Chapter 1654 — The Fool of the Southern Heaven

Then the Great Abyss of Guixu erupted, swallowing the Great Heavenly Court behind Huotian Zun like a whale, and dragging his primal spirit into the Wild Ruins.

Huotian Zun fell back and crashed into the Empress Consort; she toppled backward, and the red mole at her brow at once turned black, becoming Lady Yuanmu.

Lady Yuanmu laughed till she shook like blossoms in the wind, and roused her Samsara divine power to seal the Empress Consort---only to see Huotian Zun's primal spirit soar up from the abyss, trailing a tattered, shattered heavenly palace, and pierce clean through the back of Lady Yuanmu's skull.

Whoosh---

Huotian Zun's primal spirit flew out from Lady Yuanmu's brow, trailing the battered palaces and court; thunderous explosions rang within her skull, blood spurted unceasing from eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, and the blood turned to firelight as it sprayed.

Huotian Zun's chest heaved; his head grew out from his chest cavity, and just as he was about to recall his primal spirit, Xutian Zun, her head facing backward, brought both palms down heavily upon his skull, and frightful demonic power ran through his body, shattering his Divine Bridge and Divine Treasury!

That power drove straight in, dismantling his Life and Death, his Heaven-Man, his Seven Stars, his Six Harmonies, his Five Luminaries, and was on the verge of destroying his Prime Embryo Divine Treasury!

Huotian Zun's primal spirit flew in and, with a single strike, drove Xutian Zun's primal spirit out of her body; her flesh at once burst into flame within the Dao-fire.

His primal spirit entered his body and became firelight, soaring into the sky. He had scarce risen when Zushen Wang, himself burning, roused the Tiangong flesh-body and pierced the back of his skull with one finger!

A great hole burst open at Huotian Zun's brow; the force of that finger ran through the Heavenly Court within his head, destroying the Heavenly Gate, the Jade Pool, and the God-Slaying Terrace, and sweeping across Jade Capital City.

The frightful power rolled on in overwhelming tide to the Lingxiao Hall and blasted it to powder!

The Lingxiao Treasure Hall exploded, and Huotian Zun's primal spirit, seated upon the Imperial Throne, was likewise pierced through by the finger of the Tiangong flesh-body!

Beneath him, the Imperial Throne became a phantom and slowly dispersed.

Huotian Zun then felt his own mana collapse and drain away madly; his realm plunged from the Heavenly Court to the Imperial Throne, from the Imperial Throne to Lingxiao, and then his cultivation was pressed down through Jade Capital, the God-Slaying Terrace, the Jade Pool, the Heavenly Gate, the Divine Bridge, Life and Death, and Heaven-Man!

"I have cultivated twelve kinds of Imperishable Attainments. A wound like this cannot destroy me!"

Huotian Zun forcibly steadied his scattering mana, and saw Zushen Wang and Xutian Zun, dragging their grievous wounds, come hunting after him. So he shook his form, and in the starry sky millions upon millions of streaks of firelight scattered in every direction.

Streak after streak of firelight filled the Southern Heaven, flying off along different paths.

Zushen Wang and Xutian Zun reached out again and again, snatching up many streaks of firelight, but all were empty.

Zushen Wang vomited great mouthfuls of blood; he forced his mana to suppress the Dao-fire upon his body, and could pursue no further. Xutian Zun's cultivation was a shade inferior to his, and she fared worse still.

The two barely steadied the Dao-fire. Zushen Wang scraped together a thread of mana and cried out sternly: "Gods and demons of the Southern Heaven, hear the command! Huotian Zun has turned traitor. Seal the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge for me, hunt him down on every side, and kill him; the Heavenly Court will reward you richly, making you kings and marquises!"

More and more firelights appeared throughout the Southern Heaven; a million streaks fell upon every heaven, yet once they touched ground they turned to flowing fire and scattered.

Suddenly, one streak of firelight smashed into the earth, shaking mountains and rivers, and became the form of Huotian Zun, tumbling more than ten li before it came to rest.

Huotian Zun clambered up with difficulty, panting hoarsely: "I am not dead yet..."

His body swayed, and of a sudden his wounds erupted; with a thud he dropped to his knees, hands braced against the ground, and chuckled: "So long as I weather this tribulation, I still have a chance at victory, I can rise again from the ashes... I can go and throw myself upon Mutian Zun's mercy. Yes, I can go to Mutian Zun!"

His eyes gradually kindled; gazing at the ground, they filled with hope: "Yuntian Zun is my lifelong friend; more than once he invited me to join hands with him against the Heavenly Court. If I go to him, he will surely not refuse. Heh heh, Mutian Zun is now utterly defeated; if I go to him, I will instead become his honored guest, and he will have no choice but to employ me! Heh heh, Kaihuang is dead, and I am the mightiest being of the human race..."

At that moment, footsteps sounded.

Huotian Zun raised his head with effort, and saw before him a small mountain village, all of it farming households that lived by tilling the soil.

The footsteps belonged to an old farmer whose face was seamed with line upon line of wrinkles. He looked seventy or eighty, though his true age was likely under fifty.

Life was too hard, too poor; toiling with his face to the yellow earth and his back to the sky, growing old fast was only natural.

The old farmer must have been at his field work; a manure pit stood nearby, and in his hand he gripped a dung rake. He had likely been raking dung just now, for the stench of filth still clung to him.

The old farmer drew near with dim, clouded eyes, sizing him up warily, and quavered: "You---you are Huotian Zun?"

Huotian Zun nodded: "I am Huotian Zun, lord of the Southern Heaven. Does your village have any panacea elixirs? My wounds are grave..."

The old farmer was startled and overjoyed at once. He swung up the dung rake and brought it down hard; the rake's three tines sank into Huotian Zun's forehead, striking sparks of firelight in every direction and splattering his face with filth!

"You..." Huotian Zun's mind went blank.

Seeing he had not killed him, the old farmer swung the dung rake up and brought it down again, delight in his voice: "Come quick! Come, everyone! The fire-thief who betrayed the Heavenly Court has fallen into our village! We are made!"

Huotian Zun's fury surged to his heart, but his wounds were too heavy, and he could hardly struggle to his feet.

Then the village's old and young, women and children, and its able-bodied all poured out in force, some with cleavers in hand, some with hooks, iron shovels, hammers, mattocks, spades, swarming in and shouting to beat and kill!

The villagers surrounded him and struck, every manner of farm tool laid upon him.

But how could they injure Huotian Zun? Let them attack however they would, they could not harm a single hair on him.

"Why do you kill me?"

Huotian Zun was shocked and enraged, and hissed: "You pack of ingrates! It is I! I who protected the Southern Heaven, protected you lowly wretches! Without me you would long ago have died!"

From somewhere a strength welled up in him; beneath the villagers' blows he forced himself to his feet, seized the dung-rake farmer by the neck, and hoisted him up.

The villagers around stared at him in terror, not daring to move.

The old farmer struggled, breath failing, yet forced out a gasp and cried: "Fire-dog, you still dare to talk back? To be disloyal to your sovereign is a crime vast as heaven. The Sage's Precepts say: he who is disloyal to his sovereign is no better than a beast, and all men may put him to death! You are that beast!"