Chapter 689: The Outcome Is Decided

At Southern Art County...

The tremors in the earth came one after another, accompanied by thunderous booms. At their most violent, it was as if a dragon beneath the ground had turned over. To the south, lightning often flashed, and firelight or divine light would pierce through the clouds; if not that, then some radiant brilliance would burst in midair, or the clouds themselves would be lit into a golden glow.

Within the clouds, vague and massive silhouettes could be glimpsed, some like stone giants, some like Buddhas, some like demons. They appeared and vanished amid the mist as they clashed, each collision sending out an immense disturbance.

The people only knew that this was in the direction of Xuzhou, where a range of monster- and ghost-infested wilderness mountains lay a few hundred li away. They had no idea what was actually happening there.

Some guessed that the gods were purging demons.

Others, recalling the unusual thunder in the skies a few days earlier, speculated that perhaps the heavenly gods and Buddhas were gathering their soldiers, beating the assembly drums or perhaps war drums.

But since the gods, Buddhas, and demons were fighting amidst the mountains, which had peaks higher than the land here, unless the combatants were truly enormous in stature, the mountains nearest to Southern Art County already blocked the people’s view. No matter how curious they were, no one dared to cross those ridges into the mountains beyond.

A restless unease spread among the people.

On the rooftop of the tallest tavern in the city, a cat sat upright on the roof ridge with a serious look, and her eyes fixed southward without blinking.

Still, Lady Calico had not forgotten her duties. Every so often, she would draw her gaze back, lower her head, and sweep her eyes over the city from her lofty vantage point before returning to stare southward again.

Indeed, quite a few spirits and ghosts had fled from the mountains, and a very small number had slipped into the city to hide. They came in all shapes and kinds, some recognizable, some not. But whether familiar or unfamiliar, all either kept quietly to themselves in hiding or huddled somewhere shivering, even more afraid than the humans.

Not a single one was causing trouble.

It was only after a while that Lady Calico figured out that these spirits and ghosts all came from that mountain range. They were the subordinates of that mountain god. She had seen them before, years ago, when she had passed through the mountains on her way to a market there.

None of them were great villains steeped in evil. Her fur was starting to itch... Lady Calico lifted a hind leg to scratch.

Meanwhile, a swallow stood a comfortable distance in front of her.

“Swallow, if you fly up into the sky, can you see what’s going on over there?” the cat finally couldn’t help asking.

“Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t.” The swallow stood still, a heaviness in his heart, and answered truthfully, “Even flying high enough, we’re still dozens of li away from there. Only when the sky is clear and cloudless can I see it clearly. But in winter the mountains are already thick with fog, and over there the gods are waging war, darkening heaven and earth, it’s very hard to see.”

After he finished speaking, the swallow spread his wings, preparing to fly up again.

The cat tilted her head up, watching him, knowing his intent. She didn’t forget to say, “Fly high if you want, but don’t fly toward that side, otherwise you might get yourself killed.”

“Got it.”

Flutter flutter flutter...

The swallow instantly dropped from the roof ridge.

Just as his flight curved downward, before even dipping past the eaves, he beat his wings and suddenly shot upward like a sharp arrow, heading straight for the clouds above.

Southern Art County’s weather was fine today. It had high clouds, which were scattered and thin. But from the direction of the great battle, a haze of smoke and vapor drifted in. Who knew whether it was shattered immortal clouds or water vapor stirred up by magic? A thin layer of cloud spread over Southern Art County’s sky, filtering away much of the sunlight.

The swallow climbed upward, piercing through this thin cloud layer.

The world instantly grew brighter.

As he rose higher and higher, well above the endless mountain range, he could see through gaps where layered clouds and mountain mists concealed and revealed the view. The darkened skies and shattered earth in that direction slowly emerged before his eyes.

Still, he could not see clearly. Everything was shrouded in mist, cloud, and smoke.

He only knew that the battle was unimaginably fierce, that any flash of light or sound was a spell of immense power, and any shift in the color of heaven and earth was a display of some peerless divine ability from the ancient era.

The swallow couldn’t help edging a little closer.

Gradually, things became a bit clearer. Now and then the clouds parted, opening a gap. The swallow’s eyes widened in an instant.

A heaven-swallowing giant serpent was coiled among the distant mountains, locked in a deadly struggle with the divine officers and heavenly generals under Great Marshal Lingxian. By sheer coincidence, he happened to witness the very moment the serpent opened its maw to devour a god.

For a heartbeat he forgot to flap his wings or even turn, and he was gliding forward naturally.

Only when he felt the oppressive pressure from that direction, when the terrifying spiritual force and power nearly robbed him of breath, did he realize he had flown too close. He immediately turned back in panic.

And in that single instant of turning, he caught another glimpse: far off, the wind blew open another patch of cloud, revealing the nine-tailed celestial fox and an ancient god exchanging beams of divine light. The very void was being torn apart. Though their figures were blurred, he could faintly see wounds and missing parts on both sides, but their fighting spirit remained unshaken. The next instant, all was hidden again.

So she has come as well...

Shock filled the swallow’s eyes.

He had not seen his master. Unwilling to return empty-beaked and unable to face Lady Calico without some news, he circled farther back to a safer distance, then looped around again.

It was hard to tell whether the obstruction was cloud, smoke, or divine arts cast by the combatants themselves. Much of the land below was obscured, but even through the haze he could see that the hundreds of li of mountain range lay shattered. In the midst of them, a giant of gold and stone like a living mountain fought the heavenly generals; elsewhere, the Western Origin Saint battled the Mountain God.

If the mountains were battered to this state, the Mountain God’s very essence must have taken heavy damage.

The swallow thought this as he searched below for his master’s figure, but could not spot him anywhere. He could only guess at the general area by sensing the disturbances of magic and spiritual energy, yet clouds blocked his sight.

The distance was simply too great.

Up close, perhaps there was no cloud at all, or just the air was not entirely clear, but with every li adding a little more haze, dozens or hundreds of li blurred the view into obscurity.

The swallow shifted his angle of flight, peering down at the battle below.

A Buddha, from who-knows-where, had taken out a cloth sack, opening it wide in an attempt to draw in Divine Lord Yuewang. Divine Lord Yuewang countered with his Fallen-Treasure Divine Light, not to drop the sack, but to knock it aside, and then, turning the Buddha’s own trick against him, swept eight of the Buddha’s guardian golden dragons into his sleeve. Inside the sleeve, the dragons shrank to the size of little earthworms, writhing in panic and unable to escape for the moment.

A great demon that seemed like a mountain stag was fighting with shocking ferocity, holding off a host of star deities alone.

Another great demon revealed its black bear form; it was not huge, and even showing signs of age, yet it fought single-handedly against numerous disciples and followers of the Four Saints, covered in wounds but growing ever fiercer.

A different Buddha’s dharma body, once three-headed and six-armed, now lacked two arms and one head, the halo behind him shattered; he looked less like a Buddha and more like a demon. Facing him were the two white-rhino demons the swallow had seen before, who seemed to be fighting with their very lives, and whose state was even more dire.

Things did not seem to be going well. The swallow watched, his heart growing heavier and heavier.

Then, something felt wrong. He had been gazing downward, but now he lifted his head.

At some unknown moment, a mass of fiery clouds had appeared in the west, drifting slowly toward the battlefield of the gods ahead.

From a distance, it looked like burning clouds. They glowed in shades of yellow, orange, and crimson, with streaks of gray-black in the middle like parts unlit by sunset. But on closer look, he realized that they were tens of thousands of swallows. Too many to count, blotting out the sky. Each held a spark of fire in its beak, glowing yellow-red.

The Old Ancestor has come too!

The swallow’s eyes widened. Where had the Old Ancestor borrowed such fire from?

There was no time to think. He watched as the countless swallows gathered into a great cloud, flying in with flames in their beaks. Most chose the two Buddhas as their targets, diving toward them; each time one struck, it exploded far off into a bloom of blazing divine fire, the gathered flames shining as bright as the sun.

The few that remained scattered their fire downward like blossoms over the land. Countless divine officers and heavenly generals screamed in agony; under the burn of this extraordinary flame, even their spirits were annihilated. Almost at the same time, the swallow caught sight of the Daoist.

His master was fighting two of the Four Saints at once, occasionally having to defend against the Western Origin Saint’s Heaven and Earth Great Seal as well. Neither side retained the composure they had at the start; both bore wounds.

And then, in that instant, a bolt of lightning flashed.

But this lightning was unlike any before. It was only a thin streak, yet silver-bright, dazzlingly so, and even from this great distance the swallow felt the killing intent and destructive force surging from it. Having spent years attuned to the five elemental spiritual resonances, he instantly recognized that the resonance of this lightning was most likely tied to the metal element spiritual resonance.

The Northern Combat Saint, caught off guard, was struck by the bolt. His already-grievously-wounded black ox was instantly reduced to dust, and the Saint himself was hit squarely atop the crown of his head and had half his divine body shattered in an instant.

The fierce, annihilating force came roaring across the distance.

“

Gasp

!”

The swallow’s eyes stung, his heart skipped a beat. Even without the clouds and smoke to obscure it, he dared not look for long. He beat his wings frantically, fleeing back to report to Lady Calico.

***

There was a deafening crash. The Eastern Sun Saint and the Northern Combat Saint, being closest, felt it most keenly. The killing and destruction bound within that silver lightning was suffocating, like a Heaven’s tribulation, born solely to slay gods and destroy Buddhas.

In truth, it was somewhat akin to the Southern Gold Saint’s mirror, which was both derived from the Heavenly Dao’s slaughter and annihilation, both unstoppable and irresistible. But the law of slaughter and destruction within this lightning surpassed even the mirror’s divine light, and its timing and target were chosen to perfection.

The Northern Combat Saint, completely unaware, neither evaded nor defended. He was struck dead-on from above, half his divine body blasted apart.

Ancient god or not, while he might not die outright, in such a battlefield what difference was there between this and death?

“Huh?!”

The Eastern Sun Saint let out a cry, feeling both shocked and furious. The image was still burned into his mind: Northern Combat Saint, eyes wide and whip raised, was struck by lightning and left half-shattered.

Thud!

He hastily stepped onto his golden cloud, retreating again and again. Yet he not just retreated.

His ancient robes were already disheveled, scorched and torn by fire and lightning, divine blood seeping through to stain them red, yet his divine bearing was undiminished. As he fell back, he formed a sword-hand seal and pointed forward.

To his left and right, two blazing orbs of light like twin suns flew toward the Daoist below, radiating scorching heat and a destructive spiritual aura.

The Daoist already showed signs of exhaustion, yet he neither dodged nor tried to divert or block the attack. Instead, he advanced straight toward it.

With one step, he was in midair. With another step, he had crossed several li. Both sides closed the distance quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the two blazing suns were before the Daoist.

They truly were like two miniature suns, radiating an unimaginably intense heat that could melt anything, combined with an overwhelming power of destruction that could annihilate all things at their root. A thousand chi above the ground, and already everything below was crumbling and catching fire. Many divine officers and heavenly generals could not endure it; they hastily withdrew to fight elsewhere.

Standing in that heat, the Daoist seemed to be right before the surface of the sun.

Yet he forced himself forward step by step beneath the burning radiance, moving toward the Eastern Sun Saint.

The two blazing suns chased behind him.

“Hm?”

The Eastern Sun Saint’s expression changed drastically.

He stared at the Daoist, especially at the figure who had just walked out from between those two dazzling suns, and only one phrase came to mind, “Mending the sky, bathing the sun[1].”

In the ancient legends, this was a deed of immense merit and great virtue, requiring boundless power to achieve. Later, it became a phrase to describe one possessing such might as to mend the heavens and bathe the sun.

This Daoist had that virtue, was performing that very feat, and thus wielded that kind of strength. No matter what, he alone could not be defeated.

The Eastern Sun Saint could only guide his golden cloud to retreat once more.

By now, the land was engulfed in raging flames, whether from the two blazing suns or from the fire brought earlier by the Swallow Immortal. The two Buddhas were writhing in agony under the burning divine flames; the Northern Combat Saint was on the verge of falling; the Southern Gold Saint, drawing on his millennia of cultivation, barely held the Nine-Tailed Fox at bay; the Western Origin Saint was still locked in a stalemate with the Mountain God; and the Eastern Sun Saint was fleeing through the skies with the Daoist in pursuit, the two suns chasing close behind.

Such a sight struck fear into the hearts of all divine officers and heavenly generals who saw it.

Never had the Eastern Sun Saint imagined that with the Four Saints of the Four Directions descended to the mortal realm, plus the two Buddhas of the Western Paradises, they could fall into such a state.

Nor had he expected that after so short a battle, his side would already be at a disadvantage.

Unless the Southern Gold Saint or the Western Origin Saint could quickly claim victory before even the two Buddhas were defeated and came to aid him, there was almost no hope of winning.

But from the look of things, that was nearly impossible. If the fight continued, perhaps none of them would survive.

“This battlefield is against us!” the Eastern Sun Saint finally shouted. “We withdraw, now!”

“...”

The Southern Gold Saint had also witnessed the Northern Combat Saint’s body shattered in half by the lightning strike, and was deeply shaken. Hearing the Eastern Sun Saint’s words, he did not hesitate. Holding up his treasure mirror, he shone several beams of silver light. With a resounding

boom

, he forced the nine-tailed fox back.

Without delay, he turned and joined the Eastern Sun Saint. The moment his feet touched the ground, his body transformed into a streak of golden light, shooting westward and vanishing in an instant.

The Eastern Sun Saint also descended on his cloud. As the cloud dispersed, his body swayed, and without a sound, his entire form blurred and faded into the world, leaving no trace of where he had gone.

Not a wisp of aura remained.

Thud!

The Daoist strode forward, stopping where they had just stood.

“Golden light streak across the ground... I leap through the air, leaving a trail behind...”

Wounded and weary, the Daoist frowned, glancing toward the distant Western Origin Saint still held by the Mountain God, then to the two Buddhas burning under divine flames, and to the routed divine officers and heavenly generals.

Almost without thinking, he stepped forward in pursuit.

1. 补天浴日 refers to Nüwa mending the sky and Xihe bathing the sun; it is used metaphorically to describe deeds of extraordinary, unparalleled merit ☜