Chapter 1705 — Flames of War in Carefree Village

Over the heartland of the Primordial Realm, storm clouds ten thousand miles wide appeared in the sky at once; thunder and lightning raged everywhere within them, countless divine dragons darted through the cloud-mist, and rain poured down in torrents, swelling the water still higher! The heartland of the Primordial Realm, Carefree Village included, fell entirely dark, and only the divine cities, here and there, gleamed with their own divine light in the darkness, sheltering their own stretches of land.

There were likewise Dukes of Thunder and Mothers of Lightning, ritual weapons in hand, who loosed thunderstorm after thunderstorm against the watery country below — bolts flashing, thunder pealing.

Through the heaven-filling rain and the towering floods, tower-ships of unknowable breadth at last appeared before Carefree Village, and sun after sun revolved around those tower-ships — each carried its own sun and moon!

From the opened holds of those tower-ships, warship after warship sailed out — a million warships, their banners streaming! The waterborne host of the Celestial River had come at last, and, seizing the initiative with a show of overmastering might, it used the Dragon Kings of the whole world and the Dukes of Thunder and Mothers of Lightning to deliver Carefree Village a fearsome first blow! Just as the Dragon Kings were running wild, the water of the Yong River suddenly surged in towering waves, and divine dragons rose one by one from the deep.

A voice, vast and clear beyond compare, rang out and shook the clouds: "When the Celestial River falls to earth, it becomes the Yong River — and it is no longer ruled by the Heavenly Court! The Yong River belongs to me, the Dragon-Keeper!

All Dragon Kings, hear my command! " In the Yong River, divine dragons great and small cried out in endless long notes and flew to him in swarms, and at their head was the Dragon-Keeper — dragon's head, man's body, his physical frame enormous, countless divine dragons twined about him!

The Dragon-Keeper's cultivation climbed rung by rung, and he grew into a giant that stood between heaven and earth, trident in hand; with that trident he split open waterways, drawing the flood and guiding it into the Yong River.

Countless Dragon Kings of the Heavenly Court hurled themselves at him from water and sky; the Dragon-Keeper shook his body, and the countless Yong River Dragon Emperors upon him flew out, and dragons fought dragons in a slaughter of appalling savagery. The Dragon-Keeper walked amid the deaths of countless divine dragons, driving the Scripture of Dragon-Rearing to its uttermost; no few Dragon Kings of the Heavenly Court were invaded by this Scripture of his and controlled outright.

In the darkness, countless great dragons, slick and slippery, turned rivers and seas upside down, killing with a ferocity beyond words!

The Dukes of Thunder and Mothers of Lightning of the Heavenly Court came in swarms, drumming monstrous war-drums and hammering lightning at the Dragon-Keeper without cease! Countless storm clouds spun; heaven's thunderbolts fell thick as rain, striking down at the Dragon-Keeper, and the light of the thunder made the source of the Yong River blaze bright as day.

Then, suddenly, new light appeared in the Taihuang Heaven.

Amid its towering mountains and ridges, range by range the mountains shook, and colossal sacred peaks slowly stood erect; chains linked ancient, fathomless spirit-wells, and within the wells the light was blinding as sun after sun rose, unhurried, into the air. Sun Wardens descended from the Kaihuang age and Sun Wardens of the bloodline of the Heavenly Duke of the Dark Capital drove those colossal sun-barges, scattering the darkness and lighting up the sky!

The suns on the sun-barges blazed with fierce fire, evaporating the storm clouds and burning them away. Doo-doo — war horns sounded from the Taihuang Heaven; the ancient battle-song made the scalp go numb and the blood boil!

On the leading sun-barge, Yan Jingjing stood with her towering frame; of her four arms, two gripped the mast, and the other two drew a divine bow, and the light of the arrow split the sky, bringing down a Duke of Thunder.

From those advancing sun-barges, dazzling shafts of arrow-light shot into the sky at the Dukes of Thunder and the Mothers of Lightning, and one after another they fell!

"The Moon Wardens—" someone shouted at the top of his lungs.

And now moon-barge after moon-barge rose to its feet, and moon after moon climbed into the heavens; the moons reflected the light of the sun-barges and turned it into rays of appalling power, reaping the lives of the Heavenly Court's Dukes of Thunder and Mothers of Lightning! The million ships of the Celestial River host hoisted sail and came killing toward Carefree Village.

At the center of those million warships, a blaze of fire raged into the sky — the raging fire of Zhu Shaoping's personal guards.

Zhu Shaoping, the Divine Sage of the South Pole Heaven, cultivated a body of sacred flame, and the divine men beneath his banner were likewise demigods of the South Pole Heaven.

Countless demigods waved their command pennants; the pennants pointed, and lo, the Celestial River ran fire — flame came flooding down over its surging waters, covering the heavens and the earth, and burned upon the face of the flood! Boom!

An Ark of the Other Shore tore into the Celestial River; the Heavenly King Di Shitian stood upon the ark, and beneath his command were countless gods and demons of Carefree Village, rising on flying chariot after flying chariot; the compartments opened, and sword-pellets beyond number flew out.

The sword-pellets spun, and countless flying swords merged into a torrent of blades more towering and vast than the Celestial River itself! This was the Jingping sword-matrix way of war — flying swords scouring the land!

In the Netherworld Capital of the Primordial Realm, the Netherworld Heavenly Venerate suddenly flung open his eyes; paper boats beyond number flew out, and aged netherworld emissaries, lanterns in hand, prepared to kill their way into the world of the living. At the same moment, the Netherworld Capital of the Primordial Realm shook violently; an ox horn burning with the demon-fire of the Netherworld stabbed through it, and the Void Heavenly Venerate thrust in his enormous head, opened his gaping mouth, and gave a soundless roar.

Countless fiends and demon tribes of the Netherworld poured from the Void Heavenly Venerate's mouth like an overflowing tide, charging at those aged emissaries!

When Shen Mu and Lord Shang arrived at the Primordial Realm, all they could see at its center was water and fire touching the sky. The Battle of Carefree Village had at last begun.