Chapter 654 — The Fire-Crow Grand Formation Collapses

The tower-ship sailed on. More than ten days passed before it at last flew clear of Xuandu; Shen Mu looked back, and still he could not make out the Heavenly Lord in his entirety.

A pang of regret went through him. Shen Mu turned his gaze to the sun far off.

The tower-ship was sailing along that sun's very rim; though the sun lay millions of li away, it seemed close at hand.

From the sun spouted long prominences, a million li in length, some like the wings of birds, some like round ears. So near was this sun that Shen Mu could even feel, in the blast of heat that struck his face, strange solar rays; they stung bitterly where they landed, as though they pierced their bodies clean through.

And the solar wind was scorching beyond measure; gust upon gust came howling at a dreadful speed. A thought stirred in Shen Mu, and he roused the Three-Elixir Mystic Body Art. This time he meant to use the solar wind and the solar rays to temper his flesh; behind his head appeared Buddhist radiances of every hue, and with them the form of a dragon, the Ancestral Dragon's Eight Tones merging into one with the Buddhist sound. This way of cultivation joined dragon and Buddha in a single body, and with the power of solar wind and solar ray besides, his progress was astonishingly swift.

"And yet he will not cultivate my Heaven-and-Earth Heart Sacred Art.

.

. " The First Ancestor was downcast.

Elsewhere, seeing this, Ling Yuxiu likewise roused the Ancestral Dragon Grand Mystery Art, using the Ancestral Dragon's Eight Tones to temper her flesh and withstand the might of wind and ray. Ban Gongcuo, for his part, roused the Flawless Battle-God Art and hammered his body into toughness.

Chi Xi adjusted the star chart; using this sun to turn, the tower-ship flew half a circuit around it. Then Chi Xi raised the sails, and the sails, blown fat by solar wind and solar ray, sent the tower-ship leaping forward. Shen Mu looked up and saw that the sails were stitched from the hides of god-devils, and across them ran many raised patterns.

The solar rays struck them and could not pierce a god-devil's skin; thus the ship could borrow their force and drive its speed to the utmost.

Nor was that all: the tower-ship was beating its wings as well, fire and light streaming beneath them, so that the ship went faster and faster. Suddenly a dozen or more points of firelight appeared in the starry sky.

Dim against the dark, like so many red threads, they were flying toward the sun. "Brother Chi Xi, is there any kind of god-devil that can overtake this ship of yours?

" the First Ancestor asked abruptly, watching the red threads slip one by one into the sun. Chi Xi came to the stern and gazed far off. "There are still many that can overtake this ship," he said.

"The Phoenix clan, the Dragon clan, the Vermilion Bird — powerful alien races like these. And apart from them, certain god-devils under the Great Sun Star Lord.

Those god-devils can fly by borrowing the sun's strength, and their speed is extreme. " "Then those who come are god-devils of the Great Sun Star Lord," said the First Ancestor.

"I only wonder whether the Star Lord himself is among them.

" All the eyes in Chi Xi's three heads were fixed on the red threads piercing the sun. He saw them race across the solar surface; the dread prominences, far from hindering them, only made the red threads faster.

"The Great Sun Star Lord is not among them.

" Chi Xi lifted the Chiming Heaven-Suppressing Tower and said coldly, "If the Great Sun Star Lord were among those god-devils, he would by now have marshaled the sun's power and blasted us.

" The two stood at the stern and watched the red threads grow ever swifter.

Alarm showed on Chi Xi's face; the First Ancestor seemed almost calm.

Then suddenly, thread after thread came shooting out of the sun, straight for the tower-ship. "Be careful!

" The First Ancestor called out, "Get into the tower first — bar the doors and windows!

" Shen Mu hurriedly pulled Ling Yuxiu into the tower-house aboard the ship. Ban Gongcuo came behind; before he could get inside he saw Shen Mu shut the door. Ban Gongcuo gave a cold laugh.

His body abruptly became a black shadow and slipped in through the crack of the door. Meanwhile more red threads were flying toward that sun. Each thread was a streak of flowing fire, and within each fire was a god-devil; plunging into the sun, they raced along its surface at a speed beyond all belief.

Shen Mu pressed himself against the window, rousing the Nine Heavens Farsight Art with all his strength and opening the Jade Empyrean Eye of Heaven in one burst, to look at the red threads chasing the tower-ship. Barely could he make out, within the firelight, radiant god-men burning with flame and winged in crimson. When they flew nearer he could at last see their faces: these god-men had black crow's heads, fire streaming over their whole bodies and light flowing within the fire; in their arms they cradled great gourds, and their three-legged claws gripped bows.

"That speed — it leaves Lame Grandpa far, far behind!

" Shen Mu was appalled; but soon he saw that the fire-crow god-men could not truly be this fast. In the starry void there was no air, no resistance, and besides, they had secret arts by which they borrowed the sun's power to heighten their speed. Only so were they so terrifying.

Were they in a place like Jingping, these fire-crows, even if faster than the Lame Elder, would not be much faster.

Yet what was truly dreadful was their number. A dozen or so before — and now the red threads about to enter the sun alone numbered in the thousands.

Plainly these fire-crow god-men had some uncanny means of communication and were summoning their fellows, so that the fire-crows of the region came pouring in without end. The dozen vanguard fire-crow god-men were already near the tower-ship.

Not yet within the range of their divine powers, they seized the feathered shafts flying from their quivers; three claws bent the long bows, and shaft after shaft became a streak of light, shooting toward the tower-ship. Three legs, three claws — the fire-crow god-men drew and loosed at an inconceivable speed. Though there were but a dozen of them, in an instant each had shot hundreds of arrows, and in a moment the rain of shafts came down like a swarm of locusts.

At the stern, the god-man Chi Xi raised the Heaven-Suppressing Tower. Treasure-light blazed from within it, and divine weapon after divine weapon flew out to block the thousands of arrows. At the same time the dozen fire-crow god-men opened their vermilion gourds one and all.

From the gourds the holy fire of the sun came surging, roaring toward the tower-ship, and in an instant it wrapped the whole vast ship.

Chi Xi bellowed and flung the tower on high. At once it became immense, hanging above the ship; beneath its eaves great bells tolled and shuddered, clang upon clang, and the holy fire of the gourds was shaken back and could not come near.

The dozen fire-crow god-men seized the chance to rush aboard. Suddenly six divine sabers flew from the tower; Chi Xi caught them up, his feet flying, and in less than a breath he had raced a full circuit of the deck, slashing as he went. A dozen heads fell to the boards.

But now hundreds of fire-crow god-men came on beating their wings, and the arrows grew thick beyond measure; a volley rang out, ding-ding-ding. Chi Xi roused the tower again, but many divine weapons were shot down and fell clattering to the deck. The tower's power was greatly diminished.

Wondrous palace-guarding treasure though it was, Chi Xi lacked the cultivation to draw out its full might. Hundreds of fire-crow god-men opened their gourds, and the holy fire came howling; behind them thousands more were closing fast. The First Ancestor frowned.