Chapter 1196 - 824: Eye of Celestial Punishment

The speed of the lightning descending from the Eye of Celestial Punishment was far too fast—so fast that Zhang Chen simply had no time to unleash his Divine Techniques to push aside the earth and give his Ice Domain the time to unfold.

Crack~

Zhang Chen’s Ice Domain had only just spread out when that violet divine thunder had already pierced through the void and arrived within the Ice Domain. Before Zhang Chen’s consciousness could even turn, he only felt as if he were some old, worn-out doll, directly shattering apart in midair, exploding with a thunderous boom into fragments.

’Crack~’

There was even a crisp snap as that violet lightning passed through; everywhere it went, the Ice Domain was forcibly erased into nothingness, turning into a forbidden zone of Law.

Zhang Chen’s Ice Domain was pierced through with a hole as thick as a bowl’s mouth, and along the path traced by that violet divine thunder, the Power of Law within the domain surged, yet was unable to restore the void that had been pierced.

Fortunately, that force merely punctured the domain rather than tearing it to shreds, otherwise Zhang Chen would have died on the spot without a doubt.

The Purple Cloud Divine Thunder was primarily targeting the sacrificial altar; Zhang Chen was merely caught up in it.

One could see within that golden eye, streak after streak of violet divine thunder shooting out, falling toward the altar. The Innate Grand Array was pierced through three layers in an instant, and only then was the force of the Purple Cloud Divine Thunder ground away by the array.

Yet the lightning fired from the golden eye in the sky did not cease, like a rapid, frenzied machine gun; one after another, violet divine thunders snaked downward.

Strangely enough, those three overlord-level Innate Spirits, as well as the Demon Beasts that had been implicated earlier, were no longer subjected to the slaughter of Celestial Punishment at this moment. They merely faced that vast heavenly might; all Demon Beasts and Innate Spirits, like those three overlord-level Innate Spirits, were pressed to their knees upon the ground.

"You dare dream of destroying my altar!" The Queen Mother of the West had already descended onto the altar, replacing Lady Biyun’s position. She personally pushed Lady Biyun aside and began to operate the array upon the altar. One could see sixty-four Innate Arrays whirling, incessantly drawing upon the Power of the Dragon Vein of Kunlun Mountain to contend against the Celestial Punishment in the heavens.

As the Innate Grand Array rotated, the portions of the array that had been pierced by the Power of Celestial Punishment were instantly repaired. The Queen Mother of the West sat upright at the center of the grand array, single-mindedly operating the Array.

’Crack~’

Thunder roared as chains coiled down, descending from the void. Yet this time, the Purple Cloud Divine Thunder was different from the very first strike; this streak of Purple Cloud Divine Thunder split into eight strands in an instant, smashing down toward the eight array eyes of the altar’s grand array.

The Queen Mother of the West circulated the grand array to oppose Celestial Punishment, but unfortunately that Power of Celestial Punishment seemed to pierce through all things, directly blasting through the array eyes. With a single strike, eight Innate Arrays were broken.

"What a terrifying Power of Celestial Punishment!" The Queen Mother of the West’s expression changed; she wanted to chant the formulas and draw upon the Power of the Earth Dragon Vein to repair the ruined Innate Grand Array. Yet who would have thought that her repair speed simply could not match the speed at which the Eye of Celestial Punishment spat out Purple Cloud Divine Thunder. Before she could finish repairing the Innate Grand Array, yet another Purple Cloud Divine Thunder erupted; this time, the thunder split into eight strands again, continuing to smash down toward the array eyes of the grand array.

Under this wave of bombardment, the Innate Grand Array was broken in another eight places; in the blink of an eye, sixteen Innate Arrays had already been pierced.

"Queen Mother of the West, you dare to defy Heaven itself—today you will surely suffer retribution. That Purple Cloud Divine Thunder numbers forty-nine strikes in total; at present, merely two have already shattered sixteen of your Innate Arrays. I’d like to see how you handle the Celestial Punishment that follows." The little giant spoke, his voice thick with schadenfreude.

"Hmph. Since I dared to make such a move today, I naturally made preparations in advance. A mere forty-nine strikes of Celestial Punishment—what can it really do to me? I hold the Five Directions Banner in my hand; I can draw upon the Five Elements Dao between Heaven and Earth to bolster me, and I have the entire Kunlun Mountain’s Dragon Vein as support. At this moment I can already borrow the Power of the Earth; even the Power of Celestial Punishment will find it hard to touch me. You have the Heavenly Dao, but I, relying on this altar, can mobilize the Power of the Earth—how could I possibly fear you?" The Queen Mother of the West’s voice was cold and clear as she stood within the grand array without the slightest hint of cowardice. Divine Power surged endlessly around her, and in the next moment the Five Directions Banner emerged, directly transforming into five rays of light—red, yellow, white, green, and blue—merging into the altar.

With the Five Directions Banner fusing into the altar, one could see the Qi Mechanism of the altar undergo a subtle shift. The Power of the Five Elements between Heaven and Earth was like ten thousand streams returning to the sea, surging toward the altar. The grand array upon the altar that had been broken was actually repaired in the span of a single flick of the finger.

The golden eye within the clouds actually blinked, humanlike, at this moment. Then, in the next instant, it was as if the entire world lost its sound—no thunderclap was heard, no flash of lightning seen—and then one could see that the Innate Grand Array upon the altar had actually had thirty-two arrays shattered in a single instant.

Those were thirty-two Innate Arrays! And they were Innate Arrays bolstered by the Power of the Earth Veins and the Power of the Five Elements of Heaven and Earth.

"Crack~"

The void shattered like a mirror, whipping up a terrifying tide of Chaos that swallowed the altar whole.

"I have already proven the Dao of Primordial; now that I occupy the Power of the Earth, even if you wield the supreme Colorless Divine Thunder, what can you do to me?" The Queen Mother of the West stood upon the altar, a faint demonic edge in her voice, filled with fury: "I will definitely keep this altar intact. Today, I shall contest victory and defeat with you!"

The Queen Mother of the West stood atop the sacrificial platform, intent on testing her strength against the Heavenly Dao.

Faced with the Queen Mother of the West’s provocation, the Eye of the Heavenly Dao remained calm; all that answered her was that lightly blinking eye. With each blink, Five-Colored Divine Thunder burst forth once more, and Heaven and Earth again turned into a black-and-white scroll, robbed of all sound. Only strands of mysterious, unfathomable power flowed through Heaven and Earth, and then eighteen more layers of the Queen Mother of the West’s Innate Grand Array were shattered.

"Five Elements of Heaven and Earth, heed my command! Innate Grand Array, rise for me!" The Queen Mother of the West’s voice was filled with cold composure. In the next instant, the Five Elements Dao surged throughout Heaven and Earth, restoring the Innate Grand Array on the altar once more. This time the speed of repair was unbelievably fast; in the span of a finger snap, forty-eight layers were already restored.

That golden eye gazed down at the altar below, indifferent and devoid of any emotion. At last its gaze turned, glancing toward the direction of Zhang Chen’s Ice Domain, and for a moment it froze in place, making no move at all.

After quite some time, the golden eye in the sky actually dispersed, and the entire Kunlun Mountain fell into an inexplicable deathly silence.

"How is this possible? Celestial Punishment ought to have forty-nine strikes; how did it suddenly disperse?" The giant raised his head, looking at the gradually fading thunder punishment in the sky, a bewildered look in his eyes.

"It shouldn’t be like this!" The Divine Spirit holding the little sun in his hand also wore a face full of disbelief.

"Run! That woman can withstand even the Power of Celestial Punishment—she’s definitely not someone we can resist. That woman has already adapted to the laws of the Heavenly Dao; we’d better run!" The man wrapped in a river of stars didn’t say another word, directly turning into a streak of light and fleeing far away, his figure vanishing into Heaven and Earth, leaving the other two Innate Spirits behind.

The Innate Spirit holding the little sun in his hand also turned into a ray of red light, disappearing into Kunlun Mountain in an instant, leaving only that giant still kneeling on the ground where he was.

"Queen Mother of the West, once I achieve Harmonization, I will come to contend with you again." The giant’s voice boomed like thunder across the entire Kunlun Mountain Range: "Even if we cannot do anything to you, you are trapped within the Kunlun Mountain Range and likewise can do nothing to us. Your strength has already reached a point where you can advance no further, whereas our strength can continue to grow without end. Sooner or later, there will come a day when our cultivation surpasses yours, and then we will behead you, this hidden calamity."

After throwing out his ruthless words, the giant’s figure swiftly vanished and departed.

The Queen Mother of the West on the sacrificial platform stood quietly upon the altar, Five-Colored Divine Light flowing around her body, silently repairing the Innate Grand Array, not going after that giant.

At this moment the battlefield returned once more to chaos. Countless Powerful Warriors and giants slaughtered one another, locked in a struggle where neither could prevail, the shouts of killing shaking Heaven and Earth.

Fragments of snowflakes in the void reassembled, and Zhang Chen’s figure appeared within the field. His pair of eyes turned toward the direction of the sacrificial platform, a strange look surfacing in his gaze.

Others might not be able to see it, but Zhang Chen could: the Queen Mother of the West’s Qi Mechanism was leaking outward—that kind of outward leakage from high concentration to low. It was as if he were seeing the Princess again; because the concentration of Spiritual Qi between Heaven and Earth was insufficient, her Origin had begun to ceaselessly flow out.

"The Princess can still flee to the Thirty-Three Heavens Spiritual World to take refuge, but what about the Queen Mother of the West? Strange to say, I actually cannot sense the existence of the Thirty-Three Layers of Spiritual World in this era." A trace of astonishment appeared in Zhang Chen’s eyes.

On the altar, the Queen Mother of the West formed seals with her hands, continuously imprinting Dharma Seals upon her own body, suppressing the Qi Mechanism around her, continually suppressing her own strength, while the Five Directions Banner also turned into seals, sealing her acupoints all over.

"This Heaven and Earth is unable to contain the strength of the Queen Mother of the West? If she remains within this Heaven and Earth, she will only die a slow death, so what does she intend to do by building this altar?" Zhang Chen looked toward the Queen Mother of the West and the sacrificial platform, disbelief in his eyes.

This is the Mysterious Era, yet it actually cannot contain the strength of the Queen Mother of the West? Just how high has her strength reached?

"Simply astonishing." Zhang Chen muttered to himself.

He had previously still harbored resentment toward the Queen Mother of the West, feeling that by making him build the sacrificial platform, she was treating him as cannon fodder. He had been thinking of finding a way to get even—after all, when had he, Zhang Chen, ever suffered such a loss? But now, Zhang Chen no longer dared entertain such thoughts.

"That eye just now was the manifestation of the Power of Celestial Dao? The Power of Celestial Dao actually manifested as an eye. It seems this world is not simple; I underestimated the old monsters of this world." Zhang Chen muttered in his heart, slowly withdrawing his gaze, inwardly pondering what sort of excuse he ought to fabricate later to fool the Queen Mother of the West.

After all, that was the Power of Celestial Punishment, yet after being struck by the Power of Celestial Punishment he did not die—far from dying, he actually revived. How could the Queen Mother of the West not dig to the bottom of this?

"So what kind of excuse should I think of?" Zhang Chen was somewhat troubled. Just as he was about to retract the Ice Domain, his movement halted; he saw a patch of golden radiance flickering beneath his feet.