Chapter 582: The Great Disaster
"Father!" A child screamed as he woke up and shockingly found himself being sucked up into the sky.
The child quickly grabbed onto his father, a pale man who instinctively grabbed onto his child.
"Mom, Grandpa…" In just a moment, many children were screaming in horror; the adults and old men were frightened out of their minds as well.
"Quick, grab onto the pillar!" An old man shouted. His heart was stricken with fear and was aghast.
There was also a muscular man who grabbed on tightly to his bed's stands, but it was all useless; he was still sucked up into the sky.
In an instant, more than 300,000 mortals were sucked up as treasure pouches came down to trap all of them.
"What is going on?" The weakest of cultivators were also sucked up from the ground and were deathly pale from fear, just like the mortals.
"The ghost race!" They screamed while their souls were escaping from their bodies after seeing the big shots from the ghost race standing in the air.
These big shots all had divine rings around their bodies and great blood energy; they hovered in the air as if they were deities while using treasure pouches to suck in all the mortals and cultivators.
"Greenvine Ghost Tribe, Sacred Earth Sect, what feud does my Blackstone City have with you?!" A loud cry appeared. The Blackstone Monarch and several hundred of the strongest disciples of the city flew into the sky with rising fury.
This was met by a thunderous roar from above: "We have no feud, but we can't disobey the order of the Heavenly God. All of you stand aside or you will be sucked in as well!"
The Blackstone Monarch looked at the victims then angrily cried out: "Sacred Earth Sect, you are pushing us too far! If you want to take away my citizens, then ask the spear in my hand first!"
"Very well, as you wish." The thunderous voice replied. A palm descended with the intention to smash apart the entire Blackstone City.
"Activate!" The Blackstone Monarch cried out. His spear aimed for the sky in a very tyrannical manner.
"Plufff!" The palm only slightly trembled against this fierce spear then counter attacked from an unbelievable angle.
"Boom!" The Blackstone Monarch couldn't dodge the palm. With broken bones, he was blown away while spurting out blood.
The Blackstone experts quickly came to protect their wounded monarch and propped him up: "Master!"
"Protect Blackstone City!" The monarch commanded while disregarding his wounds.
"It's no use!" The expert in the sky said with a snort. With a deafening explosion, an invincible lance came down, piercing through all obstacles. The Blackstone Monarch and his disciples heaved a battle cry to meet this divine lance, but they couldn't stop it.
Miserable screams emanated and, in just a moment, many Blackstone experts died beneath this lance.
The Blackstone Monarch glared furiously and screamed: "Die!" The heavily wounded monarch wanted to use his strongest attack to slay the existence in the sky.
"Ding!" In the end, the monarch was just not a match. After three exchanges, he was nailed to the street by the divine lance. Although the lance pierced his body, the monarch still stood straight and didn't falter even in the face of death.
"You don't know your own limits." The powerful existence in the sky stared at the pinned monarch emotionlessly and shouted: "Take away all the mortals! The Divine Guard is waiting for a new batch to perform the blood ceremony!"
The rest of the ghost experts were spirited from the victory and took out more pouches to collect the remaining mortals and cultivators.
Continuous wails could be heard from within the city. Countless mortals didn't know why a calamity descended upon them. They tried to grab onto whatever was close, such as pillars or trees. However, it was all useless; how could mortals oppose powerful cultivators?
A few cultivators inside the city quickly fled after seeing the unfavorable situation, but they didn't make it far before being stopped. The attackers consisted of two great ghost powers with many disciples — quite a considerable force.
Another heroic group let out a loud cry, wanting to unleash all of their skills to save their people, but it was meaningless. A powerful existence stepped in, blowing away this entire group with a swing of his hand.
Southern Tang City was another large city in the Nether Border, one that had been standing for millions of years. There were more than 500,000 inhabitants that mainly consisted of humans.
The humans worked together to make Southern Tang a prosperous city. There were more than 40,000 cultivators at this city that did not lack Heavenly Sovereigns and Heavenly Kings.
"Boom!" Before many citizens could leave their beds this morning, it was as if the sky collapsed. While being completely lost, countless mortals in the city were sucked up into the sky.
A few people were still snoozing only to find themselves being sucked into the sky. They exclaimed in horror: "What the hell?!"
"Oh mother!" They all lost their minds from the current situation.
A treasure bowl created a terrifying black hole above the city's sky, and it sucked up the hundreds of thousands of citizens.
"Father! Mother!" Within a short amount of time, children cried helplessly for their parents.
"Hu'er!" A father cried out and tried to grab onto his son, but he couldn't resist the force from above. The parents screamed out in despair. Although they were inches from each other, they still failed to protect their son.
A group of cultivators rushed out and furiously shouted: "Who dares to do this?" They soared up into the sky and took out their treasures to destroy the gigantic treasure bowl in the sky.
"Hmph!" However, a snort appeared, coming from a person that was standing behind the bowl. He had a pulsing boil on his forehead, and a ferocious bug flew out from within.
"Ahh!" Screams resounded as this bug pierced these cultivators' bodies, killing them instantly. When the corpses fell to the ground, they immediately decayed into pus, horrifying spectators.
Seeing the bug killing so many cultivators left the rest with chills running down their spines. They cried out, aghast, after seeing the ghost race in the sky: "The Insect King Lineage!"
"Insect King Lineage! Don't think you can do as you please here!" The strongest Heavenly King at this location cried out while looking at the bowl that was sucking away countless mortals. He wanted to put a stop to the unstoppable engulfment.
At the same time, a bloody light descended from the sky, accompanied by an unstoppable imperial aura.
"Pluff!" It pierced right through the Heavenly King's head, causing blood to erupt as he immediately breathed his last.
"Immortal Emperor Life Treasure!" The cultivators in the city gasped after seeing their most famous Heavenly King die to the light.
"It is not too late to surrender!" A big shot from the lineage that was standing above them spoke gravely: "Otherwise, we shall grant you a fate worse than death!" The boil on this big shot's head was moving as if a Nether Insect King could fly out at any moment.
The spectators felt the creeps and quivered after thinking about the terrifying Nether Insect King. Another Heavenly King from the previous generation solemnly asked: "Southern Tang has done nothing to your sect, so why must you do this to us?!"
"We, the Insect King Lineage, have no grievances with your Southern Tang City." The big shot from the lineage revealed a sinister smile and answered: "But His Excellency, the Heavenly God, had given his order and we cannot disobey. Moreover… all humans deserve to die!" He spoke with a sharp glare that radiated anger and a terrifying, murderous aura.
There were reasons for this big shot from the Insect King Lineage to hate humans so much. First, not long ago, Li Qiye killed the Ghost Insect Evil Child, their descendant. Second, Li Qiye cracked the Evil Bell, their emperor's weapon. Eventually, the lineage expended numerous amounts of effort to restore the Evil Bell, but it was still extremely damaged and had reduced power.
Their hatred for Li Qiye ran deep, so it was a shame to them that he had died in the path of death. Now, the Heavenly God wanted mortals from the other races for the blood ceremony, so the Insect King Lineage was the first to heed their call. They personally came to the Southern Tang City in order to capture all the humans for revenge.
"The Divine Guard Captain wants your fresh blood for a sacrifice. If you all surrender, then I'll spare you from pain!" This big shot gazed at the cultivators in the city and let out a dark smile.
The Southern Tang cultivators furiously shouted after hearing this: "We'll die either way. Don't waste words with these bastards!"
One Heavenly King personally led a group of experts to rush into the sky once more: "Kill!"
They wanted to fight against the big shot from the imperial lineage and risked their lives on a chance of victory.
"Ignorant fools." The big shot replied with a disgusting smile as his insect left his forehead.
At the same time, other great characters from the lineage appeared. All of them were elders; there were even some high elders as well as an ancestor.
They all took action with their insects. These bugs immediately left their flesh pouches, creating an extremely horrifying scene.
"Ahh!" Suddenly, screams echoed out continuously as one cultivator fell after another. The lucky ones died on the spot, but the unfortunate few quivered uncontrollably after being bitten by the insects. It was a terrible and agonizing fate as they watched their bodies rot inch by inch before dying. Some experts couldn't handle this kind of pain and committed suicide.
582 Teaser"Father!" A child screamed as he woke up and shockingly found himself being sucked up into the sky.
The child quickly grabbed onto his father, a pale man who instinctively grabbed onto his child.
"Mom, Grandpa…" In just a moment, many children were screaming in horror; the adults and old men were frightened out of their minds as well.
"Quick, grab onto the pillar!" An old man shouted. His heart was stricken with fear and was aghast.
Below was a muscular man who grabbed on tightly to his bed's stands, but it was all useless; he was still sucked up into the sky.
In an instant, more than 300,000 mortals were sucked up as treasure pouches came down to trap all of them.
[collapse]Chapter 583: Thirteenth Palace
Shrill screams reverberated throughout Southern Tang City. Although it had many experts that included a few Heavenly Kings, there was too big of a gap between the city and the Insect King Lineage. Moreover, the lineage didn't only have more Heavenly Kings, even an ancestor presided over the events in the sky. The two sides were not comparable.
Any cultivator who had the strength to resist was massacred by the lineage while the weaker cultivators were sucked into the bowl. They would be part of the sacrifice.
Southern Tang City carried a heavy stench of blood after the resistance was quelled.
"Take them all away, leave none behind." The Insect King Ancestor's voice echoed in the sky.
In a short period of time, the sun had finally risen, and Southern Tang City that had stood strong for millions of years was now deprived of people, creating a disturbing silence.
The city streets that were painted red under the sunlight were completely empty. The only things left were dead corpses scattered on the ground; these were the remnants of those who opposed the imperial lineage.
The wind now carried a creepy stench of blood. Southern Tang City — once a famous land for humans at the Nether Border was now a city devoid of life!
On the same day still early in the morning, the demons, Heavenly Devils, and those of the Blood Race among others at the Nether Border had their big cities invaded. They were quickly defeated by the great powers and imperial lineages from the ghost race. Regardless of their race, all the mortals were taken away while the cultivators who resisted were all killed.
Panic quickly spread across the races in the Nether Border. Mortals everywhere quickly fled after hearing the news. However, the Nether Border was too big for mortals, and it was also ruled by the ghosts; if their cities had fallen, then they had no remaining haven.
The safest place was most likely the southern Distant Cloud, but it was very far from the Nether Border; it was millions and millions of miles away. Without a portal from a great power, none of them could reach the Distant Cloud.
Under such a desperate situation, the great powers of the ghost race that weren't participating absolutely wouldn't help the fleeing cultivators from the other races, let alone mortals. Cultivators, at least, could run into the deep mountains and dangerous territories, but where could mortals hide?
With the Heavenly God Decree, the ghost powers quickly left the Prime Ominous Grave to carry out the order; it didn't matter whether they were willing or not. The big shots from the ghost race rushed for the territories with mortals from the other races as secret portals were opened one after another.
The great ghost powers swept through seven capitals and dozens of other big cities and towns to capture five to six million mortals from the other races.
Such a big operation was unprecedented since several big countries were destroyed in the process. This had never happened before! Although the ghosts and the other races didn't get along and had occasional conflicts, mortals were excluded from these struggles.
This time, the great powers didn't have a choice. This included a few reclusive ancient clans that held this order with great contempt; they couldn't resist the order of the Heavenly God. Not just anyone was as powerful as the Myriad Bones Throne and could ignore the decree.
Of course, some powers also volunteered with excitement to carry out this decree, especially the lineages who already wanted to take advantage of the situation or wanted to exterminate the other races.
Although resistance could be found everywhere, the Nether Border was still the world of the ghosts so the other races had limited forces. Moreover, the ghosts expended all of their strength for this crusade. Even a monstrous existence like the All-Eras Ancient Kingdom listened to the decree. The struggle of the other races' cultivators was completely useless.
The battles went on throughout these cities and ended with cultivators killed and mortals captured. Very few managed to escape from the grasp of the ghosts.
Deep inside the path of death at the pond, Li Qiye was still cultivating. Explosions came after another as a divine light filled his palace meridian. Right now, one could see an outline of a new palace!
Li Qiye tried his best to use the essence of the pond to build the thirteenth palace, unique throughout all the ages.
Anyone would lose their mind if they saw this scene. There were twelve palaces hovering above his head while another was being built inside his meridian. This was an impossible matter, but right now, this miracle was occurring due to Li Qiye, a miracle across the ages.
"Boom!" The thirteenth palace finally appeared inside and wanted to leave the meridian. If it could successfully leave without shattering, then Li Qiye would be successful.
"Xshhhh!" However, right when the palace intended to leave, the sky suddenly struck down with innumerable streaks of lightning. Each bolt was the size of a mountain range; even the most powerful of existences would be incinerated by such a force.
Li Qiye, however, didn't even bat an eyelash. He took out the Yin Yang Refining Immortal Mirror.
"Buzzz—" The mirror poured down an endless immortal light as waves of universal laws protected Li Qiye. The Yang and Yin fishes swam around his body to form an extremely powerful defensive line, protecting him from the lightning tribulation that descended like rain.
"Bang—bang—bang!" Lightning struck down like a waterfall, but the mirror managed to block it all.
During all of this, none of the lightning managed to even get close to the headless man walking around the pond. It was as if the headless man was powerful to the point where even the tribulation was afraid of approaching!
As the lightning tribulation continued like a raging storm, Li Qiye was focusing on the thirteenth palace. He wanted it to leave his meridian. As long as it could leave, Li Qiye's goal would then be achieved.
"Punish!" However, right when this last palace was about to fly out, another firmament suddenly appeared in the sky alongside the lightning tribulation. This was a different sky, a different firmament like the home of immortals.
Suddenly, the will of this firmament descended, and the Yin Yang Mirror couldn't stop this will from attacking the thirteenth palace.
"Punish!" This one word was the will of this firmament and was completely unstoppable. No treasure could stop it, and even someone with the strongest body would turn into ashes.
Anyone would be scared to death if they were to see this scene. The will of the heavens descending was something unheard of. Even the most heaven-defying genius wouldn't face such a thing when undergoing their Physique Tribulation, Life Reduction, or Fate Calamity. However, this firmament had now appeared and declared its intent.
To be able to alarm the high heavens to the point where it sent down a tribulation like this was comparable to the ascension of an Immortal Emperor! Without a doubt, opening the thirteenth palace was something forbidden by the heavens!
The heavens decided to punish Li Qiye in light of him opening the thirteenth palace in such a terrifying manner.
"So what if you are the heavens?! I am above the heavens!" Li Qiye roared in the face of the oncoming wrath.
"Boom!" With a blaring blast, the twelve Fate Palaces disappeared from above his head and turned into its own firmament.
With this new firmament, Li Qiye's will soared above the nine heavens. His firmament exuded an endless stream of light after his command.
"Seal!" As the wrath of the heavens was about to descend on his thirteenth palace, Li Qiye used his supreme will to seal this punishment. At this time, his will was no weaker than the will of the heavens. His supreme will intertwined with the boundless momentum of his firmament as if he was the ruler of the heavens and myriad worlds.
"Boom!" An enormous blast resounded as Li Qiye's will stopped the wrath of the heavens from above.
Anyone who saw this scene would turn crazy! Who in this world would dare to oppose the will of the heavens? Li Qiye, at such a young age, didn't only oppose it, he was also trying to seal it — how frightening was this?
"If the heavens wishes to oppose me, then I shall seal the heavens!" At this time, Li Qiye's domineering aura filled the atmosphere. He courageously stepped forward in a manner showing that no one, not even the heavens, could stop his determination! 1
The wrath of the heavens was sealed as countless divine lights detonated in the sky as if the firmament was raging. At this moment, a boundless image descended onto the world as another invincible will of the heavens arrived!
Heh, this time it's Nahct's note! He originally said "I will seal the heavens!" but I couldn't resist changing it. ↩