A red lotus suddenly bloomed upon the flesh, its petals swirling with scorching waves of air that surged in all directions.
The pirate leader did not even have time to scream before he was completely engulfed by the bizarre flames.
Starting from his chest, his clothing and then his flesh turned to crimson ash. Swept up by the sea breeze, they scattered into a flurry of dust; not a single drop of blood managed to hit the ground.
Only a glowing, red-hot skeleton remained, standing in place for a brief second before collapsing with a dry rattle, silently shattering into a pile of charred charcoal on the ground.
All the pirates froze in their tracks.
The cutlass in the skinny pirate's hand fell to the ground with a loud clatter. His mouth hung wide open, and his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
The other pirates were scared out of their wits.
Even the horses were startled by the bizarre flames, rearing up on their hind legs as their neighs shattered the silence of the fishing village.
Behind the reefs, the villagers clutching their hoes and sickles raised their heads in unison.
Suspended high in the sky, at some unknown point, a figure had appeared.
No, that could definitely not be a human!
The Divine Lady was draped in an exceptionally gorgeous feathered raiment. Layers of gold-red feathers unfurled, and a layer of fire burned along the hem of the garment. Its dazzling luster, bright as the sun, dyed half the sky in its colors.
In her hands, she held a bow.
The bow was entirely crimson, its limbs carved with complex, intricate patterns that Zhu Jingzhe had never seen before, all flowing with golden light.
Everyone's gaze was glued to the gold-red figure in the sky, completely unable to look away.
Before long, a rift suddenly tore open in the gray expanse where the sea met the sky behind her. Something was emerging from the sea fog, massive enough to fill all the empty space between the sky and the sea.
First, a shadow as towering as a mountain ridge slowly outlined itself through the mist. Immediately after, the magnificent, colossal object blocked the last light of the sky over the sea, casting the entire fishing village and the rocky beach into its shadow.
It was an incredibly massive tower boat!
The hull was entirely pitch-black, and its bulwarks towered into the clouds.
With nine stories of pavilions and upturned eaves, gold-red lanterns hung from every level, making it look exquisitely beautiful.
Suddenly, a strange cry rang out.
In the next second, everyone saw a giant fish that blotted out the sky appear behind the Divine Lady, staring down at them like a predator eyeing its prey.
One deity, one ship, and one fish thus hovered over the sea outside the fishing village, no more than twenty to thirty zhang from the shore.
【Zhu Jingzhe Shock Value +100】
【Zhu Guyu Shock Value +100】
【Uncle Wang Shock Value +100】
【...】
【Current Shock Value: 61,000,000】
Zhu Jingzhe's eyes were filled with utter disbelief.
Could there really be such a powerful illusion in this world?
He instinctively reached down and pinched the flesh of his thigh hard. A sharp pain shot up from beneath his skin.
This was real. He was not under an illusion!
Zhu Guyu poked her head out from behind her brother, the gold-red light flickering in her pupils.
“Brother...” she murmured softly. “The immortal just killed the evil man who wanted to eat us. She is here to save us, right?”
Zhu Jingzhe was heavy-hearted. “I don't know either.”
Do immortals really care about the lives of mortals?
Over the years, the suffering of the fishing village had already given him the answer: the life and death of mortals had absolutely nothing to do with immortals.
The skinny pirate nearby also came to his senses. His legs buckled, and he fell to his knees on the rocks with a thud. Cold sweat poured down his forehead as he wept bitterly.
“Im... Immortal, spare my life...”
His voice was so high-pitched it cracked. “This lowly one was blind and failed to recognize your greatness! I will never dare do it again! I beg the immortal for mercy! Please show mercy and spare this lowly one's life!”
The other pirates had long since lost their wits. They scrambled on all fours, desperately fleeing toward the rocky low slope behind the village.
One of them ran so frantically that he tripped over a rock and faceplanted, getting a mouthful of sand. Yet, he still scrambled up the slope using both hands and feet, leaving a shoe behind.
They thought they could escape.
But it was already too late.
The Divine Lady lowered her eyes. Looking at the skinny pirate who was kowtowing repeatedly on the beach and the others fleeing in panic, her expression remained unchanged. She spoke in a calm, cold voice, “You have committed endless evils and harmed countless innocent people. The mortal realm no longer has a place for you.”
Hovering in midair, her robes fluttering wildly in the wind, she slowly drew the radiant crimson longbow for the second time.
The moment the bow was drawn to a full moon, three arrows of light automatically materialized. She released her fingers, and the three arrows shot out together. The red-gold light sliced through the sky, trailing three dazzling plumes of fire.
The arrows struck the low slope, and the earth trembled violently.
Heavenly fire poured down like rain.
It seemed intent on burning everything to ashes.
Both the pirates and the villagers looked up at the rain of fire filling the sky. Their pupils contracted, and their faces wore the exact same look of terror.
Zhu Jingzhe watched this, and a desolate sense of resignation washed over him. He really shouldn't have harbored any hope.
Immortals simply did not care about the lives of mortals.
“Brother, the immortal doesn't seem to be here to save us. She wants to burn us all to death. Why?”
Zhu Guyu's face was filled with despair. “Brother, what did we do wrong? Why is she doing this to us?”
To have one's hope raised so high only to be ruthlessly shattered was something even an adult would find hard to bear, let alone a child.
“When heaven wants to devour people, and when gods want to kill, they don't need to give us mortals any reason.” Zhu Jingzhe covered his sister's eyes with his hand. “Guyu, don't look, and it won't hurt.”
Just as everyone thought they would be burned to death by the heavenly fire like the pirates, a miracle occurred without warning.
When the rain of fire fell to within three feet of their heads, golden light barriers as thin as cicada wings emerged around each of them, blocking all the fireballs and keeping them completely unharmed.
The pirates, however, did not have this protection.
The rain of fire pelted down mercilessly on them, burning them into charred bones before finally turning them to ash.
The entire process took no more than a few breaths.
The rain of fire stopped, and the golden light quietly dissipated.
Holding the crimson bow and arrow, the Divine Lady descended from the sky. Her long, trailing skirt brushed against the sandy beach, yet it remained completely unstained by dust.
【Zhu Jingzhe Shock Value +100】
【Zhu Guyu Shock Value +100】
【Shen Jue Shock Value +100】
【...】
【Current Shock Value: 62,000,000】
On the deck of the tower boat, Shen Jue and the others watched the Divine Lady's transcendent posture as she drew her bow, gaining an even deeper understanding of the vast gulf between the power of gods and mortals.
“If the Divine Lady had not deliberately protected them, this heavenly fire would probably have done more than just execute those wicked pirates,” Pei Du remarked with a sigh.
“The Divine Lady once bore the heavy responsibility of slaying demons and vanquishing monsters. She must have been a God of War in the Heavenly Palace as well.” Feng Chunya gazed at the figure ahead, her resolve to grow stronger hardening even further.
Only by becoming stronger could she be of help to the Divine Lady.
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