Chapter 654 — The Fire-Crow Grand Formation Collapses
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" 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.