11 All Lives Deserve Respect

Hou Hui knew perfectly well that people like Ba Zu didn't care about the lives of mortals. The same way most human beings didn't care about the insects they squashed, most immortals, especially those from the beast clans, saw the deaths of mortals as nothing worth mentioning.

But while he was disinclined to explain, others were not of the same mind.

"Hey, why do you look so grieved? When you sent your goons to slaughter the millions of people of our Azure Cloud imperial city, did you feel the same grief? No? You damnable son of a bitch!"

Naturally, in the current situation, only Qing Yun could say such words. With courage as vast as Mount Tai, there was truly nothing he dared not say.

"Audacious!"

Ba Zu's furious eyes shot toward the origin of the insult and rapidly locked on Qing Yun. But seeing that it was nothing more than a mortal child with zero cultivation base, his interest vanished, and fury instantly turned into contempt.

"Base and low creature, give me your life!"

Ba Zu waved his palm and a small amount of the black fog turned into a claw that shot toward Qing Yun. Immediately, however, Hou Hui appeared in front of it and dispelled it with a wave of his own hand.

"The boy speaks my mind."

He declared with a brash laugh showcasing his great amusement.

And seeing him sheltering the mortals, Ba Zu quickly put together the reason why his subordinates had been slaughtered, and his rage skyrocketed.

"You have destroyed twenty-nine immortals in body and soul for trivial mortals?"

"It appears to be so."

Surprisingly, however, upon hearing his reply, Ba Zu calmed down. And the rage clearly visible on his face was replaced by mockery.

"Then you're nothing more than a fool. The destruction of an immortal's soul without extreme sins being committed and confirmed is an unforgivable offense. I do not even need to fight you. As long as I report this matter to the heavenly court, at best you get a lifetime of imprisonment and at worse, it is the death penalty!"

Toward his statements, Hou Hui didn't lose his composure and maintained an amused smile.

"But you have indeed committed a grave sin."

"Sin? What sin? I'm afraid the slaughter of pigs doesn't constitute an offense in the book of heavenly laws!"

Ba Zu was right. Although the slaughter of innumerable mortals was nothing to brag about, the heavenly court didn't have a law against it.

"But in my book of sins, it ranks really high so Ba Zu I'm afraid I have to kill you too."

The casualness with which Hou Hui sentenced him to death didn't bother Ba Zu in the slightest as he was currently more focused on his face. While he had not seen the entire fight, the end was enough for him to understand that Hou Hui was a Two Path Immortal. That being the case, it was impossible for him not to know him. And the more he looked, the more the face made him uncomfortable.

"Where have I seen y…"

It was then that a scene from almost three thousand years ago was pulled from his mind. The hundredth birthday of the now crown prince to be more precise. At the time, he still was a son of heaven and was attending the celebration alongside his father, the master of the ba serpents. It wasn't a particularly exciting event, but there was one thing he found peculiar. The presence of a lone young man dressed in a plain white robe who seemed to not belong to this gathering of elites.

Upon further inquiry, however, he learned that it was the eldest imperial prince. A man of poor talent with an unconfirmed bloodline and a sensitive status. Immediately, he stopped paying attention to him. Never did he expect that he would one day stand against him.

"How could it be you?"

He asked with a deep frown.

"Oh? So, you do remember. The memory of immortals is truly formidable. That changes nothing though."

Hou Hui stepped forward, and the extreme yin flames coating his body burned with even greater intensity while the two halberds he wielded shone with dazzling white light. The white light soared, intertwined and merged to form an immaculate looking white eye which rippled with the power of truth. The extreme yin lotus floated above his left shoulder while the eye of truth hovered above the right and both infused his body with purer, stronger laws.

"Interesting. Either the imperial family is attempting to deceive all the divine and immortal clans into believing that Long Wei is the only one we should be wary of. Or you managed to deceive the imperial family. A bit of both perhaps?"

Ba Zu calmly replied, seemingly unfazed by Hou Hui's display.

"If we fought in the same realm, I probably wouldn't be your match. But if you believe that Dao Fusion is so trivial that you can make up for it with one extra ancient path, you are sorely mistaken! Advent of the Yellow Springs!"

Instantaneously, Ba Zu raised his hands and summoned a vortex of dark light from which vast, seemingly endless dark yellow rivers emerged and came crashing onto Hou Hui.

"Good, this prince hasn't had a worthy opponent in a lifetime. Let's fight!"

Not waiting for the yellow rivers to come crashing onto him, Hou Hui seized the initiative, turned into a beam of extreme yin fire and shot toward them. Ba Zu was a Path Immortal who had achieved Dao Fusion with the laws of death. Thus, he had very little fear of yin flames which were not very effective against death laws.

"Truth form: Infinity Cauldron!"

Hou Hui roared and the halberds vanished in a twister of white light and reformed into a large green cauldron with undulating truth laws.

*Bang*

With his right hand, he slammed the cauldron and sent it flying against the yellow rivers.

"Devour!"

A boundless suction force was released from the cauldron and the massive yellow rivers were rapidly swallowed within, leaving absolutely nothing behind!

With a grasping motion, the cauldron returned by Hou Hui's side and the eye of truth merged with it.

"Release of Inverted Truth!"

The sound of a rising seismic sea wave rose from within the green cauldron which now overflowed with truth laws. This time, the cauldron directly flew toward Ba Zu and released a tsunami-like clear sea wave onto him!

Still, Ba Zu didn't lose his composure and joined his hands in incantation gestures.

"Underworld Gates!"

The black fog swirling around him soared toward the sea wave and turned into a massive underworld gate which opened its doors and released enormous green hellfire that slammed into the clear sea wave in one large conflagration.

*BOOM*

In a resounding, booming noise, the two forces mutually challenged each other until none could seize the advantage and they both collapsed in swaths of green vapor.

"How can he be so powerful?"

Although he left nothing transpire on his face, inwardly, Ba Zu was startled. While he still belonged to the younger generation on immortal standards, his experience was vast, and he had been in countless battles. But even in the previous generation of the seven sons, he had never seen such a masterful use of truth laws.

"It seems that if I don't take you seriously, I can really lose my life here."

"You will lose your life here."

Hou Hui leisurely replied then indexed his yin lotus.

"Pure Yin Lotus Incantation!"

Nigh instantaneously, the lotus began a rapid, crazed expansion until it reached a full thousand meters. Its petals then spread out and a formidable dark blue light rose and colonized the atmosphere. Under the pressure of the yin laws, Ba Zu could feel his body and movements suppressed.

"Using parlor tricks in front of an expert. Are you that eager to bring contempt upon yourself? Death Domain!"

In a haze of black fog, powerful death laws spread from Ba Zu's body and collided with the yin laws. The collision was short lived and quickly, the yin laws were suppressed and steadily pushed back by Ba Zu's death laws. Once they occupied a hundred-meter radius, the death laws stopped spreading.

The law domain was the privilege of Great Dao Immortals for only they had fused with their Dao. It was also the main reason why Ba Zu wasn't afraid of Hou Hui. As long as it was within his death domain, he was confident that he could suppress all the laws of a lower realm immortal.

But seeing the death laws approaching him, Hou Hui's smile turned into a mischievous grin. The death laws excelled at suppressing and devouring life while also possessing the ability to control the dead. If he truly fell under the influence of Ba Zu's death domain, his demise was almost certain. However, this was doomed to end differently.

As soon as the death laws haze shrouded him, Hou Hui slapped the green cauldron.

"Inverted Truth: Death to Life."

Immaculate white light soared from the cauldron and spread throughout the death domain. Shockingly, wherever it went, death laws would be turned into life laws. And in just a breath of time, the death domain had turned into a life domain.

Ba Zu was horrified. His eyes widened with shock and disbelief while he pointed a wronged, wobbling finger at Hou Hui.

"Damnable! How can you turn my death laws into life laws! That's not possible! Even a Great Dao Immortal of truth cannot achieve that!"

"That is obviously because my heart is pure and stainless.

"Fart! Unless…wielding. You have achieved Truth Wielding."

When a path was cultivated to the pinnacle, be it an ancient or a superior path, one could achieve law wielding and become a true master of that path. That realm was called Law Wielding. But the most minimum requirement was a Great Dao Immortal cultivation base. Ba Zu had never heard of a Dao Threading Immortal capable of Law Wielding.

"So what if you can invert my domain! You cannot use life laws so it's useless!"

Ba Zu roared and was about to launch an attack when Hou Hui replied.

"Oh! So, you really like my surprise and want even more? Ok, ok. I have another one for you! Life Crown!"

Resplendent green light burst from Hou Hui's body and turned into hundreds of green light leaves which swirled around his blazing form. In front of his chest, A green leaf crown was condensed, rose, and fell onto his head.

Now Ba Zu despaired and truly there were no words that could describe his resentment.

"You've been bullying me!"

Beside those of course.

He felt like a clown, boldly claiming that the gap between them could not be made up with just an extra law and acting like his victory was guaranteed when in fact, he was doomed from the very beginning. Even with the difference in realms, he couldn't fight a Three Path Immortal.

Hou Hui lifted his hand, and the life domain suppressed Ba Zu's form and began siphoning his lifeforce. With his own domain turned against him, it was clear that there no longer was any hope of survival.

"Hou Hui! Although you are an imperial prince, I'm still a god-son! Even if you destroy me in body and soul, my divine father will definitely be aware of it! Are you truly going to strain the relationship between the serpent and dragon clan?!"

Ba Zu bellowed. And although he spoke to save his hide, he was right. God-children were born linked to their divine parents. Linked not only by the bloodline but also by the soul. For that reason, they inherited an infinitely small portion of their parents' cultivation base upon birth and were usually born with an Immortal Foundation and sometimes even an Immortal Core realm cultivation base.

Their greatest perk, however, was certainly that were they to fall to any mishap, their divine parents would certainly be aware of everything that transpired. It was the reason why although he wanted to severely punish Hou Hui, he never planned to kill him. The Empress could dare. But he didn't dare.

Hou Hui, however, never saw that as an issue.

"A small problem. Watch this prince unmake your fate!"

The formless power of fate laws exploded from Hou Hui's body and turned into a massive fate wheel which rotated at his back.

"First, I seal your cultivation base!"

Truth laws flew from the cauldron, dived into Ba Zu's body and completely sealed his cultivation base.

"Then I seal your bloodline!"

Life laws promptly followed and sealed Ba Zu's bloodline.

"Finally, I unmake your fate! Henceforth, you are no longer the god-son of the ba serpents!"

The wheel released its fate laws which locked onto Ba Zu's soul and overbearingly erased his fate with his divine father. Was his cultivation base not sealed, this would have been a nigh impossible task. Still, due to the fate involving a god, Hou Hui's soul suffered a non-negligible backlash. But with the life domain suppressing him, Ba Zu could do nothing but vainly struggle like a lamb on the chopping block.

"Hateful! As if three was not enough, he had to bring out a fourth! I cannot die like this! I'm a son of heaven, a future god! I refuse to perish without a fight!"

*BOOM*

Decisively, Ba Zu shattered his immortal core and used the burst of immortal qi released to turn himself into a horrifying bomb of death laws.

"Every living thing across a thousand miles shall follow me to the underworld!"

He screeched with crazed bloodshot eyes.

"Sorry, you have not cultivated enough good karma for that kind of death. No one is escorting you."

Hou Hui moved, instantly appeared in front of Ba Zu, and threw a palm at his chest. Ba Zu flew backward from the impact while spouting a heavy mouthful of blood but the immortal qi and death laws he had channeled at the price of his core had now scattered.

"It's a pity that you do not have a future. Otherwise, I would want you to remember that mortal or immortal, all lives deserve respect."

He then flew at him with his fists and delivered a flurry of blows, crazily punching him until his face was a bloodied and swollen mess.

….

….

Author's Announcement:

Hello dear readers. I am very sad to see that there are still neither review nor comments *sniff* *sniff*. I really want to connect with you all and that's the best way to do it.

Therefore, I have decided (probably against my better judgment) to start a game between you and me. Comments and reviews in exchange for extra chapters! YAY!

From today 2/26/2019 to Friday 3/1/2019, I will do my usual one chapter per day while working on a stockpile. And for each person that writes both a comment and a review, I will provide an extra chapter on Saturday (capped at four chapters cuz I'm only human and college is harsh). So if we get four good folks that give me both a comment and a review, you guys get four extra chapters on Saturday (meaning five in total)! Awesome right?

Also please add my story to your library if you like it/have good hopes for it. I feel like views are by no means a solid way of knowing how many people are actually interested in your story. Only collections can help you see that.

Oh wow, that was a very long note. You guys have a wonderful day!