Chapter 363 - 152: The Past Is No More, Heaven’s Wrath Descends! The Black Rod Upholds the Heavens
It was as if a lost and desolate person had suddenly found their own soul.
This shook him to his core.
’Just what kind of person was that legendary Netherworld Venerable Master?’
’To have vanished for so many years, yet still command such reverence from this Old Mansion Master... or perhaps...’
’...it’s utter adoration!’
"The Venerable Lord loved to eat horse meat and have a couple of small cups of wine. Eighth Brother was unsmiling and solemn, always looking messy and disheveled..."
"Seventh Brother was immensely learned and gentle, rarely getting angry with anyone. Sixth Brother was hot-tempered, ready to explode at the slightest provocation. When things didn’t go his way, he’d lash out with a whip..."
"Third Brother had a fierce face; he was stout, short, and dark-skinned, but his heart was kind. Second Brother’s temperament, on the other hand, was the complete opposite..."
"He is the one with the greatest killing intent in the world. Bar none..."
"As for Eldest Brother, he was always mysterious, utterly unfathomable..."
Qin Wuliang seemed lost in reminiscence, as if speaking to someone unseen.
Cui Yanliang and Jin Yunfeng both remained silent, listening quietly.
They both knew that these words were not meant for them.
What Qin Wuliang needed now was simply someone to talk to; he didn’t need them to say anything in response.
After a long while, Qin Wuliang finally fell silent.
He gazed at the boundless starry sky and let out a long sigh.
"Second Brother, I’m leaving. Aren’t you even going to come see me one last time?"
RUMBLE!
The moment Qin Wuliang’s voice fell, claps of thunder suddenly erupted from the starry sky!
It was as if the heavens themselves were enraged!
Dark clouds, visible to the naked eye, rolled in at once. In an instant, they had blotted out the stars and moon. Within the roiling thunderclouds, bolts of lightning writhed like frenzied serpents, roaring and bellowing.
In that moment, sand and stones flew across the land. Countless drifts of snow were swept up by the fierce winds, descending like a boundless, howling blizzard.
An indescribably terrifying sense of oppression instantly filled the hearts of Cui Yanliang and Jin Yunfeng.
"What is this?"
Jin Yunfeng’s whole body creaked and groaned. He felt the vast might of the heavens pressing down, and thought he would be crushed to pieces in the next instant.
Cui Yanliang was in an even worse state. He lay trembling on the ground, his body nearly pressed into the very soil.
The might of the heavens!
The vast, overwhelming might of the heavens!
In but an instant, all living creatures in the mountains of the North Suburb, whether hibernating or not, involuntarily curled up and burrowed deep into the earth.
All of them were utterly terrified.
And in the Da Yu Capital City, hearing the rumble of thunderclouds once again, many people’s faces changed drastically. They fled for their homes in disarray, while some even began to curse out loud.
Farther away, every Cultivator in the entire Yu Province, even those in seclusion, was jolted awake. They looked up at the sky, their hearts filled with shock.
"Damned heavens!"
Qin Wuliang’s face was ashen as he gritted his teeth.
But just then, he heard a tremendous BOOM erupt from the depths of the void!
It was followed by a furious roar that overwhelmed the thunder in the sky, surging forth:
"You thing worse than a dog! I’m seeing my little brother off on his final journey, and you dare interfere!?"
"You screech like a ghost day in and day out! Isn’t it annoying!?"
BOOM!
A single furious shout echoed between heaven and earth, even louder than the thunder and lightning!
This sound shook the land for a thousand miles. The ground rippled like a wave, tossing vast expanses of snow, sand, and soil up into the sky!
Truly heaven-shaking and earth-shattering!
Cui Yanliang had just scrambled to his feet when he was caught off guard and nearly stumbled again. He looked up, his expression one of pure horror.
He saw a palm as white as snow emerge from the void.
The hand was a ghastly white, like that of a corpse that had been submerged in water for years. It had no luster and not a trace of color, filling anyone who saw it with a bone-chilling dread.
Streams of a terrifying, intangible aura emanated from that palm.
It was the aura of death!
An aura of death so dense it defied description!
KRA-KOW!!
As the palm extended, the thunder between heaven and earth, for some unknown reason, grew incomparably furious.
The frenzied lightning serpents and roaring Thunder Dragons instantly dove down.
Tens of millions of lightning bolts surged down like a torrential downpour, blanketing the sky and carrying a world-destroying might as they rushed straight for that palm!
HISSS!!
As the lightning erupted, the hand finally emerged completely from the void.
RUMBLE!
Stream after stream of violently burning, ghastly white flames burst forth from the palm, transforming into a boundless sea of fire that scorched the sky for ten thousand miles.
The vast aura of death spread out with it, like a relentlessly flowing Tian He.
It surged upward, rushing against the heavens!
「In a certain spot in the North Suburb」
Su Bai sat cross-legged atop a mountain peak, gazing at the heavens.
He saw the vast aura of death crisscross and intertwine, forming a black rod that seemed neither metal nor wood.
The black rod was indescribably massive, like an Immortal mountain stretching across heaven and earth, its size immense.
This black rod was wreathed in endless killing intent.
Facing the cascading lightning serpents and Thunder Dragons, it viciously lashed out toward the sky!
"KILL!!"
WAIL!
The mountain-like black rod struck the air, stirring up immense clouds of dust, accompanied by the endless sound of wailing ghosts and howling gods.
The moment it struck, it shattered the sky-blanketing torrent of descending lightning serpents and Thunder Dragons.
With undiminished might, it pierced through the void and slammed heavily into the roiling thunderclouds that ravaged the sky.
RUMBLE!
Ghastly white firelight and scattered bolts of lightning spread out in all directions. Every single point of light was like a meteor streaking through the sky, crashing to the ground with a deafening roar!
Upon impact, the earth shattered and flames erupted. Countless tons of earth, stone, and sand were all turned to green smoke.
In the Da Yu Capital City, many Cultivators looked up.
They saw that in the instant the black rod pierced the thunderclouds, an indescribably huge mushroom cloud instantly erupted from its center, from within the violently churning Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi and the madly trembling void.
The vast mushroom cloud, carrying streams of fire and flashes of lightning, expanded in all directions. It instantly illuminated the entire sky—the North Suburb, West Mountain, the Da Yu Capital City...
...and even the whole of Yu Province and lands farther beyond were, for a moment, brightly lit!
The sheer scale of the event was heaven-shaking and earth-shattering!
Seen from a distance, it looked as if the majestic starry sky itself had been torn asunder!
"Second Brother..."
A look of excitement appeared on Qin Wuliang’s face, as if he recognized who had just acted.
BOOM!
Between the stars, a series of tremendous rumbles echoed in all directions. The massive mushroom cloud, along with the sky full of thunderclouds, slowly began to dissipate...
But what followed was an even more terrifying, heart-pounding aura.
’Not good!’
Cui Yanliang’s Heart Spirit trembled, and he squeezed his eyes shut.
But even so, waves of intense pain shot through his eyes, and blood gushed out, streaming down his cheeks.
Jin Yunfeng, as if struck by a great hammer, fell backward. The bones throughout his body groaned and creaked, and he collapsed to the ground as if about to fall apart.
Qin Wuliang felt utterly oppressed, while Cui Yanliang and Jin Yunfeng’s Heart Spirits were filled with absolute terror.
Their Cultivation was weaker, and an invisible, terrifying power filled their minds, leaving them with no strength to resist as they knelt on the ground.
It wasn’t just the two of them. Throughout the Da Yu Capital City, Yu Province, and even in the more distant Great Provinces, the Cultivators who sensed this formless might...
...all felt their scalps tingle, their hearts filled with dread.
This scene was far too shocking.
The entire starry sky seemed to have become a boundless ocean, and the endless seawater was the churning, terrifying thunder!
Everyone who witnessed this scene felt a sense of spatial distortion.
"Is this a Thunder Tribulation? No, it can’t be. Forget a Four-Nine Thunder Tribulation; even the Six-Nine Thunder Tribulations that experts have crossed in the Historical Records weren’t this terrifying!"
"Could it be the legendary Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation?"
"Impossible! How could it be a Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation? Legend says that both the Four-Nine and Six-Nine Thunder Tribulations contain a sliver of Vitality, offering a chance to survive."
"But this Thunder Tribulation before us is filled with an endless aura of destruction! There’s simply no possibility of successfully passing through it!"
"And what is that black mountain piercing the clouds? It feels a bit like a... black rod?"
One after another, Cultivation Experts observed this location through various means.
However, beneath the thunderclouds, the endless Power of Destruction intertwined and surged, boiling like a tide.
Even they found it difficult to see clearly, and could only half-see and half-guess.
Just what was happening now?