Chapter 1709: The Selfish Tu Bo
The Void Heavenly Sovereign raised a hand, and the Netherworld Demon God army halted. Behind the army were countless pitch-black Netherworld monsters.
Some of those monsters had physical forms, prostrating on the ground, shaking their dark bone spines as black smoke rose from their bodies. Other monsters were formless, sometimes surging into the air with a *pop* as they turned into a puff of black smoke, then coalescing again.
"Father God."
The Void Heavenly Sovereign stepped forward quickly and knelt on one knee. Opposite her were billions of paper boats, each carrying an old Yin Cha envoy in the image of the Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign. And A Chou Tu Bo stood in the midst of the countless paper boats, his towering figure highly conspicuous.
"Your daughter kowtows to Father God!"
The Void Heavenly Sovereign lowered her head and declared loudly, "Father God heard that the Mu Heavenly Sovereign was running rampant in the Netherworld, killing Father God, and was stricken with heart-wrenching pain, wishing she could kill the Mu Heavenly Sovereign to avenge Father God. But unfortunately, the Mu Heavenly Sovereign is too powerful, and your daughter is no match. Since Father God has been reborn, then we mother and daughter should naturally join forces to wipe out the Mu Heavenly Sovereign's Yankang and take our revenge!"
A Chou stared at her with a deep, dark gaze. The Void Heavenly Sovereign remained kneeling there, not raising her head for a long time.
A Chou began to walk out of the boat formation, but suddenly, one paper boat after another drifted over, blocking his path and preventing him from leaving the formation.
"You, no need for this."
A Chou 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."
The Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign hesitated for a moment, then the paper boats parted to both sides.
A Chou walked to the front of the two armies, arriving before the Void Heavenly Sovereign. He extended his hands, his tone and voice as gentle as that of the loving father from the Long Han era: "You, my daughter..."
Suddenly, the horn on the Void Heavenly Sovereign's head shot out, *swish* through his chest!
A Chou seemed to feel no pain at all. His hands rested on her elbows, a hideous smile on his face: "The greatest regret of my life is that I failed to protect you, failed to protect your siblings, failed to protect your mother..."
*Whoosh!*
The Styx long whip flew from the Void Heavenly Sovereign's waist, whistling and spinning, wrapping tightly around A Chou. With a *pop*, the Styx whip pierced through A Chou's body and burrowed inside him!
The whip drilled in and out of his flesh, tearing out chunks of blood and meat. It even grew dark dragon scales, cutting through his flesh, slithering around his primordial spirit, and lacerating it all over.
Even his indestructible body, forged over hundreds of thousands of years with the karmic fire of countless beings, could not withstand the Void Heavenly Sovereign's divine abilities and divine weapons!
A Chou still wore that ugly smile as his karmic-fire indestructible body automatically regenerated.
As long as the karmic fire remained, he could not die.
"Let go of these worldly gains and power, my daughter."
He bent down, his voice growing even gentler: "The thing I have most wished for in this life is 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 conflicts, and be an ordinary father and daughter..."
"Father God!"
The Void Heavenly Sovereign suddenly raised her head. Her eyes blazed with the most intense hellish karmic fire. With a *boom*, two beams of hellish karmic fire shot from her eyes, striking A Chou and blasting him high into the air. Then the two beams of karmic fire pierced through his body, pinning him to the ground.
A Chou's body regenerated. The Void Heavenly Sovereign snorted angrily, flicked the whip, coiled it around A Chou, and raised her hand to grab his throat.
"Father God is still as ridiculous as ever."
The Void Heavenly Sovereign revealed a smile, her eyes full of mockery: "I am your seed, inheriting your bloodline. From birth, my soul was incredibly powerful, and I was precocious from a young age. Do you really think I can't remember the things from my childhood?"
Seeing this, the Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign immediately rushed forward, intending to rescue A Chou. The Void Heavenly Sovereign raised her hand, and countless Netherworld Demon Gods behind her roared forward, meeting the Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign!
A Chou's voice was hoarse: "You, defend Yankang! Don't worry about me!"
The Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign had originally planned to recall all his avatars to ambush the Void Heavenly Sovereign, but upon hearing this, he had no choice but to send his countless avatars to meet the overwhelming tide of demon gods and monsters!
He knew that A Chou was attached to his father-daughter bond and would never strike at the Void Heavenly Sovereign. He would likely die at her hands, so he had to use every means at his disposal!
His billions 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, but he could also merge several avatars together at any time to increase their strength.
If he encountered a stronger god or demon, he could merge them to deal with the opponent!
The Blind of the Crippled Village had long seen the wonderful use of this unique technique. As long as the Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign had exceptional skill in formations, he could maximize the power of his infinite avatars!
When fighting one-on-one, the Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign would be limited by his low physical cultivation, putting him at a disadvantage. But when dealing with large-scale group combat, he was practically invincible!
Over the years, the Blind had designed many formations for him, covering various battle arrays. The Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign followed him to learn the application of formations.
For anyone else, it would be difficult to master so many complex formations in just over a decade. Even if they did, it would be hard to simultaneously command billions of avatars while also deploying various formations and battle arrays to defeat the enemy in a rapidly changing battlefield.
But the Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign was different.
Although he was reclusive, he was not stupid. Far from it—he was exceptionally intelligent. He was simply not used to communicating with others, which had led to some isolation in his knowledge and a failure to keep up with Yankang's reforms.
But he overcame his reclusiveness, diligently studying and training under the Blind. What seemed like an impossible task, he actually mastered!
Now, the fruits of his decade-long cultivation finally shone brilliantly!
His avatar army collided with the legion of demon gods and monsters, and the battlefield instantly ran with rivers of blood. No matter how countless the Netherworld's demon gods and monsters were, meeting his paper boat Yin Cha army could only result in a one-sided massacre!
Countless paper boats surged forward, blood waves flying. Within the towering waves of blood, hundreds of feet high, rolled the corpses of demon gods and monsters!
One paper boat after another sailed through the blood waves, churning up even more waves, pushing forward in a straight line!
The demon god and monster army rushed forward from both sides of the Void Heavenly Sovereign and A Chou, only to be met by two surging waves of blood that instantly halted their momentum and even pushed them back!
In this vast Yuan Realm Netherworld slaughterhouse, paper boats kept merging, Yin Cha envoys kept fusing, their strength skyrocketing. Amidst the chaotic army, they killed generals, then immediately split apart, turning back into individual Yin Cha envoys piloting their boats, forming killing formations to attack other demon gods!
From the Long Han era to the present, countless geniuses had died, including many who had reached the Di Zuo, Ling Xiao, and Yu Jing realms. Most of these powerful beings had returned to the Netherworld.
This time, when the Void Heavenly Sovereign campaigned in the Yuan Realm, those dead powerhouses were filled into the various armies, becoming generals of the demon god army.
Yet, in this terrifying collision, even the primordial spirits of Di Zuo-level powerhouses died at an astonishing speed!
Countless paper boats flew over with a *shua-shua* sound. When they reached those generals, they merged into one, their strength instantly surging to the level of several heavenly palaces. One strike was fatal—they never needed a second!
If the Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign were to block the Void Heavenly Sovereign, it would only result in mutual destruction, with no one daring to claim they would come out on top.
But putting the Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign on the battlefield—one man, one boat, one lantern—and he could flatten the Netherworld!
Yet what pained the Netherworld Heavenly Sovereign was that A Chou had still not fought back, nor had he dodged the Void Heavenly Sovereign's attacks!
"Tu Bo, why won't you fight back?"
A paper boat flew over, and the Yin Cha old man on board shouted loudly. But the next moment, he was shattered into pieces by a single whip strike from the Void Heavenly Sovereign.
"Father God, I remember everything from my childhood. I remember the hard life you led us through."
In the Void Heavenly Sovereign's hand, the Styx long whip coiled like a python around A Chou's sturdy body. The Styx whip pierced through his chest, through his heart, and emerged from his front, raising its tip like a giant python, twisting around to look at A Chou's ugly face.
"I remember you taking mother, eldest brother, second brother, and the others into hiding, eating chaff and wild vegetables, living in fear as we fled from pursuit and danger. I also remember mother dying in a cave."
The Void Heavenly Sovereign's eyes were also like a python's, staring at the suspended A Chou. A cold light flickered in her eyes as she sneered, "How bitter it was back then, I remember it all clearly! My brothers and sisters and I were divine children, the offspring of the most powerful ancient god in this world! But what was our fate?"
A Chou was silent, lowering his head.
His karmic-fire indestructible body was too strong. It was so strong that he didn't need to use any techniques or divine abilities to regenerate easily. It was so strong that even if he didn't resist, the Void Heavenly Sovereign couldn't kill him.
The Void Heavenly Sovereign urged the Styx long whip, drilling it into his head, and shouted fiercely, "Our fate was to wander the world with you on the run! All because of your great wish to become human!"
The Styx long whip was evaporated by the blazing karmic fire, and A Chou stood up again.
The Void Heavenly Sovereign roared in fury. Her horn shot out from behind A Chou's broad back, piercing into the back of his head, slamming him toward her.
The Void Heavenly Sovereign activated her divine abilities, attacking A Chou madly, striking to kill: "My mother, the woman of the most powerful ancient god in the world—did she enjoy even a single day of glory and wealth? No! She followed you, living in fear, wandering from place to place, until she was exhausted, sick, and scared to death!"
Her divine abilities grew stronger and stronger, venting the boundless hatred in her heart. She beat A Chou until he was covered in wounds, laughing wildly, like a mad demon: "What about my brothers and sisters? They, like me, possessed the most powerful demigod bloodlines. If they had lived, none of them would have been inferior to me! How did they die? Also because of your great dream of becoming human, dragging them down to their deaths!"
*Bang!*
She stomped him under her foot. The Void Heavenly Sovereign looked down at her father's ugly face and gritted her teeth: "Your bloodline is too strong. My soul awakened while I was still in the womb, and I had memories. After I was born, I saw everything you did! Have you always thought it was the Heavenly Emperor who instilled hatred for you in me? No! When you transformed into A Chou Tu Bo and attacked the Heavenly Court, the look in my eyes as I watched you was already full of hatred!"
Her foot pressed down hard on A Chou's head, twisting continuously: "The ancient god Heavenly Emperor saw the hatred in my eyes, and that's why he took me in! But you didn't notice! You were still taking revenge on the Heavenly Court! I hate you for not erupting sooner! I hate you for wanting to become human! I hate that we are the most powerful race, yet we couldn't stand above all, enjoying the fear and worship of all beings!"
She lifted her foot. A Chou struggled to get up, but she stomped down again, driving his head into the earth!
"Father? You are just a selfish creature. Whether you were Tu Bo or A Chou, you were equally selfish! You never had us in your heart—only yourself, only your pathetic, humble dream of becoming human. The selfless Tu Bo? You don't deserve that title!"
The Void Heavenly Sovereign stomped again, viciously: "You want to become human, but I don't! I want to stand high above, to become the object of fear and worship for countless beings! I want to destroy all of humanity and completely shatter your dream!"
She grabbed A Chou by the calf, pulling him out from where he was buried in the ground, and strode toward Yankang, laughing: "Father God, come and see. I will destroy everything you care about."