novelraw Chapter 614 - 274: Symphony of Flesh and Blood (Part 9)
Chapter 614 - 274: Symphony of Flesh and Blood (Part 9)
It’s Jiang Taixuan!
His lower body, including both legs, had already been pulverized during the terrifying impact of the Thunder Dragon’s explosion and the subsequent high-altitude fall.
The only remaining upper half was also mangled, with the chest caved in, and the left arm completely eroded by the ghostly blue frost into a dead gray color, like an ice sculpture.
Only the shriveled head, due to Fang Qingyu’s deliberate avoidance in the last moment of condensed thunder glow, remained somewhat "intact."
And at this moment, even though Jiang Taixuan was dead...
The only remaining turbid eyeball was still full of resentment, unwillingness, and deep-seated fear.
Fang Qingyu walked forward expressionlessly, ignoring the resentful gaze, and extended a hand covered with faint lightning, grabbing Jiang Taixuan’s blood-stained head.
"What are you doing?!"
Jiang Ying curiously asked upon seeing this.
Hong Zhenyue also cast an inquiring glance.
Fang Qingyu lifted Jiang Taixuan’s head, turned, and smiled softly.
"This battle has never been completed by me alone."
"Little Jiang Wei inside the Gluttonous Stomach single-handedly held off the Taotie Blood Shadow, preventing Jiang Taixuan from having the chance to devour flesh and strengthen himself; otherwise, none of us would have lasted until the end."
"And Jiang Chengyue..."
"He was inside the city, holding back Jiang Taixuan’s men..."
Fang Qingyu paused, raising the head still exuding a decaying and resentful aura.
"So I think it’s necessary to take something back... to let them know their efforts weren’t in vain."
"A sinner’s head..."
"Will always carry more weight than just saying the mission is complete, right?"
...
Glazed Light City, City Lord’s Mansion Square.
Time seems frozen amid the bloodshed and killing intent.
The wide ground had long lost its luster.
Everywhere were charred pits left by energy blasts, deep cuts from swords, and large amounts of blood that had splattered and frozen into dark red ice crystals.
Dozens of figures, like blood-stained rocks.
Were still firmly planted on the main road leading from the City Lord’s Mansion to the outside world.
The leader was Jiang Chengyue!
His battle suit had long been soaked with blood, solidifying into a dark brown color.
A gaping wound deep enough to expose bone extended from his left shoulder to his right rib, beneath the torn fabric, revealing twisted flesh and shattered bone, whitened by the cold air.
Jiang Chengyue leaned on a worn ancient long blade full of notches, its tip deeply embedded in the blood-stained crystal stone ground, supporting his wavering body.
Each heavy breath.
Tugged at the terrifying wound on his chest, bringing searing pain and spurting frothy blood.
Yet, he still stood tall!
His bloodshot eyes stared steadfastly ahead!
Behind him were dozens of equally blood-soaked comrades.
There were men wearing worn Garrison Army uniforms, and members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ patrol squads...
At this moment, nearly everyone was wounded, supporting each other, leaning or sitting.
Some were already unconscious, carried to the rear by comrades.
Many were heavily injured, their spirits waning, yet miraculously... not one fell.
No one died.
"Jiang Chengyue!!!"
A hysterical, crazed roar shattered the stalemate of silence on the square.
Jiang Hongyuan stood less than twenty meters from the defensive line, looking deranged!
His high-ranking Ministry of Internal Affairs uniform was equally soaked with blood, hair disheveled, face marked with blood streaks from flying debris.
Behind him, the team had dwindled from its initial grandeur to fewer than twenty men!
And each was wounded, their morale low, faces filled with fatigue, fear, and a trace of imperceptible hesitation.
More unsettling to Jiang Hongyuan, some who were initially on their side had quietly separated and stood afar, silently watching.
Photos!
Those damned photos!
Time was slipping away, second by second.
Each second burned like a hot branding iron upon Jiang Hongyuan’s heart.
He seemed to already glimpse the ancestor’s furious visage, his own miserable fate!
"You damned traitor! The disgrace of the family!"
Jiang Hongyuan pointed at Jiang Chengyue, his fingers shaking violently with extreme anger, his voice hoarse like a broken gong.
"If the ancestor... if the ancestor faces any accident outside!!!"
His eyes turned blood-red, filled with desperate blood threads, his voice suddenly rising, full of lung-tearing resentment, cursing madly:
"You all! And those damned branches behind you! Your parents and children! Not one will escape! All will pay the most painful price for your stupidity and betrayal today! I will make you..."
But the words were cut short...
"The ancestor? Ha..."
A cold and calm voice, as if it contained the mighty power of Thunder from the Ninth Heaven.
Without warning...
Resounded in the sky covered by eternal daylight aurora over Glazed Light City...
With a thunderous explosion!!!
The moment overwhelmed all of Jiang Hongyuan’s roars and curses.
The entire City Lord’s Mansion Square, everyone.
Whether it was Jiang Chengyue and his blood-soaked companions, or Jiang Hongyuan and the panic-stricken remnants by his side, or even the surrounding silent clansmen...
Suddenly looked up!
Astonishingly gazed at the sky.
Only to see above the Glazed Light City, where the translucent eternal daytime canopy formed by energy lay...
A point of glaring golden light suddenly lit up.
Like a meteor breaking through the night sky.
That golden light carried a destructive aura, rapidly plummeting from beyond the canopy.
Under the gaze of everyone astonished beyond measure...
That point of golden light swiftly enlarged.
BOOM——!!!
Crashing down on...
The blood-stained crystal stone ground between Jiang Chengyue and Jiang Hongyuan.
BANG!!!
A dull, heart-stopping thud.
The ground was forcefully blasted into a deep pit.
Fragments of stone mixed with frozen blood ice scattered in all directions!
Smoke and dust filled the air!
As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated...
A round, rolling head, covered in dark red filthy blood and ice shards, with withered hair...
lay quietly...
at the cold bottom of the pit!!!
On that withered, twisted face, one protruding eyeball froze with extreme malice and terror before death.
The position of the other eye, only a hollow invaded by ghostly blue chill, covered in frost, remained!
Dead silence!
An absolute dead silence enveloped the entire City Lord’s Mansion Square.
The sound of the wind, breathing, even the heartbeat... disappeared at this moment.
The madness and malice on Jiang Hongyuan’s face, hysterical...
like a fragile glazed mirror.
In the instant he saw the head at the bottom of the pit clearly...
it shattered instantly!!!
"Uh... uh uh..."
A meaningless rasping sound, like a strangled throat, escaped his throat.
His eyes widened to the limit, his eyeballs bulging with extreme shock and disbelief, almost popping out of their sockets!
The muscles on his face twitched frantically as if in spasm!
The blood rapidly drained from his face like the ebbing tide, turning it into an ashen gray!
"An... Ancestral Head?!!"
A piercing scream, so distorted as if squeezed from the depths of his soul, finally broke through the constraints of his throat, tearing apart the dead silence of the square.
Thud!
Jiang Hongyuan’s legs went soft, as if all the bones were removed, and he heavily collapsed to the ground.
The remnants behind him, as if struck by an invisible heavy hammer, collapsed instantly.
Their faces were filled with despair and collapse!
It’s over!
All is lost!!!
And at the forefront of the line of defense.
Jiang Chengyue, standing firm with his sword.
Also saw the appearance of the head at the bottom of the pit clearly.
On that face covered in blood and grime, marked by exhaustion and resilience...
first froze.
Then...
An indescribable emotion, like a flood breaking its banks, instantly overwhelmed all his defenses.
There was disbelief!
There was the wild joy of saving his family.
And more... there was a sense of solace, proving that the belief supporting him all this way was worth it.
Scalding liquid could no longer be suppressed!
Like broken pearls, mixed with the blood and ice water on his face...
surged down.
Jiang Chengyue suddenly raised his head.
His tear-filled gaze pierced through the eternal daytime canopy of the Glazed Light City, flowing with dreamlike auroras...
Fiercely...
looked towards the sky beyond!
That figure suspended high in the air, surrounded by golden thunder slowly circulating, like the Thunder God descending...