God Of Immortals

Chapter 146: The Desolate Ruins [II]

Once they entered through the main gates of the ruins, there were many entrances into the inner sections of the ruins. From their own entrance passage, Ju Feng and others from the house of lightning opened the doors onto a scene of total chaos. Inside the ruins was like a massive city on its own. There were dreadbeasts and daemons battling everywhere. Pale dreadbeasts, faces whited out for battles and hunting, tearing into the mutant daemons who were like solid hills.

Slowly but steadily, they moved away from the fights and headed towards the center of the ruins. They had only moved a few miles when there was a deafening roar coming from their right. Even, the battling daemons and dreadbeasts became drawn towards the roar. As they watched, they saw thousands of mutated combination of dreadbeasts and daemons. Their arms transformed into the limbs of jungle predators.

They slashed a savage furrow through the army of dreadbeasts and daemons alike who came to confront them. A handful of daemons tried to stand against them, but were no match for the magically augmented Ghostbeasts. The surprise attack was rapidly turning into a slaughter.

Ju Feng and others hesitated, weapons already drawn. These weren't their people. They were their enemies. They should face what they came for. They would leave the heavens forsaken beasts to kill themselves before stepping in. They were cautiously strategizing, when something struck them from behind.

Ju Feng slammed face-first into the ground. Claws raked his shoulder, drawing blood. Teeth snapped for his neck. He twisted and saw he'd been knocked down by a ghostbeast. A dread tiger. Ju Feng loooked at the other cultivators and saw that they were also fighting other ghostsbeasts. It snarled, its breath hot with fresh blood.

He screamed as he tackled the dreadbeast.

He pushed a vast amount of chi into his body, equal in volume to the shriek that wailed from his lungs. The daemon jaguar sprang back, ears flat, belly to the ground as Ju Feng's energy infused punch struck it. Ju Feng scrambled to his feet and started to back away-then realized he'd dropped the sword. It lay on the ground between him and the were-jaguar, which lashed its tail, trying to work up the courage to attack.

"Heavens tears."

Ju Feng scooped up the sword using swiftsteps and cut off the beast's head. Then, an enormous flames from behind. The world burned. His skin was on fire. His breath was scalding steam. The sword was a brand of molten metal in his fist. The light in the ruins stamped white-hot patterns into his prickling eyes, and the cold grey shapes made from blue words and black iron.

Fear washed out from him in sickly waves, but the robe of Ju Feng absorbed most of it,. Fear and pain were fuel on the fire, and the flames surged high, and higher yet. The world of the ruins burned, and at its centre were the faction of the house of lightning. Ju Feng held out his hand, and he curled the three fingers, and he beckoned for the dragon to come.

The great claw lashed at the Ju Feng's face, the great hands snatched at his body. But all the dragon caught was afterimage. Easier to strike the flickering fire. Easier to catch the rolling smoke. The circle was an oven. The blades of yellow grass were tongues of yellow flame beneath it. The sweat, spit, blood dripped onto it like gravy from cooking meat. Ju Feng looked around and discovered that others were no where to be seen. His throat released a growl, iron spattering from the forge. The growl became a great roar, the dry forest in flames, and he let the sword go free.

The grey metal made searing circles, hacked bloodless holes in blue flesh, rang on black iron. The dragon faded away and the blade bit into the face of one of the daemons who was trying to attack him. His head burst apart and sprayed blood across another, a hole torn from the wall around the circle. The other daemons shuffled back, into the dreadbeasts. The dreads and daemons both of them swelling with their fear. They feared the dragon more even than any other in the ruins. And they were wise to. Everything that lived was its enemy, and when the dragon had made pieces of the daemons, he would set to work on them.

The dragon pressed his blue hand to the pale side of his head, face squirming like a nest of maggots. The blade of the weapon had missed his skull, but stolen away the top half of his ear. Blood bubbled out from the wound, ran down the side of his great neck in two thin lines, and did not stop. The great eyes went wide and the dragon sprang forward with a thundering bellow. Ju Feng rolled under its flailing claws and slid round behind him, saw the black iron on his leg flap away, the bright buckle dangling. The sword snaked out and slid into the gap, ate deep into the great pale calf inside it. The giant roared in pain, spun, lurched on his wounded leg and fell to his knees.

The dragon's great arms slid round the Ju Feng's back, folding him in a smothering embrace. The edges of the black metal pierced his flesh in a dozen places. Closer the giant drew him, and closer, and a ragged spike slid into Ju Feng's face, cut through his cheek and scraped against his teeth, bit into the side of his tongue and filled his mouth with salt blood. The Feared's grip was the weight of mountains.

No matter how hot Ju Feng's rage, no matter how he squirmed, and thrashed, and screamed in fury, he was held as tightly as the cold earth holds the buried dead. The blood trickling from his face, and from his back, and from the great gash in the Feared's armour soaked into his clothes and spread out blazing hot over his skin.

The World burned. Above the oven, the cauldron, the crucible, Bethod nodded, and the giant's cold arms squeezed tighter