Chapter 111 — The Strange Beast

But upon the smooth rim of the well lay a strange stone, white and translucent as crystal, seemingly round, though a closer look revealed countless facets of uneven size, over which a dazzling radiance streamed and played.

And the red light that ceaselessly shot up from the well, after passing through this crystal-like stone, was refracted layer upon layer until it seemed that threads of blood were flowing within it. These rays gathered in the space three chi above the stone into a crimson orb of light—the very "flame" Ming Li had seen burning from afar, and the source of all the light in the great hall.

Gazing at this mysterious and wondrous spectacle, Ming Li slowly approached the well, drew near that translucent, resplendent stone, and looked down.

A scene half-familiar met his eyes. Molten rock seethed and roared below, like the tides of a furious ocean, surging up and ebbing away without cease, the spattered magma hissing against the hard rock walls.

This Mystic Fire Altar had actually been built atop what seemed a volcano on the verge of eruption.

A wave of irritation swept Ming Li. Unconsciously he clenched his fists, and even his breathing grew heavy. Ever since drawing near those carvings of vicious gods on the floor, it was as though the images—such as he had never heard or seen—had roused the savagery deep in his heart; or perhaps these deities were simply cruel and wicked gods. The bloodlust in him waxed ever stronger, and yet, strangely, his mind remained clear, quite unlike his usual state, when he would sink almost wholly into madness.

But though his mind stayed clear, the torment of that violent savagery raging through his body grew all the more unbearable. Had anyone stood near, they would have seen Ming Li's eyes now blazing with red light, almost like a malevolent ghost's.

Just as Ming Li was forcing himself to hold on, Grey on his shoulder suddenly gave two squeaks, leaped down, and dropped straight toward that strange stone.

Ming Li was greatly alarmed. Within that stone a blood-red light faintly circulated, and even he, who had studied the demon cult's heavenly book for many years, sensed no small evil power in it. He hastily reached out to catch the monkey, crying, "Grey, careful!"

But Grey had leaped without warning, and Ming Li's reaction was a beat too slow; his grab caught only air. He saw Grey stretch out its body in midair, only its eyes flashing red like his own. Quick as a word, in the blink of an eye Grey had landed on the strange stone with a soft thud.

In an instant, the red light refracted up from the volcanic well through the stone was blocked beneath Grey's body, and almost at the same moment the crimson orb of light hovering in midair, condensed nearly into flame, lost its source and vanished at once.

Suddenly, the whole world seemed to fall silent.

In the space of a single turn, all light fled the great hall of the altar, and darkness shrouded every corner.

Ming Li held his breath, staring blankly at Grey.

It lay upon the strange stone, and for the moment seemed unharmed. The red light refracted from the well was blocked beneath it, cast upon its belly, every hair revealed.

The red glow circulated like fresh blood, flickering faintly over its body. Slowly, sounds began to issue from within Grey, like the grating of bones and joints.

Crack, crack...

Ming Li took a step forward, fixing his gaze on Grey, a faint foreboding stirring in his heart.

Grey turned its head slowly. Its eyes had become utterly red, dazzling and arresting in the darkness!

The next moment, the change struck!

In the great hall, from the depths shrouded in darkness, there suddenly came a desolate howl, sweeping vast and mighty through the air. Upon the floor around them, those carvings of vicious gods all began to glow with red light, lighting up one after another.

When the eighth carving of a vicious god lit as well, the desolate howl echoing through the hall had turned shrill and harsh, filling the whole space. At some unknowable moment, a wind had begun to whirl ceaselessly above this tightly sealed hall.

Ming Li snatched Grey up and held it close against his side. Almost at that very instant came a thunderous roar; all the carvings blazed with light, and in a flash the red glow seemed to take on substance, surging up from the carvings of the vicious gods, each keeping its carved shape as it became a flat plane of condensed red light and rose into the air.

One after another the vicious gods became red light condensed in the air, and Ming Li at last made out the crooked, unstraight carving that ran around the outer edge of those images.

It was a giant flame totem, wrapping all the vicious gods within it. As the wild wind grew fiercer, this uncanny ring of light slowly rose, and in a moment it had climbed above Ming Li's head and halted over him and Grey.

Ming Li looked up, and cold sweat had gathered unnoticed in his palms.

Each vicious god, hideous of countenance, now seemed to come to life, laughing up at the heavens within the giant blood-red flame-shaped ring. By this time the darkness in the hall had long since been driven out entirely, and every corner was lit by that dazzling ring of light.

The red ring began slowly to turn, its speed gradually increasing, and with it the wind in the hall grew ever more urgent. Ming Li stood at the center of this tempest; his garments snapped and flapped, and his face grew slowly pale.

Yet still he made no move.

The uncanny atmosphere in the air grew heavier and heavier, and amid the urgent, keening wind there seemed to creep mysterious and savage snarls, like the malevolent ghosts of the Nine Hells come into the world of men.

At last the red ring rose to the dome, spinning faster and faster beneath the plain stone slabs, red light scattering down like rain, like a rain of blood drifting down through hell.

"Boom!"

After spinning so fast the eye could scarcely follow, the red ring suddenly halted—stopped dead without the slightest warning. The next moment, above that mass of blood-red flame, the immense stone slabs seemed to be summoned away, withdrawing to all sides from the flame totem at their center.

Within the blood-red light, two blazing eyes kindled.

"Roar..."

A low growl came down from the red light above, and in that instant the whole hall seemed to tremble, and all the deities cried out together!

A colossal body bearing an inconceivable heat, its whole frame like burning flame, came plunging down from above—a gigantic beast.

Ming Li's pupils shrank in an instant. He drove his feet against the ground, the Soul-Devourer blazing blue, and his whole body drifted backward, evading that thunderous downward pounce.

The giant beast, wreathed in roaring flame, gave a furious roar, slowly turned its head, and fixed its eyes on Ming Li.

For some reason, Ming Li suddenly felt his mouth go dry.

Like those strange carvings of vicious gods, he had never seen—nor ever read of in any book—the flame beast before him. Its vast body stood several zhang tall, its four legs thick and sturdy, tipped with exceedingly sharp claws that left deep gouges in the hard crimson rock at the slightest movement.

Upon its enormous head was a bloody maw full of jagged teeth, and within its great eyes one could scarcely see eyes at all—only two burning flames. Moreover, the surface of this beast's immense body was covered everywhere in roaring, blazing fire, as though flame were a part of its very flesh. Before it had even drawn near, the searing blast of its heat was already more than one could bear.

And the giant flame totem condensed from red light in midair now seemed to be moved by some nameless force and descended, standing erect behind the beast and slowly revolving. The evil gods upon it seemed, like the flame beast, to glare ferociously at the man and monkey who had disturbed the gods.