Stranger Danger

It was only now the bell chime and the profound light occurred.

The bell chime was grand, loud, and ancient like it heralded from a time immemorial.

The profound light was manifesting celestial bodies in the sky, and mountains and rivers on the ground. Thick, vast, and awe-inspiring, it was illuminating spacetime itself.

Where the bell chime reached, space shattered, and the ground turned upside down.

Where the profound light touched, Five Phases became reversed, and all creations fell into Primal Chaos.

“Dammit!”

Xiahou Zun, Wan Lingxiao, and Long-browed Divine Monk paled at the same time. Even they felt an unbelievable threat from the bronze bell.

Ghost Taisui was the closest to the bronze bell, he instantly shattered into many pieces. A bloodcurdling scream escaped his throat as he tried to escape, but the profound light hit him next and melted him like snow.

Xiahou Zun, Wang Lingxiao, and Long-browed Divine Monk paled even more when they saw this. They hurriedly activated their Magia and Strange Artifacts to block the bell chime and the profound light.

“For the sin of blaspheming against me, you shall all come to the grave with me!”

Having been struck by one misfortune after another, Xuanyuan Kun had been tethering on the brink of no return. It was then the bell chime happened and distracted the four Sages.

Xuanyuan Kun should’ve seized the sudden lessening of pressure and ran away, but instead he roared, “Heaven and earth live together, celestials and demons die together!”

His body immediately started turning red as blood. At the same time, a crazed, chaotic, destructive aura rushed into the sky. For a moment, he looked like a bomb that could destroy heaven and earth.

“Get away!”

Xiahou Zun, Wan Lingxiao and Long-browed Divine Monk paled for the third time, but it was unlike the previous two times. This time, it was because of terror.

If the bell chime and the profound light only made them feel threatened, then Xuanyuan Kun’s power terrified them.

It was the kind of terror one only experienced when their life was in grave danger.

The three Sages stopped hesitating and abandoned Xuanyuan Kun. They did everything in their power to escape.

Xiahou Zun crossed his saber and cut open a spatial rift in the sky. Then, he dove inside.

Wan Lingxiao devoted herself to the sword and crossed fifty kilometers in a single breath.

Long-browed Divine Monk clasped his hands into a prayer and his two eyebrows weaved a cocoon around himself. Then, a transparent Buddha hand reached out from the underground and dragged him toward an unknown Kingdom of Buddha.

“Die with me! Hahahaha!”

Finally, Xuanyuan Kun’s power reached its limit. The celestial laughed madly as his body shattered without a sound.

BOOM

The moment was indescribable. Not truly. It felt like the sun had collapsed, or the moon had shattered to smithereens. Overwhelming death and destruction washed out in every direction and annihilated it all.

The ground was tattered to begin with, and the explosion positively broke it into many pieces. The twisted, distorted sky fared worse and dissolved into primal chaos.

For a time, it looked as if an apocalypse had descended upon humanity.

The outburst of violent, chaotic, and all-consuming force lasted dozens of breaths before it finally began to subside.

When all was said and done, the land was a significantly worse place than it was before. What was a lush, green plain before was now a lifeless, barren wasteland. The Black Water was severed, and the Cyan Mountain was broken. The ground was marred by countless ugly and bottomless chasms, whereas the sky was savaged by many vague and formless scars. Currents of chaos were springing to life and running wildly as well, destroying anything and everything.

Even the Radiant Tree that stood lofty and proud at the peak of the Cyan Mountain for countless ages was ruined. Its roots and branches were completely snapped, and its crown was burned into a crisp. All that was left behind was a scorched, blackened tree trunk.

That said, there was a hue of faint crimson in the tree trunk. It was proof that the Radiant Tree, as damaged as it was, was still alive.

“Cough! Cough! That old bastard… what a move!”

It was at this moment Xiahou Zun flew out of a cluster of chaotic currents. He staggered as soon as he hit the ground.

Xiahou Zun looked nothing like the handsome, rugged man he was before. His clothes were in tatters, and his body was covered in ugly wounds and burn marks. Although his body was unleashing a stream of vitality to heal them, the wounds were immediately reopened by a different, terrifying energy.

Xiahou Zun did not seem to care about his injuries though. He was staring at the utter destruction before his eyes with a stunned expression.

“My Buddha… cough… is merciful…”

Another voice spoke, and an arm reached out. It was Long-browed Divine Monk climbing out of a scorched pile of rubble.

Long-browed Divine Monk was looking no different from Xiahou Zun in the sense that his kasaya was tattered, his complexion was sickly pale, and golden blood was dripping out of his nose and other orifices.

His defining feature, his long black and white eyebrows, were conspicuously missing. It was a rather amusing sight.

“Huh? Where did your eyebrows go, old monk? It looks like you’re going to have to amend your title to Browless Divine Monk from now on!” Xiahou Zun couldn’t help but joke when he saw this.

“It’s a good thing. You look way better without eyebrows than with, monk.”

Wan Lingxiao appeared in the distance at nearly the same time. Bloody coughs racked her body as she drank her wine, though she did not care about it in the slightest. She gulped it all down with her beloved alcohol.

A disgruntled-looking Long-browed Divine Monk said in a helpless tone, “Stop making fun of me and check if the celestial is actually dead already, you two.”

“He’s… probably dead.”

Xiahou Zun said a bit uncertainly, “I mean, he self-destructed, didn’t he?”

“I don’t sense any sign of life at least,” Wan Lingxiao shrugged.

“My Buddha is merciful, I have searched everything within fifty kilometers using the Heavenly Hearing Art and found nothing as well,” Long-browed Divine Monk also said.

“Then he’s dead.” Xiahou Zun shrugged.

“We cannot be careless. He is a celestial. He may know a Magia or a secret art that could foil our search attempts,” Long-browed Divine Monk advised in a worried voice.

“Tsk. What’s there to be worried about? Even if he is still alive, he detonated his own celestial body and mind. There is no way he can pose a threat against us in this condition,” Xiahou Zun scoffed.

“He’s right. We killed him once, we can kill him again.” Wan Lingxiao sipped her wine uncaringly.

“Amitabha…” Long-browed Divine Monk fell silent. To be honest, he thought the exact same thing. He also believed that the probability that the celestial had died was higher. His worries were just that, needless worries.

“Oh right, what about that old fart? He couldn’t have died, could he?” Xiahou Zun suddenly recalled something and said excitedly.

“Of course not,” Wan Lingxiao replied with equal interest, “That old fart’s whole schtick is about escaping from danger and living longer. He would probably outlive you, to be honest.”

“Still, today’s incident had to have dealt him a huge blow.”

“Hahaha… I know right? The hunter finally lost an eye to the prey he was hunting[1]. He deserves it.”

Although they had all taken serious injuries from the celestial’s self-destruction, Ghost Taisui had taken a serious blow from the bronze bell as well. Therefore, it made sense that he suffered even worse injuries than them. Just the mere thought of the old fart’s plight was enough to make them feel much happier.

Sure, it wasn’t very moral of them to delight in another’s misery, but so what?

Long-browed Divine Monk shook his head at the two Sages who were throwing out “old fart”s non-stop and delighting in Ghost Taisui’s misfortune, but frankly, he bore no good will toward the infamous villain who had committed every sin under the sun either.

1. An idiom. Probably mentioned it before, but it basically means someone who repeats a risky task is bound to have an accident related to those risks no matter how experienced he is because accidents are a thing. ☜