Chapter 358: Chapter 359: Better You Die than I

Translator: 549690339

“Hehe, this man’s arrogance was to the extreme, having swallowed the Binding Pill from the City Lord without any realization. I fear it was only in the face of the Flesh Mountain that he discovered his Spiritual Power was no longer obeyable!”

“Indeed, that’s why our Lord Cai is so astute, knowing Li Xiaobai is arrogant and treating him right away, haha!”

“Stop talking, this kid has treasures hidden on him. Let’s divide them up first, and then hand the rest over to the City Lord. What do you think?”

The Captain interrupted the cultivators’ merciless mockery, speaking slowly.

“No problem, that’s what the brothers think too!”

The cultivators said.

“Then, there’s no problem. First, we’ll kill off these Flesh Mountains, then take the treasures from Li Xiaobai, and find a place to divide the loot.”

The Captain said quickly, but then he noticed that everyone’s eyes were somewhat vacant, all staring fixedly at one spot.

Years of survival experience on the battlefield instinctively alerted him to danger, and as he suddenly turned to look, goosebumps ran down his spine, and his scalp tingled.

At some point, a few strands of pitch-black flames, like those of ink, had appeared amidst the pile of Flesh Mountains, slowly burning along the flesh.

“What is that black color?”

“The black, strange flames, capable of burning the Flesh Mountain… I think I’ve heard of this thing somewhere.”

The cultivators discussed the origin of these black flames, which seemed to be just a few strands that had not yet started to burn fiercely, and hence, didn’t appear to be dangerous.

The Captain pondered for a moment, then gestured for a cultivator to come over.

He grabbed the cultivator’s hand without hesitation and pressed it onto the pitch-black flames.

“Captain, you…”

The cultivator’s face showed terror. Just as he wanted to pull back his hand to retreat, his body turned to dust in an instant and scattered with the wind.

“This damn thing is the Hellfire that the City Lords have been looking for!”

“What do we do now? Keep searching for treasures?”

“Keep searching my ass, run!”

“Once these flames flare up, they’re beyond what we can contend with!”

“Hurry and notify the City Lord to deal with it!”

The Captain’s inner world was like a stampede of a myriad of grass-mud horses; he couldn’t understand why they would encounter this black flame here.

This was supposed to be the core area; wasn’t it said to be burning only up to the fourth battleground? Such flames were supposed to be only in the peripheral areas!

But, at that moment, the cultivators suddenly discovered that the ground beneath them had at some point turned into scorched earth, with layers of pitch-black flames burning fiercely.

“I…”

“Activate your Cultivation Techniques, run quickly!”

“Where did these flames come from?”

“We can’t escape; these flames have covered a hundred meters, consuming the Spiritual Power in our bodies, making it impossible for us to fly!”

The cultivators panicked. They found that under the scorch of these flames, half of their internal Spiritual Power was burned away in the span of a breath. Unable to use their cultivation level, they couldn’t run away.

Those cultivators with weaker cultivation levels had turned into a pile of ashes and dispersed with the wind as soon as the flames arose.

“Damn it, what in the world is this?”

The Captain turned as pale as paper, his heart racing with panic. Among all the cultivators present, his cultivation level was the highest, but he couldn’t withstand the flames. In just a few seconds, the Spiritual Power in his body was exhausted.

Looking at the fellow cultivators beside him, his eyes suddenly sharpened.

“It’s better for one to live than for all to die. Brothers, I will take good care of your families!”

Having said that, the squad captain reached out and violently pierced the heart of a cultivator next to him, with strands of pure and fierce Spiritual Power flowing into his body through the arm.

This was a secret technique he had mastered, which allowed him to extract another person’s cultivation technique for his own use within a short period of time. However, due to its overly domineering effect, his body would become feeble and limp afterward.

But at this moment, to escape, he couldn’t afford to care about the consequences.

“Captain, you…”

The cultivator’s face was filled with disbelief, but in the next second, his eyes lost their luster, and his body turned to ash in the black flames.

The squad captain ran wildly, piercing the hearts of any cultivators he encountered to extract their Spiritual Power, without the slightest mercy. For a time, the cultivators struggling desperately in the flames showed faces of despair.

“Captain, we’ve been through life and death together, how could you do this!”

“Brother, it’s better for me to live than for us all to die together. If I get out, at least someone will remember you and take care of your families. I will erect gravestones for you!”

The squad captain’s face was fierce as he forced his Cultivation Technique to operate, killing all around him in the flames.

The speed at which the flames consumed Spiritual Power was terrifying. Absorbing the Spiritual Power of one cultivator was only enough to hold on for half a breath. To break out, he had to continuously extract the Spiritual Power from the surrounding cultivators without a moment’s hesitation.

At this moment, all the cultivators trapped in the flames had lost their ability to resist, and could only watch helplessly as the squad captain ruthlessly harvested lives and plundered their Spiritual Power.

“Yang Wei, damn your ancestors!”

“Yang Wei, you will not die a good death!”

“For slaughtering your own kin within the city, Lord Cai will not let you off!”

The cultivators’ faces were filled with resentment, cursing continuously. They wanted to use their Cultivation Techniques to fight Yang Wei to the death, but they were pierced through by him upon encounter.

“Heh, the City Lord only cares if Li Xiaobai is dead or alive. You trash, if you die, then you’re dead!”

With a crazed expression on his face, Yang Wei didn’t stop his movements, sprinting all the way, causing heart after heart to burst open, with streaks of Spiritual Power entering his body to resist the burning of the black flames.

After a few breaths, he managed to escape the area of the black flames.

The black Hellfire’s range covered only a hundred meters. As long as there was enough Spiritual Power inside, one could run out of it.

Yang Wei took a stride and leaped out of the range of the black Hellfire.

The terrifying consumption of Spiritual Power inside his body stopped suddenly. Not daring to slow down, Yang Wei frantically worked his Cultivation Technique, his figure flashing away as he continued to flee until he was a hundred meters away before he stopped and turned to look back.

But it was this look back that sent a chilling sensation up his spine.

The black Hellfire that had been behind him was now gone without a trace, and there was a figure in the distance waving at him—it was Li Xiaobai!

“How is this possible, you’re actually not dead!”

Yang Wei’s pupils constricted, and the scene before him seemed eerie. He realized something was amiss.

“A mere Flesh Mountain, how could it harm me? I just didn’t act immediately, only wanting to hear what you all would say. I never expected Lord Cai to go to such great lengths for little me. You really troubled yourselves.”

Li Xiaobai spoke indifferently.

“No, what about that black Hellfire, why has it disappeared?”

“I collected the fire.”

Li Xiaobai casually gestured, and instantly, the black Hellfire surged out within a hundred meters, blazing fiercely. He realized his Hellfire’s initial range was still too short. The squad captain was only at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage, and by relying on a secret technique that could absorb others’ Spiritual Power, he was able to escape from the flames.

Indeed, to truly kill someone, he’d have to increase the initial coverage range of the Hellfire.

After all, enemies were capable of running; they wouldn’t wait until the fire spread a thousand miles to give up without a fight.

“You released this black Hellfire!”

“That’s impossible, at your age, at your stage, how could you possibly have such a level of power!”