Chapter 310: A Living Human Flesh Bomb
The sonic boom rattled the clouds overhead as the Imperial Herald closed the distance with terrifying velocity.
Golden light surged around his palms, condensing into a pair of blinding, ethereal blades that hummed with middle-stage Nascent Soul Qi.
"Nowhere to run, creature of darkness!" the Herald roared, his voice cutting through the whistling wind.
With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the twin blades of golden light straight toward Peng Kai’s back.
Sensing the lethal projectiles tearing through the air behind him, Peng Kai grinned savagely, blood spilling continuously from the corners of his mouth.
The unbearable strain of the Vajra Bear transformation was shredding his internal organs, but he channeled every remaining drop of momentum into a sudden, erratic banking maneuver.
BOOM!
The golden blades missed his heart by a hair’s breadth, detonating against a nearby pavilion and reducing the structure to splinters.
The concussive shockwave struck Peng Kai square in the shoulders, completely destabilizing his flight.
He spiraled downward, momentarily losing control, but through sheer, desperate willpower, he stabilized himself at the last second and surged back into the sky.
However, that brief lapse was all the Imperial Herald needed.
The gap closed in an instant, and the Herald was now practically on top of him.
Peng Kai glanced down at the mind-corrupted, limp form of Zhao Tianxing clutched beneath his arm and muttered darkly, "You were going to die anyway."
Without a second thought, Peng Kai began violently forcibly pumping his dark demonic Qi straight into Zhao Tianxing’s dazed Dantian.
Sensing the catastrophic build-up of volatile energy, the Imperial Herald’s face turned deathly pale. Realizing the horror of what was happening, he roared in grave alarm, "NO! Stop, you bastard! You’ll slaughter thousands!"
The Herald immediately slammed on his brakes, trying to retreat, but it was already too late.
Peng Kai had dumped nearly half of his remaining demonic Qi into Zhao Tianxing.
Unable to contain such massive, unholy energy, the blacksmith leader’s Dantian ruptured, forcing the volatile Qi into his meridians.
His body began expanding violently like a stretched balloon, his skin cracking open with glowing crimson veins.
Seeing that the bomb was primed, Peng Kai threw his head back and laughed like a maniac.
With all the brute strength remaining in his transformed muscles, he hurled Zhao Tianxing’s swollen body straight toward the retreating Imperial Herald!
As the flesh-bomb rocketed through the air, the Herald frantically began forming hand seals to cast a defensive barrier.
But Peng Kai was already one step ahead.
In a single, fluid motion, he drew his heavy saber from his storage ring and unleashed a violent, full-force slash straight through his airborne hostage, his voice booming across the sky like thunder,
"REMEMBER US, THE BLACK BLOODED DEMONS!!!"
The blood-red arc of blade-light tore through the atmosphere at terrifying speed, slicing Zhao Tianxing’s bloated frame cleanly in half.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!
The mid-air detonation of a late-stage Golden Core master overloaded with Nascent-level demonic Qi erupted like a dying star!
An apocalyptic shockwave of dark crimson flame and corrosive energy exploded outward, instantly vaporizing structures and consuming a full two-mile radius of the city sector.
Hundreds of spectators and citizens were obliterated in the flash, and the Imperial Herald himself was completely swallowed by the roaring inferno!
Using the apocalyptic blast wave as a violent catapult, Peng Kai allowed the kinetic force to hit his back.
Though the heat scorched his flesh and fractured his ribs, the explosion propelled him through the heavens like a shooting star, flying away at blinding, incredible speed into the distant horizon.
The mushroom cloud of black-and-crimson flame billowed into the high atmosphere, casting a hellish shadow over half of Crimson Iron City.
The shockwave continued to ripple outward, shattering windows for miles and shaking the very bedrock of the metropolis.
Inside the boiling inferno of the blast zone, golden light suddenly flared with fierce, indignant majesty.
BANG—!
The Herald burst through the dying embers, his golden imperial armor scorched black and chipped in several places.
His white hair was singed, and a trickle of crimson blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
His middle-stage Nascent Soul barrier had saved his life, but the sheer force of the Golden Core overload had forced him to exhaust a massive portion of his Qi just to survive.
He looked toward the horizon where Peng Kai had vanished, his pitch-black eyes burning with murderous fury.
"Demon scums... not even sparring the allies," the Herald rasped, his chest heaving.
He took a single step to pursue, but his body shuddered violently as his internal organs rebelled against the shockwave.
Chasing a fully transformed, desperate Nascent Soul berserker while injured was a death trap, even for an imperial envoy.
Clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white, the Herald slowly lowered his arms. He turned his gaze back toward the central district, where smoke rose in thick, ominous columns.
"The Empire will hunt you to the ends of the earth, Peng Kai," he vowed into the cold wind, before turning into a streak of golden light and speeding back toward the ruined headquarters.
Meanwhile, fifty miles outside the eastern gates of Crimson Iron City, a heavy object crashed into the dense, ancient forest below.
BOOM!
Peng Kai rolled through the dirt, snapping several thick pine trees before finally slamming into the base of a stone cliff.
His Vajra Bear transformation collapsed entirely, his muscles shriveled, the black fur dissolved into ash, and his height shrank back to normal.
He lay in the dirt, gasping frantically for air, every single meridian in his body screaming in agonizing pain.
His back was charred black from the explosion, and three of his ribs were completely shattered beneath his crushed chest.
Yet, as he stared up through the canopy at the dark, starry sky, a raspy, broken laugh wheezed from his bloody lips.
"Hahaha... cough! Haah... I did it... Those Golden Cauldron bastards... are gone..."
He dragged a trembling, ash-covered hand across his mouth, his crimson eyes gleaming with a feverish, unholy fire.
"N-Now... now it’s time for the Tang Clan... to face my judgment!"
A subtle gust of wind stirred the fallen leaves nearby.
Out of thin air, a black-robed silhouette materialized soundlessly, stepping effortlessly over the shattered tree trunks.
"And what happens after the Tang Clan?" the man rasped, his voice echoing with cold, dark amusement.
"You march straight into the arms of the Empire to be slaughtered?"