荒墟牧神 - 第1126章 趕盡殺絕 - 錦書坊

On that day the world of the Nine Provinces fell into great chaos; report after report came in, each one raising wave upon wave of shock across the Nine Provinces. "The Cheng Earth Ancient God is dead, his body torn limb from limb!" "Chen Earth God Ancestor was waylaid and slain on the road!" "The Kai Earth Ancient God has passed away!" "The Bai Earth Ancient God's skull was split open, his three souls shattered utterly!" "The Yin Earth Ancient God was asleep, and died in his sleep, without a single wound upon him!" "The Tao Earth Ancient God was slain in his own ancestral ground!" ... These dreadful tidings, as though they had grown wings, spread through all the Nine Provinces; in the Three Pillar Heavens above, the three Pillar Gods sat in grave stillness, their faces dark. When these three ancient gods received the news, they did not, like the Shen Earth Ancient God, sit and chafe; instead they gathered together at the first moment — only by huddling into a knot could they feel the least bit easy, lest they die muddled and unawares. "From these reports, the ancient gods of the Nine Provinces have been wiped out to the last man," said the First Pillar Ancient God, his face indigo, blue of visage and tusked of mouth like a ghost king, his voice low. "Five days — from Bai Earth all the way to Shen Earth — nine ancient gods struck down. That means there was never any battle between equals. It was a killer running without pause, slipping into one ancestral ground after another and slaying them before the other Nine Provinces ancient gods could even hear the news." The Second Pillar Ancient God, red-faced and tusked, frowned and said: "We are hardly weak. All these years we have delved into our own great daos, our study of the dharma of the dao has grown ever deeper, our strength ever greater. In all the world, though we are not beings like the Ten Heavenly Venerables, we can at least stand shoulder to shoulder with the mighty of the Imperial Throne, surely? Would the Nine Provinces ancient gods truly have died, body and dao alike extinguished, without the least resistance?" The Third Pillar Ancient God said: "I heard the news, and a possibility came to me." His eyes flickered. "The greatest treasure under heaven has come into the world." At these words the other two ancient gods trembled violently, disbelief written on their faces. "The one who could slay the nine brothers of the Nine Provinces so swiftly is that greatest treasure under heaven, the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner. And that assassin I know as well: he is the man rumored to be the greatest Celestial Master under heaven, Longshan the Wanderer!" The Third Pillar Ancient God said: "From the youngest brother under the Black Emperor of the Northern Heaven I once heard an old tale. Six hundred thousand years ago, in the year the Heavenly Court split, the Black Emperor, Yin Tianzi, went to the heavenly palace of Xuanwu, the Northern Emperor, and there he met Longshan the Wanderer. With the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner, Longshan the Wanderer dealt a crushing blow to the million gods and demons of the Heavenly River Navy; he beat Shang Pingyin, then the greatest Celestial Master of the Heavenly Court, until he spat three pecks of blood, and for the hundred thousand years that followed he never recovered his footing, sunk in gloom, until at last Yue Tingge took his place." He sat staring blankly, dread on his face, his voice a little hoarse: "At that time Shang Pingyin commanded the Heavenly River Navy, the two Divine Martial Guards, and Beiluo Shimen — a force such as that would have had strength to spare to level even the Earth Mother Sovereign. Yet Longshan the Wanderer, with only the ten-thousand-odd scattered divine-ability users and gods and demons of the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, cut those four armies of gods and demons down until half were dead and gone!" The other two ancient gods could not help but show the same dread. The more one knew of the Heavenly Court's strength, th