Chapter 183: Chapter 133: Mysterious Firebird; The Great Fire of Tianduan Mountain

Many of the animals had most of their fur burned away, and some were charred almost beyond recognition, but they still clung to life.

They huddled in the central area, not daring to move an inch, and were unnervingly quiet, as if awaiting their final moments.

Seeing their miserable state, Zhou Hanchang couldn’t bear it.

He had seen and killed his fair share of beasts in his time, but compared to the scene before him now, a sense of pity welled up inside him.

On instinct, he held his breath, picked up two buckets of water, and walked toward them.

He placed the two buckets in front of them and shouted, "Water! Drink!"

Zhou Hanchang didn’t know why he shouted like that; the words just came out.

The animals stared at the water in the buckets, then at the man who showed no ill intent. Immediately, a goat, burned bald and its flesh a bloody mess, limped forward. It looked at Zhou Hanchang, then turned to glance at its kin behind it, and lowered its head to drink.

However, Zhou Hanchang noticed that blood trickled from the goat’s mouth as it drank. It then limped back to its spot, slowly crouched down, and collapsed onto the ground, its chest heaving with rapid breaths.

Next, a tiger whose whiskers had been singed off and whose Tiger Hide was scorched in several places also came over. After drinking, it let out a low growl at Zhou Hanchang before turning to go back.

At once, the other animals began to line up to drink.

Seeing this, Zhou Hanchang managed a small smile. He went back to fetch more water for them to drink, and this time, he also started splashing water on their bodies.

Thanks to the large area of the Salt Mine Area, the fire couldn’t spread into it. As a Martial Artist, Zhou Hanchang’s endurance was also quite good. He braved the intense heat, dousing himself with water to cool down while continuously ferrying water from the source to the animals to cool them as well.

This scene left the workers completely bewildered. They couldn’t understand why Zhou Hanchang was doing something so foolish.

But they didn’t dare leave the safety of the reservoir, so they could only watch as Zhou Hanchang worked alone.

BOOM!!

After an unknown amount of time, a figure suddenly burst out from the wildfire and into the Salt Mine Area.

The commotion immediately caught the attention of Zhou Hanchang, his men, and the countless animals.

When the person who had rushed in threw off a wet blanket, Zhou Hanchang saw that it was his own nephew and excitedly ran over.

"What are you doing here?!"

Seeing that his uncle was safe and sound, Cheng Zongyang let out a sigh of relief.

"I was worried, so I came to check. As long as you’re all right. Where are the others?" Cheng Zongyang asked.

"They’re all in the reservoir. I told them to stay there," Zhou Hanchang said.

When the workers saw the Young Clan Leader had arrived, they were overjoyed. They wanted to get out, but they couldn’t stand the intense heat outside. All they could do was call out to Cheng Zongyang from the water.

Cheng Zongyang went to the edge of the reservoir and told them their families were all safe, and every one of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Soon, Cheng Zongyang got a full picture of the situation.

He was quite surprised to learn that his uncle had been carrying water to splash on the animals to cool them down.

But after seeing the tragic state of the animals, he understood.

’My uncle has always been a gentle soul. He can’t stand to see this kind of suffering. If this were a normal hunt, he’d kill any beast he saw without a second thought.’

’It’s just that in a situation like this, his sentimental side emerges.’

Cheng Zongyang wouldn’t say whether this was good or bad. He could only conclude that people like his uncle weren’t cut out for a true life of bloodshed; faced with tragedy, they were too easily swayed by their emotions.

The wildfire was still spreading, and they wouldn’t be able to return anytime soon. The group could only continue to wait here.

If it were just him and his uncle, he could have his uncle eat a Wilderness Bean and carry him back to the encampment himself.

But with a dozen other people here, they had no choice but to wait.

Fortunately, the fireballs had stopped falling from the sky, so they no longer had to worry about threats from above.

But looking at the surrounding wildfire, Zhou Hanchang shared a thought with Cheng Zongyang. "Zongyang, don’t these fireballs look like the ones that fell from the sky three years ago?"

Hearing this, Cheng Zongyang, who hadn’t made the connection, froze. His expression turned serious.

Three years ago, he had simply assumed it was a normal meteorite falling from the sky—nothing out of the ordinary.

But today’s fireballs were clearly something else entirely—completely bizarre.

These fireballs shot up from the ground into the sky, then exploded and rained down in all directions. This was more like the work of a mighty being from a fantasy world, or a master of Cultivation Immortality!

’How could a Martial Artist do something like this?’

’Then what exactly is going on inside Tianduan Mountain?’

’And another thing... the outside world has been in a drought for two years, yet Tianduan Mountain is still rich with water. That’s highly illogical, too.’

’Could it... could they really be connected?’

But the location was distant. He remembered seeing it appear in the western sky, which meant it was clearly somewhere farther west than the County Town.

Further west of that, one would have to pass Xiangyang and enter the Tianduan Mountain region of the Linchuan Territory.

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Cheng Zongyang couldn’t help but look at his uncle. "Uncle, have you ever heard any myths or stories about gods and immortals?"

Hearing his nephew’s question, Zhou Hanchang shook his head, understanding what he was thinking. "Never heard any. As far as we know, the strongest beings are Martial Artists. These fireballs are bizarre, but who’s to say a Martial Artist couldn’t have created them?"

Zhou Hanchang didn’t know much about Martial Artists and figured that only a powerful one could be capable of such a feat.

But Cheng Zongyang shook his head. "A Martial Artist shouldn’t be capable of this. Not unless they’re a Martial Artist who has far surpassed the Innate Realm! But as for what kind of existence that would be, I have no idea."

"Then what are we to do? After a two-year drought, everything is bone-dry. These fireballs are like sparks landing in a pile of firewood doused with Tung Oil. They’ve set this entire mountain ablaze!"