Chapter 1172 – The Secret of the Stars (2/2)

There was no statue in his hand, but a stone pestle.

It was a very ordinary-looking stone pestle, but it was far from ordinary.

Even the stone pearls on Chen Changsheng's wrist reacted, lightly clacking against each other.

This stone pestle came from the same place as the Heavenly Tome Monoliths, and was built of the same material, but it had a completely different use.

The Astral Executioner.

The forbidden secret of the Demon race.

A supreme divine artifact that had not appeared in the world for tens of thousands of years.

In the snowy mountain range, the old Demon Lord had died beneath the starlight that it had summoned.

Chen Changsheng had seen the Astral Executioner before.

Later on, he had the Li Palace priests draw the Astral Executioner according to his description and had copies distributed throughout the counties and provinces.

Figures like the Tang Old Master and Wang Po were naturally the first to see these drawings. Thus, they needed only a glance to confirm that this truly was the Astral Executioner.

This made the Demon Lord's story seem even more authentic.

If the Demon Lord and Black Robe worked together and used the sacrificial altar and the Astral Executioner to open the spatial path, Angels from the Sacred Light Continent would descend one after the other…

The demon flames danced, the statues flickering within.

Everyone took in this sight with the gravest of expressions.

Even if these Angels were not as powerful as the two Battle Angels who had appeared in White Emperor City, based on retrospective analysis, those Angels of Sacred Light were capable of naturally comprehending the laws of the world. In other words, from the moment they began to exist, they were experts of the Divine Domain!

Of course, the Human race was not completely unprepared for the worst situation. For the last ten years, the Great Zhou Imperial Court, the Li Palace, and all the sects had often analyzed the battle of White Emperor City, seeking ways of killing the Angels of Sacred Light. Moreover, they had made some progress, but this had all been established on the prerequisite of a small number of Angels.

At present, all the Divine Domain experts of the Human race were either heavily wounded or in the middle of rebelling. If there were so many Angels, how could the humans win?

And there was an even more frightening prospect. If… the God of the Sacred Light Continent decided to descend, what could they do?

Would the Human race go extinct?

The atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

But there was still someone who did not believe the Demon Lord's story.

”Isn't this just a club made of stone? Do you really think we're just a bunch of clubs? Tian Chui1 has been dead for ten-some years now!” (TN: The Chui of Tian Chui means 'club'.)

Xiao Zhang continued, ”We've prepared for so many years, fought for so long, and lost so many people, so how can one story make us retreat?”

These words touched the hearts of Divine General He Ming and a few others.

What if he was right, and the Demon Lord was just scaring them?

The wrinkles at the corners of the Tang Old Master's eyes deepened. Concern lingered within them.

He felt like the Demon Lord's words were true.

Wang Po and Xu Yourong thought the same.

Chen Changsheng had seen with his own eyes that pillar of light piercing through the sea of stars, so he should have been the one who believed in this story the most.

But he faintly recalled that the Astral Executioner could no longer be used, and then he recalled a conversation he had heard that night.

He turned to the Demon Lord and asked, ”The sacrificial altar is for breaking the wall? The Astral Executioner is used to indicate the location?”

The Demon Lord replied, ”I didn't expect you to remember my conversation with Father.”

Chen Changsheng asked, ”Ten years ago, only two Angels descended, so you could treat them as slaves. Black Robe's plans now are clearly not so limited. If too many Angels descend, what will happen to you? So you've been hesitating, struggling, and even now, you haven't decided what to do.”

The Demon Lord faintly smiled. ”Yes, so I leave this choice for you.”

Chen Changsheng fell silent.

It now seemed like the contents of many the letters they had exchanged over the last ten years had been part of the Demon Lord's plans.

It had been a campaign of silent influence, and he now found it impossible to convince himself that there was no threat from the Sacred Light Continent.

The 'choice' here was more like a gamble, and he was betting the entire Human race.

In terms of gambling, Xu Yourong and the Tang Old Master were far more capable, but they had never read those letters.

The contents of those letters were tiles that the Demon Lord had already played.

Only through those tiles could one attempt to determine what the Demon Lord's last tile was.

Suddenly, a voice came from the back of the crowd.

It was very sickly and strengthless, yet there was a terrible smugness in it that could irritate anyone.

”Everything he wrote in those letters is true, and the majority of his story is true, but what he's saying is false.”

The Demon Lord peered at the back of the crowd, his brows arched. ”Why?”

”Because your face has the resolve to die and also a smear of lovesickness, but there's no spirit. Back then, I used two hours to reverse the situation in Wenshui, and when I got out of the ancestral hall, I took a bath on the street. Even if you can't reach my elegant bearing and can't pull off such a refined feat, once you've succeeded in your reversal, you should be a little more arrogant. Such calmness can only mean that you're lying!”

Ye Xiaolian pushed a wheelchair out from behind the crowd.

Tang Thirty-Six was seated upon it.

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1. The Chui of Tian Chui means 'club'.