The rain covered the sky. A dim dark light stream shattered countless raindrop and left a snow-white trace in the sky, dazzling straight up from the ground.
Flying for billions of miles, it broke hundreds of fierce layers of airflow, thunderbolts, raging divine fire, and crushed rosy clouds. Finally, a seven-colored warm light poured down from above.
Without Sky Pillar as a contrast, the heaven gate, which floated in the air, seemed to be even more magnificent.
Especially that, compared to days before, an unknown defensive magic formation had been activated. An anciently styled heavy memorial archway now stood by the gate of the heaven. The five-hundred meters tall archway was glowing with a warm light, with seven-colored clouds drifting out from it, transforming into an enormous light screen that covered the entire heaven gate.
Thousands of different sized, fiery clouds floated outside the archway, treading on which were Southern Wasteland warriors under the command of Zhu Rong. Standing in ordered lines, these warriors loudly cursed Gong Gong’s ancestors.
From behind the gate of the heaven, glowing clouds had been rising, within which, countless palaces were faintly visible. Occasionally, muffled thunders would come from deep inside the heaven, as if something big was happening in there.
Ji Hao gasped for air, then broke the thick layer of cloud in front of him and reached the heaven gate.
Lowering his head, he looked at Midland, which was now as tiny as a grain of dust. Ji Hao couldn’t help but shake his head. Back in the ancient times, could those legendary, powerful human beings truly climb up to the heaven to meet with Divine Emperors through Buzhou Mountain?
This was a joke, wasn’t it? Or was it a story made up by some elderly human beings?
Even with the golden bridge, Ji Hao had to spend so long to reach the gate of the heaven. How many years did those ancient human beings spend to climb up to the heaven with their legs? Perhaps, they had to get married and have children on Buzhou Mountain, generation after generation, and their descendants could eventually reach the heaven.
Letting out a long breath, Ji Hao sent the golden bridge back into his body. Then, Mr. Crow hovered in the air, expanded his body to meters wide, and carried Ji Hao towards the gate.
Warriors standing on the few fiery clouds flew to Ji Hao and prepared to shout him away, but Zhu Rong’s voice came over. "Ji Hao, what are you doing here? I heard that the rain is getting heavier and heavier down there. Is that true?"
Those warriors stepped back. Ji Hao flew forward and came to before the heaven gate.
In front of the hundreds of meter tall enormous archway, Zhu Rong was wearing a heavy armor, holding a pair of swords, and standing on a fiery cloud, while staring at this archway with a fierce aura of killing. The archway had been releasing a strong pressure. Hearing Ji Hao coming, he asked without turning around his head.
"It’s difficult." Ji Hao responded with a deep voice and stood behind Zhu Rong, "I don’t know about the other areas, but over ten-thousand villages around Pu Ban City have already suffered a flood. Crops are all ruined, and so is livestock."
He sighed and continued gloomily, "I don’t know if the peace agreement we signed with the non-humankind is still working. A thousand years of peace, hehe…If they attack right now, we wouldn’t even be able to prepare army provisions."
Zhu Rong turned around, glanced at him and asked, "Granaries in Pu Ban City?"
Ji Hao spread his arms and said with an even bitterer look, "All soaked… Some got moldy, some sprouted, and all are inedible now. Three-thousand large granaries were prepared in Pu Ban for wartime, but only a hundred and fifty of them remained undamaged till now."
Zhu Rong’s face was darkened slightly. He remained silent for a while, then said with a deep voice, "Tell Emperor Shun that the grains I stored in Southern Wasteland will be open for Pu Ban City to use. But shipping food from Southern Wasteland…Those patrolling ships of the non-humankind are not easy to deal with."
Ji Hao nodded, then raised his head and looked at the warm light released from the archway. He flicked his wrist and sent out a bolt of Yu Yu divine thunder, mixed with Qing Wei divine thunder. Yu Yu thunder was swift and violent, while Qing Wei thunder had a wider effect. The cyan and purple thunderbolt struck on the archway like a storm. Next, hundreds of meter radius spheres of thunderbolt blasted in a row, as a scorchingly hot thunder power spread in the air.
Even after madly attacking for a quarter of an hour, this enormous archway had still been unhurriedly letting out seven-colored mist and glow. The thunderbolts released by Ji Hao didn’t manage to break even a few clouds above the archway.
"Don’t waste your power." said Zhu Rong with a dark face, "This is the Southern Archway of the Heaven and Earth great formation, one of the most important four cores of the heaven. Not to mention you, even I can’t harm it, not even if I am a hundred times more powerful than now."
Ji Hao looked at Zhu Rong, remained silent for a while, then loudly shouted towards the heaven, "Gong Gong, come out and answer my question. Otherwise, your Northern Wasteland people will all be dead!"
Ji Hao’s threat seemed to be effective. Once he finished his sentence, Gong Gong’s cold and hoarse voice came from a distance, "Are you joking? My North Sea is a famous dangerous zone in the world. No matter how great your army is, what can you possibly do to my North Sea?"
Letting out a breath, Ji Hao took two steps forward and continued shouting with a harsh tone, "All masters of the art of poison from Magi Palace…"
Before Ji Hao finished, Gong Gong started laughing coldly, then said, "Ah, I almost forgot! My son, Wuyou, is dead. My only child is dead now. Why should I concern for the lives of those Northern Wasteland people? They might die, but I don’t care. Just do whatever you want."
Laughing creepily, Gong Gong continued coldly and emotionlessly, "Wuyou died alone, lonely and poorly. He’d be happier if so many families and friends died with him, wouldn’t he?"
Zhu Rong wielded the pair of swords in his hands, pointed the sword tips at the heaven, and growled, "Gong Gong, come out and fight me, if you’re a man! You, you, you! How dare you break Buzhou Mountain with my power?! You flagitious bastard!"
Gong Gong snickered and said, "Ahyaya, Zhu Rong kid, don’t wrong me. You punched me, then I bumped into Buzhou Mountain… It was an accident! I am the poor one all this time, am I not? Even my only son was killed by you, then you nearly beat me to death. You made me bump into Buzhou Mountain, how can you blame me for that?"
Before Zhu Rong said anything, Gong Gong continued, "Buzhou Mountain collapsed, and I am frightened as well. I activated the Heaven and Earth great formation and sent down divine thunder to kill you, not to break the mountain. Therefore, we have to be reasonable, we have to set things straight!"
Ji Hao didn’t want to waste any time listening to all this nonsense. He shouted angrily, "Gong Gong, if you’re still a man, tell us, what on earth are you trying to do? The rain hasn’t stopped. Do you know how many people might die?"
Remaining silent for a while, Gong Gong laughed slowly, "When the flood reaches to the sky, you will think of the goodness of mine."
"You can break into the heaven to kill me, if you’re powerful enough."
"You can also stop this rain by yourselves, if you’re powerful enough."
"Or, you can obediently surrender to me, to kneel in front of me, to follow my lead!"
"Apart from all this, what can you possibly do? Above the sky, I am watching you!"