Chapter 680: Divine Envoy

On the spacious, quiet road, someone was slowly walking over from the other side.

Tang Luo and the others looked over; it was an old man with dark skin.

His body was hunched, withered; on his smooth bald head a few strands of gray-white long hair occasionally fluttered in the breeze — his hairstyle had the bearing of the Fire Cloud Evil God from *Kung Fu Hustle*.

He wore tattered, ragged clothes, and in his hand he leaned on a natural walking stick formed from a tree branch.

On his back he also carried a bamboo-woven back basket; a portion of it extended upward to the crown of his head, used to shield against wind and rain.

Now only two lonely poles remained, completely unable to serve their function.

The old man walked slowly step by step, leaning on his cane.

Like an old farmer who had spent a lifetime facing the yellow earth with his back to the sky, merely appearing on this empty, deserted main street made what one felt not just eerie but even fear.

When Tang Luo and the others looked at the old man,

the old man's turbid eyes also lifted at the same time, staring at them, and his pace quickened a little.

Arriving before Tang Luo and the others, his gaze lingered a while longer on Tang Luo, this little monk, then the old man looked at Zhu Bajie and asked, "Young fellow, how come you're here?"

On a face a bit better than a dried corpse's appeared a smile that made one's heart palpitate.

Upper and lower teeth — only a few scattered ones remained.

"Just passing through, just passing through." Zhu Bajie smiled. "And you, old sir?"

"Me? I'm also passing through; I'm going over there." The old man stretched out a hand and pointed to the other side of the road.

There lay a vast palace complex; the "dangerous tower a hundred feet high" seen just now was one of the buildings in the palace.

"Old man, do you know why there's no one on this street?" Zhu Bajie smiled amiably, like a harmless, gentle large animal.

"Oh, because a Divine Envoy has arrived; idle people withdraw." The old man said.

"Divine Envoy? Surely not you, right?" Zhu Bajie smiled.

The old man straightened his chest with effort: "What, don't I look like one?"

"Well, indeed a bit." Zhu Bajie nodded, admitting it.

"Young fellows nowadays, not a bit sensible." The old man said. "Fine, come with me; today I'll broaden your horizons."

"That's wonderful!"

Zhu Bajie agreed in one breath.

Divine Envoy?

That means you've got a god behind you; just perfect — our mission has "slay a god."

Since it's delivered itself to our door, we definitely have to check it out.

Tang Luo and the others followed behind this Divine Envoy; this Envoy seemed to walk in a tottering, shaky way, looking like he couldn't walk at all without his cane.

But his speed was actually not slow; it could keep up with an adult's jogging pace.

A group of people walked on the deserted street; all the way, not even a human shadow was seen.

One could see quite a few shops on both sides of the street.

Even signs boasting "century-old shops" were erected; coupled with the location, this should originally have been an extremely bustling district.

【32】 Near the palace, both sides of the road changed into high-gated great households.

As they drew near the palace, the roads on either side were lined with grand mansions.

Various mansions.

This should be the imperial capital of some dynasty.

The great gate of the imperial palace's outer wall was already open when Tang Luo and the others arrived.

On both sides stood rows of officers and soldiers; one could see the weapons in their hands bore a touch of dark green, shaped like dagger-axes.

The swords hung at their waists also had a hint of dark green.

Like bronze vessels.

In the middle of the gate, a middle-aged man in a wide dark-gold robe, wearing a pearl-adorned crown, with a wooden expression, tucked both hands inside his sleeves clasped together, bowed at the waist and said, "Respectfully welcoming the Divine Envoy."

Behind him a crowd of ministers simultaneously lost propriety.

"Heh heh."

The Divine Envoy chuckled, not paying the slightest attention to that middle-aged man, instead looking at Tang Luo and the others: "You believe it now?"

The man and the crowd of ministers still maintained their bowed posture, not rising.

"Believe it, believe it." Zhu Bajie still spoke as the spokesman, even raising a big thumb: "Old sir, you're the real deal."

The Divine Envoy turned back, looked at the man: "Go on in."

Only then did the crowd straighten up, respectfully welcoming the Divine Envoy into the palace with lowered eyes and obedient demeanor.

Including Tang Luo and the others behind them; although puzzled, they didn't dare ask a single superfluous word.

"The god here is very closely connected with ordinary people." In the Gray Mist Chat Room, Ao Yulie said.

"Mm." Zhu Bajie: "Looks like he single-handedly controls this mortal dynasty."

"There wouldn't be only one god, right?"

"Don't know; maybe there are many. The mission has no quantity or completion degree either, hard to judge." Zhu Bajie and Ao Yulie chatted.

Mixed in were Xiaotian Dog's barks.

Sha Wujing remained in prayer-bead form, not manifesting; he has always been taciturn, and who knows whether he was actually listening to his senior and junior brothers shooting the breeze.

Tang Luo, meanwhile, looked inside the palace gate at the several huge black pillars on the white jade plaza.

Standing erect on a circular platform; the platform's raised walls also had three doorway openings, their edges pitch-black.

When passing the black iron pillars, the Divine Envoy casually pointed at Tang Luo and the others: "These people — disrespect the Divine Envoy."

Advancing footsteps abruptly halted; the man and the crowd of ministers simultaneously looked at Tang Luo and the others.

The atmosphere was even more oppressive and heavy than before.

"..." The man's body visibly trembled; he did not speak.

"Huh?" The divine envoy raised his voice slightly.

"Come here! These three people disrespect the divine envoy and shall suffer the punishment of paoluo!" The man shouted loudly, his face fierce.

The guards accompanying them immediately stepped forward.

Some people behind were still holding thick chains as big as arms.

Further away, attendants and the like hurriedly ran off to other places.

"So this thing is used to burn people?" Zhu Bajie looked at those several giant pillars.

The punishment of paoluo is to bind a person onto red-hot copper-iron giant pillars and roast them alive to death.

"Those who disrespect the divine envoy don't even have the qualification to be slaves." The man said coldly.

His fierce expression turned wooden.

Those guards had already bound Tang Luo and the others with iron chains, not even letting go of the Xiaotian Dog, which was tied to Tang Luo's body.

The other party cooperated so much, offering no resistance at all, so the guards didn't mind; they must have been frightened silly.

Soon, someone brought lit firewood.

Throwing it through the doorway into the platform's interior, red flames burned inside.

Smoke gradually rose from the top of the pillars.

"Master, aren't you going to act?" Ao Yulie asked, the three of them bound together to one pillar.

Their backs pressed together, some warmth had already been transmitted.

"Let's wait until the temperature rises a bit more." Tang Luo said casually, "This way the burning will be effective."

"Oh." Zhu Bajie suddenly understood, that's how it was.

I burn myself.

"No, look."

As the execution began, the man originally intended to welcome the divine envoy into the palace, but was refused by the divine envoy.

In the divine envoy's pair of cloudy eyes burst forth cruel and delighted emotions, licking his lips as dry and cracked as old tree bark: "It's been a long time since I've seen this scene."

The man pursed his lips without speaking, the wooden expression on his face intensified.

The last paoluo punishment was five years ago.

It was also when the divine envoy descended, and the person punished then was his seven-year-old child!

Because he accidentally saw the divine envoy, witnessing his corpse-like terrifying appearance, he wailed loudly in fear, thus offending the divine envoy and violating the majesty of the heaven god the divine envoy represents.

"That little thing last time, I remember it was a bit smaller than this little bald head. It hadn't burned much before dying, not satisfying at all, you say it is?"

The divine envoy's eyes, flickering with cruel intent, looked toward the man.

This emperor over ten thousand people slowly bowed his head: "Yes."

What he could do for his own child was to personally bind chains around his neck, ending his life before he suffered.

"Ha, ha, ha..."

The divine envoy's laughter sounded like asthma, broken and intermittent, also like a night owl's unpleasant cry.

The pillar's temperature rose, gradually showing a crimson red, the top rolling with thick smoke.

In windless conditions, it seemed like a black giant pillar.

"Forget it, no more waiting." Tang Luo said, "Laughing so terribly."

"Alright, Master!"

Ao Yulie instantly turned into a streak of flowing light, the chains binding the three fell to the ground, making a sound.

With these sounds, he appeared before the divine envoy, a dragon claw reaching for the divine envoy.

The divine envoy's cloudy eyes burst forth piercing light, the cane in his hand lifted, pointing at Ao Yulie.

The dragon claw's palm collided with the cane.

Violent energy erupted, blowing people around sideways, the man's pearl crown flew off, leaving a mess of hair.

"Huh?"

Ao Yulie's expression changed slightly, the force transmitted from the cane actually made his entire right arm go numb.

One can see how strong its power is.

Fully transformed into a dragon-human form, Ao Yulie's other claw reached for the divine envoy's heavenly spirit cover.

The cane retracted, the divine envoy again pointed at the dragon claw reaching for the head.

Struck at the wrist, dragon scales and the cane's dirty end collided, sparks flew out, several dragon scales scattered.

At the same time, the dragon tail rose from behind Ao Yulie, sweeping upward to downward with a whistling gale, smashing toward the divine envoy.

The divine envoy raised his other hand, grabbed the dragon tail, the stone slabs under his feet instantly shattered.

"Die for me!"

Ao Yulie let out a dragon roar, the immense dragon might's roar "shocked unconscious" a group of people around.

Thunder burst from his mouth, simultaneously wind blades, ice cones, and heavenly gang fire accompanied the thunder, all blasting toward the divine envoy.

Lightning light, fire light, and wild wind engulfed the divine envoy.

Ao Yulie retreated, opening more than ten meters of distance, shook his numb hands.

"Hehe, turns out it's a little dragon."

Amid the dissipating thunder and fire light, the divine envoy laughed, his body showing obvious scorched marks, his robes more tattered.

Yet, he hadn't suffered much serious injury.

"This is too hard, right?" Ao Yulie widened his eyes.

Speaking honestly, they really didn't feel much powerful cultivation aura from this divine envoy, only his breath was a bit thicker.

Now upon making a move, they found the opponent's body, its hardness extremely astonishing.

Ao Yulie suspected that if his claw truly landed on the opponent, it might still end up a mutually destructive outcome.

"Is this how your master taught you to treat a Divine Envoy?" The Divine Envoy chuckled, the cruelty in his eyes growing ever more apparent.

As soon as the words fell, silver light suddenly flared.

Zhu Bajie, wielding the Nine-Toothed Rake, smashed it onto the Divine Envoy's neck: "Right, go f-uck your-mother!"

The Divine Envoy's neck instantly twisted at a strange angle, his whole person sent flying into midair.

Several bloody holes on his neck; the pitch-black crimson blood, thick to the extreme, merely seeped out a little before immediately sealing the wound.