Su Ming’an took out the compass.
At this mont, the compass that could originally display Xiber’s location had malfunctioned; he couldn’t see the red dot representing her.
"...As expected," he said.
Shadow stared at him blankly, not knowing what he was looking at.
"Shadow, I ask you, has Bai Shen ever descended upon Qiongdi?" Su Ming’an straightened up.
"No," Shadow answered, puzzled as to how this man knew nothing about it. "Lord Bai Shen has never appeared. I... have been waiting for His arrival."
"Hmm," Su Ming’an said, "how old is Cici this year?"
"Ten, ten years old," Shadow replied.
Su Ming’an nodded.
He rembered that the previous Xiber looked about fifteen or sixteen years old.
Cici Zeven seed to be her other na; she introduced herself as Xiber, he also called her Xiber, but others called her Cici.
So, had he gone back... five or six years ago?
Based on the current information, five years ago, Bai Shen was created by the faith gathered by the people, descended for the first ti upon Qiongdi, and died becoming a shield against a sudden curse of filth that appeared in the sky, fleeting like a night-blooming cereus.
At this point in ti, Bai Shen did not yet exist.
So, had he, while investigating an underground laboratory, accidentally entered so special instance?
He hadn’t realized when he had arrived at this tiline.
...No wonder Raven had suddenly disappeared.
Regardless, he decided to proceed with the mission; perhaps, like the night levels of "Demon King and Brave," this was rely an illusion.
After all, even Migael, the Ti Controller, couldn’t backtrack to a certain range of ti, let alone recreate this complete world of Qiongdi.
"Let’s go," he said to Shadow, "to save people."
...
"—Chase! Chase them quickly!"
During the night, the Guard’s angry voices echoed throughout the First Tribe.
Before them, a group of children ran swiftly.
Among these seven children, one child could control the wind; they sprinted on the accelerated Wind Tracks, twisting and turning through the streets and alleys, quickly leaving the cumberso Guards far behind.
The girl nad Keke kept throwing flas, like a team of arsonists who burned everything wherever they went, as if setting a mountain afire from its cavernous roots.
The entire Tribe was lit with bright red flas; frenzied fire waves followed one after another, mixed with people’s coughing sounds lding in the smoky flas and the nightti Black Mist.
The surrounding Tribe mbers were either packing up to flee or frantically trying to extinguish the fire; no one could stop the children.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Since the sealed buildings were destroyed, the Black Mist spread, and so Tribe mbers even began coughing up blood.
Gradually, there were no more sounds of Guards chasing behind the children.
The thick smoke obscured their vision, and they too began to cough due to the inhalation of the smoke.
"Keke, let’s stop..." One child couldn’t help but speak up.
Keke stopped throwing flas.
The fire had burned too fiercely; even she was a bit frightened.
The children’s group stopped at one corner of the Tribe, watching the hot waves roll, their expressions bemused.
After a brief silence, a child swallowed and spoke in a low voice.
"...Did we go too far?" he asked.
The Tribe in front of them was ablaze with towering flas, the night itself dyed with a smoky red hue.
They were already hot-blooded, found a seemingly reliable thod of arson to divert the guards’ attention, and never intended to destroy the tribe.
But looking at the situation, the fire had burned a bit too fiercely.
Normally, small fires were easily handled by the tribe and would never escalate to such a terrifying situation.
The fire was inherently strong with a lasting burning ability, and they burst out from the underground passages unguarded. Knowing the flammable spots well, their coordination allowed the fire to spread like a tsunami across the First Tribe before the elders could react.
The bright flas had filled their vision, gradually blinding them.
"I... I..." Feng Qiqi suddenly turned pale.
"Qiqi, what’s wrong?" The children then noticed that Feng Qiqi’s complexion had worsened.
"I forgot sothing..." Feng Qiqi was trembling all over, "The current disaster period is the Fla Period. In this environnt, the flas receive enhancents from all sides and beco very difficult to extinguish..."
Upon hearing this, the children were terrified.
They had not considered this at all, only wanting to seize the opportunity to save others, but the fire had developed far beyond their expectations.
It seed like... they had made a huge mistake.
A mistake they would regret for a lifeti.
"—This is the divine fire sent down by Lord Bai Shen—Lord Bai Shen is angry!"
A female tribe mber’s high-pitched scream suddenly arose from the thick fog, her voice filled with sadness.
"—Lord Bai Shen is angry. It is His fire from heaven. Our faith is not devout enough!"
Other tribe mbers also started shouting, their voices overlapping in the black mist.
"—It must be because the young tribe leaders, Sik Zeven and Chushan Zeven, ran away that Lord Bai Shen is enraged!"
"That’s right... this fire is our punishnt..."
"All we can do now is to quickly perform the God Sacrifice Ceremony, throw their children into the magma, only then we can appease Lord Bai Shen’s wrath..."
"Elders! Save us, we are devout believers in Lord Bai Shen..."
Hearing these screams, the children looked distraught.
Feng Qiqi, upon hearing these voices, gritted his teeth in anger, surged up with force in his legs, and leaped onto a nearby hillside.
He took a deep breath, looked down from his height, and yelled at these echoing voices:
"—It’s not Lord Bai Shen who is angry! It was I who set the fire! Wake up!"
"—Don’t pin everything on the God Sacrifice Ceremony! It’s just an outdated ritual! Throwing children into the magma is useless—utterly useless!"
"—It’s not divine fire! It was I who set the fire! The God Sacrifice Ceremony is useless! How can you be so cruel as to throw a child into the magma!!"
His shouts were angry and sorrowful, but utterly in vain. The fire was too fierce, his voice couldn’t spread far, and no one was willing to believe him.
His voice was hoarse from clarifying everything, as if he was going to tear his throat apart.
The flas rose, and the dense black smoke entered his throat.
"—All of this, all of it was caused by —cough, cough cough, cough cough cough!!"
He suddenly began to cough violently, his face already reddened by the flas.
Covering his mouth, his eyes filled with tears, he stared down at the raging fire below and saw one innocent tribesperson after another fleeing in the inferno.
So of these tribe mbers had been burnt to death in their sleep, so cried over their burning hos as if drained of all strength, so collapsed in the smoke and never moved again, while others triggered a curse in the nightti black mist, turning from living beings into puddles of mud...
n, won, elders, children... they ran through the sea of fire, crying out as their loved ones fell one by one. Everything around them resembled hell.
The peaceful and auspicious ambiance before the succession ceremony was instantaneously incinerated.
The tribe mbers who had worked hard all their lives, hoping for a promising future, had all beco fragile lives in this mont.
The flas and death did not spare them, regardless of their will to live or their status.
Feng Qiqi watched the tribe mbers he had known since childhood fall one by one in the flas, watched even the strong guards flee in disarray, his eyes gradually becoming empty.
At this mont, every cell in his body seed to roar as if scorched by fierce flas, his brain strained to the utmost, and intense regret corroded his mind.
...It shouldn’t have been like this! It shouldn’t have turned out this way!
He had rely set a fire, creating chaos, that was all!
No one was supposed to get hurt, no one was supposed to die, the tribe’s formidable elders, they had the ability to suppress this fire!
...Why, why did it have to be the Fla Period of natural disasters...
He stood on the high slope, beside him were children constantly coughing, and as the Soul Stone had run out and extinguished, so had already started coughing up blood endlessly.
Keke began to wail loudly, a pair of black twisted braids trembling behind her head.
She felt that it was she, who was responsible for the fire, who had caused all this, she was the criminal who should have been thrown into the magma, why should the innocent Cici die, just because of so-called traditions and oracles?
Why did the adults not distinguish right from wrong, could it be that everyone beca like that when they grew up?
As she cried, she suddenly began spitting out black mud.
Due to a strong emotional outbreak, the curse inside her was triggered prematurely.
"I’m sorry, I’m sorry... It’s all my fault... I caused all of this..." She cried and gradually stopped making a sound, nauseating sludge spreading from all over her body, like sprouts breaking through the soil tearing through her skin, twisted black lines began to spread all over her body.
She looked at her hands, filthy with dirt, and then at the other children looking at her with fear, turned around, crying and rushed into the sea of fire.
The flas engulfed her body, on the brink of the curse’s explosion, and her cries were gradually obliterated by the red flas.
Feng Qiqi blankly watched her silhouette disappear into the flas, watched her playful twisted braids catch fire, saw her slender body painfully burn in the sea of fire.
He blankly watched all of this.
He suddenly realized.
...He truly.
Had made a mistake, a very, very regrettable mistake that would make him regret for a lifeti.
He had caused everything to veer off track.
He had forced his sister to be prematurely put on the execution stand.
He had caused the Divine Festival, which had no choice but to be conducted.
His actions, desiring a good outco, had led everyone to the worst possible end.
At this mont, without listening carefully, he knew that everyone running in the sea of fire was unanimously saying—
"Hurry up—hurry up and let the God Sacrifice Ceremony begin!"
"Just throw that child down, and Lord Bai Shen’s wrath will be appeased, and the heavenly fire will be withdrawn—"
...
They said.
The heavenly fire was punishing them.
Hurry up and throw Cici down.
...
The scorching air rushed into Feng Qiqi’s airways, making it difficult even to breathe.
Listening to the cries of the tribespeople coming from all directions, he suddenly understood—a deity that cannot save them, isn’t a deity at all.
—Even if He is crowned with the title of a deity, even if He is recognized by the tribespeople, but cannot protect them, and never truly appeared, Bai Shen—is not a deity at all.
...From then on.
He would never again believe in anyone who claid to be Bai Shen.
At this mont, his gaze gradually changed from anger, blankness, sorrow, and then it shifted.
"Feng Qiqi, where do we go now?" a girl asked, her whole body trembling with fear.
Feng Qiqi turned his head to look at a dazed boy.
This boy didn’t talk much, usually just grinned, he was much bigger than the others, slightly older, and very muscular, like a burly strongman.
An old, worn axe lay crookedly by his side, and he counted the small stones in his hand as if they were treasures.
"Chang Sheng," Feng Qiqi called out the sturdy boy’s na, "could you please use your ability to protect them and escort them out?"
"Oh."
The sturdy boy nad Chang Sheng responded blankly, appearing sowhat foolish.
"And what about you? Qiqi, aren’t you coming with us?" a buzz-cut child anxiously asked.
The situation had already spiraled out of their control; all they could do was try their best to escape. As for saving others... they were incapable, as the thick fog obscured their vision.
They had transford from innocents into sinners.
Whether intentional or not, they had indeed caused this disaster.
Discussion of redemption or judgnt would have to wait; their priority was to stay alive.
"I..." Feng Qiqi said softly, "will not go."
"Not going? What will you do here then?" the buzz-cut child grabbed his hand. "Let’s go together! Your parents will be fine! Your father is the next heir to the Clan Leader, and if you leave, the elders won’t co to forcibly take you!"
Feng Qiqi was silent for a mont.
The scorching air poured into his windpipe, burning his chest.
He was almost out of breath.
When he spoke, his eyes were red and his voice was incredibly hoarse:
"...what about Qianqian? What will happen to her?"
...
The children closed their mouths.
At this mont, only the God Sacrifice Ceremony could pacify the people’s anger and sorrow.
Whether it was useful or not, it had to be conducted now.
The wildfire had escalated its urgency, bringing it to the forefront.
They had caused this outco.
The elders, unable to capture Feng Qiqi in the fire, could only seek out Qianqian, who still resided at the Stone Fortress, as both of them were the tribe’s most gifted individuals—one of them had to be sacrificed to the lava.
It was likely that by now, Qianqian had already been taken away by the elders, who had not appeared in the fire.
They must have already headed to the volcanic vent at the rear mountain.
Feng Qiqi turned around.
His face was devoid of smiles; the mont he saw the disaster, he had lost the deanor of soone who once proclaid himself as the "Dark Demon King."
He had indeed brought upon the people the "judgnt of falling into Hell," including his sister.
To him, this was darker than pitch black, more painful than agony, more terrifying than death.
He held the Black Blade in his hand and walked towards the rear mountain.
"Qiqi! Where are you going?" a child shouted out loud.
"I’m going to replace Qianqian and calm the people’s anger," he said.
He had always hated the God Sacrifice Ceremony the most.
But in the face of disaster, he was the most powerless.
He was the most pitiful.
He walked away from the screaming children, alone into the fire.
The dark energy danced around him, flas dodging his steps, everything split apart by the Black Blade in his hand.
—The "Annihilator" swung his blade.
All things made way for his path.
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