Chapter 39 Wherever the divine gaze falls, flames blaze...
At the command of the leader of the Xuanjia Cavalry, the black-clad warriors once again raised their swords.
The people of Liyue Village gripped their weapons tightly, huddled into an ever-shrinking ball, anxiously awaiting their death.
Some people in the crowd looked at Jiang Yuhuo.
She knelt amidst the pile of corpses, unarmed.
No one can save them.
The young man who stepped forward charged at the enemy with all his might.
"don't want--"
A woman let out a piercing scream as she rushed out to embrace her son, who had been stabbed to death.
A scream pierced the night sky, silencing the surroundings.
Like a constantly buzzing, vibrating string suddenly being squeezed, Xiao Jiang's chaotic mind was abruptly awakened by this scream.
No...no...
No more people can die...
No matter the cost.
Xiao Jiang wiped the blood from her mouth. Supporting herself against the still-rigid corpses on the ground, she slowly crawled up from the pile of bodies, letting the terrifying heat coursing through her veins.
Her blood roared, surging through her entire body. The familiar burning sensation on her back brought a tearing pain, her spine felt like it was about to split open, and her hands were as hot as branding irons... She saw faint, glowing lines like embers appearing beneath the skin of her arms, flames flowing through her veins.
That ancient power was awakened once again, even more intensely than before.
She raised her hand with trembling hands, and a fireball slowly appeared in her palm. The fireball appeared out of thin air and burned without any material support.
This is something she couldn't do before.
The fireball grew larger, and she raised her arm back before accurately shooting it at the dark mass of armored cavalry.
A loud bang exploded in the crowd.
Xiao Jiang gathered her strength and threw several more fireballs in succession. Wherever she wanted it to go, it would obediently burn there.
The flames reflected on her blood-splattered face, flickering like a ghost.
The Xuanjia cavalry were burned by the fireball that fell from the sky and had to retreat, distancing themselves from the Liyue villagers who were surrounded.
Xiao Jiang slowly walked towards the isolation zone. She stared at this open space, which could be trampled by the enemy at any moment, and her eyes gathered a fierce flame.
With a loud "boom," the empty firebreak suddenly burst into flames.
The raging flames instantly formed a wall of fire, completely separating the Xuanjia cavalry and the Liyue villagers.
People looked towards the direction of the flames, and at the end of the flames was the girl who had been knocked to the ground by a single blow.
Alone and without support, she walked on, and flames gradually rose from the ground beneath her feet. In the firelight, her figure became clearer, along with a pair of enormous wings on her back, red and gold feathers, which quietly appeared before the people. She was both a deity descended from the heavens and a demon crawled up from hell.
Wherever her gaze fell, flames raged.
In an instant, the entire world was illuminated by flames.
Everyone was shocked by this scene: flames rising out of thin air and a girl with wings on her back—it was completely beyond their comprehension.
The entire sacrificial ground instantly became scorching hot, and waves of heat swept over the armored knights, deterring them from any further advances.
The Liyue villagers, protected by the ring of flames, watched this miraculous scene with bated breath.
"It's the Feather God!"
"The Feather God has appeared... Liyue Village is saved!"
"The Feather God has not abandoned His people..."
...
Some cheered, murmuring excitedly to themselves; others knelt down spontaneously, tears welling in their eyes…
Like everyone else, Qingdai stared intently at the figure not far away. Suddenly, she recalled many moments: when the smoke fell from the temple, when the torches in the mine burned for no reason, and when she killed the mountain god...
It turns out she really wasn't an ordinary person; she noticed those signs every time, but she chose to ignore them each time.
How ridiculous! She was jealous of the god she was supposed to serve; she even hated her…
As a witch, she even thought that the Feather God had completely abandoned Liyue Village...
Qingdai clenched her fists tightly, causing the wounds on her palms to reopen, wetting her hands with blood. She seemed oblivious to the pain, continuing to clench her fists, the open wounds a reminder of her transgressions, a way of calling upon the gods.
Perhaps it wasn't that the Mirror Oracle had lost its power, preventing the High Priest from summoning the gods, but rather that she had blamed the merfolk and had already used the Mirror Oracle to send a summons to the spirit world once...
Amid the cheering crowd, no one noticed that the once incredibly proud priestess slowly crouched down, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Suddenly, the girl with wings on her back rose into the air and stood on the flames.
Xiao Jiang found Jia Qianyang and simultaneously activated his spiritual power in his palm, causing even more intense flames to rise from beneath Jia Qianyang's feet.
She will never forget who the most deserving person here is.
One fireball after another flew from her hand, engulfing Jia Qianyang in a sea of flames.
But in the sea of fire, a dark blue halo spread out, extinguishing all the flames wherever it reached, and Jia Qianyang's figure appeared in everyone's sight.
There wasn't a single burn mark on his body, not even a hair or beard. Jia Qianyang's dove-shaped staff touched the ground, and a faint light spread out from the staff. He had been on guard since the first fireball appeared.
"I never expected to encounter the legendary Feathered Clan. You've been hiding it so well..." Jia Qianyang's eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed at the sky, his excitement palpable.
Xiao Jiang didn't answer, but kept conjuring fireballs and shooting them at Jia Qianyang. This was the first time in her life that she so desperately wanted someone to die.
This time, however, it was as if there was an isolation field around Jia Qianyang, and no matter how she tried to activate it, it had no effect.
As she continued to use her spiritual power to control the fire, the burning pain in her body intensified, with each flame scorching her simultaneously. Unlike her previous encounter with the mountain god, without the guidance of the green jade, her untrained body was rashly summoning such intense fire. If this continued, her body would also be reduced to scorched earth.
But if we don't do this, everyone in Liyue Village will die.
This is the sin she committed, and only she can pay for it!
Xiao Jiang glanced back at the people of Liyue Village, who were also looking at her. Their gazes, filled with eagerness and excitement, were fixed on her; she was their only hope for survival…
A flaming whip fell from the sky like lightning, striking Jia Qianyang. At that moment, the world was as bright as day.
The blow tore Jia Qianyang's skin and flesh apart, filling the air with the smell of burnt flesh. Jia Qianyang stood motionless, his body charred black, making it impossible to tell if he was still alive.
At the same time, the person in mid-air finally couldn't hold on and plummeted to the ground.
Xiao Jiang tried to gather her strength again to deliver another fatal blow to Jia Qianyang, but her strength seemed to be exhausted. She saw that the skin on her hands was starting to crack inch by inch, and there was a charred scar on her palm.
She had no strength left.
However, Jia Qianyang suddenly moved.
He swung the dove-shaped staff in his hand, and eerie light came from all directions, all of which was absorbed by the jet-black staff. The blackness of the staff surged like a living thing, and illusory faces, some familiar and some unfamiliar, rushed out from the top of the staff, howling and trying to break free from the staff's restraint, only to be swallowed up by the dove at the top of the staff in the next moment.
Even though Xiao Jiang had never formally studied magic, he knew that this was used to absorb the spirits of the dead at the sacrificial site!
Before Xiao Jiang could even stand up, Jia Qianyang drew a seal in the night sky with his dove-shaped staff. The seal flew towards Xiao Jiang the moment it was formed, binding her like a rope so that she could no longer move.
Her legs and the newly grown wings on her back were firmly bound by this seal.
The next moment, the charred figure suddenly moved in front of her in an instant. Xiao Jiang felt a chill on her abdomen. She looked down and saw that the black dagger was stuck in her stomach.
"Hahahaha... I actually encountered a demigod." Jia Qianyang couldn't help but burst into wild laughter, his face becoming increasingly ferocious. "I don't know if I'm too lucky, or you're too unlucky."
At this moment, not only was the spiritual energy dissipating from Xiao Jiang's body, but even the heat in his blood was fading.
But Jia Qianyang was still not satisfied, so he stabbed her in the abdomen a second time.
The knife wound was nothing compared to the burning pain in her body; the moment the knife pierced her, she only felt cold.
It was the first time she realized how cold the knife was.
Did the mountain god feel the same coldness when she stabbed it into its neck that day?
The third stab did not come.
"Let her go!"
Jia Qianyang turned to the side, and Xiao Jiang saw Qingdai behind him.
Qingdai picked up a dagger from somewhere and stabbed it without hesitation into the body that should have been her father's. "You monster! Get off my father! Let her go!"
Qingdai didn't know where she got the courage, but when she saw Jiang Yuhuo being captured by Jia Qianyang, only one thing remained in her mind—this was the god she believed in.
She was not a qualified servant of God; she couldn't even recognize God when He was right next to her.
But at this moment, she vowed to protect her god even at the cost of her life!
"Ignorant ants." Jia Qianyang sneered, not even glancing at his wound; ordinary weapons couldn't harm him at all.
The next moment, the short knife pulled from Jiang Yuhuo's body slashed Qingdai's throat, and blood splattered into Xiao Jiang's eyes, causing tears to well up immediately.
"Qingdai!" Xiao Jiang exclaimed, looking incredulously at the once proud priestess lying on the ground.
She struggled to crawl to Qingdai's side, haphazardly trying to bandage her wounds, "Don't die... Qingdai, you could have left, why did you come back?"
Seeing her approach, the priestess's fading gaze suddenly brightened. Qingdai stared intently at her and said with difficulty, "Just like you."
A mouthful of blood gushed from Qingdai's mouth, her throat convulsing. "This... is what I should do..."
Qingdai gripped her hand tightly, blood welling in her throat, her breath weak and feeble, her voice broken, "Jiang Yuhuo... I'm sorry for what happened before... You... You must live... You should... Live more than anyone else..."
"No! Don't die! No one deserves to die..." Xiao Jiang sobbed as she grasped her hand, but the hand suddenly and limply let go.
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Author's Note: I should be able to finish this plot point in the next chapter. [emoji]
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