Chapter 454: An Offering to Heaven!
Meanwhile, in Eastern Wasteland County, on the Ten Entrails Tree….
As the morning sun spilled light out everywhere, Xu Qing and the others were moving up the tree. The Captain continued to rip off chunks of his intestines and throw them onto the tree, his face a mixture of determination and madness.
Xu Qing gritted his teeth as he did the same. Although he wasn’t exactly sure why the Captain was doing this, given everything he had experienced so far along his path of cultivation, he had long since come to realize that the Captain’s actions after starting to climb the Ten Entrails Tree conformed to some sort of ritual. What was more, even after reaching their current height, they had not run into the dangers Duke Heaven Zenith had mentioned, those which involved space-time chaos, curses, and the like. It made Xu Qing think about the stories he had heard about the descendants of the Woe-Immortals.
Ten Entrails of the True Immortal contain endless dangers, like pieces of a puzzle. You can’t just charge straight in. You have to know the right method to successfully enter.
Eyes narrowing, he looked at the Captain up ahead.
When we first entered the depths of this place, the Captain must have secretly employed some method to provoke the so-called Shaabii’s Zombie Tribulation. That was probably the first puzzle piece. After the first puzzle piece came the second. That featherless woodpecker. Aalloh’s Nightmare Tribulation. Then we reached the tree, which was when we encountered the third puzzle piece, just moments ago. Beesah’s Eye Tribulation. After the third tribulation, the Captain started ripping out his intestines and putting them into the tree. In that case, I wonder if there’s another tribulation coming.
With such thoughts on his mind, Xu Qing struggled onward, while simultaneously looking at the lands below.
They were already at a height of over 6,000 meters. The wind was very strong, and everything below looked miniature. It was possible to see the edges of the jungle, as well as the multi-colored cities of the thirty-six city-states.
What is this good fortune that the Captain mentioned?
Before he had a chance to put any more thought into the subject, his expression flickered and he shifted his gaze from the lands below to what was up above him on the tree. He wasn’t the only one to react that way. The Captain stopped moving and looked further up the tree.
The dark green bark of the tree was wriggling. Then, only a moment later, the bark rose up in the form of fleshy sprouts.
The fleshy sprouts were each a bit more than a meter in length, and about a third of that in width. They were almost like snakes coming out of the tree. They were the same color as the tree, and their heads were like blooming flowers with five petals, except inside, there was blood-colored flesh and sharp fangs. What was more, viscous fluid dripped out of their opened mouths. They looked extremely ghastly.
Xu Qing’s gaze hardened at the sight of the extraordinary fleshy sprouts. Ning Yan and Qing Qiu both had serious expressions on their faces. Only the Captain looked different. The craziness in his eyes grew stronger as he laughed heartily.
“We went in the right direction. This is the spot! Heaven’s about to open!”
As the words left his mouth, the more than 100,000 fleshy sprouts on the tree all opened their mouths. Swaying in unison, they pointed up toward the dome of heaven and began to tremble. They seemed to be joining forces to cry out to the sky. Except, no sound could be heard. Their voices did not exist on the same auditory spectrum that cultivators could hear.
The scene wasn’t just playing out on the tree trunk they were climbing. The same thing was happening on the other nine trunks. It was an extremely bizarre and gruish scene. Most gruish of all was the transformation to the sky that resulted from the howling of the over 1,000,000 fleshy sprouts.
High in the sky, a rift was forming.
Xu Qing felt shaken as he realized that he had seen this before in his vision. The rift in the sky was exactly the same. And he remembered the sensation he had experienced in the vision. It was the feeling that there was some unimaginable entity beyond that rift.
As he struggled to control his breathing, everything in the surroundings started twisting and distorting. Then the Captain shivered from head to toe, as if some invisible force had slammed into him. He staggered back several paces. He wasn’t the only one affected. Ning Yan also shivered, and the evil ghost on Qing Qiu’s scythe let loose a scream.
Then Xu Qing felt that invisible force. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it felt like something had slammed into him. His mind buzzed, and pulses of pain shot through him. In the blink of an eye, he went numb, and he felt like a destructive force was trying to wipe out his life force.
“Lightning tribulation?” It only took a moment for Xu Qing to realize what was going on. He felt like he had just been struck by lightning!
Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior confirmed that. “Milord, it’s lightning!” he shrieked. “It’s really lightning! Strangely, though, it’s not visible, and you can’t sense it. What kind of lightning tribulation is this?”
Xu Qing’s expression flickered as the same sensation struck him again, like he had been hit by invisible tribulation lightning. Even though he couldn’t see or even sense it, it was blocking his path.
As everyone was forced to back up, the Captain laughed wildly.
“It’s Tohjaah’s Voice Tribulation! The Woe-Immortals believed that immortal ascension involved ripping open your belly and using your entrails to connect to heaven and earth.
“Similarly, their understanding of tribulation lightning was different from most other species. They believed that when heaven and earth were first born, an entity named Tohjaah wished to topple the dao of heaven. He ultimately failed, and was imprisoned in the void outside the world, to ensure that the people of the world forgot him and could never remember anything about him. From the perspective of the world, he was erased from existence.
“But Tohjaah wasn’t willing to be erased, and therefore, he occasionally howls in anger out in the void. That sound is actually... Tohjaah’s voice, and it can be found in every corner of heaven and earth.
“And that is how the Woe-Immortals understood electricity and lightning tribulations. In order to hide the truth, the dao of heaven attached Tohjaah’s voice to the magical law of light, so that it was visible instead of invisible. After that, it was described with terms like lightning tribulation, lightning bolt, thunderbolt, or thunderclap. As a result, most species think they know what lightning is, while only the Woe-Immortals realized that it was actually the voice of Tohjaah.”
Xu Qing was more than a little surprised to hear this explanation of lightning. He was about to ask a question when the Captain tugged on the vines he was holding, causing Ning Yan to yelp and fly over to him. There, the Captain held him up in front of him like a shield.
Ning Yan was cursing up a storm in his heart, but didn’t dare to utter a peep. Grief and rage simmered in him as the Captain hoisted him up and charged forward.
As a result, all of the invisible lightning hit Ning Yan instead of the Captain. Ning Yan yelped and howled. However, the toughness and durability of his skin was so impressive that Xu Qing was visibly moved. Despite the pummeling he was taking, he didn’t seem truly hurt at all.
Eldest Brother was completely right! Ning Yan is fine!
Using Ning Yan as a shield, the Captain advanced past the area with the fleshy sprouts.
On the other side, he shouted, “Catch!”
Then he tossed Ning Yan down. Ning Yan plummeted until Xu Qing grabbed him.
Tears welled in Ning Yan’s eyes as he looked pleadingly at Xu Qing. “Exalted Godchild, I—”
Before he could say anything else, Xu Qing followed the Captain’s example, held Ning Yan like a shield, and rushed forward.
Ning Yan howled.
Soon, Xu Qing was across with the Captain. Marveling at Ning Yan’s toughness, he tossed him down to Qing Qiu.
“Nooo! It hurts!” As of this moment, Ning Yan deeply regretted his personal defenses.
Meanwhile, Qing Qiu’s eyes glittered as she grabbed the vines coming out of Ning Yan’s belly, then held him aloft as she charged through the fleshy sprouts.
Thus, a few dozen breaths of time later, Qing Qiu reached Xu Qing and the Captain. There, she offered Ning Yan back to the Captain.
“Don’t need him anymore,” the Captain said, shaking his head.
Ning Yan felt like he had a new lease on life. But then, only a moment later, his heart sank with a very bad feeling.
“Little Junior Brother,” the Captain said, “the good fortune I mentioned earlier is right there.” The Captain pointed at the rift in the sky.
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered brightly.
They were now more than 9,000 meters up the tree, and were still a good distance from the dome of heaven. However, by simply looking up, they could clearly see the rift.
“It’s still not the time for explanations,” the Captain said. “You’ll understand everything soon enough!”
The Captain stepped forward, and his black clothing suddenly became white. It didn’t look like a daoist robe, but rather, some unique godly robe. As the wind blew, he took nine steps forward, then threw both of his hands out and began to dance on the tree trunk.
It was a strange-looking dance, but it was very similar to what Xu Qing had seen in his vision. As Xu Qing watched, the Captain began to sing. Unlike the indistinct voice from the vision, the Captain’s voice was very clear.
“Oh Supreme Heaven Above; Gaze Ye Down Upon Us; Gather All the Ancient Spirits; Summon Tribulation to Please the Ancestors.
“Shaabii’s Corpse Tribulation; Bring Past and Present to Downfall.
“Aalloh’s Nightmare Tribulation; Desolation for a Long Lonely Haul.
“Beesah’s Eye Tribulation; Stand Aside in a Solemn Pall.
“Tohjaah’s Voice Tribulation; a Secret to Bring Death to All.”
Rumbling sounds filled the area, and illusory flames sprang up. Images of countless dancing figures then appeared all over the Ten Entrails Tree. From a distance, it was a grand scene, like hundreds of thousands of Woe-Immortals all dancing to please heaven on high. It was like a joint offering to heaven! Winds screamed, and thunder crashed!
The Captain’s dance unfolded, the rhythm of his movements bizarre. The singing became more impassioned, until he bowed to the sky and spoke in a voice that echoed out in all directions.
“The Tribulation Sacrifice Completes, the Line in Heaven is Opened; Revered Ancient Heavenly Dao, Accept This Offering as I Prostrate!”
The hundreds of thousands of surrounding Woe-Immortal figures all bowed in unison.
RUMBLE!
RUMBLE!!
RUMBLE!!!
A heaven-rending, earth-crushing rumbling sound echoed out, reaching deafening proportions as the rift in the dome of heaven slowly opened!