Book 23, Endwar, Chapter 29 – All To Let the Flower Bloom
“Subhuti, are you really sure about this?”
“Even if we can temporarily breach the formation, Old Man Yuan has a host of servants guarding him. He himself is also unfathomably powerful.” Everyone began to question him.
Subhuti continued to stand there atop the clouds of the Crescent world. His divine body suddenly split in half, resulting in a second Subhuti appearing next to him. “I’m sure.”
It wasn’t that he had faith in himself.
It was that he had faith in Shennong! Shennong had said that even Elder Gods would see their souls shattered and their truesouls destroyed by this flower.
“Good.” Keeper Everwood sent mentally, “Subhuti, my old friend, I believe in you. I never would’ve thought that we would have the chance to fight alongside each other.”
“I believe in you.”
“We have no other options.”
“Everyone, how should we break that black lotus formation?”
The overlords were all speaking mentally to each other.
Houyi had been silent this entire time. Suddenly, he sent mentally, “I need your help. All of you, attack the black lotus formation! Put it under some pressure, and then I’ll use my archery to break through it with one strike.”
Ji Ning and the othesr were all stunned upon hearing Houyi say this.
They had great confidence in Houyi, because Houyi was the one who had slain Lord Demonheart! However, Houyi clearly was heavily injured right now.
“This arrow will be my most powerful arrow, an arrow that will be far stronger than the ones I used to kill Lord Demonheart,” Houyi said.
“Fine. We’ll do as you say.”
“Alright.”
The various major powers quickly came to a decision.
“Everyone, we no longer have any other way out of this.” Lord Tathagata let out a growl as he and the Empyrean Gods around him all stared at the black lotus formation as it assaulted the distant army of the Seamless Gate. Everyone’s eyes were filled with hatred…and then they summoned the natural energy of Heaven and Earth, quickly forming a Pangu Genesis Formation around Lord Tathagata.
“Hahaha…we’ve been forced to the brink. My fellow Daoists, come fight by my side!” Daoist Three Purities let out a laugh as the Pure Yang True Immortals around him quickly joined together into the Nuwa Heaven Repairing Formation.
“My fellow Diremonster brethren, let us kill this Old Man Yuan! After we kill him, we’ll drink and feast together!” Sun Wukong let out a loud roar which was immediately followed by the cries and cheers of the many Diremonster Gods around him as they formed into a Pangu Genesis Formation around him. The massive Pangu-Wukong charged forward through the Void towards their enemies.
“Daoist Yuan…today is the day you shall die.” Buddha Amitabha took control of a Nuwa Heaven Repairing Formation as well.
Kuafu…
Daoist Jade Cauldron…
Buddha Maitreya…
All of these powerful figures who were close to the overlord level took control of a grand formation. None of the Empyrean Gods or True Immortals within the formations shirked back from their duty. They all fearlessly followed their major power leaders into war.
“Amitabaha…to be able to join so many friends in battle is truly a blessing,” Buddha Jueming said with a smile as he sped through the Void towards the black lotus formation.
“Brightmoon.” In this moment…Ning’s mind was filled with images of his daughter, Brightmoon.
“No one will be able to harm you.”
“No one.”
A black lightning serpent streaked across the Void, charging towards the black lotus formation.
Godfiend Witherspike’s incarnation had been watching this battle from afar. Upon seeing all the experts of the Three Realms charge straight towards the black lotus formation, Witherspike felt astonishment. He couldn’t help but reminisce to himself as he murmured softly, “By all rights, the Mindlord isn’t someone that these locals can defeat. They are fools to true! And yet…when I see this, I can’t help but hope for their victory, much like how I hoped that my own homeland would win that great war. Alas…in the end, this world is a world where the strong reign supreme.”
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
Old Man Yuan showed no mercy at all. The black lotus petals ground away at the attackers like a meat grinder, quickly causing the deaths of many major powers and the destruction of multiple formations.
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?
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“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.