Chapter 38
Chapter 38
“Move! Now!”
Inside the forest not far from Five Dragons Village, the black mist finally disappeared from the great tomb. Zuo Yuanfeng gave the order.
His subordinates rushed to the great tomb with shovels and began digging.
“We have to stop them.”
Shi Xuan stopped waiting and leaped out of hiding.
The moment he appeared, sunlight seemed to burst forth and illuminate the entire clearing.
Everyone digging the great tomb froze in shock.
Shi Xuan stood tall at the center of the clearing. A long stone pointer protruded from the crown of his head, while heat had burned the clothes over his heart to ash, revealing a circular sundial!
A sundial was an ancient timekeeping device that used the shifting shadow of the sun to capture the passage of time. A stone disk below bore markings for the hours, while a pointer above received the sunlight and cast a shadow that moved as time passed.
This was Shi Xuan’s anomalous entity-the Sundial of Insight!
When the Sundial of Insight activated, nothing inside its anomaly domain could escape Shi Xuan’s perception.
He could even predict an enemy’s actions one second in advance.
One second might seem brief, but in a battle between anomaly wielders and anomalous entities, it was enough to decide victory or defeat.
Because of the Sundial of Insight’s unique ability, Shi Xuan had always served as the central commander in countless Provincial Anomaly Suppression Department operations.
“Wang Zhong, Qingting-take that man down first!”
Shi Xuan pointed at Zuo Yuanfeng.
But the next instant, he sensed something and whipped around toward Zuo Qingting.
A vicious grin had spread across Zuo Qingting’s face. A rusted long saber appeared in his left palm, and he swung it straight at Shi Xuan!
“Zuo Qingting!”
Xu Changjiang roared in fury. The strike came too quickly and violently for him to intervene.
Shi Xuan had predicted it in advance and twisted aside by the narrowest margin.
But the moment he landed, two other A-class anomaly wielders from the Zuo family were already prepared. One held a black ghost-head crossbow, while the other carried a bow made of white bone. Both fired simultaneously.
Shi Xuan dodged again with all his strength, only to move directly into the path of the charging Zuo Yuanfeng!
Zuo Yuanfeng’s long coat exploded apart. Half his body had transformed into snake scales, and serpentine pupils flashed within his eyes. He moved with astonishing speed and slammed a palm into Shi Xuan.
Three nails drove into Shi Xuan’s body!
Shi Xuan spat a mouthful of blood. The pointer above his head swayed, then vanished, and he collapsed weakly to the ground.
At the same time, Wang Zhong and Xu Changjiang were subdued by the other anomaly wielders lying in ambush.
The entire exchange happened in a flash.
“You… Zuo Yuanfeng?!”
Shi Xuan stared coldly at the snake-scaled man.
Zuo Yuanfeng smiled.
“Director Shi. It’s been a long time!”
“Your ability to predict a battlefield truly is extraordinary. If we hadn’t prepared so thoroughly, taking you down would have been difficult.”
Shi Xuan’s face darkened. Anger surged inside him, but he did not lose his composure.
“I never expected the mighty Zuo Group to sink so low as to collude with the Eclipse Organization!”
Zuo Yuanfeng burst out laughing.
“Collude? Did you ever consider that the Eclipse Organization… was founded by us?”
“Why? The Zuo family… hasn’t completely lost control yet,” Shi Xuan said.
Zuo Yuanfeng regarded him with contempt. “Even now, you’re still trying to extract information from me?”
“Fine. I may as well let you die knowing the truth.”
He spoke indifferently. “The calamity is coming. Everyone will die. The only way to survive is to become an anomaly completely… a powerful anomaly!”
“But retaining your sanity requires divinity. Naturally, we intend to claim the Water God’s Authority here at Five Dragons Mountain.”
Shi Xuan’s expression changed. The calamity again?!
Qin Shiyu had said that the Hall of Anomalies was acting with such urgency because of the Black Mist Calamity.
“Don’t worry, Director Shi. I’ll let you witness the birth of a new god.”
Zuo Yuanfeng smiled. “Afterward, I’ll slowly extract the Sundial of Insight from your body… Heh.”
He waved a hand.
His subordinates tied up Shi Xuan, Xu Changjiang, and Wang Zhong.
The anomalous entities within the three men were all extremely valuable. They could not be extracted intact here, so the men had to be restrained for now.
“Third Uncle, it’s time to dig up the Water God’s dragon bones!” Zuo Qingting exclaimed excitedly.
According to his uncle’s earlier promise, success here would earn him the right to compete with the main lineage of the Zuo family.
Zuo Yuanfeng nodded and looked toward the great tomb.
The dozen or so subordinates he had brought were already digging eagerly.
…
“Faster!”
On a street inside Five Dragons Village.
Villagers like walking corpses followed Qin Shiyu in silence. Some had deathly pale faces, while rotting flesh continually fell from others.
Sweat soaked Qin Shiyu’s temples.
The anomalous entity in her palm radiated constant heat. She had pushed the Sovereign Seal to its absolute limit.
But the pressure from the village’s anomaly domain continued to intensify, and each step became slower than the last.
She could no longer even see the crazed cripple ahead.
“That’s an interesting seal.”
Gao Shen’s voice suddenly came from behind her.
She knew the voice well, yet now it carried an indescribably sinister darkness. A chill swept down her spine.
She instinctively looked back.
Gao Shen was watching her with an ambiguous smile.
The normally cowardly man now stood with casual ease. Wisps of black mist drifted from his nose, mouth, eyes, and ears.
The old village chief and the other villagers had stopped far behind him in terror, too frightened to follow.
“Black mist…”
For the first time, terror appeared on Qin Shiyu’s face. Almost instantly, she shouted,
“Halt!”
She drove the Sovereign Seal to its limit. The crack of a magistrate’s block rang through the air, followed by court attendants shouting “Mighty!” in unison.
The phantom of an ancient tribunal appeared, threatening to suppress everything before it.
But “Gao Shen” only smiled. He reached toward Qin Shiyu, and the tribunal shattered outright. Even so, his movement slowed for a fraction of a second.
Qin Shiyu seized the opportunity and retreated at full speed. Gao Shen’s hand still caught her left sleeve, tearing half her blouse away with a sharp rip.
She turned and ran for her life!
“Heh…”
“Gao Shen” merely smiled and followed at a leisurely pace.
Qin Shiyu ran with everything she had. Yet whenever she looked back, “Gao Shen” remained three or four steps behind her, never hurrying.
No matter how fast she ran, she could not shake him!
It was nothing more than a cat toying with a mouse.
Despair nearly swallowed her.
But just then, a voice sounded in the distance.
“Ms. Qin?”
The voice was like salvation itself. Qin Shiyu spun toward it, tears nearly filling her eyes.
“Gao Shen” looked up in surprise as well.
At the far end of the road, a man approached calmly, holding a length of firewood in one hand.
It was Li Que!
The limping Village Guardian followed behind him with a foolish grin.
…