Chapter 63: Food's Ready

Whoosh!

A flaming ballista bolt, half the size of a man, shot from the wall straight toward the southern region of the city.

Nian Songyu fired it at random, but he certainly chose his angle of fire well. The ballista bolt smashed through the roof of one house, crashed through a wall of another, and lodged itself in a pillar of the second house.

With the bolts soaked in fire oil, flames instantly caught throughout the two houses, and with a few gusts, the houses that were struck were already ablaze.

The southern region of the city was packed with buildings, crowded together in layers. There should have been firewalls between them, but, as always, people had illegally extended their homes, joining buildings wall to wall. In the face of an arsonist like Nian Songyu, the fires spread instantly.

The most vicious were the newly discovered spiked shells. One shot down, and the shells exploded in a blast of iron nails and fire, sending sparks and shrapnel everywhere.

The southern region of the city was vast, and just Nian Songyu, even with the artillery, would not have been enough to set everything on fire, so Sun Fuping pitched in as well.

Boulders coated in tar and set aflame punched holes all through the houses. Two boulders even crashed through the Zhong Family’s residence, setting the trees in the courtyard and the beams on the roof ablaze.

At first, the flames were not that impressive, but once fires from all over joined together, the inferno was unstoppable. With this, the entire city had practically been set ablaze!

Still dissatisfied with the pace at which things were burning, Sun Fuping cast a wind-summoning spell. Here in this not-quite-real world, its power was much reduced, ultimately coming out as barely more than a breeze. Still, that was enough to fan the flames.

With the flames fed by the wind, smoke billowed toward the sky magnificently.

He Lingchuan and Mao Tao stood just by the side of a small lake in the southern region of the city, deliberately keeping away from the official residences.

Finally, the wooden beams of the Zhong Residence burned through and collapsed onto the bed and dressing table. The little wooden comb bounced twice and landed right in the fire.

Flames licked the comb, quickly charring the bottom half black.

It was as though a mechanism had been triggered as the flames throughout the entire city suddenly surged outward, spreading in all directions with unstoppable speed.

The heat was so intense that even at the lakeside, their hair felt as if it were being scorched. The two of them dove into the lake, cooling themselves in the water.

Even underwater, He Lingchuan could see the flickering red light of the flames above.

The whole city was ablaze, and fire was truly everywhere.

Even Nian Songyu and Sun Fuping, standing on the city wall, found the sight shocking.

For the flames to spread so fast, it revealed that this was no ordinary fire. Sun Fuping exhaled and commented, “Tao Bo was right.”

It was only by destroying the illusion of peace that Panlong City’s true face could be revealed.

Suddenly, rain came pouring down from the sky.

The defiant inferno barely lasted a moment before the downpour snuffed it out.

Sun Fuping stared at a slight depression on the battlement. Within moments, rainwater had already pooled within.

“The rain is red,” he said slowly. “It’s the same color as the water in the pool.”

Ahead, the city had already been utterly ruined, with smoke still rising from charred wreckage.

The lake’s water receded rapidly; He Lingchuan and Mao Tao found themselves sitting in a muddy pit, soaked to the skin.

“Ptui, ptui!” Mao Tao spat out a mouthful of water. “Why does this taste like blood-water?”

“The illusion’s gone.” He Lingchuan had swallowed some, too. The taste in his mouth was metallic and foul. He ignored it and pointed ahead and said, “Look, the ruins have changed.”

Amidst the scorched remains, the entire city had undergone a transformation. Ruined buildings appeared everywhere, structures that had never existed in the illusion.

Even the lake where they had hidden just now had become but a small pond that was roughly fifteen meters across. When they climbed out, they found that most of the lake had been filled in, and the new buildings looked like stables.

Now, at last, the Panlong City they were in resembled the same desolate ruin in the Panlong Desert.

Then, everyone heard a deep, furious, resounding roar!

The ground trembled, and stones jumped from the vibrations. The sound pounded in their ears and their chests, and one rickety house by the southern gate was even toppled outright!

Even hearing it for the first time, He Lingchuan could make out endless sorrow, fury, and unwillingness in that roar.

Mao Tao pointed with a trembling finger at the southern gate. “S-something’s coming out!”

The massive black flood dragon relief was moving.

First, it shook its head, then it suddenly wrenched itself free, bursting from the southern city wall!

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

That single movement sent thousands of kilograms of earth and stone crashing to the ground.

As the outer stone shell fell away, the black flood dragon’s body emerged, scales gleaming black in the dust, each of which was bigger than Nian Songyu’s turtle shell shield.

Looking closer now, the black flood dragon’s horns were straight, with razor-sharp, blade-like tips, much unlike the forked horns of true dragons.

It clearly knew exactly where its enemies were. After smashing through the wall, it glanced back once, then twisted its long body and slithered up above the city gate.

Although it had no legs, it could still move swiftly. Its movements were just like those of a snake, allowing it to go places that four-legged creatures could never reach.

It fixed its gaze on the two figures standing atop the wall, then lashed its massive tail. Thicker than a giant tree trunk, its tail crashed down strongly on the city gate.

Even though He Lingchuan and Mao Tao were standing far away, they felt the ground tremble, and it was as if the earth itself could not bear the flood dragon’s fury.

Next, the flood dragon swept its tail sideways, nearly smashing the entire battlement to rubble.

Naturally, Nian Songyu and Sun Fuping could not stay there any longer, and they were forced to leap back down to the ground below.

The barbican towered over forty-five meters high. Nian Songyu jammed his fingers into the wall’s cracks, pushing off it twice to land safely. Sun Fuping, on the other hand, simply descended as if walking on air. Some unseen force lowered him gently to the ground, allowing his display to be far more graceful than Nian Songyu’s athletic scramble.

The black flood dragon crouched atop the wall, looming over them.

“Why is it that you humans always choose to destroy such a perfectly beautiful place?” A booming voice resounded in everyone’s mind. “You’re courting your own deaths!”

Sun Fuping stepped forward, raising his voice: “I am a state preceptor of Yuan, here on royal orders to seek the Generous Pot and restore the world to order and justice!”

The black flood dragon lowered its head and sized him up before saying, “Nonsense!”

Nian Songyu shouted, “We mean no harm! Breaking the illusion was simply a last resort! If we get the Generous Pot, we’ll leave and never disturb you again.”

“Generous Pot?” the black flood dragon scoffed. “I am the Generous Pot! Come, let’s see if you’re even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth!”

As the guardian boss, it clearly understood its role and was not interested in further conversation.

With a flick of its tail, it smashed the city gate, sending a tremor through the entire southern wall. “Come on, children, food’s ready!”

No sooner had it spoken than Nian Songyu caught something white moving by his feet out of the corner of his eye. He dodged instinctively, just in time to see a thin, rope-like snake pull back its head. If he had been a moment slower, it would have bitten his calf.

Before he could even look away, something else came whistling through the air, hurtling straight at his face.

It was the charred remains of a bed.

The bed was mostly burnt, but the ebony frame was solid, weighing about two hundred kilograms. It came flying at him so fast that, by the time he turned, it was nearly right on him.

With no time to dodge, Nian Songyu let out a furious roar and raised his turtle shell shield to meet it head-on.