Chapter 234: Exposing the Demons and Monsters
Cheng Qisheng watched the Yun Kingdom emperor’s actions and felt that placing The Blue Sea Travelogue in Yun Kingdom had indeed been the right decision.
Judging by how decisively the emperor had acted, it was obvious that he would be more than cooperative when it came to the matter of the Journey to Obtain the Scriptures.
The palace attendants surrounding them, meanwhile, were utterly dumbfounded.
Just moments ago, the emperor and the crown prince had been on such intimate terms. Yet in the blink of an eye, the crown prince had been kicked flying.
The gods above them wasted no time, either. Two of the divine generals immediately summoned their divine power. Golden light intertwined, transforming into a massive net that bound the crown prince tightly.
Before the palace attendants could even figure out what was happening, they saw wisps of black smoke rising wherever the “crown prince” came into contact with the golden net.
“Ah!!!”
One of the palace attendants cried out in terror. “Your Highness! Your Highness’s face!”
Everyone turned to look, only to see that the “crown prince’s” rather dignified-looking face was beginning to fall apart. The moment it touched the divine net, pieces of flesh peeled away one after another, like rotting meat.
In the blink of an eye, there was no longer any crown prince inside the divine net. Instead, there was a monster with four limbs, a face resembling a wild boar, sharp tusks, and a body covered in black bristles. It writhed and struggled desperately.
“Let me go!!!”
Its voice had changed as well. Neither masculine nor feminine, it was a strange mixture of both. It let out a beast-like roar at the gods above.
“Where did you come from, you false gods?! How dare you meddle in our affairs!!!”
A huge mass of white clouds had appeared above the imperial capital, with a group of gods standing atop them.
In a very short time, the palace servants throughout the imperial capital had hurried over, gathering in the area.
As the saying went, people were judged by their clothes, just as horses were judged by their saddles. With white clouds and golden light on display, these newcomers clearly weren’t evil spirits.
Thus, aside from a small number of people who were so cautious that they immediately found somewhere to hide, most of the palace attendants simply kept their distance, peeking at the scene from behind the walls.
The palace attendants could afford to keep their distance, but the officials who had already arrived at the imperial capital in preparation for the morning court session had no such option.
After all, the emperor was standing right there. Although he didn’t appear to be in any danger, as his subjects, the officials naturally had to demonstrate their willingness to lay down their lives to protect him.
By now, more and more people had witnessed the scene. Even those who arrived later could see that the monster was wearing the crown prince’s clothes. Every one of them was left utterly dumbfounded.
The emperor hurriedly explained:
“There’s no need to panic! This evil creature disguised itself as the crown prince and intended to bring about the downfall of our Yun Kingdom. Fortunately, the gods came to our aid and exposed its true identity!”
The officials were even more astonished.
Weren’t gods supposed to remain in one place, rarely having any dealings with mortal dynasties?
And yet Yun Kingdom had actually received the gods’ assistance?
As citizens of Yun Kingdom, their first reaction was naturally shock. But once they had recovered, that shock quickly gave way to delight and a profound sense of reassurance.
Although they still had little idea what was going on, that didn’t stop a large group of officials from hurriedly rushing to the emperor’s side. They gathered close enough to get a good look at the spectacle while simultaneously adopting protective stances around him.
Of course, just as some palace attendants had run far away, there were also officials who weren’t willing to take any risks. They had absolutely no interest in watching the excitement and immediately found somewhere to hide.
Fortunately, everyone’s attention was focused on the clouds above, so no one noticed who had arrived and who hadn’t.
Above the clouds, Wang Moning, clad in golden armor, watched as the crowd below continued to grow. She raised her left hand, pressed her index and middle fingers together, and swept them from the top of her head down to the space before her eyes.
As a Tier 5 perception-type ability user, she could simply open her eyes and look if she wanted to investigate something in the physical world.
However, in the supernatural energy-conversion world of Fallen Heaven Star, the residents of Blue Sea had gradually discovered something by observing the local cultivators, spirit mediums, and shamans.
Before using their energy, these people would perform certain ritualistic gestures. And it turned out that these gestures weren’t just for show.
After completing a ritual, as long as the person performing it had a sufficiently strong sense of conviction, they really could gather energy more easily than if they had simply acted directly.
Of course, different people needed different ritualistic gestures.
For example, in Wang Moning’s case, she primarily wanted to concentrate energy in her eyes. Thus, she needed a technique that would draw in all the energy around her and channel it into her eyes.
Although it was a little troublesome, she didn’t mind.
After all, the gesture actually looked pretty cool. Hehe.
As Wang Moning performed the gesture, she indeed succeeded in drawing energy from her surroundings. Combined with her own strength, she could temporarily be said to have reached the equivalent of half a step beyond Tier 5.
Her two fingers swept across her eyes, and suddenly, golden light flared in her pupils.
Wherever her gaze fell, golden rays shot down.
Back when Wang Moning had only just awakened her [Perception] ability, she had already been able to glimpse a corner of the gods’ existence. Now that she had reached Tier 5, naturally, she could easily [Perceive] which of the people present were human and which were evil creatures in disguise.
Mo Yuxuan circled high above them, holding a chisel in her left hand and a drumstick in her right.
Wang Moning’s golden eyes swept across the crowd one person at a time. The moment she spotted an evil creature hiding among the people, she immediately informed Mo Yuxuan through her [Mind Domain].
Mo Yuxuan struck the drumstick with her chisel, then activated her own supernatural ability.
The result was—
“BOOOOM!!!!”
Accompanied by a deafening thunderclap, a massive pillar of lightning suddenly descended from the sky, striking an evil creature hiding among the assembled officials.
“AAH!!!”
The creature let out a brief scream before collapsing to the ground.
The people around it immediately scattered in every direction with a great commotion. Even the emperor took a step backward.
One of the officials was startled at first, but then instinctively moved forward to help the fallen man.
“Lord Wang…”
But the moment he looked at the fallen “Lord Wang,” he saw its body twitch several times. The human-like skin covering it began to writhe and peel away, revealing its true appearance.
It was actually a chicken demon, with a pointed beak, a sharp birdlike mouth, and feathers growing across its forehead.
The people surrounding them cried out in alarm once again. This time, however, their voices were filled with fear and lingering dread.
They attended court together every day. Occasionally, they chatted with one another and even invited each other to their residences as guests.
And yet one of their fellow officials had actually been an evil creature all along?
Only now did they realize that the god above them, whose eyes were glowing with golden light, had been searching for evil creatures!
Wang Moning didn’t bother looking at the chicken demon. It didn’t matter whether it was dead or alive; either way, it wasn’t getting away.
To ensure that this operation went smoothly, Blue Sea had already moved the Heavenly Court into the skies above Yun Kingdom.
Although it looked as though only a handful of them were present, in reality, there were hundreds of millions of Blue Sea residents watching from even higher above.
And when she thought about how, higher still, their God was also watching, Wang Moning became even more enthusiastic.
The golden light in her eyes blazed brighter as she continued scanning the entire imperial capital.
Wherever her gaze fell, pillars of lightning periodically came crashing down.
“AAH!!!”
“ROAR!!!”
“Spare me! Spare me! AAAAAH!!!”
One evil creature after another, disguised as officials and palace attendants, was struck by lightning. Some were caught completely off guard, while others realized something was wrong and tried to turn around and flee, only to be locked onto even faster.
Throughout the imperial capital, the screams of evil creatures and the startled cries of ordinary mortals rang out from time to time.
“Your Majesty?!”
“Ah!! That’s not Cai’er!!!”
Even among the palace attendants who hadn’t come to watch the spectacle, some witnessed their colleagues suddenly being struck by pillars of lightning, their strange demonic forms exposed for all to see.
An elderly official had happened to suffer an upset stomach that day, forcing him to spend the entire time squatting in the latrine.
At long last, he finally pushed open the door and cautiously stepped outside, his legs numb from sitting for so long.
He figured that the morning court session had probably already begun by now. It wouldn’t be appropriate to enter at this point, so he would simply submit a memorial apologizing for his absence afterward.
The old official wasn’t particularly worried. Everyone had to eat grains and cereals, and he was getting on in years. Given the emperor’s temperament, His Majesty wouldn’t make an issue of it.
Still, if only he had known this would happen, he might as well have requested leave and stayed home today! He had gotten up early for nothing, going through the trouble of getting dressed and making the journey to the imperial capital on foot, only to miss court after all.
The old official reasoned that palace regulations were strict, and the gates wouldn’t be opened yet. He could only wait outside until the morning court session ended. That way, once the gates opened, he could be the very first to leave.
But just as he was about to take a step, something suddenly flashed past him—a palace attendant running on all fours, scrambling along the ground like an animal.
The old official: “？？？”
He first took out his handkerchief and wiped his hands, then rubbed his eyes as he stared at the figure racing past him like a monkey.
No mistake about it. That was indeed a palace attendant.
The man was running on all fours. With a sudden leap, he sprang astonishingly high into the air, almost as if he could fly, and scrambled straight up a three-meter-high inner wall, preparing to swing himself over to the other side.
—BOOOOM!!!
A massive pillar of lightning, bright enough to nearly blind anyone who looked at it, suddenly crashed down, striking the palace attendant squarely on the head.
His body went rigid as he fell. After twitching a few times, his form suddenly transformed from that of an adult standing 1.57 meters tall into a gigantic toad measuring 3.9 meters!
What?!
The old official rubbed his eyes again. No mistake. It really was a toad.
Before he could even react, something else suddenly dashed past him.
This time, it was actually someone he knew!
Lord Liu, who lived right next door to him.
At that moment, Lord Liu was running backward.
To be precise, his face was turned toward the rear while his hands and feet propelled him forward. As he ran, he was peeling off his own skin, much like someone taking off their clothes, revealing a huge, reddish mass of flesh underneath, shrouded in black, demonic-looking energy.
Lord Liu had turned into a giant lump of flesh?!
The old official stared in utter disbelief as the mass of flesh shed its human skin and immediately began digging into the ground. In the blink of an eye, it had excavated a pit half a meter deep. Just as it was about to burrow inside—
BOOM!
Another pillar of lightning came crashing down.
The demonic aura surrounding the mass of flesh dissipated. It remained lodged in the pit, motionless.
The old official: “……”
He looked at the giant toad on his left, then at the lump of flesh in the pit on his right, and finally at the discarded human skin belonging to Lord Liu lying between them.
The old official swallowed hard. His legs trembling, he staggered back into the latrine and silently closed the door.
He wasn’t the only one who had been thoroughly shaken. Among the demons and monsters that had infiltrated the imperial capital, only a small number had the ability to burrow underground and escape. Once most of them realized something was wrong, their first instinct was to flee the imperial capital.
As a result, the imperial guards stationed at the palace gates were the ones who received the greatest shock.
They watched with their own eyes as one bizarre creature after another came charging toward them. Some scrambled up the city walls, while others tried to force their way through the palace gates. Without exception, however, every single one of them was struck dead by a pillar of lightning before they could even get close to the guards.
On this day, everyone in the entire imperial capital—whether the emperor, princes, consorts, officials, guards, or palace attendants—had their entire understanding of the world turned upside down.
And Yun Ying, the emperor of Yun Kingdom, was both the least surprised and the most astonished of them all.
Just how many evil creatures had infiltrated the imperial capital? Why had they gone to such lengths and expended so much effort? What exactly were they trying to accomplish?
What had Yun Kingdom done to deserve being dragged into some enormous conspiracy involving so many evil creatures?
Yun Ying’s emotions were in turmoil. He was both frightened and deeply worried.
With the Heavenly Dao already fallen, how difficult was life for ordinary mortals caught between demons and monsters? If the gods hadn’t come to their aid today, he might never have discovered what was really happening, even until the very end.
Seeing that the officials and palace attendants around him were also pale with fear, their expressions filled with apprehension, as though they no longer dared trust anyone around them…
Yun Ying gritted his teeth and made a decision.
Still dressed in his imperial court robes, he strode straight out from the crowd and knelt before the gods in the sky.
“Yun Ying thanks all the revered gods for helping my Yun Kingdom rid itself of these evil creatures!”
“From this day forward, everyone throughout Yun Kingdom shall worship the revered gods of the Heavenly Court! From this day on, the people of Yun Kingdom shall worship no other gods besides those of the Heavenly Court!”
Cheng Qisheng, who had been thoroughly enjoying watching Mo Yuxuan’s lightning show, suddenly stood up.
As the words of the emperor, the man who bore the fortune of an entire kingdom, rang out, a divine kingdom the size of Yun Kingdom itself—
Appeared.
