In the 365th year of the founding of the Heavenly Sage Empire, Fengcheng ushered in the first rain after the beginning of autumn.

On a rainy night, the sky is like ink, and the lights illuminate this small and prosperous city as if it were day.

In a tavern near the edge of the city, a lantern hanging on the wall emits a soft light.

At a table in the corner, two men sit opposite each other.

"Heavenly punishment, you say?" one of the men asked. He held a wine glass in one hand, stroked the steel knife leaning against the table in the other, and was wearing a coarse linen robe, dressed like a warrior.

"Could it be that you haven't heard of it?" The man sitting with him was dressed in a yellow shirt with a drunken flush on his face, "According to legend, on the continent where we live, every hundred years, there will be a heavenly punishment descending, and the world has a legend that it is the punishment of heaven for the common people. I remember the old saying goes, 'Heaven will punish you, and people will wither.'" ”

"Dead in the crowd?"

It means that the punishment of heaven is coming, and the living beings do not exist. ”

"Heh, there are no living beings, what you said is too mysterious. The man in sackcloth smiled and drank the cloudy liquor from his glass.

"I'm not bragging to you, many people know the legend of this heavenly punishment. It's a shame that you're still a martial artist who has traveled the continent, and you haven't even heard of this kind of rumor, so be careful of being laughed at when you say it. ”

The Mai man's face was a little unbearable, so he could only stuff two mouthfuls of side dishes into his mouth and punish himself: "Okay, then you can tell me, what is the meaning of this so-called heavenly punishment?"

"Actually, I've only heard about that. According to legend, this heavenly punishment began 5,000 years ago, and it occurs once every 100 years, and if it does not appear, it will be accompanied by the destruction of a city-state. Because all those who saw it died, no one knows what it was like when this punishment took place. ”

"You're saying the power of heavenly punishment is enough to destroy a city?"

"That's not it, and coincidentally, every time the heavenly punishment appears, it must choose a city with people to fall, and this one is no exception. ”

The man in sackcloth laughed, "Doesn't that mean that fifty cities have been destroyed?" ”

"It's not fifty. The man in the yellow shirt waved his hand, "It's forty-nine, this year, it's just five thousand years." ”

"Oh, according to what you say, maybe this heavenly punishment will fall on us in Fengcheng this year......"

The two looked at each other and laughed.

As the night deepened and the pedestrians on the road became scarcer, in the tavern, the two people who were talking and laughing dropped two crimson crystals on the table, supported each other, and shook away step by step.

At the counter, the black boss held his fat belly and crackled with an abacus in his hand. He glanced into the corner next to him: "Ye Lingyu, the guest is gone, hurry up and clean up the table." ”

With the boss's shout, a teenager walked out from behind the side door with a rag.

The boy looked no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, his medium-long hair was tied back behind his head, his face and figure were slightly thin, and he looked a little weak. If anything, he's got eyes as sharp as a knife.

Ye Lingyu walked to the table without saying a word, and began to clean up the dishes and wine glasses on the table.

"Hey, you stuffy gourd. The boss's face trembled, and he said sharply, "Hurry up and bring me the spirit crystal on the table, and the action is a little numb." ”

Ye Lingyu didn't speak, just silently picked up the two crimson crystals on the table.

Spirit crystal, this is the currency used in the entire Cangling Continent, this kind of thing can be used both for trading and for replenishing the spiritual power of martial artists.

Ye Lingyu put the spirit crystal on the counter, then turned around and brought the dishes and bowls in his hand into the back kitchen.

The fat boss grabbed Lingjing and stared at Ye Lingyu's back, his face was indignant: "Look at you like that, what kind of thing is it? I think that if I live in the City Lord's Mansion, I will be considered a son." With your pampered appearance, I feel bad luck when I see it. ”

Ye Lingyu was silent, and silently handled the work at hand. When everything is cleaned up, I take off my work clothes in the corner and put on a new set. The new clothes were plain, but they were clean and tidy.

"Although your father is the lord of the city, your mother is a maid, and to put it bluntly, you are a wild seed. If it weren't for the eldest lady asking me to take care of you, people like you would have starved to death on the streets. ”

The fat boss was still chattering, and the foul language smashed his head and face. But Ye Lingyu didn't seem to hear it, turned around and left the tavern.

It was only after following the road that he had walked a long distance before he let out a long breath.

Wild seeds, he smiled self-deprecatingly. This title has been with me for more than ten years, and my ears are calloused.

Having a father who is the lord of the city is not necessarily all a good thing, as for his mother, who is a maid, she left the world as early as when he reached the age of six.

He reached out and tugged at the collar of his coat, and under his collar hung a dark rough stone. It was left to him by his mother before she died, and until this time, he still remembered that the man who was lying on the bed and dying, while touching his face with his rough hands, helped himself hang this talisman stone.

More than ten years have passed, but the scenes of the past are still vivid. Occasionally, when I think about it, I still can't help but feel a little sour in my heart.

He looked up at the sky, and the night sky was heavy, thick like ink that could not be dissolved. His heart moved slightly, and a strange thought suddenly arose, the so-called heavenly punishment, if it really fell in this Fengcheng, maybe it would not be a bad thing.

This thought came inexplicably, and he suddenly had a thrill and quickly came back to his senses.

Although his life has not been satisfactory for more than ten years, it has not yet reached the point of suicide, Ye Lingyu believes that he is not such a fragile person.

And just as he was thinking so, a bright light tore through the night.

It was a bolt of lightning that lit up half of the sky, and the dazzling white light pierced Ye Lingyu's eyes.

"Boom", a huge sound exploded in his ears, shaking his ears for a buzz. Although the sound was loud, it was not thunder, but lightning slashed straight into the street in front of Lai Ye Lingyu.

The place where the lightning fell was only a few dozen steps away from Ye Lingyu, and the billowing smoke and dust rushed towards him with a fine electric light, and the raging breath blew Ye Lingyu down on his back.

"How...... What's wrong?" Ye Lingyu jumped up as Ye Lingyu fell to the ground, covering his face with both hands, in a defensive posture.

This movement was quite loud, not only shocking Ye Lingyu, but also the passers-by next to him.

Although it was night, there were many pedestrians on the side of the road, and they all fell into a ball at the moment.

The smoke cleared, and in the middle of the street, a large pit was one person deep. The pit cut off almost the entire street, and the dirt around the pit was charred black, and puffs of black smoke rose from it.

It turned out to be a thunderstorm, Ye Lingyu's face was shocked, it was the first time he had seen such a natural phenomenon.

Some people pointed to the potholes and shouted, while others looked at the sky in horror.

The sky, which had been dark a moment ago, has changed now. The thunderclouds rolled in the sky, and electric snakes churned among the dark clouds, making a piercing hiss, ready to attack.

After seeing the situation clearly, Ye Lingyu frowned unconsciously. Although this phenomenon is uncommon, it should be just an accident. Since the beginning of autumn, the climate in Fengcheng has been a bit strange, many times, one moment the sun is still in the sky, the next moment is cloudy and windy, even some of the older generation of people are not able to figure out this changeable weather.

He bent down and patted the dirt on his trouser legs, it had only rained during the day, the ground had not yet dried, and the trouser legs were all wet with mud and water.

Just when Ye Lingyu was staring at the hole and carelessly cleaning his trouser legs, something flashed in front of him. His body subconsciously vibrate, and a chill suddenly appeared in his heart. The feeling came inexplicably, he obviously didn't see anything clearly, but his body was already alert, as if there was something terrible hidden around him.

He raised his head and looked intently, and with the help of the surrounding light, he vaguely saw that the black smoke slowly rising in the pit did not disperse, but slowly condensed above the pit, and the condensed shape was vaguely a human form!

"What...... Something!" Ye Lingyu's face suddenly turned pale, and his muttering voice trembled.

The black shadow of the human form was almost transparent under the cover of the night sky, and it would not have been possible to notice it if it weren't for Ye Lingyu unintentionally lowering his body.

The sudden thunder, the strange black shadow, his head was blank for a while.

The people around me are still talking and laughing, some are talking about thunderstorms, and some are talking about other things. Apparently, others did not notice that this phenomenon was happening.

There is not only one black shadow, as the black smoke and dust continue to gather, the black shadow has changed from the initial one to two, four, and eight...... Its number is increasing at a breakneck pace. When they condensed to the tenth realm, these black shadows suddenly spread out in all directions. The speed was so fast that people couldn't react, and Ye Lingyu saw a black shadow burrow into a person's chest with his own eyes.

The man had not yet noticed anything unusual, and was following the people around him to say something, but the next moment, pale flames came out from under his skin, and the flames seemed to have a spiritual nature, beating on his skin, and the skin stained with the flames became dry in just an instant, like the bark of a tree.

The man's bitter wail broke the silence of the night.

The white flames turned into a raging fire, engulfing the man in a matter of moments. The man fell to the ground, clutching his head and wailing in pain. While tumbling, the flames did not go out, but intensified, and in just a few breaths, the man was incinerated into a cloud of black ash.

Everything came so suddenly, and no one around them reacted to what was happening......

Screams, confusion, and boundless fear suddenly enveloped the surrounding crowd.

Ye Lingyu was in the same state as everyone else, he stood at the edge of the crowd, his legs trembling, and his face was as pale as paper. In the time it had just begun, he was the only one who had witnessed the whole process. He slowly raised his head, only to see a dozen dark shadows circling and dancing overhead, as if the Grim Reaper's scythe was resting above their heads.

"Boom". There were a few more loud bangs, and a few thunderbolts fell in all directions.

The voice dragged Ye Lingyu back to reality like an empowering, and when he came back to his senses and looked at it fixedly, he found that the sky was full of silver-white light. The bright lights fell from the sky, and all of them fell within the scope of Fengcheng, and the whole sky was thunderous and rainy.

The clothes behind Ye Lingyu were soaked, and cold sweat slowly broke out on his forehead.

Another wail came, Ye Lingyu turned his head to look, and found that there was also a white flame burning on the body of a person beside him.

The firelight was very close to Ye Lingyu, and it was about to burn, Ye Lingyu bit the tip of his tongue, forcibly dispelled the fear in his heart, and pounced fiercely at the side. Where he had been standing, the man who had been consumed by the flames fell with a bang, and in the blink of an eye, he was burned to ashes.

Ye Lingyu gritted his teeth, stood up, turned around and ran. He didn't know what the thunder was, or what the dark shadow was, but he knew that all that was left was death.

He couldn't manage so much now, so he pulled his legs and rushed in the direction of the City Lord's Mansion.

The City Lord's Mansion is located in the center of Fengcheng, where Ye Lingyu lives today. If you talk about the strength of defense alone, it is the highest in the whole of Bongseong. In a hurry, he really had nowhere else to go but there.

Judging from his current location, to get to the City Lord's Mansion, he had to pass through at least five streets.

When he walked through the street that had been struck by lightning, what appeared in front of him was a myriad of flying black shadows.

Shadows were everywhere, crying, wailing, and scolding, and the whole street was set ablaze, and the flames were so bright that it was like hell had opened its doors on earth.

Looking at the raging sea of fire and the thunder in the sky, Ye Lingyu whispered as if he had lost his soul: "Heaven punishes ......"