The Sky is Crying
Alchemy Array.
Brand watched helplessly as the Cessation Calamity's second dragon breath missed its target, beating his chest and stomping his feet in annoyance.
The Cessation Calamity's first dragon breath directly led to a million people being buried beneath the earth. With just one more breath, it would be equivalent to harvesting another Philosopher's Stone... Coupled with the two million souls currently on hand, refining three Philosopher's Stones in total, Lord of Wuji could recover to almost his peak state!
He didn't expect the Lord of the Red Dust to charge out halfway, forcefully dragging the Cessation Calamity into the battlefield of the Gray World, completely ruining Brand's plan.
"... Forget it, having this many souls is also enough."
Brand shifted his gaze back to the churning sea of souls below the clouds.
Countless old people, youths, and children were painfully drawn by the Alchemy Array, hanging in midair like meat pigs hung by iron hooks in a slaughterhouse. Their expressions and features were hideous, and one could even see a portion of Floating Life Painting members among them, even Hall Master level.
The human souls of everyone who died in the Realm War were gathered here, and they were the materials Brand prepared.
"The more pain you are in, the faster the refining speed of the Philosopher's Stone..."
Red lightning surged within the sea of souls. All the figures that came into contact with this lightning suddenly distorted, as if someone was roughly and ruthlessly ravaging their bodies, breaking, elongating, and rubbing them into balls like toys, or fusing them together.
Under this extreme agony of the soul, the sea of souls gathered and shrank bit by bit...
Souls wailed, and the gloomy wind howled!
...
Sizzle—
Red lightning wandered across the sky. The souls that were originally invisible to the human eye could occasionally be glimpsed under the reflection of the lightning at this moment... This scene falling into everyone's eyes was like a living hell!
"Mister... Mister Li." Kong Baosheng blankly watched the souls flashing with blood-red light in the sky, his eyes full of bewilderment.
"That is..."
"It's human souls."
Li Qingshan spoke with a solemn face. "It seems the Wuji Domain spared no cost to invade the Red Dust Domain just for these... From the very beginning, they were collecting human souls."
"War... souls?"
Kong Baosheng was stunned in place for a long time. As if thinking of something, he fiercely turned to look at the backyard of the Jinghong Theater!
Two graves stood silently on the withered earth;
"No... NO!!"
"Doesn't that mean... Grandmother and Miss Huang are also there??"
Kong Baosheng's face was deathly pale. He subconsciously took a step back, seemingly completely unable to accept this reality.
Li Qingshan was silent for a long time. "I'm afraid so."
"How could this be... On what basis?!!" Veins bulged on Kong Baosheng's neck. He looked at the blood-red sky, his eyes splitting with rage. "Grandmother didn't do anything!! She was just a patient bedridden for years... And Miss Huang, Miss Huang was such a good person, she protected so many people!! Why won't they even let them go after they died?!"
Li Qingshan quietly stood there, unable to answer, because he didn't know the answer either.
And now, the answer itself was no longer important...
Dense red lightning wandered amidst the clouds. The souls frantically distorted in pain. They struggled, but didn't emit any sound, only bursts of an extremely gloomy and cold wind whimpering... like the sky was crying.
...
"... Is this as far as it goes."
In the ruins of the city wall battlefield, Wang Jincheng, who had fought to exhaustion, lay on the ground like a corpse. His eyes stared blankly at the sea of souls occasionally appearing in the red lightning, his eyes full of unwillingness and bitterness.
With the Realm War fought to this point, the Hall Masters were completely annihilated, the Floating Life Painting was also almost completely annihilated, the Chief was burnt out, and the Lord of the Red Dust could only fight one against two in the Gray World... All the underlying strength of the Red Dust Domain had been squeezed dry, they already had nothing left.
This was a difficult war, this was a tragic war. Wang Jincheng had already done everything he could, but seeing the two million souls of the Red Dust Domain ultimately still reduced to the Wuji Domain's materials, yet he was powerless... This kind of inner pain and torment was even harder for him to accept than physical mutilation.
"... Cough cough cough cough..."
A young man dragged his blood-covered body, struggling over the corpses of the Witchcraft Association one by one. He stumbled, but still fell messily to the ground.
Wang Jincheng struggled to turn his head and look. He knew that young man. The former Ninth Hall of the Floating Life Painting, the current Eight of Clubs of the Dusk Society.
The current Eight of Clubs' injuries were no lighter than Wang Jincheng's. Facing numerous experts of the Witchcraft Association by himself, he had also reached his limit... But what made him feel even worse than this was the mental pain.
Eight of Clubs looked at the agonizingly wailing sea of souls. In a daze, he seemed to have returned to "Guernica". Despair and pain almost suffocated him, and his entire person seemed as if he was about to split apart, only able to painfully hold his head.
Sweat mixed with tears silently soaked into the ruins, leaving trails of dark water marks.
Eight of Clubs' voice was hoarse and bitter:
"In the end... still nothing could be changed."
The ending of "Guernica" ultimately still shone into reality, even more cruel. Eight of Clubs failed to turn this war around, and also failed to prevent sacrifices... Death, pain, and despair, this seemed to be the ultimate fate of all wars, unchangeable by anyone's will.
Wang Jincheng gave him a complex look. Although he didn't know why this member of the Dusk Society wanted to help the Red Dust Domain, he saw all of Eight of Clubs' efforts in his eyes... If it weren't for Eight of Clubs' overall command and bloody battles, I'm afraid the Red Dust Domain would have been breached long ago.
Wang Jincheng felt that the Dusk Society didn't seem as irredeemably wicked as the outside rumors said... That guy was also the same.
Who knows where that guy has run off to now?
Just as Wang Jincheng was pondering, he suddenly stunned, as if seeing something out of the corner of his eye.
He saw a figure draped in a Great Crimson Theatrical Robe in the distant dust-sweeping ruins, stepping on nothingness step by step, walking from the earth to the sky...
His expression was calm and solemn, like a Thespian about to take the Stage. The flames of war in the ruins and the sea of blood in the sky reflected his figure. In this desolate and despairing world, his bright Theatrical Robe was like the only lively color, attracting everyone's attention.
His appearance gave people an inexplicable premonition... as if the grand play of this war was already drawing to a close, and the final Thespian taking the stage for the finale would draw a period to everything.
"... It's him?" Eight of Clubs blankly watched Chen Ling stepping onto the void Stage, not knowing what he was thinking.
The Thespian slowly opened his lips in the void...
In the next moment, a melodious and extremely penetrating voice echoed above the entire Red Dust Main City.
"'I saw the sky is crying'..."