Chapter 646: A Green Hair the Path; Firemoon the Door
The Greenhair Badlands shook dramatically. From the look of it, the Captain’s words had released some unknown taboo, causing the terrifying power of the desert to suddenly erupt.
Grains of sand started floating up into the air. Every single one vibrated as faces appeared on them, which looked up into the sky and roared in rage. The sound of the roar became like heavenly thunder that resounded in the canopy of heaven. The wind swirled in all directions, transforming the gap between heaven and earth into a sea of sand.
Looking at it from a distance, the countless particles of sand floating into the air significantly lowered visibility. As the wind took hold of the sand and swept it about, loud rumbling sounds echoed out. The grains smashed into each other, transforming into ashes, which fueled the growing sandstorm.
The faces howled in pain. However, as they clumped together, they gradually formed an enormous face. It looked like a young woman. Shē was laughing, but at the same time crying, and the sound of it filled the Greenhair Badlands.
Mutagen spread out, obscuring the world. A god had come!
Heaven and earth in the Greenhair Badlands became dark and gloomy. Divine sense was useless, and physical eyes couldn’t see clearly either. There was only endless, deafening rumbling. All cultivators native to the area went into hiding in the mountains and then looked on in shock.
It was hard to determine who did it first, but before long, all of them were prostrating in the direction of the huge face.
“White Mother!”
As Xu Qing and the others raced toward the exit, the Wind Guardians there seemed to be getting extremely excited. Dropping to their knees, they started chanting an ancient chant.
“White Mother is awake, enjoying the fiery river.
“The godchild cometh, to bring salvation hither.
“All beings are dazzled, in confusion they quiver.
“I will become the soil, a nourishing caregiver.”
The chanting reverberated across the desert, spreading with the wind. Although the violent wind was shocking, it didn’t seem particularly malicious to the Wind Guardians, who were natives of these lands.
In contrast... the cultivators from the Red Moon Cathedral who were here looking for the source of the broadcast had no choice but to back away from the tempest. The sandstorm seemed intent on venting all of its malice on any outsiders in the area. In the shortest of moments, countless cathedral cultivators were sent tumbling this way and that, looks of shock on their faces. Some were overwhelmed and ripped to pieces. As their souls were shredded, they released howls of grief.
Even the pontiff was visibly taken aback.
“Everybody, retreat from this area!”
Without any hesitation, he issued orders for the cathedral cultivators to fall back. It was only when they were out of the desert that they were no longer in danger.
After that, the pontiff, along with some of his Void Returning godheralds, pierced through the sandstorm like a spear, heading right toward the exit where Xu Qing and the others were just emerging.
They got closer and closer. However, as they continued on their way, the dramatic things happening in the Greenhair Badlands continued to unfold. As the sand continued to float up into the air, and as the huge face grew larger, the desert’s horizon dropped downward.
30 meters. 240 meters. 450 meters....
Shockingly, in the end, the surface level of the entire Greenhair Badlands dropped down 3,000 meters! From a distance, the Greenhair Badlands consisted of a huge sea of sand... with nothing beneath it.
It was a massive basin, within which were ancient lands that hadn’t been seen since before the desert formed. There were also a host of mountains of varying sizes. Some of them had long been buried in the desert, and hadn’t been seen in countless years. Others had been visible above the desert sands, such as the Bitter Life Mountains. But now, they were exposed in their entirety. Compared to the huge basin, the mountains resembled massive, terrifying spikes.
The ground was made of pitch black muddy soil, rife with decay. There were innumerable scars in the land, immense gullies and pits that seemed to indicate a shocking battle had been fought here in the past.
The dramatic transformation surpassed what any cultivator could imagine happening. The cultivators native to the Greenhair Badlands were astonished, and at the same time, devoted themselves to worshiping White Mother with even more piety.
The sea of sand churned, with grains slamming into each other and shattering, creating more ash that mixed into the wind. Gradually, it seemed to be taking a shape.
Those who were witnessing it couldn’t help but gradually think of a certain legend. It was said that the entire Greenhair Badlands had once been a massive basin, and that many years ago a strand of hair fell from heaven and turned into sand, which filled in the basin and made the desert. Today, that legend... was being proven true. The sea of sand floating in the air continued to take shape, ultimately turning into... a strand of green hair! [1]
The moment that hair appeared, the pontiff from the Red Moon Cathedral and his people all felt shaken to the core.
It was as if time had stopped in the Greenhair Badlands. The magical laws went still, and the natural laws froze in place. Everything went quiet. The wind no longer blew. Time no longer advanced. Everything, living or not, ceased to move. Godly might spread.
The Greenhair Badlands was instantly separated, as if it wasn’t part of the Moonrite Region anymore. Instead, it was hidden in its own gap in space-time.
The strand of green hair shrank down, rapidly turning into the size of an ordinary piece of hair. It disappeared, only to reappear... right in front of the Captain in the sealed world. It floated down onto his palm. The two ends of the hair extended past either side of his hand and slowly drooped down.
The Captain turned to look at Xu Qing with an enigmatic smile on his face.
“Surprised, little Ah Qing?”
The moment Xu Qing laid eyes on the hair, he saw everything that happened earlier on the outside. He saw the dramatic transformations, and the appearance of the huge basin. He was understandably shaken. They knew that the Captain’s big jobs were always exciting, but this was downright hair-raising.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Qing lowered his voice and said, “Eldest Brother, is that hair from the same High God you said you worked with in your past life?”
Xu Qing’s reaction was very pleasing to the Captain. He was glad that things now seemed to be back in his control. This was how things were supposed to go on his big jobs.
“That’s right,” he said, waving the hair back and forth. “This individual had a very bad temper, but extremely high personhood. Whether it was my hiding spot for my past-life body, or the sealing done here, it was all thanks to hēr assistance. And the Greenhair Badlands were formed from one of hēr hairs.
“At the same time, it’s an authentication device left behind for me. One day, when the opportunity came around, I could use the hope power from all living beings to turn the Greenhair Badlands back into this strand of hair, and use it... to connect to hēr door.”
The Captain glanced at the Heir Apparent and his siblings, and was very pleased to see the serious expressions on their faces.
The Heir Apparent looked closely at the hair in Erniu’s hand. “You worked with one of the Three Gods of Sun, Moon, and Star of the Firemoon Darkheaven people? High God Moonfire?”
The Captain chuckled and nodded proudly. “The three high gods of the Firemoon Darkheaven people all wanted to give me face. But in the end, I thought about how thēir species is the mortal enemy of us humans, and therefore, I refused thēir offer.
“And yet, Little Moonie shamelessly demanded to help, and I eventually had no choice but to reluctantly agree. Considering how hard shē worked, I promised that when the time came, I would give her a few chunks of Crimson Mother’s flesh to eat.”
The Heir Apparent’s face remained completely expressionless, almost as if he hadn’t heard any of the Captain’s nonsense. Princess Brightblossom sneered, but also ignored the Captain. Ning Yan and the others had experienced quite a few shocks on this day, yet their first reaction upon hearing Erniu’s bragging was that it seemed too fake. Xu Qing was used to this sort of thing, and didn’t react at all.
Seeing that nobody believed him, the Captain sighed again. “Ah, whatever. Look, I’m telling the truth. One of these days, all of you will realize that what Chen Erniu says isn’t even remotely untrue. Thēy really did beg me!”
The Captain cleared his throat, and with a helpless swagger that bemoaned how ignorant everyone else was, he stepped forward and threw the hair into the vortex made from hope power.
The hair drifted through the air, and when it touched the vortex, the vortex suddenly stopped moving. Then the hair grew longer and longer, stretching out to form a pathway. It was long and winding, and headed far out into the void.
At the very end of the path was a wooden door, extremely ancient, and seemingly very inauspicious. The black wood was covered with numerous very deep scratch marks, and even some chunks of flesh. Most horrendous of all was that black blood oozed out of the edges of the door. The blood emanated an overwhelming sensation of sinister decay.
It also contained the aura of a god. When Ning Yan and the others saw it, they groaned as their mutagen levels started rising. Xu Qing’s vision swam, and his mind trembled. The Heir Apparent and his siblings looked at the black wooden door as if it represented the impending arrival of a dangerous enemy.
Only the Captain seemed relaxed. Stepping into the vortex and onto the path made by the green hair, he looked over his shoulder at Xu Qing and grinned.
“Want to come with me to take a look, little Ah Qing?”
Xu Qing was about to reply when blood started gushing out of the edges of the door. At the same time, a loud, incessant banging started on the other side.
Bang-bang-bang-bang!
It was a deafening sound that shook them down to the soul.
Apparently, whatever entity was on the other side had sensed newcomers, and was banging on the door. The force caused the door to shiver with each blow, and more damage appeared on its surface.
The sudden banging seemed to catch the Captain by surprise. After blinking a few times, he continued to smile. “What the hell? How come everybody who gets locked up seems to love violently banging on the door?”
Off to the side, Eighth Sib glared at the Captain and snapped, “Shē’s cursing you.”
1. The legendary origin of the Greenhair Badlands was first mentioned inchapter 579.2 . ☜