Chapter 85: Ancestral God
The channels on the ground around the statue of the young scholar had already been filled with blood, and all of the blood was converging toward the foot of the statue.
As the white-haired elderly man uttered his prayers in a trembling voice, a layer of crimson light on the surface of the statues began to pulse erratically, while a crimson vortex was revolving incessantly in front of the elderly man, releasing bursts of peculiar fluctuations.
All of a sudden, a faint buzzing sound rang out, and light flashed from the crimson vortex as a crimson-armored warrior emerged from within. It insepcted its surroundings momentarily with a wooden expression, then sprang up into the sky and rushed directly toward the battlefield outside the plaza.
Moments later, the crimson vortex flashed again, and another crimson-armored warrior emerged before joining the battle outside.
Right at this moment, a little black-robed girl who was seated on the plaza suddenly collapsed and fell to the side.
Her face was deathly pale, and even her lips were completely devoid of color. The gash on her wrist was still open, but she no longer had any more blood to give.
A sympathetic look appeared on the white-haired elderly man's face upon seeing this, but all he could do was wave a dismissive hand.
Among the dozen or so people waiting off to the side, a burly man immediately strode forward and carried the little girl away, then fed her a red pill.
The spot that was vacated by the little girl was quickly taken by a girl who was roughly the same age as her.
The little girl had a rather fearful look on her face, but she immediately sat down ith her legs crossed without any delay, then replicated what everyone else was doing, rolling up her left sleeve before pulling out a small knife that she held against her wrist.
She then closed her eyes in a fearful manner and bit down onto her own lower lip before slashing the knife across her wrist.
A bright red gash instantly appeared, and a stream of blood began to trick down onto the channel in front of her.
……
The altar was operating at full capacity, periodically producing a crimson-armored warrior to join the battle, but that was only delaying the inevitable defeat of the human camp.
As time slowly passed by, the sounds of the battle taking place outside drew closer and closer, and the people on the plaza began to fall deeper and deeper into despair.
The altar array around the statue of the scholarly young man was the basis of their tribe's heritage. If it were to be conquered by their foreign enemies and the statue were destroyed, then their tribe would've well and truly fallen.
At this point, all of the human cultivators outside had already been forced back into a protective circle around the array, making one final desperate effort to keep their enemies at bay.
High up in the sky, bursts of thunderous rumbling were ringing out incessantly as several balls of dazzling light clashed violently, following which around a dozen figures emerged from within.
Six of those figures were green-skinned foreign beings with scorching bloodlust and battle intent in their eyes, and the tusks that were prturding out of hteir mouths were gleaming with a cold light.
The green-skinned foreign beings were very physically imposing to begin with, and they were led by a purple-robed man who was signficantly taller than even his brethren, standing in mid-air like an impregnable tower.
His aura was extremely vast, belonging to a Grand Ascension cultivator, and the five green-skinned foreign beings accomanying him were all at the mid-Body Integration Stage or the late-Body Integration Stage.
These foreign beings also had the same layer of white light over their bodies, but theirs were far more substantial than the layers of white light enveloping the bodies of their brethren.
The six green-skinned foreign beings were opposed by five human cultivators who were led by a slightly portly scholarly young man who was at the late-Body Integration Stage, but the rest of the group were all only at the early-Body Integration Stage, so it was clear that they were going to no match for their opponents.
In this dire situation, the scholarly man's heart was filled with despair, but after taking a glance at the giant statue on the plaza, he gritted his teeth as a determined look appeared in his eyes.
Right at this moment, ball of dazzling white light suddenly appeared in front of the group of human cultivators, then exploded violently to release countless rays of light that instantly engulfed the entire group.
A burst of incredibly powerful shockwaves erupted from the epicenter of the explosion, forming several ferocious tornadoes that swept through the air in all directions.
Several figures rapidly shot out of the white light before plummeting toward the plaza.
The edge of the plaza collapsed with a resounding boom, and a crater that was over 100 feet deep apepared on its surface.
However, several streaks of light quickly flew out of the plaza, revealing themselves to be the group of human Body Integration cultivators, but at this point, their auras were in complete disarray, and their clothes had been torn to shreds.
The scholarly man's face was as pale as a sheet, and he was holding a broken shield, while blood was trickling incessantly down from the corners of his lips.
It had taken everything he had to ensure that the entire group survived, but in doing so, he had to pay a heavy price.
"Chief!"
All of the humans on the scene were struck by a sense of panic upon seeing this.
The scholarly man wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve, then waved a hand at everyone as a gesture of reassurance.
He then raised his head to look up at the sky, and discovering that the foreign beings hadn't immediately descended after them in pursuit, he made his way over to the foot of the statue before casting an inquisitive gaze toward the white-haired elderly man.
The elderly man shook his head as he replied with an anguished expression, "There's been no response from our Ancestral God."
A wry smile appeared on the scholarly man's face as he murmured to himself, "Esteemed Ancestral God, are you really going to abandon your people? Your loyal servants?"
Meanwhile, the purple-robed foreign being and the elders from the same race had already flown into the air above the plaza, and the purple-robed man chortled, "Are you still pleading to that useless Ancestral God of yours even now, Luo Feng? How about you be smart for once and follow the Ancestral God of our Cold Crystal Race?"
"In your dreams, Tuhar! Don't forget that your Ancestral God was once defeated by the Ancestral God of our Dark Veil Island!" the scholarly man countered in an enraged voice.
"So what? Stop living in the past, what matters is the present! Nowadays, our Ancestral God is still protecting our tribe, while your Ancestral God has already been in slumber for the past 10,000 ever since he sustained those injuries. Has he woken up yet? Are you sure he's not dead already?" Tuhar scoffed with a derisive sneer.
Luo Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he wanted to issue a retort, but he had nothing to say as everything that Tuhar had said was correct.
Their Ancestral God had indeed been in a state of slumber for the past 10,000 years, and he had virtually no connection at all with the tribe. In particular, he hadn't answered any of the calls made by the tribe in the past 1,000 years.
Now that they were being invaded by foreign enemies, all they could do was try and use the blood of their people to awaken their Ancestral God, but thus far, it had all been to no avail.
Through this statue left behind by their Ancestral God, they were able to summon some ancestral warriors, but that was only delaying their inevitable downfall.
"You're dreaming if you think you can stop us with these ancestral warriors of yours, Luo Feng. I suggest you surrender right now. Otherwise, I'm going to slaughter your entire tribe!" Tuhar yelled in a menacing voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a hand through the air, and the surrounding Cold Crystal beings instantly converged as they attacked with renewed ferocity.
The cultivators of Dark Veil Island were already just barely clinging on for dear life, and in the face of this aggressive assault, several parts of their defensive line were instantly torn apart.
Their enemies were about to reach the plaza, and even Luo Feng was in a state of despair.
Right at this moment, a burst of faint buzzing rang out, and the azure statue suddenly began to tremble as a burst of rumbling sounded.
Immediately thereafter, the statue began to radiate dazzling black light that was becoming brighter by the second.
The white-haired elderly man who was closest to the statue was the first one who noticed this change, and he immediatley yelled with elation, "It's our Ancestral God! Our Ancestral God has answered our call!"
All of the humans on the island faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which ecstatic looks on their faces, and morale was instantly elevated to an unprecedented high, so much so that the crumbling defensive line was beginning to stabilize itself again.
In contrast, the Cold Crystal beings had become extremely uneasy and tentative.
If the Ancestral God of the human race really could descend, then even their Grand Ascension Stage chief would be no match.
"That's impossible!" Tuhar exclaimed in an incredulous voice as he stared intently at the statue down below.
The light emanating from the statue grew brighter and brighter before all of a sudden, it exploded violently into a vast expanse of inky-black light.
The black light flashed a few times before transforming into a black vortex that was several hundred feet in size.
Bolts of black lightning were flashing within the vortex, threatening to tear the surrounding space apart amid deafening thunderclaps.
With the emergence of the black vortex, a layer of dark clouds also appeared in the previously clear sky, and bolts of lightning were also flashing within the clouds.
All of the world's origin qi within a radius of several hundred kilomters suddenly began to tumble and churn violently like boiling water.
Everyone on the battlefield was greatly alarmed by this sudden turn of events, and they all reflexively stopped what they were doing as they observed the unfolding phenomena with awestruck expressions.
The number of arcs of black lightning in the vortex was rapidly increasing, and in the end, all of them converged toward one spot to form a huge ball of black lightning that was crackling loudly.
All of a sudden, the black ball of lightning warped before elongating to form a pitch-black spatial rift that was over 100 feet in length.
A humanoid figure stumbled rather unsteadily out of the rift, but quickly steadied himself, revealing him to be an azure-robed man.
The spatial rift flashed erratically a few times, then slowly sealed over and vanished.
In the next instant, the black vortex in the sky also gradually dissipated, and the churning world's origin qi quickly returned to normal, while the dark clouds up above also disappeard.
The azure-robed man was looking a little disheveled, but there was a hint of elation on his face.
However, as he steadied himself and caught sight of the masses of people around him, his brows immediately furrowed slightly.
The azure-robed man was none othre than Han Li, who had finally successfully traversed through the interrealm gap after a herculean struggle.
However, at this moment, his magic power was completely exhausted, and his physical body was severely taxed.
His Exquisite Eight Treasures Bone Armor had also completely shattered within the spatial storm, but he had no time to think about that as he was busy processing the jarring sight that he was being greeted by.
"Esteemed Ancestral God! You've finally returned!"
An ecstatic look quickly appeared in Luo Feng's eyes at the sight of the azure-robed man, and he immediately fell to his knees before kowtowing in Han Li's direction.