novelHire Chapter 861: Are you scared?
Chapter 861: Are you scared?
Outside the South Heaven Gate, a foul wind howled angrily.That Immortal-Slaying Platform, towering ten thousand zhang high, appeared to float motionlessly above the Nine Heavens, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to be breathing.
With each breath, the dark red platform body would spew out a nauseating blood mist.
That was the accumulated resentment of countless True Immortals who had dared to defy the heavens over countless millennia.
It possessed a spirit.
It was the Heavenly Dao's spirit of slaughter.
The moment Chen Huaian raised his sword, that Immortal-Slaying Platform seemed to sense some kind of provocation, shaking violently with a thunderous rumble.
Whoosh!
Without any warning...
From the void, countless dark red chains engraved with bizarre runes, like ghostly hands reaching out from the depths of hell, instantly pierced through Chen Huaian's limbs and body.
These were no ordinary chains; these were the so-called "Heavenly Rules," the shackles imposed upon all living beings by this world.
Impossible to evade.
Permeating everywhere.
"Ugh!"
Chen Huaian grunted, his entire body yanked into the air by the immense pulling force and slammed viciously onto the icy surface of the Immortal-Slaying Platform.
The chains tightened.
His limbs were pinned in a spread-eagle position at the very center of the execution platform, immobile.
The Immortal Power within his body, the Demonic Energy, even the divine sword condensed from the Heavenly Dao's rules—all were completely sealed at this moment.
Absolute suppression.
Before the Heavenly Rules, individual valor seemed so pale and insignificant.
"Hahahaha!"
A burst of shrill, maniacal laughter shattered the deathly silence.
Mo Li Qing wiped the golden blood from the corner of his mouth, looking at the figure who had been unrivaled just moments ago but now lay pinned on the platform like a dead dog. The terror in his eyes instantly transformed into the glee of vengeance.
"Be arrogant now! Try being arrogant now!!"
"This is the Immortal-Slaying Platform! The supreme divine artifact personally forged and consecrated by Heavenly Emperor Hao Tian!
Don't think you, a mere newly ascended True Immortal, could defy it. Even Golden Immortals, even Great Luo Immortals—once upon this platform, they too must obediently offer their necks for the slaughter!"
Mo Li Hong also let out a sinister, low chuckle. Though the Primordial Chaos Pearl Umbrella in his hand was damaged, the expression on his face was even more arrogant than before.
"Mortal scum will always be mortal scum."
"You thought wielding a broken axe to cleave open the Gate of Heaven meant you could overturn the heavens?"
"Every rebel who has ever been executed on this Immortal-Slaying Platform, which one wasn't more dazzlingly talented than you? Which one wasn't more arrogant and conceited than you? And in the end?"
He pointed at the layer upon layer of bloodstains caked around the execution platform.
"In the end, they all became just another smear of red on this platform!"
Chen Huaian did not speak.
He simply lay calmly on the platform, feeling those chains greedily sucking away the power within his body like bloodsucking leeches.
His eyes remained clear and bright, as if he were not in a desperate situation but rather lying back watching the clouds roll and unfurl.
Right at that moment.
ROAR——!!!
An earth-shaking roar tore through the blood mist.
A massive black Fierce Beast came roaring in from the distance.
It was drenched in blood, its scales and armor shattered, clearly having just endured a fierce battle.
It was Muscle Tyrant.
Seeing that man pinned on the execution platform, his aura feeble, the eyes of the beast, usually filled with violence and greed, instantly turned crimson red.
"Master!!"
Muscle Tyrant went berserk.
It charged toward the Immortal-Slaying Platform without regard for anything, opening its maw that could Devour All Things, and bit down viciously on the chains binding Chen Huaian.
"Break for this lord, damn it!!!"
Crack!
A crisp snapping sound.
Two of Muscle Tyrant's fangs, capable of shattering stars, actually broke off.
The chains remained completely unmoved. Instead, a bloody light shimmered across the Immortal-Slaying Platform, and countless new chains reached out from the void.
They coiled around like giant pythons, tightly binding Muscle Tyrant's massive body as well, and slammed it down heavily beside Chen Huaian.
One large, one small. One man, one beast.
Both trapped in the same desperate predicament.
"Well, well, if it isn't that stupid beast who only knows how to eat?"
Mo Li Shou stroked the trembling Flower-Fox Marten in his arms, a cruel smile on his face.
"What? So eager to come and be buried with him?"
"Beasts will always be beasts. They don't understand the times, they know no reverence."
The chains dug into Muscle Tyrant's flesh, the pain making its whole body convulse, but its eyes remained fixed fiercely on the Four Heavenly Kings as it let out a low, rumbling growl:
"Let him go..."
"You bunch of trash... let him go!!"
"Let him go?" Mo Li Qing sounded as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. "Alright."
He stepped forward to the edge of the Immortal-Slaying Platform, looking down at Muscle Tyrant from his superior position.
"As long as you kneel down right now and kowtow three times to this Heavenly King."
"And then..." He pointed at Chen Huaian beside him, his eyes flashing with malice and hatred. "Then bite off this mortal's head."
"If you do that, this Heavenly King will not only spare you but also appoint you as the watchdog of this South Heaven Gate. How about that?"
The air solidified.
Muscle Tyrant stopped struggling.
It turned its head to look at Chen Huaian beside it.
Due to the rule suppression of the Immortal-Slaying Platform, the soul contract between them had long been severed.
At this moment, Muscle Tyrant was free.
It could completely choose to betray, to survive.
Chen Huaian also looked at it.
Those eyes held no command, no plea, only a calmness named "trust."
"Master..."
Countless fragmented images suddenly flashed through Muscle Tyrant's mind.
It was an ordinary overcast day.
A grimy little black kitten, its aura faint, curled up by a doorway.
A pair of warm hands... picked it up.
"Little fellow, you have a connection with This Venerable One!"
...
That was the starting point of its memories.
In the years that followed, it was disliked for eating too much, disliked for being ugly, and cursed as an "idiot" countless times by that man.
But whenever it was surrounded by powerful enemies, that man was always the first to draw his sword and stand in front of it.
When its soul was about to dissipate after being possessed by Wu E, that man spared no effort, gathering the power of nine great Fierce Beasts to reshape its True Form.
In its eyes.
He was not some savior, nor was he some True Immortal.
He was just that Chen Huaian... who, on an ordinary overcast day, gave it a home.
"Dog..."
Muscle Tyrant grinned, revealing a mouthful of broken teeth, and let out a hoarse laugh.
"I am indeed a dog."
"But I am my master's dog!"
It suddenly raised its head and spat a mouthful of black-blood-tinged saliva squarely onto Mo Li Qing's arrogant face.
"As for you lot?"
"You're not even fit to be this lord's dog food!!"
"You seek death!!!"
Mo Li Qing flew into a rage. The saliva on his face felt like a red-hot branding iron, burning away his last shred of reason.
"Since you want to die, then this Heavenly King shall grant your wish!"
"Immortal-Slaying Platform! Raise the blade!!"
Rumble—
With that furious roar.
At the very top of the Immortal-Slaying Platform, in the firmament above, an even more massive rift suddenly tore open.
A ghost-headed execution blade, a hundred zhang wide, rusted but radiating an aura of utter destruction, slowly emerged.
It had no sharp edge.
Because what it severed was not flesh, but karma, the Cycle of Reincarnation, existence itself.
The blade descended.
Its speed was slow.
But that sense of irreversible deathly pressure was like an invisible giant hand, slowly crushing the hearts of the two beings.
"Are you afraid?"
Chen Huaian suddenly spoke.
His voice was soft, yet it clearly reached Muscle Tyrant's ears.
Muscle Tyrant looked at the descending blade getting closer and closer, its body trembling uncontrollably.
It was a Fierce Beast; it feared death more than anyone.
"Afraid..."
Muscle Tyrant shrank its neck back, tears flowing unbidden.
"Master, I don't want to die..."
"I haven't eaten enough..."
"I haven't lived enough either."
Chen Huaian smiled. It was the first time he had smiled since being trapped on the platform.
"So then..."
He looked at the falling execution blade, and two golden flames suddenly ignited in his eyes.
"No one gets to make us die."
The blade fell.
Only three inches remained from Chen Huaian's neck.
The savage grin on Mo Li Qing's face had reached its peak.
"Die!!"
CLANG——!!!
A sound loud enough to shatter souls exploded across the Immortal-Slaying Platform.
No blood sprayed.
No head rolled.
In that instant, time seemed stretched to infinity.
The seemingly unstoppable ghost-headed execution blade had actually stopped in mid-air.
On Chen Huaian's body, an illusory figure had appeared at some unknown time.
It was a military general clad in tattered armor, holding a broken spear.
His stature was not particularly tall, but beneath that execution blade, he stood as majestic as a mountain holding up the heavens.
With that broken spear, with those arms long bereft of flesh and blood, he held firm, desperately holding up the descending blade.