“Nearest to the Sanctum is the safe zone, covered by the force field of the sacred crystal font. There is no sign that indicates it has been affected,” answered Madillan, the new man in charge.
“Other than the spreading of black mist, are there any other anomalies?” asked Lin Sheng.
“Nothing. Just that our communication with the outside world is cut off. Probably not just us. All other cities might be experiencing the same thing. Things could get even more serious if there is anything happening again,” Madillan said.
Lin Sheng did not say a word.
After he was back, he had been staying in the isolation room in the research center, digesting the soul power. It was only until the day before yesterday that he absorbed the soul power completely and got a huge boost to his soul. He had not expected to see things happen until he came out.
His heart missed a beat when he recalled what he had seen earlier through the Sand of Time. He had to start his evacuation plan as soon as possible. He had occupied so many dark spirit caverns just to get prepared for this moment: to evacuate the survivors.
Just as this thought came to mind, Tenko Kasumi, who was now in command of the Dark Spirit Palace, relayed a message.
“Black mist has appeared in the dark spirit caverns. It is spreading fast!”
“What?” Lin Sheng’s heart skipped two beats, bouncing to his feet.
“How is that possible? Everything was still all right there earlier.”
“I suspect when we have inadvertently brought the black mist over here when we opened up the passage.” Tenko Kasumi said.
“We brought it over there?” Lin Sheng was startled. He suddenly put two and two together. If black mist could leech on to people, that would explain why back then, Ancellia was beating her brains out to find a way to solve the Black Tide problem in Blackfeather City instead of evacuating the survivors.
The power beings in Blackfeather City should have been able to find some mysterious realm where life could be sustained and continued. But they all still died. Even the last words of Ancellia were filled with despair.
“I need an experiment to determine if the black mist really leeches on living persons!”
Lin Sheng suddenly thought of something that sent a chill up his spine. If the black mist really leeched on living persons was true, then his entries into Blackfeather City in the dream last time must be the cause of its destruction. It was because of him bringing in the black mist that triggered the outbreak.
He knew the existence of the Black Tide long ago. But before that, the spread of it was slow and easy to deal with. It was only after he entered the dream into Blackfeather City that things changed rapidly.
Keeping his expression unchanged, Lin Sheng said in a calm voice, “Please keep your eyes peeled on the changes of the black mist at the border. The logistics should work with the publicity division to calm down the public. Don’t come to disturb me if nothing major happens.”
“I want to study the nature of the black mist.”
“Aye!”
Everyone echoed, and the video conference ended as Lin Sheng turned off his screen.
Standing silently in the hall of the tower, Lin Sheng started to put on his thinking cap, conjuring the various possibilities about the Black Tide. The more he thought of it, the more convinced he was that he might have something to do with the outbreak of the Black Tide.
“If the Black Tide could really leech on living persons…”
He took a deep breath, walking out of the hall to the terrace a hundred meters above ground on the Tower of Dusk. The one-hundred-meter-tall pointed tower looked rather inconspicuous in the city.
There were many more hundred-meter-tall buildings out there, but the Tower of Dusk differed from them. It had all the divine effects within its strong radiation range. So long as it existed, the most basic Detect Evil skill would become a powerful, lethal Holy Shock. This was the key to protecting Henricqal.
So Lin Sheng thought he might as well stay in the Tower of Dusk, away from people, keeping some level of secrecy. It was also to protect the tower from getting damaged.
Standing on the terrace, he looked into the distance. On the edge of the city, between buildings, half of the skyline had turned black. He looked into other directions, and they all looked the same. Aside from the light red sky above Henricqal and the Tower of Dusk, the other places had turned gray with the land below shrouded in a blanket of black mist.
Henricqal became a circular zone, under siege from all directions. Holy power was being exhausted to keep the black mist at bay at the border. Lin Sheng could already feel the dwindling reserve in the sacred crystal font. Million units of holy power were spent at any moment in this large-area battle.
The good thing was, as if the doomsday scene had motivated the population, millions of people in the city responded to the call to pray. As this happened, a large amount of holy power was pouring into the sacred crystal font and slowing down the rate of decline of the sacred power reserve.
“Things are looking up for now…”
Lin Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. By the looks of things, this enhanced black mist alone could still not be able to destroy Henricqal.
While he was still deep in thought, some black lightning bolts that looked like a spider web struck across the sky above, followed by the rumble of thunder.
Large groups of dark clouds began to appear in the pale red sky. It did not take long for the dark clouds to fill the entire sky. What shocked Lin Sheng was that these were not regular clouds; there was the vague, stony face appearing in the clouds.
From the center of the clouds, a giant black hand slowly came down toward the Tower of Dusk. The hand looked mushy, like a group of smoke. Lin Sheng could already tell it was purely formed by some soul power-like energy, which was invisible to the average people.
What surprised Lin Sheng even more were the blurry lines on the palm. They looked extremely similar to the finger that he saw killing the Steel Lord when he first summoned him.
While his mind was working overtime to sort the thoughts out, Lin Sheng summoned his holy power and launched himself up into the air. The infinite power conversion of the Palatinates had been activated.
“Kill!” He roared as his body almost faded into the shape of a comet, dragging a giant comet tail behind him as he clashed head-on with the black hand.
Black mist and holy light had come to blows, frantically trying to eliminate the other. A massive amount of holy power was converted and rushed out from Lin Sheng to devour, drive away and purify the black mist. But this time, Lin Sheng had met his match.
The black mist was endless and equal in strength to the holy power. When two equal forces clashed, the only factor that determined the result was their quantity.
At that moment, the entire Henricqal saw the black and the white forces clashing in the sky.
“It’s Lord Holy Emperor!”
“Lord Holy Emperor is protecting us! We will be alright!”
“The supreme Holy Emperor, King of the Holy Spirits! Please beat it!”
“Let’s pray that the holy light will protect us all!”
“Holy will prevail over evil!”
“Holy forever!”
“Holy forever!”
“Holy forever!”
Everyone started to gaze up into the sky, praying for the victory of the holy light. As their prayers turned into a chanting of ‘Holy forever,’ a massive amount of holy power started to pour into the sacred crystal font.
“What are you, really?”
Holy power of unprecedented level was surging in him, putting an enormous load on his body. He looked up at the face in the clouds. With the Eight-eight Guards of the Dark Wheel boosting his strength and healing his body, he barely held back the giant hand.