Chapter 437 — A Cosmic Spectacle
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
That world was still in a savage, bloody tribal age; its divine powers were crude, steeped in gore. "You could say the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping has stirred up a colossal mess!
" Shen Mu's scalp went numb.
The Quaking Cauldron had opened a way into another world, and that demon world opposite clearly held gods and demons in great number; when its demon gods saw the world where Jingping lay, they were naturally delighted at the hunt and conceived a desire to conquer, sparing not even their own bodies — petrifying themselves to send themselves to Jingping! Strangely, though, now that these stone statues of demon gods had been sent over, they did not attempt grander sacrifices to widen the opening blasted by the Quaking Cauldron; instead they searched everywhere for something.
"And with an opening this big, why have we seen no demons come through it? " Shen Mu wondered inwardly. The Flood Dragon King Deity discovered something and said hurriedly, "My lord, there is a demon army upon that altar over there as well!
" Shen Mu looked where he indicated, and his heart turned cold. Slaves of the demon world were building another grand altar, several times more colossal than the one before; its body was like a great mountain sheared flat, and tens of thousands of demon sorcerers floated around the altar, carving runes upon it with the blood of slaves.
And at the altar's edge a mighty demon host was marching in vast array toward its center; they must have been preparing to use this as the moment to send a demon army into Jingping!
"Could it be that this opening cannot be crossed, and that only by the power of blood sacrifice can they bring demon warriors into Jingping?
" Stunned, Shen Mu stretched out a hand, trying to thrust it through the opening into the other world, but he met an invisible barrier: the other world lay right before him, and yet he could not enter.
The Flood Dragon King Deity, the dragon qilin, and the rest tried one after another; the greater one's strength, the greater the resistance, and they could not enter that time and space. Suddenly, with a great thud, the sound of something heavy striking the ground came to them and jolted Shen Mu and the others awake: the stone statue of that demon god had been sent over from the world opposite. A hundred zhang tall, it stood quietly to their right, only a hundred zhang or so away.
Upon the statue's surface, runes formed of fresh blood twisted and turned, shifting shape, and gradually sank into its body. The statue stirred of a sudden and slowly shifted its bulk; clearly the priests and sorcerers of the other world, sacrificing slaves in blood, had given these statues the power to move of their own will.
Only, they could not yet transmit their own immense strength across, nor restore the statues to flesh.
"Go, quickly!
" The Flood Dragon King Deity hastily bore them on his back, skirted the vast opening, and raced into the distance.
Standing on the Flood Dragon King Deity's back, Shen Mu looked back, and saw the statue suddenly bend, reach a hand toward the depths of the earth; its two arms drilled into the ground like augers, and then the statue plunged head-down into the earth, its body vanishing piece by piece. "This statue too is searching for something! What on earth are they looking for?
Are the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping and Grandpa Blind still alive? And if they are, where are they hiding?
" Shen Mu activated the Sacred Pupil of the Nine Heavens and searched carefully for traces of the Imperial Preceptor and the others, pressing ever northward.
He saw more signs of battle — traces left by the Butcher, the blind elder, and the rest in their duels with the gods of High Heaven. "Flood Dragon King Deity, look out!
" Shen Mu saw a black line suspended motionless in the air and hastily bade the Flood Dragon King Deity halt; the deity started slightly, and saw for himself that something was wrong.