Gods Sing, Ghosts Chant, Aiding the Hero's Song: Heavenly Stars Illuminate Courage, Shining upon the Flute to Make a Song

While that furious roar still rolled like muffled thunder through ten thousand miles of sky, the youth, whom the savage blade aura had just frightened into a cold sweat, suddenly saw an enormous figure descend from above. With a mountain-collapse boom, it landed on the stone paving not far before him, shaking the walls of the nearby houses until they swayed and toppled into rubble.

At that moment, everyone who saw this thing fall across the sky, Xing Yan included, wore a look of horror, their legs trembling. Standing before them was a ferocious, hideous ghost giant:

His head was as large as a wicker basket, his body like a small mountain, his mouth a basin of blood, and his eyes great bronze bells. Blood-red hair covered his head, with two conical horns jutting viciously upright through it. His enormous body, more than thirty feet tall, was clad in dusky black armor and a battle skirt, with an armored belt strung from skulls and jade bones around his waist. A black-cloud cloak billowed behind him amid whistling ghostly winds and surging murderous intent. His half-exposed, corded muscles gleamed in the firelight; razor-sharp backward-pointing blades protruded from both armored wrist guards, flashing with a terrifying cold light.

Most striking of all was the enormous battle-axe in the giant's right hand. It shone with a dark luster, and a stark white skull crowned its haft, its sharp teeth interlocking as though poised to choose someone to devour. No one dared look directly at it. A taotie design was engraved upon the broad black axe-head, its shifting sheen making it seem alive.

Wreaths of black mist curled around the entire massive battle-axe, as though the darkest, most terrifying spirits of the underworld had gathered there.

The giant who had fallen from the sky