Chapter 131: The Encirclement

Night had fallen completely. Across the vast Divine Land of the Eastern Realm, most people could look up and see a beautiful meteor shower streaking across the western night sky. It was so rare, so breathtaking. The vast majority of them had no idea what was about to happen. Although Wu You had previously warned the Liu family, the various local powers had only received the news shortly before. Whether they believed it or not was one thing; even if they believed it without reservation, there was no time to mobilize or prepare. They could barely manage their own core forces and territories, let alone the common people. The imperial court had immediately issued orders to officials across all provinces to relocate personnel to major cities, but most of the messengers were still on the road.

In Liang Province, 100 kilometers outside Wuhong City, lay Anyuan Town. Because the world had been generally chaotic in recent years, major cities usually imposed curfews at night. Anyuan, however, was just a small, impoverished town. It was not located on any trade route, possessed no rich resources, was not a strategic military point, and its soil was not particularly fertile. This had paradoxically allowed its people to be self-sufficient and content. There were almost no bandits nearby. In this world where martial arts reigned supreme, bandits were usually skilled and styled themselves as "heroes of the greenwood." They mostly targeted wealthy households and merchant caravans; raiding civilians for food was rare, and those who did were usually peasants in disguise, likely to be "purged" by some wandering martial artist. This made the small town a sanctuary in the eyes of the locals, and there was no curfew at night.

Although the town had a tax collector sent by the imperial court, it had no garrison. A few militiamen, holding steel spears, were intoxicated by the sight of the meteor shower streaking across the sky at an hour when the rest of the townspeople were already asleep.

"Squad leader, is this a meteor shower? I heard there was one a while ago, too?" a young man asked, pointing to the fiery streaks across the horizon.

The squad leader scratched his itchy chin and replied with a laugh, "You boys are lucky. This kind of meteor shower is hard to come by. In all my years, I’d never seen one before, and now we’ve seen two in a short time."

The other militiamen chimed in.

"My great-grandfather told me that there was only one once, a long, long time ago."

"I've never seen one in all my life. Even single meteors are rarely this clear or this close."

"I heard each meteor represents a dead person. How many people had to die for there to be so many?"

"Don't talk nonsense. If so many people had died recently, the sky would have collapsed already."

"These meteors are so close... too close."

As they spoke, the group watched as many meteors streaked across the horizon and crashed beyond their line of sight. Soon, a red glow ignited in the sky in the direction of the impacts.

"What is that above us?"

One man's shout drew everyone's attention back to the sky. A dark mass of shadows was flapping its wings, flying toward the red glow on the horizon. Because of the night, they looked like a flock of giant black birds flying at high speed, but two suddenly broke away from the main group and began to descend.

"They're coming down! Two of them are coming down!" the first militiaman shouted again.

The others watched with curiosity, but slowly, their expressions grew grave. They hadn't been able to see clearly from such a height, but now, the two creatures descending were far larger than they had imagined. The lower they flew, the larger and more grotesque they appeared. By the time they landed, two vampires stood before the militiamen. The men raised their steel spears, watching the monsters with nervous tension.

"What are you things? Stay back!"

One of the vampires shrugged its wings and smiled at the crowd. "I think your vigilance is misdirected. If I were you, I’d pack my things and run to a major city. There’s going to be big trouble very soon."

The crowd stared, wary and skeptical, while cold sweat trickled down their faces. Big trouble? The two monsters in front of them were the biggest trouble, and they didn't know if they ate people.

Vixi walked forward, tilting its head toward its companion. "It’s useless talking to them like that."

Then it turned its head, its eyes turning a deep, blood-red that was visible even in the dark night. Its leathery wings unfurled, fangs glinted coldly, and its face twisted into a ferocious, bloodthirsty mask. It opened its mouth and let out a high-decibel, piercing shriek.

"Get out while you still can! If you make it to a major city, you might live. Otherwise, when we return, we will devour you all!"

The piercing shriek not only terrified the militiamen but also echoed throughout the town, waking countless residents.

"Hehehehe..."

"I only say the same thing once. Do not test whether it is true."

As Vixi spoke, one of its wings blurred for an instant, and the heads of all the militiamen's spears fell off. Before they could react, a young militiaman was suddenly snatched into Vixi’s grip, its fangs sinking into his neck. The militiaman didn't even struggle; his flesh withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

*Thud.*

The militiaman was tossed to the ground, his fate unknown. The two vampires flapped their wings, taking off in a gust of wind, and soon vanished into the western sky, disappearing from the militiamen's sight.

"Sq... squad leader, what should we do?" One of the militiamen, who had been too afraid to move, finally spoke up once the monsters were gone.

The squad leader rushed to the side of the fallen man. "Xiao Bao, Xiao Bao..." He felt for a pulse—the man was still breathing. He lifted his head and shouted at the stunned group. "What do we do? Run! Tell everyone to run! I’m going to alert the mayor; you take Xiao Bao to the doctor, then split up and warn the rest of the town. Move!"

Soon, the men scattered, waking from their stupor. The once-dark town began to flicker with sporadic candlelight, and within an hour or two, every house was lit.

In the sky, Vixi and the other vampire were flying at high speed to catch up with the main force.

"Remember that movie about gambling we watched last time? I really liked a line from it," Vixi said, mimicking the voice of Long Wu. "To drive people away, you must use the most direct method."

Its companion looked at it with an expression of resignation before both of them accelerated into the distance. They were going to hunt down the low-level "Abyssal Spawns" emerging from the outer meteor clusters. The larger ones were being handled by the high-level Silver-tier creatures.

...

By now, the meteor impact site was shrouded in thick, dark clouds, with rainfall of a magnitude never before seen in this world. At the edge of these rain clouds, a plant growing at a terrifying rate had already encircled the entire impact zone. It was a Blood-Sucking Parasitic Demon Vine, a Silver-tier magical plant. Its growing vines resembled ferocious giant serpents, roaring as they grew thicker and thicker. The power of the Demon Vine exceeded Wu You’s imagination. Honestly, as things stood, aside from the Kun, he didn't have any other Silver-tier creatures on hand that could handle it without a clear weakness being identified.

Wu You still remembered the moment a few hours ago when he had planted the vine. Using the energy materials from the Transcendent Evolution to advance a common Blood-Sucking Parasitic Demon Vine, it had instantly turned the land at the edge of the perimeter into a wasteland, draining every ounce of nutrients from the soil. The vine, as tough as high-grade alloy, swayed as it reached toward the sky to absorb the lightning. Amidst the thunder and lightning, the scene in the night was like a chapter from a hellish landscape of dancing demons.