Chapter 820: The First Mountain
The scene from a distance was that of the canopy of heaven over the forbidden region trembling as a spear shot from Xu Qing like a dragon, surrounded by a black glow of destruction. A sea of flames spread out around it, extending into the canopy of heaven. It moved with shocking speed, like a shooting star piercing through the air. The soul threads attached to the mountain flew after it, bolstering the sea of flames and the spear, and making the weapon unprecedentedly penetrating. It made it unavoidable and unstoppable!
The Firemoon Darkheaven’s face fell. “That aura... that’s a taboo weapon!”
Coming from a major species, he had a much more complete understanding of history and related subjects. Therefore, it only took a moment for him to realize what the spear was. And that realization caused his mind and heart to reel.
That said, there wasn’t time to sit around contemplating the situation. An intense sensation of deadly crisis filled him, causing his flesh and blood to quiver. He felt impending death from outside in and from inside out. He wanted to dodge, but couldn’t. His instincts were telling him that if he backed down an iota in front of this spear, it would overwhelm him.
And if it overwhelmed him, he would die beyond the shadow of a doubt.
That was because this spear was intolerable to heaven and earth, and not permitted by the heavenly daos. It was one of the most ancient taboo weapons of Revered Ancient, and had been sealed inside a technique from an imperial clan. When facing an ancient taboo weapon like that, all he could feel was increasing fear as he felt destruction looming over him.
The Firemoon Darkheaven’s eyes turned crimson and he let loose a howl accompanied by a spray of blood that was a forbidden magic. The blood spray turned into a blood mist in front of him. It created a line of defense filled with no less than a thousand faces from numerous species, all of which were howling as they burned. But not even that was enough.
In that moment of crisis, the Firemoon Darkheaven unleashed the full power of his fleshly body. As his arms grew massive, he shoved them forward. Golden light spread out from him, creating a halo that was a second line of defense. There was also a white glow that erupted from his forehead, which was a destiny god magic that caused a divine likeness to appear behind him.
The divine likeness was humanoid, covered with feathers, and was pure white. It seemed holy as it stretched out both arms to place the Firemoon Darkheaven in its embrace. The Firemoon Darkheaven wasn’t holding anything back.
All of this takes a bit of time to describe, but actually happened in the time it takes a spark to fly off a piece of flint. An instant later, the black spear shattered the air as it arrived! Imbued with a spirit that could conquer mountains and rivers, and crackling like thunder, it stabbed into the blood mist in front of the Firemoon Darkheaven.
The mist seethed violently as it tried to fight back against the might of the spear. But it couldn’t do anything. Even though all the faces inside of it were burning brightly, it did no good. In the blink of an eye, anguished cries rang out as they were dispelled by the spear like dust in the wind. The blood mist itself scattered.
The Firemoon Darkheaven suffered an instant backlash. His face turned ashen, and blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth. And yet, things were just starting for him. The black spear stabbed into his second line of defense, the golden light.
A boom rattled out. The golden light filled with cracks, holding strong for only one breath of time before it collapsed.
The Firemoon Darkheaven’s face was as pale as death, and he couldn’t prevent himself from coughing up blood. Then, the black spear continued on with unyielding destructive power, stabbing into the destiny god magic in the form of a white statue.
Immense power and majesty pulsed off the spear. Black fire. Red soul threads. A taboo weapon that could conquer every obstacle. Together, they formed a destructive attack that, although it wasn’t literally impossible to block, was clearly... too much for the Firemoon Darkheaven to handle!
A deafening boom filled the forbidden region as the Firemoon Darkheaven’s statue collapsed like cheap pottery. It started with the arms, then continued to the torso and head. They shattered, with the bits spreading out to reveal the Firemoon Darkheaven within. His expression was just as astonished as before, having no time to change before the black spear stabbed into his chest.
It pierced deep. It sliced through skin, stabbed into his flesh, and poked out of his back! He had been... completely impaled!
However, it didn’t come all the way out of his back.
The remaining momentum of the attack carried the Firemoon Darkheaven backward into the sky. Previously, this Firemoon Darkheaven had been the picture of majesty and grandeur. But now he looked like a rag doll that had been viciously ripped to shreds.
Then, a moment later, the black spear stopped, leaving the Firemoon Darkheaven impaled to the dome of heaven!
It normally wouldn’t make sense. The air wasn’t a physical thing, so you couldn’t impale people to it. But... that’s exactly what was playing out right now. In the presence of this spear, the canopy of heaven became like a material object.
Looking up, one would see the Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator impaled in midair, blood flowing out of his chest, down his body, and to the ground below. His complexion was dispirited, and his expression was one of bitter pain. He was hardly strong enough to keep his eyes open, yet with some struggle, was able to look down at Xu Qing standing there calmly below.
He would never forget that sight. Previously, he had mistakenly assumed that the bloated cultivator was the stronger of the two, and also the most mysterious. After all, he had used the Firemoon’s own Nine Breaths Submission technique, which was enough on its own to be mystifying.
But now he realized he had been mistaken. The strongest... was obviously the one with the spear.
“Taboo weapon...” he murmured. With one final look at Xu Qing, he closed his eyes.
He was covered with countless wounds, all of which stretched back to his chest. And then he started to crumble, starting from those wounds. A thump rang out, and his body collapsed into countless chunks that rained down onto the ground below. It appeared as if he had been destroyed in body and soul.
But only a moment later, Xu Qing let loose an exclamation of surprise as the black spear suddenly jerked down.
At the same time, the chunks of flesh and blood that had rained down from above experienced a transformation! They suddenly erupted with very unique fluctuations. They were being teleported away.
Eyes lighting up, the Captain said, “Still trying to run? Is that a new Firemoon art? I want to learn it!”
Then the Captain inhaled deeply. There was a dark shadow on the ground that had been waiting for quite some time to make a move. It was none other than Little Shadow. And the shadow was working with the Captain!
The black spear also flew forth. It had long been Xu Qing’s custom to make sure his enemies were dead, and to leave behind no survivors.
The three of them erupted from three different directions, ultimately ensuring that there was no chance the flesh and blood could possibly escape. In the shortest of moments, about forty percent of the flesh and blood in the area was removed from the teleportation effect and was funneled into the Captain’s mouth.
Little Shadow’s actions were particularly strange, as a chanting voice drifted out.
“Three primordials nurture nine energies make up five earthly things form into seven stars as apertures; all beings’ souls reach the peak of three laws with starlight shining on me, Dark Nethervoid.”
The voice seemed simultaneously proud, restrained, rushed, and slow. The combination made the voice extremely gruish. Thanks to it, about twenty percent of the flesh and blood ignited, becoming flames that peeled away and into Little Shadow.
The rest rushed toward Xu Qing’s black spear. Black fire spread out, accompanied by soul threads, completely destroying it. There wasn’t one scrap of flesh that managed to escape. All of it was gone.
Everything went silent. Then the Captain chewed a few times before looking at Xu Qing.
“He was just a clone.”
Little Shadow was also sending emotional fluctuations to Xu Qing, indicating it would be able to sense their enemy within a certain range.
“It doesn’t matter,” Xu Qing said softly. “We’ll kill him next time.”
With that, he turned back, reached out with his right hand, and again pushed on the blood-red forbidden mountain. As rumbling sounds spread from the mountain, Little Shadow, who was already spread through the forbidden region, resumed madly devouring the place.
The forbidden region trembled, and the howls of grief slowly began to fade. The expulsion power also declined. It was now possible to see that the forbidden region was fading and becoming blurry. Its borders were gradually disappearing.
However, it wasn’t happening very quickly, and Xu Qing wasn’t feeling patient, so he sent some soul threads to bolster Little Shadow.
The Captain glanced at what was happening and was clearly a bit surprised. However, he didn’t ask any questions. Instead, he focused on digesting the Firemoon flesh and searching for a way to negate the teleportation effects.
About four hours later, Little Shadow was done feeding.
Xu Qing and the Captain were surrounded by empty space. The mountain now stood by itself, hovering about one third of a meter above the ground.
The forbidden region had disappeared entirely! The lands were now gray. Within that grayness was a black shadow that wriggled like a river as he flowed toward Xu Qing and collected beneath his feet. Next came a loud burping sound, after which it spat out a finger-nail sized wisp of brown flame.
The flame wisp floated in front of Xu Qing, flickering dully. Occasionally, it expanded, then shrank down dramatically, as if it wasn’t very stable. Because of its movement, the dome of heaven rapidly turned dark, and rumbling sounds echoed out. Light crashed everywhere.
Then a soul power as boundless as the sea spread out from Little Shadow.
“Milord... full....”
Xu Qing nodded. Knowing full well where the fire came from and how dangerous it was, he carefully put it away.
Then he waved his hand, and the blood-red mountain floated up into the air overhead.
“Are there any mosquitoes left, little Ah Qing? If so, let them out. I still felt some pain, which indicates I need more of that blessing.” The Captain looked at Xu Qing’s shadow.
Xu Qing turned to look at the bloated Captain. “Eldest Brother, according to what High God Starfire told me, the first round of the Great Hunt isn’t a test of the fleshly body, it’s about moving mountains....”