Chapter 1623: The Heavens Annihilate The Evils

“We need to leave! Now!”

Seeing the mysterious phenomenon in the sky, the Great Emperor of Fengdu, White Bone Divine Sovereign and more all understood that they had failed to stop the Chief Libationist’s conspiracy. Nothing would change even if they killed him now. Moreover, they could sense that this brilliant power of the Heavenly Way was the bane of their existence. If they did not leave while they still could, then they would be in grave danger.

The Great Emperor of Fengdu gave Ye Qing a long look. Then, he summoned the tombstone back to his side and disappeared into the void.

“Ahhhh! I won’t forget this, Chief Libationist!”

Although White Bone Divine Sovereign was furious and disappointed by his failure, he knew that there was nothing they could do to change this. As his partner had already left, he could only turn around and take his leave as well.

“You think you can come and go as you please? How much can you underestimate the orthodox way?”

It was at this moment the Chief Libationist spoke up once more. His voice was weak but dignified.

Thump!

As the Chief Libationist spoke, the heavenly drumbeats had also reached its climax. The terror growing in every Stranger, evil, villain and heretic’s heart had reached its peak as well.

At the same time, the sun in the sky shone brighter than ever before and illuminated both the cosmos and the human world.

......

At a secluded village, a bunch of villagers wielding sickles and hoes were standing at the village entrance and staring at a group of strange men approaching their village with deep panic.

The intruders looked like strange men, but they weren’t humans. They were monkeys. They were monkeys wearing human skin as clothes. That was why these monkeys were called Human Skin Monkeys. They were Hatred-class Strangers.

There was nothing more a Human Skin Monkey liked than skinning a human and wearing their skin. They also enjoyed infiltrating human villages at night and stealing their babies away to feed. The Human Skin Monkey had sharp claws and fangs, and it was as strong as it was agile. It was extremely difficult to deal with.

These Human Skin Monkeys had killed dozens of villagers at this point. However, it was clear they weren’t planning to stop there. They were going to kill all of them.

The remaining villagers knew that they were no match for the Human Skin Monkeys, but they could not withdraw or run away. It was because their parents, their spouses, and their children were behind them. Even if they knew that their resistance was about as effective as a moth’s rush toward the fire, they refused to take even a step backward.

“With me, everyone! It’s do or die!”

“Do or die!” At that moment, the villagers charged toward the Human Skin Monkeys with the intention of fighting to their deaths.

The Human Skin Monkeys let out human-like scoffs and exuded inhuman bloodthirst as they looked at the incoming villages. They bared their claws and got ready to slaughter the villagers to the last.

Suddenly, a high-pitched, grandiose drumbeat erupted from the sky like a thunderclap.

The next moment, the Human Skin Monkeys froze in place and grew terrified for seemingly no reason. Some of them even collapsed to the ground and stopped breathing just like that.

At the same time, the darkened sky suddenly brightened up all of a sudden, and sunlight filled every inch of the world. The next moment, the Human Skin Monkeys started melting like candles and disintegrated into piles of ashes in the blink of an eye. Just like that, they were all dead.

The villagers were unharmed though. They could only exchange confused glances with each other.

......

At the Xun River, a bunch of people were smacking gongs and drums by the rivershore and setting off firecrackers. It looked like a celebratory occasion, but everyone was wearing sorrowful, furious, or helpless expressions on their faces.

When it was time, a pair of children—one boy and one girl, both of them only three or four years old—wearing red dudos were placed on a boat. They then pushed the boat off the shore and toward the center of the river.

There was no wind, but the boat glided toward the center of the river like it had a mind of its own.

“Niu Niu! Tian Wa!” It was at this moment a pair of shrill cries erupted from the crowd. Two women were screaming and crying and running toward the rivershore as quickly as they could.

“Stop them!” An elder commanded the people to stop the two women in their tracks. “They must not interrupt the river god’s sacrificial ritual!”

“Give me back my girl!”

“Tian Wa! My Tian Wa!”

The two women cried their lungs out while desperately reaching forward as if doing so would bring them the boy and girl on the boat somehow. However, they just weren’t strong enough to break away from the crowd.

“Why... why...” As the boat sailed farther and farther away, the two women finally collapsed on their knees and looked as if they were suffering a mental breakdown.

“Xiu Lan... Madam Su... we had no choice. If we do not make an offering, then everyone in the village is going to die.” Someone could not bear the gloomy atmosphere and said sorrowfully, “There are no children left in the village anymore...”

“This is a sin! A sin!” Beside them, an old man moaned in sorrow while striking the ground with his walking stick.

“Keep your voice down, uncle. We’re all going to die if the river god hears you.”

“So be it! Without our children, it’s only a matter of time before we die out anyway! We might as well die with our dignity intact!” The old man growled hatefully.

“It would be a meaningless death! We wouldn’t even fill up the gap between the river god’s teeth!”

“Dammit, dammit it all! What has this world come to? Why won’t the heavens open their eyes?”

It was at this moment a whirlpool appeared at the center of the river, and a Stranger dozens of meters long floated to the surface.

The Stranger had a human face but a fish’s body. The human face was beautiful beyond measure, but the fish body was ugly and horrifying. Resentment and howls mingled together to form countless twisted and terrifying patterns.

“We greet the river god!”

“We greet the river god!”

The people on the shore immediately dropped to their knees and kowtowed to the Stranger, but their eyes were overflowing with hatred.

The river god cared nothing for them though. She was only looking at the two children with deep hunger.

The next moment, the river god opened her mouth. The boat immediately sped up toward her mouth.

The two children were too young to understand the concept of death. They were even giggling because they thought that the sudden increase in speed was fun.

The complexions of the people on the rivershore were ashen gray. They were biting their lips hard because they were afraid that the noise they would make might damn their village entirely.

The two mothers had long since fainted.

Right before the children would enter the river god’s mouths, a drumbeat suddenly erupted from the sky.

“Argh!” The drumbeat hit the river god like a thunder strike. She let out a painful scream.

Sensing danger, the river god hurriedly tried to swim into the river.

Before she could do so, a dazzling beam of sunlight hit her squarely.

The next moment, she began burning profusely like she was on fire. Her flesh and blood were blackening and emitting thick wafts of smoke.

“Argh!” The river god wailed again before finally diving into the river. However, her body continued to burn as if the water was completely useless.

Unable to endure the pain, the river god leaped out of the river once more. By now, her entire body was shrouded in flames. The villagers could only watch in astonishment as the river god who could manipulate the weather and the river like a toy burned into a pile of ashes.

“Is the river god... dead?”

“The heavens have opened their eyes! The heavens have opened their eyes!”

......

In a town, countless people were gathered together and praying to the effigy of a deity. Their expressions were devoted and sincere.

However, every single one of them sported an unhealthy complexion and dull eyes. Their fervent smiles were identical as well.