When Calamity's Flames Rose

Though the officials of Former Tomb Commandery had patched the fractured earth veins time and again, each new eruption left them harder to mend.

This time, the sight before them was no longer a billowing column of smoke bursting from the ground.

A colossal black mushroom cloud blotted out the sun and exploded across the sky. Then, with unstoppable, destructive force, it swept wildly in every direction.

Yin Fengshuo's expression changed drastically.

He wheeled around and cupped his hands to Lu Hanmo. "The situation is dire! The people of the commandery are in mortal danger! Lord Lu, I beg you to make an exception. Allow me to quell this disaster first, and I will leave with you afterward!"

"What's more, the forces at work here are beyond our control. Please send word to the court at once and have powerful experts dispatched to help. If those villains of the Jun Family are allowed to keep ravaging the earth veins, this may become a catastrophe that no one can contain!"

Lu Hanmo gazed gravely at the black clouds bearing down in the distance. After a moment's thought, he nodded.

"I'll go with you, Lord Yin."

Dozens of streaks of light tore across the sky, racing like wind and lightning toward the heart of the Severed Qi eruption.

Everyone poured out their cultivation without reserve. Together, they raised a dazzling golden barrier that formed a vast dome, forcibly trapping the raging black qi within.

The black qi inside still surged outward like an angry tide, steadily eating away at the space around it. But under the powerful barrier's restraint, its spread slowed considerably.

At last, the runaway disaster was brought under some measure of control.

"We can't leave yet. We must hold this position and reinforce the barrier at all times, or