He Went Into the Fire
Chen Ling didn't know how long he had waited.
He only knew the flames of war in the distance were burning brighter and brighter, he only knew the rain in Willow Town was becoming increasingly freezing and piercing to the bone... At this moment, he realized that they might not come again.
Chen Ling slowly stood up from the chair, only feeling empty in his heart. Just as he was about to return to the Dusk Society's house, a flurry of light footsteps sounded from the house behind him.
He saw an Old Man leaning on a Walking Stick, walking under the eaves, looking at the red clothes in the rain.
Seeing this Old Man, Chen Ling froze slightly.
"Oh my, I recognize you!" The Old Man sized Chen Ling up for a long time, a smile surfacing on her wrinkled face. "You're my good grandson's friend who gathered firewood! You're a Clown! Even without makeup, I still recognize you!"
The first time Chen Ling came here, he had met this Old Man. She was Li Qingshan's Grandmother. Because one of her eyes was fake, Chen Ling had a very deep impression of her... Now it seemed, although this Grandmother was old, her memory was still quite good.
Seeing this, Chen Ling immediately asked:
"You're looking for my good grandson? He did come back... But then left again. He also said, if any friends come looking for him here, let them rest in the house first..."
Chen Ling's heart jumped.
"Then where is he? Where did he go?"
"Him..."
The Old Man slowly turned her head. In those murky eyes, the sky-high flames of war in the distance were reflected.
She tremblingly raised her finger pointing there and said:
"...He went into the raging fire."
...
Red Dust Main City.
Continuous Fire Rain fell from the pitch-black clouds, adhering to the muddy earth and withered jungle, turning the outside of the Main City's walls into a sea of fire!
The monstrous fire situation crashed madly against the Main City's walls like a tidal wave, but was consistently unable to break in... On the city walls, several Architects joined forces to push their Divine Pathways. A huge colorful scroll was like a Folding Screen, barely resisting the fire's erosion.
"Damn it... How did they come so fast?!!" An Architect spoke with his head full of sweat.
"The frontlines should have completely collapsed, all Hall Masters have lost contact... I'm afraid..."
"Even the Hall Masters failed. Can we hold them off with our manpower??"
"How could we possibly hold them off... How about we just run quickly?"
"Run? People from the Wuji Domain are everywhere, where can you run? Even if you escape, can you travel thousands of miles through the Ash Realm to go to other domains?"
"We already have no way out. If we can't hold them off, everyone dies together!!"
"..."
Numerous Architects gritted their teeth tightly, pushing their own Divine Pathways to the extreme. Following closely, black-robed wizards descended from the flaming sky one after another, carrying all kinds of weird skills and smashing into the city walls!
Boom boom boom——!!
Rising and falling roars resounded through the clouds, and the entire battlefield was already a chaotic mess.
The slaughter between the Path of the Arts and the Path of the Witch God turned the entire line along the city walls into ruins. In this chaos, one after another tall silver figures passed through the flames at astonishing speed, like transit locusts rushing into the Main City, then rapidly dispersed.
The manpower of Floating Life Painting was ultimately limited. In the process of resisting the Witchcraft Association, they simply had no time to intervene and stop those Silver Phantoms. They could only watch helplessly as they rushed into the city and began to slaughter along the streets.
"The Red Dust Domain... is finished." Seeing this, despair flashed in an Architect's eyes.
At the same time, a figure stepping on a swan goose rapidly swept across the horizon!
It was a pale-faced youth. He stood on the swan goose outlined by a Paintbrush, looking down at the war-torn city walls below, his face extremely ugly.
His fingertips rapidly outlined in the void. In the next moment, an array of swan geese in the shape of the character "ren" (人 - person) rapidly dive-bombed down, crashing into some Silver Phantoms that hadn't had time to disperse yet. One after another roaring explosions swept the battlefield, directly blowing them to pieces!
Piercing firelight tore open a gap in the battlefield, and terrifying aura fluctuations rippled. All the Floating Life Painting Architects were stunned, blankly raising their heads to look at the sky.
That youth leaped down from the back of the swan goose.
As his figure landed lightly, the ground beneath his feet suddenly twisted, and a massive Domain opened up!
The battlefield in front of the city walls was like someone forcefully compressed it flat, gradually turning into a thin and light picture scroll. Amidst a bout of sky spinning and earth revolving for everyone, they saw that youth's figure rapidly pull up high... He seemed to be independent outside of this space and time, holding a pitch-black Paintbrush in his hand, a pair of eye pupils scorching like a blazing sun!
"I am the Ninth Hall Master of Floating Life Painting, Lin Xi." That youth's voice was like thunder.
"Next, I will command the battlefield!"
As his voice fell, the youth's building-sized Paintbrush broke through the picture scroll and abruptly tapped on the nearest black-robed wizard. The latter's figure exploded on the spot, blood color mixed into the colorful ink stains and splattered. Ultimately, it actually turned into countless birds and swimming snakes, rushing towards all parts of the battlefield.
"Ninth Hall Master?!"
Hearing these four words, numerous Floating Life Painting members were alarmed in their hearts. Some newcomers who joined later looked blank.
"Didn't he defect? Why is he appearing here?"
"He seems to be on our side... No matter what, he was a Hall Master after all, he probably wouldn't turn around and attack Red Dust."
"Aside from the Chief, he should be the last Hall Master of the Red Dust Domain..."
"..."
As the flames of war burned, everyone had no time to question Eight of Clubs. Very quickly, following the other party's deployment, they orderly began to fill the vacancies on the city walls and fought with the black-robed witchcraft striking from all directions.
Eight of Clubs, who had opened his Domain, was already independent above the battlefield, possessing authority similar to the Second Hall Master, able to overlook the overall situation...
Although this still couldn't reverse the disadvantage in numbers, at least, it could reduce the enemies breaking into the Red Dust Main City, and also stall a little more time for the Chief.
Just as Eight of Clubs was bravely fighting, he seemed to sense something, and his gaze looked in a certain direction.
He saw a tall figure wearing a Theatrical Robe and draped in Armor break through the sea of fire, rapidly approaching here. Behind him, he carried majestic General's Banners, dancing wildly in the wind!
"It's him?!" An Architect saw that figure, surprise flashing in his eyes.
"Didn't he run away... Why is he back again?"
On the battlefield of the Path of the Arts and Path of the Witch God, the sudden appearance of a Path of the Actor figure indeed attracted many people's attention... Li Qingshan's gaze swept across the battlefield and didn't stay. Instead, he locked onto that batch of Silver Phantoms that broke into the Main City and scattered, rushing into the city without hesitation!
Li Qingshan was very clear that relying on his own Rank, participating in the battlefield outside the city would probably make it hard to survive. With just any casual Domain clash from others, he would find it hard to parry.
Since that was the case, it was better for him to directly enter the city and hunt down that group of Silver Phantoms... Although a bit lacking in strength, facing them wasn't completely un-fightable for Li Qingshan.
Seeing that General's Banner figure approaching the Main City, numerous Architects were hesitating whether to stop him.
But in the next moment, Eight of Clubs' voice came from the sky:
"...Let him in."