Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Violet-Gold Gourd

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“You are—” The words had barely left his lips when the purple-haired giant perched atop the treetop suddenly vanished.

In the next instant, he appeared before the corpse herder who had spoken, as if materializing from thin air.

A massive hand shot out, clamping over the man’s face; from his fingertips erupted searing purple flames.

The domineering flames bore into flesh and bone!

In the blink of an eye, the corpse herder was ignited, transformed into a living torch.

Flailing desperately, he tried to beat out the purple fire, channeling his magic—pale green light flickered over his body in an attempt to snuff the flames.

But the more power he summoned, the fiercer the purple fire blazed, as if provoked.

His agonized screams tore through the night, wracking the air with shrill terror.

“You—”

Seeing his junior slain, the leader of the corpse herders opened his mouth to speak, but found himself staring into the eyes of the purple-haired giant. His heart trembled and the words died in his throat.

But then, realizing how absurd it was to be cowed into silence by a stranger, his face twisted with rage.

“What are you all gawking for? Avenge Su Tuo!”

Jarred to their senses, the four corpse herders chanted incantations; their sleeves swelled, and countless bats, radiating with an eerie emerald light, burst forth.

They merged into a terrifying, inky-green current that surged toward the purple-haired giant.

These were all bloodthirsty mutant bats, their wings coated in paralyzing venom.

With a flap of their wings, clouds of toxin would scatter, rendering their victims limp and helpless before being drained to a husk.

Shrill, piercing squeaks crashed in waves.

Yet, as the bat tide swept toward him, the purple-haired giant seemed indifferent. With a single motion, he ripped off his face covering, revealing rugged features beneath.

“I’ve been stifled long enough. Tonight, let me stretch my arms a little.”

Behind him, the air shimmered with heat.

He reached out, and a violet-gold gourd, over two meters tall, thundered into view.

It was perfectly round, threaded with faint red light, and at its base glowed a golden sigil, radiant as a burning sun.

He slung the gourd under one arm, grinned broadly, and plucked the stopper from its mouth.

“Gentlemen, behold the coming of fire!”

Boom—

After a brief silence, the gourd swelled, then unleashed a roaring torrent of purple flame, surging forth to collide with the emerald bat swarm.

Purple and green currents crashed together.

The domineering blaze incinerated the bloodthirsty bats with a sizzling fury.

Their charred bodies rained down like a torrential storm.

In moments, a thick carpet of scorched bat corpses covered the ground.

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Shouldering the violet-gold gourd, the purple-haired giant laughed uproariously, transformed into a mad arsonist chasing the four corpse herders, who fled in panic, leaping and darting about.

“Don’t run! You stink to high heaven—let me burn you clean, give you a good disinfection!”

“Burn in hell!” the leader spat back, bitterness thick in his mouth as he muttered inwardly.

What on earth was happening tonight? First, a lunatic magistrate putting on a one-man show, and now this outrageously powerful master had appeared out of nowhere.

Now I finally understand how the Hu brothers and the Li demon sisters met their end.

“We can't keep this up. Scatter and run! If you escape, inform the Hall Master at once—let him raze this county to the ground himself!”

As the purple-haired giant closed in, weaving with sinister agility, the violet flames from the gourd nearly licking their heels, the leader gritted his teeth.

“In three breaths, I’ll detonate the Corpse Nether Triple-Yin Array and summon the Triple-Yin Serpent. That’s the chance—run!”

“Understood!”

Forming seals with his hands, the leader muttered incantations, and several dark green serpents slipped from his sleeves, burrowing into the earth.

“Triple Yin, perish—all explode!”

His eyes gleamed with venom as he wheeled around, pointing at the purple-haired giant.

The array beneath his feet blazed with light, and the corpses within were visibly drained, shriveling to husks.

Boom!

Mud and stone erupted as a massive emerald serpent—over ten meters long—burst from the ground, roaring with foul, poisonous wind as it lunged for the purple-haired giant.

“Go!”

With the serpent unleashed, the leader barked, and all four herders bolted in different directions.

“This isn’t good—they can’t be allowed to escape.”

From atop the city wall, Song Tingye frowned, about to order Sun Yueting to give chase.

But below, as the purple-haired giant roasted the Triple-Yin Serpent with his gourd, he suddenly flung out four iron plaques and shouted:

“Everyone! Get down, cover your heads, and open your mouths!”

The command was baffling, but seeing the four plaques, Song Tingye’s eyes widened in alarm, and he immediately echoed the order.

“Do as he says! Down, heads covered, mouths open!”

In the air, the four plaques transformed into four violet-gold gourd phantoms.

Unlike the solid gourd in the giant’s hands, these were veined with cracks, brimming with unstable, seething fire that leaked through the fissures—a palpable aura of destruction.

Having cast the Fourfold Violet Gourd Martial Talisman, Qi Xiu pinned the writhing serpent beneath his gourd, eyes cold as he pointed and commanded:

“Descend!”

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Boom—

In an instant, it was as if purple meteors rained from the heavens.

The four violet gourds, trailing long tails of flame, crashed down upon the fleeing corpse herders.

Sensing the thunderous roar and searing heat behind them, the herders glanced back—and, in that split second, their eyes nearly burst from their sockets.

“No—!”

Like blossoms of death, the violet gourds struck earth, unleashing waves of baking heat that swept outward.

Boom!!!

A devastating shockwave rampaged in all directions, devouring everything in its fiery wake.

The ground was flattened, soil and stone hurled skyward in a surging tide.

A gigantic fireball rose, forming a terrifying mushroom cloud, swirling with black smoke and annihilating heat.

The explosions thundered across the land like a storm, sweeping everything before them.

In the span of a heartbeat, everything within dozens of meters at the blast center was utterly erased, as if wiped clean from existence.

The raging wind hammered Qi Xiu’s robes, making them snap and flutter.

Within the county, men, women, and children alike cowered low, heads down, ears ringing with the aftershock.

On the city wall, Song Tingye rose from behind the parapet, staring in disbelief at the four vast, scorched patches in the distant forest, goosebumps prickling his skin.

“This destructive power… even an ordinary adept could hardly match it. Who is this Ye Wen, really?”

Shielding his face from the rushing sand and wind, Qi Xiu squinted toward the flattened woodland.

Ha! The taste of my own creation—the Violet Gourd Howl Bomb—must be something special.

But just as he began to revel in satisfaction, a thought struck him. With a single punch, he finished off the crippled serpent beneath him and dashed toward the explosion’s heart.

He waved away the choking smoke, but after combing through the blast zone, not even a trace remained.

Clutching his forehead with a wry smile, Qi Xiu sighed.

“Got carried away—now there’s nothing left at all.”

…