Chapter 98 – When the Heavens Weep (III)

Chapter 98

When the Heavens Weep (III)

I was just about to begin admiring the badass gusto of that old man that seemingly came from nowhere when the sky started exploding. There’s really no other way for it, I don’t think; thunderous sounds, one after another, and blinding flashes of light interspersed with leviathan-like flames… it was hell.

Or, well, it started raining hell.

Again, not a metaphor–literal chunks of flesh began to rain from the sky, burning, all while the battles across the sect resumed. I watched countless pavilions begin to crumble, their walls webbing and shattering under the excruciating pressure of undulating Qi.

“Come on, hurry!!” Elder Qin ushered us abruptly, and we followed.

The old man had a nasty laceration across his left shoulder, flesh around it corroding at visible speeds.

He stopped suddenly and stepped to the side, deflecting a string of attacks. His robes fluttered as Qi surged once again, his sword crying out as he swung. I couldn’t quite make out what happened after–it was all too fast, to be honest. Flashes and blurs married in a strange, yet oddly beautiful, symphony of destruction.

Fires came and through them cut the light, splitting them like the sea, before more heads began to roll and more limbs began to rain down.

In the end, an old, haggard figure emerged from the bundle of destruction, far worse for wear than when he went in.

Elder Qin was missing an entire limb–his left arm, to be precise, cut cleanly at just below the shoulder. He suddenly let go of the sword and pinned the pair of fingers rapidly across the surface of the shoulder, stopping the bleeding.

Staggeringly, the sword he let go didn’t fall–rather, it continued to hover in place, seemingly waiting for him.

“Go, go!” It seemed that was the only sentiment he had left in him as he ushered us outwards.

I glanced back over toward the sky, where I caught fading glimpses of human-like silhouettes flashing across the blinding haze. I wonder… will I ever be like them? Capable of something so… well, many things, really, but the first word that comes to my mind is ‘terrifying’.

We ran just down the mountain and cut it short by going left, avoiding the direct path and breaking through the scant few trees that remained. All the while, the ground continued to shake, and the screams of agony grew louder and more numerous.

I stopped abruptly as I caught, from the corner of my eye, the sight of the Martial Hall erupting–a staggeringly wide pillar of flames jutted out at its heart, crashing through the walls and sending a shower of debris in a spherical direction. Velocity varied, but they all left hazy trails of fire, and, for a moment, it looked hauntingly beautiful, almost like fireworks.

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Thus, I continued to run, my feet carrying me.