bioinnovel Chapter 362 All Beings Shoulder the Burden
Chapter 362 All Beings Shoulder the Burden
The cage sank.
Chaotic gray mist poured in through the cracks in the cage wall.
Every crack let in air. The wind was sharp. It became muffled when it passed through the gold.
The wind grows sharper as you pass through the layer of dark laws. The cage is filled with this fluctuating sound.
Su Fan's feet left the city bricks. The bottom of the cage was being emptied.
Where the foundation bricks of the South Heavenly Gate once stood, only emptiness remains. Beneath the emptiness lies chaos. Beneath the chaos lies an even deeper chaos.
"What is the settling rate?" Su Fan asked.
"Three hundred feet per breath." Yang Jian opened his Heavenly Eye. Laozi's talisman array burned white on his forehead.
His voice drowned out the wind, "At this speed, we'll crash into the layer of corpses at the bottom of chaos in sixty breaths."
"How thick is the layer of corpses?"
"Even the Heavenly Eye cannot see the bottom."
Nezha thrust the spear into the bottom of the cage. The spear tip pierced the dark layer of laws, sinking three feet in before it could go no further.
The Law Layer continued to crystallize amidst the aftershocks of the Pillar of Calamity, its hardness exceeding that of the city bricks of the Southern Heavenly Gate. He drew his spear, the tip coated with a layer of grayish-black crystalline powder.
"It's so hard. If it hits, will the cage break first or the corpse break first?"
"The cage will break first," Yang Jian quickly calculated in his mind.
"The corpse layer contains remnants of laws accumulated over 30,000 years. Its hardness is more than three times that of the cage walls. If the cage is smashed down, the bottom will be pierced directly. Then the fragments of the corpse layer will pour in and mix with the causal fluid of the extraterrestrial gods. At that point, no one inside the cage will be able to tell the others apart."
The human warrior leaned against the crenellation. His bare leg was broken, with only half of his thigh resting on the city bricks. He tapped the brick with the hilt of his broken sword.
"Then don't let it sink to the bottom. Stop it halfway down."
"What are you using to stop?" Qingfeng looked down at him.
"Stop with me." The human warrior raised his broken sword. "Am I not part of the rules? Rules can explode, right? When the Path of All Beings explodes, will the recoil be enough to push the cage upwards?"
"Enough," Yang Jian answered without even calculating, "but if you explode, you're gone. Your will will shatter, and the Heavenly Dao's Repairing Technique can't bring you back."
"Once it's gone, it's gone."
The human warrior used the hilt of his sword to support himself as he moved toward the edge of the battlement. Qingfeng grabbed his collar and dragged him back.
"Wait a moment."
"What are you waiting for?"
"Wait for the boss to speak."
Su Fan did not turn around.
He stood atop the foremost crevice of the cage. The Pangu Axe lay horizontally before him. The golden light from the axe blade illuminated the ever-approaching bottom of chaos ahead.
The outline of the bottom was already visible. A layer of grayish-black corpses spread out in the depths of chaos, with bones, scales, broken horns, and fragments of laws shattered into dust on its surface.
Several half-mutilated giant skeletons lay at the edge of the skeletal remains. He recognized one of them.
Kun.
The round, fleshy corpse of the Kun lay on top of the layer of remains. Its mouth was still open, a dark void inside. There was no light.
"Yang Jian," Su Fan called out.
"exist."
"How many of the extraterrestrial gods are still able to move?"
"Eleven. Add the twelve men in black robes. Add the twenty-one who awoke from the black star. A total of thirty-three. Seven of them are still caught in the aftershocks of the Great Calamity Pillar and haven't fully broken free. Twenty-six are still able to move."
"To what extent has the law line of the path of all sentient beings been shaken?"
"A 30% amplitude is enough for 10,000 soldiers to hold on. If the amplitude increases to 50%, some will be shaken out of their bodies. If it increases to 70%, all 10,000 will be shaken out."
Su Fan changed the axe's position from horizontal to vertical. The blade faced downwards, and the handle was close to his chest.
"Now, if you smash it down with an axe, how many feet will the recoil push the cage upwards?"
Yang Jian paused for a moment.
"Three hundred zhang."
"Enough to hold out for a few breaths."
"Three breaths."
"Is three breaths enough for you to locate all the causal cores of the extraterrestrial gods?"
Yang Jian remained silent for a moment.
The Heavenly Eye rotates within Laozi's talisman array.
The area around the pupil was bloodshot. The blood vessels spread outwards from the pupil and had already crept into the whites of the eyes.
His voice remained steady.
"That's enough. But after locating it, I need to transmit the coordinates to the Path of All Beings within a breath. Only after transmitting can we fight. There's a half-breath gap in between. During this half-breath, no laws are operating within the cage. It all depends on the physical body."
"Just half a breath." Nezha took the spear off his shoulder. "Back in the East Sea, I took a lash from Ao Guang's dragon tail whip. That lash lasted much longer than half a breath. I didn't die."
"You are the incarnation of the lotus," Yang Jian said, looking at Nezha. "The soldiers on the city wall are not. They lack the foundation to reshape their physical bodies. If the extraterrestrial gods concentrate their fire on the city wall during the half-breath gap, half of the ten thousand soldiers will die."
Nezha fell silent. He planted the gun at his feet.
"So what do you mean?"
"I won't give you any hints." Yang Jian's voice was calm. "I'll only report what the Heavenly Eye sees. How to decide is the boss's business."
Su Fan turned around.
He glanced at the soldiers on the city wall. Ten thousand and fifty men. Every single one of them was still standing.
Those with broken bare legs used their weapons to prop themselves up. Those with broken bare hands used their teeth to bite their weapons. Their mouths were full of blood. Their teeth had shattered the hilts of their weapons. Debris mixed with blood dripped from the corners of their mouths. Not a single person retreated to the inner courtyard.
"The human warrior just said to risk our lives to blow it up." Su Fan's voice echoed on the city wall.
"I didn't agree. Because it's not that time yet. Now I'll say the next thing. Anyone who thinks they can survive the half-breath gap, take a step forward. Those who can't, retreat to the inner courtyard. Retreating isn't shameful. Only by staying alive can you fight the second half."
No one retreated from the city wall.
Everyone took a step forward.
Qingfeng collapsed. The human warrior used the hilt of his sword to support himself and crawled half a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters). The wolf demon dragged his crippled leg forward three steps.
Gongsun Bao, holding the broken sword in both hands, stepped over the rubble at the top of the battlement. The footsteps of ten thousand people landed simultaneously.
The city bricks trembled. A white halo spread outwards from the ground.
The ripples of light collided with the cage walls and bounced back, converging at the center of the city wall. A new golden pattern emerged at the point of convergence.
Su Fan looked at the new golden stripe. He silently counted to three.
"Almost half of the quarter-hour has passed. There's not much time left. I don't expect you all to survive during this half-breath gap. But those who survive must fight for the lives of those who died."
A gentle breeze opened its mouth.
"The dead don't need living people to replace them."
He held the broken sword horizontally in front of his chest.
"I'll come back and beat the dead myself."
Su Fan's lips twitched. He turned around to face the bottom of the cage.
Pangu raised his axe above his head. Golden light exploded from the axe blade, filling the entire cage with golden light.
The dark law layer began to disintegrate rapidly within the golden light. The black-robed figure stood beside the archway ruins.
He saw Su Fan raise the axe. His dark eyes were fixed on the axe.
A large amount of causal liquid gushed out from beneath the black robe. The causal liquid condensed into the final protective barrier of law in front of him.
Twenty-one resurrected ancient extraterrestrial gods stepped out of the black star. Their dark green eyes were all fixed on Su Fan.
Su Fan swung his axe down.
The axe blade slammed into the bottom of the cage. It slammed into the layer of dark laws. It slammed into the causal chains that had reached their limit of congestion. It slammed into the fragments of the black star's outer shell.
A golden shockwave erupted from the point of impact. The shockwave surged upwards along the inner wall of the cage. The cage shook violently.
The settling velocity dropped from 300 feet per breath to zero in an instant. Then it accelerated in the opposite direction. The cage began to bounce upwards.
As it bounced upwards, three golden streaks spread out from the point of impact. One burrowed into the layer of dark laws. One burrowed into the interior of the black star. One burrowed into the layer of corpses at the bottom of chaos.
Yang Jian reported the numbers.
"The cage rises. Speed: 300 zhang. Duration: 3 breaths. The extraterrestrial divine causal core begins positioning. One, two, three. Positioning complete. Coordinates ready to be transmitted into the Path of All Beings. Now entering a half-breath blank period."
As soon as Yang Jian finished speaking, all the laws within the cage simultaneously ceased to function. The golden patterns dimmed.
The dark law layer remained still. The white light of the Heavenly Dao Repair Technique extinguished. The flames of the Wind and Fire Wheels died down. The Chaos Ribbon hung down. The broken blade on the severed sword ceased its humming.
The breathing of ten thousand people became crystal clear at the same instant.
The man in black robes seized this half-breath.
He had no vocal organs. But he wrote his commands in the void before the period of silence began.
Three rows of causal runes hung in mid-air.
The first row of runes commands an assault on the city walls. The second row commands the possession of the golden patterns of the mortal realm. The third row commands the stripping of the entire Southern Heavenly Gate from its cage.
The extraterrestrial gods charged in three columns. One column rushed towards the ramparts. Another column rushed towards the golden patterns on the cage walls. And the third column rushed towards Su Fan.
Nezha blocked the way. The Wind-Fire Wheels, without flames, could only be used as iron rings.
Without the blessing of laws, the spear tip is only good as an iron rod. He swung the spear shaft and smashed it down on the rune-like humanoid figure at the front.
The gun barrel bent. The runes on the rune-like humanoid figure were shattered into three pieces. A dark palm print slapped Nezha in the chest.
Nezha was embedded in the city wall's bricks. The bricks shattered into powder, which seeped into his collar.
He pulled his head out of the rubble. His lip was cut. The magic ribbon hung down his shoulder. He looked at the dark palm print, then pushed himself up from the rubble and stood firm again.
A gentle breeze blocked the second path. No white light shone from the broken sword. The blade was blunt. The bare hand gripping the hilt shattered into specks of light during the brief moment of silence.
He gripped the sword hilt again with his right hand. His real hand. Only this one real hand remained. He plunged the broken sword into the crack of law in front of the golden pattern.
The broken sword's blade blocked the tightening crack. The crack continued to close. The broken sword bent under the pressure.
When he bent to his limit, Qingfeng's hand split open. Blood flowed down his wrist. He gritted his teeth and didn't let go.
Su Fan blocked the third path.
He stood still, Pangu's Axe held horizontally in front of him. Six extraterrestrial gods simultaneously pounced on him.
The closest one was a dark palm print. The palm print had its five fingers spread open and was slamming down towards his head.
Su Fan neither dodged nor blocked. He released his left hand, spread his fingers, and met the attack with a palm strike.
Palm to palm. The two palms collided in mid-air. The five fingers of the dark palm print shattered instantly.
Su Fan's tiger's mouth also split open. Golden blood gushed from the crack. The golden blood dripped onto the cage wall, directly burning through the layer of laws.
The second extraterrestrial god was a chain-like avatar. The chains wrapped around Su Fan's right arm, attempting to crush the Pangu Axe.
Su Fan used his entangled right arm to exert force in the opposite direction, slamming the back of the axe hard against the joint of the chain.
The chains snapped one by one, fragments shattering against the cage walls, each piece creating a dent in the dark law layer.
The half-breath gap ends after half a breath.
All laws resume operation simultaneously.
The golden patterns rekindled. The Wind and Fire Wheels reignited. The Heavenly Eye reopened. The white light on the broken sword exploded.
Yang Jian's voice rang out first after the laws were restored: "Transmission of coordinates for all extraterrestrial god causal cores complete. All sentient beings received. We can attack now."
Su Fan withdrew his bleeding left palm and raised the Pangu Axe above his head again.
"Then let's fight."
The roc let out a long cry from the top of the cage.
Countless chains of the Dao of All Beings poured out of the coffin, dragging the dark cage upwards against the descending chaotic gray mist.