nashuaworldcup Chapter 410 Mortal World and Immortal (Page 12)
Chapter 410 Mortal World and Immortal (Page 12)
Garuda's six scarlet pupils contracted slightly, reflecting the tiny figure standing on the ruins of the city wall—
Zhao Kongcheng.
The middle-aged man with a stubble beard and a tattered military uniform was leaning on a straight knife with one hand, while casually wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with the other.
His left eye was covered in blood, but his right eye shone with an alarming brightness, as if it were burning with an inextinguishable flame.
"A mere mortal..." Garuda's voice was like a thousand rusty knives scraping together, each syllable causing the air to tremble, "Who gave you the courage to face me directly?"
Its wings slowly unfolded, and a shadow that blotted out the sky instantly enveloped the entire Shenlong Pass.
Each feather was adorned with dark golden divine patterns, its edges so sharp they could cut through space.
When the wings were fully spread, the clouds within a radius of a hundred miles were torn apart, revealing a blood-red sky.
Garuda's beak opened slightly, and the breath it exhaled transformed into a hurricane.
The rubble on the city wall was swirled up and pulverized in the air.
With a gentle squeeze of its sharp claws, a nearby hill collapsed with a "boom," as if it were just a clay sculpture in a child's hand.
"I am the predator of the heavens," its voice carried the arrogance unique to gods, "One wing can blot out the sun and moon, one claw can shatter mountains and rivers. You ants..."
Before the words were even finished, its right wing suddenly rose up—
"boom!!!"
A crimson-gold storm with a diameter of one kilometer instantly formed, cracking the earth and evaporating the seawater wherever it passed!
The defensive fortifications painstakingly set up by the garrison were torn apart like paper, and more than a dozen soldiers who did not have time to dodge were instantly turned into blood mist!
At the eye of the storm, Zhao Kongcheng's military overcoat fluttered in the wind.
His eardrums had ruptured, and blood was flowing from his ear canals.
His right arm was broken in three places, but the hand holding the knife remained completely still.
"Old Zhao! Retreat!" Zuo Qing's heart-wrenching shouts echoed from afar.
Zhao Kongcheng turned a deaf ear.
He slowly raised the straight knife, and the branded characters "Xin Huo" on the blade suddenly burst forth with a dazzling red light.
That was no ordinary light; it was the embodiment of the blood and spirit of 100,000 soldiers and the faith of hundreds of millions of people.
The flame of humanity!
“You know what, you hairy beast…” Zhao Kongcheng grinned, revealing bloodstained teeth, “In Great Xia, we call this—”
"Carry firewood to slay the moon!"
The blade flashed.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
The blood and energy of 100,000 soldiers converged from all directions, coalescing behind Zhao Kongcheng into a towering phantom—an ancient general, wielding a long spear and clad in red armor.
Garuda's pupils suddenly contracted!
This strike...
It actually felt a long-lost threat!
"presumptuous!!!"
It flapped its wings in a rage, and countless feathers transformed into a rain of crimson-gold arrows that poured down!
At the same time, its sharp beak pierced straight at Zhao Kongcheng, a strike powerful enough to pierce through mountains!
but--
Too late.
Zhao Kongcheng's blade had already been drawn.
A crimson, blood-red blade of light swept across the heavens and earth, distorting space and shattering the laws of nature wherever it passed!
The Garuda's rain of arrows vaporized and vanished the instant they touched the blade's edge; its beak, said to be able to pierce mountains, vanished the moment it collided with the blade's edge—
"Crack!"
A crisp cracking sound echoed across the battlefield!
Garuda let out a shrill scream and staggered backward!
Its beak tip was actually cut off!
Dark golden divine blood rained down like rain, each drop as heavy as a thousand pounds, smashing deep craters into the ground!
There was dead silence on the battlefield.
Everyone stared in disbelief at what they saw.
A mere mortal has actually harmed a god!
Zhao Kongcheng knelt on one knee, the blade of his sword embedded in the ground to support his body.
His right arm was twisted and deformed, and his chest was corroded by divine blood, leaving several horrifying blood holes.
But he was still smiling.
"Look..." He struggled to lift his head, looking at Lin Qiye and the others in the distance who were equally shocked, "Even gods...bleed..."
Garuda's furious roar shook the heavens and the earth.
Its dark golden divine blood dripped from the broken tip of its beak, each drop as heavy as a thousand pounds, crashing onto the sea surface and creating waves hundreds of meters high.
Its six scarlet pupils contracted sharply, reflecting the swaying yet still upright figure—Zhao Kongcheng.
"Mere ants..."
Its voice was no longer arrogant, but carried a kind of eerie calm.
"How dare you..."
"You have harmed my divine body!!!"
The last four words transformed into tangible sound waves, causing the sea surface within a ten-mile radius to collapse with a deafening roar! The remaining walls of Shenlong Pass crumbled amidst the sonic boom, and countless garrison soldiers coughed up blood from their ears and noses, falling unconscious.
"boom--!!!"
Garuda's figure suddenly disappeared.
It's not teleportation, but pure speed—speed so fast that even space can't react!
Before Zhao Kongcheng could even blink, he saw a giant claw wreathed in crimson divine fire already at his chest!
"Old Zhao!!" Zuo Qing's eyes were bloodshot.
But this claw strike was unavoidable!
At the critical moment——
"The flame of life burns brightly!"
Suddenly, a blinding blood-red light erupted from Zhao Kongcheng's body, and the phantom images of 100,000 soldiers appeared behind him!
"clang--!!!"
The straight blade collided with the divine claw, and the resulting shockwave shattered the three mysterious creatures that had miraculously survived nearby!
Zhao Kongcheng's feet sank deep into the ground, his knees and below sinking into the rock. The muscles in his arms were tearing apart, yet he still stubbornly withstood the mountain-like pressure.
“Interesting…” Garuda’s pupils widened slightly. “Burning one’s life force in exchange for power?”
Its right claw suddenly increased its strength!
"Crack!"
A crack has appeared in the straight knife!
Zhao Kongcheng's vision was beginning to blur.
He saw his blood flow down the blade, dripping onto the brand marks engraved with his name—
"Zhao Tiezhu...Wang Dashan...Li Weiguo..."
Each name shines with a glimmer of light.
"turn out to be......"
A sinister smile twisted his bloodied lips.
"You're all here..."
The next second, he did something that shocked even Garuda—
Let go willingly!
The moment the straight blade broke, Zhao Kongcheng used his last bit of strength to plunge the broken half of the blade deep into the soft flesh of Garuda's claws!
"Pfft!"
Divine blood gushed forth!
"roar--!!!"
Garuda let out its most mournful roar since the start of the war!
It swung its right claw wildly, slamming Zhao Kongcheng hard into the ground!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Each impact triggered an earthquake, and by the seventh impact, the ground within a radius of one kilometer had collapsed into a deep crater!
The smoke cleared.
Zhao Kongcheng lay in a pool of blood, his body twisted beyond recognition.
But his right hand still gripped the broken half of the knife tightly.
Garuda was panting heavily, its six eyes fixed on the tenacious mortal.
It slowly raised its right paw, preparing to deliver the final blow—
Garuda's claws tore through space, carrying divine power capable of crushing mountains as it crashed down!
"boom--!!!"
Zhao Kongcheng's body was slammed into the ground like a tattered sack, instantly shattering rocks within a radius of a thousand meters, and spiderweb-like cracks spread to the horizon.
His sternum was shattered, his internal organs were ruptured, and blood gushed from his seven orifices, pooling on the scorched earth.
"An ant is still an ant." Garuda's six pupils coldly looked down at the dying mortal, and raised his right claw again, "Let your blood become a sacrifice before the war of the gods."
The aura of death descended.
In Zhao Kongcheng's blurred vision, the last image he saw was that crimson-gold divine claw that blotted out the sky—
dark.
In the boundless darkness, two points of light suddenly appeared.
Those are... a pair of eyes?
No—they are two suns and moons suspended in nothingness!
Zhao Kongcheng's consciousness floated in a strange space, before which was a long, flowing silver river.
Countless scenes are reflected in the river: the flames of war over five thousand years of the Xia Dynasty, the rise and fall of dynasties, the sweat of the people toiling in the fields, and the blood and tears of soldiers guarding the borders...
And on the long river, there lies a majestic figure whose beginning and end are nowhere to be seen.
His scales are like the oldest bronze, each one engraved with the marks of time.
When He breathes, the river of time rises and falls with Him; when He opens His eyes, it is daytime; when He closes His eyes, it is nighttime.
—Zhulong!
Before Him floated a crimson flame, as red as blood.
The flame, though seemingly weak, resonated intensely with the "humanity flame" within Zhao Kongcheng's body!
"This is......"
"Candlelight." A familiar voice resounded directly in the depths of Zhao Kongcheng's soul, "The ancestor of all fire, the root of civilization's continuation."
Zhulong's gaze, like the revolving sun and moon, shone into the depths of Zhao Kongcheng's memory:
He saw himself in the recruit camp, being kicked in the butt by the squad leader and made to run laps;
Seeing the trembling hands from the first time the mysterious was killed;
Upon witnessing the annihilation of the garrison, he knelt amidst the ruins and picked up the blood-stained military flag...
"Your fire originates from this," the voice of the Candle Dragon rippled across the river of time, "but your path does not end here."
Zhao Kongcheng suddenly understood!
The candlelight is the source, but his "humanitarian torch"—
It is a branch nurtured by countless ordinary people with their blood, flesh, beliefs, and traditions!
It is the needle and thread my mother used to sew clothes under the lamp;
It is the sweat that farmers shed in the fields;
It is the lamplight that illuminates students as they study diligently by their windows;
It's the campfire for soldiers guarding the frontier...
These faint, ordinary, yet tenacious lights converged into a power strong enough to confront the gods!
"So... this is humanity."
Zhao Kongcheng reached out his hand in the river of time and gently touched the candle flame.
"The masses of the world, carrying firewood—"
"I need your help!"
At this moment, the entire Great Xia Dynasty trembled!
At the northern border, a sentry, his face red from the cold, suddenly looked up and saw a wisp of flame from his night watch campfire fly south.
At Jiangnan University, a sliver of light automatically flickers in the hearts of students who stay up late studying.
In a mountain village in southwestern China, sparks suddenly flew from the firewood in an old woman's stove.
A fishing boat in the East China Sea, a lantern held by a child, emits a wisp of red light...
Countless faint lights rose into the sky, weaving together into a dazzling galaxy in the night!
They traversed mountains and rivers, pierced through the mist, and finally—
All of it poured into Zhao Kongcheng's shattered body!
"boom--!!!"
A towering crimson beam of light rose from the ruins of Chenlong Pass, and Garuda's deadly attack was forcefully deflected!
Within the pillar of light, Zhao Kongcheng's body slowly floated into the air.
His wounds were healing, his white hair was turning black, and his tattered military uniform was transforming into a crimson battle robe. Most astonishingly, his eyes—
His left eye, like the rising sun, danced with the flame of civilization;