Chapter 1709: The Selfish Earth Lord
Hư Thiên Tôn raised a hand, and the great army of U Minh demon gods came to a halt. Behind the army were countless pitch-black U Minh demonic beasts.
Some of those demonic beasts had physical forms, lying prostrate on the ground, trembling as they shook the pitch-black bone spikes on their bodies, black smoke rising from them. Other demonic beasts were formless, sometimes surging into the air, bursting with a *pop* into a wisp of black smoke, then condensing again.
"Father God."
Hư Thiên Tôn quickly stepped forward and knelt on one knee. Facing her were hundreds of millions of paper boats, on each of which stood an old yin messenger in the image of U Thiên Tôn. And A Sửu Earth Lord stood at the center of the countless paper boats, his towering figure highly conspicuous.
"Your daughter pays respects to Father God!"
Hư Thiên Tôn lowered her head and said in a clear voice: "Father God heard that Mục Thiên Tôn was wreaking havoc in U Minh, killing Father God, and was stricken with grief, wishing nothing more than to kill Mục Thiên Tôn to avenge Father God. But Mục Thiên Tôn's strength is too great, and your daughter is no match for him. Since Father God has been reborn, then we mother and daughter should naturally join forces to wipe out Mục Thiên Tôn's Diên Khang and avenge our hatred!"
A Sửu gazed at her with deep, dark eyes. Hư Thiên Tôn remained kneeling there, not raising her head for a long time.
A Sửu walked toward the edge of the boat formation, but suddenly one paper boat after another drifted forward, blocking his path and preventing him from leaving the formation.
"U, there is no need for this."
A Sửu smiled. "This has been my long-cherished wish for these past several hundred thousand years. If I cannot achieve it, I cannot attain the Dao."
U Thiên Tôn hesitated for a moment, then the paper boats parted to both sides.
A Sửu walked to the front of the two armies, arriving before Hư Thiên Tôn. He extended both hands, his tone and voice as gentle as that loving father from the Long Hán era: "Hư, my daughter..."
The horn on Hư Thiên Tôn's head suddenly shot out, piercing through his chest with a *chi* sound!
A Sửu seemed to feel no pain at all. His hands rested on her elbows, an ugly smile on his face: "The thing I regret most in this life is not having protected you well, not having protected your brothers and sisters well, not having protected your mother well..."
*Whoosh—*
The Minh Hà long whip flew out from Hư Thiên Tôn's waist, whistling as it spun, wrapping tightly around A Sửu. The whip burst through his body with a *puff*, drilling into his flesh!
The whip bored in and out of his physical body, tearing out chunks of flesh and blood. The whip even grew dark dragon scales, cutting through his flesh, slithering around his primordial spirit, slicing it until it was covered in wounds.
Even the indestructible body he had forged over hundreds of thousands of years with the karmic fire of countless living beings could not withstand Hư Thiên Tôn's divine powers and divine weapons!
A Sửu still wore that ugly smile, his karmic-fire indestructible body automatically healing itself.
As long as the karmic fire remained, he could not die.
"Put down these worldly fame and power, my daughter."
He bent down, his voice growing even gentler: "In this life, the thing I most wished for was to be reunited with you as father and daughter, to become true humans, to stay far away from the vortex of power, far away from these struggles, to be an ordinary father and daughter..."
"Father God!"
Hư Thiên Tôn suddenly raised her head, her eyes blazing with incomparably fierce hellfire. With a *rumbling* sound, two streams of hellfire shot from her eyes, striking A Sửu and blasting him high into the air. The two streams of fire then pierced through his body, pinning him to the ground.
A Sửu's body recovered. Hư Thiên Tôn let out a furious snort, flicking the long whip to coil around A Sửu, then raised her hand to grab his throat.
"Father God is still as ridiculous as ever."
Hư Thiên Tôn smiled, her eyes full of mockery: "I am your seed, inheriting your bloodline. From birth, my soul was incomparably powerful, and I was wise beyond my years from childhood. Do you really think I cannot remember the things from my childhood?"
Seeing this, U Thiên Tôn immediately charged forward, intending to rescue A Sửu. Hư Thiên Tôn raised her hand, and countless U Minh demon gods behind her roared forth, meeting U Thiên Tôn head-on!
A Sửu's voice was hoarse: "U, hold Diên Khang! Don't worry about me!"
U Thiên Tôn had originally planned to recall all his avatars to ambush Hư Thiên Tôn, but upon hearing this, he could only send his countless avatars to meet the sky-covering horde of demon gods and demonic beasts!
He knew in his heart that A Sửu cherished the bond between father and daughter and would never lay a hand on Hư Thiên Tôn. He would likely die at Hư Thiên Tôn's hands, so he unleashed every means at his disposal!
His hundreds of millions of avatars were all manifestations of his primordial spirit, each one comparable to a demon god. The thoughts of each avatar were interconnected, and more importantly, his avatars had no main body—any one of them could be his main body!
Not only that, he could also merge several avatars together at any time to enhance their strength.
If he encountered a particularly powerful deity or demon, he could merge together to deal with them!
The Blind Man of Tàn Lão Village had long seen the marvelous uses of this unique technique of his. As long as U Thiên Tôn had exceptional skill in formations, he could unleash the full power of his infinite avatars!
When U Thiên Tôn fought one-on-one, he would be limited by his relatively low physical cultivation, putting him at a disadvantage. But when facing large-scale group combat, he was practically invincible!
Over the years, the Blind Man had designed many formations for him, covering all kinds of battle arrays. U Thiên Tôn studied under him to learn the application of formations.
For anyone else, it would be extremely difficult to master so many complex formations in just over a decade. Even if they mastered them, it would be hard to simultaneously command hundreds of millions of avatars while also deploying various formations and battle arrays to break the enemy on a rapidly changing battlefield.
But U Thiên Tôn was different.
Although he was withdrawn, he was no fool. Far from being foolish, he was exceptionally intelligent—he simply wasn't used to communicating with others, which had left him somewhat isolated in knowledge and unable to keep up with Diên Khang's reforms.
But he suppressed his reclusive nature, diligently studying under the Blind Man. This seemingly impossible task, he actually mastered!
Now, his more than ten years of cultivation finally shone brilliantly!
His avatar army collided with the legions of demon gods and demonic beasts, and immediately rivers of blood flowed. No matter how countless the U Minh demon gods and demonic beasts were, facing his paper boat army of yin messengers, it could only be a one-sided slaughter!
Countless paper boats charged forward, blood waves churning. Within the towering blood waves hundreds of feet high, the corpses of demon gods and demonic beasts tumbled everywhere!
One paper boat after another sailed through the blood waves, churning up even more billows as they pushed forward in a straight line!
The demon god and demonic beast army surged forward from both sides of Hư Thiên Tôn and A Sửu, only to be met by two waves of blood surging toward them, halting the momentum of the U Minh army and even pushing it backward!
In this vast slaughterfield of U Minh in the Nguyên Giới, paper boats continuously merged, old yin messengers fused together, their strength skyrocketing as they killed generals amid the chaos of battle, then split apart again, becoming old yin messengers piloting boats, forming killing formations to strike at other demon gods!
From the Long Hán era to the present, countless geniuses had died—countless brilliant individuals, many of them at the Đế Tọa, Lăng Tiêu, and Ngọc Kinh realms. Most of these powerful beings had returned to U Minh.
This time, when Hư Thiên Tôn campaigned against the Nguyên Giới, those fallen powerhouses were filled into the various armies, becoming generals of the demon god army.
Yet, in this terrifying collision, even the primordial spirits of Đế Tọa powerhouses died at terrifying speed!
Countless paper boats flew in with a *rustling* sound, merging together when they reached those generals, their strength instantly surging to the level of several celestial palaces, killing with a single fatal blow—never needing a second strike!
Having U Thiên Tôn block Hư Thiên Tôn would only result in mutual destruction, with no one daring to claim they would emerge victorious.
But putting U Thiên Tôn on the battlefield—one man, one boat, one lantern—he could flatten all of U Minh!
Yet what made U Thiên Tôn's heart ache was that A Sửu had still not fought back, nor had he dodged Hư Thiên Tôn's attacks!
"Earth Lord, why won't you fight back?"
A paper boat flew over, an old yin messenger standing on it shouting loudly. But the next moment, he was shattered to pieces by a single sweep of Hư Thiên Tôn's whip.
"Father God, I remember everything from my childhood. I remember the hard life you led us through."
In Hư Thiên Tôn's hand, the Minh Hà long whip coiled like a python around A Sửu's massive body. The whip pierced through his chest, through his heart, emerging from his front like a great serpent raising its head, twisting around to look at A Sửu's ugly face.
"I remember you taking Mother, Eldest Brother, Second Brother and the others into hiding, eating chaff and wild vegetables, living in constant fear of pursuit and danger. I still remember Mother died in a cave."
Hư Thiên Tôn's eyes were also like a serpent's eyes, looking at the suspended A Sửu, cold light flickering in her gaze. She sneered: "How bitter it was back then—I remember it all clearly! My brothers, sisters, and I were divine sons and daughters—the children of the most powerful ancient god in this world! But what became of us?"
A Sửu was silent, lowering his head.
His karmic-fire indestructible body was too powerful—so powerful that he could easily heal without using any techniques or divine powers, so powerful that even if he didn't resist, Hư Thiên Tôn could not kill him.
Hư Thiên Tôn drove the Minh Hà long whip, drilling it into his skull, and shouted fiercely: "What became of us? We accompanied you in fleeing to the ends of the earth! All because of your great dream of becoming human!"
The Minh Hà long whip was vaporized by the blazing karmic fire, and A Sửu stood up again.
Hư Thiên Tôn roared in fury. Her sharp horn burst out from behind A Sửu's broad back, stabbing into the back of his head, sending him flying toward her.
Hư Thiên Tôn activated her divine powers, crazily attacking A Sửu, striking to kill: "My mother—the woman of the most powerful ancient god in the world—did she enjoy even a single day of wealth and glory? No! She followed you in fear and trembling, wandering from place to place, until she finally died of exhaustion, died of illness, died of fright!"
Her divine powers grew stronger and stronger as she vented the boundless hatred in her heart, beating A Sửu until he was covered in wounds. She laughed wildly, like a mad demon: "What about my brothers and sisters? They, like me, possessed the most powerful demigod bloodlines. If they had survived, each of them would have achieved no less than me! How did they die? They were dragged down and killed by your great dream of becoming human!"
*Bang!*
He was stomped under her foot. Hư Thiên Tôn looked down at her father's ugly face, gnashing her teeth: "Your bloodline is too strong. My soul was already awakened in my mother's womb, with memories intact. After I was born, I watched everything you did with my own eyes! Do you think it was the Heavenly Emperor who instilled hatred for you in me? No! When you transformed into A Sửu Earth Lord and charged into the Heavenly Court, my gaze at you was already filled with hatred!"
Her foot pressed down hard on A Sửu's head, grinding it back and forth: "The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor saw the hatred in my eyes, and that was why he took me in! But you didn't notice—you were still taking revenge on the Heavenly Court! I hate that you didn't erupt sooner! I hate that you wanted to become human! I hate that we are clearly the most powerful race, so why can't we stand above all others and enjoy the fear and worship of all living beings!"
She lifted her foot. A Sửu struggled to get up, but she stomped down again, crushing his head into the earth!
"Father? You are nothing but a selfish, self-serving creature. Whether you are the Earth Lord or A Sửu, you are equally selfish! Your heart has never held us—only yourself, only your pitiful, humble dream of becoming human. The selfless Earth Lord? You don't deserve that title!"
Hư Thiên Tôn stomped down once more, saying viciously: "You want to become human, but I don't! I want to stand high above all, to become the object of countless people's fear and worship! I want to wipe out all of humanity and completely shatter your dream!"
She grabbed A Sửu's calf, dragging him out from where he was buried in the earth, and strode toward Diên Khang, smiling: "Father God, come and watch. I will destroy everything you hold dear."