110: Chapter 110 Divine Descent upon Guanhai County

As the former ancestor of the Tieshan Sect, Tie Lanshi never imagined that a day would come when he would have to worry about food.

The food was almost gone.

The flour and flatbreads they had dug out of the ruins had been eaten for several days, dwindling with each passing day.

A middle-aged man wearing a gray short jacket stuffed a piece of flatbread into his mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed.

He licked his lips and said,

"Tomorrow we need to go out and search again. There are still a few uncollapsed houses over by West Street; maybe we can dig up something."

The young man squatting on the steps raised his head, his voice full of despair.

"There are parasitic creatures over by West Street. I saw two of them wandering in the alley just the day before yesterday."

The middle-aged man replied,

"We still have to go. If we don't, we'll just starve to death."

The young man fell silent and lowered his head again.

Tie Lanshi swallowed his piece of flatbread, his throat dry as if on fire.

He swallowed the last bite, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes.

"Ironcoat Ancestor, tell us, how much longer can we hold out?"

The middle-aged man in the gray jacket looked at him, the light gone from his eyes, truly at a loss for how to survive.

Tie Lanshi opened his eyes and looked at the middle-aged man.

He wanted to say they could keep holding on, but he couldn't bring himself to say it, because he no longer believed it himself.

Just then, Tie Lanshi suddenly raised his head.

His eyes narrowed, his pupils reflecting the dark red sky veiled in evil aura.

There was nothing there, yet he stared unblinkingly.

The people beside him were startled by his sudden action.

Following his gaze into the sky, the middle-aged man in the gray jacket saw nothing except that black veil.

He asked in a low voice,

"Ancestor, what do you see?"

Tie Lanshi didn't answer; he kept his head raised, staring at the sky.

The young man squatting on the steps raised his head too, but saw nothing.

He rubbed his eyes and looked again, still seeing nothing.

Just as he was about to lower his head, the light arrived.

Bursting forth from the western horizon, that golden light resembling a grand sun officially descended upon Guanhai County City.

The light exploded above the county town, hovering there like a golden sun, illuminating the entire town as bright as day.

Standing at the entrance of the blacksmith shop, Tie Lanshi looked up at the light, his turbid eyes reflecting the golden radiance.

In the rear hall of the county yamen, Clerk Liu, who was chewing on rat meat, was suddenly pierced by the golden light until tears flowed, but he did not close his eyes.

Under the sky shrouded by the veil, he did not know how long it had been since he last saw such radiance.

West Street, a teahouse.

An old man squatted behind the counter, clutching a wooden stick in his hands.

He had been hiding here for several days, afraid to go outside.

Just then, a streak of golden light leaked through the crack in the window, falling onto the back of his hand.

Raising his head, he saw the light sweep over the teahouse, charging toward the Evil Tree at the center of the county town.

He froze for a moment, then dropped the wooden stick to the ground, propping himself up on his hands as his forehead touched the cold stone floor.

North Street, City God Temple.

The temple gates were shattered, the divine statue overturned, the censer knocked onto the ground with incense ash scattered everywhere.

A few townsfolk cowered behind the divine statue—men and women, old and young.

They had been hiding here for a long time, surviving on water from the well behind the City God Temple and food dug out from the ruins.

The food was almost gone and the water nearly depleted; they didn't know how much longer they could hold out.

Just then, they raised their heads and watched a streak of golden light fly in from the west, sweeping past above the City God Temple.

Everyone stood up, walked out from behind the statue, came to the doorway, and looked up into the sky.

They watched the golden light explode above the county town, seeing the golden radiance blossom against the dark red sky.

This golden light was naturally Qin Ling's divine avatar. After entering Guanhai County City, he arrived beside the central Evil Tree almost instantaneously.

This was his first time seeing the Evil Tree from such a close distance; its massive size alone gave off a spine-chilling sensation.

Suddenly, a slit cracked open on the trunk of the Evil Tree.

That eyeball exposed itself once again, staring intently at Qin Ling.

The Evil Tree had also sensed Qin Ling's aura early on, knowing he was the fellow who had wounded its roots before.

Seeing the Evil Tree open its eye, Qin Ling hesitated not for a second, fully activating the divine power of his avatar.

Raising his right hand, his fingers loosely closed around thin air as a sword materialized in his palm. It had a golden blade, and seven malevolent runes lit up in sequence, each brighter and heavier than the last.

Raising his left hand, a ball of golden light ignited in his palm—the divine power of Exorcism. He spent two hundred incense points to burn out a ball of light.

He pressed the ball of light in his left hand into the sword in his right hand.

The blade trembled violently as the seven malevolent runes grew even brighter. Dazzling white light exploded from the sword, illuminating the entire county town as bright as day.

He gripped the sword tightly, raised it above his head, and hurled it down at that eye.

The Demon-Slaying Sword transformed into a massive golden beam of light, cleaving down from midair straight toward the vertical pupil of the Evil Tree.

"Boom—!"

The eye was sliced open, black fluid spurting out from the pupil.

The light blade did not stop; after cleaving open the eye, it continued downward, slicing into the trunk.

A gash was opened in the tree trunk, extending all the way from the canopy down to the roots.

Black fluid gushed out from the gash, looking just like an eerily gloomy waterfall.

The Evil Tree trembled from canopy to roots, and from roots to the tendrils extending in all directions.

A wail of agony echoed from within the trunk.

The sound spread outward from the center of the town, reaching East Street, West Street, South Street, and North Street, entering the ears of the hiding townsfolk,

and reaching the ears of Tie Lanshi, who was squatting in the blacksmith shop.

His eyes widened abruptly; he had never expected to actually hear the Evil Tree wailing in pain.

What on earth was the origin of that golden light just now?

Tie Lanshi rushed out of the blacksmith shop.

He dashed out the door of the blacksmith shop and ran past the half-collapsed houses.

He ran dozens of paces, stopped, looked up, and saw the Evil Tree.

An additional gash had appeared on the trunk, extending from the canopy to the roots, black fluid gushing out from the wound.

The opened eye of the Evil Tree was gone, leaving behind only a dark, gaping socket that was still oozing black fluid.

Tie Lanshi's face was full of disbelief.

He hadn't expected that the Evil Tree, capable of expanding an Evil Domain, had actually been injured.

And the one who wounded the Evil Tree—

—was precisely that golden figure!

Tie Lanshi's eyes settled upon that golden figure hovering in the sky.

The middle-aged man in the gray jacket walked out of the blacksmith shop and stood behind Tie Lanshi.

Looking at the Evil Tree, his pupils reflected the wound that was still smoking.

His mouth hung open, his voice squeezing out from his throat.

"That wound... was it made by the figure inside the golden light just now?"

The young man also came out and stood beside the middle-aged man, limping due to an injury on his foot.

But at this moment, his eyes were startlingly bright, staring fixedly at the Evil Tree and the golden figure.

So even the Evil Tree could get hurt!