The stench of blood permeated the air, born from countless dead bodies of both humans and demon beasts scattered all over the streets of Glory City.
The sky was filled with the roars of countless demon beasts echoing from every direction around the city,
like a trumpet marking the end of Glory City.
As the hundreds of millions of demon beasts broke through the city walls, all the experts within the city gave up defending it.
Instead, they fought to buy time for everyone to escape the onslaught.
But not everyone was trying to run. Some chose to stay, already giving up as they lost all hope of surviving.
With the destruction of Glory City, where could they even run to escape?
With that in mind, some people didn't even bother to resist. They simply stood where they were and waited for the demon beasts to tear them apart.
After all, what was the point of resisting anyway?
With Glory City's destruction, there was no safe place in the outside world they could escape to.
Since death was inevitable, they simply gave up and didn't bother to struggle. At the very least, they wouldn't prolong their suffering.
As the attacks continued, many buildings collapsed due to the relentless rampage of the demon beasts, some of which were part of Glory City's earliest infrastructure.
Desperate cries from people of all walks of life echoed throughout the city.
Witnessing this scene, both fighters and demon spiritualists dashed toward the demon beasts while brandishing their weapons, their faces filled with resignation to sacrifice their own lives so the people could escape.
One of those people was Xue Hui, a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy desperately trailing behind a Black Gold Rank demon spiritualist expert of the Divine Family, Elder Chen Fe.
Being carried in Chen Fe's embrace was his niece, Chen Linlin.
When the news came that the demon beast horde had successfully broken through the western wall and begun massacring people,
Seeing that Glory City had already been lost to the demon beasts,
Chen Zhenlong, the Patriarch of the Divine Family, one of the three major families,
asked his brother to leave the battle to him and rush back to the Divine Family Mansion to escort his wives and daughter out of the city.
Chen Fe initially resisted the idea and argued that Chen Zhenlong himself should be the one to escape with his family.
But Zhenlong could only shake his head and insist that he needed to stay and fight.
Ensuring that the remaining people had enough time to escape.
"As the Patriarch of the Divine Family, one of Glory City's three great families, how could I, Zhenlong, abandon the people of Glory City?"
Chen Zhenlong's eyes held an unyielding determination when he uttered those words, leaving the other party stunned for a moment.
Chen Zhenlong already knew that he would not survive this battle and only wished for his brother to accompany his wives and daughter out of the city.
Seeing this, Chen Fe could only grit his teeth and nod in resignation.
Steeling himself, he turned away from the battle and dashed toward the Divine Family Mansion, leaving his older brother behind while forcing himself to ignore the sounds of carnage behind him.
But fate showed no mercy to those who tried to go against it.
The moment Chen Fe arrived at the now-ruined Divine Family Mansion, he was greeted by the sight of destroyed buildings and countless bodies scattered across the ground.
Some were still in one piece, but most had been torn apart.
Chen Fe couldn't even recognize some of the corpses because of how gruesomely the demon beasts had mutilated them.
Looking around, Chen Fe's heart dropped and his head became lightheaded.
What he saw was the upper half of Chen Yinying's body discarded on the ground, her lower half missing.
Chen Fe's knees almost buckled at the sight. His sister-in-law, once filled with boundless life and energy, was now gone.
Chen Fe shook his head, pushing aside his grief. He still needed to search for his other sister-in-law and his niece. As he did so, he prayed inwardly that both of them were still alive.
Failing to find any trace of his other sister-in-law, Chen Fe rushed toward his niece's residence instead.
But before he could step into her courtyard,
he heard a commotion not far away.
He surmised that a demon beast was wreaking havoc in that direction.
Chen Fe stopped for a moment and used his soul force to heighten his senses.
Just now, he was certain he had heard a familiar voice crying for help.
Chen Fe's eyes widened, his expression turning ashen. He knew all too well whose voice it was.
Kicking off the ground, the Black Gold Rank demon spiritualist did not hesitate and followed the direction of the commotion,
knowing that if Xue Hui was there, there was a high possibility that his niece was with him.
After all, if there was one thing everyone in the Divine Family knew about the adopted servant of Chen Zhenlong, it was that Xue Hui was extremely loyal to Chen Linlin.
Firmly clutching the weapon in his hand, Chen Fe jumped onto a roof, positioning himself at the perfect angle for a sneak attack. His target was the broad back of the demon beast.
Using the roof's edge, he pushed off with all his strength, launching himself toward the beast at blinding speed.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH EVEN A SINGLE STRAND OF LINLIN'S HAIR WITH YOUR FILTHY CLAWS, YOU FOUL BEAST!"
Chen Fe roared at the top of his lungs, seeing that the demon beast's arm was only moments away from reaching the two children.
Purposely drawing its attention to himself.
The demon beast turned toward him and roared before swinging its massive arm in his direction.
Chen Fe's heart sank. The beast before him was several times stronger than he was, but he did not falter in the slightest and intercepted the attack.
"FOR THE DEATH OF MY FAMILY, DIE BY MY HAND, FOUL BEAST!"
Back in the present,
Xue Hui could only run as fast as he could while following Chen Fe.
Normally, catching up to a Black Gold Rank demon spiritualist expert was impossible for an ordinary person like Xue Hui, even if he used all his strength.
But due to the injuries Chen Fe had sustained while fighting the beast, his overall strength had drastically decreased, slowing him down.
Xue Hui lowered his gaze, his heart trembling as he looked at the massive spike embedded in Chen Fe's abdomen. He couldn't fathom how the Divine Family elder could continue moving with such injuries.
Earlier, before Chen Fe's arrival,
he and his young miss, Chen Linlin, had found themselves cornered after running for a long time.
When Xue Hui reached a dead end and found no way out, he and his young miss resigned themselves to their fate and could only brace themselves for the demon beast to pounce.
Closing his eyes, Xue Hui held his young miss tightly.
But it seemed that Heaven still had a little pity left for them.
At the very last second, moments away from being mauled to death by the demon beast, Chen Fe appeared and engaged the beast while Xue Hui and Chen Linlin escaped.
But the battle did not go well for Elder Chen Fe.
The demon beast proved to be a formidable opponent and pushed the elder into a desperate struggle.
In the end, judging the situation to be dire and with his niece's safety in mind, Elder Chen Fe chose to retreat with the two children.
Using a life-saving talisman he had kept for emergencies,
he momentarily incapacitated the demon beast before quickly grabbing his niece and Xue Hui and fleeing.
And that was how Xue Hui found himself trailing behind Chen Fe and Chen Linlin.
It was already fortunate enough that Elder Chen Fe had not abandoned him during their escape.
Although he and the elder knew each other, they had never truly interacted before.
After all, his duty was to take care of all of his young miss's needs, and he spent most of his time by her side.
That was why Xue Hui had only limited interactions with the other members of the Divine Family.
Xue Hui was eternally grateful for Elder Chen Fe's kindness.
He was, after all, merely a servant of the Divine Family's young miss.
While lost in thought, Xue Hui failed to notice when Elder Chen Fe suddenly stopped.
The abrupt halt caused Xue Hui to stumble and fall onto his backside after colliding with the elder.
With a grim expression, Chen Fe called out to him.
"Boy, I want you to carry Lin'er and run as fast as you can. Do not stop or look behind you, no matter what. Do you hear me, my boy?"
Shaken by what he heard, Xue Hui looked up to ask Chen Fe what he meant. Instead, he was met with the sight of Chen Fe wearing a grim and resigned expression.
Elder Chen Fe's gaze was locked on the direction they had come from.
Stunned, Xue Hui sat frozen until Chen Fe used his soul force to bring him back to his feet. Afterward, Chen Fe placed Chen Linlin in Xue Hui's arms.
"Boy, carry Lin'er to safety. That damn beast is tailing us, and it's closing in fast."
Both Xue Hui and Chen Linlin's hearts dropped when they heard what Elder Chen Fe said.
Although they couldn't hear or sense anything behind them, they both knew that the perception of a Black Gold Rank Demon Spiritualist was heightened to an unimaginable degree.
If Elder Chen Fe said the demon beast was closing in on them, then it was only a matter of time before it caught up.
"Uncle..."
With tears streaming down her delicate cheeks, Chen Linlin stared at her uncle with a meaningful look.
Chen Fe could only look back at her and nod.
"I'm sorry, Lin'er. Uncle could only carry you this far. All I can do now is buy you and Xue Hui some time to run. What happens next is up to fate."
Chen Fe gently kissed Chen Linlin's forehead. That gentle kiss conveyed all the emotions he wished to impart.
This was a goodbye, and both of them knew it.
"Xue Hui!"
Hearing his name called in a tone filled with the authority of a Black Gold Rank Demon Spiritualist, Xue Hui's body moved unconsciously. He stood straight and listened attentively to what Elder Chen Fe had to say.
"I want you to fulfill your duty as Lin'er's attendant for the last time. Give everything you have to carry her out to the City while I do my best to hold that demon beast off for as long as I can."
Xue Hui gulped and nodded uncertainly, his knees already shaking from fear.
Seeing the hesitation in the boy's eyes, Chen Fe sighed and continued. Even if their chances of survival were slim, it was still better to fight until the end than to wait helplessly for the demon beast to devour them.
"Xue Hui, you've always been Lin'er's strength."
Hearing those words, Xue Hui looked at him with a curious expression.
"When my brother first brought you to our mansion and appointed you as Lin'er's attendant, I thought he had lost his mind. After all, you were a boy, and my Lin'er was the young princess of the Divine Family. How could a boy like you be suitable to attend to her daily needs? More importantly, your innate talent was poor.
How could the attendant of the only princess of my family be so weak when a personal attendant should at least possess enough strength to protect both themselves and their master?"
Seeing that the confusion on the boy's face remained, Chen Fe continued.
"At first, I was also confused about why my brother chose you. But later, I realized there was meaning behind his decision. Because of your poor innate talent, you were the only person in the Divine Family who could truly connect with our Lin'er."
Xue Hui's eyes widened. Never had he imagined that his presence in the Divine Family carried such importance.
While it was true that Chen Linlin had once possessed outstanding innate talent as a child, everything changed when she was struck by a rare illness. The condition withered her soul realm and robbed her not only of her ability to cultivate, but also of her chance to live a normal life.
Because of this, Chen Linlin chose to isolate herself in her room, away from the eyes of others. Only a few members of the main family were allowed to see her. Even Chen Fe, her uncle, had not been among those people back then.
Seeing realization dawn in the boy's eyes, Chen Fe nodded and placed a hand on Xue Hui's shoulder. The weight behind it was the heaviest burden Xue Hui had ever carried.
"Because of you, Lin'er found someone she could connect with. Although your talent is poor, it is precisely that reason that made her willing to let you enter her small world."
Emotions flared within both men. Though faint, there was a slight tremor in Chen Fe's voice.
"I'm her uncle, yet I was helpless. Despite all my wealth and power, I could do nothing for my Lin'er. That's why I was grateful when my brother brought you into our mansion. Ever since you became Lin'er's attendant, she found someone she could consider an equal. Someone she wasn't afraid to be herself around.
In this vast mansion, you're the only one who could make her feel less alone. For that, I, Chen Fe, will always be grateful for all your hard work. And that's why you'll always be one of my Divine Family's most valuable members."
Hearing those words, Xue Hui choked back the emotions threatening to burst out.
Chen Fe continued.
"And because of that, I want you to fulfill that role until the very end. Carry Lin'er and run as fast as you can. Don't let go of her, and make sure..."
Chen Fe's grip on Xue Hui's shoulder tightened. His expression became pleading.
"...don't let her experience loneliness again, no matter what."
Tightening his hold on Chen Linlin, Xue Hui nodded firmly. The doubt in his eyes had vanished, replaced by an unyielding determination.
Seeing this, Chen Fe turned toward the approaching demon beast and lightly pushed Xue Hui forward.
"Run, my boy! Even with death upon us, how can we surrender our lives without struggling to the bitter end?!"
Pushing his legs as fast as they could go, Xue Hui ran like the wind without looking back.
Other than his own ragged breathing, the only sound he could hear was the quiet sobbing of Chen Linlin in his arms.
Then they heard it.
The roar of the demon beast, accompanied by Chen Fe's defiant cry.
End of Chapter 1
Note: I'm in the process of editing all the chapters of this book while still releasing updates. It may take a while before Volume 1 is completely edited, but I hope you enjoy the story in the meantime!