A red lotus suddenly blossomed over flesh and blood, its petals rolling waves of searing heat in every direction.
The pirate chief did not even have time to scream before he was swallowed by that strange flame.
Starting from his chest, his clothes, flesh, and skin successively turned into crimson fragments. A gust of sea wind swept them away, scattering them into a sky full of ash. Not a single drop of blood touched the ground.
Only a skeleton remained, burned a deep red. It stood there for a second before collapsing with a clatter and silently crumbling into a heap of charred black pieces.
Every pirate stood frozen.
The machete in Skinny Monkey’s hand fell to the ground with a clang. His mouth hung open, and his eyes bulged as though they were about to pop from their sockets.
The other pirates were even more terrified, their hearts nearly splitting from fear.
Even the horses were startled by the bizarre flames. They reared onto their hind legs and whinnied, their cries shattering the fishing village’s silence.
Behind the reef, the villagers clutching hoes and sickles all raised their heads in unison.
At some point, a figure had appeared in the sky.
No—that could never be a human!
The Goddess was draped in an extraordinarily splendid feathered robe. Layer upon layer of golden-red feathers spread outward, while flames burned along the hem. Its sunlight-like, dazzling radiance dyed half the sky in brilliant color.
She held a bow in her hands.
The bow was entirely crimson, its limbs engraved with intricate patterns Zhu Jingzhe had never seen before, golden light flowing through them.
Everyone’s gaze was glued to that golden-red figure in the sky. No one could look away.
Before long, a crack suddenly split open in the gray, hazy place where the sea met the sky behind her. Something was pushing its way out through the sea mist—something so enormous that it filled every empty space between the heavens and the ocean.
First, a towering shadow, as majestic as a mountain ridge, slowly emerged from the fog. Then, a magnificent behemoth blotted out the last remaining light over the sea, casting the entire fishing village and the rocky beach into shadow.
It was a tower ship of unimaginable size!
The entire vessel was pitch-black, its towering gunwales reaching into the clouds.
Nine stories of pavilions rose above it, their upturned eaves and corners magnificent. Golden-red lanterns hung from every level, making the whole ship breathtakingly beautiful.
Suddenly, a strange cry rang out.
In the next instant, everyone saw a fish so enormous it blotted out the sky appear behind the Goddess, glaring at them menacingly.
One goddess, one ship, and one fish hovered over the sea outside the fishing village, no more than twenty or thirty yards from shore.
[Zhu Jingzhe’s shock points +100]
[Zhu Guyu’s shock points +100]
[Old Uncle Wang’s shock points +100]
[…]
[Current shock points: 61,000,000]
Zhu Jingzhe’s eyes were filled with disbelief.
Was there really an illusion technique this powerful in the world?
He instinctively reached down and viciously pinched the flesh of his thigh. A sharp pain shot up from beneath his skin.
This was real. He was not under an illusion!
Zhu Guyu peeked out from behind her brother. Golden-red light flickered in her pupils.
“Big Brother…”
She murmured softly, “The immortal just killed that bad man who wanted to eat us. She came to save us, didn’t she?”
Zhu Jingzhe’s expression was troubled. “I don’t know either.”
Would immortals really care about the lives of mortals?
The hardships their fishing village had suffered over the years had already given him the answer. The lives of mortals had nothing to do with the immortals.
Skinny Monkey, the pirate beside them, finally came to his senses as well. His legs gave out, and he fell to his knees on the rocky ground with a thud. Cold sweat streamed down his face as he sobbed and pleaded.
“Goddess… Goddess, spare me…”
His voice was so shrill that it had changed pitch. “This humble one failed to recognize your greatness! I’ll never dare do it again! Please, Goddess, show mercy! Please spare my life!”
The other pirates had long since been scared witless. They scrambled and rolled toward the low, craggy slope behind the village.
One of them was running too fast and tripped over a rock. He pitched forward and landed face-first in the dirt, filling his mouth with sand, yet he continued clawing his way up the slope on all fours, even losing one of his shoes.
They thought they could escape.
But it was already too late.
The Goddess lowered her eyes and looked at Skinny Monkey, who was kowtowing desperately on the beach, as well as the pirates fleeing in panic. Her expression did not change as she said calmly, “You have committed countless evils and slaughtered countless innocents. The human world has no place for you anymore.”
She stood suspended in midair, her robes billowing in the wind. For the second time, she slowly drew back the crimson bow shimmering with flowing light.
The instant the bow bent into a full moon, three radiant arrows condensed of their own accord. She released her fingers, and all three arrows shot forth together, their scarlet-gold radiance tearing across the sky and trailing three dazzling tongues of flame.
The arrows plunged into the slope, and the earth shook violently.
Heavenly fire poured down like rain.
It seemed intent on burning everything to ashes.
The pirates and the villagers looked up at the rain of fire filling the sky. Their pupils contracted, and identical terror appeared on their faces.
Watching this scene, Zhu Jingzhe felt a sorrowful sense of inevitability. He should never have allowed himself to hope.
The immortals truly did not care about the lives of mortals.
“Big Brother, the Goddess doesn’t seem to have come to save us. She’s going to burn all of us to death too. Why?”
Zhu Guyu’s face was filled with despair. “Big Brother, what did we do wrong? Why are they doing this to us?”
That feeling of embracing hope only to have it cruelly shattered was unbearable even for an adult, let alone a child.
“When Heaven wants to devour people and the gods want to kill them, they don’t need to give us mortals any reason.” Zhu Jingzhe covered his sister’s eyes with his hand. “Guy u, don’t look. Then it won’t hurt.”
Just as everyone believed 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 above their heads, thin, golden spheres of light emerged from each of their bodies. They blocked every blazing fireball in the sky, keeping the villagers completely unharmed.
The pirates, however, received no such protection.
The rain of fire struck them without mercy, burning them into piles of blackened remains that ultimately turned to dust.
The entire process took no more than three to five breaths.
The fire stopped, and the golden light quietly faded away.
Holding the crimson bow, the Goddess descended from the sky. The hem of her gown, trailing three feet behind her, settled onto the beach, yet not a speck of dust clung to it.
[Zhu Jingzhe’s shock points +100]
[Zhu Guyu’s shock points +100]
[Shen Jue’s shock points +100]
[…]
[Current shock points: 62,000,000]
On the deck of the tower ship, Shen Jue and the others watched the Goddess draw her bow and shoot her arrows with the bearing of a celestial being. Once again, they gained a deeper understanding of the gulf between divine power and mortal strength.
“If the Divine Lady had not deliberately protected them, this heavenly fire would have slain more than just those wicked pirates,” Pei Du said with a sigh.
“The Divine Lady once shouldered the duty of slaying demons and vanquishing evil. I imagine she must also be a god of war in the Heavenly Palace.” Feng Chunya gazed at the figure before them, her resolve to become stronger growing firmer by the moment.
Only by becoming stronger could she be of any help to the Goddess.
