Chapter 1883: Divine Dragon Ascends to Heaven

In Maiqiu, stood the main temple of Goddess Miaozhan.

Tonight, the crowd gathered outside the temple was several times larger than usual. This was because the temple had suddenly closed its doors in the evening, with the temple priests ushering out all pilgrims and devotees before locking up.

Everyone was perplexed, wondering what major event had occurred.

A few pilgrims who had been expelled from the temple recounted that while the head priest was leading them in prayer and worship, they suddenly heard an explosive sound, like a firecracker going off during the New Year. Everyone looked up to see, to their astonishment, that the main statue of the Goddess, positioned centrally, had cracked!

As everyone stood bewildered, the statue's head fell off with a crash, smashing the offering table in front of it.

When the head fell, it revealed the statue of Goddess Fenghuo, previously obscured behind it. To their horror, both of her eyes were weeping tears of blood!

The tear stains were already dry, indicating they had been flowing for a considerable time.

The head priest and the other temple officials exchanged bewildered glances, stood frozen for a few breaths, and then unceremoniously evicted all the devotees.

Upon hearing these accounts from the pilgrims outside, the other devotees were filled with doubt and suspicion.

A goddess statue losing its head and weeping—this was a great ill omen!

Everyone had come to the temple burdened by worries, and now, witnessing such a dire omen, they feared their troubles would only worsen upon returning home.

Torn between fear and confusion, they became even more reluctant to leave.

They waited for over an hour, but the temple doors remained shut. Someone peered over the wall and saw the hall brightly lit, with the temple's senior officials seemingly in a discussion.

Later that night, another group arrived outside the temple. It was Xun Tongwei, the maternal cousin of Situ He, leader of the Allied Forces.

His son, Xun Yu, had grown up playing with Situ He. After the Situ family successfully resisted Bixia and formed the Allied Forces, Xun Yu gained Situ He's trust, elevating the Xun family's status to that of prominent and influential figures.

While other devotees entered and exited through the temple's small side gate, the temple usually opened its main gate halfway to welcome Xun Tongwei when he came to pay respects to Goddess Miaozhan, as a sign of special courtesy.

This was considered standard protocol for him.

However, tonight, even Xun Tongwei found the doors closed to him.

His attendants called out for a long time, but the temple priests inside insisted there was an urgent matter and adamantly refused to open the doors.

Xun Tongwei was also bewildered, as his visit tonight had been prearranged. His main purpose was to discuss the allocation of incense offerings in the Allied Forces' territories on behalf of Situ He. Moreover, with the chaotic situation in central and southern Shanjin, Situ He saw an opportunity and wanted to align himself with the Goddess—after all, to contend for dominance in Shanjin, one must first pay homage to its spiritual authority.

However, Goddess Miaozhan's attention was focused on the struggle for Yaodi, and she had kept Situ He in suspense, neither accepting nor rejecting his overtures.

She had not intended to introduce this variable so quickly.

Xun's attendants then learned about the temple's unusual state from the pilgrims.

Seeing the temple gates firmly shut, Xun Tongwei dared not say anything and decided to return home, planning to send someone back the next morning. However, just then, an earthquake suddenly struck!

The Goddess Temple could not withstand such violent shaking. With a crash, several sections of its outer walls collapsed. The devotees, who had previously been impossible to disperse, now recoiled ten to twelve meters away in fright.

After another dozen tremors, the temple's magnificent and imposing seven-story pagoda also gave way. It toppled like a golden mountain or a jade pillar, shattering into eight pieces upon impact.

The dull, thunderous crash seemed to strike at the very hearts of all present.

Someone, trembling, cried out:

“The earth dragon is turning over!”

The local people also referred to earthquakes as 'the earth dragon turning over'.

No sooner had the words left their lips than a long, resonant dragon's roar suddenly echoed from within the temple!

Of course, no one in Shanjin had ever heard a dragon's roar before, yet upon hearing this sound, all the pilgrims felt as if ancient memories were awakened within them.

It was desolate and vast, carrying an awe-inspiring majesty that seemed to disdain all living beings!

It could only be a dragon's roar.

Because of their proximity to the source of the sound, over a dozen people rolled their eyes back and fainted on the spot.

The others, their minds reeling and utterly at a loss, then witnessed two gigantic figures emerge from within the temple!

A black divine dragon ascended from underground, possessing deer-like antlers, bulging eyes, a serpentine body, and eagle claws. Its mane and whiskers swayed in the evening breeze, appearing both graceful and fierce, its entire body covered in scales that gleamed sharply in the night.

It was not a Jiao or a Qiu; this was truly a dragon!

It held something tightly in its mouth. When everyone clearly saw what it was, they gasped and screamed.

It was Goddess Miaozhan!

Her form, appearance, and face were identical to the statue in the Goddess Temple.

But held in the divine dragon's maw, she hung limply like a puppet, stripped of all her former majesty and mystery.

The divine dragon shook its head vigorously several times, sending golden divine blood splattering everywhere.

Goddess Miaozhan, however, showed no sign of resistance, appearing as if she were dead.

The divine dragon slowly turned its head, making sure everyone outside the temple clearly saw the scene. Then, it reared its body and powerfully leaped into the air!

The pilgrims gasped again, many instinctively covering their mouths.

Unbeknownst to them, the night sky had become covered in dark clouds. The divine dragon, carrying Miaozhan in its mouth, circled in the air. Occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the monstrous and incredible sight, as if searing it onto the clouds.

Throughout the surrounding ten miles, countless people looked up and witnessed this spectacle, their faces inexplicably wet with tears.

After making its display, the divine dragon slowly ascended into the sky, dragging the divine corpse as it vanished into the clouds.

Not until the clouds dispersed, the moon emerged, and the sky cleared, did the spectators on the ground begin to recover from their utter horror.

What in the world had they just witnessed!

Was Goddess Miaozhan killed—killed by a divine dragon?

When the divine dragon ascended, Xun Tongwei, like everyone else, found himself sitting on the ground, unable to compose himself for a long time.

His attendants helped him up. The temple doors were now open, and the temple priests, ignoring everyone, fled in terror, their faces etched with fear.

They had gathered there earlier, perhaps to discuss countermeasures or to pray to the Goddess.

However, the divine dragon had delivered a harsh slap to all of them with the most terrifying reality.

If even the gods' servants were so disheveled, then the scenes they had just witnessed with their own eyes could not possibly be false, could they?

Xun Tongwei composed himself and said to his attendants, “Go into the temple, quickly!”

Inside, he found that the pilgrims who had been expelled earlier had not been fabricating stories. The head of Goddess Miaozhan's statue lay before the offering table, though the blood tears of Goddess Fenghuo had been wiped away.

Xun Tongwei also saw the temple's head priest slumped to one side, his forehead covered in blood, with only two trusted aides remaining by him.

His face was ashen, and he repeatedly mumbled a few words. Xun Tongwei leaned closer to listen and finally made out, “It’s over, it’s over.”

When he questioned the remaining aides, he learned that the head priest had been attempting to communicate with the divine but received no response. Just as he stepped over the threshold, he witnessed the divine dragon seizing their goddess and ascending to the sky. As a result, he had taken a terrible fall and was now somewhat disoriented.

Xun Tongwei, being a man of some discernment, wondered if it might have been an illusion after recovering from his initial shock.

Yet, seeing the temple's head priest looking utterly grief-stricken, as if he had lost a parent, it seemed as though the goddess's defeat and downfall might, indeed, be real.