Li Yangde ran through the burning city. It was not the city where he had grown up, and since he had not come here willingly, he did not know where he was. Several cities on this Blue Emerald Island were considered metropolises, and Li Yangde had sometimes dreamed of taking his wife on vacation to one of them. They would enjoy the fancy shops, dine in the fanciest restaurants, and see famous performances in a vast theater. He didn't know what wonders this burning city had offered in the past, but currently, amidst the burning buildings, dodging falling debris, and trying to find a way through the crumbling city, he didn't care one bit about any of that. All he cared about was meeting his wife.

Several shouts tried to discourage him, warning that entering the city meant seeking death. They said it could be from the fire itself, the crumbling buildings, or the cultivators who were still fighting amidst the chaos. He was still going. Sometimes, the ground shook, halting Li Yangde's footsteps; sometimes, an explosion made tall buildings topple, and he needed to scramble away. Yet, with a feverish mind and lungs filled with smoke, he just ran deeper and deeper into the city, ignoring the shouts that tried to stop him from his foolish act.

"Dear! Where are you!" he cupped his mouth and shouted as hard as he could.

As far as he knew, his wife had been kidnapped by the Nether Lotus Sect to be used to... please them. This fact made him grind his teeth and clench his hands until they turned white. Still, while it was unpleasant to think about the horror his wife experienced, it gave him a hint. He knew that cultivators were akin to royalty, perhaps kings or emperors. They were strong and lived lavish lifestyles, so he needed to find the biggest or gaudiest building where they resided. Additionally, the harrowing sounds of godly beings fighting gave him another clue. He thought that the closer he got to the fight, then the closer he would be to the place where they stayed, and hence, to his wife.

Nodding at his conclusion, Li Yangde, with feet straining and lungs filled with burning smoke until he began to cough painfully, crept closer and closer to the center of the city. Luckily, this city had wide streets. While occasionally some buildings toppled, there was always a way.

He ran hurriedly yet carefully. After a moment, he finally found the tallest, biggest building in the city. It was a red tower that looked as if it were made of blood. Fire enveloped its surface, but instead of burning, it looked as if the fire were a protective blanket.

The building stood on the edge of a sea of mist. Li Yangde suspected that if he could become an eagle and fly, he would see that half of this burning city was enveloped by mist. And, since the mist was moving, it would later envelop the entire burning city. Additionally, he could see that across from the tower, fire flashed relentlessly from inside the mist, and explosions, thudding, screams, and laughter originated from there. It seemed the burning buildings around him had not been set on fire purposefully. Rather, it was merely a side effect of the fight. And since the buildings around him were close to each other, the fire was spreading. Combined with the fact that the city was like a ghost town, there was no one to stop the fire's spread.

After a while, Li Yangde finally arrived near the burning red tower. Upon arriving, his skin was as red as a cooked lobster. His face and body were covered in soot, and his lungs ached with agonizing pain. Along the way, he had been lucky to find a bucket filled with water, so he tore some of his ragged clothes, dipped the fabric into the water, and held it near his nose and mouth. As he looked toward the burning building, his gut suddenly told him that his wife was nearby. He was no cultivator, let alone an oracle, but he knew from the depths of his heart that his wife was close.

"Dear!" he shouted. At the same time, an explosion so loud it was accompanied by a crackling of thunder shook the world. The buildings around him crumbled, black smoke billowed, and a cloud of dust tried to invade his lungs and made him cough. "Dear, where are you?"

He knew she was nearby! There was no mistaking it. It was the instinct of a man!

He began to run toward the burning red tower. Up close, the tower was immense. Searching its entirety would take time. The building itself burned weirdly, as if only its outer wall was ablaze, yet Li Yangde knew that sooner or later, this unnatural fire would consume the structure and make it crumble.

He took a step, but then, suddenly, he heard a familiar voice. "Husband! Husband! Is that you?!"

Upon hearing that soft voice, his fear and anxiety suddenly gave way to profound hope. Soon, he heard many hurried footsteps ahead of him. A moment later, from the opened gate of the towering building, a group of people came rushing out. The one who led this group was a woman with fair skin, her hair as dark as a beautiful night, and her face, though covered by grime and soot, was still lovely, her cheeks red from physical exertion. Upon seeing her, relief washed over him like the freshest spring water, and a tearful smile spread across his face.

"Dear! I'm so worried about you!"

He began to run toward her, but once his initial relief at seeing his wife subsided, he could finally see the group that followed her. The group was diverse, from grandmothers and grandfathers to children ranging from a child of about three to young teenagers. In fact, he had not realized it before, but his wife was gently holding a bundle of clothes, and he knew she was holding a baby.

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The first thought that came to his mind was anger and despair. He thought his wife had borne a child from a monstrous cultivator. Thinking about it was so bitter, considering he had tried to have a child for years. But then, logic saved him. After all, his wife had not been kidnapped for more than a year. It had only been around two months. There was no way she could have gotten pregnant and then birthed a child at that time.

The gap between him and the group rapidly closed. He did not wonder why his wife led this pitiful group. The most important thing was that they could be reunited!

"Ah, this is the best day in my life!" he could not help but exaggerate.

His wife began to smile upon seeing him, and upon seeing that smile, his body and soul felt reinvigorated. His feet became lighter, and he rushed toward her, both hands spread out, as if he wanted to leap and hug his wife. The gap between them was only tens of meters away. In less than a minute, they would truly be reunited!

But then, as if the heavens did not want them to be reunited, a building suddenly let out a snapping sound, followed by a loud rumble and a rushing noise. Looking to the side, he saw that the building was falling, and from its trajectory, it... would fall right on top of his wife and the group she led!

His eyes instantly widened, shock coursed through his body, and the world slowed down. He could see the falling building—still burning—so vividly. He saw the minute changes of his wife's expression as it shifted from happy; then she turned her neck, and her expression changed from surprised to horrified. The little children around her opened their mouths wide; some froze on the spot, others looked horrified even as their bodies kept running. Li Yangde threw the rag from his mouth, inhaled deeply, and let out a reverberating shout. "Turn back!"

The group was still at the edge of the collision path. If they turned around now, they would escape!

His wife glanced at the collapsing building and turned around instantly. Some of the children stopped for a moment before they began running back. The elderly ran slower, their movements more sluggish, but they too ran back. But, among that group, one little boy, upon hearing his shout, his expression turned to panic; his eyes focused on the falling building, and instead of running back, he ran in Li Yangde's direction, as if he thought he could make it.

"That fool!"

The boy ran with a panicked expression, his eyes open wide, tears streaming, as if he too understood that what he did had been a mistake, yet his body had already committed to running and could not be stopped.

"Turn back! Turn back!" Li Yangde shouted in panic. The world slowed down even further, yet the building's collapse was still fast. His mind tried to analyze the speed of the boy's running, the speed of the burning building's collapse, and how far the boy was from safety. All of that was digested by his subconscious, and in an instant, he came to a conclusion. That boy... would be dead. But....

But... his wife and the other people would be safe. The children's running speed was enough, his wife's running speed was enough, and even though the elderly were slow, they too would be safe. They would be hit by the wind from the building's collision with the ground, but as long as no wild shrapnel hit them, they would be alright. The boy, though... unless he suddenly became a cultivator, he would not survive.

In this slowed-down world, Li Yangde felt regret for the kid, but he also shamefully felt relief. Relief because at least the one who would be dead was not his wife; rather, it would be a boy he had never met before. It felt disgusting, but he could not deny this feeling.

At that moment, the boy finally realized his mistake and turned around, beginning to run as fast as possible. His steps were wide, almost jumping, yet the collapsing building was already mere tens of meters from his head. There was no way he would be....

"Little Song!" His wife, his kind and patient and lovely wife, suddenly shoved the baby she carried to a little girl at her side. Then, with wide, panicked eyes, she... turned around and ran, one hand reaching for that foolish boy.

Upon seeing this, Li Yangde's eyes suddenly widened, his mouth opened wide, and a shout tore from his throat as hard as he could. "No!"

The moment his wife's tender hand grabbed the boy's hand and pulled with all her might, the world suddenly froze. It was as if the world were trying to torture him by displaying the fact that his wife had successfully pulled and thrown the foolish boy behind her, but because of that, she was directly in the path of the collapsing building, albeit only at its edge. If she could have moved two meters back, the building would have missed her. But reality was not as he hoped.

Li Yangde jumped forward, his hand reaching out, as if trying to grab her even though there was a gap of dozens of meters between them. "No! No!"

The world stopped freezing; the building instantly fell like the hammer of heavens. He could see that the wall of the building was merely a hand's reach away before it would crush his wife into a red paste of blood.

"No!"

But then, suddenly, something beyond his imagination happened. The burning building, which was collapsing and about to crush his lovely wife, was suddenly enveloped by a blinding white light. It was so blinding that he involuntarily closed his eyes, but his worry for his wife was so strong that even amidst the blinding white, he pried his eyes open and coincidentally saw the source of this light.

It was a small, floating white shark. It opened its mouth wide, shooting a blinding white light that devoured the entire building. The silhouette of the building could be seen inside that blinding white pillar for a moment before it finally vanished as if crumbling to ash.

A moment later, when the blinding white light receded and there's no trace of the burning building, the shark turned its face toward him. And then, as if the shark were a sentient being, its mouth turned into a smile. That smile was so ferocious, in normal circumstances, he would have been terrified beyond doubt by it, but yet, that ferocious smile might as well have been the most beautiful smile in the world.

Li Yangde did not know it at that time, but reliable reinforcement had finally arrived.

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