Chapter 656 — Heaven Collapses, the Earth's Bonds Severed

"The remnants of two dynasties — and both of them here, on this ancient ship."

The Great Sun Star Lord was tall and massively built, standing at the stern like a man-shaped giant bird, his three eyes open, looking down from his height upon Chixi and the First Ancestor Human Emperor. He tilted his bird head to one side, then glanced with curiosity at the tower, and laughed: "Once I take you this time, I can find the Worry-Free Land and the Hanging Realm and sweep up the remnants of both dynasties in a single net. Truly, what I sought has come to me without the least effort! Who was it just now that said he would take my blood?"

"I did!"

Shen Mu opened the window and raised his hand: "Star Lord, it was me — here I am!"

The Great Sun Star Lord laughed: "You are already dead."

Shen Mu hastily felt himself over, found himself perfectly whole, and laughed: "I am plainly alive and well — how am I dead?"

The Great Sun Star Lord said unhurriedly: "In my eyes, you little imps are all dead men already. Only these two friends at the stern who dared to resist me may yet live, because I still need them to find the Worry-Free Land and the Hanging Realm."

Ban Gongcuo rushed up and slammed the window shut with a bang.

The window was pushed open again, and Shen Mu poked his head out, laughing: "We are plainly still alive."

The Great Sun Star Lord's pupils narrowed slightly, and he sneered: "Soon you will be."

Bang — Ban Gongcuo shut the window again.

Then the window creaked open, and Shen Mu poked his head out: "Then why did you say we are already dead? We can plainly talk and laugh and hop about alive — your words make no sense."

The Great Sun Star Lord frowned; firelight burst from his three eyes, and he was about to blast the boy dead.

Shen Mu shut the window, and his laughter came from within the tower: "He thought I ought to be scared witless, but a couple of words from me have left him too angry to speak. Look, his face has gone green."

A voice came from inside the tower: "Lord Shen! Grandfather Shen! Won't you please stop talking? I am begging you!"

"He is even glaring at me with those eyeballs..."

"Stop talking!"

"Great Venerable, even if you knelt and begged for mercy he would not spare you — so why not enjoy a little talk first?"

...

Before the divine light in the Great Sun Star Lord's eyes could shoot forth, the First Ancestor Human Emperor slashed at him with his sword. The Great Sun Star Lord lifted one bird leg, meeting the blade with his talons, and laughed: "Your swordsmanship is nothing much."

His sharp talons blocked the stroke, but suddenly his expression shifted; he hastily drew the claw back, and three beams of divine light shot from his eyes at the First Ancestor's sword. Coldly he said: "A good sword, though!"

His toes had nearly been severed by the Yuming Sword; luckily he had withdrawn them in time.

The First Ancestor swept his sword back into its sheath and brought up the Heaven-and-Earth Seal, forcibly blocking the might of the three eyes. On the other side the god-man Chixi pounced at once, six sword-lights whirling, while behind him the Heaven-Suppressing Tower came crashing down.

The Great Sun Star Lord met the First Ancestor Human Emperor's seal art with one hand; his body quivered slightly and surprise showed on his face. As Chixi lunged, he instantly beat his two wings and dodged clear of the sword-lights and the tower.

The First Ancestor Human Emperor and Chixi charged out of the tower ship and fought the Great Sun Star Lord in the starry void.

Clang, clang, clang — the divine feathers of the Great Sun Star Lord's wings parted, and from beneath them flew a great host of Fire Crow god-men, winging toward the tower ship. He laughed: "Little things in the tower, now you may die!"

The Fire Crow god-men had no sooner landed on the tower ship than they swarmed toward the tower itself — when suddenly the tower door swung open, and there stood Shen Mu in the middle of the doorway, a box held up in his hands.

Behind him, Ban Gongcuo and Ling Yuxiu hurriedly shut their eyes, not daring to look.

There came a soft click, and of a sudden a murderous might burst forth to the heavens, as though some cruel, bloodthirsty being had woken and hungered for human flesh.

Inside the box, the jade-like head opened its eyes, a look of feverish excitement on its face; the membrane that joined the back of its skull to the box suddenly spread open like a fan, rustling and quivering.

Two beams of blood-red light shot from the head's eyes, sweeping and slicing wildly like roaming dragons.

The ship fell suddenly silent; the several hundred Fire Crow god-men charging at the tower froze in place, motionless.

The two beams drew back and slowly sank into the box. Shen Mu closed the lid; in the instant those red lights vanished within, the thick stench of blood nearly knocked him senseless and set his heart pounding.

From inside the box came the sound of a belch — whether it was his imagination, he could not tell.

Outside the tower, the Fire Crow god-men still stood frozen; then the shockwaves of the divine powers of the First Ancestor Human Emperor, Chixi, and the Great Sun Star Lord rolled in from afar, and one by one their heads slowly parted from their bodies, each head sliding slowly from its neck and dropping to the deck.

Thud, thud, thud — corpse after corpse toppled over.

"Cowherd, there is blood qi on you!" Ling Yuxiu opened her eyes, saw at once the blood-red aura clinging to Shen Mu, and cried out in alarm.

Shen Mu was briefly startled; he looked down at himself and indeed saw a faint red mist drifting around him. The mist was like vapor, impossible to touch, yet visible to the naked eye — a truly bizarre thing.

"Blood qi wrapped about you — Sect Master Shen, you are blessed."

Ban Gongcuo laughed: "You killed so many gods and demons — several hundred, was it not? Their vengeful spirits have latched onto you. You are certain to die!"

Shen Mu made as if to open the box; Ban Gongcuo's face changed drastically and he fled at once.

"This blood qi must be the blood qi from the box. Why does it cling to me? If I cannot keep the box fed, will I be the next it kills?" Shen Mu's heart was uneasy.

He could make nothing of the blood qi either; he only vaguely sensed that it had some connection with the box.

Suddenly the blood qi, like smoke, bored toward the center of his brow, slipping in beneath the willow leaf into his third eye, and soon all of it was absorbed by that eye.

From his third eye came the sound of a belch.

Shen Mu tilted his head. The box gave out a belch, and his eye, incredibly, gave out a belch as well. There were more and more strange things in this world.

In the world within his eye, a sinister voice rose from that blood qi: "Which little imp has stolen my food? That boy is the grain I had my eye on — you dare to steal my blood fiend? I will eat you..."

Shen Fengqing sucked the blood qi into his mouth as though slurping noodles, belched, and shook his fist fiercely at the heavens beyond: "Snarl at me? When I get out of here, I will smash you to a pulp and then eat you!"

Out in the starry void beyond the ship, a great battle had erupted; the tower ship was driven farther and farther away by the aftershocks of the three gods' and demons' divine powers.

The Great Sun Star Lord was locked in combat with the First Ancestor and Chixi. Chixi bore the thousand-layered Heaven-Suppressing Tower above his head and wielded six swords; his fleshly-body divine power was incomparably overbearing, and in battle he was ferociously valiant. To Shen Mu's eyes, Chixi's strikes were already too fast to follow.