We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?-Chapter 387: I Must Die
The blood-red grand array shrouded all of Waterfire City.
The temperature of Waterfire City rose without stopping.
“Ghost-Severing Fire?”
“Ghost-Severing Fire!”
“What’s going on? How can there be Ghost-Severing Fire in this month?!”
“Where’s the rain? Where is the Mystic-Soul Rain?!”
Ghost-Severing Fire erupting from the ground surged upward without end.
For cultivators below the Golden Core Realm, the moment they were touched by Ghost-Severing Fire, flames would spread over their entire bodies and burn them until both body and soul were wiped out.
Cultivators above the Golden Core Realm could resist, but it would require vast amounts of spiritual power—and once their spiritual power was exhausted, they would also die here.
Unless they reached the Nascent Soul Realm.
But the problem was—how many Nascent Soul Realm cultivators could there be in the Zhao army Li Mu had brought?
Some soldiers tried to use water to put out the fire on their bodies, but ordinary water could not extinguish it at all. It even acted like pouring oil on it, making the flames burn even more violently.
At the same time, above Waterfire City, a gigantic blood-colored array formation appeared. Several hundred thousand souls imprisoned within the array wailed without stopping, dispersed, and in the end became fuel for the array.
“Bai Qi!”
Li Mu’s brows knotted as he gripped the longsword in his hand.
How could he still not understand what had happened?
Even though he did not know what kind of array Bai Qi had used, Bai Qi had used the entire city’s citizens as sacrifices, set down this array, and thereby drew out Ghost-Severing Fire ahead of time!
“General! This array formation is extremely sinister—it has fused with all of Waterfire City. If it hadn’t been activated, there would’ve been no way to detect it at all.”
At this critical moment, a Jade-Pu Realm array master accompanying the army explained to Li Mu, and it sounded like shirking responsibility.
“What’s the use of saying that now?!” Li Mu forced down the fire in his chest. “What’s the solution?”
“The simplest truth in the world—advance and you die; retreat and you live. We entered from the north gate just now, so the north gate has become the death gate and cannot be used to leave. Therefore, correspondingly, Waterfire City’s south gate is the life gate. We can leave from there!”
“Transmit the order to the whole army! The whole army charges for the south gate! Break out through the south gate and you live!”
Li Mu gave the order decisively.
Very quickly, Li Mu’s command spread throughout the entire army.
The troops under Li Mu were, after all, Zhao’s elite.
After receiving the order, they rapidly steadied themselves. Led by their commanders, they charged toward the south gate.
But Li Mu also knew that the south gate would definitely have an ambush. Bai Qi could not be so stupid as to let him out.
Sure enough, the moment Li Mu’s army broke out of the gate, they were encircled and slaughtered by Bai Qi’s army.
Bai Qi’s army was determined to block the gate. As long as Zhao’s soldiers stayed inside Waterfire City longer, more people would be burned to death!
“Bai Qi! You used seven hundred thousand innocent citizens as a blood sacrifice! In your heart, is there still any human decency?! Are you truly not afraid of heaven’s punishment?!”
Li Mu was furious—not only because he had fallen into an ambush, but also because seven hundred thousand Zhao citizens had been blood-sacrificed like this!
“Heaven’s punishment?” Bai Qi sat atop his horse and said coldly. “The victor is king; the defeated are bandits! Everything I do ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) is for Qin’s imperial hegemony!”
“Kill! Seal the gate shut!” Bai Qi’s voice spread through the whole army.
The battle at Waterfire City’s south gate grew ever more intense.
Even though Li Mu personally led the army to carve a path of blood, after one hour had passed, fewer than half the soldiers had left Waterfire City—most of the soldiers could not get out at all!
Listening to the screams of Zhao’s soldiers rising again and again from within the city,
Li Mu felt his heart burn with urgency.
He knew that this time, he might truly be losing.
If he lost, Bai Qi could drive straight through. Then General Pang would be attacked from both sides—Zhao State would be in peril.
The upper-three-realm royal Palace Consecrators in Li Mu’s army saw that the overall situation was already lost. They knew it could not be done, and they also did not want to continue fighting spells with the upper-three-realm cultivators in Bai Qi’s army.
And just as these Consecrators were about to abandon Li Mu and flee, suddenly, lightning flashed and thunder roared across the sky.
Bai Qi gathered his focus and looked up at the skies over Waterfire City.
Dark clouds converged without stopping. As the final bolt of lightning tore through, a torrential downpour fell.
This rain was all Mystic-Soul Water.
The rain fell upon Zhao’s soldiers.
Waterfire City’s temperature dropped further and further, and the flames across the city were gradually doused.
BOOM!
A massive explosion sounded from within the city. Centered on Waterfire City, within a radius of fifty li, the earth shook violently!
The array covering the skies over Waterfire City dissipated.
In the four directions around Waterfire City, the WHITE DEMON SECT cultivators responsible for driving the array all had their souls scattered.
The master of the WHITE DEMON SECT also spat out a mouthful of blood, suffering grievous injuries.
Seeing that the array had completely gone out of control, he hurriedly flew to Bai Qi’s side.
At the same time, outside Waterfire City, the temperature around Waterfire City rose without stopping.
Ghost-Severing Fire even erupted from outside Waterfire City, burning outward—consuming everything outside the city, including Qin’s army!
“What is going on?!”
Bai Qi coldly looked at the master of the WHITE DEMON SECT beside him, as if he were about to cut off his head with one sword.
“General, I don’t know either!”
The master of the WHITE DEMON SECT looked utterly bewildered.
“We were controlling Ghost-Severing Fire properly with the array formation, but suddenly Ghost-Severing Fire became even more violent—like floodwaters bursting a dike—and destroyed the array formation! At this moment, Ghost-Severing Fire is already out of control!
“Now only Waterfire City, because it sits directly above Mystic-Soul Lake, can avoid disaster.
“General, please withdraw the army at once. This Ghost-Severing Fire is spreading far too fast!
“If this continues, our army may be wiped out completely!”
“...”
Listening to the master of the WHITE DEMON SECT, Bai Qi coldly watched the heavy rain above Waterfire City, then looked at the Ghost-Severing Fire spreading outward beyond the city.
At this time, Zhao’s soldiers had already withdrawn back into Waterfire City and shut the gates tight, while Qin’s soldiers were turning into ash one after another.
Three breaths later, Bai Qi let out a heavy sigh and said to the deputy general beside him, “Yu Sheng, from here on, the army is under your command. Take the remnants and rendezvous with the Northern Pacification King...”
“General, then what about you?” Yu Sheng asked.
“Today’s defeat is all on me. Before leaving, I swore a military pledge and promised the Northern Pacification King I would definitely hold Waterfire City. Qin’s military orders are as heavy as mountains. Today the city has fallen—what face do I have to go back?” Bai Qi said slowly.
“General!” Deputy General Yu Sheng still wanted to persuade him.
“Go!” Bai Qi coldly looked at Yu Sheng. “That is an order!”
Yu Sheng’s lips trembled. In the end, he could only clasp his fists in a deep salute, mount his horse, turn around, and lead the entire army in retreat.
Bai Qi dismounted and looked at the black-obsidian warhorse that had accompanied him through campaigns and battlefields. “You should go too. There’s no need for you to die here with me.”
As the words fell, Bai Qi slapped the black-obsidian warhorse hard on the rump, and it bolted toward the distance.
Standing on the hillside, Bai Qi watched the flames gradually burn toward him.
His expression was calm beyond measure, but in his heart he was extremely unwilling.
“What crime have I committed against heaven, for it to come to this?”
Bai Qi raised his head to the sky and demanded an answer from heaven!
He had been so close!
So close to crushing Li Mu, destroying Zhao State, and achieving supreme hegemony!
But a moment later, Bai Qi lowered his head, looked at the longsword in his hand, and spoke as if to himself:
“I must die.
“In the battle of Nanshan State back then, Kong Quan led several hundred thousand surrender troops. I deceived them and buried them all alive.
“Today, to accomplish a great enterprise, I again used a blood sacrifice of seven hundred thousand innocent people.
“That is enough to die.”
“Frost King—your grace of recognizing and raising me... Bai Qi will repay it in the next life!”
As the words fell, Bai Qi drew his sword across his throat.
Blood sprayed.
He slit his own throat and returned to heaven.
