Chapter 1726: Leaving Love Behind, No Hatred Remains
The ministers Thượng Phụ, Thiếu Phụ and others dragged Hoàng Thiên Đế away. Hoàng Thiên Đế was utterly dejected, looking around at the defeated Heavenly Court army scattered everywhere. The Heavenly Court's troops spread like a tide, still vast in number. If only they could regroup their forces at this moment, the outcome of a battle against Diên Khang would still be uncertain.
But now, with the fall of Huyền Đô, the Heavenly Court's morale was shattered. They had become dogs of defeat, caring only about fleeing for their lives.
Hoàng Thiên Đế's heart was filled with desolation. At this moment, part of the Heavenly Court's army had gone to other heavens to conduct blood sacrifices. If they could only delay for a few more days, the cultivators who had attained the Dao at Di La Cung could descend.
At that time, the Heavenly Court would turn defeat into victory!
Tần Mục was severely wounded. With the Đấu Tôn-level experts of Diên Khang, who could possibly withstand the Dao-attaining cultivators of Di La Cung?
Unfortunately, the divine and demonic generals of the Heavenly Court no longer had the courage or strength to continue fighting!
"This defeat is not my fault—it is the soldiers of the Heavenly Court who have dragged me down!"
Hoàng Thiên Đế thrust his arms out, shoving aside Thượng Phụ, Thiếu Phụ and the other ministers. He killed dozens of soldiers in succession, shouting harshly: "Do not flee! Continue fighting!"
If the Heavenly Court's soldiers abandoned the camp and fled this time, all the supplies they had brought from Tổ Đình would be discarded. Losing ordinary divine weapons was one thing, but the critical issue was that they had brought many holy lands, sacred mountains and other treasures from Tổ Đình. These holy lands, sacred mountains, heavenly seas, divine rivers and such were too heavy. If they were abandoned here, it would invisibly strengthen Diên Khang's power!
At that point, there would truly be no hope of turning things around!
Hoàng Thiên Đế's eyes were bloodshot from killing, but the soldiers fleeing for their lives simply kept their distance from him and continued their desperate flight.
Hoàng Thiên Đế was so enraged that he vomited several more mouthfuls of blood, his voice hoarse as he said: "Don't run! We haven't lost this battle yet!"
"Your Majesty!"
Thượng Phụ, Thiếu Phụ and the others surged forward again, supporting him and carrying him away, weeping loudly: "U Đô and Huyền Đô have fallen into enemy hands! Our soldiers cannot preserve their lives—we have already lost! The soldiers cannot keep their lives—"
"Your Majesty, if we return to Tổ Đình, we can still rise again! Tổ Đình is far more prosperous than Nguyên Giới. We cannot throw away the lives of our soldiers here!"
Hoàng Thiên Đế slumped, all his strength suddenly drained away. Supported by the ministers, he staggered along with the great army as they fled the Heavenly Court's camp.
In the sky, suns and moons shifted their formations, bombarding the Heavenly Court's camp from above. Everywhere was chaos—people and horses toppled over. Behind the Heavenly Court's camp, the battle between Thái Thủy and the two Thái Cực ancient gods had reached a critical moment. The three of them each activated their companion treasures, fully unleashing their Dao realms, fighting from the ground up into the starry sky!
On the ground and in the air, the beast realm army and Tây Cực Thiên army led by Long Kỳ Lân and Tây Đế Bạch Hổ were engaging the Heavenly Court's Divine Master army.
As one of the Three Masters' armies, the Heavenly Court's Divine Master army was vast in number and formidable in strength—the only one of the Three Masters to preserve its full power. This army was even larger than the Heavenly River Navy at its peak.
This time, Long Kỳ Lân had come to encircle their rear. Both sides had deployed countless deities and giant beasts, fighting until the heavens cracked and the earth split, mountains toppled. Void beasts also appeared in the air, sweeping through everything in their path.
Not only that, Tây Đế Bạch Hổ had forcibly dragged her ancestral land here, blowing the war horn with long, resounding blasts that stirred the blood of the beast realm's armies, making them fearless in the face of death.
Long Kỳ Lân personally commanded the beast realm's formations. Having been tempered by the Battle of Nam Thiên, he had become a qualified commander capable of standing alone, fighting the Heavenly Court's Divine Master army with extraordinary ferocity.
Tây Đế Bạch Hổ was valiant and skilled in battle—a war ancient god, fearless, charging on the front lines. Long Kỳ Lân, meanwhile, had learned the cunning of Tần Mục's formations but was more cautious than Tần Mục. His use of the art of taming people in commanding the beast realm showed true leadership, earning him the loyalty of the beast kings of all races.
The two complemented each other perfectly, driving the Heavenly Court's Divine Envoys back step by step. But breaking the Divine Master army was not something they could accomplish in a short time.
The sky continued to split open, with new ancient giant beasts being summoned from the beast realm and thrown into the battle.
Just then, the Heavenly Court's rout spread to the Divine Master army. The rear of the Divine Master army surged, and the tide of defeat appeared. Soon, the Divine Master army's morale collapsed entirely, and they fled in all directions.
Tây Đế Bạch Hổ was an exceptionally fierce woman, inheriting the valor of the Creator Nữ Tân Thị. Seeing from afar the Heavenly Emperor's banner fluttering amidst the chaos of the army, her hunting instincts were aroused. Without a second thought, she led her troops charging forward, cutting through the fleeing Heavenly Court forces like a hot knife through butter!
"Don't go!"
Seeing this, Long Kỳ Lân's eyes nearly split with rage. He urgently leaped onto the back of the void mother beast and gave chase at full speed.
Though Tây Đế Bạch Hổ was a charming and beautiful woman, she was a fierce general—otherwise she would not have become a war ancient god. She fought her way all the way to the Heavenly Emperor's banner, when suddenly there was a thunderous boom, and the ancestral land of the West Emperor split into four!
Long Kỳ Lân's heart turned to ice. In the shattered ancestral land of the West Emperor, he saw Tây Đế Bạch Hổ spitting blood and collapsing to the ground.
The void mother beast carried him through the void, appearing and disappearing, until they reached Tây Đế Bạch Hổ. The golden war horn had been broken in two. Tây Đế Bạch Hổ lay on her back, staring at him with wide eyes, her breath as faint as a thread.
Long Kỳ Lân leaped down from the void, hurrying to her side. Tây Đế Bạch Hổ had not yet breathed her last, but Hoàng Thiên Đế's single strike had already caused her body to begin annihilating, dissolving into primordial qi and scattering away.
If this momentum spread to her primordial spirit, even her soul's black sand would cease to exist.
"Long Sơn Tản Nhân, please ask Mục Thiên Tôn to revive me..."
Tây Đế Bạch Hổ had just spoken this far when Long Kỳ Lân made a decisive move. He immediately activated his divine power, killing her primordial spirit and scattering it into the three souls of heaven, earth, and spirit, to prevent the Dao wound left by Hoàng Thiên Đế's divine power from destroying her primordial spirit.
Long Kỳ Lân stood up, cut off the West Emperor's head, carried it onto the back of the void mother beast, and vanished.
He arrived among the beast realm army, transformed into his true form as Long Kỳ Lân, and roared to the heavens. His voice spread throughout the beast realm army as he ordered them to contract their formation and open a corridor to let the Heavenly Court's fleeing forces pass.
If they trapped the Heavenly Court's army at this moment, it would become a desperate beast's stand. When the Heavenly Court's army counterattacked, both friend and foe would devolve into a death match!
At that time, the Heavenly Court's shattered morale would rise higher and higher with the desperation of the death struggle.
Instead, opening an escape route would make the Heavenly Court's soldiers even more demoralized!
Surrounding three sides and leaving one open—this was the art of war.
Long Kỳ Lân controlled the beast realm army, continuously striking from both flanks of the Heavenly Court, hunting down the stragglers and expanding their gains.
Meanwhile, in the sky, the Diên Khang army led by Giang Bạch Khuê descended from above. First, a rain of swords fell, throwing the chaotic army into even greater disarray. Then they began cutting in from the tail of the Heavenly Court's fleeing forces.
The army led by Giang Bạch Khuê moved like a centipede's pincers, opening and closing to slice off a force of over a hundred thousand from the tail of the fleeing army, surrounding them and launching an annihilation battle.
Giang Bạch Khuê stood in the air, gazing at the beast realm army. Though the beast realm was filled with ancient giant beasts, their formations were strictly ordered like fortress walls. He could not help but praise: "Long Sơn Tản Nhân has the talent of a Heavenly Master! His formation command has not a single flaw."
The two armies continuously nibbled away at the enemy, doing their utmost to pursue the Heavenly Court's fleeing forces. Long Kỳ Lân also noticed Giang Bạch Khuê's formation command and immediately saw his intention.
"Quốc Sư Giang is pursuing from behind. I only need to command my army to encircle from both flanks, divide them, and I can achieve the strategy of surrounding three sides and leaving one open, making the Heavenly Court bleed continuously. I don't need to annihilate the forces I cut off—Quốc Sư Giang will naturally come from behind and eliminate them."
Though the two had no communication, both saw through each other's plans. Their coordination was seamless, forcing the Heavenly Court to abandon more supplies in order to move quickly. Those heavy artifacts that were difficult to transport were also discarded.
After a moment, flames blazed fiercely, and another Diên Khang army charged out of the Heavenly Court's camp, pursuing at the enemy's heels. It was the army led by Nam Đế Chu Tước and Yên Nhi.
A moment later, another squad of three-headed, six-armed deities arrived—Xích Hoàng and Minh Hoàng had come.
With these two additional forces assisting him, Giang Bạch Khuê relaxed. His army had marched a great distance, trampling the gods and demons of Huyền Đô, then rushed without rest to provide support. They were truly exhausted.
This pursuit was also a gamble with their own lives!
This day was destined to be the Heavenly Court's day of darkness.
The various armies pursued relentlessly, while in the Heavenly Court's camp, another siege continued. Heavenly Court soldiers who had not managed to flee the camp fell into encirclement. War fires blazed everywhere, and the battlefield was divided into countless fragments.
"Where are the soldiers of Vô Ưu Hương?" Linh Dục Tú's divine city arrived, and she asked the Blind Man.
The Blind Man immediately flew out of the divine city. Linh Dục Tú hastily instructed the formation experts behind her: "Quickly summon the Medicine King God!"
In the Heavenly Court's camp, Thiên Đao Đồ Phu and the others drove off the Heavenly Court gods and demons besieging Vô Ưu Hương. Looking at the battlefield, they saw collapsed palace buildings everywhere, a scene of devastation. Of Vô Ưu Hương's two hundred thousand soldiers, only two to three thousand remained, every one of them wounded.
Many familiar figures could no longer be seen.
Thiên Đao Đồ Phu sheathed his blade and walked through the pools of blood. Suddenly, a soldier of Vô Ưu Hương reached out a single remaining arm and grabbed his pant leg.
Đồ Phu looked down and saw that the soldier had been cut in half at the waist, his other arm gone, barely clinging to life.
"Brother, give me a quick end." The soldier looked up, forcing a smile from his scar-covered face.
Đồ Phu took out his wound medicine and began treating him, his voice low: "Don't worry. Back then, I was wounded just as badly as you, and I survived. Diên Khang has the Tạo Hóa Huyền Công. As long as you can learn it, what you've lost can grow back... Dược Sư! Where is Dược Sư?"
He shouted loudly, but there were simply too many wounded, and the military physicians in the Diên Khang army were far from sufficient.
The soldiers under his command each took out their own wound medicine and distributed it to the wounded of Vô Ưu Hương. Đồ Phu came to Văn Thiên Các's side. Văn Thiên Các shook his head, barely raising a finger: "Save the farmer first..."
Đồ Phu hurried to where he pointed. He saw Võ Đấu Thiên Sư Trác Trà lying on the ground, shielding Yên Vân Hy beneath him. Đồ Phu struggled to move the Võ Đấu Thiên Sư aside, only to find that the old farmer had already breathed his last, while Yên Vân Hy still had a breath of life left.
It must have been that during the chaos of the army, Võ Đấu Thiên Sư had fought desperately to protect Yên Vân Hy. Though he had saved her life, he himself had not held on until victory arrived.
He ignored Trác Trà and hurriedly applied medicine to Yên Vân Hy. Yên Vân Hy's eyes were wide open, but she could not see. Both her eyes had been struck by the poison needles of the Heavenly Court's Đại Nhật Tinh Quân and blinded.
"Is Trác Trà alright?" she asked.
Đồ Phu looked at the Võ Đấu Thiên Sư's corpse, nodded, then remembered she could not see, and said: "He's fine."
"That's good."
Yên Vân Hy smiled: "After this battle, we'll get married and retire into seclusion. I've agreed with him... Văn Thiên Các, I don't like you anymore! I have someone I love now! You have no human warmth—only now do I realize that the one I love is not you..."
She laughed and laughed, coughing up blood continuously.
Tề Hà Du lay in the arms of Đế Thích Thiên. The man who was once the most handsome had now become the ugliest Nộ Nộ Minh Vương. But whether it was Tề Hà Du or Đế Thích Thiên, both were at the end of their strength.
In this battle, Xích Đế had undergone nine nirvanas, her combat power growing stronger each time. But after the ninth, she had exhausted all her life force.
"Do you still hate me?" she looked at the man she loved and asked.
Nộ Nộ Minh Vương lowered his head: "The Buddha has no hatred."
"Then do you still love me?"
Nộ Nộ Minh Vương was silent.
Xích Đế smiled: "Is the Lý Du Nhiên I loved still here?"
Nộ Nộ Minh Vương's fierce face gradually changed, gradually restoring the handsome Lý Du Nhiên of those days. His voice hoarse, he said: "Yes, he is still here..."
Tề Hà Du, Xích Đế, was satisfied and slowly closed her eyes.
"From love arises sorrow, from love arises fear; apart from love there is no sorrow, where then is fear?"
Lý Du Nhiên held her, sitting in lotus position, murmuring: "Therefore do not cling to love, for the pain of love's parting is bitter. If there is neither love nor hate, then there is no bondage... No bondage—how difficult. I am not Đế Thích Thiên, I am not... If there is a next life..."
"Chiến Không senior brother, the King Buddha has entered nirvana." A monk dropped his precept blade and said to Chiến Không Như Lai as he approached.
Chiến Không Như Lai pressed his palms together, bowed deeply to Lý Du Nhiên, then turned to save others.