Chapter 231: The Towering Deity and Ghost
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
Amidst the loud battle cries that lingered in the atmosphere, the blood energy behind Xiang Yu's back rose once again. The blood red war banner was waving violently in the strong wind, while the immense blood energy enveloped the eighty thousand army men and twenty thousand divine undead warriors standing behind his back. From the mountain ridges around them, huge blade beams and sword energies kept rushing and shooting out, bringing together tremendous forces as they hacked and slashed down forcefully. However, they could only generate large ripples on the blood red energy shield, yet failed to hurt even a single soldier behind Xiang Yu's back.
Looking up into the sky and letting out a loud laugh, Xiang Yu then said, "Ying Zheng, this formation of yours does have some peculiar abilities! Although I and my army were standing one hundred miles away from it, yet it could still forcibly drag us into it. But too bad, I am protected by the Banner of Chiyou that was passed down by the ancient fiendish divinity - Chiyou! Every single killing intent unleashed by your soldiers, regardless it is from a blade, a sword, or a spear, all of them will help improve the power of the Banner of Chiyou! So, what can you do to me?"
What he said was indeed true! Under the shocked glances of everyone, whenever there were huge blade beams or sword energy shooting out from the surrounding mountain ridges onto the Banner of Chiyou, they would be immediately sucked into it. None of these blade beams and sword energies, which were powerful enough to easily kill ordinary Nascent Soul Earth Immortals, could hurt the Banner of Chiyou. Instead, the killing intent that came with them were being transformed into the power of the banner itself. The more powerful the blade beams and sword energies were, the greater the murderous aura emanating from the Banner of Chiyou got. On top of that, as the banner itself was linked directly to Xiang Yu's life force, the energy ripples radiating from his body had also become greater and mightier!
After the tens of thousands of mountains shot out a blade beam or sword energy each and smashed into the Banner of Chiyou, and were all absorbed by the banner itself, the murderous aura bursting out from Xiang Yu's body had nearly taken a corporeal shape. Wearing a hideous grin on his face, Xiang Yu casually stretched his arm out toward a mountain to his left and performed a grabbing gesture. In an instant, the group of several dozens of Qin soldiers deployed on that mountain gave out a shocked cry, as their weapons, armors, and everything else that belonged to them carrying the killing intent of a battleground could no longer be controlled by them, and were now under the complete control of Xiang Yu.
The group of Qin soldiers were then pulled into the sky, and were sucked into the blood energy that burst out from the Banner of Chiyou while letting out miserable shrieks. Casually, Xiang Yu wielded the coiling-dragon spear and poked it out viciously, pouring out a tremendous force that shook the group of Qin soldiers and turned them into blood and gore. The bloody mass sprayed and splashed everywhere, and was then absorbed by the Banner of Chiyou. After that, he pushed his left palm forward, and thrust the several dozens of blades, swords, and spears of the Qin soldiers out towards the Qin soldiers who were standing on the peak of the other nearby mountain.
Miserable cries rang out again, as the second group of Qin soldiers had their bodies pierced through by the incoming weapons. The strong impact knocked them flying several thousand feet away, while from the sky, a large sheet of blood energy coiled down to them, wrapped around them and trapped them tightly within. In a blink of an eye, all their blood essence and flesh were sucked dry. With that, the murderous aura of the Banner of Chiyou had become even stronger.
After killing nearly one hundred Qin soldiers, Xiang Yu let out a loud and long laugh again. He abruptly raised the coiling-dragon spear high up in the air and roared out at the top of his voice, "There is no one under the heaven to equal us, the one and only Great Chu!"
Immediately, the several tens of thousands of Chu soldiers cried out at the same time, "There is no one under the heaven to equal us, the one and only Great Chu!"
The Banner of Chiyou then quickly absorbed all of the aggressive and violent combative will emanating from these several tens of thousands of Chu soldiers, transforming it into several thousand blood beams that shot whistling out at top speed, and plunged deeply into the surrounding mountain ridges. Quickly, Wu Qi exercised the Mystic Eyes of Universe with full force, and within his divine vision, he saw how these several thousand blood beams shot out with an unparalleled killing intent and pierced into the restrictive runes hiding inside of the mountain. He saw how they quickly spread out like an infectious virus, infecting, devouring, and even destroying those restrictive runes.
All the restrictive runes in the several dozens of surrounding mountains were contaminated by the fearsome devilish energy of the Banner of Chiyou, forcibly turning them into a blood red formation that was filled with a savage aura and an immense killing intent. The once pitch black mountain ridges suddenly took an unpleasant blood-red hue, emanating dazzling crimson gleams, which shone onto the Qin soldiers who were deployed on these mountains. They caused dense white smoke to surge out from their bodies while they let out painful cries of despair.
Enshrouded in the crimson gleam, the bodies of these Qin soldiers began melting down like a candle being burned by a raging flame, and their blood and their flesh were then absorbed by the mountain. Shockingly, after modified by the devilish energy from the Banner of Chiyou, these mountain ridges had transformed into monsters that could devour human flesh and blood! Meanwhile, after being nourished by the blood essence of the Qin soldiers, the crimson gleams drifting and darting quickly within the mountain began spreading out to the nearby mountain ridges that were yet to be contaminated, like a pack of hungry wolves who had just eaten and drunk to their heart's content.
One after another, mountain ridges were contaminated by the crimson gleams. Instead of attacking Xiang Yu, the killing intent unleashed by the Qin soldiers on these mountain ridges had become the best nutrients for the Banner of Chiyou, nourishing it and boosting its murderous aura, while it kept seizing over the control of the formation from one mountain ridge after another.
After fifteen minutes, over five hundred mountains had changed their color into blood red. They were now emitting a frightful killing intent that towered into the sky, turning this part of the land into a bloody field of slaughter. Sitting proudly on the back of the dark horse, Xiang Yu threw his glance over to the altar in the far distance and rested his eyes on Guigu'zi's face while saying, "Old fogey, what other abilities do you have? Show them to me now! As I'm protected by the Banner of Chiyou, no blades or swords or axes could hurt me, no raging flame or biting frost could touch me, no foul ghosts from the nether hell could come close to me, and no fiendish divinities in the entire universe could put their finger on me. As for you, old fogey, how could you hurt me with a mere formation?"
Wu Qi was drooling for what he saw. The Banner of Chiyou was truly worthy to be a treasure passed down by an ancient fiendish divinity! The murderous aura emanating from it was simply incredible and unparalleled! The restrictive formation, which in the knowledge of Wu Qi was a perfect formation with no loophole he could use, had a part of the controlling right forcibly seized away from it by the Banner of Chiyou, and the contamination was still going on very quickly. Judging from the situation, if Guigu'zi did not make some changes to the formation, sooner or later Xiang Yu would have obtained the control to the entire formation. At that point in time, it would not be the mighty army of Great Chu being trapped here, but the mighty army of Great Qin led by Ying Zheng.
When facing the Banner of Chiyou with the towering murderous aura, even Ying Zheng was dumbfounded.
He pulled out the Imperial Seal instinctively, and intended to use the power of Human Emperor from the Imperial Seal to destroy the Banner of Chiyou, but was immediately stopped by Li Si and Xu Fu. Although the Imperial Seal could unleash an incomparable power, it had to be driven by Ying Zheng's blood essence of Human Emperor, and his aura of virtue. With the cultivation base, blood essence, and the aura that Ying Zheng currently possessed, he would have to spend roughly one hundred years of his life to unleash an attack with the Imperial Seal. It was a severe cost for just one single attack.
Furthermore, and to be frank, it was still a doubt whether the Imperial Seal of Great Qin Dynasty could restrict the Banner of Chiyou, a mighty weapon passed down by the ancient fiendish divinity, Chiyou. According to the legend, Chiyou was killed by the ancient Human Emperor, the Yellow Emperor, Xuanyuan. Although Ying Zheng proclaimed himself as the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty, but no matter it was his virtue, cultivation base, or divine abilities, none of them could really be comparable to the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, one of the ancestors for the human race. So, it was actually predictable that his Imperial Seal might not be able to restrict the Banner of Chiyou, and most probably, he might even lose the bait along with the fish, having his Imperial Seal devoured by the Banner of Chiyou.
Right at the moment when Ying Zheng and all his subordinates were at a loss of what to do next, Guigu'zi, who was standing on the altar in the far distance while frowning and pondering quietly a moment ago, suddenly broke out into a loud laughter. "Do not worry, Your Majesty! There is one thing that can restrict this Banner of Chiyou! How could this mere devilish gear withstand the energy of righteousness that exists between the heaven and earth?"
After he was done saying that, Guigu'zi waved his hand in the air, and through the distance of over ten thousand miles he grabbed over the Imperial Seal held in Ying Zheng's hand. In addition to that, the Sword of Qin Emperor had also transformed into a golden beam and flew over to him. Finally, he shouted out in a loud voice, "Your Majesty, I need you to quickly write me an Imperial Decree, compelling the Heaven and Earth to vanquish the evils and demons, and eradicate this devil gear that left behind by the ancient fiendish divinity!"
Without hesitation, Li Si and Xu Fu pulled out an empty scroll of Imperial Decree, cinnabar ink, and writing brush. Then, Ying Zheng dripped a drop of his blood essence into the ink, and using the quickest speed, he wrote an Imperial Decree. When he was done, Guigu'zi waved his hand and grabbed over the Imperial Decree, picked up the Imperial Seal and forcefully branded onto the Imperial Decree. After that, he threw the Imperial Decree into the sky and cried out, "All the ghosts and deities between the Heaven and Earth, all the spirits in far and near, come quickly now and listen to the decree of Great Qin's Human Emperor!"
Vaguely, an enormous force of principle, very different from the natural energies, was aroused in the air. Following the incantation let out by Guigu'zi, the dark clouds hovering in the sky became thicker and denser. Thunderbolts that looked like flood dragons were wheeling and slithering rapidly amidst the dark clouds, gathering and forming an ocean of thunder slowly but steadily, smearing the dark clouds in the air with a dazzling hue of gold. Soon, a pressure of Heaven and Earth, tremendous and upright, came pressing down mightily from above, causing the murderous aura emanating from the Banner of Chiyou to become greatly stagnant, while halting the spreading of the crimson gleam abruptly.
A long and sonorous laugh was coming out from Guigu'zi's mouth, "The Hegemon-King of Western Chu, Xiang Yu, with your current cultivation base, do you really think that you are qualified to control this Banner of Chiyou? What a fool! The murderous aura is unleashed automatically by this devil gear itself! Without the force of Ghosts and Deities, no one can really control an item of Ghosts and Deities! Today, I'll make one thing very clear to you, that how an old fogey, a useless old fool, is going to teach you, a callow boy a lesson!"
Both Imperial Seal and Sword of Qin Emperor had also transformed into two golden beams, and shot into the dense golden clouds hovering high up in the sky. Exercising his energy, Guigu'zi suddenly roared out at the top of his voice, "Listen to my command, the soldiers of Great Qin! Drop to your knees right now, think of the face of His Majesty in your mind, and follow me in the recitation of the 'Mantra of Vanquishing Devils'!"
Immediately, over one million captains and soldiers of Qin army dropped to their knees on the mountain ridges, bowed and prayed towards the Heaven, while thinking about the face of Ying Zheng in their mind and following Guigu'zi in the recitation of a very short and brief mantra.
All the captains and soldiers of Qin army were capable and vigorous warriors. Each and every single one of them was beaming with energy and high in spirit. When this army of one million soldiers dropped to their knees and prayed at the same time, the willpower produced by them could be comparable to one hundred million ordinary civilians. The enormous willpower was gathered and condensed in midair, and was transforming into a vast and mighty aura of Human Emperor by the Imperial Decree, Imperial Seal, and Sword of Qin Emperor.
The surrounding mountain ridges had stopped extracting natural energies and turning them into blade beams and sword energies in attacking the enemies. Instead, they now transferred all the natural energies directly into the sky, into the Imperial Decree, Imperial Seal, and Sword of Qin Emperor. Supported by these enormous underground energies, the cloud hovering in the sky became thicker and denser, and the force of thunder gathering in them had also become stronger and stronger. A very huge pressure plunged straight down from the sky, pressing and pushing onto the crimson gleams emanating from the Banner of Chiyou, and making them slowly roll back into the banner.
Two bright beams shot out from Guigu'zi's eyes and reached a distance of nearly one hundred miles as he gave a very loud and stern cry, "Xiang Yu, you callow boy, you are not Chiyou. How can you have the right to control the Banner of Chiyou?"
Then, he casually pointed his finger out, driving the golden clouds in the sky to descend further down, while over millions of thunderbolts, each about one mile in diameter, streaked down with loud booming and rumbling like a thunderstorm that one could only see during doomsday. This thunderstorm that consisted purely of thunderbolts had gathered all the natural energies in the surrounding area of several tens of thousands of miles, gathered the willpower from one million Qin soldiers, and the aura of Human Emperor from Ying Zheng's body. All of them had transformed it into a pure, righteous, and noble energy of Heaven and Earth, that could destroy everything, which then smashed forcefully onto the Banner of Chiyou.
For all the things under the heaven, there would always one or more things that could reinforce and counteract them. It was true that the Banner of Chiyou had no fear of the killing intent emanating from all blades, spears, swords, and all sharp weapons, the energies of devil, deities, ghosts, monsters, and all savage and Yin energies. However, there was one thing it feared the most: the pure, righteous, noble and tremendous forces of Heaven and Earth, and the vast and seemingly endless willpower of Human Emperor.
In the ancient time, Chiyou was killed by the Human Emperor, Xuanyuan. And so today, as Ying Zheng was also a Human Emperor, he had the right to defeat Xiang Yu as well.
Loud booms kept echoing out as countless thunderbolts kept streaking down. Xiang Yu's body was trembling violently, as sticky fresh blood kept bursting out from all seven apertures of his. The Banner of Chiyou rolled and waved in the sky, letting out jarring shrieks and howls. Amidst the endless bombardment from the thunderbolts, the murderous aura gradually dissipated. And finally, it turned into a dimmed blood red beam and shot back into Xiang Yu's body.
It was not the end, as the thunderbolts had blotted out the entire sky and smashed down in the most aggressive manner. It looked like very soon, Xiang Yu and the several tens of thousands of army behind him were going to turn into nothingness. However, all of a sudden, a large black hole opened up in midair. Amidst a singing that sounded very simple and filled with an air of countryside, two large hands, fair and white as the finest jade, stretched out from the black hole, and greeted the incoming thunderbolts.
In the next second, the singing abruptly changed into sounds of praying, loud and sonorous, as if there was countless ancient people praying to the Heaven and Earth at the same time, generating an enormous willpower that rolled up into the sky. Countless Ghosts and Deities manifested in broad daylight, wearing solemn expressions and shooting up into the sky together with the two huge palms.
A million Ghosts and Deities had manifested and unleashed their power, while the willpower of countless ancient people was capable of smashing the Heaven and Earth.
The thunder clouds that blotted out the sky were instantly stirred into a mess by the two huge palms and countless Ghosts and Deities. After that, the two huge palms gently grabbed and quickly let loose of the grip, as Xiang Yu and his mighty army had already been transported outside of the formation.
Guigu'zi immediately let out a shocked cry, "Who is the almighty expert with such an incredible divine ability?"
Soundlessly, the two great arms retreated back into the black hole, then a voice, gentle like the calmest water and sounding like the beating of the finest jades, was heard coming from a far distance, "It is not the force from me alone, it is the force that consists of all the ancestor's souls, and the force of Ghosts and Deities that we, the Great Chu, had accumulated over the countless of years. I, Qu Ping, dare not claim the credit of the Heaven and Earth as mine."
The dark clouds faded away. Then suddenly, all the several tens of thousands of mountain ridges in the area crumbled and collapsed at the same time.