HSSB374: Not here, not here, still not here
Hearing Elder Yu’s words, the people of Jade Sea City all exchanged looks as their current feelings were all rather complex.
If one said that the Sacred Sun Clan, the Heavenly Thunder Hall, as well as the past Black Nightmare Mountain and Decimating Abyss all hated Yan Zhaoge to the core, the feelings of Jade Sea City, Infinite Boundless Mountain and Turbid Wave Pavilion towards him were rather complex.
Jade Sea City was allies with Broad Creed Mountain, having a common enemy, able to benefit from their joint cooperation.
However, all of them had the wish of expanding. Whoever they were, all of them wished to raise their strength.
Under such circumstances, Broad Creed Mountain’s every move similarly drew the attention of Jade Sea City.
The current Yan Zhaoge truly already possessed the flair of the first person of the younger generation of the Eight Extremities World.
More important was that not only did he possess shocking talent and potential, his strength at the same cultivation level surpassing others, Yan Zhaoge could always perform miracles that others would not even be able to imagine.
His strength was something that couldn’t be measured by his cultivation base at all.
If he was like this now, what about in the future?
The pressure brought about by the Sacred Sun Clan’s Huang Guanglie was immense. With Jade Sea City not possessing a Sacred Artifact, the combination of Broad Creed Mountain’s Yuan Zhengfeng and Clear Qi Robe was required to stand against him.
Yuan Zhengfeng dying in battle was a scenario that Jade Sea City would not want to see at all.
However, faced with Yan Zhaoge and his father Yan Di, Jade Sea City’s thoughts were very complex.
Yan Di had already raised his cultivation base sufficiently, being very hard to shake lightly. However, Yan Zhaoge was still in the midst of his growth process.
Jade Sea City naturally wouldn’t have designs on Yan Zhaoge, but if Yan Zhaoge perished, amidst sending its condolences to Broad Creed Mountain, it was hard to say if there might be people feeling secretly happy at this.
If a person was too outstanding, exhibiting too brilliant a potential, it would not just be his enemies, but also his allies who felt unease.
Especially when after the battle of Broad Creed Mountain, Broad Creed Mountain’s strength had skyrocketed. Under the situation when it had originally already been gradually growing to preside over Jade Sea City, the changes in people’s hearts would be even more subtle.
The martial practitioners of Jade Sea City who had harboured complex emotions towards Yan Zhaoge before this great tribulation of Jade Sea City had not been few.
However, at this moment, seeing a Flame Devil King truly having been drawn away, the group of Jade Sea City bigwigs all simultaneously fell into silence.
Elder Yu sighed within his heart.
Earlier, he had still been thinking of treating having assisted Yan Zhaoge in breaking out of their encirclement as a debt of gratitude for Broad Creed Mountain still having provided Unfalling Ghost Rock to Jade Sea City having already known that they intended to use it for forging their Sacred Artifact.
Who would have thought that Yan Zhaoge was not someone who spoke empty, big words, having achieved what he had said he would, actually successfully luring away a Flame Devil King, instead having bought valuable time for Jade Sea City.
If Jade Sea City could tide through today’s tribulation in peace, the entire city would have to thank Yan Zhaoge for it.
Not only had the debt of gratitude not been repaid, it had instead grown even greater.
Such a result left Elder Yu and the rest of the Jade Sea City martial practitioners all feeling even more complex inwardly.
However, whatever one said, under such circumstances, many were like Elder Yu, hoping that Yan Zhaoge would be able to make it out of this safely, whatever their previous thoughts about him.
It was just that…
“It’s too difficult,” A Jade Sea City Elder muttered, “Having been targeted by a Martial Saint, without a martial practitioner of the same cultivation level making a move, how might he be able to leave intact?”
That was right. While luring the tiger out of the mountain had been a success, having been targeted by a Flame Devil equivalent to a human Martial Saint expert, how might he be able to leave intact?
Ah Hu was currently looking bitterly at Yan Zhaoge, “Young Master, is this you being altruistic and sacrificing yourself to save Jade Sea City?”
Ah Hu had already recognised the dark red ring on Yan Zhaoge’s finger. It had precisely been obtained by Yan Zhaoge upon having slain Ye Jing back in the Eastern Tang Kingdom that year.
It was a legacy of the legendary Flame Devil Emperor, a supreme expert of before the Great Calamity and the Ancestor of the Flame Devils.
Yan Zhaoge stood on Pan-Pan’s back, tapping lightly with the toes of his feet.
Pan-Pan let out a soundless roar, black streams of water intensifying as they rotated about his body, sweeping up the surrounding seawater as a massive vortex was formed, completely throwing back the few Flame Devils still chasing after them.
Afterwards, Pan-Pan carried Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu, diving down towards the depth of the seas.
Yan Zhaoge took off the dark red ring on the little finger of his left hand and kept it well.
The aura of destruction and disaster, that concept of terrifying flames which seemed able to incinerate all lifeforms within the world, instantly vanished.
However, in the distance, a terrifying aura with a concept that, whilst not being as profound as that within the ring, yet far surpassed it in its current strength, had already appeared, rapidly approaching their current position.
Flame Devil King!
Seeing Yan Zhaoge’s motion of keeping the ring, Ah Hu could not help but say secretly, “Young Master, even if you keep the ring now, it’s already too late.”
“The power of a Flame Devil King is comparable to that of a Martial Saint’s. The difference between our cultivation bases is much too great. Even separated by the great sea, at such a distance, he can still sense our presence here.”
While the aura of the ring had vanished, that Flame Devil King just had to search for the aura of a living person.
Yan Zhaoge swivelled his head and looked around. Before him was a vast amount of seawater. However, through it, he could feel a blazing red light getting closer and closer by the second, causing his very soul to feel as though it was being scorched.
“Just keeping the ring would of course not be enough.”
As he said thus, Yan Zhaoge retrieved nine the ice shards from his Internal Crystal Furnace!
Accompanied by the infusion of Yan Zhaoge’s aura-qi within, the nine ice shards hovered together within the sea, encircling Yan Zhaoge.
White line appeared between the ice shards, connecting them to one another as they came together to form a white ring of light.
Yan Zhaoge, Ah Hu and Pan-Pan were currently located within this white ring of light. Amidst the faint shining white light, a thin layer of ice was frozen out on the waters of the sea surrounding them, taking on the form of a ball of ice, concealing the trio within.
Ah Hu and Pan-Pan appraised their surroundings curiously, “Young Master, this is?”
Yan Zhaoge put his index finger before his lips, “Don’t make a sound, don’t exert force, and don’t stimulate your aura-qi as well. Other than my aura-qi supporting this ice ball, do not cause any other energy fluctuations.”
Ah Hu was taken aback for a moment before he hurriedly nodded.
Pan-Pan also nodded his huge head with a look that seemed to suggest his comprehension, very humanlike as he extended his two front paws, blocking them before his mouth.
Seeing this, Yan Zhaoge could not help but smile.
After smiling, Yan Zhaoge raised his head to gaze above, his gaze focused and calm.
The ice ball flowed alongside the hidden undercurrents of the sea, moving along with these currents, drifting about leisurely.
Just at this time, in the sky above this region of sea, the distant horizon first turned red before blazing fire swept through the entire sky, covering it entirely.
Infinite, boundless flames enveloped the skies above the great sea.
The seawater grew warm, its temperature increasing non-stop as the sea’s surface began to bubble, dense, white steam rising up all around.
A massive figure with the head of a human and the body of a snake, completely covered in flames, appeared in the air above the sea as it seemed to want to incinerate the heavens and cook the sea.
It was precisely that Flame Devil King who had left Jade Sea City.
His temperamental and cold gaze swept the great sea below.
“The aura of the Emperor has vanished…still, it’s fine, I’ll be able to sieve you out casually!” His cold intent grew tangible, his powerful sensory abilities searching through the entire region of sea below.
Despite the barrier that was the seawater itself, with the strength of a Flame Devil King, finding a Spirit Vessel Martial Grandmaster would be very easy.
However, as time passed, a look of disbelief soon appeared within the gaze of the Flame Devil King, losing its calm to be replaced by rage.
“How could it be that I can’t find it? I rushed here immediately; he couldn’t have run far!”
“Not here…not here…still not here! But why, how is it possible?!”