Chapter 183
Chapter 183
The Blood Eagle moved with incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, it appeared inside the cavern on Huimu Mountain.
Its eyes swept through the cave like twin pillars of crimson light before finally settling on Li Jiao.
Li Jiao nearly died of fright. She screamed for help.
“Lord Ox Ghost, save me! Lord Bat God, save me!”
Two deathly white ox skulls flew out and blocked the Blood Eagle’s path. A gigantic bat statue followed, shielding Li Jiao behind it.
Only then did her heart settle a little.
She hysterically chanted an incantation, awakening every mummified corpse in the black vat, then pointed a trembling finger at the Blood Eagle hovering in the air.
“Kill it! Tear it to pieces for me!”
Contrary to their usual behavior, the mummified corpses ignored her order. They all sprawled flat on the ground, shaking uncontrollably.
The sight drove Li Jiao completely mad. She poured jar after jar of scalding corpse oil over them, filling the cave with a vicious sizzling sound.
“Have you all gone deaf? I told you to tear it apart!”
No matter how impotently she raged, the corpses refused to rise. If anything, they shook even harder.
Disdain flashed through the Blood Eagle’s keen eyes as it watched the scene.
Yes-pure disdain.
With another piercing screech, it beat its wings and hurled itself at Li Jiao.
The ox skulls and bat statue shattered like cookies struck by a sledgehammer, instantly reduced to powder.
At the critical moment, the threat of death forced out Li Jiao’s hidden potential. Screaming again and again, she bit through her tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood.
A crimson light flashed. Though Li Jiao managed to hide behind the Ghost Mother Goddess statue, her right arm vanished at the shoulder.
Blood gushed from the wound, drenching the entire statue.
“Great Ghost Mother, save me! Great Ghost Mother, save me!”
The Blood Eagle froze for an instant, surprised that its strike had failed to kill this insignificant heretical cultivator. Then it beat its wings again, fury flaring in its eyes.
At that moment, black light flickered across the Ghost Mother Goddess statue and rapidly condensed into a phantom.
An eerie, sinister voice issued from it.
“The Netherworld Lord punished this ancestor for thousands of years. I was only awakened yesterday when chance delivered a suitable catalyst. I truly had no wish to offend an Honored Wu Shaman!”
The phantom seemed to glance at Li Jiao, a savage smile twisting its features.
“Honored Wu Shaman, this catalyst is extremely important to me. I still need to use her body as the vessel for my form so that I may escape the Eighteen Hells.
“For my sake, please spare that wretch Li Jiao. Once the deed is done, she will be imprisoned forever in the Great Wailing Hell, unable either to live or die. That should vent your anger as well. What do you say?”
Hearing the Ghost Mother Evil Goddess’s words, Li Jiao spun around and tried to flee. She no longer had any thought to spare for the still-insensible Li Feng and his son.
“No! I awakened you! You can’t do this to me!”
Li Jiao was fast, but the phantom was faster.
Several streams of black qi shot from the phantom like ropes. They bound Li Jiao tightly and tossed her down before the Blood Eagle.
The ropes of black qi appeared horribly corrosive. They seared her flesh open and left her screaming without end.
The Great Ghost Mother’s voice crossed more than a hundred li and rang directly over the altar.
Everyone stared in astonishment. None of them had imagined that an insignificant heretical cultivator would draw out a Great Ghost Deity of such stature.
Hemp-clad Grandmother and Deaf Granny exchanged a glance and instantly understood one another.
Deaf Granny dug a nail into the spot between her brows and flicked a drop of blood into the wine cup before her.
“Righteousness and evil have been irreconcilable since ancient times. This old woman may possess only meager cultivation, but even if it costs me my life, I will rid the people of this scourge today!
“Eldest grandson, offer wine again!”
Hua Jiunan did not dare delay. He raised the cup and bowed three times.
At the same moment, horns blared and bell and drum thundered to the heavens.
Sensing Deaf Granny’s resolve, the Blood Eagle gave a shrill cry and charged straight at the Ghost Mother Goddess statue.
A fierce deity-especially one that had existed for thousands of years and had even drawn King Biancheng’s attention-could hardly be benevolent.
The Great Ghost Mother had only spoken so humbly because circumstances had forced her hand. In truth, she had already resolved to devour Deaf Granny, the spellcaster, the moment she escaped.
Now that the negotiations had collapsed, the Great Ghost Mother cast aside all restraint and reached for the Blood Eagle without hesitation.
“I called you an Honored Wu Shaman, and you truly started imagining yourself an ancient wu ritualist? Die!”
In ancient times, wu shamans were the first humans capable of communicating with divine spirits. Here, “divine spirits” means the spirits of nature, not the gods and Buddhas who fill the heavens today; those figures had not yet appeared.
Nor should wu shamans be confused with the fictional “Wu Clan” found in primordial-era fantasy novels. No such clan exists in China’s orthodox mythological tradition.
“Ancient times” refers to the era before written records. In the five-thousand-year span of Chinese civilization, it denotes its earliest millennia-five thousand being only an approximation. In this story specifically, it means the mythical age of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors before the Xia dynasty.
The Dongyi Tribe was the fifth great tribal group alongside the tribes of Fuxi, the Flame Emperor, the Yellow Emperor, and Jiuli. They revered the phoenix-bird as their totem and were also known as the Bird Yi, becoming the founders of phoenix culture.
Their most famous leader was Shaohao, one of the Five Directional Heavenly Emperors of antiquity.
These tribes are ranked here by their later influence on China, not because they all flourished during the same period.