If those words were directed at Xie Lian, he would have pretended not to hear them. But they were directed at Lang Qianqiu, a noble born of royalty. He hadn’t cared for riches his entire life, and although he knew the enemy was intentionally taunting him, he was still provoked into a boiling rage. He raised his sword with both his hands and lunged at Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng drew his scimitar with one hand, twirling silver shimmers in the air, and calmly prepared to face the attack head-on.
Lang Qianqiu’s strike used all of his power. He was like a newborn bull unafraid of a tiger, but Xie Lian could already see the difference in their ability. If this strike landed, it would mean certain death!
On the sidelines, even Shi Qingxuan, who couldn’t deduce any such difference, watched with jittery alarm. He yelled, “Qianqiu! Don’t!!”
But at such a precarious moment, how could a mere shout stop the arrow that was nocked and ready to shoot?
Unexpectedly, just when scimitar and sword were about to clash, a blinding white light exploded within the armory.
It was a light so immense it enveloped the entirety of the armory, and everyone temporarily lost their sight. All they could see was glaring white. Xie Lian, however, was prepared and could see with some difficulty. He gathered all the powers he borrowed from Shi Qingxuan in his right hand and transformed the energy to a giant flame before shooting it.
A corner of the armory was immediately ablaze. Soon after, Xie Lian released Ruoye and tied himself, Shi Qingxuan, Ming Yi, Lang Qianqiu, and Lang Ying together.
He shouted, “Lord Wind Master, blow us upwards!”
Even though Shi Qingxuan couldn’t open his eyes, he still followed Xie Lian’s directions. He raised his fan and snapped downwards. A violent twister formed on the flat ground, blowing toward the ceiling, and at last broke through the crumbling roof!
Ruoye had the five of them tied in a bundle and flew straight into the sky. In midair, their sight finally returned to them, and Shi Qingxuan could see that dozens of meters down below there were giant flames ablaze, black smoke heavy in the air—the armory was on fire. Afraid that Hua Cheng would give chase, he flapped his fan. Now he was truly “fanning the flames.” The blaze instantly erupted in size from the wild gust, and embers landed on all the nearby buildings. Now over half of Paradise Manor was ablaze in a field of red!
With great difficulty, Xie Lian finally grabbed hold of Shi Qingxuan, who was fanning with all his might.
“Lord Wind Master, please stop fanning! The whole place is going to burn down!”
Startled, Shi Qingxuan cried, “All right, all right, I’m stopping! Let me go, Your Highness, your grip is too strong!”
It wasn’t until the Wind Master stopped his winds that Xie Lian let go. He looked down, and amidst the red flames, Xie Lian still spotted that crimson silhouette. They were too high in the sky and he couldn’t see clearly, but his gut instinct told him that at that moment, Hua Cheng was standing there, watching him.
He didn’t give chase, nor did he put out the flames. He only stood there, letting the wildfire devour capriciously.
Outside Paradise Manor, screams and howls roared from all over Ghost City’s streets, and crowds of ghosts ran amok.
Xie Lian couldn’t breathe, his voice had gone hoarse, and he mumbled to himself, “I…only wanted to start a small fire to create a distraction. How did it turn out like this…”
It was only a little earlier when Hua Cheng had leaned against the doors of that armory, half-jokingly telling him he wanted to give him the entire armory and every weapon inside, but now everything was engulfed in a sea of fire. Although there might be many weapons made of true gold that feared no fire, there were surely also many that could not withstand the flames. After all this burning, many treasures would be reduced to ash. Xie Lian had not expected the flames to grow so violently, devouring all of Paradise Manor.
Even if Hua Cheng didn’t consider it a home, it was still his residence!
Seeing how crushed Xie Lian was, Shi Qingxuan also began to feel bad. “Um…I’m really sorry, Your Highness! I didn’t think things through—I only wanted to escape faster. This is all my fault! It was definitely only a small flame at first… If Crimson Rain Sought Flower comes knocking for payback, you just tell him to come to me! Don’t worry, I can pay whatever amount! Money is never an issue!”
But money was definitely not the issue. Xie Lian closed his eyes, unable to speak. Shi Qingxuan patted his shoulder in consolation but suddenly felt wetness on his fingertips and smelled a strange, stark stench of blood. He turned his head to look, and his face lost color in alarm.