Stranger Danger

Chapter 867: A River Flows From The Heavens

“Yeah! Let us go and leave if you know what’s good for you! Otherwise, today next year will be your death anniversary!”

“Let us go now, or you won’t even have the time to wallow in regret!”

“Hahaha... we are most grateful for your concern, but worry not.” The Nine-headed Snake Demon giggled. “The Dragonmount Duke won’t be coming to your aid, so you best not count on him to save your lives.”

“What, are you going to kill us all?” Someone threatened, “Everyone here is a famous person in the jianghu. If you kill us, you will be going up against the entire jianghu! Do you think you can bear the consequences?”

“Consequences? What consequences? You speak as if we haven’t been hunted our whole lives.”

Powerful Bull Demon let out a savage laugh. “In fact, I dare you to come at me. If one shows his face, then I’ll split his face in half. If two show their faces, then I’ll remove both necks from their shoulders. If a group shows up, then I’ll slaughter you all and make a blood river! There’s nothing I love more than killing people, hahahaha!”

“Agreed,” the Nine-headed Snake Demon echoed in agreement. “It does sound fun to make an enemy out of the entire jianghu.”

For a moment, the audience fell into stunned silence. Now they thought about it, the Seven Demons of Yandang were insane. It was one thing to threaten a sane warrior into submission, but a complete madman? That was a bit of a stretch.

“That said, we have come today not to take lives, but to seek fortune.” The Nine-headed Snake Demon suddenly changed her tune and said temptingly, “So long as you cooperate with us and surrender your wealth peacefully, we promise we won’t take your lives. Amiability makes you rich, right?”

Suddenly, a silhouette appeared on the Lampfire Palace. He said, “It’s done, sister.”

The silhouette had a human’s body but a leopard’s head. He also had a long tail behind his back. He was obviously the Shadowless Leopard Demon.

Shadowless Leopard Demon was currently carrying a head each in each hand. Qu Yanniang’s eyes widened in disbelief for a moment before succumbing into despair.

The two heads belonged to the elite warriors responsible for maintaining the law and order of the Dragonmount Meet. If she and Jin Wei were the front, then they were the knives lurking in the shadows. Not only that, they were bestowed part of the Lampfire Palace’s authority so that they could use the Strange Artifact to their own advantage in case of an emergency that exceeded their capabilities to handle.

But now, both two elite warriors were dead. Clearly, the Nine-headed Snake Demon wasn’t conversing with them just because she was bored. She was also buying time for her ally to suss out the hidden warriors and kill them.

With this, the Lampfire Palace had fallen completely into the Nine-headed Snake Demon’s hands.

“Thank you, brother.”

The Nine-headed Snake Demon giggled. “Now that that’s done, please stay in your seats, everyone. It’s time we leave this dreary city.”

The next moment, the Nine-headed Snake Demon commanded the Lampfire Palace to fly up and away from Dragonmount City.

“What’s happening?”

“Why is the Lampfire Palace flying away?”

“Is the Dragonmount Meet over already? That seems unlikely. It wasn’t like this the previous years.”

“Strange!”

......

The Lampfire Palace’s sudden departure confused the jianghu warriors in the Dragonmount City as a matter of course. Countless people were pointing fingers and talking about it.

“Who dares to steal the Lampfire Palace?”

It was at this moment a deafening roar resounded throughout the city. At the same time, five figures flew toward the Lampfire Palace at high speed.

They were three men and two women, and they were all powerful Truemen. They were one of the organizers of the Dragonmount Meet and five of the controllers of the Lampfire Palace.

In fact, they already noticed something amiss when the Nine-headed Snake Demon had seized control of the Lampfire Palace. However, they hadn’t paid it any heed or thought that someone was trying to steal the Lampfire Palace from under their nose. After all, the auction was held at the center of Dragonmount City, and the Dragonmount Duke was right “next door”. Who in their right mind would dare to target the Lampfire Palace or the Dragonmount Meet at the center of their power?

In fact, the Dragonmount Meet had been carried out for decades without any incident. Forget targeting the Lampfire Palace, no one had dared to start so much as a scuffle. That was why they were so lax despite being assigned the important task of guarding the Dragonmount Meet. They thought that nothing could happen so long as the Lampfire Palace and the Dragonmount Meet were present.

Their negligence and carelessness were their downfall. It wasn’t until the Lampfire Palace was flying away without warning that they finally realized the severity of the situation.

The Lampfire Palace was jointly controlled by several trading companies and chambers of commerce. Although the host was bestowed the large majority of the control so that they could conduct the Dragonmount Meet with the highest degree of professionalism, the rest were held in their hands as a matter of security.

Should the five of them combine their authority, they would be able to stop the Lampfire Palace from leaving the Dragonmount City no matter what. They didn’t need to delay the usurper for too long either. Once the Dragonmount Duke showed up, it would be all over.

The five Truemen were executing their spells when suddenly, the alarm bells in their heads blared in full force. When they looked up, they saw a gigantic maw that wasn’t there before.

An unbelievably powerful suction force came from the gigantic maw, and everything within tens of kilometers suddenly started flying toward it. Many buildings were destroyed by the sudden cyclone, countless trees were violently ripped out of the ground, and even more civilians and warriors were being dragged uncontrollably toward the maw.

It was like a skyriding whale had appeared out of nowhere to devour Dragonmount City whole.

For a time, everything was falling apart, and screams came from everywhere. It was as if the apocalypse was upon them.

“You dare!”

The five Truemen had no choice but to abandon the Lampfire Palace for the moment and attack the giant maw in the sky.

The combined might of five Truemen was sky-splitting, of course. The maw was shattered in a single strike.

The unnatural air currents disappeared, and the vortex pulling everyone in disappeared like it never was. Once their momentum was spent, the buildings, trees, rocks, ordinary citizens and warriors began falling back to the ground. The screams practically doubled in intensity and quantity because of this.

The five Truemen managed to stop the giant maw, but the damage had already been done. Dragonmount City looked like a pile of ruins, and the casualties were innumerable.

The five Truemen looked like they would burst a vein or two. They cared nothing for the lives of the people, but they did care that the attack had destroyed most of their shops and businesses. To say that their loss was terrible would be an understatement.

“How dare you run rampant in my Dragonmount City, River Swallowing Toad Demon. Die.”

The voice boomed from somewhere, and a draconic claw covered in ugly scales ripped through the clouds and descended from above.

Boom...

There was a massive rumble, and a giant toad was slapped to the ground. Such was the impact that a huge, deep pit was left on the ground.

When the dust settled, a humanoid figure could be seen lying at the center of the pit. Then, the figure climbed to his feet and rubbed his belly, chuckling.

“Hahaha... not bad, Vice Chief Xin. That tickled me.”