Chapter 1281 — That Venerable One's Fear

The Southern Heaven expert's heavenly palace spun out of control, and his whole body burst apart with a thunderous boom; the raging energies of that heavenly palace poured loose and reduced his primal spirit to flying ash! The blast of the heavenly palace's energies instantly roused his Heavenly Fire art, and a second explosion came hard on its heels!

The Heavenly Fire crystals within his art had been built with macro-scale arcane arts and touched nothing of the micro-scale, and so they harbored a gaping flaw — yet their power was nothing to be scoffed at.

The dreadful might of the Heavenly Fire spilled out in every direction, and the two explosions merged into one; that energy was a world-ending force, enough to blast any common lesser heaven into cinders. Yet in the very instant that energy erupted, the Heart Demon Mu Tianzuns flickered, their teleportation arts bursting forth, and each one vanished without a trace before the blast could reach them.

Qi Xiayu and the others had no time to save him; they hurriedly unleashed their own arts to withstand the explosion. The light from the Southern Heaven expert's detonation blazed so fiercely that it lit the dark valley, and as the crowd peered in, they saw winding, twisting paths and forests of standing rock.

Countless Heart Demon Mu Tianzuns flickered to and fro through the valley, drifting without pause, using teleportation and every manner of other art to evade the blast's force. The crowd stared, dumbstruck; the sheer number of Heart Demon Mu Tianzuns in that dark valley was enough to make a scalp go numb.

How violent that explosion had been — and yet every one of those Heart Demon Mu Tianzuns had dodged it.

Clearly their abilities were far from ordinary. They also saw that a great many Heart Demon Mu Tianzuns had gathered together, each working an art — a refining art, by the look of it.

Plainly these demons were refining something. "How afraid of Mu Tianzun can Hao Tianzun possibly be.

.

.

" Xi Tianjun had barely spoken the words when he caught himself and shut his mouth. Yan Yunxi, her soul seemingly fled, murmured, "Those Heart Demon Mu Tianzuns gathered together — could they be refining Hao Tianzun?

" The light of the explosion slowly dimmed, and the valley sank back into darkness; in that dark, pair after pair of eyes glimmered with a faint, ghostly light, then were swallowed by the black.

At the sight, everyone felt a chill crawl up from the bottom of their hearts.

"What did you see? " The Woodcutter Sage strained to stare into the valley, eyes wide; but his cultivation was comparatively low, and when the explosion came the blinding glare had all but seared his eyes, so he had shut them.

By the time the blast subsided and he opened his eyes, he had already missed that dreadful scene.

The Martial Celestial Master Zhuo Cha told him what he had just seen: "Those Heart Demon Mu Tianzuns have most likely trapped Hao Tianzun and mean to refine him.

I saw faintly flickering dao patterns within — they must be a seal Hao Tianzun laid down with the remnants of his own Great Way, holding those heart demons at bay. " The Woodcutter Sage was struck speechless; after a moment he blurted, "Hao Tianzun has fallen unconscious!

" Everyone turned to look at him.

The Woodcutter Sage steadied himself and said, "Mu Tianzun is Hao Tianzun's heart demon. The appearance of so many Heart Demon Mu Tianzuns here means Hao Tianzun's dao heart has gone completely out of control! There is only one circumstance in which a Tianzun's dao heart loses all control — when he has fallen unconscious!

His wounds are far graver than we imagined!

" Though everyone in the Heavenly Court called him the Cockcrow Thief, mocking him as an old rogue who rose at the crow of the cock, all of them trusted the Woodcutter Sage's judgment completely.

The Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu and Xi Muhong, the Heaven Lord Xi, exchanged a glance, then looked away. They had come out searching for Hao Tianzun with two purposes in mind. If Hao Tianzun still retained no small measure of fighting strength, they would rescue him and stand against Yan Yunxi, the Martial Celestial Master, and the Creators. If Hao Tianzun's wounds were grave beyond measure, then they would do away with him!

Judging by the Woodcutter Sage's assessment, only one of those purposes remained. To do away with Hao Tianzun, and clear an obstacle for the Tianzuns behind each of them!

"These heart demons are trying to kill Hao Tianzun.

As his subject, how could I not charge forward with all my courage? " Xi Tianjun declared with fervor, "Hao Tianzun, your subject comes to your rescue! " One after another the crowd plunged into the dark valley.

The Crimson Emperor Qi Xiayu said in a low voice, "The demonic qi in this valley is too heavy, its demonic nature too strong.

Everyone, keep your wits about you and rouse the Neither Perception nor Non-Perception — do not let your own heart demons be drawn out!

" She roused the treasure of her imperial throne; the ancient zither flew circling around her, its strings plucking themselves, and a divine melody rang out, warding the space around her.

Xi Tianjun, Yan Yunxi, the Martial Celestial Master, and the rest each employed their own means to shield themselves.

Behind their heads their heavenly palaces swayed, divine light bursting forth as they strove to dispel the demonic qi and demonic nature, cautiously exploring the valley. Yet even though they were among the very pinnacle of existences in the world today, the divine light bursting from their heavenly palaces could hardly illuminate the whole of that valley.

Where the divine light shone, a sword-light would suddenly come flying, slicing the radiance apart and grinding it to nothing. Around their perimeter the sword-lights multiplied, cutting at their divine light; the streaming swords were like a tide of fish in the ocean, countless silver fish darting wildly, shrinking the reach of their divine light's protection ever smaller.

"So many Mu Tianzuns.

.

. " The crowd gritted their teeth.

A single Heart Demon Mu Tianzun was no match for them and could be easily destroyed — but these Heart Demon Mu Tianzuns learned with frightening speed and were masters of adaptation.

The second time they used a move, they would find that their technique and art had already been broken by the Heart Demon Mu Tianzuns! Had it been the true Mu Tianzun, that would have been one thing; but the crux was that these Mu Tianzuns were merely heart demons — and even heart demons were this troublesome!

"Don't let yourselves get separated!

" Xi Tianjun shouted. Suddenly a flood of sword-light came rolling in, like great dragons weaving and crossing through the valley.

Xi Tianjun took sword-light after sword-light head-on, then abruptly sensed that several strands of sword-light had cut their way into his spirit treasury.

A chill of dread ran through him; he hurriedly threw his full strength into dealing with the sword-light that had invaded his treasury, and cried out sharply, "Beware his Tribulation-Answering Sword!

" His hands and feet were in disarray, his technique unsteady, and the flood of sword-light at once split the crowd apart!

Having rid himself of the Tribulation-Answering Sword inside his body, Xi Tianjun flung out his hand, and the Demon-Quelling Pestle flew forth. The pestle grew thicker, larger, taller, until it was like a colossal pillar. On the pillar's surface all manner of runes emerged, sweeping across the ground with a swish; then the runes linked together, forming a whole expanse of Great Way pattern chains.

Chain after chain interwove and crossed, and where the chains coiled, huge Demon-Quelling Pestles took shape, rumbling up out of the earth, their shrouded domain spreading wider and wider.