Chapter 1720 — The Heavenly Gate's Divine Fire Burns My Soul

The moment Meng Yungui died, his primal spirit collapsed and his soul shattered, streaming out of his corpse as ribbons of black sand.

His wounds had been too grievous; both the spirit and the soul within his primal spirit were already broken, and by rights he should have died long ago—only the sheer depth of his cultivation had kept him upright by main force. "Heavenly Master Bai, at last you have set my mind at ease.

" Watching the black sand of the soul drift from Meng Yungui's body, Yiluo Heavenly King let out a long breath and strode over, smiling.

"Before we set out, His Majesty instructed me: the Third Heavenly Master, Bai Yuqiong, is of the human race and is on close terms with Meng Yungui—she must be guarded against. All along this journey I have been wary of you, Heavenly Master, suspicious and testing you again and again. But you, Heavenly Master Bai, understand the greater cause; with your own hand you slew the traitor Meng Yungui. It fills me with admiration, and I can finally set my heart wholly at rest.

" Bai Yuqiong lowered her head and looked at the sword in her hand, her voice steeped in coldness: "The traitor Meng knew nothing of the times, nothing of what the times demanded. He had no loyalty to his sovereign, and though he received the Heavenly Court's grace, he never once thought of repaying it. He was lower than the beasts.

Of course I had to kill him, and cut myself clean of him.

" Tears slid down from her eyes—but strangely, the instant they fell they turned to flame, drifting beside her cheeks.

Cold as her voice was, within her body a soul burned with blazing holy fire, struggling, howling! Her heart brimmed with endless desolation and grief and fury, and that unyielding soul grew hotter and hotter, more and more scalding, as though it would break free of the shackles of her flesh, unsheathe its savage claws, tear her body open, and release its boundless fire! Bai Yuqiong raised her other hand and clutched hard at the jade pendant hanging at her throat.

That pendant was the one Shen Mu had given her to break the Yin Tianzi's reincarnation divine power; once, it had carried her through ninety-eight rebirths and kept her spirit and soul from perishing.

That pendant was her inner demon, and the knot in her heart. I am myself!

The one and only me!

In all this world there is only one Bai Yuqiong!

I am not the Southern Emperor!

She had once said this to Shen Mu, with absolute certainty, full of confidence.

And yet.

.

.

Bai Yuqiong looked at Meng Yungui's corpse before her, then at the frightened, restless people of Southern Heaven all around, and thought: the Southern Emperor, Vermilion Bird, is not only the emperor of the Southern Pole Heaven, but the emperor of Southern Heaven as well. As the Southern Emperor, Vermilion Bird, she had failed to protect the Southern Pole Heaven, failed to protect its people—that was a dereliction of duty, a failure of responsibility, a fault committed by the Southern Emperor; and none of it should have been borne by the people of Southern Heaven, none of it should have been borne by Meng Yungui!

The people of Southern Heaven had never done anything wrong; they merely lived in Southern Heaven. Meng Yungui had never done anything wrong either; he had merely happened to come to Southern Heaven!

Bai Yuqiong's hand trembled as it gripped the pendant: "I do not want to become the Southern Emperor, I do not want to become a part of the Southern Emperor. I am myself.

.

.

" Drop by drop, the holy fire born of her tears drifted toward the pendant and burrowed into it. Yiluo Heavenly King came over and said with a smile: "His Majesty handed me command of the Southern Heavenly Gate precisely to guard against you. But you have done well; you have not disappointed His Majesty. Heavenly Master Bai, in the future you are to become a Heavenly Venerable, just like the Fire Heavenly Venerable.

The Fire Heavenly Venerable killed the Cloud Heavenly Venerable and won His Majesty's favor—but the Fire Heavenly Venerable is full of ambition.

Do not repeat his mistakes.

" "I will become another Fire Heavenly Venerable? " Bai Yuqiong smiled.

Within her, the flames given off by that mad soul blazed ever more fiercely, ever harder to suppress.

It was the thing she dared not face, for it was the soul of the Southern Emperor—and that soul was actually showing signs of awakening on its own, without passing through the final reincarnation!

Was it the conscience Meng Yungui had spoken of?

Was it that Meng Yungui, with his own death, had awakened the conscience of the people of Southern Heaven—and awakened hers as well? Was it this conscience that had set the Southern Emperor's soul within her to stirring, to erupting in raging flame, to burn her flesh and break free of its bonds?

The wild fire scorched her dao heart, scorched her soul, made her want to release this fire that could not be bound, to release the inexhaustible energy in her breast, to take Meng Yungui's place and guard Southern Heaven, to accomplish what the Southern Emperor had never accomplished.

And yet, she did not want to die.

To release the Southern Emperor's soul meant Bai Yuqiong would no longer be Bai Yuqiong, but the Southern Emperor!

Yiluo Heavenly King walked to her side, looked at the people of Southern Heaven who were struggling to their feet, and said: "You will do better than the Fire Heavenly Venerable.

All of you, kneel!

" His face darkened, and he shouted at the people of Southern Heaven: "The farce is over.

Every one of you, kneel.

" Yet before him, not a single person knelt. Yiluo Heavenly King's face darkened further, and he sneered: "You maggots—do you want to die?

" Suddenly a youth picked up a splinter of wood and, with all his strength, hurled it—striking him square on the forehead.

To a being like Yiluo Heavenly King the blow was neither painful nor itchy; yet it was as though someone had touched the dragon's reversed scale, as though he had suffered a monstrous humiliation, and suddenly he could not hold back the fury in his breast!

Yiluo Heavenly King reached out and seized the youth by the throat, lifted him up, and said coldly: "Hit me again!

" The youth could not breathe, yet he raised his fist and tried to smash it into his face.

Yiluo Heavenly King bared his teeth in a grin and opened his great mouth: "Wretched thing, not a shred of strength.

.

. " He was just about to swallow the youth when a flash of sword light streaked past, and the hand gripping the boy's neck was severed clean at the wrist!

"I am not the Fire Heavenly Venerable!

" A voice of boundless fury reached his ears, and in an instant the sword light pierced his brow, his eyes, his throat, his chest!

In Bai Yuqiong's hand the sword light was swift beyond compare; in an instant it stabbed into his body, wantonly wrecking his flesh, piercing through his divine treasury, his heavenly palaces, driving straight at his primal spirit!

Yiluo Heavenly King roared; his wings spread, countless pinions whirled, like golden flying swords, and blocked Bai Yuqiong's sword light! Boom!

His primal spirit soared into the air, heavenly palaces arrayed one after another, forming a lesser Heavenly Court!

Any who have not cultivated eighteen heavenly palaces are called a lesser Heavenly Court. Yiluo Heavenly King was the Northern Heavenly King of the Heavenly Court; among the Four Great Heavenly Kings, the Northern Heavenly King is the most exalted, and the number of his heavenly palaces already reached six!

A lesser Heavenly Court formed of six heavenly palaces was enough to rank among the Heavenly Court's very finest fighting strength! But no sooner had his lesser Heavenly Court appeared than cloud vapor seethed above Bai Yuqiong's head, and out of the vapor heavenly palaces leapt, four of them, and from each of the four palaces a Bai Yuqiong rose and came flying at him, divine powers shifting and changing beyond all fathoming!