Chapter 186
Chapter 186
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 186
Chapter Title: Sea God Matron
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Outside the Mazu Temple, Yu Tiancheng, Red Mountain Matron, Min River Granny, and six or seven other experts including the hall master of the Salt Elders Society stood guard.
Wave after wave of sea demons rapidly climbed toward the Mazu Temple. The scene was so spectacular it filled one with despair.
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing had never witnessed such a terrifying sight. In the face of these colossal beasts swarming in endless numbers, the human body seemed utterly insignificant.
Even a powerhouse at the Transformation God Realm would find their spells and divine abilities negligible against the relentless charge of these infinite demons!
Above the Mazu Temple, talismans were unleashed without restraint. Their power poured out and erupted, combined with the crowd's spells and divine abilities. One demon after another was struck, tumbling into the sea.
But countless more demons still clambered up from the ocean.
Those gigantic demons relied on their physical might to clash head-on with the spells and divine abilities of Yu Tiancheng and Red Mountain Matron.
They battered the Primordial Spirits, unleashing terrifying power!
Even spells, divine abilities, talismans, and treasures merely staggered them when they struck, inflicting at most minor injuries. Nothing could truly threaten their lives.
These giant demons opened their mouths and spewed forth rolling thick smoke, blotting out the sky in darkness. Then blazing fireballs hurtled from the smoke, smashing down and rolling rapidly across the cliffs. Numerous smaller demons were crushed, their bones shattering and limbs flying in disarray.
The fireballs slammed into the massive golden bell formed by talismans—a radiant barrier inverted over the Mazu Temple—exploding with thunderous booms.
One massive fireball after another rolled across the cliffs, successively crashing into the golden bell, shaking it violently as if it might shatter at any moment.
Another giant demon swung a thick, heavy arm dozens of feet long from the air, smashing down heavily onto the golden bell, sending streams of radiant light spilling from it.
At this rate of assault, Yu Tiancheng and the others' defenses wouldn't hold for long!
In the sea, waves crashed with deafening roars. Yet another massive demon rose slowly from the depths, climbing the cliff walls, ignoring the other demons in its path. Any blocking demons too slow to dodge were pulverized or devoured as snacks.
These giant demons had bizarre forms. Their upper bodies resembled burly human torsos, with green hair like tangled seaweed, eyes and noses like a normal person's but slightly larger. Massive gills layered heavily across their chests opened and closed.
Their lower bodies resembled octopuses, but with far more than eight tentacles—some had twelve, others eighteen.
When they opened their mouths, they no longer looked human. Countless sharp teeth rotated and sliced within, and when closed, the teeth spun in the opposite direction.
Such creatures sent chills down the spine.
"What exactly is inside the Mazu Temple? Why are these demons besieging it so relentlessly?"
Chen Shi was momentarily stunned. His last visit to the Mazu Temple had been to investigate Red Mountain Matron's origins, where he discovered the temple.
The situation inside was similar to the Mountain Lord Temple on Qianyang Mountain—the temple's god had been purged, leaving only thick, extraordinary power that could never fully reform the divine image.
Beyond that, the Mazu Temple held no other peculiarities.
Yet for some reason, these demons pressed their attack despite heavy casualties, determined to seize the temple.
"It's probably because Mazu is the deity who governs sea voyages."
Chen Shi's eyes flickered as he thought, "During the True King Era, they might have suffered greatly at the Mazu Temple, so their first target in the counterattack was to eliminate it."
With that in mind, Chen Shi quickly said, "Tianqing, protect yourself!"
He leaped from the cliff!
Li Tianqing cried out in alarm and hurriedly peered over the edge.
Chen Shi plummeted rapidly. Mid-fall, his body spun two and a half times, activating the transformation technique. He shifted from human form into a peregrine falcon, flapping its wings to rise and weave through the flailing arms and tentacles of the demons.
"Transformation Talisman! Refined to such exquisite mastery—Little Ten's skills have improved greatly!"
Li Tianqing couldn't help but marvel at the sight.
But he had no time to dwell, as hordes of demons now surged toward him. He had to defend himself.
"The time has come to test the results of my recent cultivation!"
Li Tianqing rallied his spirits. His Golden Core left his body—a pitch-black orb slightly larger than a pigeon's egg, perfectly round, boundless and seamless.
Several demons charged toward him, sending rocks flying and trees snapping in their wake.
Li Tianqing's expression turned solemn. From the Divine Shrine behind his head, the Divine Embryo lifted the Golden Core with one hand.
The core hovered just under three inches above its palm, while the other hand formed a sword gesture and pointed at it.
Whoosh!
Invisible sword qi shot from the Golden Core in streams. The lead demon shattered into pieces!
He flipped backward, dodging a tentacle smash from the second demon. Mid-air, six Yin Jade Wheels formed beneath his feet. He unleashed six kicks, sending the six Yin Jade Wheels whistling out to sever tentacles one after another.
Li Tianqing dashed along one massive tentacle before leaping upside down, slamming his palm onto the demon's enormous head. The lightning spell in his palm erupted—the Five Thunders Seal electrocuted its brain, sending up smoke laced with a seafood aroma.
He pushed off with his palm, launching his body upward before landing. The ground rumbled as thick roots burst from below, lifting him up.
At the same time, those roots intertwined, binding the third demon tightly.
As it struggled, Li Tianqing's Golden Core shot forth, piercing its brain.
A gaping hole burned clean through the demon's skull.
Li Tianqing recalled his Golden Core. Under the purple-jade Divine Embryo's control, it darted around him like lightning. Sometimes spells erupted from it, sometimes its force field bloomed suddenly, or Li Tianqing struck personally. Soon, corpses littered the ground around him!
With no more demons surging forth, he exhaled deeply, steadying himself with a smile as he scanned about. His smile gradually froze.
Ahead, even larger demons emerged from the woods, uprooting towering trees as weapons. Some rolled up massive boulders weighing thousands of pounds to use as arms.
"A bit tricky now..."
Li Tianqing thought to himself.
He exhaled a breath of turbid air and said calmly to Blackie Pot and the wooden cart behind him, "Blackie Pot, watch the cart."
He leaped forward as the demons roared, swinging trees and boulders to meet him.
Down the cliff, Chen Shi's peregrine form danced nimbly through the air, evading the surging colossal bodies.
Suddenly, a sea behemoth ahead rose to its full height—sixteen or seventeen zhang tall, fish-headed and human-bodied, covered in sawtooth scales unlike the others.
It shook violently, flesh quivering as sawtooth scales the size of tabletops spun off, whistling toward the Mazu Temple!
Chen Shi's heart jolted. He flipped up and down frantically, dodging the scales.
Along the way, countless demons too slow to evade lost heads or limbs to the razor-sharp projectiles.
The scales slammed into the golden bell barrier, circling and slicing at it in a frenzy of sparks.
As their cutting power waned, the scales flew back, reembedding into the fish-headed giant.
Bloodied from its own scales, the beast shook again, launching another barrage to continue abrading the barrier.
Those beneath the light curtain were tense beyond measure, straining to hold it.
But talismans burned to ash one after another—the golden bell was on the verge of collapse.
Chen Shi flapped toward it when, amid the demon horde, a dozen lotus-like fleshy pods rose, oriented toward the Mazu Temple.
Pfft-pfft-pfft!
A series of bursts echoed as the pods spewed massive fish eggs—far larger than human heads, translucent—slamming into the golden bell and detonating with shocking force.
An eight-legged giant fish barreled upward, its back crawling with tiny fish that suddenly sprouted three pairs of wings, buzzing into the air like flying swords with lethally sharp bodies.
Chen Shi's head spun at the sight, but he had no time to observe closely. Dodging myriad demons, he finally reached the golden bell barrier.
His previous visit had involved circling to the cliff base and climbing up; now the walls crawled with demons, offering no footing. Only as a bird could he fly here.
Even so, the journey had been perilous, death a constant threat.
"With the sea demons attacking so densely, heedless of their massive losses, determined to take the Mazu Temple—is someone directing them?"
Chen Shi wondered.
At that moment, the golden bell barrier shattered with a boom.
Countless demons boiled over, surging toward the Mazu Temple perched midway up the cliff!
Simultaneously, massive fireballs rolled in, fish eggs whistled, sawtooth scales whirled, and swordfish streaked—all converging on the temple.
Yu Tiancheng spread his Primordial Spirit force field to guard the entrance. Primordial Spirit and Divine Embryo each anchored a flank, spells and divine abilities sweeping broadly to hold back the tidal onslaught.
Red Mountain Matron's true body held the rear, her Blood Polypore true form unleashing power to pulverize demons one by one.
Min River Granny summoned great waters from the sea, coiling like dragons.
Hall Master Xue of the Salt Elders Society and the society's Godmother guarded the other side.
The Salt Elders Society's Godmother was a white-browed elder who periodically transformed into a white bat, fluttering about to drain blood. Even demons withered to desiccated husks after one bite, plummeting into the sea.
One other was likely a border army general, wielding a long spear. His Nascent Soul combat style was purely martial—simple moves, rarely complex spells, but devastatingly effective.
Crane Child also flipped and dove from above, striking at demons below, though its power lagged behind the others, placing it in repeated peril.
With the golden bell broken, pressure surged. Hall Master Xue flew into a rage and bellowed,
"Brother Yu, what exactly are we defending? What's worth guarding in this rundown temple?"
Min River Granny said,
"Hall Master Yu, as long as the green hills remain, we'll never lack firewood! Let's fall back to the next position!"
Red Mountain Matron hurriedly said, "We can't retreat!"
"Why not?"
Hall Master Xue was growing frantic. "If we don't retreat now, we'll all die here!"
Red Mountain Matron didn't know why they couldn't retreat, only that a thought in her mind insisted: if this temple fell, Gong Province would truly be lost.
At that moment, a bird descended from the sky, landing and transforming into Chen Shi's form.
Everyone was startled. Yu Tiancheng urgently said,
"Scholar, why have you come? This isn't a place for you!"
He was deeply anxious for Chen Shi's safety but couldn't spare a hand.
Chen Shi had no time for words. He dashed into the Mazu Temple, where extraordinary power coalesced into radiant霞光, filling the interior with brilliant hues—especially the Divine Shrine, where divine power churned and stirred, forming a female divine image about sixteen or seventeen chi tall, crowned with a coronet and draped in霞帔, exuding solemn majesty.
In her hands, she seemed to cradle a lingzhi mushroom.
Last time he'd visited, no such scene existed.
Yet even after so much time, the Mazu divine image hadn't fully formed, as if missing something.
Chen Shi produced the Western King Jade Seal and raised it. The map of fifty provinces' mountains and rivers appeared vividly.
"Mazu above, your humble servant Chen Shi of Xinxian humbly requests: Gong Province is in dire peril. Demons emerge from the sea, stirring winds and waves, wielding demonic might to ravage the coasts.
I beseech Matron to guard Gong Province and the coastal regions, calming winds and waves, subduing demonic might, and protecting the people.
Though I overstep,
Please become the Great Sea Transport God of West Cattle New Continent, blessing Gong Province, accepting incense, and sheltering the common folk."
With a shout, he pressed the Western King Jade Seal onto the divine image in the Divine Shrine—but it found no purchase, unable to seal.
Chen Shi frowned slightly, recalling the itinerant cultivator's painting on Mist Ridge. He rushed outside, grabbed Red Mountain Matron without explanation, and dragged her back inside. Lifting her under the arms, he placed her atop the Divine Shrine.
"What are you doing?"
Red Mountain Matron panicked.
"Matron, stay still."
Chen Shi offered three sticks of incense, bowed to Red Mountain Matron, and repeated his words:
"Please become the Great Sea Transport God of West Cattle New Continent, blessing Gong Province, accepting incense, and sheltering the common folk."
He brought the Western King Jade Seal down onto Red Mountain Matron. She jolted in shock, hastily raising her hand to block it, crying, "I'm not Mazu Matron, I'm a Blood Polypore..."
The seal stamped her palm, imprinting "Imperial Decree by Heaven's Mandate" and the like.
The temple's霞-like extraordinary power surged toward Red Mountain Matron. Even Gong Province's incense and extraordinary power rolled in as azure qi, streaming into the Mazu Temple atop the cliff!
Red Mountain Matron watched her body grow taller and larger, gradually matching the divine image on the shrine!
Panic gripped her, yet righteous qi bridged another time and space, linking to the ancestral Mazu Temple on Meizhou in Huaxia Divine Continent!
Her mind quaked as millennia of memories pierced the veil, revealing the world's changes and the causal threads of thousands of years.
She saw the little temple behind Chen Shi's head gleaming golden and sighed faintly, "By the尊 Matron's decree."
Boom!
The dilapidated Mazu Temple, amid surging divine power, seemed to rewind time.
It swiftly rebuilt itself and, in mere moments, stood renewed!
Hall Master Xue and the others, on the verge of fleeing, suddenly saw shattered bricks and tiles fly up, reassembling into grand halls and gates.
Flanking the gates were couplets:
Gazing south to Meizhou ancestral temple, myriad sects pay homage, endless incense veils Cai Saint Pavilion.
Facing east to the old harbor home, eternal gratitude endures, boundless spring hues embrace the long embankment.
As they marveled, a matron descended from the shrine, coroneted and霞-draped. With a gentle wave, the Blood Polypore rose, transforming into a blood-red lingzhi cradled in her hand.
The matron raised the blood lingzhi. It bloomed with light in the air, beams of crimson radiance shooting everywhere. Demons on the cliffs exploded one by one into blood mists, which whistled as the lingzhi absorbed them!
The giant demons charging the temple wheeled about, fleeing toward the sea.
The blood lingzhi hovered, its light intensifying.
More demons burst apart—even the giants annihilated!
The matron stood at the temple door, gazing seaward. She extended her palm and pushed lightly. The mountains blocking the sea ahead shifted with a rumble, flying outward!
The half-mountain slammed into something, exploding violently—as if a colossal entity in the sea had raised a giant hand to block it!
Chen Shi peered intently. The sea was a sheet of crimson.
That thing was wounded!
The matron stepped forward, flicking her sleeve. "This palace guards the oceans—no impudence allowed!"