"Was it... your turn?"
It seemed no one had ever said those words to the Cangtu God, yet it also seemed... He had heard them countless times before.
There had never been the exact same words, but the same thing had happened over and over.
Not a single one of those Great Mu monarch statues standing along the mountain path had died facing away from the mountain.
Every one of them faced Him, sword drawn!
Where... had such courage come from?
"Then—your turn has come."
The great deity opened its wolf maw, its voice carrying a majesty that disregarded the passage of time. "Though gods cherish all living things, they do not forgive the stubbornly benighted. Let this Venerable One bring the Helian imperial clan to its end, erase this chapter of your story... Back then, Blue-Eyed Child nearly froze to death at the foot of Qionglu Mountain amid great wind and rain. Now, this entire line of blood will be buried atop Qionglu Mountain. It may be called the turning of karma, a beginning met with an end."
Helian Zhaotu continued walking forward slowly.
When the Cangtu God threatened him, he walked like this. When the Cangtu God invited battle, he walked like this.
Gods had the will of gods.
He had his own order.
Though the road ahead was difficult, his feet were on solid ground. Having only just attained the pinnacle, he ascended to heaven; this slow advance against the Heavenly Wind was also the process by which he adapted to the power of the pinnacle.
Snow still drifted through the Heavenly Kingdom, and Helian Zhaotu moved across the enormous plaza like an ant.
The deity seemed to grow impatient and shouted, "Come closer!"
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Across the vast plaza, the stone slabs began to move.