National Guardian's Gone and We're Done

Chapter 284 - 283: A Palm Shakes Heaven and Earth, Five Fingers Transform into a Golden Lotus

The drunk man’s headless body collapsed with a thud. Blood gushed out like a fountain, spreading wantonly across the floor and painting a terrifyingly gruesome scene.

The man’s limbs occasionally twitched a few times. He still clutched the half-empty bottle of liquor tightly in his hand.

Pulled by gravity, the liquor slowly spilled from the bottle, mingling with the blood on the floor. It was impossible to tell the mellow aroma of the alcohol from the sickly-sweet stench of blood.

He would never again feel the mellow liquid slide across his tongue, never again experience its familiar comfort and intoxication.

For the people hiding in the darkness of their rooms, hearts pounded like drums. Every subtle sound seemed infinitely amplified.

Their pupils dilated in terror, their faces masks of sheer disbelief and horror.

Some frantically clamped their hands over their mouths, terrified that a single gasp might shatter the eerie silence.

Others huddled close together, seeking the faint warmth and comfort of their companions.

In this space shrouded in fear, they realized their journey to the Black Continent Grassland was far more dangerous and unpredictable than they had ever imagined.

Not everyone from the Empire could afford to ignore the risks of the Black Continent Grassland.

And yet, the severed head, impossibly, remained suspended in midair.

It slowly drifted over to join the other phantom-like heads that were also floating there.

They rotated slowly in the air, seemingly engaged in some silent communication.

The smiles gracing the lips of those heads were not the warm, comforting kind, but sinister and so unsettling they sent a chill down one’s spine.

CREAK—

The heavy wooden door of one of the rooms was suddenly flung open.

As the door crashed open,

a blonde, green-eyed woman burst out like a whirlwind into the dim and tense hallway.

Her face was a mask of anguish, tears streaming down like broken strings of pearls.

She tightly gripped a gleaming rapier, its tip trembling as if it thirsted for blood, eager to unleash its stored power of vengeance.

"No—!"

Her furious roar, tinged with despair and defiance, tore through the silent night.

Then, with superhuman strength, she pushed off forcefully with her legs.

As if launched from a spring, she shot into the air, transforming into a streak of lightning as she leaped toward the massive, floating head.

It was a leap that didn’t just cross physical distance, but seemed to traverse the very boundary between life and death.

Her body traced a graceful, yet infinitely tragic, arc through the air.

But fate, it seemed, was not on her side.

Just as the tip of her rapier was about to reach its chilling target,

the woman’s body suddenly went rigid in midair. An unseen force, like invisible Chains, wrapped tightly around her neck.

A horrifying gash split open, as if drawn by a precise blade. Blood instantly erupted, staining her clothes red and signaling the end of her fate.

Just like the drunken man before her, her head began to slowly detach from her body, rising vertically into the air and leaving behind a soulless husk to fall powerlessly to the ground.

The body traced a tragically beautiful parabola through the air before crashing onto the cold ground with a dull, hopeless thud.

On the ground, a gruesome flower of flesh and bone bloomed—cruel and bewitching.

Meanwhile, the woman’s head continued to float slowly in the air. Blood trickled down her cheeks, dripping onto the other floating heads as she became one of them.

Her face no longer showed the anger and grief from before.

In its place was a strange smile, one that transcended life and death,

echoing the smiles on the other heads around it.

Back in the Luxury Hotel, the door the young woman had burst through...

...was slammed shut.

There were clearly other people in the room.

But they clearly didn’t share the same bond as the young woman and the drunken man.

They certainly weren’t about to rush out recklessly for revenge.

Having easily harvested two lives, the massive head and its entourage of normal-sized heads...

...still showed no sign of leaving.

The oppressive, chilling atmosphere hanging over the Luxury Hotel grew ever thicker.

Xiao Cangqing still had no intention of intervening. Instead, he quietly led Ji Shengyue away.

He clearly subscribed to the philosophy of not getting involved in matters that didn’t concern him. After all, no matter how bizarre or terrifying the massive head was, it couldn’t affect him.

"Om mani padme hum... Buddha’s merciful light, shining upon all realms.

One palm to shake the universe, five fingers a golden lotus.

Vanquish demons, remove karmic debts, leaving purity in its wake.

Heart, Buddha, and all beings are one; in this palm, reality is shown.

All things are empty forms; with this palm’s descent, all suffering ends.

By the power of this vow, may all living beings be delivered.

Amitabha Buddha, praise be, praise be..."

From a room somewhere in the Luxury Hotel,

a voice suddenly began chanting a Buddhist Scripture, cutting through the oppressive, terrifying atmosphere.

The voice was steady, as if completely unaware of the surrounding horror. Its profound calm inexplicably soothed the hearts of everyone who heard it.

Even Xiao Cangqing, who was hiding in the shadows with Ji Shengyue,

found his own emotions gradually calming under the influence of the chanting.

For a brief moment, he forgot that he had become a Vampire Ancestor.

It felt as though he had returned to those arduous yet joyful days when he had first been chosen and trained to become a Martial Artist.

’Is that someone from the Great Western Heaven? They’re even more formidable than I imagined.’

Xiao Cangqing frowned, his gaze turning toward the room where the Buddhist Scripture was being chanted.

He circulated the Vampire Bloodline Power within him, forcefully expelling the scripture’s influence from his body.

In the chaotic, murky sky,

a vast and indescribable power suddenly began to stir, awakening a slumbering glory from the depths of the cosmos.

The invisible boundaries of the world were torn apart, gently yet resolutely, by this power.

Then, rivulets of liquid gold, as brilliant as the dawning of the morning star, began to materialize from the void.

They carried a transcendent sanctity, breaking through the shackles of time and space to converge from all directions.

Each drop of this liquid gold contained an endless radiance.

They intertwined and collided in the air, bursting forth with a dazzling light.

It was as if billions of stars had descended at once, completely illuminating the sky that had been shrouded in gloom and darkness,

and turning it into a sea of glittering gold.

The entire world was rebaptized, renewed with life.

As the liquid gold continued to surge and converge, it gradually took shape, finally forming a colossal, peerless golden palm that appeared in the sky, a truly breathtaking sight.

The palm was as large as a mountain.

Every inch of its skin radiated a dazzling golden light,

as if it were meticulously carved from the world’s purest gold—solemn, sacred, and awe-inspiring.

The lines on the palm were intricate and deep, some winding and twisting, others as straight as a sword.

They interwove to form mysterious, unfathomable patterns,

reminding one irresistibly of the hands of Deities from ancient legends.

It descended with an irresistible presence upon a world shrouded in evil and terror.

In the world now completely bathed in golden light, even the temperature began to change.

The air, once bone-chillingly cold from the gloom,

was now replaced by a warm and gentle power, as if spring had come early and all of creation was about to reawaken.

This warmth wasn’t just a physical rise in temperature; it was a comfort to the soul, a source of hope.

It dispelled the fear and despair in people’s hearts, breathing new life and vitality back into the land.

Even more peculiar, one could faintly make out lines of tiny Buddhist Sect scripture on the surface of the giant golden palm.

They moved like sentient beings, flowing slowly across the palm, now gathering into passages, then scattering into single sentences.

Each character radiated a faint golden light, carrying the power to purify the mind and enlighten the spirit.

The presence of these scriptures lent the entire scene an even greater sense of solemnity and sanctity.