Chapter 1648 — Fire Venerable's Merit Archway
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
And so His Majesty ordered me to come and harvest Brother Fire's soul. " The Fire Heavenly Venerable gave a cold snort, his breast heaving with fervor, and declared with impassioned vehemence: "You conspired with Haotian Heavenly Venerable to murder my elder brother, Yu Heavenly Venerable! At every moment I have thought of avenging his wrong and slaking my vengeance.
Today, at last, I can fulfill that wish! " The Netherworld Son of Heaven shook his head: "I was compelled to kill Yu Heavenly Venerable - but Yu Heavenly Venerable was the only one I killed. Brother Fire, on the other hand, has killed far too many human Heavenly Venerables: Cloud Heavenly Venerable, Moon Heavenly Venerable, Emperor Ming, Emperor Kai, Mu Heavenly Venerable, Dark Heavenly Venerable, Ling Heavenly Venerable - you looked on them all as mortal foes and wished you could slice them into ten thousand pieces on the spot.
The human elite who died by your hand outnumber those who died by mine a hundredfold! Does Brother Fire mean to avenge them too? " The Fire Heavenly Venerable's face turned grim. "They brought it upon themselves! I have always looked down on fawning sycophants such as you. . .
" "We are men of the same kind. " The Netherworld Son of Heaven said with indifference: "In fact, I am a hundred times better than you.
At the very least, under my governance the humans of my domain live better than those of your Southern Heaven.
Most of my disciples are human as well. Heh heh - even I, whom you have always despised, have done better than you. Even an ancient god you regard with hatred, such as the South Emperor, has humans under her command whose lives are far better than any in your Southern Heaven. " The Fire Heavenly Venerable shook with fury and was just about to kill him when suddenly the blare of trumpets and shawms came flooding in, and he saw that the young Southern Heaven men who had carried the coffin and left moments earlier had returned. After reaching their village, they had bidden farewell to their wives and children, and one and all they had dressed in bright red and green garments and come forth. Nor were they alone - everyone in the village, from the age of twenty to sixty, had come.
They did not sit in coffins, for there were no longer any able-bodied young people in the village to carry coffins, and so they simply walked over on foot. The village was a scene of weeping. Yet these people wore smiles as they came before the assembly, knelt one by one, and said joyfully: "Master, please take your meal!
" The Netherworld Son of Heaven shook his head: "These people can no longer be called human. They are merely a pack of walking corpses in human guise.
Fire Heavenly Venerable - you have taught them very well indeed.
" He suddenly burst into raucous laughter, bending over as he pointed at the Fire Heavenly Venerable, laughing until tears streamed down his face: "And with all this, you still look down on me! You say I have no backbone, call me a bootlicker, say I know nothing but kneeling and licking Haotian Heavenly Venerable's boots!
You, you - you are a damned hypocrite!
Even I, the Netherworld Son of Heaven, rotten and worthless as I may be, am a hundred times better than you! " He leaped up in his excitement.
"I am wicked, yes - but I am an open and honest villain! While you - you are plainly a whore to any man, yet you play the sanctimonious saint and even raise a chastity archway for yourself! " He laughed so hard that he rolled upon the ground, unable to stand: "You are far worse than I am!
You despise me, say I am unworthy of the Heavenly Venerable title, say I rose by licking boots, and claim you rose by virtue! But where is your virtue? Compared with you, I might as well be a holy sage who has never so much as touched the smoke and fire of the mortal world! " Boom! Suddenly, space twisted with savage violence.