, they would realize that those insects were Demon Armor Insects—the strange insects from the Nether Realm which specifically produced nether demonic energy.

Looking towards Armament City from there, one would discover that all kinds of ugly plants had filled the city’s interior. These plants were several people tall with strange thorns emerging from its trunk. Their appearances were extremely scary.

The ugly plants of the Nether Realm had covered Armament City entirely. There were many nether beasts from the Nether Realm that moved about the city, crouching beside the terrifying plants as if quietly awaiting something.

After just a glance, Qin Lie knew that Armament Sect’s inner sect, outer sect, and Armament City were gone forever. They had all been swiftly changed by the Nether Realm—transformed into a demonic land that suited their needs.

“There should be a few members of the Nether Realm’s evil races who have taken up residence in the caves at Flame Volcano. At the moment, they should be cultivating or hiding themselves to discuss something.” Song Tingyu looked towards the collapsed Flame Volcano and the many caves that were not destroyed by the quake. “The Terminator Profound Bombs would be most effective if used on Flame Volcano. Killing any of the highly intelligent evil races would be much more advantageous than killing the nether beasts!”

“Can we destroy the evil nether passageway with the Terminator Profound Bombs directly?” Qin Lie exclaimed softly.

“Don’t!” Song Tingyu hurriedly scattered his delusions, “Unless we enter deep into the evil nether passageway and detonate the Terminator Profound Bombs from the inside, we will not be able to block the evil nether passageway. It is more likely that an explosion at the entrance would cause the passage entrance and the passage itself to grow even wider, allowing the evil race to enter even easier than before… it will only bring the opposite effect.”

Qin Lie thought carefully for a moment and knew that what Song Tingyu had said was right. Therefore he nodded and said, “Then let’s have this butterfly fly above Flame Volcano. We need to be a little closer so that my connection with the Terminator Profound Bombs won’t be cut off.”

“Alright. We have to be careful.” Song Tingyu exhaled softly.