29: Chapter 29 Dragging the Sky Down

The first to lunge out was Grey Pupil.

The crimson in his eyes had just burned through, and the entire rat had already skimmed across the ground.

The Wind-Cable Youth was still hanging in mid-air, his long hook only halfway down, when Grey Pupil struck the handle of the hook with his staff.

The hook didn't break, but its body suddenly blackened, as if gnawed by something; dense, tiny grey holes instantly covered the entire iron hook.

The Wind-Cable Youth's wrist shuddered, and his expression changed on the spot.

"What the hell is this..."

Before he could finish his sentence, three Ambush Rats had already climbed up along the cable.

They didn't dodge the wind blades or avoid the sparks; the moment their teeth landed, the rigging, leather armor, and bracers all began to turn to ash.

That layer of ash wasn't just on the surface; it was eating inward.

The Wind-Cable Youth only had time to cut half the rope before his left arm armor collapsed entirely, and the flesh beneath rotted into a patch of crimson-black.

A scream exploded in the slanted tunnel.

Grey Pupil didn't even turn his head; he simply thrust his ritual staff, and the ramming horn pierced through beneath his throat.

With the corpse still hanging from the tip of the staff, the rat tides on both sides had already lunged toward the last fire-pouring cart.

The Red-Armored Girl was ruthless; seeing the Wind-Cable Youth dragged to his death, she lowered the long tube in her hands even further.

Boiling liquid fire sprayed fiercely into the tunnel entrance, illuminating the entire slanted passage in a crimson-white light.

The five Red-Eyed Rats in the front row collided head-on; their fur scorched instantly, yet their pace didn't falter in the slightest.

They ate fire.

Not by swallowing it.

But by crushing the fire.

As their incisors closed, a ring of honeycomb-like grey holes instantly appeared on the copper surface of the long tube.

The second one lunged up, biting at the edge of the valve.

The third one crawled up along the wheel, its mouth full of fire, while the crimson in its eyes burned even brighter.

The Red-Armored Girl finally changed expression; just as she tried to lift the long tube, the entire copper pipe collapsed at the waist.

The liquid fire didn't spray outward but instead poured into the belly of the cart through the holes gnawed open.

She flipped backward, and just as her heels left the ground, a bone-wheeled cart rammed out from a side crevice.

Bang!

A half-black shield slammed into her waist, sending her flying a full ten meters.

While she was in mid-air, her breastplate was first gnawed through by the fire ash, and upon landing, she was plastered with fire-oil bladders thrown by two Red-Eyed throwers.

Grey-red fire drilled inward along her cracked arm armor, and just as she propped up half her body, over a dozen Red-Eyed Rats swarmed up, dragging her directly into the fire crevice beside the collapsed pit.

The remaining Scale-Spear soldiers fared even worse.

They were still protecting that half of the Flame-Scale flag; the fire patterns at the ends of their spears glowed section by section, attempting to pin down the entrance of the slanted tunnel.

But as the Red-Eyed Rat Tide surged up, the spear shafts, armor seams, leg buckles, and flag pole edges all began to turn to ash.

The leading Scale-Spear soldier raised his spear to sweep, but the moment the spear tip touched a Red-Eyed Rat, the spear head itself rotted out a row of holes.

The next moment, Grey Pupil chopped the flagpole in two with his staff; four Cart-pulling Rats grabbed the broken flag and dragged it back, while another group of Ambush Rats lunged fiercely at the lower legs of the four remaining soldiers.

In less than ten breaths, the main tunnel entrance was cleared.

Blood, fire, shattered armor, rat corpses, and half a Flame-Scale flag were all piled together.

Lu Jin, however, didn't even bother to look.

He crouched by the ritual basin, his palm still dripping blood, but his gaze was fixed on the clouds higher up.

Ji Mingxiao did not retreat.

He pulled back the low-ring, compressed the mid-ring into a more stable wind-locking circle, and the three head-griffins of the high-ring were circling the silver-white altar behind the clouds. The four wind pillars grew thicker with each rotation, and a massive silhouette faintly appeared in the center of the clouds.

Like a god statue.

Like a blade about to press down from the sky.

Grey Pupil returned, dragging that half of the Flame-Scale flag, the burns on his shoulders and back still sizzling and smoking.

"The dirty hands are cleared."

"The one in the sky is about to strike hard."

Lu Jin stood up and tapped the bone clacker in his palm.

"Then we'll change the sky."

As these words fell, the entire underground network moved in unison.

"Digging Squad, open four ascending ramps leading to the fake ritual point on the surface."

"Transport Team, drag the black shield rims, wind hooks, chain buckles, and broken copper pipes all to the central warehouse."

"Trailer Team, mobilize the chain carts."

"Fire-Guard Line, smear the fire-seed ash onto the hook heads."

"Lower the Breeding Cave another level; the White-Bellied Mother Rat and her pups, all move behind the well."

As the series of orders landed, the rat swarm was pushed out as if by the entire stratum.

The Tunneling Rats carved frantically upward, four new ramps drilling obliquely toward the surface; the Transport Rats dragged the chain and cable parts stripped from the heavy armor team, Cable Hunters, and fire-pouring carts all the way to the central warehouse; the Fire-Guard Line mixed the grey fire from the ritual basin, the residual ash of the fire-seeds, and enemy blood into a thick black paste, smearing it onto every wind hook and chain link.

Soon, new chains were piled up in the central warehouse.

With bone joints as the core, chain buckles locking the edges, broken copper as sleeves, and thunder feathers wedged into the gaps, the outermost layer was wrapped with a circle of rhino-tendon rope.

When Grey Pupil personally buckled the last chain segment into the hook and smeared it with that layer of black-red fire paste, the entire hook trembled slightly.

The fire didn't flare outward.

It was all pressed into the bone.

"Burning-Fire Bone Chain."

Grey Pupil said softly.

The group of Red-Eyed Rats nearby watched those four chains, their breathing becoming heavy.

Lu Jin raised his hand to press against a section of the chain, and the entry in his Sea of Consciousness trembled slightly.

A layer of moving grey patterns instantly crawled over the surface of the chain links, as if countless tiny teeth were grinding back and forth against the bone surface.

It was done.

The fake ritual point on the surface was also re-erected.

The black stone ring was reassembled by the Transport Team into a half-broken altar, the three broken flags were inserted back into their original positions, and two lamp bones were nailed into the soil, but the area beneath the ritual point had long been hollowed out, excavated into a full dragging pit.

Four ascending ramps spread out from the bottom of the pit, leading directly to the hiding spots of the four sets of chain carts.

Viewed from the sky, it was still that broken and shabby altar.

Viewed from the ground, it looked like a mouth that had already opened.

Lu Jin stepped over the collapsed slope and walked onto the surface.

The wind from high above immediately pressed against his face, his grey robe flapping loudly.

Ji Mingxiao stood on the back of the main griffin, watching Lu Jin walk alone to the fake ritual point, his eyes finally sinking to the very bottom.

"You still dare to come up."

Lu Jin looked up.

"Do you dare to come down?"

With these two sentences, the entire Shenmen Plaza heard them.

Countless spectators subconsciously held their breath, and even the numbers jumping on the betting board paused for an instant.

Ji Mingxiao looked at the re-lit fake ritual point, then glanced at the surface rift zones obscured by the collapsing smoke, and slowly turned the wind-thunder positioning disk in his hand.

He knew the ritual point was fake.

He knew there were still tunnels buried underground.

He also knew that if this dragged on, Lu Jin's group of Red-Eyed Rats would consume every fire line in the collapse field and turn them into his own path.

This game must be won beautifully.

"High-ring, merge altars."

"Four pillars, descend."

"thunder-wing god statue, open eyes."

The clouds cracked open with a roar.

That silver-white altar pressed down completely for the first time; the altar body was a full thirty meters across, its edges covered in slender wind patterns, and the four wind pillars hung like four massive floating locks, dropping from the bottom of the altar into mid-air.

In the center of the altar stood a silver-white god statue.

Humanoid, wings spread, a thunder mark at the center of its brow.

It had no face.

Only a pair of thunder eyes that slowly lit up.

The instant the thunder eyes opened, dozens of locking light marks lit up simultaneously across the surface of the collapse field, and even the empty tunnels and old scars hidden in the soil were illuminated until they turned white.

The low-ring scout griffins dived in unison, while the mid-ring main griffins circled the four pillars, as if draping a moving wind armor over the altar.

Grey Pupil spoke in a low voice.

"It has descended."

Lu Jin stared at the leftmost wind pillar, the corners of his mouth pressed very low.

"Lower it another half a meter."

Ji Mingxiao also looked at him, his voice pressing down from high above.

"Once this strike lands, your land will be gone."

Lu Jin didn't reply.

He simply raised his hand and tapped the bone clacker lightly.

At the first sound, the four sets of chain carts emerged from their tunnels simultaneously.

The bone-wheeled carts rushed out from the four ascending ramps, pressing against the fire; the black shields at the front were all raised, and the burning bone chains dragged behind the carts pulled four glowing long lines across the ground.

On each cart stood three Red-Eyed throwers, their backpacks bulging, their claw tips grey.

"Throw!"

Twelve fire-oil bladders were flung out obliquely, all smashing around the fake ritual point.

As the grey-red fire layer spread, the entire ritual point seemed surrounded by a sea of fire.

The thunder eyes in the sky turned, the god statue's right arm lifted, and a straight thunder spear smashed down toward the center of the ritual point.

What Lu Jin was waiting for was this spear.

"Raise the hooks!"

The four burning bone chains flew simultaneously.

The chain heads were not thrown toward the center of the altar but aimed entirely at the four wind pillars.

As soon as the hooks touched the wind armor on the outer edge of the wind pillars, they were deflected by half an inch, but the grey patterns on the chain bodies had already come alive, biting upward along the hook heads.

Ssh!

On the surface of the silver-white wind armor, a ring of blackened grey holes appeared for the first time.

Ji Mingxiao's eyes turned cold suddenly.

"Cut the chains!"

The mid-ring griffins tilted their wings in unison, and dozens of wind blades slashed toward the chain bodies.

The first bone chain broke into three segments on the spot, and five Cart-pulling Rats in the rear row of the Trailer Team were sliced open in the chest and abdomen by the wind blades.

The second chain, however, borrowed the force of this wind and swung up half a meter, the hook head locking squarely into the outer edge of the left pillar.

The left pillar shuddered violently.

Lu Jin's eyes sank.

"Entire network, pull left!"

The response from underground was the sound of hundreds upon thousands of rat claws gripping the ground simultaneously.

In the four ascending ramps, the Cart-pulling Rats, Transport Rats, and Ambush Rats, all that could move, swarmed onto the chains.

They didn't distinguish by unit type or strength; whoever was closest bit onto the chain links, dragging backward with all their might.

The counterweight pits that had been pre-excavated beneath the collapsed pit also opened their gates simultaneously, and the buried black shields, iron sand, and broken copper slid down cart by cart, pulling the entire chain network down into the ground.

The left pillar shuddered again.

The silver-white on the surface of the wind pillar turned black inch by inch, and the fire-ash gnawing climbed up along the pillar body.

The thunder-wing god statue in the sky tilted slightly, and the tip of its right wing trembled.

Ji Mingxiao finally changed his expression.

"Right pillar, reinforce wind!"

"Low-ring, cut the carts!"

The low-altitude scout griffins dived down fiercely, aiming specifically at the four sets of chain carts.

The first bone cart was overturned directly by thunder claws; two of the three throwers on the cart were killed on the spot, and the last one threw the fire bladder in its hand the moment the cart flipped, hitting the belly of a scout griffin squarely.

The Red-Eyed Ambush Rats swarmed up along the overturned chain body, their incisors biting into the roots of the bird's wings, and blood and thunder feathers fell together.

Lu Jin didn't even look that way.

"Grey Pupil!"

"Present!"

"Climb the pillar."

Grey Pupil tore off the tattered priest's cloak on his shoulder and wrapped it directly around the chain of the left pillar.

He leaped up, borrowing the momentum of the bone cart, and the entire rat climbed up the chain, followed by a long string of Red-Eyed Ambush Rats.

They were like a string of ignited grey shadows, climbing into mid-air along the chain body, climbing higher and faster.

Outside the surveillance mirror, someone's voice cracked.

"They are climbing the sky!"

Ji Mingxiao raised his hand and unleashed a bolt of lightning, striking the middle section of the chain.

Grey Pupil didn't even turn his head; he slammed his ritual staff heavily onto the chain link, and the grey patterns on the entire chain lit up instantly, actually conducting that lightning directly onto the body of the left pillar.

Boom!

The outer wind armor of the left pillar exploded, creating a gap on the spot.

Grey Pupil and the rat tide lunged in.

They bit mouthful after mouthful into the exposed core of the wind pillar; what they were biting wasn't a physical entity, but that layer of silver-white wind patterns maintaining the wind pillar.

With every bite, the wind patterns turned darker, and the pillar body shortened by a section.

The altar finally tilted.

At first, very slightly.

Like a bowl, its edge pressed by someone's fingertip.

Immediately after, the entire altar sank half a meter to the left with a roar.

The thunder-wing god statue spread its wings, trying to stabilize itself, and the two wind pillars on the right also lowered simultaneously to compensate.

Lu Jin watched the shadow of the silver-white god statue pressing down and slammed the bone clacker heavily onto the ground.

"Raise the second chains!"

The last two chain carts, which had been hiding under the fake ritual point, broke through the surface and rushed out from directly beneath the ritual point.

These two carts were heavier; there were no throwers on them, only thick chains covered in fire-ash.

They rushed forward along the pre-buried slanted grooves, and the chain heads were thrown directly toward the edge of the altar.

One hook, locking the edge of the altar.

One hook, locking the right foot of the god statue.

"Pull!"

This time, it wasn't just the rats pulling.

The entire dragging pit beneath the fake ritual point collapsed simultaneously.

The black stone ring, lamp bones, broken flags, and the iron sand and scrap armor hidden at the bottom of the pit all tumbled downward, dragging those two new chains fiercely into the ground.

The grey patterns on the burning bone chains bit into the altar like crazy, the silver patterns on the altar's edge exploded inch by inch, and the god statue's right foot was gnawed until grey dust flew everywhere.

Ji Mingxiao finally leaped from the back of the main griffin.

He landed on the altar and pressed the wind-thunder positioning disk in his palm heavily into the center of the altar.

"Suppress!"

The four pillars rang in unison, and the thunder eyes of the god statue lit up brightly.

The entire altar stopped abruptly for an instant.

At this instant, Lu Jin also stepped onto the highest black stone on the surface, his grey robe flapping in the wind, his eyes as cold as iron at the bottom of a well.

"You can stabilize the altar."

"But you can't stabilize the ground."

He raised his hand and pointed at the collapsed layer beneath the left pillar that had long been gnawed hollow.

"Close the pit."

The last layer of load-bearing soil beneath the ground snapped.

The entire collapse field beneath the left pillar suddenly sat empty, sinking downward along with the dragging pit.

Four chains, six bone carts, and over a thousand Red-Eyed Rats plummeted simultaneously, dragging the entire altar down toward the ground.

This time, the altar was completely off-balance.

The left pillar broke first.

Like a silver pipe burned through, it snapped into two pieces with a crack.

Following closely were the second and third ones.

Once the wind pillars broke, large pieces of silver-white fragments exploded from the edge of the altar; the right foot of the thunder-wing god statue was ripped off halfway by the chain, the entire god body pitched forward, its wings flapping violently in mid-air, and the resulting storm flipped both main griffins away.

On Shenmen Plaza, someone roared until their throat broke.

"It fell!"

"The altar fell!"

"He dragged the sky down!"

Boom!

The silver-white altar finally smashed onto the surface.

Black stones shattered, the sea of fire rolled backward, and the surrounding collapse pits looked as if they had been hit by a circle of meteorites.

Half of the thunder-wing god statue was buried in the soil, and as it tried to lift its arm, the Red-Eyed Rat Tide had already swarmed up along the burning bone chains.

They lunged with extreme precision.

Those biting the wing roots bit the wing roots.

Those biting the knee joints bit the knee joints.

Those dragging the chains dragged the chains.

Those pushing the carts pushed the carts.

The fire-oil bone carts rammed into the small of the god statue's back along the slope; with a shove of the black shields, the three rows of throwers tossed their bladders simultaneously.

The grey-red fire layer plastered the god statue's cracked silver armor, and the fire-ash gnawing immediately drilled inward along the cracks.

The silver patterns on the body of the thunder-wing god statue, which was still vibrating and ringing, dimmed section by section.

Grey Pupil stepped onto the god statue's left shoulder and drove his ritual staff into the back of the god statue's neck.

"Drag!"

The sound of claws echoed from underground again.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Hundreds of Cart-pulling Rats and Transport Rats bit the chains, dragging backward with all their might along the edge of the dragging pit.

The massive body of the god statue stiffened for an instant on the ground, and then, it truly moved.

One inch.

Two inches.

Three inches.

The silver-white god body was dragged toward the pit entrance by the rat tide and the burning bone chains, leaving long fire trails along the ground it scraped across.

At this, even Ji Mingxiao stopped.

He stood on the shattered remains of the altar, his shoulders covered in ash, blood spilling from the corners of his lips.

The main griffin had landed behind him, half of its wing bone gnawed through by fire-ash, yet it still spread its wings, trying to protect its master.

Ji Mingxiao watched Lu Jin, watched that entire Red-Eyed Rat Tide drag the god statue into the pit, and the sharpness in his eyes slowly sank into something deeper.

He gave no more orders.

Nor did he raise his hand again.

Only at the moment the god statue was dragged to the edge of the pit and its entire head plunged into the ground did he speak.

"In this battle, you won beautifully."

Lu Jin looked up at him but didn't respond.

The ritual basin beneath his feet had already cracked.

The wanji ember furnace, however, shuddered heavily at this moment.

As if it had eaten something it truly wanted to eat.

The altar fragments, the residual wind pillar patterns, the cracked divine nature hub of the thunder-wing god statue, along with the scorched silver-white ritual patterns covering the ground, were all swept into the black fire.

The silver patterns on the ground that were still glowing extinguished one by one, and in the end, only a palm-sized core fragment at the very center of the altar remained, still scalding in the ash.

Lu Jin walked over, bent down, and picked it up.

The moment the fragment was in his hand, the depths of the black furnace spat out a string of fire codes.

It was a very short string of encrypted coordinates.

The outer layer was wrapped in the fire-sealing patterns of the old Military Court system, the inner layer was triple-folded plane numbers, but the tail code was missing a section, as if it had been forcibly snapped off by someone.

Lu Jin's pupils contracted sharply.

He had seen this encryption format before.

Right on the footer of his father's sealed record of death in battle.

Exactly the same.