Chapter 1768 — Supreme Father and Son

After the Ancestral God King shattered the Heavenly Duke's reincarnated body, this strange sight appeared; the Heavenly Duke's true body no longer obeyed the Ancestral God King's command, and no matter how the Ancestral God King urged his mana or drove it with his primordial spirit, that ancient god's flesh remained utterly still. On the contrary, the Heavenly Dao draining from the Heavenly Duke's true body began to pour toward the Heavenly Duke's soul, recasting flesh for him!

This was the contention for the Heavenly Heart. In that contention the Heavenly Duke displayed a Heavenly Heart more attuned to the Heavenly Dao than the Ancestral God King's, surpassing him, so that the Heavenly Dao abandoned the Ancestral God King.

The destruction of the Heavenly Duke's reincarnated body proved a blessing in disguise. Yet even without the Heavenly Duke's true body, the Ancestral God King's battle power remained terrifying, still among the mightiest in the world today, far surpassing the Heavenly Duke in both cultivation and strength!

Yet what horrified him came to pass.

Against the Heavenly Duke he held a nearly crushing advantage, wounding him gravely again and again, yet the Heavenly Duke would not die, healed again and again by the Heavenly Dao of Xuandu!

Conversely, each time he spent his strength his own power lessened by a fraction; his flesh and primordial spirit were not locked by the Nine Prisons Terrace, only his Dao heart was locked, and what a locked Dao heart touched was his state of mind. It seemed of no consequence, this seemingly useless Dao heart, yet it sapped his power of recovery and even touched his cultivation, so his cultivation could not return to its peak and the wounds of his flesh would not close!

Meanwhile the Heavenly Duke grew ever stronger, and with the blessing of the Heavenly Dao his power drew closer to him bit by bit!

With one waning and the other waxing, before long he feared he would no longer be the Heavenly Duke's match! The Nine Prisons Heart-Lock of the Eternal Dao, Shen Mu's divine art; only one who has lived it can know its terror! Fortunately the Heavenly Duke seemed still to hold fatherly feeling for his son, never striking to kill and everywhere leaving a margin of mercy, yet even so the Ancestral God King's wounds grew heavier.

He longed to seize that margin the Heavenly Duke left, that doting love, and slay the Heavenly Duke, yet with the Heavenly Dao turned against him, kill him he could not!

More crucial still, within the Nine Prisons Terrace, in the war of Dao hearts, he had already been utterly routed!

His Dao heart had been broken by the Heavenly Duke and lay like a dead dog upon a tiny patch of ground, while beside him the Heavenly Duke's Dao heart gazed upward at the sky. "My son, the Nine Prisons Terrace is a terrace that locks the Dao heart, yet it is also a ground to temper the Dao heart.

" The Heavenly Duke's Dao heart withdrew its gaze and looked upon the Ancestral God King's Dao heart as it tried to rise, speaking earnestly: "Shen Mu's divine art expounds the mystery of the Dao contained in the Nine Prisons Terrace, fused with his insight into the Dao heart.

He took pains with this move to trap the Dao heart of my Hong Heavenly Venerable clone, hoping I might walk out from the Nine Prisons Terrace and comprehend the Heavenly Heart. Then I was foolish and dull, mistaking his good intent, until my name was ruined and my clone perished.

" "After reincarnation I willingly bore the karmic fire of those who died through my sins; amid the karmic fire I heard the thoughts of all beings and bore the karma of all beings, and only then did I find I had never been so near the Heavenly Heart.

" Hope shone in his eyes: "Youdu stands opposed to Xuandu, and the great Dao of Youdu overcomes the great Dao of Xuandu, yet amid the karmic fire of Youdu I for the first time drew so near the Heavenly Heart, so near the Heavenly Dao. I wailed within the karmic fire, yet was moved to tears; I bore my own karma, yet I grasped that the Heavenly Heart is the hearts of men!

My son, this time I give this chance to you. Stand up and walk out from the Nine Prisons Terrace.

" The Ancestral God King's Dao heart clambered up unsteadily and chuckled: "And what if I walk out? " The Heavenly Duke's Dao heart urged him: "So long as you comprehend the Heavenly Heart, you may walk out, and once out, go to Youdu and bear the karmic fire wrought by your own karma, burning away your sins in the fire and enduring torment.

" "Ha ha ha ha!

Father!

" The Ancestral God King's Dao heart laughed until it could not straighten: "After you have tasted power high above all, tasted glory and riches, tasted the worship and dread of all beings, can you still return to the past?

You can, I cannot! You can cast all this aside, I cannot cast it aside, much less willingly confess defeat and go to Youdu to suffer and be tormented, I cannot!

" He struck again at the Heavenly Duke's Dao heart, yet struck empty air, for the Heavenly Duke's Dao heart rose slowly, flew from the Nine Prisons Terrace, and faded into the sky. The Ancestral God King's Dao heart looked up to see the Heavenly Duke's face growing ever larger, filling the whole sky of the Nine Prisons Terrace.

"Walk out.

" The Heavenly Duke said: "First become a man, then comprehend the hearts of men and the Heavenly Heart, and walk out from the Nine Prisons Terrace. " "A demigod is nobler than a man by birth, nobler than any postnatal being!

" The Ancestral God King's Dao heart rushed madly upward and cried shrilly: "Even among men there are high and low, how much more am I a demigod?

I possess the mightiest bloodline in the world, the most peerless spirit body, boundless wisdom and boundless power; why should I become a man? Why should I comprehend the hearts of men and the Heavenly Heart? My heart is the Heavenly Heart! I am so mighty that even the Heavenly Dao, even my father, even the countless beings of all heavens and worlds must kneel at my feet! " With a rushing howl, at the instant he burst from the Nine Prisons Terrace, countless thorned mountains stabbed forth from the terrace and surged from every side, and innumerable thorns pierced his Dao heart!

The Ancestral God King's Dao heart was nailed dead in midair, then melted and scattered. And in the outer world the Ancestral God King went utterly mad and charged to kill the Heavenly Duke, while the Heavenly Duke closed his eyes, starlight like tears.

With dull tearing sounds, huge thorns burst from within the Ancestral God King and stabbed in every direction, and when he reached the Heavenly Duke's side his blood had splashed the Heavenly Duke all over. "I am unwilling. . . " The Ancestral God King raised a blood-drenched palm and smeared blood across his father's face, chuckling: "Father, I am unwilling, I was not defeated by your hand.

.

. glug.

.

. " Blood welled from his mouth and choked his throat. ". .

. I was defeated by Mu.

.

.

glug.

.

. by Shepherd Heavenly Venerable's hand, I never lost to your Heavenly Heart. . .

" He fell backward, eyes staring wide, white and empty.