Chapter 159: Traces

Winter had arrived, casting its icy breath upon the land.

On the third floor of an elegant tavern in the Xia Capital, snow lay thick outside, and a chill permeated the air. Yet inside, the warmth of the hearth and the gentle glow of lanterns made for a cozy refuge.

A pot of fine wine simmered gently.

Dongbo Xueying and Jing Qiu sat across from one another, sipping on fragrant fruit wine and chatting casually. There were other guests on the floor as well, though the seating arrangements ensured ample distance between tables. The immortals in attendance were all familiar with one another, exchanging only polite nods, mindful not to intrude upon each other’s conversations or solitude. Dongbo Xueying and Jing Qiu clearly relished the atmosphere.

“Jing Qiu,” Dongbo said, raising his glass, “Yesterday, Master Sikong praised you highly. Your ranking has risen to fourth place.”

Jing Qiu smiled, taking a sip of her wine before smirking playfully. “What? Now that you’re number one, you can’t stand others improving a little too?”

“That’s not what I meant at all,” Dongbo quickly replied.

“Just teasing you! Honestly, ever since you became number one, I’ve felt more confident myself. My research on spell formations has flowed more smoothly, and I’ve had several breakthroughs,” Jing Qiu said with a grin. “When you’re in good spirits, your cultivation follows suit. I’ve always thought they treated you unfairly. Now, at last, you’ve proven yourself!”

“You care too much about such fleeting fame,” Dongbo shook his head.

“Hmph, I was really upset when I heard Master Sikong scolded you,” Jing Qiu frowned, then her eyes lit up. “Oh, right! This time, you really showed him up. When you completed the Ascension Mountain task and he saw you again, did he look embarrassed? Did he look awful?”

“It wasn’t like that at all! Master Sikong Yang is a man of great magnanimity. He only scolded me because he believed I had strayed from the right path,” Dongbo explained.

Their conversation unfolded in a bubble of The Power of Heaven and Earth, naturally shielding it from prying ears.

It was customary for immortals to respect each other’s privacy; eavesdropping would have been considered impolite and impertinent.

Suddenly—

At a nearby table, three immortals turned pale with shock. One of them even stood abruptly, knocking over a wine Jar, which crashed to the floor, spilling its contents. A nearby attendant rushed over to clean the mess.

“Hmm?” Dongbo Xueying and Jing Qiu, along with the immortals at the adjacent table, turned in curiosity.

“What’s wrong with them?” Jing Qiu whispered in surprise. “They’re immortals, yet they’ve lost their composure and even spilled their wine!”

“They seem deeply shocked,” Dongbo calmly observed, holding his cup. “It must be some grave matter that concerns them directly.”

“Friends,” one of the startled immortals, a tall and rugged man with wild hair, called out to the nearby tables. “Brother Dongbo, Brother Wei An, have you heard about the demons?”

“What’s going on?” Dongbo and the others looked on with interest.

The rugged man was named Rong Jun, a Saint-ranked immortal well known in the Xia Capital.

“It seems you haven’t heard,” Rong Jun said urgently. “I just received word that the entire city of Cangan Prefecture in my homeland, the Eastern Province, has been wiped out!”

“What?!”

Dongbo Xueying, Jing Qiu, and the two immortals at the neighboring table all stood up in shock.

An entire prefectural city destroyed?

Such cities were ancient, fortified, and usually home to millions of people. The annihilation of an entire city was an unthinkable horror. No immortal would dare commit such an atrocity, and even the The Warcraft Clan would not do so unless engaged in an all-out war.

Such an act would provoke the Xia Clan beyond reason, and they would retaliate with everything they had.

“How is that possible? Who would dare do such a thing?” Dongbo asked urgently. “Brother Rong, you said demons? Was it really demons? But it’s been so long since any abyssal demons appeared. Even if a few remained in hiding, they wouldn’t dare to act so brazenly.”

“That’s right, Brother Rong,” another immortal named Wei An chimed in. “Though I’ve heard a few abyssal demons still lurk in hiding, they’ve all been extremely cautious. None would dare to surface.”

“I don’t know the full details,” Rong Jun replied. “But what I do know is that it was an extremely powerful demon that wrought devastation on a massive scale. A Xia Clan demigod arrived and engaged in a fierce battle. The clash was immense, with demonic energy spreading across the sky. From miles away, one could feel the oppressive, dark, and terrifying aura of destruction. I don’t know the exact outcome, but some of my subordinates went to investigate the city afterward. They found it eerily silent, littered with countless corpses. Strangely, none of the bodies bore any wounds, yet all were lifeless.”

“No wounds?” Dongbo and the others turned pale.

To kill millions across an entire city without a single wound on their bodies was an act of unimaginable horror. Perhaps only a handful of demigods could accomplish such a feat, but even they would never dare to do so.

“What in the world is happening?” Jing Qiu couldn’t help but exclaim. “How could such a powerful demon appear? Our demigods are stationed everywhere across the land. How could they allow a demon to commit such a massacre?”

“Let’s ask Brother Changfeng,” Jing Qiu suggested.

“Yes, he should know more,” Dongbo immediately said, activating his communication ring to contact Chi Qiu Bai.

…

It wasn’t only Dongbo Xueying and his companions who were alarmed.

Across the Xia Capital, many immortals had received troubling news from their hometowns. Immortals often maintained communication with their families through communication rings.

The reports varied.

Some spoke of earth-shattering battles, so intense they seemed capable of destroying the heavens.

Others described sightings of several abyssal demons running rampant, only to be slain by powerful immortals who arrived in time.

But the annihilation of an entire prefectural city was rare indeed. These cities were heavily fortified and vast, often home to millions. To wipe out so many in such a short time—only the most formidable demons could accomplish such a feat.

“What’s going on?”

“Why are there so many demon sightings?”

“Why are the elder demigods keeping silent?”

Immortals across the Xia Capital gathered to exchange information.

Yet they knew little, piecing together only fragments of clues.

At the top floor of a tavern,

The entire level had been reserved. A group of immortals from the Anyang Province had gathered here, visibly anxious. Since it wasn’t a special occasion, several immortals like Hai Ruzhen and Peng Shan were currently in their hometowns and not present.

“Everyone, please remain calm,” Dongbo Xueying spoke up. With Chi Qiu Bai and Peng Shan absent, he had temporarily assumed leadership. “Brother Changfeng has already sent word, advising us to wait patiently. He said news would come soon.”

“No idea what’s happening…”

“It must be a demon invasion, but we don’t know the scale.”

“Sigh…”

The gathered immortals were deeply uneasy.

According to the intelligence they had gathered, demonic activity had appeared across the Xia Clan’s Longshan Empire. The battles were fierce, and it was clear that the demi-gods and supreme immortals, capable of traversing space effortlessly, had been dispatched to various fronts.