Chapter 605 — Unfathomable Divine Powers

Shen Mu's face, eyes veiled by the white silk, went blank for a moment; then a sun-bright smile spread over it, and he quickened his stride to catch up with Granny Zhu. The third eye at his brow gazed at Granny Zhu.

He could see her primordial spirit, yet this time there was no longer any urge in him to devour it. His heart was utterly at peace.

Perhaps there were other faces in the world as beautiful as Granny Zhu's, but not every beautiful face harbored a soul as kind and lovely as hers. In truth, Shen Mu was profoundly grateful that it was Granny Zhu who had taken him in and brought him back to the village, raising him through every hardship.

His own kindness was inherited from her.

This woman, who in name bore the title of Holy Maiden of the Nether Demon Sect and the infamy of a husband-killer, was in fact the kindest soul in all Hidden Remnant Village.

Everyone in the village carried a shadow of evil in their hearts, having fled the world into the desolate ruins for one reason or another. Granny Zhu alone had been driven there by herself: convinced that her beauty made her a femme fatale, she had exiled herself into the wastes, preferring to pass for a withered crone than let the world see her face and slaughter one another over her.

Others made themselves more beautiful, wielding beauty as a weapon; she alone strove to make herself uglier. "I can control the cravings this eye brings now. " Pleased, Shen Mu looked around. Though he could see countless lingering remnants of demon souls drifting about, he could accept what he saw with equanimity, with no thought of devouring them.

Granny Zhu turned back to look at him and smiled sweetly.

"Shen'er, your aura seems to have changed a little.

What happened? " "Something utterly marvelous!

" Shen Mu's spirits soared, and he grinned. "Something that gladdens my heart.

" Curious, Granny Zhu asked, "What marvelous thing?

Tell me.

" Shen Mu announced, "I think Granny is the most beautiful woman in the world, and the kindest woman in the world!

" Granny Zhu shook her head, the beaded earrings swaying gently beneath her ears.

"How could a sorceress of the Nether Demon Sect be the kindest person? I am not.

Shen'er, you are the kindest one of all.

" Shen Mu smiled.

"The Sect Master of the Nether Demon Sect isn't the kindest one either. " At that, Granny Zhu's spirits brightened despite herself, and the two walked on, chatting and laughing, toward the nearest altar.

All at once, Shen Mu and Granny Zhu halted in the same instant and peered into the distance.

There the altar loomed as high as a mountain, its four faces lined with tier upon tier of steps. Every flight of steps was like a road ascending to heaven, climbing into the clouds.

So towering was the altar, standing like a magnificent peak, that countless runes flickered and faded across each of its tiers—these were the very runes used for the blood sacrifice of Luofu Heaven. The Woodcutter Sage had built this altar by the demon path's method of blood sacrifice. But what he meant to offer was the entire world, so one altar alone would not suffice.

He needed many altars before he could tear Luofu Heaven apart and turn it into pure energy! Such an undertaking was certain to carry some unknown backlash; the Woodcutter Sage himself would not lightly dare to employ it.

He did so only because Taihuang Heaven had no hope of victory whatsoever, and he had no choice. The reason Taihuang Heaven had no hope was not that the demon race was truly too strong, but that Taihuang Heaven had to be destroyed—only then could the demons sacrifice it and invade Jingping!

The demon race was not the strong one; strong was the power that willed Taihuang Heaven's destruction.

At this moment, atop the altar stood a deity, war halberd in hand, his qi and blood surging into the heavens.

And below the altar, tens of thousands of demon soldiers, like a swarm of insects, were pouring upward, storming the summit! The deity at the top brandished his halberd; flash after dazzling flash of light cleaved down from the altar, sweeping wide arcs, and countless limbs spun through the air.

One man, one halberd, holding back tens of thousands of demon soldiers, killing until blood ran in rivers and stained the altar crimson, gore streaming down the steps tier after tier. Whirr, whirr, whirr—wave after wave, the halberd rent the air.

Corpses had piled up across every tier, yet the other demons, reckless of death, kept surging like the tide, madly climbing toward the summit to take down that deity. "Granny, these demons are only ordinary power-wielders.

They cannot possibly be a match for this deity.

" Shen Mu watched with growing doubt and asked, "Why are they throwing their lives away like this? " Granny Zhu was somewhat puzzled as well. These demons were indeed only feeding themselves to death; even a master of the Divine Bridge realm among them would be far from a match for the deity.

That deity was one of the twenty-four gods the Woodcutter Sage had invited.

His strength was immense—though below the caliber of the Woodcutter Sage or Vajra, he was still a remarkable master among gods.

Even if more demon power-wielders came flooding in, they could not kill him! "Vajra cannot be this foolish.

" Granny Zhu pondered. "Then what are these demons hoping to gain by charging to their deaths one after another?

They cannot consume much of this deity's strength.

.

. unless a demon god is hidden among them? " Shen Mu fixed his gaze; his third eye saw with perfect clarity into the divine treasuries of every demon rushing that way, and found no demon god concealed among them.

"This is. .

.

a blood sacrifice! " Realization struck him, and he cried out, "Vajra means to use a blood sacrifice to summon the descent of some dreadful existence!

A demon god must be somewhere nearby, preparing to cast the rite! " The words had barely left his mouth when the gore upon the altar abruptly ceased to flow. All the corpses and the bodies of the living demons stiffened and, of their own accord, floated up into the air; then, in a single instant, dead and living alike dissolved—flesh, blood, bone, even their primordial spirits—all shattered into the finest particles, transformed into a river of blood wheeling around the altar and the deity upon it! Atop the altar, the deity swung his halberd as terrifying divine might erupted. His halberd forms were exquisite, his spells and divine arts appallingly powerful—and yet he could not break the sacrifice!

Shen Mu at once cast his gaze about him, searching ever farther, trying to find the demon god who was even now sacrificing his own kin! To preside over a blood sacrifice of flesh and bone, the demon god would have to direct it in person; he must be nearby.

Granny Zhu came to the same realization and swept the area with her eyes. She had already built within her own body a network of origin-qi circulation, one that incorporated the Blind Elder's sacred eye.

In the divine art of the eye, it was almost the same as the Blind Elder's Nine Heavens Gazing Method, only not as accomplished.

Even so, driving the sacred eye with her Divine Realm cultivation, her sight was terrifyingly sharp.

Yet after one full sweep, she could not find where the demon god directing the sacrifice was hiding. "If only I'd thought to bring the Blind Elder!

" Granny Zhu was growing anxious.

But at that very moment, Shen Mu at her side gave a low cry: "Granny, I found him!

" Granny Zhu started slightly and, without stopping to think, asked hurriedly, "Where?

" Shen Mu raised his hand and pointed to the space above the altar.

Granny Zhu hastily looked, but all she could see was the blood river whirling in a circle high above, howling as it spun around the altar—she still could not see where that demon god was.

"Shen'er's eye is no ordinary thing, to be able to locate that demon god. " She felt a trace of doubt.

"What is the origin of this eye?