Chapter 73: The City Forsaken by Heaven (VII)

The leopard demon’s might was astonishing. Earlier, with mother and son joining forces against it, it had been distracted and unable to unleash its full power. But once the child was entangled by the Black Wind Hound, the leopard suddenly erupted, seized an opening, and pounced the woman to the ground. On a battlefield such as this, when a human is pinned beneath a beast, mortal peril is all but certain.

The woman understood this; the boy understood it as well. As the leopard demon’s maw was about to close around his mother’s neck, the boy, desperate, transformed his own body into a weapon and hurled himself at the leopard’s head, hoping to knock it aside. Yet this leopard, both in strength and cunning, far surpassed the canine demon. Seeing the boy coming, it darted back two steps. The boy’s leap brought him right to the beast’s jaws; the leopard opened wide, biting off half the boy’s upper body. With a sickening crunch, the boy’s torso vanished, leaving only his arms and what remained below, which tumbled to the ground.

The woman had just risen to her feet when she witnessed this scene. She cried out in anguish, “Bai Yu!” Then, heedless of her own safety, she rushed at the leopard demon. Ji Mo felt as though something gripped her heart, making it almost impossible to breathe. She could no longer remain a calm observer; seeing the woman about to perish as well, Ji Mo leapt from the city wall.

But as she moved, Mo Fan seized her arm. Ji Mo spun around, eyes blazing with fury. “Elder Mo, how can you simply stand by and watch your people die?”

“Immortal, though you are the one fated to save us, if I am not mistaken, your power is not great. Few of the beasts below are within your ability to defeat. Even if you descend, what difference can you make?” Mo Fan’s face twisted with bitterness and sorrow as he spoke.

Ji Mo’s breath caught. Indeed, even the leopard demon alone would overpower her; with only her current abilities, she could scarcely survive one exchange, let alone make a difference. Her gaze involuntarily fell upon the woman; in those few moments, the leopard demon had already bitten off her head, swallowing it whole.

“Elder Mo, you keep telling me I am your fated one. Tell me, what can I do for you? Speak quickly!” Ji Mo, driven by the horror of what she had witnessed, gasped for breath, her eyes bloodshot. She fixed Mo Fan with a fierce stare and shouted.

Many in this world are not born heroes, yet in their bones lies a hidden compassion, only awakened by intense provocation. Then, the dormant urge for heroism bursts forth.

Ji Mo was such a person; she never saw herself as a savior. Even upon arriving in this forsaken city, revered as a deity of deliverance, she sought only to escape this burden. But at that very moment, witnessing the tragic deaths of the tenacious mother and child, a fire ignited within her, burning her very blood.

She felt anger and shame at her own indifference and avoidance. Mo Fan, seeing her, paused, uncertain whether his expression was sorrow or joy, and slowly released her hand, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I truly don’t know.”

Was there truly no way? If nothing could be changed, why had the divine beast brought her here? Was she meant only to witness such tragedy? Ji Mo raged inwardly. She did not fancy herself a savior, but she could not stand idly by as so many perished so brutally before her eyes.

The more she reflected, the angrier she became, until at last she could not help but raise her head and let out a piercing howl. She was but a third-stage Qi refiner, newly entered the path of transcendence, her spiritual power limited. By rights, her cry should not have been able to drown out the tumult below: a battlefield stretching hundreds of kilometers, filled with deafening slaughter and war. Yet, strangely, Ji Mo’s howl swept across the field, blanketing all.

The residents of the Forsaken City, stunned by the cry, felt a long-lost warmth stirring in their numbed hearts. The beasts, too, were taken aback, pausing their assault. Millions of eyes turned toward Ji Mo, filled with wildness and longing.

A collective roar erupted—millions of demon beasts raised their forepaws and howled toward her. Countless waves of sound converged into a terrifying, invisible arrow directed at Ji Mo. Those caught between the beasts and Ji Mo were struck down, lifeless, unable to resist.

Ji Mo herself felt everything go dark, as if her organs had been shattered by an unseen force. Her body was flung into the gray sky, and with a thunderous crack, she exploded in midair, raining fragments of flesh down to the earth.

“Immortal!” Mo Fan and all the residents watched in horror as their hearts seemed to shatter, their cries more beast than human. Despair and madness twisted their faces; this despair was deeper than even being surrounded by countless demon beasts. Ji Mo was the savior for whom they had waited countless years, and now, to see her die before their eyes was unbearable.

The demon beasts, the cause of all this tragedy, became the focus of their rage. In that first moment, the residents’ fury was wholly transferred to the monsters before them. Now, their only thought was to fight to the death.

But as their eyes fell upon the beasts, they were stunned. Everywhere they looked, the demon beasts’ bodies began to explode, one after another, until the battlefield was awash in blood.

“Look! The sun’s come out!” No one knew how long had passed. When the demon beasts had finally vanished, someone shouted. Shaken from their stupor, the people instinctively looked up.

The sky, always gray and oppressive, now revealed its true color: a deep blue, with a golden sun shining brightly, its radiance flooding the land abandoned by heaven. The desert outside the city, the city itself—both were illuminated in exquisite detail.

The swirling dust, cleansed by the blood rain, settled slowly to the ground. The hearts of the Forsaken City’s people, once frozen in despair, gradually began to thaw. Under the sunlight, the gloom receded, hope was reborn. Suddenly, everything seemed so beautiful.