The Sacred Ruins
chapter-480

Chapter 480: Nine Deaths Before Initial Success

Translator: Alsey Editor: Chrissy

There were a hundred stars in total under the firmament, all of them brightly colored and connected. They were high up across the sky above the altar as if they had existed throughout time.

Some of them were blood red, some were dark green with vigorous vitality, some possessed a purple glow capable of intimidating the world... they seemed only the size of a millstone, but all of them possessed frightening auras as though they could crush the great universe.

Chu Feng looked up under tremendous pressure. When the brilliance of the hundred stars came into view, their terrifying suppressive might was transmitted over and people dared not to face them directly.

Genuine heaven illumination!

In the top hundred most energetic planets of the cosmos, stood the most powerful evolvers who shone upon myriad domains. These heaven-illuminators were worshipped by various races and received sacrifices from them.

When they saw Chu Feng was looking up, the people below naturally looked up too, but they quickly looked down because they dared not gaze for too long!

The followers of the divine sons and saintesses who did not know their limits glanced for a moment longer. Immediately, their frontal bones cracked open, their spirits became listless and sank helplessly onto the ground.

There were also some gushing blood from the seven orifices and fell trembling onto the ground in prostration.

"In this place of sacrifices, who dares show disrespect by gazing at the heavens? Be careful or your will collapse in both form and soul!" Yuwen Feng shouted to remind his knights.

Actually, most of the major life planets had a place to worship the heavens, but common people couldn’t approach and servants were never qualified to go near the altar.

Chu Feng gazed fixedly—strands of starlight fell without obstruction and directly penetrated into his body! They weren’t the same as other starlights!

In fact, these hundred stars in the universe were not real. They were caused by the manifestation of the reflection of various regions!

They were too extraordinary and superior. They stood high above and shone upon various domain no matter how far they were. They were unstoppable!

However, when the starlight fell into Chu Feng’s body, the little silent black and white grinding stone began to rotate slowly. It ground up and absorbed all the starlight.

Most importantly, this was an abandoned land.

If this was a sacrificial grounds on any other planet, once gazed, starlight almost as rich as water would descend and myriad souls would tremble with fear and fall in worship.

But Chu Feng withstood it. The small black and white grinding stone inside his body rotated slowly. Meanwhile, he was staring at the hundred planets and watching attentively because this was his target.

They weren’t only stars and realms, but there were also vague entities standing among each of them. Those were the real sources of terror!

For example, inside a sanguineous planet the size of a large grinding stone, chaos filled the air and there was a woman with a heavenly dagger-axe before her, suppressing all the heavens.

Inside another planet, there was a knight sitting upright on a fearful beast and under its iron hoof was the crumbled heavens. Its front hoof had stepped directly through the entire life planet.

All of this was vague and hazy, but it was still intimidating.

There were quiet and still entities in certain stars, but their gazes seemed as though they could cut off time and space. They were glorious and world-shattering!

In short, these hundred planets were too mysterious and it could even be said that they were odd. People dared not to look straight at them because it would cause them to shudder and be overcome with horror.

This was exactly Chu Feng’s target. If he wanted to paint an invincible scroll, was there anything more dreadful than these hundred planets? The top hundred most powerful planets illuminating the various heavens—it would indeed be unimaginable if this became his painting.

But he was also concerned that this painting would be too heaven-defying. Once incautious, his figure might collapse and his mind might obliterate, all would vanish in a flash.

This was not a joke because this was concerning about his life.

It wasn’t that the more majestic the idea the better because most of them were purely courting death. They couldn’t even withstand the pressure at all and caused themselves to fall apart.

He had enough self-confidence to break all the shackles on his body, but when it came to the moment, he still felt a little unconfident deep inside his heart.

Otherwise, why couldn’t anyone succeed to imitate those exceptional "paintings" in the universe that were open to the public? This was the reason why.

However, he had prepared to start painting and confirmed to go down this path, he would not change it!

There was white mist rolling over in between Chu Feng’s mouth and nose. He was circulating the breathing technique to adjust himself to the most empty state and was prepared to draw the outline of his magnificent painting.

Under the altar, a figure approached Chen Rong and reported in a low voice: "Miss, the preparation is almost done. We’ve arranged several pieces of ancient domain devices to set up an absolute zone. All we need is to wait for Chu Feng to leave the altar!"

In the meantime, Zhu Wuque also received a report. He had brought a strange feather—it had been instilled with everyone’s fresh blood and was now bright red. It had attracted enough essence energy and could start to kill!

"Saintess, one hundred and eight flying halberds have been prepared, and can be launched at a moment’s notice for a devastating hit!" Li Feng’s followers also came to report secretly.

There was also someone on Yuwen Feng’s side. "Saint child, the battle array that the heavenly knights used to overrun the whole world in the past has been arranged. We can condense our blood energy any time and start killing!"

Usually, the divine sons and saintesses didn’t need to be careful like this. They didn’t need to set up anything and could just kill the enemy directly. But today, they had no choice but to take things seriously.

They had seen Chu Feng sketch numerous peerless paintings and although he gave up in the end, it still made them frown. It was always wise to play safe; what if he succeeded? That would be very difficult to deal with.

On the altar, the radiance in Chu Feng’s eyes soared and his vigor rose to the summit. He had already begun.

A mount appeared before his eyes, which emitted a world-ruling aura as it stepped on and tore open every life planet. The scene was terrible and truly frightening.

"Hmm, he’s begun? He is indeed a coarse native, so boorish and tyrannical. This painting is utterly overbearing!"

The saintess Zi Luan twitched her red lips a little and said thus. In truth, she was terribly frightened. She felt the vicious beast was too dreadful—she felt as though it was going to leap through the void and pounce on her!

It was not that bad for the divine sons and saintesses, but all of their retainers were shocked and were under great pressure. That painting had an innate quality to suppress the four directions and it was overwhelming.

"Ha!"

Yuwen Feng heaved a sigh of relief. He was indeed afraid that Chu Feng would paint pages and pages of golden scriptures because that kind of wordless heavenly book was the source of their imitation.

Other divine sons and saintesses were also slightly relaxed because at least this painting of the terrible beast had not been seen in those exceptional famous paintings at the moment. It wasn’t so bad that they needed to fear it.

Zhu Wuque started to talk in a frosty tone, "Since he has already begun, he will inevitably concentrate on that. Do you think there will be an accident if an external force interferes suddenly?!"

"That could work!" Qi Yu, the prince of Da Qi, nodded.

Lie Shan, Yuan Kun and other grinned, exposing their white teeth. They also expressed their consent.

On the altar, Chu Feng had already stopped and was in a contemplative state. This caused those below to pause their intention to disturb him at this moment because it would be meaningless at this point. It had to be at a crucial moment.

Dong dong dong!

Nevertheless, at the next moment, four Dragon Locking Pillars appeared and lined up at a great distance. A dense fog suddenly soared and shrouded the perception and sight of the people.

The group made a fist in anger because they knew he was prepared!

Chu Feng dared not to set the Dragon Locking Pillars close because, with the Seal of Domain Suppression present, it would suppress all domains and render them useless.

He did this was not only to take precautions against the people below to disturb but also to cover up his top secrets. He did not want to let the people on the primary beast platform watch him.

This was his painting, and although he was not afraid of imitation, it was still not ready for the world to know. Because it might cause a major problem!

What he wanted to paint were the heaven illuminators of the top hundred planets—this was a great taboo. If he really did succeed, those who were painted would probably kill him.

Generally speaking, the top hundred heaven-illuminators would not tolerate becoming a backdrop for his painting like this!

As expected, the primary beast platform was in a commotion. The people couldn’t see anything but the scenery outside the altar.

Boom!

After Chu Feng covered everyone’s sight, he began to finish his painting. A figure appeared on the back of that terrible beast. It was a terrifying knight who tore open the starry sky.

Then, a planet shrouded the knight and the mount, to make every scene that just happened concentrate inside it!

Chu Feng started to paint again.

There was a woman looking scornfully at the sea of stars with a heavenly dagger-axe in front of her capable of suppressing the heavens!

Then she was also enveloped by a planet and the entire scene became concentrated inside it.

Bang!

Outside the altar, a thunderous sound was heard—the sky was clear without any dark clouds, but there were claps of thunder coming out of nowhere.

At this time, many people broke out in goosebumps. What did this mean? It made them feel rather uneasy.

Chen Rong, Qi Yu, Zi Luan, Zhu Wuque and others were visibly moved. Could all of this have been caused by Chu Feng?

If the thunder was indeed caused by him, just what kind of world-shaking scroll he was painting? They all frowned and really didn’t want this to happen.

As time went by, the thunder was still rumbling from time to time outside the heavens, but, strangely enough, no lightning fell in the end.

"Is this really caused by this his fellow? Is his painting so heaven-defying?"

"No, look at that, the thunderous sound came from another place, far away from the altar, so it’s probably not caused by him. Maybe it’s because the sacrificial grounds were agitated and certain forbidden heaven-illuminating existences are dissatisfied!"

They were all left guessing and their hearts were covered by a gloomy haze.

On the altar, Chu Feng coughed up blood. He had sketched ten-odd planets at a stretch; some were bright red as blood, some possessed a purple glow capable of intimidating the world, some were green like a forest... all of them were brightly colored.

Most importantly, there were entities in every planet and they filled the air with a dreadful aura.

Chu Feng’s face was pale. To paint like this was practically painting with his life. To use the qi and blood of life as the canvas and his spirit as paint, he was consuming his body and mind.

The consequences were too serious!

Pfft!

Chu Feng’s back burst open and a huge bloody hole appeared. Perhaps it was because he could not withstand the pressure, or perhaps it was heavenly retribution, but he almost died on the spot!

He deeply understood why many of the heaven-bestowed talents collapsed in this evolutionary realm. That was because they were too careless and wanted to paint a peerless scroll. In the end, they had to pay with their lives.

Chu Feng was frightened when the thunder rumbled because he could already sense it. However, the heavenly lightning did not fall in the end, and he knew why—this was a place of sacrifice to the skies where evil could not invade, and where myriad gods shunned.

Even the lightning was blocked and could not fall.

Because there were many brightly colored planets here the size of grinding stones. Even though this place was abandoned, there was an ineffable dao charm possessing a powerful rule that could not be destroyed.

Chu Feng was worried. When he escaped this zone, would he drown in the lightning? Maybe he could escape after some time had passed.

However, he could not be distracted right now and it would be better to continue drawing. His painting was too heaven-defying and, if he really did succeed, he believed it would be a veritably peerless scroll!

When Chu Feng was painting the thirty-sixth planet, his body staggered and his face became more and more dejected.

That was an entity containing a big golden sun. It shone gloriously upon various heavens and possessed a frightful aura.

Bang!

While Chu Feng continued to paint, a bloody hole burst open on his chest. He was paying the price and was suffering from an intense suppression. This kind of painting was too earth-shattering and his body seemed unable to handle it.

He couldn’t stand still and fell onto the altar, his vitality almost severed.

This was simply killing him!

He recovered and stood up only after a while, his vitality circulating once more.

To paint like this was indeed advancing with his life. He was using the flesh as paper and the spirit as paint. The slightest bit of carelessness would result in his body and spirit igniting along with the painting. Everything would be burned clean.

Chu Feng’s gaze became stern. He wanted to paint an invincible scroll but did not want to die because of it.

He read the predecessors’ notes Lin Qi had given him and he knew how to evade. In the carefree realm, the painting could be constantly perfected throughout this domain and need not be finished in one stroke.

Who dared to perfect an invincible scroll in one go? That was simply suicide!

However, Chu Feng thought that he could still hold on for a moment to continue painting.

After numerous "drawings", the planets increased.

And next, the golden paper appeared, and it was revolving around a certain entity. Afterwards, Chu Feng covered it with a planet and kept it inside!

Pfft!

Chu Feng spat out a mouthful of blood after this planet appeared. His body burst open in many places and he almost disintegrated. Penetrating holes appeared on his body and he was even bleeding in between the eyebrows. It was a ghastly scene.

He only recovered after a long while. He had arduously escaped from death and returned to the living world.

Chu Feng continued painting. After numerous planets, primal chaos emerged alongside a pond. There were numerous rustling green lotuses growing within it and someone was sitting cross-legged to the side.

Bang!

Chu Feng’s body was severely shaken and it almost split into half. A terrible wound extended from between the eyebrows to his belly with blood streaming down.

At this moment, Chu Feng had painted fifty planets, but his body was almost destroyed in the process. He had nearly died numerous times and he would certainly fall if he continued this process!

The most supreme energy body in the Buddhist race, the Liuzhang Golden Body was actually an invincible scroll and it, too, had continued for many years when it was first established. It was fine as long as one perfected the painting later on.

Chu Feng sighed. He could only stop at this point, and not go deeper.

He suddenly put ink to paper and painted the remaining fifty planets in one go. However, he did not render the details and all of them were fairly vague outlines.

Just like that, the basis of his invincible scroll had been completed!