Chapter 272

The Sea of Blood in the Eternal Wasteland is far smaller than that of Pangu's Wasteland, with hardly any spirit stones settling on the seabed, because when everyone is an immortal there are not many dead.

Moreover, the reincarnation of Hou Tu here has been operating normally, so no souls drift over to form spirit stones, leaving the 'Reincarnation Palace's Blood Sea Branch' quite idle...

But lately it's different, as the Sea of Blood suddenly flooded with immeasurable souls counted in hundreds of millions of trillions, leaving the great witch in charge of the reincarnation branch sweating profusely, with great and lesser witches working overtime to death, yet still it's a drop in the bucket.

Left with no choice, the branch great witch had to call for headquarters support... Upon hearing this, the Reincarnation Palace's Lady Hou Tu immediately emergency-drafted personnel from everywhere, with countless Wu Clan, Demon Race, and humans serving as various underworld deities rushing to join the battlefield!

Since the day the Asura Clan arrived in the Eternal Wasteland, the personnel of the Reincarnation Palace have never stopped, and the entire reincarnation system has been broken down by this immeasurable number of souls...

When you and the worried Jin Bing arrive at the Sea of Blood, you see this chaotic scene: underworld deities of various ethnic origins on site feed this muddled bunch of souls with confusion soup, then after feeding them they are pulled away in batches and assigned to the various Demon Race of the Wasteland for reincarnation.

The witch maids responsible for brewing the soup are also sweating profusely, and the whole soup-brewing production line is quite spectacular!

However, given the terrifying number of Asura Clan souls, this production line likely won't stop for a long time, after all no one knows better than you, the initiator, how many souls the Asura Clan has...

"The Heavenly Emperor has returned!"

"Xuantian Emperor! Savior hero!"

"Loyalty! Sincerity!"

"Guah! Heavenly Emperor! We all respect and love you, too!"

"……"

Your arrival immediately drew attention; the tens of millions of Asura Clan celestial immortals temporarily residing in the Sea of Blood, upon seeing you, were instantly moved to tears!

People frenzied to the extreme shouted hoarsely without cease, thereby proving and expressing their wholehearted loyalty!

They are not putting on a show, nor is it due to the Brainwashing effect of the Blood God Son; they are truly frenzied for you: you single-handedly saved all the Asura Clan of the ancient Wasteland, and in their eyes you are truly infinitely great and infinitely bright.

No need for the Blood God Son's brainwashing; they themselves are your most extreme brainless fans!

And the Asuras' frenzied reaction also caught the attention of the busy underworld deities on site; upon hearing the words 'Heavenly Emperor', the reincarnation underworld deities instinctively thought Xuandu had come incognito, but when they followed the sound and looked, they saw only you and Jin Bing...

Huh?! Wait a moment!

Jin Bing?!

The underworld deities stared, then turned pale as they exclaimed: 'What's going on? How did the former emperor come here?'

The Asuras also saw Jin Bing, and thus shouted frenziedly again.

"Jintian Emperor! Xuantian Emperor!"

"There cannot be two suns in the sky, but my heart holds only two suns!"

"Loyalty! Sincerity!"

Just like you, Jin Bing is also a great hero who saved the Asura Clan, and he likewise enjoys great popular support.

And as the crowd kept shouting, their emotions completely ran out of control, all yelling to overthrow the 'Xuandu false emperor', 'storm the Lingxiao Palace and seize the throne'...

Extreme! Too extreme!

The underworld deities trembled with fear: they shouted 'Down with the false emperor', they shouted 'Seize the throne', and even the former emperor endorsed it... Could this really be about to trigger another Heavenly Court great war, just as they forced Di Jun to abdicate, now forcing Emperor Xuandu of the Heavenly Court to relinquish the throne?

Well, I'll be damned, a big problem is coming...

Sensing the atmosphere was off, the underworld deities exchanged glances, seeing the situation was bad, someone immediately began secretly sending messages to report that a 'Heaven-defying Rebellion Party' was secretly plotting to overthrow!

But some others rolled their eyes, and although they were also sending messages to the rear, the content of their messages was: 'The situation is wrong, withdraw from the dragon!'

In just the time it took you to make a trip to the Sea of Blood, all the forces of the Wasteland began to surge with undercurrents...

Jin Bing, however, sensed something was off, and realizing the problem, he intended to remind you to restrain yourself.

After all, Xuandu is still sitting properly in the Lingxiao Treasure Palace; your title of 'Heavenly Emperor' shouted in the ancient Wasteland is passable, but shouting it here is somewhat impolite...

However, you don't care about this at all; facing your subordinates' frenzied cheers, you did not stop them, because you've long been accustomed to their random shouting.

You don't care what they shout; in your view, this is merely them expressing gratitude to the savior in their own way.

Thus, you laughed heartily as you went to meet the cheering, leaping subordinates, and then, amidst their excited throng, you went to meet the father god of the Asuras, the Holy One of the Underworld River...

In the Sea of Blood, a newly built blood-colored palace hovers silently above the sea surface.

This is the dojo of the Holy One of the Underworld River.

Xue Xuan arrived here amidst the cheers of Jin Bing and the millions of Asuras, after which the two separated.

Jin Bing stayed outside, beginning to arrange for the Asuras to rebuild their homeland on this familiar yet unfamiliar territory.

This was originally Jin Bing's forte; back then he could build a prosperous market beside the Sea of Blood, and he can do so now, especially with spiritual energy and heavenly treasures abundant, he is confident he can build an Asuran new homeland even more prosperous and wealthy than before; meanwhile, Xue Xuan straightened his countenance, entered the palace gate respectfully, and went to meet the originator of the Asuras...

"You've come?" The Holy One of the Underworld River sat in the empty, vacant traveling palace, gazing at Xue Xuan with a complex look.

"Father, I have come."

Xue Xuan bowed reverently before Him: this is sincere! No matter what the Holy One of the Underworld River has done to the Asura Clan, it cannot change the fact that He is the father of the Asuras; as the father god of the created race, Xue Xuan ought to hold the appropriate respect.

Looking at this most satisfactory son, the Holy One of the Underworld River opened his mouth, as if wanting to say something, but could not get it out, and finally said with mixed feelings: "You… do you hate me?"

As soon as this question left his mouth, the Holy One of the Underworld River felt himself foolish!

Do you even need to ask? As insiders, we know our own affairs; you know how many heaven-defying, wicked deeds you've done, don't you have a hint in your heart? Reasonably speaking, dragging the Holy One of the Underworld River out to be sacrificed to heaven would not be unjust...

However, the Holy One of the Underworld River still harbored a somewhat unrealistic hope:

What if his son said he didn't hate? What if he were a great filial child, opening his mouth to say 'Understand the father's difficulties', 'The father is right', 'If I were in his place, I would do the same as the father'?

Even if the possibility were slim, the Holy One of the Underworld River still held onto hope...

However, Xue Xuan simply said calmly: "Hate, how could I not hate?"

In an instant, the Holy One of the Underworld River felt himself truly ridiculous, always hoping those nonsensical fantasies would become reality...

"Father, you have brought suffering upon us!"

The Holy One of the Underworld River closed his eyes.

Curse away! Curse away! Curse to your heart's content! He had prepared himself to be scolded severely, hoping only to lessen the guilt in his heart and alleviate the pent-up anger of his outstanding son that had built up over many years...

But Xue Xuan again defied his expectations; he did not continue cursing, but merely began to tell a story quietly.

He told the story of a rural village boy from childhood to adulthood: natural disasters, failed harvests, human calamities, an incompetent court, famine and warfare... Ordinary people struggling on the line of death suffered immensely, and thus they actually pinned hopes on unrealistic cultivation temptations! Even though everyone knows that it almost certainly entails problems, countless people still risk their lives, bringing their families to gamble...

Upon going, it turned out to be a scam!

Demonic Path cultivators ate people at will, Orthodox Path cultivators ate people in order, eating people became the only path; whether they were good or evil, they all had to eat people.

Only by eating enough people could everyone seek longevity and have a chance to pursue that Immortal Realm, which was like a beautiful dream.

Yes, another beautiful dream…

The cultivators weren't unable to guess that the Immortal Realm had a problem; rather, they guessed it and still had to go.

Having eaten countless people, they felt their sins were deep, so they took the Immortal Realm as a judgment: if it truly was wonderfully superb, then that would be good, and from now on they would no longer need to eat people; if it was a scam, that was also good, because dying would settle everything, and they could regard it as repaying and atoning for those they had eaten.

Then upon looking, it was indeed a scam…

In the vast expanse of heaven and earth, there was basically no hope or way out, only one scam after another, sending countless hopeful people into desperate death traps!

Yet the Father God above the starry skies kept mouthing "trials" and "the big picture," and even if He knew exactly what was going on, He would gloss over it again and again…

That rural child also grew up in this endless despair; his character was extreme, but his heart remained kind, he had seen one despair after another, and finally saw through to the essence:

Heaven and earth originally had only despair! To save the world, he began slaughtering, slaughtering against his own will, from swearing to exterminate all immortals under heaven, to being forced to slaughter mundane people… until he had killed everything in the Primordial Heaven and Earth.

He could not take everyone with him, so he chose to take everyone's souls, bearing the future of all beings on his own shoulders.

He bore all the pressure, took on things that should not have been his to bear, and tried to rely on his special ability to seek a sliver of hope for people.

In a world full of despair, to seek that nearly impossible sliver of hope…

Failure after failure caused his mindset to collapse many times, but he could not turn back, only able to press forward amid the collapse…

"Don't say it!"

Minghe opened his eyes, his vision a sea of blood! He was grieving, and also angry.

He could not bear to hear these, for all of this was of his own making.

But a sage does not admit error; a sage's choice has its own reasoning—this is precisely the path he has chosen!

To admit error is to negate one's own path…

Minghe drew a deep breath, struggled to calm himself, and made himself look like a kind father:

"I will compensate you, I will compensate all the Ashura Clan."

"……Xuandu no longer needs to do this; I will make you the new Heavenly Emperor!"

……

(End of chapter)