Chapter 1132 - You"re Inches Better, I"m Leagues Greater
All of this meant that once Bodhi had reached the Constellation stage, his abilities became far stronger than Sovereign Xi"s. In other words, his fiendG.o.d bloodline gave him a talent that superseded that of the sovereign, giving him quite an advantage over Tianming. As Tianming tore apart Bodhi’s Spectral Voidflower with his own Moonnight Subdued Strike, the power of his totems was only enough to take a single strike from Bodhi. The gap between them was too big, even though Tianming had an advantage in numbers.
All kinds of tricks seemed to fail as Tianming and the rest were sent flying, having to recover again and again by relying on the Greenspark Tower.
"I don"t believe this won"t work!" Ying Huo sneakily went behind Bodhi at the fastest speed possible, then unleashed a Moonnight Subdued Strike. However, Bodhi seemed to have eyes behind him as he struck with his fist and swung Moonsoul Dream toward Ying Huo"s throat without looking. Ying Huo"s sharp feathers did manage to leave many deep, b.l.o.o.d.y wounds on Bodhi"s back, but it almost had its head cut off in exchange. Bodhi"s punch was far more powerful than before as he executed Boundless Dragon Divinity, Myriad Skyshakers. The astralforce that burst forth from the punch was enhanced by the skywolf constellation, forming a terrifying nebular explosion.
Tianming used all of his totems to execute the final move of Moonnight Subdued Strike, putting every bit of power he could muster into it. He was surrounded by an Imperealm Sword Barrier at the same time as he attacked the fist. Once more, he felt a potent pressure on his head. The intent behind the fist seemed to send a shockwave into his body. The G.o.dswords flailed wildly to block the fist, and a few of them even dimmed.
Tianming was sent smas.h.i.+ng into the cauldron wall again, his bones shaking from the impact. When he opened his mouth, black blood flowed out. Some five percent of his albi had been extinguished by that punch alone.
The punch was just as forceful as Bodhi"s spirit. He was now completely unhinged, like a herald of the end. The veins in his face looked like centipedes crawling under his skin. He turned to Lan Huang and shot white beams from his eyes; it was his ability, Sacred Alban Visage. The beams instantly struck Lan Huang and caused it to freeze, stopping its movements. White jade seemed to form all over its body before encasing it completely in a spherical structure.
Roar as Lan Huang might within the jade, it couldn"t move at all. Through their telepathic connection, Tianming knew that Lan Huang was being impaled by countless white-jade spikes within. No matter how tough it was, it would die from it sooner or later.
"There"s no rush. This is only the beginning! You’ll watch those around you die one after the other without recourse, just like me. Being the last one alive is the ultimate suffering. However, I’m a merciful man. I won"t let you suffer for long and will personally reunite you with them in death!" Bodhi roared. "You truly improve quickly. Perhaps you could become a nightmare to many, but it"s a shame you ran into me. You"re inches better than most, but I"m leagues better than you!"
Fist strikes were followed up with sword strikes and abilities, all fueled by the skywolf constellation. It was further exacerbated by Bodhi"s insanely tough physical body. Not only had he used the Sacred Alban Visage to seal up Lan Huang and Xian Xian, his sword strikes also kept Ying Huo and Meow Meow at bay. Then he charged straight at Tianming with a flurry of punches, smas.h.i.+ng Tianming"s Northapex Perpetuity and Ordinem Imperius apart.
"So what if you have ten totems? You’ll still be reduced to ashes for standing in my way. This is karmic revenge! You think you’re a miracle and myth, destined to save the world. It"s too bad that the world doesn"t neatly play out like a scripted play. Since the moment I was born, the Flameyellow Continent and Divine Moon Realm were destined to be destroyed!"
Tianming crawled back up in the cauldron, completely bloodied and pale. His chest had been caved in as well, and there was a slash that had almost cut through his heart. Bodhi thought he would have killed Tianming by now, but the Greenspark Tower still kept him going. It was already impressive to him that Tianming had lasted this long.
However, Tianming didn"t despair as he had expected. Instead, he smiled and said, "So you"re admitting it now, eh? You don"t want to kill me because of your wife and daughter. You merely think I"m an obstacle that stands in your way of destroying the world. Finally taking up the mantle of the villain, eh? Don"t need your sad backstory anymore? You aren"t even a person anymore, with every single albus in your body consumed by those vengeful spirits. Bodhi, this is all just a selfish crusade for yourself. You never cared about avenging anyone, only the destruction of everyone else."
Tianming stood up and pointed his sword at Bodhi as he approached. "No matter how many times I have to say it, I’ll have you know that you were the one that drove Little You to take her own life!"
Bodhi"s face completely contorted. "Shut up! You don"t know anything! You"ve never had to carry the burden of revenge!"
"You"re wrong, I have." His vengeance had been carried out at Ignispolis. It only really involved two people, Mu Qingqing included. As for the others of Lightning Manor, some had perished at the hand of Li Muyang while others were killed by Li Yanfeng. Tianming didn"t exterminate the entire city because of Midas"s death.
"The stellunar source didn’t belong to the Ninefold h.e.l.l two hundred millennia ago. Though you claim to be giving the Flameyellow Continent and Divine Moon Realm payback, you"re actually using your ancestors" vengeance as an excuse to fulfill your own desires. Since you specters lost your stellunar source in the astralscape of order, you"ve yearned to take one from others. Two hundred thousand years ago, you were persecuted and imprisoned, but your actions now aren"t due to that at all! You"re just trying to justify your unrightful rise back to power and willingness to take countless lives for it! Someone like you doesn"t deserve to be regarded as an avenger!"
Little You hadn"t formed her own worldview yet, so she was open to Bodhi"s brainwas.h.i.+ng. As she listened on, she had been convinced that she needed a home of her own. Though it was an innocuous desire, why did it involve such an unbelievable wrong? Did they really need to destroy two worlds and all the life on them just to support their own home?
Tianming"s words seemed to tear away the veil of justifications Bodhi used. He was the person the whole thing centered around. The moment Little You"s blood had burst out of her body for the sake of their home was the first time since he became overlord of the specters that he couldn"t be sure whether his actions were really his own. Could the ancestral blood within him be directing his actions?
"You were sealed for two hundred millennia, but you weren’t completely exterminated. Though your days were without the light of the sun, you had each other. The Ninefold h.e.l.l isn"t a small place by any means. Even the humans of the continent are basically trapped in the lower world if they"re unable to ascend, but that isn"t the same as a death sentence or endless suffering. You just couldn"t stand being in the Ninefold h.e.l.l because the Skysource h.e.l.lshaker Formation prevented you from killing and slaughtering others! If you never had those desires in the first place, you wouldn"t be suffering! You did this to yourself! Are you still going to blame others for suffering that stems from your own desires?"
Those too deep in the abyss could never see how they factored into the big picture; they always felt like the world owed them something. Tianming didn"t think that vengeance was a bad thing. However, he saw in Bodhi something other than vengeance. This terrifying man had overwhelming might and controlled everything from the mooncore. He had even heavily wounded Tianming and all his beasts. Even after Tianming had completely exposed his shameless intentions, he still looked savagely fierce.
"Is that all you have to say? Do you think your sins will be forgiven just because you can argue your way out of it? How can you even claim to know the extent of our suffering? You couldn"t even see how we lived when we were imprisoned! Li Tianming, the fall of the moon is more or less over. You’ll be able to witness the destruction of both worlds before you die. After the destruction, you"ll get to experience what true peace and silence sounds like."
From the continent, the moon looked to be ten meters in diameter. The mountains and rivers on the surface were even visible, as well as countless moonlit clouds. Earthquakes ravaged the continent below as the two astral bodies pulled at each other. Cries of agony and suffering resounded throughout. Even the water in Taiji Peak Lake rose toward the skies as countless buildings crumbled from the opposing attractive forces. By now, the moon was already in range of the Kilostar Domain.