Chapter 1726: Parting Without Hatred
The Grand Chancellor, Junior Chancellor, and other ministers dragged the Heavenly Emperor Hao Tian away. Hao Tian was utterly distraught, seeing the defeated Heavenly Court army scattered everywhere like a tide. Their numbers were still immense; if they could reorganize their forces at this moment, the outcome of a decisive battle against Yan Kang would still be uncertain.
However, with the fall of the Mystic Capital, the army's morale was shattered. They had become like beaten dogs, thinking only of fleeing for their lives.
A deep sorrow filled Hao Tian's heart. At this moment, a portion of the Heavenly Court's army was still heading to other celestial realms to conduct blood sacrifices. If they could only delay for a few more days, they could allow the ascendants of the Mi Luo Palace to descend.
At that time, the Heavenly Court would turn defeat into victory!
Qin Mu was severely wounded. Among Yan Kang's Tianzun-level experts, who could stand against the ascendants of the Mi Luo Palace?
Unfortunately, the divine generals and soldiers of the Heavenly Court no longer had the courage or strength to continue fighting.
"The fault for this defeat does not lie with me; it is the army that has dragged me down!"
Hao Tian threw off the Grand Chancellor and Junior Chancellor, killing dozens of soldiers in a rage, and shouted fiercely, "No retreat! Continue fighting!"
If the Heavenly Court's army abandoned their camp and fled, they would discard all the supplies they had brought from the Ancestral Court. Discarding ordinary divine weapons might be tolerable, but the key issue was that they had brought numerous sacred lands, treasure mountains, celestial seas, divine rivers, and other heavy items. If these were abandoned here, they would inadvertently strengthen Yan Kang's power!
At that point, there would truly be no hope of turning the tide!
Hao Tian's eyes were bloodshot with fury, but the fleeing soldiers simply avoided him, continuing their desperate escape.
Hao Tian was so enraged that he coughed up more blood, his voice hoarse as he pleaded, "Don't run! We haven't lost this battle yet!"
"Your Majesty!"
The Grand Chancellor and Junior Chancellor rushed over again, lifting him up and carrying him away, weeping loudly, "The Nether Capital and Mystic Capital have fallen into enemy hands; our soldiers' lives are at stake. We have already lost! The soldiers cannot protect their own lives!"
"Your Majesty, if we return to the Ancestral Court, we can rise again! The Ancestral Court is far richer than the Primordial Realm. We cannot sacrifice all our soldiers' lives here!"
Hao Tian slumped, all his strength suddenly drained away. Supported by the ministers, he staggered along with the army as they fled the Heavenly Court camp.
In the sky, suns and moons shifted their formations, crashing down from above onto the Heavenly Court camp, causing chaos everywhere. Behind the camp, the battle between Tai Shi and the two Tai Ji ancient gods had reached a critical moment. The three of them activated their companion treasures, fully opening their Dao realms, and fought from the ground into the starry sky!
On the ground and in the air, the beast realm army led by Dragon Qilin and the Western Emperor White Tiger, along with the Western Extreme Heaven army, engaged the Heavenly Court Divine Masters.
The Heavenly Court Divine Masters, as one of the three master armies, were numerous and powerful, the only one of the three to retain its full strength. This army was even larger than the peak-era Heavenly River Navy.
This time, Dragon Qilin had come to encircle the rear, and both sides had deployed countless gods and giant beasts. The battle was earth-shattering, with mountains collapsing. Void beasts appeared in the air, sweeping all before them.
Moreover, the Western Emperor White Tiger forcibly dragged her ancestral land into the fray, blowing her horn with a long, resonant blast, stirring the blood and courage of the beast realm's armies, making them fearless.
Dragon Qilin personally commanded the beast realm's formations. Having been tempered in the Southern Heaven Battle, he had become a qualified commander capable of standing alone, fighting fiercely against the Heavenly Court Divine Masters.
The Western Emperor White Tiger was a valiant warrior, a war ancient god, fearless and charging at the front lines. Dragon Qilin, on the other hand, had learned Qin Mu's cunning in formations but was more cautious than Qin Mu. He used the "Art of Domestication" to command the beast realm, displaying considerable leadership, earning the loyalty of the various beast kings.
The two complemented each other perfectly, driving the Heavenly Court Divine Masters back step by step. However, defeating the Divine Masters outright was not yet possible.
The sky continued to crack open, with new ancient giant beasts being summoned from the beast realm and thrown into the battle.
Just then, the trend of the Heavenly Court's rout spread to the Divine Masters. Chaos erupted in their rear, and soon their morale collapsed, leading to a full-scale retreat.
The Western Emperor White Tiger was an exceptionally fierce woman, inheriting the valor of the creator goddess Nu Xin. Seeing the Heavenly Emperor's banner fluttering among the chaotic army, she was thrilled by the prospect of battle and, without a second thought, led her troops charging forward, cutting through the fleeing Heavenly Court forces like a hot knife through butter!
"Don't go!"
Dragon Qilin's eyes nearly split with rage. He quickly leaped onto the back of the Void Mother Beast and chased after the Western Emperor White Tiger with all his might.
The Western Emperor White Tiger, though a charming and beautiful woman, was a fierce general—hence her status as a war ancient god. She fought her way to the Heavenly Emperor's banner, when suddenly a thunderous boom echoed, and the Western Emperor's ancestral land shattered into pieces!
Dragon Qilin's heart turned to ice. Amid the fragments of the Western Emperor's ancestral land, he saw the Western Emperor White Tiger lying on the ground, spitting blood.
The Void Mother Beast carried him through the void, appearing and disappearing, until they reached the Western Emperor White Tiger. The war golden horn had been broken in two, and she lay on her back, staring at him with wide eyes, her breath faint.
Dragon Qilin jumped off the Void Mother Beast and hurried to her side. The Western Emperor White Tiger had not yet breathed her last, but Hao Tian's strike had already begun to annihilate her body, turning it into primordial qi that drifted away. If this momentum spread to her primordial spirit, even her soul's black sand would cease to exist.
"Mountain Hermit Dragon, please ask Mu Tianzun to revive me..."
Before she could finish, Dragon Qilin made a decisive move. He activated his divine ability, killing her primordial spirit on the spot, scattering it into the three souls of heaven, earth, and spirit, to prevent the Dao wound left by Hao Tian's attack from destroying her primordial spirit.
Dragon Qilin stood up, severed the Western Emperor's head, placed it on the Void Mother Beast's back, and vanished in a flash.
He returned to the beast realm army, transformed into his true Dragon Qilin form, and roared to the heavens. His voice spread throughout the beast realm army, ordering them to contract and open a path for the fleeing Heavenly Court forces.
If they trapped the Heavenly Court army now, it would become a desperate struggle. The Heavenly Court forces would counterattack, turning the battle into a death match for both sides.
At that point, the Heavenly Court's shattered morale would rise again with desperation and hopelessness.
Instead, opening an escape route would further demoralize the Heavenly Court soldiers!
"Surround on three sides, leave one open"—this was the art of war.
Dragon Qilin controlled the beast realm army, continuously attacking the Heavenly Court's flanks, encircling and eliminating stragglers to expand their gains.
Meanwhile, in the sky, Jiang Baigui led the Yan Kang army, descending from above. First, they unleashed a rain of swords, throwing the chaotic army into further disarray, then began cutting into the tail of the fleeing Heavenly Court forces.
Jiang Baigui's army moved like the pincers of a centipede, opening and closing to slice off a hundred-thousand-strong section of the fleeing army's tail, surrounding them for annihilation.
Jiang Baigui stood in the air, gazing at the beast realm army. Though composed of ancient giant beasts, their formations were as tight as fortress walls. He couldn't help but praise, "Mountain Hermit Dragon has the talent of a Heavenly Master! His formation deployment has no flaws."
The two armies continued to nibble away, doing their utmost to pursue the fleeing Heavenly Court forces. Dragon Qilin also noticed Jiang Baigui's formation tactics and immediately understood his plan.
"Jiang Guoshi is chasing from behind. I only need to deploy the army to encircle from the flanks, divide them, and achieve the 'surround on three sides, leave one open' strategy, making the Heavenly Court bleed continuously. I don't need to annihilate the separated Heavenly Court soldiers; Jiang Guoshi will naturally come from behind to finish them off."
Though they hadn't communicated, both understood each other's intentions, coordinating flawlessly. This forced the Heavenly Court to abandon more supplies to move quickly, including heavy artifacts that were difficult to transport.
After a while, flames blazed up as another Yan Kang army burst out of the Heavenly Court camp, chasing from behind. It was the Southern Emperor Zhuque and Yan'er leading their forces.
Shortly after, another group of three-headed, six-armed gods arrived—Chi Huang and Ming Huang.
With these two reinforcements, Jiang Baigui felt relieved. His army had traveled a long distance, trampling the Mystic Capital's gods and demons, then rushed without rest to support. They were utterly exhausted.
This pursuit was a gamble with their lives!
This day was destined to be the Heavenly Court's darkest.
The various armies pursued relentlessly. Meanwhile, in the Heavenly Court camp, another encirclement continued. Heavenly Court soldiers who hadn't managed to escape were caught in a siege. Fires raged everywhere, and the battlefield was divided into fragments.
"Where are the soldiers of the Carefree Realm?" Ling Yuxiu's divine city arrived, and she asked Blind.
Blind immediately flew out of the divine city. Ling Yuxiu quickly ordered the formation experts behind her, "Quickly summon the Medicine King God!"
In the Heavenly Court camp, the Heavenly Knife Butcher and others drove away the Heavenly Court gods and demons besieging the Carefree Realm. They surveyed the battlefield, seeing only collapsed palaces and ruins. Of the Carefree Realm's two hundred thousand soldiers, only two or three thousand remained, all wounded.
Many familiar figures were gone forever.
The Heavenly Knife Butcher sheathed his blade and walked through pools of blood. Suddenly, a Carefree Realm soldier grabbed his pant leg with a single remaining arm.
The Butcher looked down. The soldier had been cut in half at the waist, his other arm missing, barely clinging to life.
"Brother, give me a quick end." The soldier looked up, forcing a smile on his scarred face.
The Butcher took out his own medicine and treated the wound, his voice low. "Don't worry. I was once as badly wounded as you, and I survived. Yan Kang has the Art of Creation; if you can learn it, what you've lost can grow back... Medicine Master! Where is the Medicine Master?"
He shouted loudly, but there were too many wounded. The Medicine Masters in the Yan Kang army were far from enough.
His own soldiers took out their medicine and distributed it to the Carefree Realm's wounded. The Butcher went to Wen Tiange, who shook his head and raised a finger weakly. "Save the farmer first..."
The Butcher hurried to where he pointed. The Martial Combat Heavenly Master Zhuo Cha lay on the ground, shielding Yan Yunxi beneath him. The Butcher struggled to move the old farmer aside, only to find that he had already breathed his last, while Yan Yunxi still had a faint breath.
In the chaos of the battle, the Martial Combat Heavenly Master had fought desperately to protect Yan Yunxi, saving her life but not surviving to see victory.
Ignoring Zhuo Cha, the Butcher quickly applied medicine to Yan Yunxi. She stared wide-eyed but couldn't see—her eyes had been pierced by the Heavenly Court's Great Sun Star Lord's poison needles, blinding her.
"Is Zhuo Cha alright?" she asked.
The Butcher looked at the Martial Combat Heavenly Master's corpse, nodded, then remembered she couldn't see, and said, "He's fine."
"That's good."
Yan Yunxi smiled. "After this battle, we'll get married and retire. We agreed on that... Wen Tiange, I don't like you anymore. I have someone I love now! You have no human touch, and I realized you're not the one I truly loved..."
She laughed and laughed, coughing up blood.
Qi Xiayu fell into the arms of Di Shitian. Once the most handsome man, he had become the ugliest Wrathful Wisdom King. But both Qi Xiayu and Di Shitian were at the end of their strength.
In this battle, the Crimson Emperor had undergone nine nirvanas, each time growing stronger, but after the ninth, she had exhausted all her vitality.
"Do you still hate me?" she asked the man she admired.
The Wrathful Wisdom King lowered his head. "The Buddha has no hatred."
"Then do you still love me?"
The Wrathful Wisdom King was silent.
The Crimson Emperor smiled. "Is the Li Youran I loved still here?"
The Wrathful Wisdom King's ferocious face gradually changed, slowly returning to the handsome Li Youran of old. His voice hoarse, he said, "Yes, he is still here..."
The Crimson Emperor, Qi Xiayu, was content. She slowly closed her eyes.
"From love comes worry, from love comes fear; without love, there is no worry, where is fear?"
Li Youran held her in a lotus position, murmuring, "Therefore, do not cling to love; the pain of parting is bitter. Without love or hate, there is no bondage... No bondage is so hard. I am not Di Shitian, not... If there is a next life..."
"Warrior Void Senior Brother, the King Buddha has passed into nirvana." A monk dropped his precept blade and spoke to the arriving Warrior Void Tathagata.
Warrior Void Tathagata pressed his palms together, bowed deeply to Li Youran, then turned to save others.