Chapter 428 — The God of War's Ambition Undiminished
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
He seized the village chief's clothes, his voice raw and desperate: "I see karma fire—the karma fire that countless beings of Jingping became after death! They are demanding my life! Stop them! Do not let the deaths of these common folk become my sin.
.
. Do not come near me, do not come near! It was not my doing, I was only following orders. .
. Every wrong has its source, every debt its creditor—it was not I who wanted you dead! " The village chief tore free of his grip and shot off through the air. Star Lord Qiao's eyes grew ever more hollow, as though he beheld something utterly horrifying. He screamed madly: "It is not my doing! I had no choice either—do not come demanding my life! " "I see countless paper boats, so many paper boats, sailing from Jingping into the darkness.
.
. Heavens, what is that? Tubo's horn.
. . Hell!
This place is hell! " "Save me, get me out! True God—where is the True God above me?
Come save me!
You promised me you would not let Tubo take me and judge me.
.
. Save me—" . .
. After a moment, Star Lord Qiao's face locked in boundless terror, his breathing stopped. Snap. The divine sword in his hand abruptly crumbled to dust and scattered across the ground.
Star Lord Qiao's lifeless body pitched forward; the sword wounds burst open and tore his corpse apart. The village chief plunged into the darkness of the wasteland, racing at full speed.
His primal spirit flickered—bright, then dim. He struggled to stir the last blood of his heart to keep his flesh from dying and his will from being extinguished. He could feel the summons of death. His body could no longer hold his soul, and death drew closer and closer.
He felt as though something were pursuing him. In truth, in recent years he had often felt this—it must be the summons of the world of Youdu, the heaven-and-earth laws of Youdu binding him, seeking to seize his soul.
As his body slowly died, this binding grew ever stronger, and the summons from that other dark world grew stronger as well. The Covenant of Tubo—every person signed this contract from the very moment of birth. Once the body died, the soul belonged to Tubo, to sink into the silence of Youdu.
To keep the body from dying was the key to escaping the Covenant of Tubo. When a god cultivated his body to the divine realm, a divine bridge lay hidden within the final divine store; the primal spirit crossed that divine bridge and became a god. Then the body was divine, and the primal spirit was no longer bound by the Covenant of Tubo. The village chief had once possessed this possibility, but now Star Lord Qiao's dying blow had cut off his path.
Now he could only hope to find in time the other party of gods and demons from the High Heavens sent to bring calamity—yet even if he found them, he did not know whether he still had the strength to keep fighting. "I truly have grown old.
. . " The village chief felt his blood and vital force churning, unable to hold his primal spirit.
His primal spirit suddenly shook violently, about to leave his body—yet he still dared not stop.
Perhaps if he stopped, he would fall forever. He pressed madly onward. In the darkness, countless monsters stirred, following him along the foot of the mountain, waiting for the moment of his death. When he fell, these monsters would swarm him and tear him to pieces.
He ran slower and slower, feeling his limbless body grow heavier and heavier. A sudden sorrow came over the village chief.
He smiled bitterly and wanted to stop: "I truly am about to die. .
. " Just then, he saw a great bird winging through the darkness. It flew ahead of him and alighted on a mountaintop. The great bird flapped its wings, folded them, and became a god with a bird's head and a man's body, unhurriedly preening its feathers with its beak.