Because the waves of qi raised by the Gǔn fueled the fire, the catastrophe consumed almost half of Linyi.

     The cultivators who had only come to attend the wedding fled in a panic in all directions on their swords. However, the flames pressed on, pursuing them relentlessly. Countless cultivators with insufficient spiritual energy lost their battle against the raging flames, and were swallowed by the endless fire.

     Along the way, those who escaped flew through the villages and towns of the upper cultivation world near Rufeng Sect. The villagers had no idea what was going on at all, so when they saw the flames approaching from the direction of Rufeng Sect, they gathered their families and tried to run away.

     But how could their legs escape the tribulation fire?

     “Father!”

     “Baba—Baba!”

     “Ahhh!”

     Everywhere they passed, there were cries and shouts. Xue Zhengyong and the others had already expanded their weapons to the maximum, filled with civilians of the upper cultivation world that they managed to save.

     Madam Wang kept comforting them, “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Sit a litter further inside. Be careful, hold onto each other, so you don’t fall…”

     But they couldn’t save them all.

     No matter how much the iron fan expanded, it could only expand so much. There were so many in the towns that could not be saved.

     Xue Zhengyong knelt at the front of the fan and leaned over to pull up a crying child. But the moment he put more weight on the fan, the iron fan couldn’t bear it, and shook violently. He had no choice but to let go and watch the tear-stained face full of hope being thrown far below in an instant.

     Even though he was a tough guy, he couldn’t help but wail, “Why? Why… Just because one person is wronged, so many innocent people have to be buried with him?” Xue Zhengyong couldn’t stop sobbing, his tears rolling down his face, “Is this not chaotic enough? So many dead… Aren’t there enough people who have died in vain?”

     Madam Wang’s eyes were also red. She held two of the rescued children tightly in her arms on either side of her. But after the children’s parents lifted them up onto the iron fan, they weren’t able to make it up in time, and were engulfed by the tribulation fire.

     The children kept crying. Madam Wang hugged them and stroked their hair. She wanted to comfort them, but she didn’t know what to say.

     She looked back and saw that there were about ten cultivators following behind them. Many of them had already been caught by the flames, and others had already fled in other directions. Chu Wanning and Mo Ran weren't here, and her eyes filled with tears as she silently prayed for the two of them to be safe.

     Not far away, the still-unconscious Xue Meng was being carried by Jiang Xi. The firelight illuminated his handsome face as his gorgeous sword strained and hummed under their feet.

     Jiang Xi glared at Xue Meng in disgust. He had already thought of throwing this brat down to burn several times, but when he saw Madam Wang’s pleading eyes on the iron fan, he only pursed his lips with a sullen expression and didn’t let go.

     Xue Zhengyong cried as he tried to pull a girl from the flames in hopes that the fan could carry her. However, despite his best efforts, there was nothing more he could do.

     When he let go of another hand, Xue Zhengyong was already on the verge of collapse. He fell to his knees, heartbroken, and cursed his body for his weakness…

     However, at this moment, a bright silver-red light flashed. Jiang Xi waved his hand, and the bright light from his sleeve lifted the girl Xue Zhengyong could not carry onto his own sword.

     The beautifully radiant longsword, Xuehuang, hummed even louder under the weight.

     Jiang Xi was not in a good mood. He lifted his leg and stomped on his sword, saying sternly, “What are you shouting for? If you have the guts, stay still and wait for the fire to come burn you!”

     As expected, Xuehuang stopped humming. It carried Jiang Xi and the other two, silently flying forward. However, the slender sword still strained, looking as if it would break at any moment.

     Jiang Xi flew next to Xue Zhengyong and scolded with a face full of disgust, “What’s there to cry about? If you can save her, then save her. If you can’t, then forget it.”

     “Shixiong…” Madam Wang stammered.

     “What? Did I say something wrong?” Jiang Xi sneered. Although he was extremely handsome, the curve of his mouth was extremely vicious, making him seem especially unfeeling. “If you hadn't followed him back then, and stayed with Guyue’ye instead, you wouldn’t be so weak now. You can’t even control your own sword. If your spot was open, your husband, a hero who cares about the common people, could have saved one more person.”

     Madam Wang’s eyes widened as if she had been stung. She abruptly lowered her head and slowly closed her eyes, not saying another word.

     In the opposite direction, far away, Mo Ran’s sword had also expanded to its full extent. In addition to Chu Wanning, it was also filled with civilians of the upper cultivation word who they had saved.

     Those people trembled and cried as they stared blankly at their homes that had been swallowed up by the sea of fire and razed to the ground. The flames reflected the sparkling tears in their eyes until they closed them and cried.

     Under such a heavy atmosphere, Mo Ran was silent and didn't say a word. Unlike Xue Zhengyong, he didn’t make any unnecessary struggles; he knew that he couldn’t carry any more people, so he stopped looking at the villages that passed beneath their feet.

     “The sea is up ahead.” Mo Ran’s brows furrowed slightly, “Shizun, where should we go?”

     “Can you make it to Feihua Island?” Chu Wanning asked.

     Mo Ran nodded and said, “Feihua Island is the upper cultivation world’s closest island to Linyi, I can handle it. But I’m not familiar with the east sea, so it’ll take some effort to find it. Shizun, look after them. The sword is crowded, so if they fall asleep, I’m afraid they’ll fall.”

     Chu Wanning agreed, “Alright.”

     Mo Ran carried them on the sword for more than a shichen. When the light of the rising sun broke through the clouds, they finally saw a relatively small ring-shaped island on the sparkling surface of the clear blue sea.

     They had finally arrived at Feihua Island.

     Although the island was under the jurisdiction of Rufeng Sect, it was a desolate place with very few people. It was mostly populated by scattered fishermen who depended on the sea for a living, so there was only one large family.

     Across the rolling waves of the sea, along the horizon, they all saw the great fire at Rufeng Sect. They were anxious, not knowing what had happened. Many residents looked out from their yards, afraid to sleep for fear of the strange phenomenon in the sky.

     When dawn broke, the calamity hadn't reached them. However, a longsword carried a group of people who landed on the damp beach, led by a tall, handsome man with mottled bloodstains on his face and clothes. It was obvious that he had been in a fierce battle.

     There weren’t any cultivators on Feihua Island, only ordinary people, so when they saw him, they were all somewhat afraid. They didn’t know whether he was good or evil, or why he had come.

     “Aiya, why are their faces so dirty…?”

     Some people whispered while looking at the men, women, and children behind Mo Ran.

     “It seems that they escaped from the great fire… Are they from Linyi?”

     A sturdy fisherman bravely approached and asked, “You guys… are you from Rufeng Sect?”

     “Sisheng Peak.” Mo Ran handed the child in his arms over to Chu Wanning. The child was very young, and couldn’t take care of himself. In order to prevent him from falling down, Mo Ran had held him the entire way, carrying him on the sword.

     “Something happened at Rufeng Sect…” Mo Ran explained. “These… are all residents of Linyi. Tribulation fire was burning everything… The fire was too strong, and the weight capacity for the sword was limited. I couldn’t save too many people, I…”

     He was halfway through his speech when he looked up and saw the blank and confused expressions on the fishermen’s faces. Only then did he realize that he had been talking to himself. How could the people from Feihua Island know about tribulation fire and the art of flying swords?

     He paused and said slowly, “I’m sorry, I’ll explain in detail later.” He turned around and looked at the battered crowd behind him, “Can we get them some food and water first?”

     A small, frightened child who had lost his parents, slowly stumbled up to Mo Ran’s leg and reached out with his small hands to tug helplessly at the corner of his robe. Mo Ran lowered his head and touched the child’s hair. He said to the fisherman, “I’m really sorry to trouble you.”

     The residents of Feihua Island were, for the most part, good-natured people. Soon, someone brought tea and snacks for them to eat. Mo Ran briefly explained the situation to the islanders, who stared in disbelief at the flames stretching out over the horizon.

     Some people couldn't believe it.

     “Rufeng Sect… was burned to ashes?”

     “Sect Leader Nangong passed away?”

     Mo Ran replied, “He didn’t die. He ate lingchi fruit and was taken to another place.”

     “What’s lingchi fruit?”

     Mo Ran started, “It’s…”

     Chu Wanning stood on the side and watched Mo Ran slowly explain to the fishermen. However, he didn't step forward himself. He knew he was an unsympathetic looking man with a frosty coldness in his eyes. If he tried to help Mo Ran, he would only succeed in hindering him.

     In his arms, the sleeping child woke up. Seeing that the person holding him was a cold strange man, he froze, then burst into tears, not at all as calm as he had been in Mo Ran’s arms.

     Chu Wanning glanced at Mo Ran, and seeing that he was still surrounded by the village people and couldn’t get away, he was a bit overwhelmed. He said to the child with his usual expressionless face, “Don’t cry.”

     The child began to cry even louder, shouting, “Daddy, Mommy… I want Daddy, I want Mommy!”

     “Don’t cry…” Chu Wanning coaxed stiffly. “You… don’t cry…”

     “Wahh…. Mommy… Mommy…”

     Chu Wanning didn’t have a choice. He held the child with one hand and raised the other to stroke his hair.

     Unexpectedly, the child didn’t want him to touch him, and threw his head back, his little red face covered in tears and snot, “I want Mommy, I want Daddy. I want to go home…”

     He was really at his wits end. Chu Wanning had never comforted a child before, so he didn’t know what to say. He tried to think of what he should do, but as soon as he sank into deep thought, his eyebrows furrowed involuntarily, making him look as cold as ice.

     The moment the crying child saw Chu Wanning’s face, he was so frightened that he stopped sobbing, and only bit his lip as tears rolled down his cheeks like a broken string of beads.

     Chu Wanning suddenly thought of something. He opened his qiankun pouch with one hand and took out a piece of rice candy. He peeled off the paper wrapping and handed it to the child.

     With tears in his eyes, the child made an awkward sobbing sound as he looked at Chu Wanning, then at the candy in his hand.

     Since he was young, his mother had told him a lot of stories about people who would try to coax small children into obedience. Among them, there was no lack of ferocious and terrifying cultivators who drugged disobedient children into unconsciousness and captured them to make immortal pills.

     The small child, silent with tears in his eyes, stared at him, suddenly terrified to the core.

     Chu Wanning didn’t understand what was happening in the child’s head, and only stared back at the child, somewhat bewildered, while still holding the piece of candy out to him.

     Although he had pretty phoenix eyes, when he wasn’t smiling, they would make him seem arrogant and judgemental. And even when he did smile, this pair of eyes would give him a bit of an unpredictable aura, like the thorns of a rosebush, full of provocation and pride.

     However, not everyone could get past those harsh phoenix eyes. So, even though Chu Wanning had a handsome face, he was innately disliked by others.

     He was even more disliked by children.

     “Eat it.” While on the sword, he’d seen Mo Ran use candy to soothe a few little ones. He did the same thing, but didn’t understand why it didn’t work.

     The child pursed his lips. He hesitated, trembled, then slowly shook his head.

     …He didn’t want to be made into immortal pills…

     “You…” Chu Wanning started.

     Before he could continue, the child reached his limit and cried out in fear. He cried so hard that his heart beat furiously and his lungs were shaking. Everyone in the surrounding area turned around to look at them.

     Chu Wanning did not react. He was still holding the candy in bewilderment, and whispered, “...It’s quite sweet.”

     He wanted to say that the candy was sweet, but the child connected the “you” he cut off halfway earlier, so it sounded like “you’re quite sweet.”

     After thinking about it for a while, he felt that this cultivator was definitely going to use him to make immortal pills. Moreover, he was going to make him into very sweet immortal pills. He was so scared that he let out a wail and cried even more fiercely.

     Chu Wanning stiffened.