After passing through half of Kado City, Li Xi finally arrived at the place where the red mist was thickest, the entrance of a rather dilapidated manor.
This was the place where Master Menglan De and Andy had told him to shoe horses during the day, Knight Nas's manor.
Before Li Xi even entered the main gate, he saw that the street outside was already littered with servants whose clothes were undone, dead from exhaustion.
These servants were the attendants brought by the nobles attending the ball. Due to the extreme density of the red mist, they could not resist their inner demons and died from excessive release, not only the servants but also the horses pulling the carriages were in the same state, dying with expressions of enjoyment and pleasure.
Li Xi felt like he had a fire burning in his heart. Although human lives were like grass in troubled times, it was too cruel to have one's life taken away unconsciously like this.
With a kick, he sent the heavy solid wooden gate flying. Li Xi did not look anywhere else but rushed to the back of the manor where the stables were usually located. Along the way, there were corpses of dead servants everywhere. The eerie smiles on their faces sent shivers down the spine of anyone who saw such a scene. Perhaps for these servants, a death without pain and even with enjoyment was a happy thing.
These ordinary people had no strength and no ability to resist the red mist. This was the sorrow of the weak.
Li Xi's heart was pounding. Although he knew it was impossible, he still held out a sliver of hope. Andy was just a slightly stronger ordinary person, and his chances of survival were slim, or rather, nonexistent.
And Master Menglan De was only a second-level warrior, not much stronger than Andy in such a situation.
Li Xi moved at lightning speed and reached the stables in a flash.
He couldn't believe it, yet it was the truth. Two strong bodies leaned against the wall, their faces serene as if they were asleep. Their once strong bodies were now emaciated like lambs, their skin sallow as if they were over a hundred years old.
Li Xi trembled and gently touched them with his hand, and the two corpses instantly fell over.
In fact, the moment Li Xi saw the corpses, he already knew the outcome. With a certain level of strength, one could determine many things by intuition alone.
They had talked about eating together this noon, he had set the date for today, they didn't have to come, if he had insisted more, they wouldn't have ended up like this.
"Why?"
Li Xi looked up at the sky and questioned heaven loudly. The overwhelming killing intent radiating from him pushed the surrounding red mist back several meters.
Tears of regret streamed down his face. The tomoe spun wildly, his killing intent irrepressible, his bloodline surging, his blood boiling. At this moment, the single tomoe had evolved into a double tomoe.
Li Xi's Sharingan had undergone its second evolution due to the deaths of Menglan De and Andy.
His vision and dynamic vision were further enhanced, and he could clearly record and replicate some of the opponent's movements. The power of the Sharingan began to manifest, but Li Xi wished he had never evolved. To have his evolution spurred by the deaths of friends and family was something only an ill-fated person would experience.
With a wave of his hand, he collected the two corpses into his spatial ring. While spatial rings could not store living beings, they could store the dead.
Wiping the tears from his face, Li Xi did not forget his original purpose. He formed hand seals and pointed towards the sky,
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
With Li Xi's current strength, the six-meter-diameter fireball shot straight into the sky, reaching twenty meters before exploding, illuminating a corner of Kado City, ensuring that anyone observing would surely see it.
He casually took out the Kubikiribōchō and, facing the manor villa not far away, gritted his teeth, "I'll go fuck your grandma."
A pair of dragon wings unfurled from Li Xi's back, and at near-supersonic speed, he cleaved through the entire rear wall of the three-story villa with a single strike.
Li Xi finally saw the interior of the villa. Numerous nobles in luxurious robes lay on the ground, semi-naked, their bodies like the frail elderly of eighty or ninety years, on the verge of dissipating with a gust of wind.
A dark spatial portal hovered above them all, like a smokestack, spewing out red mist. The space was filled with alluring whispers, emanating from the portal.
With Li Xi's enhanced eyes, he could clearly see white mist being continuously absorbed into the spatial portal. With each absorption of white mist, the spatial portal gradually enlarged.
Based on his previous encounter with the Fire Demon, Li Xi knew this was accumulating power to transport the succubus queen, Lilith. This portal, less than eight meters wide, was clearly not yet capable of accommodating Lilith's passage.
Li Xi casually scanned the area, seeing no signs of living beings. It seemed like a dead zone, except for himself, who could still breathe.
A disdainful smile appeared on Li Xi's face, and he proclaimed to the dead silence, "That impostor, Soros, was killed by me. I smashed him bone by bone, pulled out his intestines for him to eat, and tortured him for hours. If not for his suicidal black flame at the end, I could have tortured him for days without repeating a single trick."
"Enough, Dragonborn. You merely want to force us out, why say such things that degrade your status?" A man in a stand-collared trench coat emerged from the red mist. Li Xi was appearing as the Dragonborn, so this man didn't recognize Li Xi as the little mercenary from before, but Li Xi recognized him. This was the man he had met when he went to Maple Leaf Street three to complete a quest.
"Has your Assassin's Alliance become traitors, or are you willing to be lapdogs of the abyss?"
Li Xi had originally wanted to test if these people were behind it. Now, by simply speaking, they revealed themselves, so it seemed it was them again. Li Xi had reason to suspect that Ais's near-death experience last time was also their doing.
If it weren't for the need to clarify a few doubts in his mind, Li Xi would have already drawn his blade. The revenge for Menglan De and Andy must be paid with a price, a terrible price.
The man in the stand-collared trench coat showed a mocking smile. "The abyss? That's just a tool we exploit. I know you're trying to trick me, but I don't mind. Please, enjoy yourself."
The trench coat man disappeared into the red mist. Just as Li Xi was about to pursue him, his senses flared, and he raised his Kubikiribōchō to block behind him.
"Clang" "Clang"
Two heavy swords were blocked by the Kubikiribōchō. Li Xi saw two tall puppets clad in full armor, with no exposed parts, covered in magic runes from head to toe. They weighed tons, yet moved like assassins, having silently approached him from behind.
"To use a level four puppet to ambush me, you must be quite wealthy."
Monko was once known as Kado City's foremost puppeteer, capable of creating level four puppets. Each level four puppet could sell for tens of thousands of gold coins. Unfortunately, after attempting to harm Li Xi, he lost everything. Li Xi still had plenty of puppet-making materials in his spatial ring.
The attackers were not puppets but Golems. The difference between a puppet and a Golem was that a puppet did not require meticulous control and was more advanced, while a Golem needed to be controlled by a puppeteer. They were less intelligent than puppets but easier and quicker to produce, allowing for mass production. This indicated that a puppeteer was hidden nearby.
The ambush was discovered. Under the puppeteer's control, the two Golems were about to disappear back into the red mist, waiting for an opportunity. But Li Xi would not give them that chance.
As the Golems tried to retreat, Li Xi's Kubikiribōchō, like a general sweeping through an army, cleared the pervasive red mist with a single swing, pushing it back dozens of meters. The two Golems blocked with their heavy swords, but facing the Kubikiribōchō, which could make even giants bow in defeat, the two Golems, along with their heavy swords, were smashed to pieces, falling to the ground like rain.
From afar, a figure hidden in a black robe intended to make another move, but the man in the stand-collared trench coat patted his shoulder, and the two of them turned and left.
"All show and no substance. Such trash shouldn't be brought out to embarrass yourselves, lest you lower your standing."
Li Xi did not hold back his words, spewing endless mockery. However, his attempt to enrage them this time failed. Apart from the man in the stand-collared trench coat and the fleeting appearance of the two Golems, these people did not take any further action, as if they had never appeared. Even the puppeteer, who had lost two Golems, showed no sign of attacking again.
If not for the scattered Golem parts on the ground, Li Xi would have doubted that he had even been attacked.
But just as Li Xi was about to pursue these members of the Assassin's Alliance, a voice echoed from the spatial portal.
A pair of sharp horns, pointing upwards as if to pierce the heavens, emerged from the portal, followed by a tall, muscular figure.
Li Xi felt a fated encounter with this Abyssal Horned Demon. He always met them.
Seeing the Horned Demon that had teleported out and the members of the Assassin's Alliance whose whereabouts were unknown, Li Xi could only temporarily suppress his rage. He flew to the portal and, the moment the Horned Demon's large head appeared, he swung his blade. The Horned Demon only had time to turn its eyes towards Li Xi before its head was cleanly severed by the Kubikiribōchō.
Before reinforcements arrived, Li Xi had to stay and defend this place. If demons were to appear within the city, the damage would be too great.
"Matatabi, help me keep an eye on those despicable sneak attackers."
Since Li Xi didn't know what else would emerge from the portal and was worried about sneak attacks from the Assassin's Alliance, he had to ask the Two-Tails for help. This kind of symbiotic relationship with two consciousnesses in one body was beneficial, allowing Li Xi to fight safely.
"Understood," Matatabi's voice came from the sealed space.
White mist continued to be drawn into the portal, and the portal was slowly growing larger. Each wisp of white mist was the soul of a departed life, and these souls were providing energy to the portal. Li Xi was unable to manage other matters. He could only hope that Ais and the others would react quickly. Reducing the number of deaths was the best way to inhibit Lilith's descent.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
"Bang!"
A shadow clone had just appeared when Li Xi shattered it with a punch. The shadow clone, which had been left at home to check on Madam Avril, received Li Xi's inquiry.
Facing a powerful opponent like the Abyss, Li Xi had to go all out. Therefore, when possible, the shadow clones had to return.
As soon as the shadow clone was destroyed, half of Li Xi's strength suddenly returned to him, along with a short stream of memories. Li Xi didn't examine them closely, only confirming that Avril was fine, which put his mind at ease.
The noisy footsteps from within the portal began to accelerate. Li Xi intended to shatter this portal as he had done last time, but just as he was about to act, the Horned Demon's characteristic four-meter-long sword emerged from the portal first.
"You insignificant creatures dare to show yourselves? Then I shall make you come out."
Li Xi grabbed the Horned Demon's long sword with one hand and, with a forceful tug, dragged the six-meter-tall Horned Demon stumbling out of the portal.
The Horned Demon was shocked. Its strength was being pulled by a human? But the moment it emerged and saw Li Xi's appearance, its initial fear vanished, replaced by unbridled rage. Its gaping maw seemed to roar the name of its father's killer, "Abyssal Cursesp—"