Chapter 434: A Spectacle of Heaven and Earth
Before them, the sky and the earth presented a wondrous sight of heaven and earth connected, earth and heaven linked. The cause of this spectacle was a massive hole blasted through both the sky and the ground.
This hole was difficult to describe. The sky was originally empty—how could a hole be blasted into it? The earth was immensely thick and heavy; even if a great pit were dug, it could not be pierced through. Yet the hole before them displayed another kind of incredible, magnificent wonder.
The National Teacher of Yan Kang must have, at a critical moment of crisis, activated the Quake Cauldron, unleashing its power. Relying on the divine abilities of this celestial phenomenon weapon, he had simultaneously blasted through the sky and earth of this world and another, creating a magnificent scene connecting the two realms!
Moreover, the Quake Cauldron’s power was so immense that the two realms, pierced through, had yet to recover. The barrier between the two worlds could not heal!
Before this great hole, the Great Ruins and Yan Kang were shrouded in night, while behind the hole, a sun was rising, shining upon a series of dark, towering demon fortresses.
The sky of the other world lay below the horizon of the Divine Severing Mountain Range, while its landmass hung above the range’s sky. Looking up from the perspective of Qin Mu and the others, they could see the land of that world—various sharp, jagged structures like long blades, swords, and spears, standing thousands of feet tall, eerie and terrifying.
It was an architectural style completely different from Yan Kang. Majestic yet sinister demon fortresses sat atop rolling mountains, some floating in the air. The sunlight from the other world cast the shadows of these fortresses into the darkness of the Divine Severing Mountain Range.
The trees, rocks, and mountains of that world all appeared distorted and twisted, horrifyingly abnormal.
The sunlight from the foreign world shone upward from below, illuminating Qin Mu and his companions. Standing before this enormous, circular hole, they seemed as tiny as a few ants.
The light from the other world stretched their shadows long, yet compared to the scale of the hole, they were minuscule.
Beneath their feet was the sun; above their heads was the land. It was as if they stood before a giant mirror, within which was an upside-down world.
Moreover, this mirror-like hole was constantly vibrating faintly, shaking the rocks around the Divine Severing Mountain Range into the air, where they trembled ceaselessly.
Qin Mu and the others were also numbed by the vibrations, their primordial spirits unstable.
One could only imagine how terrifying the energy unleashed from the Quake Cauldron must have been when the National Teacher of Yan Kang activated it!
“The tremors here are caused by this hole erupting, not by the National Teacher activating the Quake Cauldron.”
Qin Mu’s heart sank. When he had first entered the Divine Severing Mountain Range, he had sensed intermittent tremors and assumed it was the National Teacher using the Quake Cauldron. He hadn’t expected the vibrations to come from this hole connecting the two worlds.
The National Teacher and the others were not here; their fate was uncertain.
He looked up and saw, within the floating landmass in the sky, a powerful and imposing demon god performing an out-of-body technique, petrifying his own physical form.
Countless strangely shaped demonic beings, like industrious ants, swarmed around the demon god’s petrified body, constructing a massive altar. Tens of thousands of demon slaves were led to the altar and beheaded. Through blood sacrifices, they attempted to send the demon god’s stone statue across.
Priests and mages, adorned with bones and feathers, performed rituals on the grand altar. The scene of blood surging around the altar was reflected in Qin Mu’s eyes, possessing a kind of cruel beauty.
This spectacle was both awe-inspiring and horrifyingly brutal.
That world was still in a barbaric, bloody tribal era, their divine abilities primitive and drenched in blood.
“The National Teacher of Yan Kang has really stirred up a hornet’s nest!”
Qin Mu’s scalp tingled. The Quake Cauldron had opened a passage to another world, and that demon world clearly had many gods and demons. Seeing the world where Yan Kang existed, these demon gods were naturally excited by the discovery, developing a desire to conquer, even going so far as to petrify themselves to send their bodies to Yan Kang!
But strangely, after these demon god stone statues were sent over, they didn’t attempt to conduct even larger-scale blood sacrifices to expand the hole blasted by the Quake Cauldron. Instead, they seemed to be searching for something.
“And with such a large hole, why haven’t we seen any demons coming through?” Qin Mu wondered.
The Flood Dragon King God noticed something and quickly said, “Master, there are demon armies on that altar over there!”
Qin Mu looked in the direction he indicated and felt a chill.
The slaves of the demon world were constructing an even more massive altar, several times larger than the previous one. The altar’s base was like a flattened mountain. Tens of thousands of demon mages floated around it, using slave blood to carve runes on the altar.
At the edge of the altar, a vast demon army was marching in a mighty procession toward its center. They seemed to be preparing to use this as an opportunity to send their forces into Yan Kang!
“Could it be that this hole cannot be crossed directly, and they can only rely on the power of blood sacrifices to send their warriors into Yan Kang?”
Qin Mu was stunned. He reached out his hand, trying to extend it into the other world through the hole, but he encountered an invisible barrier. Though the other world was right before him, he couldn’t enter.
The Flood Dragon King God, Dragon Qilin, and the others also tried. The stronger their power, the greater the resistance. They couldn’t enter that space-time.
Suddenly, a loud *dong* sound echoed—the noise of a heavy object hitting the ground—startling Qin Mu and the others. It was the stone statue of the demon god being sent over from the other world. The hundred-zhang-tall statue stood silently to their right, only a hundred or so zhang away.
On the statue’s surface, blood-formed runes twisted and shifted, gradually sinking into its body.
The stone statue suddenly moved, slowly shifting its body. Clearly, the priests and mages of the other world had used slave blood sacrifices to grant these statues the ability to act autonomously.
However, they still couldn’t transmit their vast power across, nor could they restore the statues to flesh and blood.
“Quick, let’s go!”
The Flood Dragon King God hurriedly carried them around the massive hole, racing into the distance.
Standing on the Flood Dragon King God’s back, Qin Mu looked back and saw the stone statue suddenly bend down, reaching its hands into the ground. Its arms drilled into the earth like augers, and then the statue plunged headfirst into the ground, its body slowly disappearing.
“This stone statue is also searching for something! What exactly are they looking for? Are the National Teacher, Grandpa Blind, and the others still alive? If they are, where are they hiding?”
Qin Mu activated his Nine Heavens Divine Eye, carefully searching for traces of the National Teacher and the others. He continued northward, seeing more signs of battle—marks left by the Butcher, the Blind Man, and others clashing with the gods of the Upper Firmament.
“Flood Dragon King God, be careful!”
Qin Mu spotted a black line suspended in the air and quickly ordered the Flood Dragon King God to stop. The Flood Dragon King God paused, also sensing something amiss.
He skirted around the black line. As their perspective shifted, the line slowly widened. It was a slash of blade light frozen in midair, having cut through space. The space had clamped down on the blade light, but the power of the divine ability within the blade remained contained, preventing the space from healing!
“Such terrifying blade technique!”
The Flood Dragon King God shuddered. This level of blade art could be called a divine blade, reaching the level of the Dao realm, capable of cutting through anything, incredibly fearsome.
“Grandpa Butcher’s Heavenly Blade—the Butcher’s Knife Technique!”
Qin Mu marveled. He had also learned the Butcher’s Knife Technique, but he could never fully unleash its power to the Butcher’s level.
The Butcher’s blade was too wild. Even if others learned it, they could hardly bring out its full might. Only someone as mad as the Butcher could truly unleash its power.
Next, they saw a sea of fire, intensely hot, melting the mountains. Even the darkness couldn’t devour this blaze.
“Grandpa Mute’s forging furnace has been shattered!”
Qin Mu’s heart jolted. The sea of fire was caused by Mute’s furnace being broken, its flames forming this inferno.
“Could Grandpa Mute have met with misfortune?”
They crossed the sea of fire, and suddenly Qin Mu saw the Old Tathagata.
The Old Tathagata sat in lotus position, surrounded by twenty layers of heavenly realms, with various buddhas and gods of the twenty heavens seated in the air around him, large and small.
Beside the Old Tathagata stood a god of the Upper Firmament.
The two faced each other.
Qin Mu was stunned. He sighed, bowed to the Old Tathagata, lifted him up, and placed him on the Flood Dragon King God’s back before continuing forward.
“Young master, why was that old monk motionless, and why did you have to carry him?” Fox Ling’er asked curiously, turning back.
Qin Mu shook his head. “He perished together with that god.”
Fox Ling’er was silent.
Before long, Qin Mu saw the Old Dao Master. This old Daoist held a sword gesture with one hand and carried a sword behind his back with the other, his demeanor ethereal and immortal-like. He looked up at a god leaning half its body out from a cliff ahead, a smile on his face.
Qin Mu’s divine eyes shot out light, and he saw that the god’s brow had been pierced by a sword. The wound was tiny, hard to detect.
He looked at the Old Dao Master. The old man’s body was battered, covered in wounds that no longer bled.
Fox Ling’er asked, “Is the old Daoist still alive?”
Qin Mu shook his head, stepped forward, and lifted the Old Dao Master, saying softly, “He’s bled out. His final strike must have been his primordial spirit turning into a sword, piercing the god’s brow. He used his primordial spirit as the blade, letting it transform into the Dao. When that strike was unleashed, the power of the technique erupted, and his primordial spirit also exploded, dissipating as the technique’s power faded.”
Though the paths of the Heavenly Demon Sect and the Dao Sect differed, Qin Mu held great respect for this Old Dao Master.
Fox Ling’er solemnly straightened her clothes and bowed respectfully to the Old Dao Master. “A righteous man in his twilight years, with fervent passion. Salutations!”
The flood dragons, seeing this, rose on their hind legs and bowed to the Old Dao Master with their claws. “Maha!”
They continued onward and saw a large snake coiled on the ground—it was Willow Immortal.
The stone statues from the other world grew scarce, but the killing intent thickened. Qin Mu’s eyes twitched, dreading to see the corpses of Cripple, Granny Si, and the others.
He struggled to drag Willow Immortal up, placing her body on the Flood Dragon King God’s back as well, saying gloomily, “The village chief said someone always has to collect the bodies. Senior Sister Willow Immortal, I’ve come. Come home with me…”
They also saw White Immortal. His back was covered in silver needles, with a spool of thread on one. In his hand, he held a tray with more silver needles.
A large hole was torn through his chest, a massive hand protruding from his front. He must have just killed his opponent, not expecting a final, fatal blow from the dying foe.
Silence reigned. Rocks floated in the darkness and mist.
Qin Mu and the others walked through this place. The geomagnetic force beneath their feet seemed to have vanished. A strange field existed here. Qin Mu looked up and saw stars.
The Great Luo Heavenly Star!
“Grandma…” His heart clenched.
It was the starry sky formed by the Great Luo Heavenly Star palm technique. He saw Granny Si sitting motionless in the starry void. That beautiful woman extended one hand, the Great Luo Heavenly Star palm force erupting from her palm. She was still peerlessly elegant.
—Second update in ten minutes!