War God Long Ao

"Dad, I don't care if you want to rule the Celestial State. I just want to ask you one thing: why are you always trying to go after Long Ao?"

This was something Ao Xue had never been able to understand.

Why couldn't they all just get along? On one side was her father, and on the other, the man she loved most. It would be utterly unbearable for her if something happened to either of them.

"Ao Xue, since things have come to this, I won't hide it from you. I'm going after Long Ao because the Golden Sun Sect asked me to."

'The Golden Sun Sect?'

Hearing that her father was actually helping the Golden Sun Sect was a difficult fact for Ao Xue to accept. After all, Long Ao and the Golden Sun Sect were already mortal enemies, destined to fight to the death.

"Ao Xue, the Celestial State is jointly controlled by the Six Great Sects. If I want to rule it, it won't be easy. My only choice is to sow discord among the other Five Great Sects and reap the rewards."

Ghost King Ao Tian was truly worthy of his title as the Ghost King Sect's most powerful Sect Leader in a century. His cunning alone was unrivaled.

First, he allied with the Thunder Sect and used Long Ao to make the Golden Sun Sect and the Blood Sea Sect slaughter each other. Then, he secretly formed an alliance with the Golden Sun Sect to move against the other sects. This way, the other Five Great Sects would descend into chaos, and the Ghost King Sect could step in to clean up the mess.

One had to admit, Ghost King Ao Tian's ambition was immense; he actually wanted to rule the entire Celestial State.

That was human nature. As the saying goes, a person's greed knows no bounds. If the Ghost King Sect really did come to rule the Celestial State, would Ao Tian truly be able to stop?

After ruling the Celestial State, he would want to rule all of Kyushu and become the Sovereign of the Celestial Martial Continent. In the long run, not only would the Ghost King Sect fail to achieve this, but its ambitions would likely backfire.

"Ao Xue, I want to ask you something."

Ao Xue nodded, sitting quietly. She looked so lonely.

"What would you do if I killed Long Ao?"

She showed no reaction at all, as if the matter had nothing to do with her. But the calmer she appeared, the more uneasy Ao Tian felt.

"Dad, my entire life, I've never received any love. Not even a father's love."

Hearing this, Ao Tian's body trembled.

But in the end, Ao Tian said nothing.

"Long Ao was the first to show me love. He made me feel that I could be loved. I don't deny that you love me, Dad, but it's too little."

Letting out a deep sigh, Ao Tian remained silent.

"If Long Ao dies, I will die with him. If he never leaves me, I will be with him through life and death."

'If he never leaves me, I will be with him through life and death.'

Repeating her words, Ao Tian realized his daughter had truly grown up.

Standing up, Ao Tian said, "I know what to do. I've already made arrangements. I believe Long Ao won't be able to find the time to return any time soon. Once I've dealt with the Five Great Sects and rule the Celestial State, I will personally preside over your wedding."

Watching her father's receding figure, Ao Xue felt no resentment. She simply lifted her head and gazed toward the distant Chizhou.

「Chizhou, within the Red Heaven Realm.」

Miao Cheng's self-destruction left not a single blade of grass standing within a thousand-meter radius, turning the area into a wasteland.

In truth, with Miao Cheng's power alone, even self-destructing couldn't have caused such devastation. In the end, Long Ao's Heaven and Earth Mourn Together had contributed half of the force.

Staring at the wasteland, the expressions on Xia Army and Dugu Bai's faces were grim to the extreme.

"Brother Dugu, don't tell me Brother Long really perished with Miao Cheng?"

Dugu Bai said nothing, but his silence told Xia Army everything. It was a tacit agreement. Feeling a wave of grief, Xia Army seemed to want to say something, but the words wouldn't come out.

"As his friends, we shouldn't have abandoned him."

"Brother Dugu, you have to consider the circumstances. Miao Cheng had a death grip on Brother Long. Given Miao Cheng's power and how critical the situation was, even if we had rushed in, we would have accomplished nothing except dying along with them."

That may be true, but failing to face life and death alongside Long Ao was a truth Dugu Bai couldn't accept.

'Friends are supposed to share in both fortune and adversity. If you just run away at the first sign of danger, what's the point of having friends like that?'

"Brother Dugu, the one who caused all this was Huo Teng. We have to avenge Brother Long! In just a few more hours, the Kyushu Tournament will begin. We must take revenge for Brother Long then."

Dugu Bai nodded. He had been reluctant to do this, because in his eyes, no matter how hostile they were to each other back in the Celestial State, this time they were all representing the Celestial State in the Kyushu Tournament.

But Huo Teng had provoked them time and time again, and now he had even gotten Brother Long killed. He would make Huo Teng pay for this.

Long Ao was dead.

Both Dugu Bai and Xia Army were unwilling to believe it, a million times over, but a fact was a fact. It could never be changed.

They both knew that, given Miao Cheng's power, once he chose to self-destruct and take Long Ao down with him, Long Ao's chances of survival were virtually zero.

For such a genius to die just like that... both of them felt a sense of loss.

"Let's go. We'll find Huo Teng." Driven by his grief, Dugu Bai couldn't even wait for the Kyushu Tournament to begin. He wanted to find Huo Teng and avenge Long Ao now.

「Red Heaven Realm.」

Huo Teng was terrified. He had thought he could use the power of the Void Spirit and Miao Cheng to eliminate Long Ao, Dugu Bai, and Xia Army in one fell swoop. But now?

Not only had he failed to kill the three of them, but both the Void Spirit and Miao Cheng were dead. Even though Long Ao had perished along with Miao Cheng, Huo Teng knew that Dugu Bai and Xia Army would never let him off the hook.

Huo Teng knew his own limits. With his current strength, he was no match for the two of them. Staying here was a death sentence. For that very reason, Huo Teng had no intention of participating in the Kyushu Tournament any longer; he was preparing to leave.

But to Huo Teng's fury, the area outside the Red Heaven Realm was completely surrounded by experts from Chizhou's Nine Great Clans. The Kyushu Tournament was set to last for three months, which meant he was trapped inside the Red Heaven Realm for that entire time.

'Am I just going to die here like this?'

Huo Teng was filled with bitter regret. If he had known it would come to this, he never would have gone after Long Ao's group. With the Void Spirit, he could have swept through everyone in the Kyushu Tournament. Taking first place would have been no problem at all.

But it was too late now. Nothing he said could change anything. His fists clenched tightly. For him, the Young Sect Leader of the Flame Sect, to have fallen to such a state was simply laughable.

Huo Teng could easily imagine it: if word of this got out, he would become a laughingstock.

'What in the world am I going to do?'

In the end, with no other choice, Huo Teng could only decide to hide for the time being. Once the Kyushu Tournament was over, he could slip away unnoticed.