Chapter 686: Taboo Magic
The arrival of a god provoked a variety of reactions.
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered brightly. The Captain narrowed his eyes. The Moonrebel forces were bewildered, while the cathedral cultivators were not as excited as they might have imagined they would be.
As blood continued to pour out of the mortal husk, all of the cathedral cultivators felt their blood and cultivation bases slipping out of their own control. It was as if every aspect of them was being sucked away.
As everyone reeled in fear, the Heir Apparent and his siblings shot in five different directions to form a pentagonal formation. The light shining off of them connected, creating a five-pointed star. Then they shifted positions, forming a square shape above the star.
The Heir Apparent was on the left, Eighth Sib was on the right, Ninth Sib was in front, and Fifth Sister was in the back. As for Princess Brightblossom, she stood in the middle, her eyes blazing with killing intent.
“He didn’t completely succeed at his godly ascension ceremony,” she said grimly. “We interrupted him earlier, and thus, his godfire isn’t completely ignited! Right now, he might seem like he has the aura of a god, but he’s also weaker than ever, and is suppressing the backlash from the failed ceremony!
“But if he tries again and succeeds at igniting his godfire, then we won’t be able to stop him! This is going to be our only chance! I’m going to unleash a taboo magic. I’ll use time as the source to unlock the fetters of a heavenly dao. We’ll use a past magic to behead him, throw his aura into chaos, and sustain the full backlash of the failed ceremony. In that way, he’ll kill himself!”
As the words left Princess Brightblossom’s mouth, the figure emerging from the mortal husk neared.
Below, blood roiled like a sea, with huge waves rolling across its surface. It extended out to the blood lake surrounding the island, and caused everything to once again turn crimson. The stench of gore grew strong, overpowering everything.
The figure approaching through the crimson was immense, and every step hē took caused booming thuds to echo out. The sound shook everything, especially the hearts and minds of the surrounding cultivators.
Cathedral cultivators. Moonrebel cultivator forces. Everyone paled upon hearing the sound of those footsteps. The sound seemed to replace their heartbeats, one step at a time. People instinctively edged backward, their souls trembling, their bodies shaking. Virtually everyone was unable to control the impulse to drop onto their knees and kowtow. It was a pressure from a higher level of life, and the fear felt by the weak toward the strong.
Innumerable eyes focused on the figure emerging from the mortal husk, which grew clearer and clearer with every moment that passed.
The figure was some 30 meters tall and completely red, with no skin, only bloody muscle. What was more, multiple faces were visible. Every face looked different. In total, there were thirteen, and they represented the Imperial Sovereign’s other sons and daughters, with the exception of Fourth Sib. The Heir Apparent, Brightblossom, Fifth Sister, and Eighth and Ninth Sibs were all there. It was incomparably gruish.
The figure looked incredibly vicious, with flesh and blood that contained an irregular pattern of golden speckles. It looked extremely ugly. It had four eyes with dual pupils, and as hē looked out at heaven and earth, hē seemed to think that nothing around hīm was important. Hē had a row of sharp spikes that ran from hīs head, down hīs back, and along the tail that stretched behind hīm. The tail was completely golden, and left behind a streak in the blood sea.
Hīs hands looked human, except instead of five fingers, there were four. In hīs right hand was a beating heart which, as hē walked along, he squeezed. Then, after fully emerging from the mortal husk and glancing at the surroundings, hē crushed the heart. It exploded with a popping sound.
Blood sprayed out of the Heir Apparent’s mouth, and his face went deathly pale. “His godly ascension ceremony focuses on time. The point of the ceremony is to tap into the points in time in the past when his relatives of the past experienced breakthroughs to higher cultivation realms. By devouring that specific time and converting it into personal power, he can use it as fuel to light his godfire!
“If he succeeds, he’ll be a convergence of us all. There were fourteen of us brothers and sisters. That’s why the ceremony has fourteen nexuses. Each of the fourteen nexuses has a different time shadow! Each time shadow corresponds to a different cultivation base. And only by destroying them all can his ceremony be considered a failure.
“We managed to destroy five, which means there are nine left! Next, we have to destroy another five, but don’t have the ability to deal with the remaining four. Li Xiaoshan, if you can fight, then you can deal with one of them. Madam Godfinch, you get another!
“Only people with Smoldering God qualifications, or the authority of a god, can meddle with this ceremony. We have two left.... Xu Qing, you have the proper authority. And, Erniu, you’re a god bastard. Can you get the last one?”
Li Xiaoshan was mangled and bloody, but he still laughed heartily, and his eyes shone with determination. Madam Godfinch nodded as she continued to fight.
Xu Qing and the Captain exchanged a glance and could see the desire to do battle in each other’s eyes. At that point, the Heir Apparent’s formation flared to life, and numerous energies swirled into a vortex.
From a distance, it was possible to see the Heir Apparent and his siblings standing on the star formation, organized into a square configuration, with supernatural images rising up all around them.
The supernatural image tied to Fifth Sister was a huge flower basket full of swaying flowers that emanated soft light. Eighth Sib’s supernatural image was a gruish face that combined all sorts of human emotions and desires. Its expression changed constantly. The Heir Apparent had a vague projection of Imperial Sovereign Li Zihua that pulsed with energy that could crush everything. As for Ninth Sib, he had a blade that could sever heaven and earth. It was not a sword, but rather, a guillotine! It was... a manifestation of his enlightenment of the God Decapitation Altar!
After those four projections formed, they connected to form major worlds.
In the middle of those major worlds was Princess Brightblossom. As she stood there with time flowing around her like a river, she sent projections of herself into each of the major worlds. It seemed like there were countless such projections, and all of them were looking at Crimson Mother’s mortal husk.
Once again, the sea of blood within the husk erupted, and the godchild emerged further. Heaven and earth were overwhelmed with crimson, which further affected the blood of the surrounding cultivators.
The forces of the Red Moon Cathedral and the Moonrebel Congregation felt their blood and cultivation bases going completely out of control. It was as if they were about to burst out from inside them. Some with weak cultivation bases lost control and exploded, whereupon their blood would stream toward the godchild. That included cathedral cultivators. The cathedral forces began to hesitate, and none of them dared to get too close.
As of now, the godchild didn’t care about taking sides in the conflict, and was focused solely on godly ascension. Even though the cathedral forces were backing up, they were easy to target, and thus, many of them exploded and became streams of blood. As that blood flowed to the godchild, the aura of a god grew stronger, and began to affect the surroundings.
The sky distorted, the air rippled, and the lands shook. And the effects didn’t stop there.
The godchild, who was like an actual god, looked around coldly before fixing hīs gaze on the Heir Apparent and the other siblings.
“Father picked the wrong path. The only correct path in this world is to become a god. As for me, I was born after he had become a god, but before he extinguished his godfire. Thus, I am different from the rest of you.
“You only exist to become a part of my godly ascension. And my purpose is to finish walking the path that our father abandoned. That’s why I chose Crimson Mother. Shē is my future fellow daoist.”
The godchild extended his left hand toward the mortal husk and made a grasping gesture.
The mortal husk shivered, then flew out and wrapped around the godchild, transforming into a full-body suit of blood-colored armor. Then the godchild strode toward the Heir Apparent and the others. The moment hīs foot landed, the Captain’s eyes shone with brilliant light. He waved his hand urgently, and the dome of heaven darkened. The bracelet of nine suns then dropped down, exerting immense pressure onto the godchild.
“Little Junior Brother!” the Captain said.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Qing activated the powers of the Mirror of Moonrebel. He knew full well that the Captain didn’t generally shoot without aiming first . Since he had chosen to use the nine suns, and had asked for Xu Qing’s help, he obviously had something in mind. The surface of the mirror shifted, and glittering light shone onto the godchild. The mirror vibrated, and the bracelet of nine suns rotated.
The godchild ignored all of that. To hīm, Xu Qing and everyone else were like bugs. As of this moment, the only people hē cared about on the battlefield were the Heir Apparent and his siblings. Hē took a second step, and as hē did, the Mirror of Moonrebel trembled, and the bracelet of nine suns started to crumble.
Meanwhile, Princess Brightblossom, who was in the middle of the formation, as well as the numerous projections of her in the major worlds, all opened their eyes. Their gazes combined, and she spoke, her voice drifting out from the void, from the past, and from all directions.
“Directly pacify the sun of earth; bury the will and conceal the dao; pacify ordinary time with this location!
“Directly determine the sun of wood; nourish the present and smolder the ancient; determine ancient time with this door!
“Directly grasp the sun of water; expend years and effect a return; grasp the path of life and death!
“Directly pierce the sun of fire; immolate memories and ignite souls; pierce the shackles of the heavenly dao!
“And I am the metal; bury nourishment and expend immolation; pacify, determine, grasp, pierce!” [1]
As the words left Princess Brightblossom’s mouth, the cosmos shifted, heaven grew dim, and all living things blurred. A magnificent seven-colored river erupted from nowhere and flowed out over everything. Not even the godchild could avoid it, and was overwhelmed. The power of time was active in an unheard-of way.
From a distance, the island looked like it was being wiped out of existence, sent into the ancient past. Left in its place was an incredibly ancient door sitting above the river of time. The door slowly opened.
1. I have to admit that I spent a massive amount of time translating these lines even though they don’t really have any function in the larger story. I took a long time to get all of the different repeated terms to line up. Hope you enjoyed this part! ☜