After saying goodbye, the Spirit Empire group rushed with Tianlin. The main army was led by Snake Spear Douluo, while the top experts flew ahead to Spirit City.
All Titled Douluos could fly, so what would normally take over ten days took them less than a day.
"About twenty five km more, past the next town, and we'll reach Spirit City," Qian Daoliu said. He didn't know how to face the people of the Spirit Empire after such a defeat—their subjects would surely be miserable, now reduced to a conquered people.
Luckily, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect wasn't bloodthirsty, nor as classist as the two empires. For the common people, it was just a change of rulers; life wouldn't change much.
"Wait, there's a strong smell of blood ahead," Di Tian, being a beast, had sharper senses than Tianlin. He was the first to notice as they neared the town.
"Something's wrong," Tianlin felt a surge of resentment ahead, even before smelling blood due to his connection with the Holy Spirit Pearl.
He instantly sped up. In less than half a minute, they reached the town.
This little town, much like Seven Treasure Village, was under Spirit Hall's protection and full of Angel God believers. Life had always been peaceful, untouched by bandits or evil soul masters.
But today, the prosperity was gone—only bodies remained.
They landed and saw a scene from hell. Qian Daoliu's eyes filled with rage, "Who did this? Who dared massacre my Spirit Hall's people, our angel believers? I'll tear them to pieces!"
Ning Rongrong turned away, unable to bear it. She had killed enemies in battle, but never innocent civilians. What did continental wars have to do with them? Why such cruelty?
Tianlin checked the corpses. The way these people died was similar to those at border villages years ago.
Meaning: the Evil Sword Immortal or his subordinates did this. But all his subordinates had been dealt with—he had no one left to send.
The victims were Angel God believers, so there was only one possibility: Bibi Dong.
She had been consumed by the Evil Spirit Pearl's evil. The hatred she had gradually let go of, due to Qian Renxue, had resurfaced uncontrollably.
Tianlin wasn't sure if Bibi Dong in the original wanted to destroy the continent, but he was sure she wanted to destroy Spirit Hall. She probably planned to wipe out the Spirit Empire at its height as revenge.
Now that was impossible. So she could only take revenge through slaughter.
But after the last battle, both Tianlin and Bibi Dong must've been severely injured. She should have been lying low.
The only explanation: to complete the final test of the Rakshasa God, which required unleashing her deepest evil.
So before secluding herself to heal, she had to destroy what she hated most.
"Oh no, Spirit City!" Tianlin suddenly realized—if even a small village of Angel believers was slaughtered, how could Spirit Hall itself be spared?
"Senior Qian Daoliu, we must hurry to Spirit City!"
Without time to explain, he flew at full speed, with Di Tian right behind.
Qian Daoliu left two Douluos to bury the townsfolk, then chased after Tianlin.
The three strongest arrived at Spirit City first. It, too, was now a living hell.
Once the continent's greatest city, now it was filled with corpses, collapsed buildings, cracked ground, fire everywhere, and the cries of the people.
Golden Crocodile Douluo arrived next, his voice trembling with grief and anger. "Our Spirit City… why has it become like this?"
"Rongrong, save them!" Tianlin shouted. Spirit City was a metropolis of nearly a million—there had to be survivors.
"Yes!" Ning Rongrong wielded the Sea God Trident, summoning water from the moat to put out the fires.
"Wait—the three worshippers!" Qian Daoliu suddenly remembered: three worshippers were guarding the city, each with power above rank 96. Maybe they survived.
He left Ning Rongrong and the others to rescue people while he and Tianlin rushed to Spirit Hall.
The once-majestic Angel God statue was now dust. Only Bibi Dong had the power and hatred to do this.
In the square, four people lay on the ground. Two were gravely wounded; two were just skeletons.
"Third! Xue'er!" Qian Daoliu rushed over. The survivors were the Third Worshipper and Qian Renxue.
The other two skeletons must have been the Fourth and Fifth Worshippers.
"Sister Xue'er!" Tianlin reached Qian Renxue first, checking her injuries.
Qian Renxue weakly opened her eyes, "Xiao Tian, am I dreaming? If I could see you before dying, that would be nice…"
"I won't let you die, Sister Xue'er." Tianlin summoned his magic sword. "Eighth soul skill: Extreme Curse—Return of Yin and Yang."
The sword's light enveloped both Qian Renxue and the Third Worshipper. Qian Renxue's wounds healed, but the Third Worshipper remained dying.
He shook his head, "Don't waste your effort, young man. There's a force inside me destroying my body, stronger than your sword's power."
"Xiao Tian, the Third Worshipper has the Evil Spirit Pearl's power inside, resisting your magic sword. The Extreme Curse can't penetrate, so you can't heal him. Bibi Dong was ruthless to him, only showing mercy to Qian Renxue," Skydream Iceworm said. Previously, only the Wind Spirit Pearl could drive out the Evil Spirit Pearl's power from Tianlin.
Unless the Holy Spirit Pearl left Tianlin and became an artifact, he couldn't heal the Third Worshipper right now.