Chapter 395: His Highness Is Ferocious
The sun herders on the Sun Ship were on high alert, each one soaring into the air, nervously scanning the barrier that shrouded the Sun Well.
The barrier of the Sun Well was formed from the light that erupted from within the well itself, creating a hemispherical dome of light that inverted over the area, guarding the Sun Well. The space for hundreds of miles around the Sun Well was its own self-contained world.
Qin Mu had never been to the Sun Well before, but he assumed that outside the hemispherical dome of light, there must be other forms of concealment to keep the dome from being too conspicuous or eye-catching.
Otherwise, a giant golden sphere hundreds of miles in diameter appearing in the Great Ruin would surely have spread word across the entire region and even beyond long ago.
Take Fengdu, for example. Fengdu only appeared when night fell, and even then it was completely invisible; only through a stroke of fate could one enter it.
The Sun Well should be like Fengdu, situated within the Great Ruin, likely completely invisible to the naked eye.
Therefore, finding the Sun Well was no easy task. The foreign gods and demons must have expended tremendous effort to locate this place.
The sky-dome of the Sun Well gleamed golden, as if forged from gold leaf. Suddenly, a massive face appeared on the dome—with a nose and eyes—pressing inward, seemingly trying to break through the barrier and enter the Sun Well.
This face had an extremely long chin, like a long handle, yet its mouth was located at the very bottom of that chin. Its eyes were enormous, and there was only one of them, occupying the center of the face, like a huge ball perched atop the bridge of its nose. It looked utterly bizarre.
"Which world's god or demon is this?"
Qin Mu was stunned. He had never seen a demon with such a form.
Just then, a series of wet, squelching sounds came from all directions. Strange faces pressed themselves against the sky-dome of the Sun Well, and in the blink of an eye, the dome spanning hundreds of miles was covered with faces!
These faces varied in size and appearance, but they all shared the same structure: a single, disproportionately large eye in the center of the face, a long chin, and a mouth at the bottom of that chin!
In the span of a single breath, the sky was plastered with these faces. Their huge eyeballs rolled back and forth, curiously observing the things within the barrier, wearing eerie smiles that made one's scalp crawl.
Suddenly, all the giant eyeballs on these faces turned in unison toward the sun suspended in mid-air, bound by chains. All the faces simultaneously showed expressions of surprise.
"These are Chong Shen."
The old chieftain's expression was grave. "A type of demon race. The Chong Shen demons are different from other demon races. This race excels at assimilation. When they encounter a form of life, they assimilate it, transforming it completely, turning it into one of their kind—or rather, into a part of themselves."
Qin Mu was taken aback. Assimilating others, turning them into their own kin, their own parts?
What kind of bizarre race was this?
"The most peculiar thing about the Chong Shen race is that they share a collective consciousness."
The old chieftain showed a flicker of fear, then quickly concealed it. "If you are captured by them, your consciousness will be assimilated by their collective mind. A single Chong Shen god often has millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of Chong Shen bodies. Their collective consciousness is incredibly powerful. If captured, they can directly overwhelm your consciousness and reshape you into a part of them!"
Ling Yuxiu, Si Yunxiang, and the others felt a chill run down their spines. If such demons were to break out of the Great Ruin and reach Yankang, the entire nation would likely be turned into Chong Shen demons within days!
With hundreds of millions of consciousnesses converging together, who could possibly resist?
It seemed the old chieftain of the Sun Herder tribe was right—if the sun herders were wiped out and the demons of the Great Ruin broke free, the outside world would be doomed as well!
Suddenly, the faces in the sky vanished. The old chieftain quickly said, "Please, Your Highness, take command of the Sun Ship and assist us!"
Qin Mu immediately rushed to the cluster of pillars and reached out to touch one. The moment his palm made contact, an immense power surged into him from the Sun Ship, causing his physical body to swell exponentially. His aura skyrocketed, leaping across the Seven Stars, Heavenly Human, Life and Death, and Divine Bridge realms, entering an unfathomable level!
Boom!
A series of explosions rang out in his body in rapid succession—the sound of his divine treasures opening one after another. Because the speed was so fast, it seemed like a single thunderous roar!
Waves of divine might erupted from within him in all directions, causing space to briefly warp, trembling with the ripples of the spatial distortion caused by his unleashed power.
"So powerful!"
Qin Mu's voice boomed with earth-shaking force. At this moment, he was one with the Sun Ship. The power transmitted into his body was even greater than that of the Moon Ship. The Moon Ship's moon had already gone dark, nearly shattered, but the Sun Ship's sun had been reignited by Qin Mu, greatly enhancing the energy stored within the vessel!
This power was pure yang energy, incredibly violent, filling his heart with a burning desire for destruction.
Two more arms grew from his armpits, gripping two more pillars. Qin Mu felt his power still surging wildly. Just then, he heard a soft tearing sound. Startled, he turned his head to look at his rear—a thick, powerful leg had grown from his tailbone!
"Uh... will Sister Jing also grow a third leg?" he wondered inwardly.
Standing on three legs, perfectly balanced and stable, Qin Mu's confidence soared. He looked up at the sky-dome.
The dome was eerily calm. Suddenly, with a thunderous crack, a long chin pierced through the Sun Well's barrier. The mouth at the end of the chin opened wide, and countless bizarre Chong Shen demons flew out from within.
The Chong Shen demons pouring from that massive mouth were like countless insects, a dark, oppressive swarm. Soon, they formed a cloud the size of a storm front, and the cloud grew rapidly, turning into a sea of black clouds.
The sea of clouds churned and surged downward toward the Sun Ship. Ling Yuxiu, Si Yunxiang, and the others looked up, their scalps tingling. The countless Chong Shen demons undulated like ocean waves, and the sheer number of them surging down could likely engulf the Sun Ship in a single clash!
Meanwhile, the long mouth protruding through the sky-dome continued to spew out more and more Chong Shen demons. Both Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang had been on battlefields before, having experienced the assault on the Wolf Juju Kingdom. That battle had been grand in scale—tens of thousands of soldiers clashing on the plains, with divine ability users, giant beasts, and towering ships colliding in a spray of blood and flesh.
But compared to the scene before them now, the Wolf Juju battlefield was like a small fry before a whale—utterly insignificant.
"Kill!"
On the Sun Ship, the sun herders roared their war cries. Giant figures activated their spiritual weapons, their blood boiling with fervor, ready for the coming battle.
Fox Ling'er was also ignited by their fervor. She raised her tiny arm, her face flushed with excitement, her voice still carrying a childish tone as she shouted, "Kill!"
Behind her, over a dozen flood dragons grew agitated, stretching their necks, bristling with killing intent, and opening their mouths to roar: "Mah—"
Fox Ling'er leaped onto the back of the black flood dragon, drew a small sword, pointed it skyward, and joined the dragons in shouting: "Mah—"
The dragon pack was wildly excited. Before the battle had even fully erupted, they carried the little fox into the sky, charging straight into the dark, swarming mass of demons!
"Ling'er, that little girl—she's just as reckless as the Sect Master!"
Si Yunxiang was frantic. She quickly leaped onto the back of the Dragon Qilin and charged up after them, afraid the little fox would be lost in the enemy ranks. Just as the Dragon Qilin took flight, Ling Yuxiu also landed on its back. The two women exchanged a glance and said in unison: "Be careful!"
Boom!
The Sun Ship collided with the Chong Shen demons. The massive vessel shuddered violently from the impact. There were only a little over a hundred thousand sun herders on the ship, but the Chong Shen demons numbered in the millions, even tens of millions!
Countless demons landed on the Sun Ship, and a brutal slaughter erupted. The sun herder warriors had absorbed pure yang energy since childhood, making their cultivation extremely profound and their combat power astonishing. Their physical bodies were especially formidable, far surpassing other races. Even their "children," standing three to five zhang tall, possessed innate divine strength.
Their magical power was also exceptionally pure. They were born with pure yang true fire and solar true fire. Their divine abilities were quite unique, and their spiritual weapons were mostly bells, cauldrons, swords, towering pavilions, and glazed pagodas—very different from Yankang's preference for blades and sabers.
With a single strike, they could crush and shatter the Chong Shen demons, rarely meeting their match. But the problem was the sheer number of enemies. Hundreds of demons swarmed like hornets from a disturbed nest, engulfing the sun herders one by one.
Shua shua shua.
The Chong Shen demons opened their giant eyeballs, firing beams of demonic light that riddled the sun herder warriors with holes. Once severely wounded, escape from the Chong Shen demons' mental suppression became nearly impossible. Hundreds of Chong Shen demons would gather, their eyes projecting black light onto the wounded sun herder warrior. The warrior's face would contort, his consciousness constantly rewritten, until even his own features could not be preserved.
His eyes would rapidly converge, the two eyeballs fusing into one giant eye in the center of his face. His mouth would gradually shift downward, his chin growing longer and longer, until he finally became another Chong Shen demon, joining the others in attacking his own kin!
The Sun Herder chieftain led several elders in a desperate struggle. Among the Chong Shen demons were terrifyingly powerful experts—strong beings who had been assimilated by the demons—whose strength was immense. Some even wielded demon god weapons as they charged in.
In the midst of the chaos, the old chieftain looked up and saw over a dozen giant flood dragons coiling and fighting in the sky, tearing the heavens apart. These flood dragons had attracted a large number of the Chong Shen demons' elite fighters.
But there were simply too many Chong Shen demons, and they kept pouring in endlessly.
"Why hasn't His Highness made his move?"
Just as the old chieftain had that thought, the Sun Ship's twelve legs suddenly began to move, striding step by step toward the edge of the sky-dome, picking up speed.
The colossal vessel, like a land-bound city, was accelerating, charging toward the dome.
"Your Highness, what are you doing?!"
The old chieftain hastily tore apart a powerful Chong Shen demon, ripping the creature in half, and rushed toward the center of the Sun Ship, shouting, "Your Highness, no!"
Boom!
With an earth-shattering crash, the Sun Ship smashed through the sky-dome, bursting out of the Sun Well's protective range!
Outside the Sun Well, a colossal Chong Shen god was kneeling on both legs, supporting its body with its hands, its chin plunged into the Sun Well's dome. Behind it stretched wings made of bone, constantly vibrating, occasionally flapping to stir up gusts of black wind.
The moment the Sun Ship shattered the dome, it sent the god flying. The god quickly flapped its bone wings, trying to take flight, but Qin Mu, standing at the center of the Sun Ship, suddenly grabbed hold of the chains and, with a mighty heave, swung the sun suspended in mid-air.
The old chieftain stared blankly, watching in a daze as Qin Mu swung their Sun Herder tribe's sun—using the sun itself as a weapon—and slammed it viciously into the Chong Shen god, shattering the deity in a single blow!
"Heavens..." The old chieftain's legs gave out, his body going limp as he collapsed to the ground, sitting down hard.
"This His Highness... is too ferocious. Once he sees an opening, he goes all out without a second thought..."
————La la la, happy birthday to book friend Mo Cheng Kong, may all your wishes come true, and everything go smoothly!