Chapter 1655 — The Fall of That Heavenly Venerable

The villagers kept beating him without pause, every one of them bent on killing him outright, and Huotian Zun's fury knew no bounds — when all at once a basin of black dog blood was flung into his face. Huotian Zun stood there woodenly, drenched from head to foot in black dog blood.

Some of it ran into the space between his brows.

There was a hole there, a hole punched clean through by the Ancestor God King with the body of the Lord of Heaven, light showing through from front to back, and the dog blood seeped into his brain. Any ordinary man would long since have died; but a Heavenly Venerable was, after all, a Heavenly Venerable.

A young man came at him with a cleaver, meaning to split his skull, shouting, "The black dog blood has broken his spells!

Kill him, quick! Take his head and claim the reward.

. .

" Before the word "reward" was out of his mouth, Huotian Zun's fist landed on his face, and the young man burst apart into a mist of blood!

Though Huotian Zun's Heavenly Palace had collapsed and his divine treasury had come apart, his fleshly body was still the fleshly body of a Heavenly Venerable.

These villagers were no more than common folk; how could they be his match? His face dark, Huotian Zun gave himself over to slaughter, and soon every woman, child, and elder in that village lay in pools of blood, not one left alive.

"You pack of traitors — it was I who protected you, I who let you live on in this cruel world, let you bear sons and daughters, and this is how you repay my kindness. .

. " Huotian Zun departed, dragging heavy feet, stumbling along, something trickling ceaselessly from his mouth, and it was hard to tell whether it was black dog blood or his own.

His destination was the nearest divine city: to leave the Southern Heaven and make for Jingping.

"I raised you, and you turned on me. Without my protection you would be insects of Jingping, wiped out long ago by demigods and ancient gods! Your deaths are well deserved.

You cannot blame me. Heh heh, you cannot blame me.

.

. " He still had one last straw to clutch at, and that straw was Mutian Zun: once he reached Jingping, he could persuade Shen Mu to spare his life!

And if he could not persuade Shen Mu, then he would persuade Yuntian Zun!

Besides which, Yuetian Zun was soft-hearted; if he knelt and kowtowed and admitted his fault, Yuetian Zun would surely be unable to bear it, and would plead his case with Shen Mu. He also held many secrets of the Heavenly Court; these were his capital for staying alive, even for rising higher.

To sell out Emperor Haotian, to sell out the Heavenly Court — he felt not the least burden on his conscience. On the contrary, he would become a hero of the human race. "Yuntian Zun will frame me as one who endured humiliation and bore a heavy burden, a million years lurking in the enemy camp, willing to bear the infamy of selling out his clan, selling out his forebears, for glory.

Heh heh, the hearts of men are the easiest things to fool; they can scarcely tell right from wrong — it all comes down to a single mouth, does it not? " "I will be the most dazzling hero of the human race; even Mutian Zun's renown will not compare with mine.

Heh heh, he will be sensible, and yield the seat of the human race's leader to me. .

. " He trudged onward, driving the Mystic Art of Creation to mend the wounds of his flesh, yet his realm had fallen, and for a time there was no recovering it. Huotian Zun felt no worry at all over his shattered divine treasury.

The Seven Heavenly Venerables of Longhan were beings who had carved realms out of nothing to begin with; now that his divine treasury was broken, this was the very moment to cultivate the fruits of Jingping's reformation. He had a clone lying hidden in Jingping as well, and the fruits of Jingping's reformation were no secret to him; he could cultivate perfectly well according to Jingping's new system, and his powers would surely far surpass what they had been before.

Along the way he avoided the villages of the Southern Heaven as best he could, to keep from being discovered — but how could he possibly remain undiscovered?

The Ancestor God King had already given the order that everyone in the Southern Heaven was to hunt for his whereabouts; Huotian Zun forced up one breath of strength and killed every soul who found him, leaving no one alive. After that he simply stopped avoiding the villages along his path, and walked into them with a dark face.

Moments later he would walk out again, leaving a field of corpses behind him.

"I will avenge you, my people," Huotian Zun said in silence.

"It was the Ancestor God King, Xutian Zun, and Lady Yuanmu who killed you; it was Emperor Haotian who killed you.

Had they not pressed me, pressed me so hard, you would not have needed to die. I, Huotian Zun of Longhan, will surely avenge you! " . .

.

At last, as night fell, he came to a divine city of the heavens.

The city blazed with light, yet there was not a single guard on the gate tower; the gates stood wide open, and the divine soldiers and generals who should have held the city were nowhere to be seen. Huotian Zun shook the scabs of blood from his body, and they fell in a shower around him; the wound between his brows had shrunk considerably — the Mystic Art of Creation he had learned from Jingping was proving its worth.

Only, that blow of the Ancestor God King's had been too strong, leaving him a grave Dao wound that would not heal in any short time. "Master!

" As Huotian Zun walked into the city, he suddenly saw Yan Yazi at the head of his disciples, clattering down to their knees, a dense black mass of them ahead.

Huotian Zun's voice was hoarse and carried a note of pleasure: "Yan Yazi, worthy of the disciple I prized most.

Your master knows. .

. " "Master, why did you betray the Heavenly Court?

Why did you betray His Majesty?

" Yan Yazi raised his head, his eyes brimming with tears, and slowly drew a Dao-fire Mystic Blade, choking out, "You make it very hard for your disciple. .

.

" Huotian Zun froze. Propping himself on the blade, Yan Yazi rose to his feet; his aura burst forth and locked onto Huotian Zun, and with his face streaming tears he said, "Master, there is none I revere more than you. What you taught me was this: the ruler a ruler, the minister a minister, the father a father, the son a son; a minister must be loyal to the Heavenly Emperor, and one who betrays him is worse than a pig or a dog. Your disciple does not wish to be a man without loyalty or righteousness.

" Huotian Zun clenched his fists, breathing hard and loud, glaring fixedly at Yan Yazi.

Tears slid down Yan Yazi's cheeks, yet a faint smile and a strange excitement showed through: "Master, you do love your disciple, do you not? You prized me above all others; surely you too hope that the Southern Heaven will flourish in your disciple's hands? Master, do not resist your disciple — let me carry your head to the Heavenly Court and claim the merit! " Huotian Zun roared with laughter, but broke into cough after cough, coughing up blood: "Good disciple, good disciple!

Worthy of my teaching! " "Of course!

" Yan Yazi laughed aloud too.

"Master, how well I learned from you. There is no need for you to resist.

Junior brothers all, see our master on his way. .

. " Excitement had roughened his voice to hoarseness, and he dragged out the trailing syllables: "Let our master die quickly.

Do not let our master suffer too much! " Behind him, Huotian Zun's hundreds of disciples rose to their feet, driving all manner of divine weapons and divine abilities, and came howling at Huotian Zun to kill him. Blazing with fury, Huotian Zun struck out boldly, charging into the divine abilities he himself had taught them; he raised a hand and smashed one disciple to powder, then bellowed, and the whole crowd of disciples staggered.

Yan Yazi did not make a move; he circled slowly outside the ring of battle.