"You've really got it all figured out... but you missed one thing," said Long Lin, utterly disappointed in the Heavenly Emperor. His words were gritted through his teeth.
"The one thing I missed was raising you to adulthood and letting you live to this day... Letting you two grow strong enough to covet my throne as the Heavenly Emperor."
At this moment, he was still delusional. Did Gu Yuan and Long Lin really want to usurp the throne? It was all in the Heavenly Emperor's head. One couldn't help but suspect that he suffered from persecution mania.
By using such means to guard against and deal with his two sons, he finally forced them to rebel, and thus ended up in this mess.
In the end, the fact that he became an immortal was truly a tragedy for the Celestial Realm.
At first, Long Lin's face was solemn as he listened to the Heavenly Emperor. However, after hearing his words, he was so angry that he laughed.
"You're right. You missed one thing. It wasn't that you raised us two brothers, but that you missed the brotherly bond between us."
"Two brothers turning against each other over a woman's death. What kind of brotherly bond could such good-for-nothings possibly have?"
"I admit that I was once blinded by Man Yue. I thought we had true love, so I always targeted my elder brother. But when she was resurrected in this life, I finally saw her true colors. In the previous life, she was used by Xi Nv, but in this life, you're the one behind her. In the end, it was you who killed her."
The Heavenly Emperor's behavior was becoming increasingly erratic. His red eyes bulged, staring blankly ahead, unable to move.
As he spoke, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily, and his body began to change.
His once-normal skin was now like a drought-stricken field that hadn't seen rain for years. It began to crack continuously, and his skin turned a deathly gray.
The cracked wounds opened and closed, and from the cracks, there appeared dense clusters of eyes. The eyes were bloodshot, and when they rolled, they exuded a strong sense of hatred.
The wounds opened and closed, and the eyes bulged in and out. It was truly terrifying.
This sight scared Long Lin. He never expected that the once-high-and-mighty Heavenly Emperor would turn into such a monster.
He quickly put away his long sword and retreated to Gu Yuan's side. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Ying Gou," Gu Yuan replied with just two words.
Hearing the name Ying Gou, Long Lin's peach blossom eyes widened in surprise. "Is Ying Gou resurrected?"
I turned to look at Long Lin, a bit disdainfully. "You're a celestial being from the upper realm. Your information is so outdated. This has long been an open secret. You're just finding out now."
"Indeed. I've been preoccupied with this matter recently and have overlooked many things. Ying Gou is not someone that ordinary people can subdue. How did he get into the Heavenly Emperor's body?"
"Do you even need to ask? The Heavenly Emperor released him for a reason," said Jun He, standing beside me. He thought Long Lin was asking a question he already knew the answer to.
"But they have a long-standing feud. How could they possibly join hands?"
I was really dumbfounded by his current state. "Big brother, you're usually so smart, but now you're being so naive. Haven't you heard the saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? This isn't the time to talk about whether they have a feud or not. We need to figure out how to subdue him."
As soon as I finished speaking, the Heavenly Emperor's body began to grow rapidly. He grew taller and taller from his normal height, and his body became stronger and stronger.
All his clothes were torn apart, revealing rows of dense bloodshot eyes on his chest and back. The eyes rotated left and right, and wherever they looked, a raging fire would erupt. In an instant, the entire desert became like a volcano, with flames shooting up several meters high.
The leaders of the four great earthly immortals standing in the desert could barely hold on. However, the living beings who hadn't truly become immortals couldn't withstand it.
I shouted down the mountain, "Ji Xiang, tell your fellow immortals to dig holes quickly."
Ji Xiang received the order and commanded the gray immortals to dig holes in the ground quickly. All the living beings who couldn't withstand the heat followed the gray immortals and escaped underground.
Only Liu Chunhua, Bai Ling'er, Ji Xiang, and Hu Xuanfeng remained.
"You think you can leave here alive? You're daydreaming," said the Heavenly Emperor. His voice had two tones, one thin and one thick, as if two people were speaking at the same time.
He stepped down the hill, and his huge foot directly stomped towards Bai Ling'er and the others.
Seeing this, they teleported away, avoiding his first footprint. However, it was difficult to avoid the second one.
After all, to the Heavenly Emperor, they were like ants. He could crush them to death without even using his magic power.
He kicked forward with his big foot. The three of them could only watch helplessly as the big foot approached. No matter how they tried to dodge, they couldn't escape.
"Go," I quickly took out a talisman from my hand. The talisman flew towards the big foot like a speeding bullet.
The talisman accurately stuck to the sole of the big foot. With a loud "bang," a purple mist exploded from the sole of the Heavenly Emperor's foot.
When the Heavenly Emperor's foot landed, he felt a sharp pain and let out a roar. He quickly retracted his foot.
At the same time, we flew down from the hill. With the cover of the purple mist, we pulled the three of them aside.
The Heavenly Emperor lowered his head and stared at the purple mist with his immobile eyes. In an instant, the mist began to churn and soon dissipated.
On the ground, there was a short spear standing upright. This short spear was Bai Qi's weapon. After his death, I had collected his magical artifact. I didn't expect it to come in handy at this critical moment.
"Little brother Ma, thank you for saving me. I almost became a rat just now," said Ji Xiang, patting his chest with a sense of relief.
"Don't thank me. Thank Bai Qi," I said.
The bloodshot eyes on the Heavenly Emperor's body opened and closed. He stared angrily at the short spear, and it seemed that the spear was about to be swallowed by the sea of fire.
I leaped forward desperately, did a forward roll, grabbed the short spear, and rolled to the side.
This was the last thing Bai Qi left for me. I wouldn't let this old monster destroy it no matter what.
"Lan Lan," Gu Yuan shouted at me. Just as he was about to take a step forward, "Puff! Puff! Puff!" Streams of flames three zhang high shot out from the sand dunes in front of him. The flames formed a huge wall of fire in front of them, separating them from me.
I stood behind the wall of fire, holding the short spear in my arms. I looked up at the Heavenly Emperor, who was as tall as a three-story building. My mouth fell open. I thought I was doomed this time.