Chapter 61: Desert Eagle

After a satisfying meal, everyone retired to their rooms to rest. We agreed to leave early the next morning for the nearest city, Fenglan. I closed my door and began to inspect the items inside my spatial ring: fourteen Fire Dragon Grasses, 2,648 Type 92 5.8mm pistols, and a quantity of ammunition. The effective range of these pistols was between fifty and one hundred meters, with a magazine capacity of twenty rounds. Though not especially powerful, with enough bullets, one could still dominate in this foreign world for a time.

I was about to take out the Heavenly Demon Manual to study when a particularly gleaming pistol among the many caught my attention—a Mark VII, .44 caliber Desert Eagle. What a treasure! The legendary “God of Guns.” I hadn’t even realized when this gun had appeared in my spatial ring. The recoil on this gun was formidable, but with my current physique, handling it was a simple task. I loaded the Desert Eagle, aimed out the window, and fired. The bullet shot out with remarkable speed, striking down a bird in mid-flight.

Truly worthy of its reputation—the speed was unbelievable. I wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about firearms, but I knew a bit about the Desert Eagle. Its muzzle velocity could reach 230 meters per second, and the recoil was not something an ordinary person could manage. Hearing the gunshot, Qin Tian and the others rushed over. I quickly put away the pistol and opened the door.

“Old Li, what happened?” Qin Tian asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just testing the gun,” I replied, slinging the Desert Eagle behind me.

“That sounded like a Desert Eagle, didn’t it?” Qin Tian eyed the weapon on my back.

Damn, this guy knows his guns! He can recognize it just from the sound. Maybe he’s the real gun god. I took out the Desert Eagle, and Qin Tian immediately snatched it away, turning it over in his hands with great interest. I pulled a revolver from my ring, hoping to trade back for my Desert Eagle, but Qin Tian refused to exchange it no matter what. I could only let him have his way. Everyone returned to their rooms. I took out the Heavenly Demon Manual to read, the first volume. When I opened the thick tome, the pages were blank—there wasn’t a single character.

I hurriedly flipped through the book, page by page, all the way to the end, but still found nothing. I tossed the manual aside and held my head, pondering why it had suddenly become a “wordless heavenly book.” I tried to recall the contents of the manual, and a vision appeared in my mind—a slender man dressed in black wielding an iron staff, sparks flying from its movements. Wasn’t this the figure who had often appeared in my mind during those days at the Blood Pool? Could he be somehow connected to the Heavenly Demon Manual?

I stopped to contemplate, staring at the manual. Whenever I ceased concentrating, the vision vanished from my mind. But whenever I focused on recalling the manual’s contents, the vision returned. Excited, I jumped off the bed. It made sense—the contents of the first volume had already been firmly etched into my memory, so the words had disappeared from the pages. This must be related to the spiritual energy from the Blood Pool.

Everything in the first volume was exactly what I had seen in those visions at the Blood Pool. Lying on the bed, I watched as the man in black endlessly demonstrated various techniques and movements, my mind following his every motion. I didn’t know how long I stayed like that, but I gradually felt as if I had merged with the figure. It was a strange sensation.

At dawn, Qin Tian woke me up. “Old Li, time to get up.”

I sat up, rubbing my dry eyes. After washing up, I found breakfast already prepared. We ate quickly, then I sent everyone to pack their belongings. I stood alone in the courtyard, gazing at the sky—it was still shrouded in gray haze. How long had it been since I’d seen the sun?

“The fireball that fell from the sky last time—I’ve examined it closely. It hasn’t disappeared,” came Murong Xue’s voice from behind me.

I turned around. “It hasn’t disappeared?”

She nodded. “Look,” she said, gently raising her right hand and pointing toward the horizon.

I followed the direction she indicated, but saw nothing unusual—just a few dark clouds and some eagles soaring in the distance.

“Do you see it?” Murong Xue brushed a lock of her hair aside.

“Mm. You mean it has something to do with those eagles?” I replied uncertainly.

Murong Xue shot me a glance. “What eagles? I’m telling you to look at the fireball. Don’t you have the Heavenly Eye?”

Right—the Heavenly Eye! How could I forget something so important? I hurriedly activated it and looked again. Sure enough, I saw a fireball hurtling rapidly through the sky, though its trajectory had changed. It used to descend vertically, but now it moved parallel to the ground—like an arrow loosed from a bow, slicing through the silent sky at a steep angle of 350 degrees toward the earth.

Yet now the fireball was much smaller. Just days ago, it had been larger than the sun; now it was a tiny point of light. Still, even so, once it neared the ground, it would be nothing to take lightly.

“I see it. Why has it shrunk and veered off its original course?”

Murong Xue gazed at the horizon. “That fireball is a small planet from the cosmos, containing vast energy of heaven and earth. Even the beings of Heaven covet its power. For centuries, the gods have tried everything to approach it, but the heat it radiates can incinerate all things, so even the gods have been forced to retreat. Now this planet is about to fall into the mortal world. Whether it brings disaster or blessing remains to be seen.”

“Whatever it is, fate will decide. Good or ill, we can’t escape it. Isn’t that so, Miss Murong?” I said, hands clasped behind my back.

“Old Li, we’re all ready. Shall we set off?” Qin Tian came out, still holding the Desert Eagle. Clearly, he was quite taken with the gun. I might as well let him keep it; after all, I still had a few revolvers left.

“Yes, let’s go.” I waved my hand and led everyone out of the compound. Murong Xue turned back to look at her courtyard. After a long moment, she raised her right hand, unleashing a torrent of flames that consumed every blade of grass and tree in its path.

Watching the courtyard engulfed in roaring fire, I patted Murong Xue gently on the shoulder. I didn’t know how to comfort her—she had lived here for a thousand years, after all. Murong Xue sighed softly, glanced at me, and walked back into the group. I could see the glimmer of tears in her eyes; so, the outwardly cold Murong Xue was in fact a woman of deep feeling.

I hurried to the front of the group and led the way toward Fenglan City. Without me, they would never find the road. Fenglan City was situated in the east of the Divine Demon Continent, thousands of kilometers from the Misty Forest. Now, with a group of ordinary folk who knew no martial arts, who could say how long the journey would take.

The Azure Dragon Society was now reduced to just over five hundred brothers. They were all ordinary people, at best familiar with a few martial arts routines—enough to handle small-time thugs in the twenty-first century, perhaps, but in this other world, those flashy moves might well get them killed. Firearms and ammunition were their only guarantee of survival.

Emerging from the Misty Forest, the world suddenly opened up before us. Without the cover of mist, every blade of grass, every tree, every mountain came into view—the land was peaceful and serene.

“Got a smoke?” I snatched the Desert Eagle from Qin Tian. Seeing his beloved weapon taken, Qin Tian immediately tried to snatch it back, but I was quicker.

“You want it? Give me a cigarette and I’ll give you your gun,” I said, waving the Desert Eagle.

Qin Tian panted, “Damn it, Old Li, you’re taking advantage of me!”

“So, are you giving it or not?” I said, pointing the Desert Eagle at him—not at him directly, but at the empty space behind him. One should never aim a gun at one’s own comrade.

“Are you two done yet? Which way are we supposed to go?” Xiao Xiang Ke’er complained.

A pack of Soft Zhonghua cigarettes appeared in Qin Tian’s hand, and he handed it over with a look of resignation. “Here. Go smoke it somewhere else. From the look of you, I doubt you’ll amount to much. Let me lead the group instead.”

At that moment, I noticed the ring on Qin Tian’s hand. I’d never paid much attention before, but now I saw it was identical to the spatial ring I wore.

(End of Volume One)