CHAPTER 68: CHAPTER 68: THE PURPLE-GOLD GOURD

"Who are you..."

Before the sentence was completed, the purple-haired man atop the treetop vanished. In the very next moment, he appeared before the corpse herder who had spoken, like a ghost. With a reach of his hand, he grabbed the corpse herder’s face as a fierce purple flame erupted from his fingertips.

Tyrant Extreme Purple Fire penetrated the flesh!

In an instant, the corpse herder was ignited into a human-shaped torch.

Panicking, he slapped at the purple flames on his body. The corpse herder desperately pumped Mana, light green luminescence flickering, attempting to extinguish the flames. But as soon as the Mana was activated, the purple fire, as if provoked, burned even more fiercely.

Piercing screams tore through the night, violently assaulting the eardrums.

"You..."

Seeing his junior brother killed, the leading corpse herder was about to speak when he met the purple-haired man’s gaze. His heart faltered, and the words at the tip of his tongue were abruptly swallowed back. But after a second thought, the realization that he had been frightened into silence by an unknown man filled him with anger.

"What are you dazed for? Avenge Su Tuor!"

Snapping back to their senses, the four corpse herders quickly chanted incantations. Their sleeves billowed as countless bats with an eerie green glow flew out from within. They converged into a terrifying dark green torrent, fiercely rushing towards the purple-haired man.

These bats were of a bloodthirsty variant. Their wings were covered with paralyzing poison powder. Upon nearing their target and flapping their wings, they could scatter a large amount of this powder, leaving the target paralyzed. The bats would then suck the victim dry.

SQUEAK! SQUEAK! SQUEAK—

The noisy, dense squeaking sounded like an incoming tide.

Watching the approaching bat flood, the purple-haired man appeared nonchalant. He tore off the cloth covering his face, revealing a rugged and robust countenance.

"Having been repressed for so long, today I need to stretch out a bit."

A stirring arose behind him in the void. The air suddenly turned hot and dry. The purple-haired man reached out and snatched. A two-meter-tall purple-gold gourd abruptly materialized. This gourd looked round and smooth, faintly circulating strands of red light, with a golden wheel mark emerging at the base, like a radiant sun, burning brightly.

Cradling the purple-gold gourd under one arm, the purple-haired man broke into a grin and plucked off the gourd’s stopper.

"Gentlemen, behold the fire!"

BOOM—

After an extremely brief silence, the purple-gold gourd suddenly swelled. The next second, a rampaging purple fire roared out like a breached flood, colliding heavily with the green swarm of bats.

A purple and a green torrent clashed. The fiercely intense Tyrant Extreme Purple Fire ignited, causing the bloodthirsty bats to sizzle. They fell with a rustle, descending like rain. Soon, the ground was carpeted with a thick layer of charred bat carcasses.

With the purple-gold gourd on his shoulder, the purple-haired man let out a hearty laugh, turning into a fire-setting maniac as he chased the four corpse-herding Demonic Cultivators, making them jump and run wildly in all directions.

"Don’t run, don’t run; you reek! Let me burn you a bit to disinfect."

"Shut your damn mouth!"

Turning his head and cursing, the leading corpse herder’s mouth was filled with bitterness as he muttered to himself.

What on earth is going on tonight? We met a maniac County Magistrate who staged his own play, that’s already bad enough. And where did this absurdly strong cultivator of true intent come from? I seem to understand now how the Hu Brothers and the Li Family Twin Demons were taken down.

"We can’t keep going like this! Split up and run! If you manage to escape, immediately notify the Hall Master, so he can come and personally flatten this county city!"

Seeing the purple-haired man wielding his bizarre evasive Qinggong and getting ever closer, the leading corpse herder clenched his teeth. The purple fire spewing from the gourd’s mouth was about to singe their bottoms when he finally spoke.

"After three breaths, I’ll detonate the Corpse Luo Sanyin Formation, summoning the Three Yin Python! Seize the opportunity to scatter and run!"

"Understood!"

Making Dharma Seals and muttering, the leading corpse herder scattered several dark green snakes from his sleeve, which burrowed into the ground.

"The Three Yin are extinguished! Explode!"

With a look of fierce determination, the leading corpse herder suddenly turned around. Pointing at the purple-haired man, the Corpse Luo Sanyin Formation beneath his feet shone brilliantly. The zombies within the formation were rapidly drained dry before one’s eyes, turning into withered husks.

BOOM!

Earth and rock burst apart, mud splattered chaotically. A ten-meter-long emerald python burst from the ground, its roar fierce as it violently lunged at the purple-haired man, bringing with it a stench-laden poisonous wind.

"Run!"

Seeing the Sanyin Python lunge towards the purple-haired man, the leading corpse herder let out a fierce shout, and the four bolted in different directions, sprinting wildly!

"No good, we can’t let them escape."

From atop the city wall, Song Tingye’s brows furrowed as he was about to order Sun Yueting to give chase. However, the purple-haired man, who was grilling the Sanyin Python with a purple-gold gourd, suddenly flung out four iron cards and bellowed:

"Everyone! Grab your heads, squat down, open your mouths!"

Cluelessly heeding the purple-haired man’s shout, Song Tingye was puzzled. But when he caught sight of those four iron cards, his eyes suddenly widened, and he immediately turned and roared:

"Listen to him! Everyone grab your heads, squat down, open your mouths!"

The four iron cards transformed into four shadowy purple-gold gourd phantoms in midair. Compared to the one in the purple-haired man’s hands, these four purple-gold gourds were riddled with cracks, clearly extremely unstable. Restless and scorching flames spewed out through the fissures, emanating a thick and surging aura of destruction.

Hurling out four [Purple Extreme True Intent Martial Talismans], Qi Xiu held the Purple Extreme Gourd tightly, pressing down on the writhing Sanyin Python. With a cold look in his eyes, he gestured from afar.

"Descend!"

BOOM—

In the blink of an eye! Like purple meteors falling from the sky, the four Purple Extreme Gourds, trailing long tails of flame, plummeted towards the four frantically fleeing corpse herders.

Feeling the thunderous roar behind them and the searing heat, the fleeing corpse herders glanced back. In that instant, their eyes nearly split from terror.

"No!!!"

Like a purple flower of death, the moment a purple-gold gourd touched the ground, hot air currents stirred and rapidly spread.

BOOM!!!

A powerful shockwave ravaged all directions, devouring everything around it in merciless flames! The ground was forcibly flattened, and the swirling earth and rock spread like giant waves. A huge fireball formed a terrifying mushroom cloud in the sky, rolling with black smoke and scorching heat that could annihilate everything. The explosion roared like thunder, sweeping in all directions.

In just an instant, everything within dozens of meters of the blast center was obliterated, as if erased from existence.

The fierce, rampaging shockwave surged forth, blasting against Qi Xiu and making his garments whip and crackle. In the county town, men and women, young and old, were all now squatting on the ground, shaking their heads, ears buzzing incessantly.

Atop the city wall, Song Tingye stood up from beneath the battlements and looked incredulously at the four vast, exposed black patches in the distant forest. Goosebumps rose all over his body as he muttered to himself:

This destructive power... even an ordinary Initiate Realm cultivator might not match it. What exactly is Ye Wen’s background?

Shielding his eyes from the blowing sand, Qi Xiu squinted slightly, gazing at the flattened wasteland that once was the forest.

Heh, Qi Someone’s Purple-Gold Gourd demolition bombs sure pack a punch, don’t they?

Just as a hint of joy flickered in his heart, Qi Xiu suddenly remembered something. He smashed the Sanyin Python beneath him with a single punch and dashed swiftly towards the explosion site. Waving his hand to disperse the choking smoke, Qi Xiu scoured the blast area but found not even a single hair.

Qi Xiu, holding his forehead, smiled helplessly.

Got carried away, and now there’s nothing left.