614: Chapter 614 Monster

The rumbling vibration of the great cauldron was like the first roar of a Vicious Beast opening its eyes from the abyss—the entire plain groaned in pain within the sound waves, as if the heart of the earth had been grabbed by someone and squeezed hard, squeezed until it was about to burst!

Streaks of golden light, blazing like the suns of the Nine Heavens falling all at once, stung people's eye sockets, and tears were evaporated into nothingness before they could even well up.

In the field of vision, only that brilliantly rotating vortex portal remained, like an eye belonging to an ancient god or demon that was currently opening.

This was no longer a door.

This was a greedy, gigantic mouth, spewing out temptations enough to burn any sanity to ashes!

Hum—!

A trembling sound so sharp it pierced the Soul.

An object broke through the golden light and shot out from the portal like lightning.

A broken sword.

Only half of the sword body remained, the broken end twisted hideously, as if it had been forcibly torn and snapped by some unimaginable force—this force was so great that even this sword could not withstand it!

But the intent attached to it—a pure, ancient, and extremely ferocious intent to cleave the heavens—erupted violently the moment it appeared in the world!

Boom!

The invisible Sword Intent swept across the plain like a landslide or tsunami.

The dozens of people closest to it, regardless of their race, felt their bodies shake violently at the same time. Tiny blood spots burst open on the skin between their eyebrows with a "pop," as if an invisible sharp blade was truly pressed there, its killing intent piercing into their bone marrow.

Those with weaker cultivation felt their knees go soft and knelt directly.

It was not fear.

It was the edge radiating from this broken sword, commanding them to kneel.

"An... Ancient Sword Dao! It is the true meaning of the Ancient Sword Dao! I cannot be wrong!!"

A Sword Tiger Clan Prodigy's eyes turned crimson, his whole body trembling violently from extreme excitement.

As a Yao Race Sword Cultivator, his Soul let out a shriek of hunger that bordered on madness the moment the Sword Intent erupted—this was the prey he desired most in his life of Sword Cultivation!

He didn't even see where the broken sword flew, but his body had already transformed into a streak of resolute light before his consciousness could react, tearing through the air and chasing after it frantically.

Like a moth to a flame.

And the moth never knows it is burning.

But this was merely the first whiff of fragrance from the opening of the feast.

The vortex did not stop.

The light flashed again, and a yellowed bamboo slip drifted out.

The moment the bamboo slip unfolded, the characters on it were not engraved, but rather resembled the trajectories formed by Chaos itself when heaven and earth first opened.

Each stroke was as heavy as a mountain, causing the surrounding Spiritual Qi to emit an unbearable whimper.

Obscure and archaic, yet they pointed directly to the root of the Dao.

"Chaos Divine Script! It is the lost original text of an Ancient Divine Ability!"

A Prodigy of the Feather Race, with fluttering feathered garments, shrieked, their voice distorted by wild joy.

Their light wings unfurled with a boom, whipping up a gale as they threw themselves recklessly toward the bamboo slip.

Greed, like a drop of ice water falling into a pot of boiling oil—exploded instantly!

Immediately after—a small tree, three feet tall and carved entirely from white jade, drifted out leisurely.

Where the roots coiled, nine fist-sized Dao Fruits hung heavily—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, black, and white.

The nine-colored light rotated slowly, and with every shift in color, it seemed as if a complete phantom of a Law of heaven and earth flashed across the surface of the fruit.

The Dao Rhyme spread out like tangible ripples.

Smelling it cleared the Divine Soul; touching it caused the barriers of cultivation to loosen faintly.

"Nine... Nine-colored Dao Fruit! An Innate Dao Fruit from when heaven and earth were first opened! The ancient records were actually true!!"

A Demon Race Prodigy, shaped like a skeleton, roared, the Soul fire in his shriveled eye sockets dancing frantically—this light was so scorching it almost burned his own Soul!

The string of reason snapped completely at this moment.

Boom—!

The vortex portal seemed to be completely opened, and countless rays of light, like a flood bursting through a dam, poured out!

Divine weapons and sharp blades hissed as they cut through the air, immortal herbs and divine flowers breathed out rosy light, and bone books and Jade Slips shimmered with Dao Rhyme.

There were even a few irregular fragments flowing with a grey, misty Aura—just one glance at them made one's mind trance, as if witnessing the birth and destruction of the world.

The plain boiled instantly.

And then, it fell into the most primitive Hell of slaughter.

"Mine! This Fangtian Halberd is mine!"

"Get lost! If you dare touch a single leaf of the Dao Fruit, I will slaughter your entire clan!"

"Kill! Kill them all! Everything is mine!"

The alliance, which had maintained a delicate balance just a moment ago due to a common goal, was more fragile than a thin sheet of paper in the face of an Opportunity that could change fate and lead directly to the Dao.

Roars.

Screams.

The harsh, sharp sounds of weapons clashing.

The dull thuds of bones shattering.

The squelching sounds of flesh being torn.

Countless sounds, mixed with the thick, inseparable scent of blood, rose into the sky, turning this golden-light-shrouded place into an Asura slaughterhouse.

Severed limbs and fragments of Magic Treasures flew together; blood and the light of Divine Abilities shared the same color.

No one looked up again to glance at the bronze cauldron suspended above the altar, still rotating slowly.

It remained silent, breathing in and out boundless golden light, coldly looking down at what was below.

The golden halo scattered about did not bring holiness; instead, it illuminated every face twisted by greed and every splash of crimson, making them exceptionally clear and exceptionally glaring.

A picture of the madness of all living beings, extremely ironic.

On the hill.

Blood Butcher felt his blood freezing inch by inch.

It was not fear of the tragic slaughter below.

He had seen scenes even more cruel than this, and had personally created even bloodier massacres.

It was a cold warning sign originating from his memory, quietly climbing up his spine, causing the blood Qi in his entire body to stagnate.

He turned his head extremely slowly, extremely stiffly.

On the giant rock beside him, Luo Xiaojiu was still sitting idly.

Supporting her chin with one hand, her eyes slightly curved, as if she were enjoying a poorly arranged but sufficiently lively farce.

The faint arc at the corner of her mouth—it was not mockery.

Not contempt.

It was a complete, detached calmness.

Like a Heavenly God from above the Nine Heavens looking down at ants fighting over a grain of sugar.

Or like a hunter who had long ago set up a lethal trap, leaning against a tree to rest, leisurely waiting for the prey to bleed out the last drop of blood in the trap they had set themselves.

Composed.

Certain.

Even with a hint of... boredom.

This was the smile!

Outside the Bone Hall, when he had used "the weak are prey to the strong" as an excuse and revealed his murderous intent to eliminate this "little trouble," the expression that appeared on her face was exactly the same!

At the time, he only felt offended.

Looking at it now—it was like ice water poured over his head, the chill instantly eroding his limbs and skeleton!

Danger!

Extreme danger!

It did not come from the boiling plain in front, but from this seemingly harmless girl beside him!

The instinct to survive.

The instinct honed from crawling out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood countless times.

Before he could think, it had already taken over his body.

Blood Butcher let out a vague whimper in his throat; his feet did not move, but his entire Aura suddenly collapsed—like a bow pulled taut and then suddenly released, he retreated backward—one step.

Two steps.

Three steps...

He retreated silently to ten zhang away.

During this process, he did not even dare to take a deep breath, his gaze locked tightly on Luo Xiaojiu's back, as if she were not a young girl, but an ancient volcano that could erupt at any moment.

Just as his heels landed and he had retreated a full ten zhang—Boom—!!

Beneath Luo Xiaojiu, the giant rock that supported her, harder than refined iron, exploded without warning into the finest powder!

It was not an external attack.

It was as if it had endured some unimaginable, massive force that collapsed inward and then exploded violently!

With the place where she had been sitting cross-legged as the origin, a visible, extremely savage, milky-white shock ring expanded recklessly in a spherical shape!

Wherever it passed, rocks, soil, and even the free-roaming Spiritual Qi in the air were all crushed, emptied, and annihilated!

Rumble...

The entire hill, over ten zhang high, had its top third wiped away violently by an invisible hand of a Heavenly God under this irresistible brute force recoil!

Leaving behind a terrifying, mirror-smooth, hemispherical depression with a diameter of over thirty zhang and a depth of several zhang!

The kicked-up dust and rubble shot into the sky, turning into a small mushroom cloud.

Ten zhang away.

Blood Butcher stood stiff as a statue.

His Protective Aura had already been flickering unsteadily the moment the impact reached him, emitting the cracking sounds of being unable to bear the burden.

The shattered fragments of Protective Aura and the flying pebbles tore his blood-stained battle robe into rags, slicing dozens of fine, bloody cuts into his skin.

Blood seeped out, staining his lapels red.

But he was completely unaware.

He just stared blankly at the huge depression where soil and stone were still falling with a rustling sound.

Then he slowly lowered his head and looked at the position where he had just been standing—there, it was now part of the edge of the depression.

A few twisted metal fragments were gently trembling in the aftermath.

If... he hadn't retreated?

If he had only retreated three zhang, five zhang... or even, if he had still been standing beside her as before...

Blood Butcher's pupils shrank to the size of needle points.

A cold, lingering fear surged up like a tide at this moment, instantly soaking his Divine Soul.

This was not just a serious injury.

At the center of that pure, extremely condensed, brute force explosion, he did not doubt for a second—he would have been instantly shaken into a mist of blood mixed with bone fragments.

Even the Rebirth from a drop of blood, the Divine Ability the Blood Race was most proud of, would probably not have had time to be executed.

The smoke and dust slowly dissipated, brushing past his paper-white cheeks.

He opened his mouth, his dry throat rolling, but he could not make a sound.

Only inside his chest, his heart was beating frantically after the dead silence, thumping so hard his eardrums were buzzing.

This was not a gap in the level of power.

This was a kind of... essential... hierarchal... despair-inducing... looking down.

He slowly raised his hand, which was trembling slightly and uncontrollably, wiped away a trace of blood that had been shaken from the corner of his mouth, and looked at the back of the girl who, after the smoke and dust had dispersed, was already quietly standing on another protruding rock, still spotless.

A sentence, accompanied by a bone-chilling cold, floated up from the depths of his Soul.

It could never be dispelled again.

"This damn..."

"Is just a monster."