In Stone Village, the Willow Deity stood silent, its tender branch radiating a gentle halo that enveloped the entire village.
The beast tide thundered past, yet gave this place a wide berth, leaving it the only spot spared from disaster.
A girl wearing the Five-Colored Garment knelt beside the charred willow tree, seemingly paying homage, though she was mostly trying to settle her own mind.
The scene was beautiful, making one feel that this was simply how things ought to be.
"Your heart is not sincere," the Willow Deity suddenly said.
As the Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit of Immortal Ancient, it had sensed not the slightest power of faith from this girl.
Shi Zhao opened her eyes, her starry gaze clear and bright, without a trace of hesitation or fear. She smiled radiantly. "Then please bless me, Willow Deity, so I can get what I wish for this time!"
The Willow Deity said nothing. It merely lowered its branch, wound it around the girl's waist, and shook her gently.
"Huh?!" Shi Zhao almost cried out. Her Cave Heaven manifested beyond her control, and several treasures fell out with a series of clangs.
The willow branch then released her, brushed over a bow, arrows, and a war spear, and gently pushed her away.
"Go," the Willow Deity said. Its charred trunk shuddered, and its branch blazed with light, brilliant radiance shrouding the entire village.
All the villagers trembled, feeling as though they were standing before a god.
The Black Cauldron passed down through the clan also resonated and shone, the images of ancient ancestors on its walls growing ever clearer.
"Big sister!" Little Shi cried out.
"Child..." The old clan chief tossed out the Ancient Beast Skin.
Shi Zhao did not reach for it. Instead, at the very last moment, she chose to sweep up the Black Cauldron.
"Wait for me to come back!" she shouted.
With a hum, green radiance shot skyward from the willow tree. Order Divine Chains interwove one after another, their brilliance too dazzling to look at. Then, enveloped in that light, all of Stone Village suddenly vanished from heaven and earth.
The Willow Deity had suffered devastating injuries, even losing fragments of its memories. It had only just begun to recover, and its strength was extremely limited. It still needed to lie low and recuperate, so naturally it had no wish to fight others without cause and waste its power on meaningless battles. It sought only to protect itself.
"Hmm? It actually escaped." On a distant mountain, Qiongqi seemed to sense something and turned to look.
Two bolts of lightning as thick as mountains shot from its eyes, striking where Stone Village had once stood. "What a pity. It was actually the resting place of a fallen god, and that one got its hands on it."
The lustrous white bone rose and fell, spilling streams of radiant light. The four great beings fought without pause, threatening to destroy the entire vast mountain range. The devastation swept across thousands of miles and spread into the boundless lands beyond.
"At this rate, who knows how many days it will take to wash this land in blood? Too slow. Let's do it ourselves and finish sooner!" The Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow swept across the sky like a black cloud.
It spread its wings, blotting out the sun and sky, forcibly seized the Mountain Treasure, and shifted the battlefield. It flew toward a princely domain tens of thousands of miles away, tossed aside the Mountain Treasure, and prepared to wash the place in blood.
This land belonged to the Thunder Clan. Its population numbered in the tens of millions, and it was exceptionally prosperous, yet today it faced the calamity of total annihilation.
Elsewhere, Shi Zhao had been sent away by the Willow Deity. When she reappeared, she had crossed tens of thousands of miles through the void, just in time to see the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow reveal itself far in the distance.
She parted her lips, then fell silent, a flicker of conflict passing through her eyes.
Her original plan had been to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight. She only needed to stay safely hidden until the four Venerable Level ferocious beasts fought themselves to exhaustion, then reap the fisherman's reward.
It would be just like her great haul last time, when she had obtained Suanni's remains without so much as blowing away a speck of dust.
She could follow exactly the same approach this time. All she had to do was wait for her chance.
When the time came, the greatest danger she faced might be the Bird Saint Honghu, who was likewise hiding in the shadows and was the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow's master.
In its twilight years, the Honghu Saint's vitality had waned. When its lamp was spent and its oil nearly dry, the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow had turned on its master. One of its spiritual bodies had been meditating when that most "filial" disciple swallowed it in a single gulp.
Yet an obsession had taken root in its heart, and it had stubbornly clung to one last breath, enduring rather than dying.
The Bird Saint Honghu was powerful. At its peak, it had even ignited its divine flame, transcending the Venerable Realm and becoming one of the strongest beings in the lower realm.
But it was simply too old and too weak, and it still had to hide from its fine disciple.
Shi Zhao believed that, with sufficient preparation and her trump cards revealed, she might well snatch food from the bird's beak.
But now, conflict filled her eyes, and her heart wavered...
The Great Wilderness was already running with rivers of blood. How could she turn a blind eye to the scene before her?
Was she truly going to watch from behind the walls as tens of millions of humans were devoured by this demonic bird?
"I regret it. I shouldn't have tried to be strong all on my own. Otherwise, I could have stopped this disaster."
Shi Zhao sighed. She only needed to reveal a little information about the Mountain Treasure. With her status, she could easily have brought Venerables from the Stone Kingdom to help.
What one saw and what one imagined were, in the end, two different things.
What she knew was nothing more than memories of cold words on a page. But what met her eyes was real blood and tears, the wailing of living beings, and rivers of blood. The impact struck her hard.
The next moment, the girl's gaze grew firm once more.
"Was the blessing the Willow Deity gave me before leaving because it foresaw my choice?"
Shi Zhao smiled mockingly at herself. Dazzling flames of light surged from the crown of her head. Her Primordial Spirit emerged from her body, wrapped in the drab Tattered Cloth.
Freed from the constraints of her frail flesh, her nearly solid Primordial Spirit instantly resonated with heaven and earth. Fortunately, the Tattered Cloth concealed every fluctuation.
She placed her physical body inside the Black Cauldron and buried it deep underground, then set out with her Primordial Spirit alone.
Wallowing in self-reproach meant nothing. Now she sought only to act with a clear conscience!
Above the Thunder Clan Territory, an enormous ferocious bird stretched across the firmament. Its eyes were as large as blood moons, and black mist wreathed its entire body, obscuring the whole sky.
The Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow opened its beak. A terrifying expanse of dark light poured out, enveloping this princely domain with its tens of millions of inhabitants.
Everyone shot into the sky, flying toward that enormous beak.
It was a horrifying sight, like the end of the world!
Suddenly, at that very moment, an almost imperceptible fluctuation arrived in a flash.
As it drew near, it abruptly erupted with radiance of utmost brilliance, golden as a great sun suspended in the sky, driving away all darkness.
The Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow reacted extremely quickly, yet it was still a step too late, because this attack came from a Primordial Spirit.
"Break!"
With a thunderous boom, the Bian Precious Technique erupted amid towering flames of light, illuminating heaven and earth.
Bian possessed an innate power of sealing. People often carved its image on prison gates to stand guard, and it could be said to be a natural counter to the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow.
Countless people fell from midair. Little Red Bird flew over and cast a spell to catch them, but many had already burst apart the instant the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow opened its mouth, turning into blood mist.
"Who is it? Who dares ruin my plans?!"
The Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow roared. Though it was a bird, it let out the bellow of a beast. It beat its wings fiercely, sending violent winds howling as all heaven and earth plunged into darkness.
It unleashed a Precious Technique, its demonic might overwhelming the world, its eerie wailing seeming to come from the nine nether depths.
Thousands upon thousands of black feathers imbued with terrifying runes shot toward her, each frighteningly thick.
Hiss-
The black feathers filling the sky gathered together, forming a black furnace taller than hundreds upon thousands of mountains. Vast and imposing, it stood between heaven and earth: a Heaven and Earth Furnace.
The Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow wove its own demonic feathers together and refined them with runes to form this terrifying demonic furnace. It trembled with a soft hum, seeking to suck the ambusher inside, suppress her, and refine her away.
"Get lost!"
Shi Zhao's figure was indistinct, enveloped in flames of light. Wielding a Golden War Spear, she struck upward into the nine heavens. A Bian roared, its body blazing gold and towering like a mountain as it raised its head and lunged forward.
Golden light collided with dark light, their force surging to the stars and shaking everyone.
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