Chapter 2875: Escaping by a Hair's Breadth
At the critical moment of life and death, Bai Qinger's attention was entirely focused on the rotting divine hand and the gray, hazy abyss below. She did not notice that the corpse on the ground had already begun to change.
"Whoosh!"
She transformed into a beam of light, flew out from the Earth Demon Sparrow's beak, and landed on its back.
Her slender and exquisite figure stood tall and straight like a pine tree.
Even in such a desperate situation, there was not a trace of fear in her sharp, cold eyes.
Bai Qinger pressed out with the five fingers of her left hand, and immediately, a "clattering" sound of metal clashing rang out around her. Sixty-five bronze chimes activated, flew out, and struck the thumb of the rotting divine hand.
Only by breaking the restraint of the rotting divine hand and not being dragged into the underground could she have a chance to survive today.
"Bang! Bang!"
A series of collision sounds rang out, each one deafening like thunderclaps.
This set of bronze chimes was no ordinary item. Under Bai Qinger's full-force activation, a brilliant divine light radiated from the bell bodies. Every ring of sound waves that spread out could tear the surrounding space to shreds.
However, the space rules here were bizarre.
The space had just shattered, but it immediately repaired itself.
Even more bizarre was that, despite being struck by the bronze chimes, the rotting divine hand remained completely unharmed. One must know that even a Great God, standing still and enduring such an attack, would surely have their divine body severely damaged.
Bai Qinger's expression finally turned solemn and tense.
From the depths of the abyss, a hoarse voice sounded: "Thousand Stars Aligned... Kill..."
The power erupted from the rotting divine hand suddenly surged, and the Earth Demon Sparrow and Bai Qinger plummeted like falling off a cliff, straight down into the abyss.
Around them, the death qi became denser, and the oppressive force formed by the energy pressure compressed the demonic clouds emitted by the Earth Demon Sparrow, causing them to shrink continuously.
The pressure on Bai Qinger, standing on the Earth Demon Sparrow's back, was even greater, as if one hundred thousand planets were pressing down on her. She immediately mobilized the source rules of heaven and earth.
"Source Flower Blossoms."
With her as the center, a flawless, nine-petal strange flower bloomed, slightly pushing open the five fingers of the rotting divine hand.
But that was all she could achieve.
It could not stop her and the Earth Demon Sparrow from falling deeper into the abyss.
"Clank!"
The sound of chains from the depths became clearer and clearer, accompanied by roars that sounded like neither human nor beast, sending chills down one's spine.
"It seems the legends are true. The one imprisoned underground is him. But how many years has it been? How is that possible?"
Bai Qinger used the sixty-five bronze chimes to protect her body, struggling to hold on, her mind racing as she thought of a way to break the deadlock.
By the Celestial Pivot Pool.
Life qi emanated from Zhang Ruochen's body, drifting in all directions, quickly filling the internal space of the Earth Demon Sparrow.
On the stone ground, tender shoots sprouted, grew into green seedlings, put out branches and leaves, and blossomed into fragrant, colorful flowers. In the air, colorful hanging grasses grew.
Green vines spread along the ground, growing all the way outside the Earth Demon Sparrow.
Bai Qinger, who was sustaining the Source Divine Flower, sensed the powerful life qi emanating from beneath her feet as she saw the grass and flowers growing there.
"He... it's actually him..."
In Bai Qinger's eyes, which had always remained calm and unruffled, an unprecedented shock and a hint of joy appeared.
This was too unbelievable!
She had carefully examined him earlier. Zhang Ruochen was clearly dead, his life flame extinguished. How could such abundant life qi be emanating from a corpse?
What happened next was even more incomprehensible to Bai Qinger.
The Earth Demon Sparrow opened its mouth, swallowing the source rules of heaven and earth. Moments later, a large number of divine patterns appeared on its body. Each divine pattern was like a white source river, densely packed and countless.
The power erupted by the Earth Demon Sparrow continuously climbed, even surpassing the time when Bai Qinger was controlling it with all her might.
One must know that the Earth Demon Sparrow was a divine artifact. Only the stronger the controller's spiritual power, the greater the power it could unleash. If only controlled by its artifact spirit, the combat power the Earth Demon Sparrow could unleash was only at the false god level.
Zhang Ruochen stood in the Celestial Pivot Pool, young and handsome, his long black hair loose, his hands held up as if supporting something. His powerful spiritual power transformed into hundreds of millions of threads of light that flew out, passing through the Celestial Pivot to activate the various formations inside the Earth Demon Sparrow.
The stone body of the Earth Demon Sparrow rapidly grew larger, and even the five fingers of the rotting divine hand could barely suppress it.
This was the moment.
Bai Qinger released a sea of divine qi, all of which poured into the sixty-five bronze chimes.
The chimes formed a circular formation, vibrating and spiraling upward as they struck the five fingers of the rotting divine hand.
The fingers were slowly pried open.
"Whoosh!"
The Earth Demon Sparrow transformed into a beam of demonic light, flew out from between the fingers, and shot straight toward the surface.
Bai Qinger stood on the Earth Demon Sparrow's back, the pressure lightening. From the vibrant sea of flowers beneath her feet, pieces of magnificent, fragrant petals flew up, turning into a colorful rain of flowers that scattered into the gray, death qi-filled abyss.
She withdrew the bronze chimes, clasped her hands behind her back, and looked up at the sunlight above. A beautiful, picturesque smile appeared on her translucent face.
The Earth Demon Sparrow flew out of the abyss.
On the ground, the thousand-mile-long earth fissure slowly closed, pressing down the rotting divine hand that had been about to reach out again.
From the underground, a sharp howl sounded.
The earth shook violently.
As the sun set and night fell, the red-yellow land gradually became calm. But it also seemed to have become somewhat different.
Zhang Ruochen flew out from inside the Earth Demon Sparrow and immediately saw Bai Qinger standing on the red-earth gobi.
Her long dress fluttered in the wind. Her eyebrows were like willows in a misty river, her red lips as lustrous and radiant as gemstones, her figure like the bright moon in the sky, beautiful and picturesque.
The two looked at each other and smiled at the same time.
The situation just now had been extremely perilous. If Zhang Ruochen had not awakened in time, controlled the Earth Demon Sparrow, and joined forces with Bai Qinger to break free from the rotting divine hand, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
The Earth Demon Sparrow had shrunk, now only the size of an ostrich.
Bai Qinger had a thousand questions she wanted to ask, but having survived the disaster and seeing Zhang Ruochen now full of vigor and energy, she felt extremely joyful.
She really didn't want to ruin the atmosphere.
"Not good, my ox!"
Zhang Ruochen exclaimed softly, taking the old yellow ox, which was only the size of a mung bean, out of his sleeve. Seeing that it was still alive, he breathed a sigh of relief.
But as the old yellow ox stood beside Zhang Ruochen, its large ox eyes staring blankly at her, the atmosphere was completely ruined.
Bai Qinger was about to speak and ask the questions in her heart.
Zhang Ruochen spoke first: "This place is too dangerous. We must leave immediately."
"I'm afraid we can't get out for now," Bai Qinger said.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Why?"
"This red-yellow land is very strange. It's easy to enter during the day, but it's very dangerous. The divine corpses underground will all come back to life. At night, it's safe, but..." Bai Qinger said.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "But what?"
"No one has ever reached the temple at night, which is where we are standing now." Bai Qinger turned around and pointed to the temple gate behind them.
"And why is that?"
"Because once night falls, the space in this red-yellow land becomes active, and the divine patterns fully manifest. Even with the power of the First Divine Maiden City Lord, one cannot cross the red-yellow land to reach the temple."
Bai Qinger did not address her as mother, but as City Lord, and did so very naturally.
Zhang Ruochen looked toward the sky, reached out a hand, and released his spiritual power.
"Boom!"
His spiritual power spread out for over ten thousand miles, touching a divine pattern. Immediately, a bolt of lightning divine light tore through the night, connecting from the sky to the ground.
A powerful energy fluctuation surged as a wave of air rushed in from ten thousand miles away.
Zhang Ruochen immediately withdrew his spiritual power and said, "It's indeed different now. The entire Yuhong Mountain Range isn't even ten thousand miles long. How huge has this red-yellow gobi become?"
"Only Master Fangcun would know that," Bai Qinger said.
Zhang Ruochen looked at her and said, "You mean the space formations and various spatial arrangements here were all the work of Master Fangcun?"
Zhang Ruochen was naturally no stranger to Master Fangcun, as he was the senior disciple of Xumi Saint Monk.
"One hundred thousand years ago, before the full-scale war between the Hell Realm and the Heavenly Court had erupted, the previous generation First Divine Maiden City Lord, Yulongxian, invited Master Fangcun to Xinghuantian, intending to enter Yuchen Temple."
"Both of them were peerless powerhouses with unmatched cultivation. However, they spent nearly a hundred years in the Yuhong Mountain Range preparing, setting up a large number of space formations and divine patterns."
"In the end, Yulongxian still fell into Yuchen Temple, and only Master Fangcun managed to escape, heavily injured."
"Master Fangcun told the Goddess Twelve Pavilions that Yulongxian had fallen and warned us never to set foot in this place."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Since Master Fangcun gave such a warning, why did you still lead me here? And you even came in yourself. I don't believe the Goddess Twelve Pavilions is unaware of the danger during the day."