Chapter 70: God-Summoning Spell He Chunhua was still reeling from the tense situation. Even to this moment, he was both shaken and furious, both terrified and filled with regret. He ground his teeth and spat, “That Old Snake Sun deserves to die!”
No matter how slow-witted he might have been before, it was all clear to him now. Sun Fuping had ordered him to lead the Heishui City troops into the Panlong Desert with hidden malice. First, they were used to take the hits, and ultimately, they were meant to be sacrificed.
If not for that broken comb he happened to carry, the troops from Heishui City would have dutifully maintained the Heavenly Lightning Array under the Gale Army’s onslaught. When the Blood Sacrifice Array activated, they would have all been wiped out in one fell swoop.
Even now that the light of the array had faded, no one dared step inside. The sand bandit that Situ Han had pulled out earlier had stopped writhing in pain. He simply stared at his leader, chest heaving with shallow, ragged breaths.
He Chunhua glanced at him and said, “He’s done for. Grant him a quick death.”
Situ Han’s face turned ashen. He knelt, patted his comrade on the shoulder, then drew his blade across the man’s throat. The truth was, saving him earlier had only prolonged his suffering. Death had been inevitable.
This blood-soaked bandit chief silently pressed his palm to his forehead in grief.
Looking again at the bodies, one could see that even the bones were unnaturally pale, evidence that every last drop of marrow had been drained as well. The Blood Sacrifice Array was savagely thorough, devouring its offerings until not even a scrap of blood and flesh remained.
He Chunhua’s face darkened. All of a sudden, he slashed his blade forward!
One of Sun Fuping’s subordinates had been trying to sneak away into the ruins, but He Chunhua’s sword struck him down in a single blow, decapitating him on the spot.
At the same time, He Chunhua roared, “Kill! Leave none of those bastards alive!”
Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu had brought eleven subordinates with them. Three had died in the blood sacrifice, and He Chunhua had just cut down another. That left seven. Seeing the fate that awaited them should they stay, they scattered like birds. Some fled into the ruins, while others leaped straight toward the pool.
But before the wrath of the troops from Heishui City, none of them got far. They were hacked down while in the middle of escaping. Among the seven, two were cut to pieces right beside the pool, their mangled remains mere steps from the water.
Afterward, the Heishui City troops began tallying the losses. A man came forward to report, “Sir, we lost eighty brothers.”
He Chunhua closed his eyes, exhaled a long, bitter breath, and was just about to speak when the sound of the originally upright staff falling to the ground rang in the air.
Before anyone could react, it shot upright once more and launched itself into the pool, vanishing without a trace.
A flicker of fierce resolve crossed He Chunhua’s face. “Let’s go! We’re heading into the well too!”
* * *
Just then, a blinding light flared from the ruins.
Something shot out, dazzling beyond belief. In He Lingchuan’s words, it was like staring into a five-thousand-watt bare bulb. No one could look at it directly.
He shielded his eyes with his hand. He could barely see anything, yet his instincts told him that it was an ivory carving.
After all that effort, after even siding with the black flood dragon, did we still fail to stop Sun Fuping’s God-Summoning Spell? Then, how are my father and the others? The black flood dragon raised its severed tail and slammed it down mercilessly, trying to crush the light.
But at that moment, the ivory carving’s tightly shut eyes sprang open!
With a crisp crack, the carving shattered. But then, a white light burst forth from within, circling briefly in the air. It hovered, as though it were hesitating.
Mao Tao’s voice trembled as he asked, “Is... is that the god he summoned?”
The black flood dragon spat a few blasts of blazing flame at it, but the white light, though seemingly ethereal, dodged nimbly each time, narrowly avoiding the blasts again and again.
The crater below rumbled. Sun Fuping crawled out, clutching Nian Songyu in his arms. Bloodied and battered, he raised his voice and shouted hoarsely at the white light, “My god, please descend upon this vessel!”
Then, without hesitation, he lifted the unconscious Nian Songyu high into the air, eyes shut tight, limp like a broken doll.
Only then did He Lingchuan finally understand why Nian Songyu had followed State Preceptor Sun to Heishui City and the Panlong Desert. He was to serve as the vessel for divine descent. Or rather, as the god’s weapon.
Nearby, demon apes surged forward, but Sun Fuping beat them back one by one.
His face was covered in blood, two fingers on his right hand severed at the base. It was unclear how many bones in his body were broken. He looked like a man barely clinging to life, and yet his spirit burned bright.
He had succeeded; he had successfully carried out the God-Summoning Spell!
Since the end of the ancient era, this was only the fourth true divine descent in this continent’s history.
Sun Fuping murmured a few more words, and something flew into his hand from out of nowhere.
It was his staff.
This was the same staff that Sun Fuping had left outside the illusion. It had been used to summon lightning, repel the wrathful souls, and, more importantly, activate the sacrificial array!
He Lingchuan’s pupils constricted.
The staff no longer glowed. The beast head at its tip was now empty, the mandate token of Commandery Administrator He was nowhere to be seen.
The black flood dragon had mentioned earlier that Sun Fuping had hidden a sacrificial array within the lightning-summoning array, intending to offer up lives and blood to summon a god. Now that the god had come, that could only mean one thing...
“You son of a bitch! Where is my father?!” He Lingchuan suddenly screamed, voice cracking with fury. “If you used him as a sacrifice, I’ll rip you to pieces!”
He spared no time for thought as rage completely flooded his mind and his vision flushed red.
“Truly, you’re quite the quick-witted bastard, quick on your feet, too,” Sun Fuping chuckled darkly, with that ever-mocking smile. “You fled, so naturally your father took your place on the chopping block.”
He Lingchuan roared and vaulted over the battlement, preparing to leap from the wall.
Mao Tao and Zeng Feixiong lunged forward and yanked him back with all their might. “Don’t be reckless, Young Master! He’s trying to bait you!”
At that moment, the white light dodged past the black flood dragon’s flames and suddenly veered straight toward them.
Everyone was struck with terror.
Wherever the white light passed, the dragon’s fiery blasts followed, and they had no desire to get incinerated on the spot.
Unfortunately, the white light was absurdly fast. Before anyone could react, it had already darted directly into He Lingchuan’s open mouth.
He had been mid-rant, so the moment it went into his mouth, he froze. His voice had been cut off, and his expression turned blank.
Caught completely off guard, the crowd was stunned.
Even Sun Fuping, watching from below, stared slack-jawed. Of all the hosts available, why did this ancestor skip past Nian Songyu and take a detour just to stuff itself into He Lingchuan?
The black flood dragon, now redirecting its massive frame, turned toward He Lingchuan. Mao Tao broke out in a cold sweat, turned tail, and sprinted for cover, yelling, “Scatter! Unless you want to die, run now!”
Not that anyone needed the reminder. Everyone fled in all directions like startled birds. Zeng Feixiong instinctively tried to drag He Lingchuan with him, but his subordinates yanked him away instead, hauling him several meters back. “Brother Zeng, he’s at least got the white light to protect him! You’ve got nothing!”
No one knew what the white light was capable of, but it was clear that any other living being left nearby was likely to get roasted alive.
The black flood dragon clambered up the gate tower, cheeks bulging as it drew in a mouthful of flame, ready to incinerate everything.
Just then, one of the bird monsters landed beside it and squawked sharply twice into its ear, the sound rough and grating.
No one knew how the two communicated, but the black flood dragon suddenly changed its mind. Its puffed cheeks deflated. It circled around He Lingchuan twice, eyeing him closely.
Then, it opened its jaws wide, as if planning to swallow him whole!
* * *
The white light had entered He Lingchuan’s throat so fast that he had not even had a chance to dodge.
For several seconds, his mind went completely blank. His vision was filled with dancing white flecks that looked like snow.
Then, suddenly, clarity returned to him. He Lingchuan then realized that he was in a free fall and plummeting fast.
Even stranger, above him, a black, shadowy mass was falling even faster. In just two blinks of an eye, it had crashed into him from above!