Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

Ji Ning, Buddha Jueming, Keeper Everwood, and the Lord of All Fiends had charged to the very front, seeking to aid the other major powers as much as they could. They relied on the power of their divine bodies or the strength of their defensive techniques to charge into the most dangerous situations, ensuring that their allies would suffer fewer losses as they furiously attacked the black lotus formation.

The Triult Swords, the Immortal Slaying Swords, and other streaks of jade light, bloody light, sword-light, and various Chaos weapons all struck out towards the grand formation.

Both alliances were attacking with full strength, holding nothing back whatsoever.

Far off in the distance, Houyi calmly watched this all happen. “Everyone…I promise that I will not let you down.” He drew his bow.

Old Man Yuan had been calmly watching everything happen from within his black lotus formation. Upon seeing Houyi draw his bow, Old Man Yuan’s face changed slightly as he stared at Houyi. He knew exactly how formidable every single Heartforce Cultivator could be. Although Houyi only knew some techniques he had devised on his own, he had been able to use those techniques to kill the Lord of the Demonheart! Old Man Yuan didn’t dare to underestimate Houyi’s attacks. This was one of the reasons why he had taken control over Chang’e all those years ago; he wanted to be able to influence and perhaps restrict Houyi’s actions.

“Houyi.” Old Man Yuan issued a silent order, causing Chang’e to immediately fly in front of him.

“If you wish to act against me, you’ll have to kill Chang’e first.” Although Old Man Yuan felt confident that he could handle this next arrow, he still acted with caution.

“Houyi.” As Houyi drew his bow, he felt as though he had returned to those bygone days, the most beautiful days in his life.

“Houyi, have a taste. Does it taste good?”

“Everything you make is wonderful, Chang’e.”

Although certain things happened afterwards that broke his heart, the beauty of those oldest memories had never faded.

Houyi smiled as he pulled the bow to a full draw.

Rumble…the Void shook as a flood of chaos energy began to fill Houyi’s divine bow.

Rumble…the bowstring also began to tremble.

Houyi’s divine body transformed into a breathtakingly brilliant beacon of light…and then all the light was also poured into that arrow.

Chaos energy was his bow. Heartforce was his bowstring. His own body, his very life itself, was his arrow.

This was an arrow which Houyi had developed over the course of countless years of melancholy and spiritual sorrow. An arrow which required the life of the archer…

Twang.

The bowstring sang.

The arrow flew.

The only thing left in the Void was Houyi’s divine bow, which seemed to be sobbing in pain.

The arrow pierced through the skies, gathering and swallowing all of the chaos energy and natural energy nearby. This arrow streaked through the Void like a meteor, becoming increasingly brilliant as it flew forward. The entire Void seemed to have turned silent. All the major powers, Empyrean Gods, and True Immortals were staring at this arrow. They were frantically assaulting the black lotus formation, precisely so that they could give this arrow a chance.

They understood that Houyi had sacrificed his very life for this arrow.

Although they felt sorrow, they also felt hope. Hope that this arrow would succeed. If necessary, they would be willing to make the exact same sacrifice.

“A suicide arrow.” Protected by his black lotus formation, Old Man Yuan frowned. “This Houyi truly is a madman. He is tremendously talented in heartforce, but why is it that every single technique he came up with is borderline suicidal? He used what could be described as a desperation attack in order to kill Lord Demonheart, but this arrow? It’s completely a suicide attack.”

The arrow was too fast. There was no way to dodge it at all.

“These madmen.” Old Man Yuan frowned. The grand formation was being battered by everyone in both alliances. Although the individual cultivators were quite weak, when they joined forces they were so powerful that even Lord Demonheart would find it hard to withstand them. The black lotus formation truly was under a significant amount of pressure.

Boom!

The arrow had expanded to become an utterly enormous comet, and it slammed directly against the black lotus formation, causing a tremendous boom. The formation had already taken a tremendous amount of punishment…and now, it could take no more. With a bang, it blew apart and dissipated, but as the lotus petals broke apart the giant comet became much dimmer as well. The arrow within it could now be seen as well as it continued to shoot straight towards Old Man Yuan.

Old Man Yuan stood there, horsetail whisk in hand. The strands of his whisk coiled around him, forming multiple layers of protection. He also ordered Chang’e to stand in front of him as well.

Boom!

The arrow streaked forward without changing course.

It pierced both through the body of Chang’e and the whisk-barriers. As it appeared before Old Man Yuan, Old Man Yuan struck out with his palm against the tip of the arrow.

BOOM!

Old Man Yuan was knocked quite a few steps back. Blood leaked out from the corner of his lips, but he grinned. “You were able to breach my formation, but in doing so you lost all your power. You were only able to consume up a small bit of my divine power.” The only thing which he was worried about was Houyi and his arrows.

Chang’e fell to her knees, holding a hand to her chest.

Whoosh. A blurry shadow appeared in front of them, a shadow with Houyi’s appearance. It was his truesoul.

“Chang’e.” Houyi’s shadow looked at Chang’e. He gently stretched out his hand, touching her face. He said in a soft voice, “I…never…hated you.”

Chang’e just looked at him, her eyes as cold as ice.

And yet…two tears silently streaked down her face.

She felt pain in her heart. She knew exactly what had happened, but there was nothing she could do.

Upon seeing the two tears streak down the face of Chang’e, Houyi’s shadow smiled gently. And then…it dissipated.

“He used a suicide arrow attack, but was actually able to keep his truesoul intact for a brief moment out of pure willpower?” Old Man Yuan glanced coldly at Chang’e. She had fallen to the ground and her aura was already beginning to weaken. Her body had been penetrated by that terrifying arrow; how could she possibly survive?

“Hmph.” Old Man Yuan waved his hand, causing a surge of divine power to sweep out and smash down upon her body, transforming it into ash.

And right at this moment…

“Eh?” Old Man Yuan’s face changed…because right behind him, a white-haired old man in a Daoist robe had suddenly appeared.

An utterly dazzlingly flower flew out from Subhuti’s hand, and as it did so it began to bloom. The petals of the flower began to spread out, revealing what could truly be described as the most indescribably beautiful flower to ever grace the Three Realms.

Ji Ning, Buddha Jueming, Daoist Three Purities, Lord Tathagata the Buddha, the Lord of All Fiends, the Keeper of the Everwood, Kuafu, Sun Wukong, Crazy Ji, Jade Cauldron, Buddha Maitreya, Amitabha, and all the other major powers were watching. They stared at that flower as it bloomed. Everything they had done…Houyi’s sacrifice…it was all for the sake of letting this flower bloom.





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Book 23, Chapter 30 - Unto Death


The flower bloomed.

Daoist Subhuti watched as the flower bloomed…and then, his gaze grew dim. Although divine power still rippled through his body, his aura of life had completely vanished.

Ji Ning and the others watched from afar, staring hopefully at Old Man Yuan who stood at the center of that giant black lotus. A look of horror appeared on Old Man Yuan’s face, and his aura trembled then weakened dramatically.

“He didn’t die.”

“He didn’t die!”

Ning and the others were all stunned. The Immortals and Fiendgods of the Three Realms were in a state of shock.