Volume Two, Travels in the State of Qi Chapter Ninety-Two, the Nether Spirit Sect

Zhang Heng and the old man said little. Very cooperatively, they followed the three men forward.

Along the way, the three of them did their best to avoid the spots where the black vapor drifted, trying to keep from having too much contact with the infected. Zhang Heng and the old man copied them, dodging as much as they could.

At last, after seven or eight turns, they arrived before an estate.

The Han Residence.

The leader rapped on the door in a peculiar rhythm, light once and heavy once, over a dozen times before the people inside finally opened it.

Security was certainly tight. They even had a secret signal. Zhang Heng smiled faintly. Perhaps the secret lay within.

As soon as the five entered, more than a dozen similarly dressed people gathered around them. A stern, middle-aged man stepped forward and asked, “Xiao Liu, what is the situation outside now? Did you bring back any supplies?”

“Captain, I’m sorry. Everyone outside has been infected. We found no supplies,” the three answered in a low voice, heads bowed.

“It’s all right. You should go rest first.” The middle-aged man let out a lonely sigh and said.

Xiao Liu pointed at Zhang Heng and the old man and said to the captain, “Captain, outside we found these two people who haven’t been infected yet. I was afraid they might be harmed, so I took the liberty of bringing them back. Please punish me if I overstepped.”

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man called the captain came before Zhang Heng and the other man, laid a hand of spiritual energy upon them, and carefully examined them.

Then he said to Xiao Liu, “Since they are ordinary people, our Han family should lend a hand. It is no trouble to take in two more. Take them down first.”

The others stepped aside, and the three were about to lead Zhang Heng and the old man away.

Yet Zhang Heng and the old man remained where they were and did not move.

Here, everyone was normal.

In the courtyard stood a dense crowd of people, some upright, some crouched, some lying down, in all kinds of postures.

Most of them were ordinary folk without cultivation. Some wore longing expressions, some were silent, some despairing. But without a doubt, they were all normal people.

Seeing this, Zhang Heng understood.

This Han Residence was a point of light within this sunless little city.

“Tell me what happened,” Zhang Heng said, staring at the man called captain.

He had no time to waste. He had to resolve this matter quickly.

The man’s doubtful gaze carried a hint of anger. They had taken these two in out of kindness, and this was the attitude they gave in return. How could he not be angry?

Zhang Heng went on, “Tell me what happened. I can save you.”

After speaking, Zhang Heng turned and looked at the old man.

“What are you looking at me for?” The old man did not understand what Zhang Heng meant and scratched his head in confusion.

The captain forcibly suppressed his anger and said coldly, “You two have no cultivation. Knowing about this will do you no good. Stay quietly where you are.”

At those words, the old man finally understood. So Zhang Heng wanted him to demonstrate something.

After all, in these people’s eyes, the two of them were just ordinary men with no cultivation.

Zhang Heng truly had not cultivated, so he gave off no spiritual fluctuations. As for the old man, his level was too high for these people to see through.

The old man also knew the situation was urgent. He raised a trace of spiritual energy, then leaped lightly into the air.

When the others had heard Zhang Heng speak, a faint spark of hope had truly risen in their hearts. But now all that remained was desolation.

A high-level Sea of Qi cultivator could already move through the air.

High-level Sea of Qi was considered a master among them. But what use was that?

“Not enough,” Zhang Heng said coldly.

“All right.” The old man turned around and said nothing more. Then his figure vanished in midair, and the next instant he was standing beside Zhang Heng.

Void traversal? Heaven, a Prime Essence expert.

High-level Sea of Qi could only perform simple flight. Void traversal required at least the Prime Essence realm. The seemingly ordinary old man before them was in truth a legendary Prime Essence mighty one.

The people of the Han family were instantly excited. They were saved.

“We pay our respects to senior!” everyone dropped to their knees and shouted in unison.

Seeing the Han family kneel, the ordinary people also knelt again and again on the ground. “We pay our respects to senior.”

The Han family had always been heaven in their hearts. And the one who could make the Han family kneel of their own accord had to be the legendary “god.”

It must be that Heaven had eyes. Unable to bear seeing them suffer so, it had sent a “god” to save them.

A frail-looking elder flew out from within the inner hall of the Han Residence, clutching his chest. He knelt on the ground and said earnestly, “This junior, Han Xuan, pays respect to the Prime Essence senior. Our city of Seeking Delight is now in grave danger. Please, senior, help us, help these tens of thousands of miserable commoners.”

After speaking, he bowed deeply to the ground, the sound of his forehead striking the floor showing his helplessness.

“We beg senior to lend us aid,” all the members of the Han family bowed heavily.

All the commoners knelt on the ground, unwilling to rise for a long time.

In an instant, every normal person within the Han Residence was kneeling, pleading with the old man beside Zhang Heng to help them.

What terrifying power had driven tens of thousands of people into such despair?

“Rise,” the old man beside Zhang Heng said after a long silence.

A short while later, in the Han family’s main hall.

The Prime Essence elder sat in the honored seat, Zhang Heng stood beside him, and the Han family patriarch stood respectfully below.

The old man spoke heavily. “Tell me, what is going on in this city of yours?”

“Replying to senior, my name is Han Xuan, and I am the head of the Han family in this Seeking Delight City...” The Han family patriarch bowed respectfully, then began to explain.

“Stop,” Zhang Heng said, raising a hand to cut him off at once.

“Don’t tell me your name. Just tell me what happened here.”

The Han family patriarch felt somewhat displeased.

This junior had no cultivation and no manners either. When adults were speaking, how could a child interrupt?

But he had seen no objection from the Prime Essence expert, and so he did not dare say more.

Thus, he spoke only of the essentials.

“Senior, the reason those people outside have become that way is all because of the Shade God Sect.”

“Three months ago, they came to our Seeking Delight City under the pretense of preaching scriptures and expounding the Dao. Since the Shade God Sect is a major sect, we did not dare stop them, and allowed them to preach in the city.”

“At first, the sermons did have some effect. Ordinary people who listened to the scriptures could strengthen their bodies; their power and speed increased greatly. But as time passed, I discovered that the commoners who frequently went to listen to the Shade God Sect’s sermons actually began to emit a thread of sinister energy from within their bodies.”

“And their expressions became dull, their spirits listless. Worse still, the condition was contagious. Their relatives and friends were also stained by that black energy.”

“By then, I realized how serious the matter was. The Shade God Sect actually intended to ruin the tens of thousands of commoners in our Seeking Delight City. But my strength was too weak to oppose them alone, so I immediately went to the city lord’s mansion to discuss the matter with the city lord.”

“But the city lord actually praised the Shade God Sect to the skies and said all of this was perfectly normal. I understood then that the city lord had long since been bought over by them. So I returned alone to the Han family to search for a solution. Our Han family may be weak and isolated, but we could not simply sit and wait for death. We could not watch helplessly as these tens of thousands of people were ruined.”

“So I immediately organized our people, found everyone in the city who had not yet been infected, brought them into the residence, and sealed off the Han Residence so we would have no contact with the outside world.”