Chapter 20: Candle Dragon
Thinking he had already seen through Li Jun’s thoughts, Zhou Shentong looked at how everything about Li Jun was being exposed before the public and could not help but laugh.
“Hahahahaha!”
“Didn’t he want to hide all these things? Yet this poor Daoist will let everyone see them.”
“If immortals cannot display their divine might before the eyes of mortals, then how would mortals know of our powers, and how would they revere us as gods?”
After saying this, he asked the person beside him: “When is it my turn?”
The other replied: “Still a while.”
【Three months ago, Tao Mountain Island in Nangang City was infected by the Wood Guests Virus. Thousands of people on the island all disappeared, and the entire island vanished from the sight of the world. Moreover, every rescue team that entered the area of Tao Mountain Island also went missing.】
【The mythical Peach of Immortality Tree manifested in the mortal world, and a great number of island residents were transford into the Wood Guests form. In the end, the entire Tao Mountain Island ascended and departed from the human world.】
As the video played, it also displayed nurous photos related to Tao Mountain Island, as well as various pictures about the Wood Guests.
Among them, what was most prominently displayed was the nearly undying state of the Wood Guests, their abnormally imnse strength, and their bodies and lifeforms that transcended ordinary human forms—while so of the more terrifying aspects were glossed over in just a few strokes.
And this, in turn, completely ignited the internet.
What had started as people watching rely for novelty gradually shifted into a mood of seriousness and solemnity.
After all, the incident with Tao Mountain Island had already been a hotly debated matter online. Such an island suddenly refused external access, its residents at first beca almost impossible to contact, and later—even when they erged—they were all reported as being hospitalized for treatnt.
Now, at this very mont, with everything exposed, many began to chatter endlessly. After all, countless people had once visited this island, and a great many knew people who lived there.
Suddenly, the internet surged with searches about Tao Mountain Island, as well as heated discussions. In just a few minutes, the wave Zhou Shentong had set in motion spread to every corner.
At this mont, the person beside Zhou Shentong said:
“Soone is trying to cut off our livestream.”
Zhou Shentong asked: “How much longer can it be maintained?”
The reply ca: “There won’t be any problem keeping it until the broadcast ends.”
Zhou Shentong was delighted: “Well done.”
And such a simple phrase of praise made the other person reveal an expression of deep gratitude and emotion.
The entire Longevity Temple exuded a sense of strict order, and standing at the pinnacle of this pyramid—the one worshiped as an immortal by all—was Zhou Shentong.
In the next instant, the scene shifted, and Zhou Shentong appeared within the broadcast.
Standing before the ancient temple, Zhou Shentong’s bearing indeed had to be admitted as extraordinary. From the mont he appeared, he was filled with an aura of mystery.
“My na is Zhou Shentong, and I am the current master of the Longevity Temple.”
“Today, as I stand here, I intend to reveal to the whole world a truth that has been concealed by the governnts of various nations!”
Zhou Shentong paused for a mont, then the corners of his lips lifted.
“The era of the extraordinary has arrived.”
This one sentence from Zhou Shentong was t externally with overwhelming waves of doubt.
When you provide clue after clue, and data for people to investigate, they beco firm in believing in the truth they themselves discover.
But if you simply declare everything so nakedly, what awaits you is countless skeptical gazes.
“Who is this?”
“Crazy, isn’t he?”
“Made such a big fuss just now, acting all serious—don’t tell this ends up just being an advertisent!”
“I don’t think it’s that simple.”
“Could it be a new style of livestream marketing? Reported.”
“Where did this pretentious guy co from?”
A flood of bullet comnts swept across the screen, but Zhou Shentong had already imrsed himself fully, continuing:
“In the ancient age, we humans could cultivate. We could soar through the skies and burrow into the earth. We could live eternally, shedding this frail mortal shell to beco immortals and saints.”
“But one day, all of this departed from us, leaving us trapped in this body of flesh for eternity, unable to escape.”
“And now, we are greeted by a second chance.”
Zhou Shentong was not a man of sound ntal state, sothing Li Jun had already witnessed before.
Whenever he ntioned the immortals and buddhas of the primordial age, Zhou Shentong could not control his emotions, appearing utterly frenzied.
Yet at this very mont, that frenzy was filled with a powerful sense of contagion.
Tens of millions of people online were watching Zhou Shentong, hanging onto his every word and gesture. Even if in their hearts they felt he might be a lunatic, a vast number of them still felt a feverish emotion surging within.
Having finished his opening words, Zhou Shentong prepared to bring out sothing more concrete.
“I know you don’t believe . Then let show you.”
The cara suddenly zood out, and the entire Longevity Temple along with its surroundings were revealed. Only then did the viewers realize—the temple was actually floating within a void.
Instantly, bullet comnts poured across the screen.
“Fake, right?”
“What is this place?”
“Obvious fake.”
“But the effect looks too real!”
Standing at the main gates of the Longevity Temple, Zhou Shentong pointed toward the heavens. A divine radiance surged forth from behind him, and with it appeared two enormous peach trees, standing tall on both sides of the temple like two colossal pillars propping up the sky.
The two peach trees combined into a massive gate. At that mont, this gate slowly opened, the mist that once shrouded the Longevity Temple completely dissipated, and the faint light grew ever brighter.
At last, the sun appeared overhead.
By the ti he achieved this, Zhou Shentong felt utterly drained. His condition visibly worsened, his face pale.
When Li Jun borrowed the Peach Demon’s power, he too had to pay a price. The price Zhou Shentong paid was surely even greater and more tragic.
But he forced himself to endure. Reaching this point was only the beginning; he had not yet achieved his ultimate goal of announcing to the entire world the advent of the extraordinary age.
Zhou Shentong raised his head, staring at the cara.
“I know, you still think this is fake. You think it’s AI, special effects.”
“So next—I shall pluck down the sun from the sky.”
At this mont, Zhou Shentong’s hair gradually turned gray. At the sa ti, his pupils split into two.
He raised his head, his double pupils gazing at the blazing sun above.
“I am an immortal!”
“With my hand I grasp the sun, moon, and stars.”
With that, he reached out his hand toward the sun.
At this mont—
Zhou Shentong finally felt the sensation he longed for. He felt as though he had returned to the primordial age, becoming once more that omnipotent immortal saint.
His expression turned frenzied beyond asure. When he uttered the words “sun, moon, and stars,” not only did his voice tremble, even his body shook.
This scene was truly extre.
It made people want to laugh. In fact, many already burst into laughter, feeling that Zhou Shentong was nothing more than a complete madman.
Yet, as the Longevity Temple floated upward, it seed to draw sothing in the void beneath it along with it, rising closer to the mortal world.
Beneath the temple suspended in the void, a colossal shadow like a mountain began to stir.
Then—its eyes opened.
“Roar!”
A dragon’s roar, as though declaring its rebirth.
A black beam of light burst forth from the lowest abyssal darkness, engulfing the entire Longevity Temple and plunging the livestream into utter blackness.
At that mont, everyone stared at their phones.
“What happened?”
“That’s it?”
“It’s over?”
“Ridiculous!”
Countless people wore mocking expressions at the pitch-black screen, ridiculing with their friends beside them, before finally putting their phones away.
At this mont, most still did not know what had happened.
But very soon, they were able to witness it with their own eyes.
The mont when the light disappeared.
In the northwest of the Eastern Nation.
It was still morning at this mont, most people were at work, and then in the distance a massive black pillar of light surged into the sky.
That blackness was pushed to the extre, and just by looking at it for a mont, one felt as though they too were about to be swallowed by it.
“What is that?” Many people were not paying attention to any livestream at all, and had no idea what was happening.
“Are you kidding , did that Zhou Shentong actually make it real?” Yet many young people who were still watching their phones stared dumbfounded at the black pillar that appeared in sync with the broadcast.
“Is it really that exaggerated?” So people were so frightened they ran into buildings, others were incomparably excited, even taking out their phones to record, while vehicles on the street stopped one after another.
As that black pillar shot into the sky, the space above the clouds seed dyed by ink, spreading outward along the atmosphere.
There was in fact no black pillar of light at all—it was a force that devoured all illumination, and where the light vanished, it naturally beca the deepest darkness.
The darkness spread rapidly, in the blink of an eye covering the entire northwestern firmant.
The sky turned dark.
And the darkness did not stop. With the northwest of the Eastern Nation as its center, it spread outward without pause, quickly covering most of the nation, as well as all its neighboring countries.
The entire world—every human and even animal—raised their heads, staring at the darkness above, watching that power which devoured the radiance of the Great Sun spread further into the distance. From their hearts, they could not suppress the most profound, instinctual fear.
Even the darkest night had never been so black as this mont.
Within this darkness, there was not the slightest trace of light. Even lamplight and firelight were swallowed together, leaving the world with nothing but the color black.
On every face across the globe, expressions vanished, leaving only fear—no matter where one was from, or what language one spoke.
The fear of darkness was etched into their very blood.
“Ah!”
“Turn on the lights!”
“The light’s broken, it won’t turn on!”
“I can’t see anything, I can’t see anything at all!”
“My god, what on earth is happening?”
“That man from the Eastern Nation was telling the truth.”
And in the darkness, an even more terrifying sight appeared in the northwest of the Eastern Nation.
Those who gazed at the source of all this chaos faintly seed to see the mountains covering the earth begin to move.
Those shadowy mountains looked at this mont like a giant serpent—or perhaps a divine dragon.
That shadow lifted its head, and a single eye looked toward the world, like a colossal candle fla raised amidst the darkness.
That candle fla grew ever brighter, far outshining the morning sun.
In an instant—
Endless radiance burst forth, driving away the endless darkness.
The Great Sun and the light returned once more to the human world. Overhead, the skies remained cloudless, and beneath their feet, the mountains and rivers still stretched lush and green.
But in this mont—
All who had witnessed that scene felt a chill surge from their chests.
The breath from their mouths carried no warmth at all, only the sensation of the cold in their chest spreading into their limbs and bones, their bodies chilled like lifeless corpses without heat.
The screen on their phones lit up again. That Daoist nad Zhou Shentong still stood before the ancient temple.
What had just appeared was not Zhou Shentong’s own power, not even power he borrowed. It was rely a sign that so terrifying existence of the primordial age had begun to awaken.
The darkness that devoured all light—that was its innate celestial phenonon.
Yet in this mont, everyone attributed that terror and might to Zhou Shentong.
The flood of bullet comnts on the video vanished.
No one dared mock him anymore. No one even had the courage to speak to him. Truly, it was as he had first said:
“You will revere as a god!”
And Zhou Shentong, looking at the empty screen devoid of comnts, finally said one last thing to the cara:
“Let us welco together the return of the immortals and gods of the primordial age.”
“May everyone be as dragons, transcending into sainthood!”
The broadcast truly ended.
But the whole world seed infected by Zhou Shentong’s madness. The seed nad extraordinary, the ambition nad longevity, were planted deep within countless hearts by Zhou Shentong.
In the most direct and unrestrained way, he sought to overturn the world’s order and rules, to welco back the primordial age of immortals and gods enthroned above the heavens.
Nangang City.
Luo Zhen ran outside holding his phone. While Zhou Shentong had pushed Li Jun onto the forefront of the storm, he also exposed a vast amount of their information.
“This lunatic, what is he really trying to do?”
A large group followed after Luo Zhen, all making calls or checking devices to grasp the outside situation.
As they ran out, they happened to see Zhou Shentong in the livestream stretching his hand toward the sun in the sky.
At first, Luo Zhen did not understand what this ant. But soon, a phone call reached his assistant. When the assistant hung up, he told Luo Zhen in horror:
“The sunlight of all the northwestern provinces has disappeared. A force has covered all sources of light, and it’s rapidly—”
Before the assistant could finish, Luo Zhen cut him off.
“No need to say more, I’ve seen it.”
The assistant followed Luo Zhen’s gaze, seeing at the far western horizon the swiftly approaching darkness.
In an instant, the black curtain swept overhead. The two of them quickly turned their heads back, but already nothing could be seen. Both were drowned in the dark.
When the skies lit again, what was revealed were their grim expressions.
A phone rang.
This ti it was Luo Zhen’s call. Without asking, he knew its importance.
His expression grew incomparably grave. Hanging up, he instructed his assistant to imdiately arrange for Lu Gang and the two things he had brought back to be transferred.
The assistant was astonished: “Transfer them now? The quarantine period isn’t over, and Lu Gang hasn’t even completed his psychological evaluation. If we move him now, we can’t be sure whether uncertainties from Tao Mountain Island might spread into the outside world.”
Luo Zhen said: “Transfer imdiately. You saw it just now. A catastrophe has happened in the northwest. We need new power and new people to respond.”
The assistant understood: “Leader, you an—this is to prepare for the creation of shamans?”
Luo Zhen nodded: “Yes. But it’s not safe here anymore. We must move the things Lu Gang brought back to a more secure place.”
The assistant originally wanted to argue that the so-called shaman creation technology had never been tested. But looking at Luo Zhen’s expression, he knew the man was truly desperate.
He understood.
Or rather, after seeing that thing in the darkness open its eyes and swallow all light on the earth, there was no way they could patiently wait any longer.
On the highway leading to a small dual-use military and civilian airport nearby.
A convoy escorted a vehicle toward the airport, with cars ahead clearing the way.
Lu Gang, without even a chance for a nap, was already in the car heading there. It was his first ti receiving such treatnt.
Through the car window, he saw people pointing at the sky, excitedly talking while holding up their phones.
He already knew what they were talking about. Before departure, Luo Zhen had explained the situation to him, telling him what the world had turned into.
“Insane.”
“That Zhou Shentong is truly insane. Is he trying to oppose the entire world, or destroy it?”
But Lu Gang did not know that at this very mont, Zhou Shentong was not the only one descending into madness.
As the convoy approached an overpass, suddenly a violent explosion blocked the road ahead.
“Boom!”
A large number of vehicles overturned, crashing into each other in a chain.
Still drowsy, Lu Gang was instantly jolted into full alertness. He looked outside, his mind working rapidly.
“Soone wants to snatch the goods.”
“Who?”
“Longevity Temple, or foreign forces?”
“How did they know I was in this car? Or was there a leak?”
Before he could figure it out, a heavy truck ramd into the convoy, sending Lu Gang’s vehicle crashing and squeezing against others.
The world spun around him, his head slamd into sothing, and his vision went black.
But the chaos outside did not stop. Explosions and gunfire rang out violently. People shouted in accented Mandarin as they charged toward Lu Gang’s position.
“Find the goods.”
“Find the man, he has the goods.”
“Split up, he’s in one of these cars. The target is a black briefcase.”
But the battle had barely begun.
Soon, several drones flew over the overpass, wiping out all who dared covet the contents of Lu Gang’s briefcase, sealing the entire area.
Then, nurous vehicles and personnel arrived, pried open the doors, and pulled out the blood-soaked Lu Gang along with his briefcase.
But still, no one dared pause. They continued at full speed toward the next location, as if the fierce ambush had only been the beginning—no one knew what awaited them next.
Everyone felt it: from this mont onward, the world was spiraling out of control.
That man nad Zhou Shentong had ignited the madness buried deep within human hearts.
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