Chapter 253 — The Offering
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 1 of 5
On the platform above the blood pool, both Ming Li and the Ghost Master raised their heads to gaze at the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron suspended in midair, yet the expressions and the lights in their eyes were utterly different. Ming Li's held shock tinged with stupefaction; behind the Ghost Master's black veil, his eyes were filled with nothing but wild, exultant joy.
With the final and most vital shackle of the Heaven-Earth Lock gone, the mysterious power upon the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron seemed now to have fully come back to life. The dark crimson blood-essence churned and surged madly, and that demonic face, too, seemed to have been granted life—its luster flowing, the pair of blood-red eyes trembling faintly as though possessed of a spirit of their own.
An invisible yet dreadful sense of oppression poured endlessly from midair, so stifling that one could scarcely breathe.
Ming Li came back to himself from the shock, turned toward the Ghost Master, and roared in fury, "What have you done?"
But the Ghost Master seemed deaf to his angry shouting. His eyes were full of excitement, even a touch of madness; he stepped forward a few paces and then, all at once, knelt down toward the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron in midair.
Ming Li was aghast, staring at that black figure in disbelief. Beneath Ming Li's astonished gaze, the Ghost Master spread his arms wide and stretched out his hands, crying aloud, "Asura!"
"Boom!" A dreadful crash, like a monstrous demon wakened from its slumber, rippled outward from the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron. The stone walls on every side of the cavern burst with cracks at once; countless massive boulders crumbled and came crashing down. And in the vast blood pool below, the blood seemed seized by a colossal force—with a tremendous roar, a dozen or more columns of blood shot up out of thin air, grotesque and magnificent.
Upon the Dragon-Subduing Cauldron, a faint red shadow appeared. The shadow wavered between visibility and obscurity, but clearly it was twisting and struggling, growing ever more distinct, about to manifest in this place. Even at a great distance, Ming Li felt that fearsome power—and the mad killing intent within it—clear and unmistakable.
He fixed his eyes upon the red shadow for a long moment; the expression on his face shifted rapidly several times. Then of a sudden he stamped his foot, his form rose, and he sped toward the cavern mouth. Though he knew not what manner of uncanny thing this was that was about to be born, the colossal power it contained was plainly beyond what human strength could withstand. Had that mysterious Heaven-Earth Lock still been in place, there might yet have been a turn for the better; but now the Lock had been shattered by the Star Plate. Ming Li's thoughts spun—and he decided on the spot to leave this place.
He was long since no longer the simple, hot-blooded youth of those years, who would sacrifice everything for justice. In his heart, perhaps, he did not fear death—but there were things more important than death.
The quaking of the earth around him grew ever more violent with the appearance of that uncanny red shadow. Even a moment before, an unease had kept rising in his heart: this anomaly, such as had never occurred within Mount Huqi, might it endanger Bi Li?
At this very moment that unease in his heart grew stronger still, and he had no wish to entangle himself here any longer; he resolved to go. As for the others in this place—the Ghost Master had clearly now fixed his whole spirit upon that mysterious red shadow, and paid Ming Li's departure no heed. Beneath the crimson radiance, even his eyes seemed to have turned red.
"Asura..." He raised his hands, lifted his face to the sky, and cried aloud.