931: Chapter 932 Nine Netherworld Devouring Sparrow

The moment those crimson eyes completely opened, the entire solitary mountain seemed to come alive.

Immediately after, from the depths of the fissure came a piercing, metal-splitting shriek filled with endless resentment and malice!

"Screee—!"

Violent winds suddenly rose, sending sand and stones flying.

A giant bird whose body blotted out the sky, pitch-black as ink all over, with only its eyes burning with blood-colored flames, suddenly soared up into the sky from the fissure!

With a single spread of its wings, it was as if it tore apart the canopy of heaven, and the dense Death Qi and Netherworld chilly winds rolled out, instantly enveloping a radius of a thousand miles.

"This is... the Netherworld Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow!"

The voice of the Master of Tianyan Pavilion was somewhat dry, and the astrolabe in his hand trembled slightly.

"It is a Vicious Beast from the immemorial legends! Naturally fierce and malevolent, it excels most at devouring the essence and blood of all things to strengthen itself.

To actually be able to make the Netherworld Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow guard a tomb, then the master of this tomb..."

He did not finish, but everyone understood his meaning.

An existence that could make a Netherworld Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow willingly guard its tomb—just how terrifying must it have been in its lifetime?

The Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow ignored their discussion.

It lowered its head, glanced at the scattered corpses and bloodstains on the ground, opened its giant beak, and inhaled fiercely!

"Hoo—!"

On the ground, the corpses of tens of thousands of Cultivators who had previously died from the backlash of the grand array and been smashed to pieces by the giant claws, as well as the blood and remnant souls that had not yet dissipated, were all swallowed into its mouth like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.

The feathers at its neck wriggled violently, obviously frantically digesting this massive surge of blood Qi.

As the devouring completed, its aura, which had originally been somewhat illusory around its body, instantly solidified, and a terrifying pressure belonging to the Late Stage Heavenly Venerate burst forth without reservation!

The faces of the many Heavenly Venerates turned pale.

Although the five major forces gathered here, there were fourteen Heavenly Venerates.

But only six of them were Middle Stage Heavenly Venerates: Qingming and Qinghua Heavenly Venerate of the Qingming Heavenly Palace, the Master of Xuantian Sanctuary, Old Ancestor Zhenyue, the Emperor of Zhenyue, and the Master of Tianyan Pavilion.

The remaining eight Heavenly Venerates, including the two Old Ancestors of the Beichen Jiang Family, were all Early Stage Heavenly Venerates.

The five major forces poured out in full strength, looking grand in momentum, but in reality, those who could truly withstand a frontal blow from the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow were merely the six Middle Stage Heavenly Venerates.

"Form the array!" roared the Master of Xuantian Sanctuary.

The fourteen Heavenly Venerates instantly formed a combined strike array, with a light barrier rising to barely resist the suction force of the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow.

However, since the Netherworld Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow had already recovered to the Late Stage Heavenly Venerate, how could it sit idly by and await death?

It shook its wings, and countless black feathers carrying netherworld ghost fire shot out like sharp arrows.

At the same time, its giant beak pecked continuously, and waves of sound rippled in rings, causing the space wherever they passed to shatter inch by inch.

"Puff!" "Puff!" "Puff!"

Several Heavenly King Realm Cultivators who failed to dodge in time were instantly pierced through by the black feathers, turning into blood mists without even being able to emit a scream.

The great battle entered a white-hot stage.

The fourteen Heavenly Venerates urged the grand array, pouring Divine Abilities and Dao techniques like raindrops onto the massive body of the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow, exploding a sky full of black feathers and blood blossoms.

But this immemorial Vicious Beast had thick skin and dense flesh, and its recovery ability was even more astonishing; black Qi surged at the wounds, healing them at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Sometimes it swooped down to bite and tear, its giant beak acting like a divine hook, easily pecking and shattering the Magic Treasures sacrificed by the Heavenly Venerates.

Sometimes it flapped its wings and soared, stirring up Netherworld chilly winds, blowing the combined strike array until it was on the verge of collapse.

Both sides traded blows, and the aftermath of the Divine Ability collisions flattened the mountains within a radius of a thousand miles, plowing bottomless gullies into the ground.

For a time, they fought evenly, locked in a fierce stalemate.

But anyone with discerning eyes could see that although the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow was fighting fourteen alone without falling behind, it could not achieve a quick victory either.

Those six Middle Stage Heavenly Venerates were the backbone, supporting the core of the array; although the eight Early Stage Heavenly Venerates were weaker in strength, by providing support and harassment from the side, they also made the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow quite irritated.

As the battle continued, two Early Stage Heavenly Venerates were contaminated by the netherworld ghost fire of the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow, causing damage to their dao foundation and forcing them to withdraw from the battle circle.

The outer Cultivators suffered an undeserved calamity, swept by the aftermath and instantly turning into flying ash.

The army of millions originally was now less than half, with corpses everywhere and blood flowing into rivers, a horrifying sight.

On a distant hilltop.

Xiaobai had long since concealed all its aura, and looking at the scene before it, could not help speaking:

"A Late Stage Heavenly Venerate Netherworld Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow—although those fourteen Heavenly Venerates have many people, the ones who can actually fight are only six in the Middle Stage, and the remaining eight in the Early Stage are just making up the numbers.

If you want to take it down, I'm afraid you won't be able to do it without ten and a half months."

Gu Changge looked at the heaven-shaking battlefield, a faint smile curling up the corner of his mouth:

"Fourteen against one, and yet they are fighting to such a stalemate. However... it also saves us a lot of trouble. Let's go, we're going in."

After saying this, Gu Changge didn't look at the battlefield anymore, turned around, and walked toward the back of the solitary mountain.

Hearing this, Xiaobai and Jimie immediately reined in their minds and closely followed behind.

The three of them bypassed the frontal battlefield and headed all the way north along the foot of the solitary mountain.

After walking for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, Gu Changge stopped in front of an inconspicuous rock wall.

This rock wall looked no different from other places; it was likewise black rock, equally covered in traces of weathering and erosion.

But if one observed carefully, they would find that the patterns on the surface of the rock wall faintly formed an extremely covert design.

That was a bird about to spread its wings and fly, its lines extremely faint, as if worn away by the years for the most part; if one did not look intentionally, they would not notice it at all.

Gu Changge reached out his hand and lightly tapped his index finger on the pattern.

The rock wall silently indented inward, revealing a narrow passage that could only allow one person to pass through.

The interior of the passage was pitch black, so profound it seemed to lead to the center of the earth. An ancient and decaying aura surged from the depths, carrying the dust of the years and the silence of death.

"Let's go."

Gu Changge stepped into the passage first, with Xiaobai and Jimie following closely behind.

After the three entered, the rock wall behind them closed silently again, as if it had never been opened.

The passage was very long, winding downwards, and the walls on both sides were densely carved with runes.

Those runes were extremely ancient, many already incomplete, but the remaining parts still emitted a faint light, illuminating the path forward.

After walking for about half the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

At the end of the passage was a huge underground space.

The space was circular, with a diameter of about a thousand zhang and a height of over a hundred zhang.

Embedded in the surrounding walls was a type of deep-blue Ore, emitting a faint glow that illuminated the entire space like the bottom of the deep sea.

In the center of the space stood a huge stone gate.

The stone gate was about ten zhang high and five zhang wide, carved entirely from a dark gray stone material.

Above the stone gate were carved four ancient seal script characters:

"Those who trespass shall die."

The four characters were like knives, carving out the full majesty of a Supreme.

Clearly just static stone carvings, they seemed to hide Supreme murderous intent spanning across the ages, with every single character floating and sinking with Dao Rhyme, suppressing the airflow of the entire underground space until it stagnated.

The faint light of the deep-blue Ore fell upon the stone gate, making that icy intent of slaughter appear all the more chilling.