640: Chapter 630 Senichi (5)

The procession stopped at the foot of the nine mountains.

The air here was much heavier than in the village; the wind blowing against their faces carried a faint, elusive aura of red-gold Qi.

The nine giant mountains stood silently in the mist, their gullies resembling dried-up blood vessels, exuding an ancient, deathly stillness.

Elder Ji leaned on his black wooden staff, standing at the very front of the procession.

He did not give the order immediately, merely looking up at the nine mountains, his cloudy eyes filled with complex emotions.

"The sacrificial ceremony begins."

He finally spoke, his voice not loud, yet very clear.

"According to ancestral teachings, those entering the mountains must first resonate with their Life Pattern to pray for The Superior One to sleep peacefully."

Ah Lie took a deep breath and was the first to step forward.

The young people whose names were called followed him to the front, their faces showing both nervousness and determination.

They sat down cross-legged one by one, forming hand seals, and began to activate the Life Patterns on their foreheads and wrists.

Chi Li stood at the very back of the procession, not far from Qin Yun. He did not move, merely watching in silence, his calm eyes revealing no ripples.

Streams of red-gold light lit up from the Life Patterns of the young tribespeople, interweaving in mid-air to form a net of light, which slowly drifted toward the highest peak in the center.

At first, everything was normal.

The nine peaks merely absorbed the light quietly, like a sleeping giant beast, seemingly breathing deeply.

Qin Yun stood where he was, his Heart Heavy Pupils silently activating.

What he saw was that after the power of the Life Patterns was absorbed by the mountains, it did not disappear, but flowed along some deeper veins toward the depths of the earth.

This was indeed an exchange.

The Chishan Tribe offered the power of their Life Patterns in exchange for the "peaceful sleep" of the Sacrificial Mountain and the stability of this world.

But just as the net of light was about to touch the stone wall of the central peak, a sudden change occurred.

Hum.

A low hum resonated, not from outside the mountains, but simultaneously from deep underground, from the very roots of the nine peaks.

The sound was like a heartbeat.

The faces of all the young people participating in the ceremony turned pale simultaneously.

They felt that their Life Pattern power was no longer flowing out slowly but was being forcibly pulled by an overbearing force.

"What is happening?"

Ah Lie was the first to cry out in alarm. He tried to withdraw his power, only to find his Life Pattern was already out of control.

Just then, Chi Li, standing at the end of the procession, suddenly stiffened.

The Life Pattern on his forehead, which had been almost invisible, lit up without warning.

The light was not red-gold, but cyan-gold, quickly overpowering the light of everyone present.

The broken dagger in Chi Li's hand clattered to the ground.

He raised his head, his face showing struggle and pain for the first time, yet his legs, as if guided by invisible strings, walked toward the nine mountains step by step.

"Chi Li!"

Ah Lie was both shocked and angry. He jumped up, wanting to rush over and stop him.

But as soon as he got within three feet of Chi Li, he was fiercely repelled by an invisible force and fell to the ground on his backside.

"Stop him!"

Sang He also reacted. Together with several other tribal elders, he activated his Life Pattern, attempting to set up a wall of light in front of Chi Li.

However, as soon as the wall of light formed, the cyan-gold Life Pattern on Chi Li's forehead flashed slightly, and the wall dissolved in an instant.

Their Life Pattern power was vulnerable before Chi Li.

The procession fell into complete chaos.

"I knew it! He is the source of disaster!"

"He is going to wake up The Superior One!"

Cries of fear rose one after another.

Only Elder Ji remained standing still. He watched Chi Li's back, his wrinkled face showing no surprise, only determination.

Qin Yun did not move either.

His Heart Heavy Pupils had already locked onto Chi Li.

He could see clearly that the red-gold chain that had once appeared in his perception had now transformed into a solid beam of cyan-gold light, with one end connected to the core of Chi Li's Life Pattern, and the other end deeply embedded into the depths of the central giant mountain.

This was not a curse.

This was a summoning.

It was something inside the mountain, forcibly summoning Chi Li back.

Amidst everyone's exclamations, Chi Li walked to the stone wall of the central peak.

He raised his hand, trembling, and pressed it against the stone wall.

Rumble—the entire earth shook violently.

It was not an earthquake; the mountains were moving.

Those nine giant mountains, which had stood for who knows how many ten thousand years, seemed to come alive at this moment.

Large chunks of rock began to peel off the surface of the mountains, and dust and smoke shot up into the sky, obscuring the red-gold firmament.

"The... the mountains are growing taller!"

A-Ye pointed into the distance, his voice cracking.

Everyone looked up in terror, only to see the nine peaks slowly "standing up" at a speed visible to the naked eye.

They were no longer mountains.

They were like nine pillars supporting the sky, rising from deep underground.

"The Superior One has awakened!"

"Run!"

The tribespeople of the Chishan Tribe were in complete chaos; they dropped their weapons and turned to flee.

But it was already too late.

An invisible pressure descended from the nine mountains, pinning everyone firmly in place, unable to move.

Ah Lie, kneeling on the ground, watched the ever-rising, changing mountains, his anger replaced by fear.

Only Qin Yun remained standing calmly.

He raised his head, the Dao Fruit of the Red Dust Immortal and the power of his Heart Heavy Pupils pushed to their limit at this moment.

The world in his eyes was completely different from everyone else's.

Those peeling rocks, that pervasive dust and smoke, were nothing more than layers of dusty camouflage in his eyes.

As the camouflage faded, the truth was revealed.

Qin Yun's pupils contracted slightly.

Those were not nine mountains.

They were clearly nine unimaginably large heads.

The nine heads were connected by nine long necks covered in rock-like scales to the same massive body buried beneath the earth.

At this moment, Qin Yun finally saw clearly what kind of terrifying existence the "Superior One" of this world truly was.

And the mountain peak that Chi Li had touched was shedding its skin the fastest.

The rock layer covering its surface fell away completely, revealing its true appearance beneath: cyan-gold, as if forged from divine metal.

It was a Phoenix head.

A Phoenix head so large it seemed capable of using the sun and moon as its eyes.

Its tightly closed eyelids moved slowly.

The next instant, that eye, which had slumbered for who knows how many epochs, opened.