CRACK!

The sound of a neck snapping mingled with the bubbling of lava.

A half-shattered Peach Wood Talisman still hung from the waist of the young man whose neck had just been broken. It was an Exorcism Token Fu Jin had given him for his birthday last year.

A third disciple lunged, teeth bared, aiming for Fu Jin’s wrist.

With a flick of his fingers, Fu Jin struck. As the disciple’s skull shattered, Fu Jin’s voice sounded as if it were being squeezed from an anvil.

"Zhou Wanniang... only daughter of the seamstress from south of Jin City in Yangzhou, Jiangnan Dao..." He tore open the dead disciple’s collar, revealing a Jade Token hanging crookedly by her collarbone.

"Her mother asked me to take good care of her..."

Beside him, another disciple, eyes rolled back in his head, suddenly spoke. "Master... save me..."

Fu Jin’s hand froze in mid-air.

This young man had a centipede-like scar on his neck—a scar he’d gotten years ago from a flying spark, back when Fu Jin was personally teaching him to smith.

"Sun Xiaoyi!"

Fu Jin’s eyes burned with fury as his massive, fan-like hand descended.

"You son of a bitch, you promised you’d carry on my legacy..."

The moment the flames consumed his plea, the Lighting Stones on the ceiling of the Earth Fire Room suddenly shattered.

Xu Yunfan saw the glistening tracks of tears running down Fu Jin’s face.

After leaving the Earth Fire Room, Xu Yunfan stood atop a high tower in the Weapon Casting Hall’s compound, silently gazing down at the city.

The sulfurous stench of incinerating corpses from the Earth Fire Room drifted on the night wind, carrying the smell of burnt flesh past his nose.

He gazed down at the shattered remains of Celestial Craft City. Half the Mechanical Lanterns on Vermilion Bird Avenue were extinguished, and pools of wet blood glistened like grease in the fading light. The Moat’s mercury pumps had been destroyed; toxic liquid mercury was now seeping through secret channels, eroding the city’s foundations. But the most jarring sight was the blacksmith shop to the west. A severed torso was impaled on the very door he had helped repair just three days ago.

In the distance, Qi Huan was leading Yuan Ze, the head disciple of the Foreign Affairs Hall, in the cleanup effort. His face was a mask of sorrow, and the Mechanical Sword Box in his hand was marred with several deep cracks.

Yue Shan’s body was pulled from a pile of corpses. His eyes were wide with fury, and the Giant Axe he still gripped tightly in his hand was heavily notched.

Xu Yunfan sighed inwardly.

Suddenly, the hum of the Nine-Ring Mountain-Shaking Hammer shattered the dead silence.

Zhan Yan strode over, his steps like falling meteors, crushing the shattered remains of Mechanical Beasts underfoot. A three-foot-long crack marred the left shoulder of his ink-black Profound Iron Armor, revealing the Shark Skin lining beneath. The blow had nearly shorn his entire arm off.

The once-pristine, ink-black Profound Iron Armor was now covered in deep gouges from blades and axes.

"Where’s Fu Jin?"

Zhan Yan’s gaze swept over the ranks of grieving Weapon Casting Hall Disciples. Their numbers were nearly halved. His expression darkened further.

Of the seventy-two disciples who had been on duty, only thirty-odd remained, leaning on Broken Swords and Halberds. Half of them were wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.

His expression relaxed slightly when he turned and saw Xu Yunfan approaching him.

Xu Yunfan pointed toward the Earth Fire Room. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Sulfurous smoke billowed from the vents, and the muffled churning of lava could be faintly heard. "The disciples whose Heart-Eroding Gu activated... Senior Brother Fu is giving them their final send-off."

Zhan Yan’s knuckles tightened on the handle of his hammer, making it creak. He said nothing.

He glanced at the dark purple bloodstains on Xu Yunfan’s robes, but saw that he was still standing tall.

Then he asked, "Care to join me at the city gates?"

Xu Yunfan didn’t hesitate for a second, nodding in agreement.

"At your command, Master."

As they hurried along, Zhan Yan was silent for a long while before finally speaking. "Sect Leader Hong was tied up fighting the Incense and Candle Sect’s Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster. Now that the Celestial Craft Fortress is complete, their Grandmaster saw it was a lost cause and retreated. I came here the first chance I got."

It was a rare explanation from Zhan Yan as to why he hadn’t been there.

With half the Weapon Casting Hall Disciples dead or wounded, he naturally felt a profound sense of guilt.

Xu Yunfan understood. He knew that if it weren’t for Hong Baichuan, the entire Celestial Craft Cave would have been on the verge of annihilation, instead of the current situation where they were just mopping up the last of the enemy.

Outside the Profound Steel Lotus City, the Blood Lotus Banners of the Incense and Candle Sect’s Demon-Vanquishing Celestial Army blotted out the sky.

Twelve thousand heavily armed and armored warriors stood in silence. Before them, the ground was a mess of overlapping craters, blasted by cannonballs from the mouth of the Mechanical Giant Tiger. Countless Incense Followers lay buried within them.

Beneath a great standard bearing the character for "Yan," Yan Ming spurred his horse forward, clad in red-scaled Bright King Armor.

His Ten-foot Bright King Spear scraped along the ground, kicking up sparks. "Old man Wan Chen! How long can that turtle shell of yours last?"

Hearing Yan Ming’s roar, Wan Chen, Hall Master of the Celestial Craft Department, let out a thunderous laugh. He stood upon the battlements of the lotus city as, with a grinding of immense gears beneath his feet, the twelve layers of Profound Steel petals began to slowly rotate.

When he spoke, the sound of his voice shook the very plains. "Sixty years ago, when the one hundred thousand iron cavalry of the Northern Desert Royal Court came knocking, and war engulfed Yanbei Dao, this ’Celestial Craft Fortress’ held out for one hundred straight days!"

Before his voice had even faded, a tremor, as if a Primordial Giant Beast were awakening, emanated from the core of the lotus city.

A five-hundred-foot-tall Mo Family’s Mechanical Tiger poked its head out from a fissure in the mountainside. The Dragon Breath cannon in its maw began to glow with a molten red light.

Yan Ming’s Jiao Horse mount shrieked and reared in terror, but he slammed his spear into the ground to anchor himself, using his immense weight to force the beast back down.

His expression was grim. Those few cannon shots from the Mechanical Giant Tiger had nearly shattered his army’s morale. He had gone to great lengths to gather these twelve thousand Armored Warriors.

Wan Chen was incredibly powerful. Although his Mountain-Opening Giant Axe was no match for the Ten-foot Bright King Spear—a Treasure Artifact—the man himself was just too tough, his defense too impenetrable.

Fighting him was infuriatingly frustrating.

And that wasn’t even mentioning the Tiger Crouching Cannons above. Every shot was a deafening, thunderous explosion that struck terror into the hearts of his men.

Some followers had even been frightened to death on the spot.

"Mystical bullshit! Just you wait until our sect’s Great Dharma Protector..."

"Withdraw."

A single, soft-spoken word drifted from the rear of the formation.

The Great Dharma Protector of the Incense and Candle Sect arrived, floating gracefully over a mountain of corpses. The aura of a Grandmaster of the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm sent sand and stones scattering in a hundred-foot radius around him.

"Lord Protector!!"

Yan Ming hurriedly bowed his head and clasped his hands. Though he looked displeased to hear the Great Dharma Protector’s command, he also felt a strange sense of relief.

The moment Celestial Craft City had transformed, when the Profound Steel Lotus rose from the earth, had been absolutely staggering.

The expert, who wore a bronze ghost mask, stared up at the lotus city, his gaze seemingly piercing through the Profound Steel petals to the fortress’s core. "Hong Baichuan has actually touched the threshold of Refining the Internal Organs... A pity. He’s not quite there yet."

He suddenly flicked his sleeve, enveloping Yan Ming and pulling him back a thousand feet in an instant.

At almost the exact same moment, the Mechanical Tiger’s Dragon Breath cannon boomed, and thirty-six blazing projectiles of Meteorite Iron slammed into the spot where they had just been standing, melting the earth into a pit of glass.

The recently-rallied Armored Warriors of the Incense and Candle Sect were thrown into chaos, a tangle of men and horses crying out in pain and terror.

"Withdraw!"

The voice from beneath the ghost mask was thick with unwillingness. "When the Venerable of our sect makes his move, this turtle shell will be shattered with ease!"

Watching the army of the Incense and Candle Sect recede like the tide, Wan Chen let his Giant Axe fall to the ground with a deafening CLANG. The tightly coiled muscles across his body relaxed in a wave as he deactivated the muscular Profound Armor he had cultivated through his Profound Turtle Carrying Mountain Strength technique.

He turned his head to face the approaching Zhan Yan and Xu Yunfan and broke into a wide grin.

"You old bastard, you’re late."

"Get lost!"

Zhan Yan replied coldly, but as he watched the Incense and Candle Sect retreat, he too breathed a sigh of relief.

After a long moment, he spoke again. "I fear for the other seven sects of Cangzhou."