And that wasn’t all.
Their timing was perfect.
The Fusang Tribe had just won a victory massive enough to rewrite their destiny and followed it up by plundering a wealth of resources from the Lanji Tribe. At this moment, they were utterly complacent.
They never imagined the Lanji Tribe could rally other tribes so quickly, much less launch an attack just as their sacrificial rites were concluding.
As a result, the Fusang Tribe had let its guard down completely.
Across the entire Fusang Tribe, only a few elite squads still had any fighting capability.
But how long could they be expected to last?
Cang Shan didn’t know. All he knew was that he had to calm down, now. Any single decision he made could be the very thing that led to the Fusang Tribe’s annihilation.
He glanced around.
After confirming that the enemy’s numbers were overwhelming and impossible to resist...
He turned and headed straight for the Divine Hall.
However, just as he reached the Divine Hall, he saw his daughter, Banyue, leading a dozen or so beautiful young women from the Divine Attendant Group out of the building.
Cang Shan’s voice trembled as he asked, "Yue’Er, what did the Guardian God say?"
Banyue shook her head. "The Guardian God told us to leave the Divine Hall!"
Hearing this, Cang Shan was clearly confused. From his few interactions, he knew that the Guardian God their ancestors had left them was actually quite good-natured.
He wasn’t one of those difficult, demanding Guardian Gods.
The God had even said before that they could come to him for help if they ran into trouble.
’So why would he suddenly change his mind at such a critical moment?’
Just as Cang Shan’s heart began to sink into the abyss...
CRACK, BOOM!
A sudden clap of thunder exploded across the sky.
Rain began to fall in a torrential downpour.
The battle cries of the surrounding tribesmen seemed to fade away in that instant, leaving only the sound of the deluge crashing against the ground.
Of course, that wasn’t what held everyone’s attention.
What truly captured their attention was the clear cry of a dragon from the previously silent Divine Hall. A crystalline, jade-like body shattered the roof and, with a flick of its form, instantly appeared above the clouds.
RUMBLE!
The thunder overhead grew even louder.
The sky seemed to have been torn open. Rain fell in unrestrained sheets, each drop so heavy that it stung on impact, carrying a palpable weight.
Amidst the thunderbolts, the crystalline dragon writhed, its stiff, stone-like body growing more and more fluid, as if it were truly coming alive.
Bolt after bolt of lightning struck the dragon’s solid body, leaving ghastly wounds in their wake.
The dragon seemed to pay the wounds no mind. Instead of descending, it flew higher, straight into the dark, churning clouds.
As it drew closer to the clouds, Heaven itself seemed to grow enraged. A massive torrent of thunderbolts formed a great net, attempting to trap it.
Still, the dragon paid it no mind.
Its scales were blasted and peeled back by the thunderbolts. From what should have been a petrified body, golden blood began to slowly seep out.
The blood was like liquid gold. Each drop that fell was so brilliantly radiant that no one could look away.
Below, the once-chaotic crowd was now utterly stunned.
Everyone stared blankly at the dragon circling in the sky. Though they couldn’t comprehend what manner of creature it was, there was no hiding the sheer audacity radiating from it—an aura that dared to challenge the very heavens.
Even the most foolish among them understood that the being circling in the sky was not an existence they could ever hope to challenge.
Of everyone present, the one who had the strongest reaction was, naturally, the chief of the Lanji Tribe.
He had encountered Li Chang’an up close before and witnessed his true form.
Staring at the terrifying monster clashing head-on with the thunderbolts overhead, he instantly recognized it as the Guardian God of the Fusang Tribe.
Once he was certain, the Lanji Tribe’s chief wondered if everything he had plotted for so many years was just a complete joke.
’I actually tried to provoke such a terrifying Guardian God?’
’And I even wanted to annex the tribe under its protection?’
’You’ve got to be kidding me!’
’If I could turn back time... even if the Fusang Tribe gave me all the courage in the world, I’d never dare to offend them like this. I’d just take my people and run as far away as possible, beyond the reach of this monster’s senses.’
After a moment of stunned paralysis...
The chief of the Lanji Tribe finally snapped out of it. He turned to look at the last hundred or so elites of his tribe. His face was a twisted mask in the downpour as he roared hysterically, "Run! Run as far as you can and never come back!"
Hearing his voice...
The eyes of the Lanji Tribe’s elites reddened, and it was impossible to tell if it was from the rain or from their own tears.
’All they wanted was for their tribe to survive for as long as possible.’
’Why, oh why, did Heaven have them run into such a terrifying Guardian God the moment they acted?’
They weren’t the only ones who sensed that something was terribly wrong.
The Guardian Gods who had been invited by the other tribes were so terrified upon seeing the figure in the sky withstand the heavenly might of the thunderbolts that every hair on their bodies stood on end.
They turned and fled into the dense forest.
Clearly, their reactions were far faster than those of ordinary humans.
Once they sensed the danger, they were also the quickest to flee for their lives.
However, as fast as they were, from Li Chang’an’s perspective high in the sky, they were still far too slow.
He poked his enormous head, now dozens of times larger, out from the clouds. His two crystalline, purple dragon horns flickered with a searing arc of light.
Instantly, a thunderbolt shot down from the heavens.
It struck a turtle-like Guardian God that was trying to escape.
Arcs of electricity instantly engulfed the turtle Guardian God’s entire body. The terrifying destructive force blasted half of its shell upward, and thick black smoke billowed from the point of impact.
...