Chapter 16

Outside the city of Yan City, the hidden mountain was crowded with numerous immortals and spirits, leaving no space unoccupied. From the sky to the ground, they filled every inch, all enveloped in that peculiar white light.

The heavenly light opened and closed, revealing a miracle belonging to the mortal world.

It was already dark, yet a strong beam of white light shot down from the heavens, covering the land and stretching for thousands of miles. Many spirits who had not yet taken human form knelt on the ground, bathing in the heavenly light, as if this would immediately transform them into human form.

The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only an occasional near-prayerful moan breaking the silence. No one spoke a word.

Three cycles of sixty years ago, when the heavenly light first descended on the Haixia Mountain in the west, all beings were stirred. Immortals pondered and calculated the will of heaven, but apart from immortal Yuqing from Mount Shaluo, who barely managed to predict the timing of the next heavenly light, no one else gained any insight.

No one knew where the heavenly light came from or what it truly represented. After the great battle between gods and demons, all the gods went into hiding. However, the existence of the celestial gods remained a source of aspiration and reverence for all immortals and spirits. Could this unpredictable and dazzling heavenly light represent the will left behind by the celestial gods?

Tanyin, riding on the mechanical bird, squinted up at the heavenly light.

It was the first time she had seen the legendary heavenly light. This cold yet dazzling light was more familiar to her than anyone else; it was the radiance that only occurred when a god descended into the mortal world.

Was it Han Nu? Or… Taihe?

Tanyin’s breath suddenly stopped, her palms sweating. She had a faint premonition of something bad—could it be that something had happened to Taihe?

On the day she descended to the mortal world via Tianya Platform, she and Han Nu had made an agreement: unless absolutely necessary, they must not use their divine power in the mortal realm. This was the supreme iron law of the divine world. Even though the gods had long since dispersed, it was a rule they had to abide by.

The heavenly light poured down, like a white veil covering the hidden mountain, gently rippling. After an indeterminate amount of time, the dazzling white light suddenly changed subtly, gradually shifting from a dazzling white to a sunset-like pale red. The brilliant color was unmatched, and shimmering light particles fell slowly like flower petals, eliciting involuntary exclamations of admiration from the immortals and demons.

At the top of the zenith, a cluster of the deepest pale red light slowly spread like ink, forming the outline of a woman. Tanyin gasped, while countless people around her exclaimed and shouted in ecstasy. She heard nothing; her entire attention was drawn to the large, indistinct figure.

Gradually, the woman’s outline became clearer. Her long dress and traditional hair bun appeared ancient, and her flowing sleeves undulated like waves. The sky was filled with the glow of the sunset, radiating supreme majesty and divine power. The celestial god, who had disappeared since ancient times, suddenly appeared, catching everyone off guard.

She slowly opened her eyes, her pupils like black gemstones. Tanyin, her body stiff, watched this divine presence materialize in the mortal world and silently called out her name: Han Nu.

The heavenly light had indeed been released by Han Nu at Tianya Platform. Was she risking her life?

Could it be that something had really happened to Taihe?

Tanyin’s eyes shone with increasing intensity. She had to return to the Tianya Platform immediately. Taihe had lost his left hand and fallen into an endless slumber with dwindling divine power. No one knew if he would vanish into golden light like the other gods.

Pressing her hand to her forehead, she prepared to release her divine consciousness. At that moment, a piercing wind swept past her ears. She paused, watching two enormous black whips slash through the air like lightning, yanking the high priest in front of her from his mount.

Yuan Zhong had seen the heavenly light before. This cold brilliance had appeared during his youth on the Guixuan Platform.

It was rumored that witnessing the opening and closing of the heavenly light could fulfill one’s wishes. Many immortals believed this, but he knew it wasn’t true. It was the radiance of the celestial gods. Though he had seen the sky many times over three cycles of sixty years, never had it been this clear, nor had a celestial god appeared so vividly before him since that fleeting glance in his youth.

His entire soul was drawn to those black gemstone-like eyes. They felt familiar, yet so strange. Was it her? Or not her? The eyes in his memory seemed different, perhaps more…more… he couldn’t articulate it. The eyes of the celestial god commanded awe and reverence, but they did not ignite the soul-burning pain and confusion he remembered.

He recalled the eyes on the Guixuan Platform. Even in that brief moment, they held something beyond coldness, a subtle quality that had haunted him for years, leaving him restless and sleepless.

Yuan Zhong closed his eyes slowly, overlaying the eyes in his memory with those in the sky. He felt supreme joy at finally seeing the celestial god again, mixed with a kind of bewildered disappointment and a sense of loneliness, as if he were once again the only person in the world, staring dazedly at the unreachable moon.

A sharp wind sound suddenly alerted him. Immediately after, his body was bound by two long whips, pulling him down with irresistible force from the back of his bird of paradise.

The War Ghost clan? How dare they strike as the celestial god appears? Such audacity.

Tearing off the black silk glove on his left hand, Yuan Zhong grabbed the whips. A red light flared, and the whips began to freeze in an instant. Under the immense pulling force, the ice shattered explosively. Finally free, his body transformed into a stream of golden light, gently landing on the ground.

No one noticed the commotion. Even if they did, they wouldn’t care. The appearance of the celestial god was a miracle unseen for millennia. Even the oldest immortals knew little about the ancient war between gods and demons. That last great war created a huge chasm, separating two eras with no overlap. Now, with the celestial god reappearing, who would bother with grudges between immortals?

Yuan Zhong looked coldly at the two war ghosts not far away.

“The celestial god appears, and wasn’t your War Ghost clan once a servant to the gods? How dare you act here?”

The two war ghosts did not respond. Instead, they suddenly knelt down, bowed three times to the celestial god’s illusory giant figure in the sky, then drew their short swords from their waists and attacked once more.

Yuan Zhong felt a surge of anger. He slowly raised his left hand, the red light flickering, as the dark red markings on his arm and fingertips began to glow and flow as if alive. This move was too powerful; with so many immortals and demons around, injuring others would only cause him trouble.

As one war ghost lunged at him, he transformed into a golden light, intending to leave the crowded mountain. But unexpectedly, his left hand was suddenly grabbed by the war ghost!

Yuan Zhong exerted his strength, but something had been placed on his left hand, instantly extinguishing the red light. Alarmed, he did not look closely and flashed ten yards away in a burst of golden light. Only then did he notice that a layer of black-gray crystal had formed over his left hand, covering his wrist and slowly spreading upward.

This was a shock like no other. His left hand had always been invincible, but due to its ferocity, he kept it covered with a black silk glove made from dragon skin and dragon silkworm silk, materials beyond the five elements, to contain its power. Now, this black-gray crystal was enveloping his left hand, rendering it powerless and causing his entire left arm to go numb and lose sensation.

The war ghost, who had encased his left hand in the crystal, had his own arms start to freeze. He sneered at the high priest, struggling to remove the crystal from his left hand, but could not budge an inch.

“Filthy beast!” the War Ghost hissed.

“You are just an ant who stole the things of the celestial god!”

Before he could finish his sentence, the ice spread rapidly up his arms, enveloping and freezing him entirely.

Yuan Zhong had never encountered such a strange situation. With his left hand sealed and one war ghost dead, he didn’t want to linger. As he turned into golden light to escape, the second war ghost, like a phantom, lunged at him, aiming a short sword at his left hand.

Their target was his left hand?

Yuan Zhong was both shocked and puzzled. He couldn’t dodge in time and watched as the sword descended, about to sever his hand. Suddenly, something was hurled down from above, blocking his left arm. The war ghost’s sword struck it with a dull thud, sounding like it had hit wood.

Before the war ghost could react, Yuan Zhong retreated several steps in a flash of golden light. He then saw that his savior was a piece of golden Nanmu wood.

That girl had saved him?

He was stunned as he watched Tanyin leap down from her mechanical bird, positioning herself in front of him.

Tanyin glanced at the black-gray crystal on his left hand, frowning slightly.

“…Hey, are you stupid?” Yuan Zhong grabbed her sleeve and said, “Get out of here! Don’t get in the way!”

She must be blind. Couldn’t she see that they were facing a war ghost?

Whether she was a little girl or a ghost with a mysterious background, one slap from the war ghost could crush her.

Tanyin shook her head and was about to speak when the war ghost attacked again. This clan, skilled in combat, never retreated in battle, regardless of the opponent or their numbers.

The flash of a blade, another dull thud—Yuan Zhong was dumbfounded, watching Tanyin holding a wooden stick of some precious material. Even the war ghost’s short sword couldn’t cut through it, and she blocked the second strike with it.

Yuan Zhong saw her stern expression, like she was genuinely prepared for battle. Despite the absurdity of it, he felt an urge to laugh, momentarily forgetting the terror of having his left hand sealed by the mysterious crystal. He asked in a low voice, “Hey, are you protecting me?”

Tanyin pulled out a piece of wood as tall as a person from her Qiankun bag and smashed it heavily on the ground in front of her. Her eyes shone brightly as she brushed her palm over the wood, which was instantly cut by a flowing, clear light. In the blink of an eye, she had carved out a mechanical figure. Placing the wooden stick in its hands, it clattered as it moved its limbs, wobbling towards the war ghost.

“Yes, I’m protecting you,” she said calmly.

She wasn’t foolish.

The heavenly light’s opening and closing, Han Nu’s divine presence, and the sudden shift of the War Ghost’s grudge towards the Fox clan into a bid to seize his left hand could only mean one thing: Han Nu couldn’t wait any longer.

Something must have happened to Taihe, or Han Nu wouldn’t act this way.

Her heart burned with anxiety, but she couldn’t leave now. She couldn’t let Taihe’s hand be taken.

The mechanical figure, carved in an instant by the clear light, moved awkwardly and clearly had no combat skills. Yet it was as nimble as a monkey, blocking the war ghost’s fierce attacks with its strange, erratic movements. No matter how ferociously the war ghost attacked, he couldn’t break through its defenses.

“Go,” Tanyin said, supporting Yuan Zhong’s arm and helping him onto the back of his bird of paradise.

In the sky, the celestial god’s illusory figure suddenly moved. Her red lips parted, and all the immortals and spirits heard her softly utter two words: “Wu Shuang.”

Tanyin trembled all over. Han Nu was calling her! Calling her by her title!

She was Wu Shuang, granted divinity for her unparalleled craftsmanship. The celestial god had bestowed upon her the title: Goddess Wu Shuang.