Chapter Eighty-Eight: Who Is Truly Seeking Death?

Gu Changqing wore a radiant smile, delight flickering in his eyes.

He was very fond of the people in this world. Each and every one of them was fair-featured and pleasant to the eye, the sort of faces one could not help but like at a glance.

Besides, though their vital energy was not high, there was plenty of it, and it was satisfying in quantity.

Gu Changqing darted forward for half a street, and the instant he landed on the roof of a three-story wooden building, two blood rivers surged from his hands, then split into countless dancing crimson threads that bored into the mouths and noses of the passersby, the elderly, and the children.

After a brief daze, those people collapsed one after another, letting out ferocious howls unlike any human voice.

Yet only moments later, they all turned into pools of blood.

At the same time, howl after howl rose from the surrounding streets and spread farther and farther outward, multiplying without end.

It was like a stone cast into still water, sending wave after wave of ripples across the surface.

In the town below, the pedestrians who had only just been going about their business in peace and quiet all lifted their heads.

Luo Xiu was in a bookshop, while the shop owner beside her eyed her curiously. "Why are you dressed so strangely? You don't look like you're from this town. Where did you come from? And your scent is so strange..."

She had already endured such words and such looks many times before, so she replied with practiced ease while continuing to flip through the book.

They had tried ignoring people before; if she did not respond at all, those people would gradually become irritable.

"Dongyang Mountain?" Luo Xiu came across the term in an old handwritten book. Just as she was about to continue reading, a burst of howling suddenly sounded in the distance.

"Something's happened?" A shock ran through Luo Xiu. The shop owner beside her now had bloodshot eyes and a savage look; he threw back his head and let out a howl, the skin on his face splitting open in layer upon layer to reveal the flesh beneath, as though something were trying to break free.

At the sight of this, Luo Xiu vanished from where she stood and appeared on the opposite rooftop, a short blade now in her hand.

"What happened?" The young man who had been in a jewelry shop next door also rushed out and landed beside Luo Xiu, asking urgently.

"I don't know. Maybe something happened to someone!" Luo Xiu scanned her surroundings, tense.

All around them, everyone was beginning to change. The surfaces of their bodies were cracking apart, as though the flesh inside were trying to burst free.

Every face twisted into something hideous, and the town's earlier tranquility vanished completely.

"Liuli and the others are over there!" The young man looked in another direction and quickly spotted the other two on a rooftop.

One was Liu Li, and the other was a woman with curly hair.

"Let's join up with them first!"

The two of them rushed toward Liu Li and the others, only to see that everyone on the surrounding streets had started moving, scrambling up onto the rooftops and charging toward them.

"Bad news!" Luo Xiu cried out in alarm. Beside her, the young man's expression changed. In the next instant, both of them vanished from where they stood, and not far away, four Luo Xius suddenly appeared, each running off in a different direction.

In truth, the two of them had not moved at all; only their figures and auras had been concealed.

Even so, they were still somewhat anxious, uncertain whether they could really hide from those monsters.

Then the two of them discovered that the monsters paid no attention to them, nor to the phantoms, and instead charged directly toward some part of the city.

The two of them had simply been in their path a moment ago.

This discovery made them breathe a little easier, but it was not long before they realized things were going badly, because Liu Li had already been forced into combat.

Several monsters had their heads explode outright, as if blasted from the inside out, with foul blood and rotten flesh spraying everywhere.

Others immediately turned and charged toward Liu Li and the others.

The two sides were separated by a single street. Hundreds of monsters on the surrounding roads surged like a tide toward the two men on the rooftop.

"The concealment doesn't work on them!"

"Don't stay in one place. Get up to the wall first. Break out of the city!"

The group met up and fought their way to the city wall. Though there were still many monsters pressing in, the high ground made it easier to defend.

And it seemed that something in the distance was drawing those monsters. Only a minority chased them here; the vast majority were still rushing toward another part of the city.

"Anyone injured?" That was everyone's first concern.

Fortunately, they had reacted decisively and charged out at once, and because the monsters' main target was not them, the numbers were not too great. No one had been injured, which was the best one could hope for in misfortune.

"What on earth happened?"

"Why did these monsters suddenly go mad?"

"Someone must have provoked them!"

"Look over there!"

Where they had been earlier was now blocked from view, but from the city wall they could see a massive crimson sphere in the distance.

Around that sphere, countless monsters had climbed onto the rooftops and, like waves crashing one after another, hurled themselves toward it.

"What is that?" The others exchanged glances.

"Let's go take a look!"

The closer they got, the more clearly they could make out what the crimson sphere was: countless blood filaments drifting in the air, woven into a sphere.

And within those filaments, one could faintly make out a human figure.

"What in the world is that thing?" They were all shocked. The blood sphere looked far too eerie.

Even Luo Xiu did not recognize it. After all, Gu Changqing had never displayed such a technique before. But as the others swept their gazes around, they noticed several figures standing at the corner of the city wall.

"There are people over there!"

"People from Crimson Bright! Why are they here?"

The group arrived at once beside them.

"Why are you here? Is this your doing?" The curly-haired woman looked rather unfriendly.

"Five people... the ones over there are your people? That's Gu Changqing!" After seeing them, many thoughts flashed through Luo Xiu's mind. When Gu Changqing had entered earlier, she had paid attention to the people around him.

After all, she did not want to run into Gu Changqing here.

But now that she saw these people, she finally understood.

Then shock filled her eyes. She had seen blood threads before, but never so many... Countless filaments formed a sphere around Gu Changqing, floating and dancing in the air, a sight so strange it was almost horrifying.

"Gu Changqing? That arrogant newcomer?" the curly-haired woman said with a cold snort, her expression darkening further, anger burning in her eyes.

"This is our exploration zone. You barged in here and caused such a huge mess. Are you trying to get us killed?"

"When we came, we didn't see anyone here. We thought you'd already gone back!" Pei Yuntai said with a smile.

"Nonsense! This is far from over!" The curly-haired woman's anger only deepened.

While they were arguing, Jing Zhaohu and the others also arrived. After learning what had happened, Jing Zhaohu's face immediately darkened.

These Crimson Bright people had intruded into the area they were exploring and caused such a massive disaster.

They were utterly overestimating themselves.

"You caused this trouble yourselves. If you go looking for death, you can't blame anyone else! When we get back, we'll have to ask just what your Crimson Bright is trying to do!" Jing Zhaohu said with a cold laugh, arms folded across his chest, deliberately raising his voice so Gu Changqing could hear.

After speaking, he shot the others a look.

He had wanted to do something, but there were too many people here, and he would not be able to explain it after returning.

Still, there was no need for him to do anything. All he had to do was stand by and watch Gu Changqing die in there.

In his view, even if Gu Changqing's side could hold out for the moment, awakeners had limited power to use.

Not even a fourth-rank awakener, let alone a fifth-rank one, could keep this up indefinitely.

The other side was already surrounded on all sides. As long as the people from Crimson Bright tried to rescue him later, if he merely obstructed them a little, that man would be dead for sure.

But just as he finished speaking, Gu Changqing's wild laughter rang out from within the blood sphere. "Who did you say was looking for death?"