Chapter 187 — The Demon Lord Descends Upon the World

Hearing this, the leading Daoist of the Hongshan School said in astonishment, "Several junior brothers and sisters? This general does not know. Our Hongshan School disciples split into two groups to invoke the gods in Lu County. We succeeded by sheer luck and invoked a demon god, but the other group of disciples all fell to treachery — the demon god statue and the talisman artifact were seized, and they were even stripped of their clothes!

" Commander Lin Ding's expression changed drastically, and he blurted out, "If the ones even now performing the rites to summon the demon are not your Hongshan School disciples, then who else could they be?

" The Daoist's eyes flashed with a keen light. Listening to the faint, fitful chanting that drifted from the City Lord's mansion, he said coldly, "I should like to know who they are myself. .

. Not good!

The one summoning the demon has already forged a link with a demon god of the Demon Realm! We must hurry over at once!

" The corners of Lin Ding's eyes twitched wildly; he flew in panic toward the City Lord's mansion and cried in a stern voice, "Young Sect Master, give the order at once — put those wretched Daoists in the City Lord's mansion to death! " In the City Lord's mansion, Shen Mu sensed his consciousness seeming to pass through this demon god statue deep into another world.

His consciousness travelled through the darkness, then came to an abrupt halt.

Before him lay a boundless dark void; then, in the darkness, a vast eye opened, filled with crimson flame. Before that eye he was as small as a speck of dust.

Hum.

To Shen Mu's left another huge pupil opened; then above those two eyes a third eye opened. The pupils of the three eyes contracted; slowly the pupils shifted and came to rest upon him.

"Lowly being, you are awakening me — awakening the Dutian Demon King, who rules the boundless reaches of Dutian.

" The three eyes rose slowly, ever farther from Shen Mu's consciousness, yet still they seemed immeasurably vast.

Only then did Shen Mu notice that there was light beside him, like a lamp in the darkness.

He saw himself standing upon an altar; the altar gave off a white glow, and amid that darkness it seemed utterly tiny, utterly insignificant. The altar, and he upon it, seemed to have come to another world.

"You are awakening my power! " Between the three eyes a voice came, high and remote, battering his consciousness, echoing to and fro: "You are summoning me to the world where you dwell — to slaughter, to battle!

" Shen Mu said humbly, "Great Dutian Demon King, I beseech you to descend.

I shall sacrifice to you thousands upon thousands of mighty lives — every divine-power adept of Tianbo City.

" The three eyes suddenly blazed, and a world-shaking voice came: "As you wish! " The altar beneath Shen Mu's feet flared brilliant, its radiance spreading outward, and in an instant the whole of Tianbo City appeared in the darkness. Shen Mu looked all around, his heart and spirit quaking.

He took in the whole of Tianbo City at a glance; every person in the city fell within his sight — their every movement, their every garment and ornament, all vividly clear, every hair and thread laid bare.

Then one human figure after another vanished from the city, leaving only the divine-power adepts. Those who vanished were the martial artists and common folk who had not reached the Six Harmonies realm.

They had not truly vanished from Tianbo City — rather, this Dutian Demon King was marking out his own sacrifices!

Shen Mu hastily pointed to the dragon qilin beside the altar and said, "This dragon qilin is not a sacrifice offered to the great Dutian Demon King.

" "Insolent chatter. " From behind those three eyes came a sinister voice, and Shen Mu saw three more vast eyes revolve into view behind them: "You have no right whatsoever to command the Dutian Demon King in anything! I shall make use of your consciousness to descend upon this city!

" Shen Mu abruptly felt his body go rigid, unable to move, as surge upon surge of unspeakably terrifying energy came rolling in from the other world!

Boom— Violent tremors swept the space around the altar, and a blood-red light shot into the sky, hundreds of zhang high.

Bathed in that bloody radiance, Shen Mu felt those dreadful surges of energy descend into this world along his consciousness, pouring into the body of the demon god statue. Upon the statue's surface, rune after rune blazed with light, like so many monstrous eyes madly absorbing the energy that surged in from the other world. The statue's surface cracked and burst open again and again, shards of splintered wood flying in every direction.

The demon god statue grew larger and larger; from its fissures poured a thick and brilliant light, and dimly one could see that within the wooden image flesh and blood were actually taking form! In the blink of an eye the demon god statue upon the altar stood several dozen zhang tall, and still it kept growing.

Shen Mu felt as though his consciousness would burst apart. The Demon King was descending not in energy alone but in consciousness as well; his consciousness came crashing down — a dark, dreadful, violent will — and before such a fearsome will Shen Mu's own was utterly insignificant, seeming ready to be crushed at any moment.

This Demon King was savage in the extreme; caring nothing whether Shen Mu lived or died, he sent his consciousness and power across the far reaches of space and time, pouring them into the demon god statue.

The statue went on swelling and growing; all its wood had burst apart, transformed into a body of flesh and blood! Crack, crack. Thunder rolled around the altar; countless bolts of lightning lashed back and forth, forcing Shen Wanyun and the others to retreat again and again. The dragon qilin and Xue Huer too kept falling back; the demon god statue's savage aura compelled even the dragon qilin to give ground.

And at the foot of the demon god statue, Shen Mu's body shuddered; a wound split open at the center of his brow, and crackling lightning shot from his brow, illuminating the statue. Within that lightning was the consciousness of the Dutian Demon King, so powerful that it all but destroyed Shen Mu's own.

Blood streamed ceaselessly from Shen Mu's forehead, and with it came the stench of blood scorched black.

Unable to move, he suddenly clenched his teeth and forcibly roused the Mystic Body Three-Cinnabar Art to guard his consciousness.

His thoughts had already stalled; fortunately, no sooner had the Mystic Body Three-Cinnabar Art begun to circulate than the pressure on him eased considerably. All at once Shen Mu sensed that as the art ran its course, something extra had appeared within his body.

Outside, the killing cries shook the heavens; primordial blades came crashing toward him like clouds, leaving him no time to ponder. A tremor suddenly sounded at his ear: the leg the demon god statue had raised came down, shaking countless buildings of the City Lord's mansion into clattering collapse.

Before those primordial blades could even draw near, they burst apart as one!

"The Demon-Repelling Command! " A dozen or more Daoists rushed in from outside.

At the sight before him, the leading Daoist's eyes nearly split with fury; the Daoists hastily struck the talisman pouches at their waists, and countless sheets of yellow ceremonial paper flew out. On these papers were drawn strange runes, different again from those of the Talisman Command over Ghosts and Gods.

The countless sheets joined together, forming a vast yellow curtain in midair.

The innumerable runes upon the papers could link end to end, composing a single immense and exceedingly complex character. The secret art of the Hongshan School — the Demon-Repelling Command!

The dozen Hongshan School Daoists shouted in unison, rousing their vital essence to activate that complex character upon the yellow curtain.