Chapter 775 — Charging Straight into the Celestial Gate of the Nine Heavens

Achou's body shook; his legs gave way, and at last he knelt and bowed his head.

A demon-god came forward with a gleaming great axe, measured his neck, and was about to strike when a voice said, shaking its head: "He cannot be killed like this.

" The demon-god hastily stayed his hand.

The sky filled with rosy radiance: the ancient gods hidden in the darkness had descended. It was a face that appeared in the heavens, its features indistinct, its countenance concealed, unwilling to reveal its true identity.

It said coldly: "Kill him thus, and his three souls will still fly into Youdu and return to Tubo's body.

We must scatter his soul and spirit utterly. Only if soul and spirit are scattered can Tubo be replaced. " Then another face surfaced in the sky, also concealed, and a voice equally cold came: "I have borrowed the Celestial Court's God-Slaying Dark Blade, which can sever souls. It is the Celestial Court's foremost weapon of ill omen; there is nothing it will not cut! " A beam of light fell from the heavens and stuck in the earth; the blade itself could not be seen, only a flowing strand of light.

"Cut him down. " Several more faces emerged in the sky, features indistinct, but their eyes looked fiercely elated. A demon-god seized the Celestial Court's God-Slaying Dark Blade and swung it down at Achou, who knelt on the ground.

Hum.

The blade-light gave out a violent shudder, shattering the demon-god who held it into a mist of blood, while on Achou's neck there was no wound at all. Tubo's three souls were too powerful; even in a reincarnated body, he could not be slain by a demon-god.

Another demon-god came forward, seized the God-Slaying Dark Blade and struck; he too was shattered, while Achou remained unharmed.

A third demon-god came forward and was likewise shattered by the God-Slaying Dark Blade.

For a time the demon-gods across hills and plains were stricken with dread, and none dared take up the God-Slaying Dark Blade again. "Useless creatures!

" An angry shout came from the air, and an ancient god could not refrain from descending.

He lifted the God-Slaying Dark Blade and sneered: "If Tubo is not slain, how shall the great enterprise be accomplished? How shall one sit upon the throne of the Emperor?

" "Fellow Daoist, offer up your head! " His blade-light fell; a line of blood appeared on Achou's neck, while his own arms were left numb and aching by the God-Slaying Dark Blade's shudder.

The ancient god was shocked and furious, and he laughed aloud: "Tubo, your will to live is too strong; even with the Dark Blade in hand I cannot cut you down.

It seems you must be made to give up your will to live of your own accord. Throw his child down!

" "No.

. .

! " Achou's body shook violently; he watched his eldest son fall from the air and frantically crawled forward, while the ancient god stepped upon his ox tail and raised the blade to strike again! A gash an inch deep was cut in his neck, and blood came surging out.

The ancient god grew elated and cried in a loud voice: "Are you still waiting for that little wretch the Youdu Heavenly Worthy?

To be rid of Tubo, one must first be rid of the Youdu Heavenly Worthy. And now that little wretch cannot even look after himself, hard pressed to save his own skin.

You have no hope left at all — why cling on so bitterly?

Throw down another! " Achou tried desperately to crawl forward, but he could not move at all. His elder daughter was lifted up and flung down from the cliff. Achou roared in fury; behind him the ancient god swung the blade down, and with a flash of blade-light his neck was half severed.

"Throw down another! " the ancient god shouted in his elation, raising the God-Slaying Dark Blade.

Achou's body trembled; he saw his newborn little daughter held up in the air, and he felt as though he had died, as though he had fallen into a bottomless darkness where no light could be seen, only the sight of his little daughter falling from the sky.

A faint crack came from within his heart, like the sound of a heart splitting; a faint crack came from his brow as well.

That line of blood, cut open with his knife, had never healed, and now the wound burst open again.

"Achou is not Tubo. Achou is only an ugly child who looks very much like Tubo. " His old mother's words rang in his ears again.

Through all the years of his suffering they had been an immense support to him, holding him up so that he could keep living with his wife and daughters; and now those words too seemed to collapse. He sank utterly into darkness. His brow split open and the third eye emerged: a blood-drenched eye, shimmering with endless karmic fire that set the earth ablaze and made the soil of this world burn!

Achou vanished, and Tubo returned.

Only, what returned this time was a wrathful Tubo, a Tubo of vengeance. Countless chains appeared abruptly, clanging as they pierced his body, ran him through, and rooted him to the earth. They were chains transmuted from the rules of Youdu, binding this wrathful Tubo fast.

As Tubo, he could not defy the laws of heaven and earth of Youdu, could not defy the great Dao of Youdu.

Even Tubo could not break free of these chains. He caught the descending God-Slaying Dark Blade; the blade-light cut into his hand and blood ran down.

He rose to his feet, and the God-Slaying Dark Blade melted in his grasp; the divine blade notorious as the Celestial Court's foremost weapon of ill omen keened in his palm and swiftly became molten iron.

The molten iron fell to the ground and became a great cauldron, and the revived Tubo stood within it.

The ancient god behind him trembled; Tubo seized his head, pressed it into the cauldron, and stamped down hard, stamped until the head burst apart, and the ancient god's face appeared in the cauldron.

Within the cauldron all was darkness, and the face floated alone in the dark, wearing a look of terror.

But soon more demon-gods came to keep him company.

The demon-gods across hills and plains died, and died swiftly; in almost a single turn they were all shattered by the cauldron's might, refined to death, and became faces in the cauldron.

Tubo's body grew ever taller; he reached up and caught the infant girl falling from the cliff, and darkness poured from the cauldron, spreading in every direction, overtaking the fleeing demon-gods. One mighty demon-god after another twisted, suddenly became an empty shell, and fell to the ground as a human skin. The darkness surged madly, surging to every corner of that withered, silent world.

The ancient gods in the sky were aghast, and one after another they concealed themselves and fled toward the Celestial Court.

This world had already become another Youdu. They fled, not daring to linger, and when they looked back they saw the ever taller ox-horned, tiger-faced demon-god striding out of that world upon endless darkness, a little girl with ox horns seated on his shoulder.

His body was wound about with chains transmuted from the great Dao of heaven and earth of Youdu, binding him fast, and the other ends of those chains were linked to the world that had become Youdu.

Yet Tubo hauled on the chains and dragged that world along with him, chasing them in slaughter toward the Celestial Court! "Tubo has gone mad! " they shouted as they rushed into the Southern Gate of Heaven.

Many ancient gods came surging out and stood in midair, blocking Tubo's way, urging him one after another: "Tubo, they were only joking with you — why work yourself into a true rage? " "Will you not come over and make your apologies? " Someone tried to smooth matters over: "Thankfully no great disaster has been brewed.

Tubo, calm your anger.

.

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