Chapter 424 — Defying the Azure Heaven

Lord Dragon-Keeper carried them up the Surging River, leaping the Secret Water Pass, entering the Wasteland, and swimming on until they drew near Crimson Dragon City, when they saw the waters heaving behind them and another flood-dragon burst up out of the river. "My lord, I am bound by an oath and cannot leave the Surging River.

The covenant of the Earth Lord locks me to the Surging River; to leave this place is certain death. You wish to go to the Star Sea — I cannot go with you.

" Lord Dragon-Keeper sank back into the Surging River and said, "But I can have the Flood-Dragon King God carry you there.

" That flood-dragon was all but the color of the river water itself; it was the Flood-Dragon King God. His strength was exceedingly formidable, in no way inferior to Lord Dragon-Keeper's, and with him bearing Shen Mu and the others into the Wasteland, the darkness too could be held off.

Shen Mu, with Si Yunxiang and Yan Jingjing, leaped onto the Flood-Dragon King God's back, while Snow Fox came to his shoulder; flood-dragon after flood-dragon cried ma-ha, ma-ha and crawled over the Flood-Dragon King God's body, most affectionate. The Dragon Qilin jumped up as well, and showed the Flood-Dragon King God considerable reverence.

The Flood-Dragon King God's body flexed and soared, heading straight for the Star Sea.

Shen Mu looked back: the people on the Divine Severance Mountains were no longer to be seen, and overhead star after star was swiftly drawing near.

Then all at once, upon the Divine Severance Mountains, beacon fires seemed to kindle atop one peak after another, exceeding gorgeous, fire on fire joining into a single line across the heavens — a scene of great beauty, dressing the somewhat drab darkness of the Wasteland in poetry and paint.

The Flood-Dragon King God bore them into the abyss of the Star Sea, and the sights upon the Divine Severance Mountains could no longer be seen. "Why has the Patriarch still not come?

" The Dragon Qilin said doubtfully, "He ought to be nearly here, surely?

" Si Yunxiang opened her mouth, but said nothing; Shen Mu said, "The night of the Wasteland is treacherous; he may be a while.

Let us go on to Dawn Spring first.

" The Dragon Qilin nodded and said, "Why did the Holy Maiden say just now that he cannot come?

" Si Yunxiang said softly, "It is dark, so of course he cannot come.

Dragon Fatty, ask no more.

" On the peaks of the Divine Severance Mountains, the furnace behind the Silent Artisan blazed fiercely; the Blind Elder's eyes were like two stars; the Butcher's robes streamed, his hand on the hilt of his saber; the Village Head floated in the air, his vital essence made manifest, so that he seemed to have grown hands and feet again. Each stood upon a peak of his own.

The Lame Elder and Lord Huo held one peak; Grandmother Zhu, the Deaf Elder, and the Pill Master occupied another; and then the Old Dao Master, the Old Tathagata, the Clear-Solitude Hermit, the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, Yu Zhaoqing, and others each took a peak for themselves.

Tu Xingfeng, Xuan Shengwu, the Winged King, the Kun King, and the Five Immortals of the Demon Race were all of extraordinary strength, and each took a peak as well. The others' primordial spirits manifested, nearly condensed into substance, like gods and demons standing behind them, silently awaiting the arrival of the great battle.

In the dark starry sky the eighteen stars grew larger and larger, rushing toward this place at flying speed.

The Village Head's aura burst forth; a sword qi shot up from the peak into the heavens, like a sheer cliff set across heaven and earth, barring the path of those stars.

"The Sun Shines on the Eastern Sea's Thousandfold Waves!

" The Butcher shook his saber, and upon the peak the saber-light rose slowly like a great sun; wave-sounds came, the saber force like the sea, the waves mirroring the saber-light shot forth from the great sun, shining out toward the dark sky.

"Truly the finest saber art under heaven!

The Heaven Saber lives up to its name! " Lord Huo's body grew larger and larger; a vertical eye grew from between his brows; like a giant with a green dragon coiled about him, a great sun leaped out behind his head, wind and thunder roaring: "Kuafu Chases the Sun, Wind and Thunder Hasten!

" "Aba!

" The Silent Artisan set down his wooden box and gave Lord Huo a thumbs-up; the box opened, and a boxful of silver pellets flowed, shifting from moment to moment. From the Pill Master's herb basket poison creatures crawled out one after another, spreading from beneath his feet like a tide in every direction; suddenly some spiders were bouncing from peak to peak, spinning webs.

Gradually those spiders leaped into the air and wove their webs there.

Behind Grandmother Zhu the star chart of the Great Luo Heaven suddenly appeared; the chart grew smaller and smaller, contracting swiftly, then fell into her palm. The Lame Elder, by contrast, looked panicked, glancing east and west, ready to flee at any moment. "Let us burn a patch of earth-fire!

" Tu Xingfeng laughed heartily, and the Divine Severance Mountains beneath his feet erupted in volcanic fire; Tu Xingfeng swung his hammer down, and the volcano grew higher and higher, growing of itself.

The Kun King laughed aloud, "Three-Inch Nail still brims with heroic spirit!

Watch my Water Severs the Starry Sky!

" Behind him a monstrous flood surged suddenly up to heaven, like a sea stood upright between heaven and earth.

"Kun King, lend me an arm!

" Xuan Shengwu laughed, revealed his true body, and leaped into the sea, like a turtle-shell ship sailing upon a sea surface perpendicular to the ground.

The Winged King stretched out an arm and gave it a sudden shake; feathers grew from the arm and became a wing; the wing rang with a clang and turned into a peng-feather blade.

And the Five Immortals of the Demon Race: the Willow Immortal held a whip; the White Immortal hugged a ball of thread; the Fox Immortal cradled a pipa; the Gray Immortal and the Yellow Immortal each bore a sack upon his back, one gray, one yellow. "They are coming!

" the Butcher said in a loud voice.

"They mean to force the pass by main strength!

Take care — we must hold them, we cannot let them cross the Divine Severance Mountains!

" The starlights came faster and faster, larger and larger, joined into a single straight line, like eighteen comets crashing toward the sea surface the Kun King had raised, and it seemed they would pierce clean through this great sea standing in the air.

The Butcher's saber-light moved; countless saber-lights shone upon the sea surface, and in an instant the saber-light was reflected back, rising to meet those starlights. Ding, ding, ding — a sound dense beyond measure; the Butcher withstood the first starlight; the second starlight came on its heels, shattering The Sun Shines on the Eastern Sea's Thousandfold Waves; the Butcher could not help but grunt, and was smashed down into the deep sea, where he used the Kun King's strength to dissolve the blow.

The second starlight had scarce crashed into the sea when it was bound by threads of silk spat from the rumps of spiders racing toward it; that starlight, trailing strand after strand of spider silk, crashed upon the sea surface, and was madly dragged by great spiders, until at last the starlight was hauled to a halt.

The third starlight and the fourth followed close behind, crashing one after another into the sea; but the sea surface suddenly split open, revealing behind it a vast ocean of blood. One Sword Opens the Emperor, Bloody Ocean!

Those two starlights had no time to stop, and could only brace themselves and charge into the bloody ocean, striving to break the move. Boom, boom.