1 0: The End of the Heavenly World!

An incarnadined blood sea, scattered divine qi hovering in the sky around massive, falling bodies and the screams of hundreds of thousands of immortals soaring toward the starry sky!

Despite his tens of thousands of years of existence, Long Wei still had a hard time believing that such a scene could occur in Heaven. That the Heavenly World, capital of the Celestial Realm was falling, had fallen, to such an unsightly state. Seniors who had watched him grow, juniors he had watched grow, all were collapsing in shocking numbers and at breakneck speed, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The immortal army he personally led to meet the invaders, a heavenly host of hundreds of thousands of immortals from various races united in a single front had shattered in a matter of seconds with most of the gods leading the charge destroyed in body and soul!

While the death of every single one of those souls daggered his heart, four bodies in particular bloodied his golden eyes. They were four gigantic golden and silver dragons whose lifeless corpses bloated the sky as they descended upon the ground. They were the four dragon kings, his elders, and last relatives. But most importantly, they had for hundreds of thousands of years exhausted their strength to protect the dragon clan from its many enemies without asking for anything in return!

And while the culprit of all this death and destruction stood in the middle of the sky, he knew he could do nothing to pay him back. Not only him, but none of the surviving immortals and gods believed there was any hope for salvation. While gazing upon that cruel form, they knew that their cherished Heavenly World was coming to a brutal end.

"Tiaaaaaaan Mooooooooooo!!!"

Long Wei furiously roared.

"You were born in this land! Raised on its soil! Bred your Dao on its laws! On this day, do you truly dare extinguish it? If you truly dare commit such a heinous act, the universe shall not tolerate your existence!"

Long Wei's windblown golden hairs seemed to echo his fury as they endlessly swayed within the air. But while there were several opposing figures in the sky, his eyes never left the one who truly provoked his fury.

"I am the universe!"

Those four cold, overbearing and tyrannical words echoed throughout the Heavenly World and spread across the starry sky toward the many realms.

The one who spoke was a man that seemed not older than twenty with fluttering blue hairs, tyrannical crimson eyes and six pairs of enormous vermillion wings.

He was dressed in a sky-blue robe with nine embroidered blood stars and matchless features that would provoke the envy and ire of most men. Yet none dared envy him, because he was Tian Mo!

At his left and right were two women both endowed with peerless, demonic beauty and with similar blood wings stretching from their backs. Unlike him, however, they only had five pairs. Behind him were dozens of men and women dressed in the same sky-blue attire and lining up methodically while maintaining a respectful and deferential stance toward him.

In any other era, any one of those people could have swayed a realm. In this one, however, they all willingly chose submission.

Tian Mo lifted his right palm and nigh instantaneously, a terrifying quantity of dark blue clouds were willed into existence and covered the entirety of the Heavenly Word. Within them, red lightning brewed with the sound of roaring thunder sending shivers down the spines of all the remaining souls within the Heavenly World.

As he stared from below at Tian Mo's indifferent figure, Long Wei's fury turned into soul-consuming hatred.

"WHY? WHY? Tell me why must you do this? Why must you go to such lengths? You have conquered the universe! Mastered your destiny! The six realms tremble at the mere mention of your name so why? Why can't you let off our Heavenly World?"

Hearing those words, the terrified hearts of the remaining immortals and gods now also roared with fury. Why couldn't they be allowed to live in the new world order? Why did they have to be wiped out so cruelly? To lose relatives and friends in a matter of seconds and to stare helplessly at their impending demise?

But then some of the more lucid gods and oldest immortals remembered some past events and their fury once more turned into despair.

"Preposterous ant! If I, this sovereign, demand the destruction of the Heavenly World, it is only natural that it must be destroyed! Why do I need to give you a reason when my will is supreme?!"

Vast, boundless pressure that transcended the limits of the divine came crashing upon the Heavenly World's leftover army. The weakest felt their bones shattering and their bodies plummet toward the ground while the strongest spat heavy mouthfuls of blood and struggled to keep their backs straight. Long Wei was no exception. And while he too remembered that past, he truly didn't believe that it was enough for Tian Mo to sentence the entire Heavenly World to destruction.

"Tian Mo, you do not have the heart of a ruler! Just like you overthrew him, someone will one day rise to overthrow you! UNJUST DOMINION SHALL NEVER BE ETERNAL!"

As he spoke, Long Wei spread his divine power to support those feeble immortals who were crashing onto the ground.

At his right was a woman of riveting grace and elegance with long silky blue hairs, a blazing pair of blue-red wings and the aura of a ruler. She was the Phoenix Goddess, the second in command, but while Long Wei burned with rancor and passion, she merely stared at that tyrannical form, with hazy, complicated eyes.

"Unjust dominion? Good, very well."

Tian Mo's contemptuous voice once more echoed.

"Today the Heavenly World shall be destroyed. That is non-negotiable. However, this sovereign can give you all a path to survival."

Hearing this, the eyes of many immortals and gods burned with hope.

"Kneel! Submit yourselves to me. Pledge allegiance to the new world order. And I shall not only spare your lives, but I shall let you exist within my will! Henceforth, only I shall be able to decide the date of your deaths!"

Those words had spread to the ears of every soul within the Heavenly World. But before they could rejoice at the new option, he pursued.

"However, for each person that refuses corresponds a vanishing lineage. Oppose me, and not only you but regardless of their choice, your entire lineage shall be erased!"

The world was dazed for an instant following which immortals and gods looked at each other with confusion and dismay. They knew it was impossible to not have at least a few people unwilling to compromise. Didn't that mean that if those people came from their clans, their chance of survival was also compromised?

Before they could concert with each other, however, Long Wei's body erupted with massive golden light and he morphed into a gigantic golden dragon.

"Tian Mo! Long before you existed my dragon clan ruled this world! Never shall we allow ourselves to sacrifice it for the sake of survival. If it must perish. We perish with it! But certainly not without giving you a run for your money!"

The hundreds of remaining members of the dragon clan didn't disappoint him, and in unison roared.

"Besides our Lord, we dragons kneel to no one! We shall live and die with the Heavenly World!"

"Live and die with the Heavenly World!"

"Live and die with the Heavenly World!"

The passion with which the dragon clan met the enemy touched many immortals. However, they remained indecisive. It was then that the Phoenix Goddess finally spoke.

"The phoenix clan shall live and die with the Heavenly World! Traitors shall immediately be executed!"

Her words immediately shocked the audience who did not expect her to have such a strong stance and many male gods were put to shame.

"Immortals and deities of the Heavenly World! You have three breaths to make your choice."

And while the Phoenix Goddess' eyes had never left him, Tian Mo's never once glanced toward her.

Panic and confusion quickly spread with those willing to submit wary of those unwilling to do so. But at that time, the unthinkable happened.

*Pierce*

The sound of a sword piercing through flesh seized the attention of the audience. It was the Great Elder of the phoenix clan whose sword had just broken through the Phoenix Goddess, his cherished little sister's heart.

Only now did her gaze shift and stared deeply into his with confusion and disappointment.

"E-elder brother…w-why?"

Feng Wu Chen's eyes were drenched in unwillingness, pain, and tears, but his sword remained sharp and from it, a powerful divine force was released. That force bypassed the flesh and landed a fatal blow on the Phoenix Goddess' soul.

"Little sister I'm sorry, but I cannot doom the entire phoenix clan to destruction for your selfish pride!"

And so, it began.

"Your majesty, the Golden Crow clan submits! Whoever dares rebel, we shall execute!"

"The Great Roc clan submits! Whoever dares rebel, we shall execute!"

"The Tortoise clan submits! Whoever dares rebel, we shall execute!"

"The Serpent clan submits! Whoever dares rebel, we shall execute!"

"The Tiger clan submits! Whoever dares rebel, we shall execute!"

Once the great gods had spoken, the rest was simple. The unwilling were quickly spotted and slaughtered by their own clansmen in a prompt and efficient manner.

Meanwhile, as he stared at the Phoenix Goddess' dying form Long Wei's heart was once again assailed by a plethora of daggers.

"Feng Wu Chen you despicable bastard! On behalf of heaven, I shall execute you!"

But as the one suffering the blow, the Phoenix Goddess was much calmer.

I cannot doom the entire phoenix clan to destruction for your selfish pride!

I cannot doom the entire phoenix clan to destruction for your selfish pride!

I cannot doom the entire phoenix clan to destruction for your selfish pride!

Those words endlessly echoed within her mind and her eyes too soon fell prey to an unceasing stream of tears.

"H-how…ironic."

Her eyes then drifted back to Tian Mo who in front of all the chaos he had caused, remained completely indifferent. Yet, her eyes were not on him for, in her mind, it was another person she saw. It was a black haired, white-robed, scholarly and refined youth who no matter the adversity would always rise to protect his beloved and braved hellfire to be by her side.

"You are my beloved. Even gods cannot stop us from being together!"

"As long as I have you, my heart shall never stray."

"May the Heaven above and the earth below be my witness! In this life or in another, I shall only love you!"

"H-hus-band…I-I'm sorry. I-if a next life, I have…I-I…"

Like a river, her tears fell amidst the air while she struggled to fly toward him and say her last words.

"I only want to be your wife again."

The Phoenix Goddess' words were addressed to that youth, but never would he be able to hear them. In his stead, there was only Tian Mo. And so, in a pool of her own blood, she collapsed.

Long Wei's golden dragon claw was shooting toward Feng Wu Chen, but before he could reach him, Feng Wu Chen alongside all the submitting gods and immortals suddenly vanished and reappeared beneath Tian Mo.

Though surprised by this considerable feat, they quickly adapted.

"Your majesty, we thank you for your mercy! You shall reign for eternity! "

They declared like a choir.

"Long Wei, open your dog eyes and see. All insects yearn for survival and struggle toward even the dimmest hope of salvation. Was this what you were trying so hard to protect?"

"What I protect is this world! The world of our ancestors!"

"Wrong! The people are the world, but the world is not the people! What I destroy is a false symbol of truth. A false symbol of righteousness, a false symbol of eternity and of supremacy!"

Tian Mo's hand flickered downward and the deluge of hellish, crimson lightning merged into a horrifying crimson palm which bloated the sky and stretched across thousands of miles.

Radiating with blood light, the palm descended upon the Heavenly World and all its remaining denizens!

The dragon clan stared at that palm with deep unwillingness, however, even if they knew they could only perish, they would fight to their last breath!

"Brothers and sisters of the dragon clan. It was Long Wei's honor to live and die by your side! Together, let us take one last flight and make the six realms…REMEMBER OUR ROAR!"

*ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR*

In an explosive, soul-rending and unified roar, the members of the dragon clan all assumed their true forms and fired themselves at the massive palm! Fire, water, golden, silver; dragons of all kinds and ancestries formed a dazzling rainbow-like beam and headed by Long Wei, they slammed into it!

"If I want you to live, you cannot die. If I want you to die, you cannot live! And I want you all TO VANISH FROM EXISTENCE!"

And as he crashed onto death, Long Wei still wondered how it all came to this.