Chapter 256: The City Gates Were Broken
Translator: CatatoPatch Editor: Vermillion
As the sun set, an enormous demonic fish, whose entire body glistened brightly all over, rammed the city gate ferociously. The steel city gate creaked, unable to bear the heavy ramming. It was about to collapse.
Inside the city, everyone was frightened again. The people all went back to hide in their homes; their fear and trepidation was growing in the face of the incoming disaster. The moment the steel city gate was destroyed by this demonic fish, the whole Southern City would genuinely enter a crisis.
Buzz…
A bizarre fluctuation surged as every city gate in Southern City started to flicker in a mysterious radiance. Afterwards, layers of light beams surged forth and formed a brightly lit cover over the whole Southern City.
This was the Southern City's protection array. This array was activated only when it was absolutely essential, since the resources needed to activate it were too enormous.
With this array protecting the city, the demonic fish was incapable of shaking up the gates even after a few rams. Afterwards, it gave up again, and its enormous body dove back down to the Dragon River. It slowly swam away.
Under this oppressive mood, night time descended. Within Southern City, lights started to flicker one after another, illuminating the night. The worried and frightened citizens finally let out a breath. Their hearts were a lot calmer.
Inside the Xiao Mansion, Bu Fang bid goodbye to the Xiao Keyun and his wife and returned to the side room Xiao Yu had prepared for him. This side room was a lot better than the previous guest room that had been allocated to him. At the very least, Bu Fang felt pretty good when he stayed here.
He sat on his bed and contemplated for a while. Since he could not taste the Pan-Fried Pork Buns, there was no significance for him to continue staying in the Xiao Mansion any longer. Therefore, he planned to leave tomorrow to continue his search for Southern City's delicious delicacies. If there was truly none of it, then it would be time for him to return home.
Of course, all of these were things that Bu Fang should be worrying about tomorrow. He yawned. Unlike other cultivators, he did not cultivate to replace his sleep. Instead, he simply laid downand peacefully slept.
Whitey stood inside the room quietly, mechanical eyes flickered unceasingly.
And this was how Bu Fang spent the night in Southern City.
…
Light Wind Imperial City, early morning.
Xiao Xiaolong came over to Fang Fang's little store early in the morning. When he entered the kitchen, Yu Fu had already started preparing the necessary ingredients needed to practice her knife work and carving skills.
Yu Fu looked at the sleepy and drowsy-eyed Xiao Xiaolong. Immediately, she giggled and pointed to Xiao Xiaolong's cooking bench. What Yu Fu was trying to say was that she had already prepared all the necessary ingredients for Xiao Xiaolong.
"Senior Sister, you are really a woman who knows how to run the house." Xiao Xiaolong yawned with his sleepy and drowsy eyes. He laughed and praised Yu Fu. Both of them had already gotten a lot more familiar with each other compared to before, at times they would even joke around.
Subsequently, the two of them arrived at the front of their own respective cooking bench and started brandishing their kitchen knives to practice their knife work and carving skills.
The fragrance of meat wafted around the kitchen. Xiao Xiaolong looked at the plate of Sweet 'n' Sour Ribs in front of him with satisfaction. Bu Fang had already been teaching him for quite some time, and Xiao Xiaolong finally mastered the culinary skills needed to cook the Sweet 'n' Sour Ribs.
As Bu Fang instructed, Xiao Xiaolong took this plate of Sweet 'n' Sour Ribs and walked out of the small store.
At the doorway, Blacky was the same as before, lying down on the floor in deep sleep. Bu Fang had instructed Xiao Xiaolong to cook a plate of Sweet 'n' Sour Ribs every morning for this big black dog.
Xiao Xiaolong placed the plate of Sweet 'n' Sour Ribs in front of Blacky and looked at it in expectation. He wanted to see the black dog finish this plate of Sweet 'n' Sour Ribs.
The fast asleep Blacky twitched its nose and opened its eyes. It looked at the plate of Sweet 'n' Sour Ribs placed in front of him. Immediately, its eyes brightened up.
Subsequently, under Xiao Xiaolong's excited gaze, it picked up the porcelain plate and started to gorge on the food.
However, Xiao Xiaolong's excitement did not last long. The fur on the big black dog's body stood on end. Then, its body stiffened.
The big black dog glanced at Xiao Xiaolong and opened its mouth. It then spat out a piece of Sweet 'n' Sour Ribs, which landed in front of Xiao Xiaolong.
The big black dog harrumphed and went back to lying down on the ground before it fell back into deep sleep. It had basically ignored the blanked out Xiao Xiaolong who was standing at a distance from it.
Xiao Xiaolong wanted to cry but he had no tears. He had once again been scorned by that black dog.
Owner Bu had left for a faraway place so the small store's business had to rely on Xiao Xiaolong and Yu Fu. Both of them opened up the door shutter and waited for the customers to arrive. They also started on their busy day. Their culinary skills had not reached Bu Fang's level, but under his special training, the taste of the dishes were already good enough to satisfy a lot of diners.
…
Bu Fang left the Xiao Mansion, and after bidding goodbye to Xiao Yanyu, he stayed in Southern City for another two days. He had tasted the majority of the delicious delicacies in Southern City. Some of the dishes were pretty decent, but others were nowhere as good.
Within these two days, the people in Southern City were also very anxious because the huge demonic fish did not leave. Occasionally, it would ram against the big array of the Southern City. By now, the radiance of the big array was starting to grow dull as if it could no longer endure the attacks.
The Southern City Lord had called out to all the big influential and wealthy families over to his City Lord Mansion just to discuss this matter. Ultimately, they were unable to come up with a plan.
As Bu Fang strolled down the main street of Southern City, he raised his head and looked at the sky that was gradually turning clear. This meant that the large protection array in Southern City was starting to fade away. Once the large array faded, the impact of the demonic fish ramming on the city gate would definitely reach a dreadful level. It would be hard to say if the city gate was even able to withstand the impact.
Along the main street, city guards patrolled the streets unceasingly in hopes of containing the citizens' mood.
Ultimately, the conclusion that all the big families reached was that each family were to send out a Battle-Emperor expert to deal with this demonic fish. There were no Battle-Saints in Southern City, but there were a lot of Battle-Emperors.
Every big wealthy family could bring out a Battle-Emperor, but that was already their limit.
Above the city walls, including Chang Shan, there were ten Battle-Emperors standing there. With the spring rain floating in the wind, the skies were rendered a little gray.
As the Battle-Emperor sent out by Xiao Family, Xiao Keyun's complexion was extremely grave as he solemnly stood above the city wall. He looked down at the enormous Burst-Dragon Demonic Fish. The fish opened its mouth and gave a piercing shriek, causing everyone's eardrums to tremble slightly.
Outside the Southern City, within the Ten-Mile Pavilion, there were five figures wearing light yarn hats who were paying close attention to all those experts about to stake everything in one throw. One after another, they laughed coarsely. There were traces of ridicule and hate in their laughter.
"Are they preparing to risk their lives? Southern City… it's about to fall into disorder soon!" A hoarse voice echoed out. Thereafter, a shadow suddenly separated itself from the five of them.
It was as if it had turned into a black thread as it sped toward the Dragon River in an extremely fast speed.
Above the city wall, Xiao Keyun and the other experts had also noticed the shadow. The energy released from the person's body was only at a Battle-Emperor's level, but it brought along a sense of uneasiness to all of them.
"Who is that person? What is he trying to do rushing toward the Dragon River?" Above the city wall, a Battle-Emperor frowned and asked suspiciously.
Xiao Keyun narrowed his eyes as unbounded killing intent burst forth. Astonishment filled his spirit. It was him!
That was the person who sold Xiao Keyun the poisonous pill, forcing his Xiao family into such a disadvantageous position.
Under everyone's gaze, that shadow reached the bank of the Dragon River and forcefully brought himself to a stop. He then turned his hand and a black jade bottle appeared. From the jade bottle, he poured out a dark red pill and pulverized it into fine powder on his hand.
That shadow raised his head. They couldn't see his face properly with the black conical bamboo hat, but Xiao Keyun and the others were able to feel that the person was apparently sneering at them.
Crash!
The fine powder was scattered. A wave of violent wind burst forth from that person's body as the dark red fine powder sprinkled into the Dragon River.
"Enjoy the final party! Southern City… it's time for you to be stirred restlessly!"
The shadow started to laugh heartily. His figure then shot out and flew away. The person soon disappeared from everyone's view.
Above the city wall, everyone's heart had a bad premonition as they narrowed their eyes and saw that the Dragon River water had started to boil.
Bang!!
The torrent surged with crashing sounds. The river water had practically turned into a large wave as it ferociously slammed the city gate. The gate swayed as water permeated through the cracks.
A berserk howl sounded out. Inside the large wave, two pairs of scarlet eyes appeared before everyone's eyes. Thereafter, the enormous Burst-Dragon Demonic Fish ferociously rammed the large protection array , which was no longer able to endure it, shattering and turning it into speckles.
Bang!!
Another frightening sound echoed. The steel city gate was once again rammed by the Burst-Dragon Demonic Fish. Finally, it was no longer able to bear the heavy impact as the bricks on the city wall collapsed and broke into pieces. A loud sound resonated. Debris fell and the city gate was directly rammed open.
The turbulent river water trickled through the split city gate and flowed in. The sounds of crashing water was deafening, resonating unendingly.
On the main street, all the citizens screamed as they started to flee in disarray. The city gate had been broken… Southern City was finished!
"Evil creature! Die!"
The ten Battle-Emperors above the city gate could not endure it any longer as they shouted one after another and made a move. They leaped off the city walls, weapons in hand, as they rushed toward that furious fish.
The river water surged forth violently as if it wanted to gobble up Bu Fang, who was standing on the main street.
Bu Fang's complexion was very calm. His toes tapped the floor and a formidable strength burst forth as he soared up into the sky. He landed on a black tile roof. Whitey's mechanical eyes flickered as it landed beside him, following Bu Fang's movement.
The both of them stood on the roof, looking at the main street that had been submerged by the large waves of river water. An ambiguous radiance flashed through Bu Fang's eyes.
Howl!!
At the city gate, a loud sound echoed.
Bu Fang subconsciously raised his head and looked over. He discovered that the enormous sinister-looking Burst-Dragon Demonic Fish was actually trying to squeeze itself through the city gate, but its body was too big. It got stuck between the city gates alive.
The enormous Burst-Dragon Demonic Fish kept swaying its body left and right, causing the whole city wall to start shaking. On the city walls, numerous cracks could be seen forming.
It seem that it wouldn't be long before this rampaging monster intruded completely and wreaked havoc in the flourishing Southern City, causing it to fall into total disorder.
Swish swish swish!
The Southern City experts all held onto their weapons and discharged their true energy as they unceasingly bombarded the Burst-Dragon Demonic Fish. This was their only chance to attack the stuck demonic fish at this current moment.
Xiao Keyun's eyes also turned red. Southern City was where his Xiao Family had established themselves in. The moment Southern City was destroyed, his Xiao Family would sink into panic. Therefore, for this battle, he had to put in all his efforts.
Hiss~ Hiss~!
Just as he had started to circulate his true energy and send out a few attacks, Xiao Keyun's true energy surged up within his body but his complexion turned uglier and uglier as a pitch-black dark energy that looked like small snakes scattered around his face.
Furthermore, an acute pain was spreading throughout his body!