CHAPTER 958: CHAPTER 484: IRON BANNER (PART 2)

Gulp!

The waiter’s Adam’s apple loosened, cold sweat streaming, he stammered, "M-Master..."

Duan Lao ignored him and continued leisurely, "When I was ten, I finally learned my father’s identity. Then, when I was fifteen, my mother slashed me with a knife again, and I grabbed an oil lamp and smashed it at her.

The lamp shattered, and oil spilled all over my mother, setting her on fire.

She ran about in the flames, screaming terribly.

I watched my mother consumed by fire, listened to her painful screams, and for the first time in my life, I felt what true happiness was.

The fire grew bigger and bigger, burning down the brothel. Amidst the chaos, I stole the brothel owner’s money box and embarked on my path of cultivation with that money.

A hundred years later, I joined the Duan Immortal Clan as a Guest Elder and met my father for the first time.

I resembled him a great deal, which made many suspect that we were blood-related, but my father never recognized the bloodline flowing through me as his own.

And so, leveraging the resources of the Duan Immortal Clan, I cultivated all the way to the peak of the Fate Realm.

At that point, I faced a choice: I needed to transform myself into a calamity.

Others might be picky, but not me.

I’ve always loved flames, with an evil fire burning inside me with nowhere to vent. So, I transformed myself into one of the Five Great Earth Tribulations—’Self-immolation’!"

Everything in the universe can self-immolate!

From spontaneous human combustion to forest fires, from volcanic eruptions to planetary explosions...

Self-immolation is evidently a calamity of the heavenly way!

No matter how careful you are, there are always things around you that will ignite without warning, causing disasters.

Duan Lao’s mouth curled into a sky-splitting smile, joyfully declaring, "I have ascended! An Upper Immortal! To celebrate this, I set the Duan family on fire."

Duan Lao slowly raised his head and smiled at the waiter, asking, "Have you ever seen a scene where over a hundred thousand people from an Immortal Cultivation family spontaneously combust all at once?"

The waiter shivered, unable to breathe.

The next moment, Duan Lao suddenly asked, "Waiter, your mother was a prostitute too, wasn’t she?"

Boom!

The waiter’s mind went blank, taking a step back, expression vacant, brain empty.

Duan Lao chuckled sinisterly, "Your mother was humiliated by a young master from the Meng family, gave birth to you. Later, she went to the Meng family to seek recognition, only to be beaten to death, and you were driven away.

Even though the noble bloodline of the Meng family flows through your veins, you live so lowly. You must also have a heart full of evil fire, just like me?"

The waiter trembled, his mouth opened, but no words came out.

"Let me help you, the evil fire in your heart is the best fuel in the world; it ignites with the slightest spark..."

It seemed as if flames were flowing inside Duan Lao’s mouth, his voice carried an indescribable magic, reaching out to the waiter, "As long as you are willing, I can make everyone sharing your bloodline spontaneously combust!"

The waiter listened, half-understanding, but vaguely grasped Duan Lao’s intent.

He hesitantly asked, "You want to use me against the Meng family?"

Duan Lao smiled without answering, only looking uphill towards the second floor.

Coincidentally, a pair of young lovers came downstairs.

The young master was dressed in splendid clothes, graceful and charming.

The young woman was of uncommon beauty, holding the young master’s attire, her eyes alluring, and appeared very dependent.

"The Meng family’s young master is truly dashing, effortlessly captivating the Wang family’s wealthy daughter."

"Indeed, she is a great beauty..."

This scene was enviable to onlookers!

Soon, the Meng family’s young master and the Wang family’s young lady descended.

The waiter stood frozen in place, motionless.

The shopkeeper came running up and slapped the waiter on the face, angrily shouting, "Are you blind? Why haven’t you quickly brought Meng Young Master’s carriage?"

The waiter snapped back to himself, glanced at Duan Lao casually sipping tea, and immediately ran to bring forth a mighty Immortal Beast resembling a lion.

The Meng family’s young master laughed heartily, put his arm around the Wang family young lady’s waist, and walked out of the tavern.

The waiter’s face taut, he kneeled down.

The Meng family’s young master stepped on his back and mounted the Immortal Beast, riding off into the distance.

The waiter knelt for a long time, and when he stood up, his face was filled with determination.

He walked up to Duan Lao and asked, "Is it true that if I self-immolate, everyone in the Meng family will burn with me?"

Duan Lao laughed, saying, "As they say, blood is connected. If you light this fire, it’s just like a house fire, the entire clan will suffer."

The waiter gritted his teeth and said with hatred, "Come on, I want to self-immolate!"

Old Duan stood up and extended his hand.

The waiter also extended his hand and grasped Old Duan’s hand.

The next moment, whoosh~

The waiter suddenly burst into flames, exploding, the fire shot up into the sky and spread everywhere.

"Fire!" the shopkeeper yelled out in surprise, yet before he could do anything, the fire became uncontrollable.

The floor self-ignited, the tables and chairs self-ignited, the wine also self-ignited...

The entire tavern was engulfed in a sea of flames!

The shopkeeper instantly turned into a man on fire!

The guests screamed in agony, each of them engulfed in flames, rolling on the ground.

The inferno raged, creating a dazzling picture.

And the waiter, covered in flames, with astonishing perseverance, endured the excruciating pain and walked out of the tavern, looking at the long street.

In the distance, a ball of fire was burning!

It was that scion from the Meng Family!

Riding an Immortal Beast, he suddenly caught on fire, startling the Immortal Beast into wild jumps.

Miss Wang was thrown off, landing hard on the ground, her long hair caught fire, causing her to scream in terror.

The waiter saw this scene and seemed to smile in satisfaction, gradually turning to ashes and dispersing with the wind.

At the same moment!

From the direction of the Inner City, firelight burst forth, thick smoke billowing.

Several figures were flying in the sky, suddenly catching fire, and fell down in panic.

"Who?!"

A roar spread across the whole city, furious beyond compare.

"Who is harming my Meng Family?"

"Stop!"

"Fellow Daoist, please have mercy, we can discuss this!"

The voice of the roaring person turned from anger to fear, then to pleading, all within a moment.

The next moment, a light shot up from the direction of the Inner City, quickly arriving, landing in front of the burning tavern.

The light shattered, revealing an old man in a purple and gold embroidered robe, with white and very long eyebrows, a face full of wrinkles.

The old man was precisely the Meng Family’s ancestor.

He glanced around, his pupils suddenly constricted, seeing someone sitting in the burning tavern, leisurely drinking tea amidst the flames.

The table and teapot in front of that person were not burning.

"Duan Fenglin, it’s you?!"

The Meng Family’s ancestor took a step forward to the table, stomping his feet anxiously, "Why have you harmed my Meng Family? To this extent! What did we do to offend you?"

Old Duan glanced at the Meng Family’s ancestor indifferently and said, "Don’t disturb me while I’m admiring this fire. Look how beautiful this fire is!"

"You...!"

The Meng Family’s ancestor was so angry he nearly spat blood!

Old Duan spoke unhurriedly, "This move is called ’Evil Fire·Self-immolation·Fire in the Rear Courtyard,’ one of the most terrifying calamities against a family.

Regardless of how powerful your family is, once the rear courtyard catches fire, the disaster arises from within, at best severely damaging your strength, at worst, wiping out your lineage!"

The Meng Family’s ancestor’s forehead was dripping with black lines, and he raged, "Give me an explanation, why?"

Old Duan retorted, "Why did you join the Polluted Blood Sect?"

The Meng Family’s ancestor felt his heart skip a beat, hurriedly explained, "You’ve got it all wrong, I’m not a member of the Polluted Blood Sect!

I just heard that the Polluted Blood Sect has a kind of Polluted Blood, extremely powerful, and wanted to buy some.

But the Polluted Blood Sect required that I join them to make a purchase, so I pretended to join.

After that, they gave me something called Holy Blood to drink, but I’m not a fool, I could tell at a glance that the Holy Blood was problematic, so I didn’t drink it.

As a result, they thought I wasn’t sincere and only invited me to be a Guest Elder of the sect, requiring me to do things for them to get Polluted Blood!

I reluctantly agreed, and helped them deal with a few renegades, that’s all."

Old Duan sneered, "The Palace Master ordered an investigation on the Polluted Blood Sect, why did you hide this fact?"

The Meng Family’s ancestor, on the verge of tears, spread his hands, "I just happened to be in seclusion these days, and hadn’t had the chance to..."