Chapter 708: How Dare You Hit My Daddy!
Legend had it that the ancient heavenly daos had been created by the victors in the war between immortals and gods, by means of some boundless magic. By sending them into the world, they bore the brunt of the mission of protection and suppression. That meant suppression of Brilliant Heaven, concealment of all taboos, and the protection of cultivators and conversion of all creation into something suitable for cultivation.
Each one had a very long history, as well as their own associated myths. They had terrifying power, and years ago, had been converted into natural and magical laws of Revered Ancient. Because of them, cultivators could live, propagate, and become rulers of this world. In the countless years that had passed, the guardianship of those ancient heavenly daos resulted in one species after another rising to glory.
Every single Ancient Emperor that had ever conquered Revered Ancient was someone that was approved of by the ancient heavenly daos. In some respects, the ninety-nine ancient heavenly daos were the protectors of all of the Revered Ancient mainland. Time passed. Imperial dynasties came and went, and species rose and fell. But the ninety-nine ancient heavenly daos remained constant, bearing witness to Revered Ancient as it flourished over and over again.
Of course, some situations arose that enraged the heavens. For instance, Emperor Ancient Spirit conquered Revered Ancient and then went insane and tried to possess an ancient heavenly dao. That angered the ninety-nine ancient heavenly daos so much that they came in person to crush Emperor Ancient Spirit. As a result, Emperor Ancient Spirit’s dynasty collapsed, and the Ancient Spirits were cursed. Of course, Emperor Ancient Spirit suffered the most.
From that it could be seen where the ancient heavenly daos stood in terms of Revered Ancient as a whole.
When the broken face of the god arrived, everything changed. The broken face existed on a higher level than the heavenly daos, and was in some ways an expression of the standoff between immortals and gods. The result... was that though the ancient heavenly daos continued to exist, they were severely suppressed and weakened. They did not recover their previous strength, and thus, mutagen invaded Revered Ancient, bringing catastrophe.
The broken face changed everything. All living things experienced something like the Awakening of Insects. The heavenly daos struggled to continue their mission, but could not prevent the invasion of their own destiny. [1]
That was why, though Li Zihua had the power to summon heavenly daos, he still died in battle. The heavenly daos were weak.
But things were different today. Although the ninety-nine heavenly daos were still weak, just like they had been back in the day for Li Zihua, this time, it wasn’t Li Zihua fighting Crimson Mother alone. High God Moonfire had joined the fight, and High God Starfire also arrived. Emperor Ancient Spirit came as well. Combined with Li Zihua’s battle prowess, it ensured that Crimson Mother was in a very rare but deadly crisis.
Crimson Mother was terrifyingly strong, and had already devoured three High Gods. Unlike most gods hidden in Revered Ancient, shē had revealed herself openly. Because gods could devour each other, most gods weren’t willing to do that. That was the case with Flawless Hell, the fish skeleton god, and all the other gods Xu Qing had encountered.
Only Crimson Mother, being so incredibly powerful, chose to ignore that custom.
However, shē wasn’t invincible. For hēr to face so many other gods at the same time was dangerous. Of course... the characteristics of gods ensured that the chances of multiple gods joining forces was very slim.
But today, that very rare development was playing out right in front of Crimson Mother. Two High Gods, a weakened Ancient Emperor, and an Imperial Sovereign were all teaming up against hēr. And for the ancient heavenly daos to show up right at the critical moment made that danger even more fatal.
That said... the number of the heavenly daos wasn’t correct! Crimson Mother noticed it. Li Zihua noticed it. The two High Gods noticed it. And Emperor Ancient Spirit seemed the most surprised of all. He was more familiar with the cultivation of the ancient heavenly daos than anyone else, and he was the first to notice that there was actually an extra ancient heavenly dao!
“A hundred?”
Emperor Ancient Spirit hesitated for a moment. Down below in the Moon Palace, the Heir Apparent and his siblings were shaken. All of them were well aware that there had always been ninety-nine heavenly daos. There was no way their memories could be mistaken, and yet, there were a hundred present.
The last heavenly dao to appear looked like a baby. It had greenish skin covered with countless ancient symbols. It also had spikes covering it, and clawed hands. Just looking at it would cause one to grow cold in the heart. It was obviously still growing. And it crawled slowly, as if it wasn't completely sure which direction to go. Unlike the other ancient heavenly daos, it couldn’t respond with pinpoint accuracy to Li Zihua’s summoning.
It was almost like this ancient heavenly dao had been sleeping when Li Zihua called. That call had stirred its mission, and woken it up. Yet its eyes were still blurry as it instinctively crawled along.
However... as it crawled, it clearly didn’t know exactly where to go, as it was still a great distance away. And then, the next moment, it was even farther away in space-time, and continuing on in the wrong direction.
The Heir Apparent and his siblings were stunned. And then they heard the words spoken by Xu Qing and the Captain. However, none of them seemed to be able to comprehend the connection. After all... calling an ancient heavenly dao ‘son’ seemed like a completely preposterous and even impossible thing.
Regardless, the other ninety-nine heavenly daos had already begun to unleash a force of suppression. They shot toward the abstract painting, merged inside, and then began crushing Crimson Mother in ways that Xu Qing couldn’t even comprehend. Occasionally, the red color in the painting seemed like it might collapse. It would grow dark, and miserable screams would echo out that sounded like metal scraping against rock.
As the battle raged, the giant baby was still crawling off into the distance....
As the Captain and Xu Qing looked at the huge baby, they struggled to control their breathing.
Finally, the Captain couldn’t hold back from shouting, “Son, daddy’s right here!”
He reached out and grabbed Xu Qing’s arm, indicating that he should do the same thing.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Qing sent a divine will projection. “I’m right here!”
As the battle raged in the painting, the huge baby off to the side suddenly stopped crawling. Then his eyelids flickered as if he was struggling to open them. He raised his head, and his ears twitched. His expression was one of confusion.
The Captain started to get excited, and called out again in a loud voice. Xu Qing did the same via divine will.
Soon, the confused expression on the huge baby’s face turned into one of excitement, as if he were finally hearing the voice of his family. Turning, he started crawling in the direction of Xu Qing and the Captain.
After locking onto his family, the huge baby surged with strength. Wild colors flashed in heaven and earth, all while winds screamed. The giant baby then appeared in the sky just over the Moon Palace. Having crawled to that point, he turned in the direction of Xu Qing and the Captain and squealed happily. The sound was like heavenly thunder, and it caused Xu Qing and the Captain to both cough up mouthfuls of blood.
Suddenly, the giant baby heaved itself up onto two legs, then started running toward Xu Qing and the Captain with open arms, as if he sought a hug....
However, before he could get close, the terrifyingly destructive fluctuations rolling off it smashed into Xu Qing and the Captain, shoving them backward. Even the Heir Apparent and his siblings backed away in surprise. It was only possible to imagine the terrible fate that awaited them if that destructive power got too close to them.
Seeing all that, the Captain anxiously called, “Son. Son! Don’t come over here. There’s a bad lady you need to hit. The red one. She’s the bad one!”
The huge baby stopped in place and looked at Xu Qing and the Captain, his expression both pouty and confused. He was about to make another squealing sound when the ninety-nine ancient heavenly daos provoked a miserable shriek from Crimson Mother, which pierced through space-time to leave the abstract painting.
The moment that sound reached the outside, the Heir Apparent and everyone else trembled as if they might collapse. The Captain’s fleshly body exploded, turning into a host of worms that struggled to form back together. Although Xu Qing had a god body, the piercing sound was too much for him to take. In the blink of an eye, half of him collapsed into ash, and despite the power of the violet crystal, intense pain filled every corner of him.
When the giant baby saw that, it trembled, and its face became a mask of rage. Obviously, seeing Xu Qing and the Captain hurt was provoking a reaction of fury from it. The baby turned and locked its gaze onto the red color in the vortex. It squealed again, this time in pain, then started crawling rapidly toward the abstract painting.
In the blink of an eye, it disappeared inside. That made things even worse for Crimson Mother.
High God Moonfire, High God Starfire, and Emperor Ancient Spirit took advantage of the moment to unleash their godsource, using a method Xu Qing couldn’t even perceive. A moment later, the abstract painting went still!
It wasn’t just the painting. It was the entire Moon Palace. The natural laws. The magical laws. Space-time. It was as if all of them had been sealed. It was the same with the life force of Xu Qing and everyone else. The entire red moon went still. The concept of time disappeared, making it impossible to determine how much of it had passed. Perhaps one moment had passed. Perhaps a lifetime.
Then, a crack appeared in the abstract painting. The crack became the only moving thing, as it rapidly extended in length. Upon looking closely, one would realize that the crack... was on the red part!
The red was crumbling! Ultimately, the painting fell apart, and all of the red inside of it... was reduced to ashes and disappeared!
A pulse of intense grief erupted from within the Moon Palace, spreading out over the red moon and filling the Moonrite Region. Off in the distance, all sorts of godly entities and gods sensed what was happening.
It was caused by the perishing of a god. A god had fallen!
However, the most intense sorrow wasn’t on the red moon, though, but in the Nine Serenities. As the god perished, a howl of intense grief echoed out from there. The Nine Serenities trembled, and countless deceased souls were thrown into chaos. The howls of grief turned into a tempest that screamed through all eternity.
1. Quick reminder that volume one is named Awakening of Insects, which is one of the solar terms.Solar terms reference link . ☜