"Don’t just stand there, go!" The three enormous Fierce Beasts would be upon them in an instant, and then Luo Ziyun wouldn’t be able to protect them.
Tu Xiaoyue, however, rushed toward Xiaobai, who lay battered and bruised in a pool of blood. When she discovered he was still breathing, tears of surprised relief streamed down her face. "Benefactor! Lady Fairy! You’re an Immortal! Please, save my dog! He’s not dead yet!"
Xiaobai had previously broken through to Rank Two, and his Life Force was exceptionally vigorous. To have survived a single blow from a Taotie without dying on the spot was already incredibly rare.
Luo Ziyun glanced at the bloodstained Xiaobai. The dog was indeed not dead, still hanging on by a thread, but it was as good as dead. Its injuries were too severe; its internal organs were all displaced.
Her eyes shifted. She extended two fingers, and a brilliant stream of Powerful Qi shot into Black-eared Xiaobai’s body. "I can only keep him alive for a few hours. Now, go."
"Thank you, Benefactor! Thank you, Benefactor!"
Tu Xiaoyue thanked her repeatedly, struggling to lift Xiaobai from the pool of blood. Wen Qiu hurried forward to help.
They were fleeing for their lives, yet they brought a dying dog with them. This act, however, brought a flicker of gratification to Luo Ziyun’s eyes, and she said nothing more.
ROAR... ROAR...!
The Fierce Beasts had arrived, roaring wildly.
RUMBLE...!
Tu Xiaoyue and Wen Qiu, who had just taken two steps while carrying Xiaobai, felt as if they’d been struck by lightning on a clear day. In that instant, their faces turned ashen.
Their old, two-story house collapsed with a deafening crash, turning into a pile of rubble.
That was their home. And just like that, it was gone.
Wen Qiu had lived in this house her entire life. It was her nest, her roots. Instantly, her heart sank like a cold stone into a bottomless abyss, and she found she couldn’t even move.
"Mom, don’t look. Survival is what’s important. Let’s go!"
Wrinkles seemed to instantly deepen on Wen Qiu’s face. She grit her teeth. She had to go; she couldn’t be a burden to her daughter.
Because she knew full well that if she didn’t leave, her daughter wouldn’t either.
After the mother and daughter left with the dying dog, Luo Ziyun’s phoenix eyes shimmered with a soul-stealing light. ’Good. Now I can finally let loose.’
’Hmph. So many of these Taotie clones. I already killed five, and now here are three more. Just how many have appeared in this world?’
In that instant, the three Taotie roared at the sky, and Luo Ziyun charged into their midst, her red frost dancing wildly as she fought.
Evidently, these three were much stronger than the previous five. It took Luo Ziyun a considerable effort to slay them one by one.
A total of eight Taotie clones had invaded Bai Town, and all of them had been slain by this one woman, Luo Ziyun.
Meanwhile, in Wencheng, the Demon Management Bureau had deployed all of its experts, yet they hadn’t managed to kill that many Taotie clones.
An ordinary Taotie clone was stronger than a typical Rank 3. After a great deal of Devouring, a clone’s power would soar. One fifteen zhang in size was equivalent to the Level of a Deep Mountain Great Demon.
Twenty zhang was equivalent to the Pseudo Demon King Level.
But even at the same Level, a Fierce Beast could crush a human or a Demon.
This was a qualitative difference.
...
Somewhere in Wenjialing, within a dense fog where nature’s spiritual energy was exceptionally thick, a mournful cry that sounded like both a grievance and a sob echoed out.
"Haha, my children, you have done well. This Emperor’s power has been restored to fifty percent. Let the myriad creatures of this world become your food!"
Hm?
"Hmph. A mere town has cost this Emperor eight of his clones. It seems a strong one is hiding there. What a fine meal that will be! GAGA! Go, my children! Devour this fine meal!"
From within the dense fog, enormous Taotie clones leaped out in a continuous stream. There were about a thousand of them, and every single one was fifteen zhang tall.
From this, it was clear that the true Taotie, trapped within the War Relics and yet to emerge, had recovered a great deal of its strength. The clones it created were growing stronger and stronger.
Of these thousand Taotie clones, a full hundred charged directly toward Bai Town, while the other nine hundred swept toward the major towns surrounding Wencheng.
A whole thousand Taotie clones, each at least at the Deep Mountain Great Demon Level—this was an absolutely devastating blow.
Previously, only a hundred or so Taotie clones had burst forth from the War Relics, yet they had left Wencheng and its surroundings in ruins, with hundreds of thousands of people becoming their food.
The addition of this new thousand meant utter devastation for the people of Wencheng.
...
Bai Town Snake King Temple!
The Snake King Temple was now packed with people. The survivors of the Fierce Beast Taotie’s massacre, whether by unspoken agreement or by faith, had all gathered before it.
Perhaps they hadn’t given up hope, wishing that the Lord Snake King they believed in would manifest and vanquish the Demons.
"We pray for the Snake King to emerge and vanquish the Demons!"
Inside the temple hall, incense smoke curled through the air. The crowd, their faces solemn and respectful, roared as one, their voices echoing off the rafters.
A scene like this played out in the Snake King Temple almost every day, as if they were doomed to die if the Snake King did not appear.
Hundreds of years ago in Bai Town, a great Huo Luan had broken out in this region. The desperate people kowtowed and petitioned, begging the Snake King of She Mountain to emerge. That time, a massive Giant Snake had appeared in the skies above Bai Town. Like a Divine Spirit descending to the mortal world, it breathed fire and drove away the plague.
More recently, man-eating Vampire Snakes had appeared on She Mountain. Snake Catchers went after them, never to return—not seen alive, nor were their bodies found.
The Snake King had also emerged then, returning peace to the people of Bai Town.
Now, they faced an unprecedented catastrophe. Even the national government was overwhelmed, unable to manage the surrounding areas for the time being, and could only focus on protecting the major cities.
The common people, who lacked even the strength to truss a chicken, could only superstitiously pray for the protection of a Divine Spirit.
But the Snake King still showed no sign of stirring, leaving the people of Bai Town to live in terror, with no light in sight.
The respected elder Lin Defeng led the people of Bai Town every day to kneel before the Snake King’s statue and pray with utmost sincerity. The number of tragic deaths was increasing by the tens of thousands daily. A small town with a mere population of 500,000 simply couldn’t withstand such losses.
Just then, the Tu mother and daughter arrived at the Snake King Temple with a blood-soaked dog. They had to shove their way through the crowd just to squeeze inside. After much difficulty, they found a small corner and settled down.
The first thing Wen Qiu did was go to kowtow and make a wish before the Snake King statue. To come to the Snake King Temple and not kowtow was a great sign of disrespect to the Snake King.
Tu Xiaoyue quickly stopped her mom. It was actually her mom’s first time at the Snake King Temple; she had, whether intentionally or not, prevented her from coming before.
The reason was simple: she knew the Snake King statue was modeled after her younger brother’s snake form. If her mom were to kneel to the statue, what would that even mean?
"Mom, you rest for a bit. I’ll go pray."
Wen Qiu said, "We both have to pray. Go get a few sticks of incense."
Tu Xiaoyue wanted to say something but stopped herself, truly at a loss for how to stop her mom from praying to the Snake King statue.