614: Chapter 427 614: Chapter 427 The Qianji Fire, with its immense destructive power, swiftly set the castle ablaze, and the apprentices of the mage inside were thrown into a panic, fleeing for their lives.
As the Qianji Fire raged on, it did not spare those people; it was following its master’s command: kill, kill, kill!
Those people never imagined that one day they would die—they were so arrogant, believing that mages were the most powerful force in their nation, hadn’t the vampires become their slaves?
For thousands of years, mages had occupied the highest status in this nation, anyone wielding a Magical Treasure and chanting magic curses held a lofty position in this country.
Led by their noble status, they lived a life of opulence, engaged in inhumane deeds, committing all conceivable sins, yet they believed this was their right, their entitled way; they saw the slaves as disposable, existing only for the sake of their noble selves.
The ferocity of the Qianji Fire was such that the entire castle burned, even the most powerful mage perished, and those inside could do no more than accompany it in death.
This luxurious and imposing castle burst into intense flames within moments, scaring away even those nearby who wished to come to the aid.
Before long, the bricks, tiles, and belongings of the castle turned to ash.
After the fire subsided, those who came to check for survivors found the entire castle reduced to cinders.
A gust of wind scattered the ashes into the distant sky, leaving the land blackened.
Those who witnessed the entire process couldn’t believe their eyes; they had just seen the once formidable castle vanish, and the mightiest mage so easily consumed by the flames.
The burning to death of a castle’s mage had a great impact on the nation, and mages from other castles grew vigilant and guarded, not understanding why they were suddenly being burned.
As there were no enemies within the nation capable of overpowering them, and recalling the incidents of slaves being mysteriously burned, some guessed that the person who had previously come to observe the Magical Treasure and rescued the women must have found a powerful ally.
As for the possibility of the Vampire Clan being so formidable that they could have executed a vendetta and rescued the captives, it was assumed that they must have sought outside help.
Even if a member of the Vampire Clan came with a magic wand, they couldn’t possibly confront these mages.
If they were that powerful, why had they been bullied and enslaved for thousands of years, treated like pigs and dogs?
Nonetheless, it was thought that it must be the branch of the Vampire Clan that had moved abroad, becoming acquainted with the most powerful figures, in a country where the people were said to be capable of Flying Through the Heavens and Earth and becoming Immortals.
These mages, too, could use Magical Treasures to fly and shake the earth, but as of yet, they did not possess such artifacts capable of carrying so many people in flight.
Such an incendiary source, with such intense firepower and even the likeness of a soul—they had never witnessed it before.
There were rumors that the Cultivation World truly possessed such a potent fire.
No wonder their country sold slaves to the Cultivation World, exchanging them for resources to aid their own mages’ cultivation.
They aspired to emulate another nation that orchestrated terror for the sole purpose of seizing resources.
It is easy to contemplate such ambitions, but they require the capability to match, and with so many formidable figures in the Cultivation World, there had been attempts—only to end in failure.
Speculation that powerful figures had arrived made the guilty mages, as well as other influential individuals and the wealthily corrupt of the nation, tremble with fear, dreading vengeance.
They feared their enslaved captives being freed.
Without them, who would tend to their lands?
Without the income from selling slaves, how would they acquire more resources to aid their cultivation?
While these people were in fear, they were still obsessed with wealth, failing to consider whether they would even live to enjoy it.
Jiang Tang rescued the people tied to the Magic Artifact and handed them over to the Marquis for comfort.
After releasing the Qianji Fire and exterminating the evil-doers in one castle, under the guidance of Su Chang’an, he journeyed to other places to save people and seek vengeance against those who had wronged them.
Seeing these individuals living like animals, Jiang Tang felt compelled to help—even if they were not from his own nation, they would be in the future.
He despised the lawless and the life-wasters the most; such people could die a hundred times, and it would not be enough.
In the end, they were merely scorched to death, suffering briefly without prolonged agony.
The slaves who had been harmed by them, from old to young, had suffered for countless generations, countless numbers sold into bondage.
Such individuals, even if sent to the eighteenth level of Hell, would be turned away by Lord of Hell himself.
Moreover, with the Immortal Realm to consider, even Lord of Hell had no jurisdiction over many; even a ghost could become an Immortal, and these demons were more terrifying than ghosts.
The Marquis hadn’t anticipated such hardships for his own family, as batch after batch were brought to him, all in tattered clothing, battered and bruised regardless of age or gender, filthy and malodorous, wearing hardly anything in the winter, resembling savages in tatters.
Primitive attire had vanished millions of years ago, yet now, after all this time, he was witnessing the resurgence of such primitive clothing.
These people hadn’t chosen to wear tatters; they had been imprisoned, poorly treated, their clothes worn so long they disintegrated, and in the cold, some had resorted to weaving leaves into garments for protection.
While the Marquis was angry, with a wave of his magic wand, he granted these people a fresh start, cleansing the filth from their bodies and eradicating the lice in their hair.