Crimson Flame City was even more scorching than the streets.
The air was thick with the scorched stench of sulfur and metal.
Pedestrians hurried along, their faces all etched with stifled unease.
"The west has fallen again!"
"I heard it was the Earth Element Spirit Race this time. Three battle divisions had just arrived at the Water Origin Spirit Race's former territory when the monsters from the Abyss Ruins swallowed them whole!"
"Not even a ripple?"
"Not one of them made it out!"
"Didn't the Earth Origin Spirit Race send a Saint Ancestor-level powerhouse? Or hadn't they arrived yet?"
"Even if they had, it wouldn't have mattered. The Abyss Ruins' army is too numerous. You can't kill them all!"
"I heard the Water Origin Spirit Race's territory has turned into a demon domain. Twisted monsters are everywhere."
"Not just the Water Origin Spirit Race's River of Heaven. More than a dozen True Realm-sized territories around it are all shrouded in demonic energy."
"How are we supposed to fight that?"
All kinds of rumors, true and false, spread through the city like a plague.
Fear took root in every corner.
Shen Fan walked among the crowd, paying no heed to the talk.
He had long expected the Abyss Ruins' army to be formidable.
Otherwise, they could never have wiped out hundreds of thousands of the Water Origin Spirit Race's elite so easily.
What he was thinking about now was how to reap the greatest benefit from this chaos.
The Fire Origin Spirit Race had already conscripted all its battle divisions.
Soldiers in crimson armor were everywhere in the city, marching in groups toward the assembly points.
The machinery of war was running at full capacity.
As an outsider of uncertain identity, he wouldn't find it easy to blend in.
Besides, he