A blood-colored light enveloped the sky. Some of it reflected off the clouds and cast a sinister glow on the crowd beneath. Jarring noises resembling crunching bone echoed from the ground. Nearby mountains began to collapse.
Alarmed, Zu An quickly flitted to the Goddess of Wu Mountain’s side and brought her to safety.
Shortly after they departed, the mountain they had previously been standing on collapsed. What came surging out of it wasn't searing lava, but an army of deceased spirits that emanated dim green light. Their faces were warped with resentment, as if they would pull any living beings they could get their hands on down to hell with them, so that they would suffer the same pain.
Zu An was startled. These deceased spirits resembled the vengeful spirits he had seen in the Oblivion River. He hadn’t expected to see something similar here. He anxiously warned the people present, “Don’t let those vengeful spirits touch you. They can corrode your soul.”
Those present here understood the severity of the situation. They either avoided the vengeful spirits or exorcised them.
However, the other living beings further away weren’t as lucky. Many of them found themselves grabbed by the vengeful spirits. They tried to fight back, but they quickly lost their strength and were dragged into the vengeful spirit horde. They began turning into vengeful spirits themselves before joining the others in hunting down more victims.
Noticing Zu An’s worry, the Goddess of Wu Mountain consoled him. “Don’t worry, the Crimson Emperor personally refined Wu Mountain. Chang’e will be safe there.”
Zu An breathed a sigh of relief. No wonder Wu Mountain felt so mystical—it was constructed by the Crimson Emperor.
The Goddess of Wu Mountain glanced at Xihe, only to find herself meeting the latter’s eyes. Both of them felt awkward.
The Goddess of Wu Mountain was only friends with Zu An, yet here she was in his arms. Xihe and Zu An had an intimate relationship, but she was Emperor Jun’s wife.
While the two women were feeling awkward, a loud buzzing sound echoed. Gigantic pillars slowly rose from the ground and towered over everyone else. Every pillar was made out of squirming, blood-red flesh, and it looked as if some kind of enigmatic, ancient being was about to come back to life.
Zu An did a quick count—there were 108 pillars in total. Their positions also aligned with the Great Constellation Formation.
Zhulong roared in shock and anger, “Emperor Jun, you massacred so many living beings to forge such vile pillars of flesh and blood!”
Emperor Jun remained calm. “It’s their fate. I’m merely fulfilling their destiny.”
“How can you, the Celestial Emperor, commit such a vile deed and proclaim it as fate? How shameless can you get?!” Gonggong berated him while clashing with Donghuang Taiyi. “Taiyi, have you lost your mind as well to side with him?”
Donghuang Taiyi didn’t answer. Instead, his attacks only became fiercer.
Millions of flesh tendrils that resembled blood serpents suddenly extended from the pillars. They were monsters manifested from grudges. The tendrils grabbed every living being in sight and furiously devoured them. As far as Zu An’s divine sense could reach, the world had been plunged into a hellscape.
Brilliant lights shone from Zhulong’s eyes. Wherever the lights reached, the flesh tendrils were reduced to ashes.
Gonggong unleashed water dragons to rip apart the flesh tendrils. The others also began their counterattack. However, there were too many tendrils, and ten more sprouted out in the time it took them to destroy one. There was no way to destroy all the tendrils.
Just then, many small cracks appeared across the ground. Shrill laughter that induced goosebumps echoed. Dense congregations of specters emerged from the cracks and began ripping off the flesh of the living with their sharp teeth.
The Kaiming Six Shamans’ Wu Yang was so severely injured in his battle with Emperor Jun that he failed to dodge the specters’ onslaught. In the blink of an eye, he was sucked dry until only his skin was left. The other five shamans were in agony, but they were unable to save him.
With even Wu Yang falling prey to these specters, there was no way mere mortals would stand a chance against them. It didn’t take long for them to be sucked dry into thin pieces of skin. These skins fluttered into the air and morphed into specters as well. They screamed “Just like me, just like me” as they searched for new victims.
At the same time, fireballs fell from the sky. Upon closer examination, these fireballs were the skulls of those who had died to the ten suns.
The water in the distant rivers defied gravity and flowed into the sky. The beings residing in therivers were quickly reduced to bones.
Massacres were happening no matter where one looked.
The blood clouds in the sky began revolving to form ten vortices. These vortices slowly transformed into a sun each, recreating the phenomenon of the ten suns. However, these suns actually resembled eyes.
The screams and wails of countless beings filled the world.
“We need to destroy those eyes! Otherwise, all living beings will die once the Ten Suns Apocalypse Formation is completed!” Xihe exclaimed.
Zhulong and Gonggong had already gotten to action, charging straight at the eyes in the sky. However, a massive bell blocked their attacks.
Zhulong roared in anger, “Taiyi, are you still siding with Emperor Jun despite the terrible sins he has committed?”
Donghuang Taiyi smiled. “My big brother’s methods might be extreme, but since he’s doing it for our Fiend races, it’s understandable.” He was blatantly siding with Emperor Jun.
Gonggong cursed out of anger, but Zhulong understood the underlying meaning behind those words. “You’re also seeking to destroy our Shaman races.”
“The world may be big, but there’s only enough room for our Fiend races,” As he gazed down on the living beings below, Donghuang Taiyi floated in midair.
Zhulong burst into laughter. “Do you think that you two can destroy our Shaman races?”
Right after those words were spoken, translucent figures began appearing out of thin air. Wherever those figures appeared, the surrounding vengeful spirits wailed in agony before disintegrating into dust.
“What powerful auras!” Zu An was shocked.
“They are Ancestral Shamans,” Xihe explained. “They have only projected their avatars here, but their strength is still not to be underestimated.”
“With this, Emperor Jun and Taiyi should be dead meat, right?” Zu An’s heart was put at ease. This is the power of a strong backing!
Emperor Jun and Taiyi were powerful, but their strength was only comparable to a single Ancestral Shaman each. Now that the other Ancestral Shamans were here, it was time for the tides to be turned on them.
Zu An and Xihe were interacting naturally when it suddenly struck them that they were no longer a couple. The atmosphere between them turned awkward.
The Goddess of Wu Mountain sensed the change in the atmosphere and interjected to alleviate the awkwardness, “That’s not necessarily the case. Emperor Jun looks confident.”
That was indeed the case, as Emperor Jun didn’t look surprised in the slightest. He opened his arms wide and said, “Do you think we’re the only ones who wish to eradicate the Shamans? This is the collective wish of most fiends in the Celestial Court!”
The celestial gate opened, and countless celestial soldiers appeared behind him.