18 What I Couldn’t Renounce

But before Tian Mo could elaborate, Hou Hui furiously roared.

"How dared you?!"

Incarnating Tian Mo for a trial was one thing, experiencing his love life was another. The events he had just gone through were so vivid that Hou Hui simply could not separate them from reality. A thousand years by Hai Meng's side, a thousand years of brewing and rising feelings culminating into deep, sincere love, had made sure that for a quantity of time he couldn't fathom, the memory of that woman would be firmly imprinted within his heart.

And that was intolerable.

Because in his heart, he only wanted Feng Wu Shuang.

While those feelings didn't truly belong to him, they were there and would make sure that the next time he met his beloved, he wouldn't be able to look her in the eyes without feeling that he had somehow betrayed her. Had he known that this was what the trial revolved around beforehand, he would have never accepted.

"You had no right to mess with my mind by making me undergo the experience of your love life. Your inheritance to hell! Had I known that this was the nature of the experience I would have never agreed!"

He bellowed. Boiling, he had already risen to his feet and balled up his fists as if ready to fight.

Seeing the odd and unexpected outburst, Tian Mo was irritated.

"Impudence!"

A formless wave of divine power exploded from his form, forced Hou Hui onto his knees and firmly suppressed him on the ground.

"I do not care about why you're getting so agitated. But do not forget your place! Especially when your life is likely to be ended due to your failure!"

He exclaimed while casting a condescending look at Hou Hui's suppressed form.

But although he was firmly suppressed, Hou Hui's pitch-black eyes remained unyielding.

"So what if you once were unparalleled in the three realms? Weren't you still unable to protect your beloved?"

"You say that I've failed? Let me guess why. The so-called crossroad you mentioned was whether or not to go back to Hai Meng, right?"

"And let me guess again. You didn't return!"

"To think that I used to look up to you…simply laughable."

"Invincible but still a worm!"

Hou Hui coldly spat while tightly gritting his teeth and trembling under the firm suppression of the divine power.

Strangely, however, hearing his last words, Tian Mo's exasperation slowly died down and his condescending look turned into a pensive one.

"You are right, I didn't return!"

He exclaimed after a brief silence while substantially increasing the pressure on Hou Hui's body.

*Crack*

Hou Hui's bones violently crackled and he spat a large mouthful of blood while his forehead slammed onto the ground.

"But why should I have?"

"Returning or not returning couldn't have changed the ending!"

"I could not get there in time!"

"But I could ensure that my people would not only survive, but beat back the Celestial Realm into submission!"

"I could forge an era of prosperity for my Demonic Realm and ensure that its freedom remained unspoiled!"

"So why should I have returned? Why should I have abandoned my father, mother, siblings, my realm to Xuan Yuan's greedy clutches? For the sake of trivial romantic feelings?"

Each word carried a trace of divine power which further aggravated Hou Hui's wounds and died the floral ground with his blood. Still, Hou Hui didn't relent.

"There was another option! You could have used the art you yourself created to split your saint-god essence from your body and bestow it upon your father."

"Although it would have extremely weakened you and prevented further growth in your cultivation base, wouldn't you have still been invincible?!"

"Knowing you couldn't return in time doesn't absolve you from trying to!"

"That is love!"

Tian Mo, however, remained unfazed.

"And cripple my supreme self? Fool! After tasting the feeling of supremacy, how can you say such childish words?"

"In any case, I avenged her!"

"I slew Xuan Yuan!"

"Suppressed the Heavenly World!"

"Have I not paid back what I owed?"

Hou Hui couldn't understand why there was such a vast difference between Tian Mo's divine will and the divine sense he had left within the Ancient Sea. Was that a consequence of the Three Corpse Incantation? Or was the divine sense too incomplete and this was simply his true self?

But then, what about the mystery of the seventh tribulation?

"Tell yourself whatever you need so that you can sleep at night. But the truth is that you fell in love with your sentiment of invincibility and couldn't give it up!"

"And what is wrong with that? Why do we cultivate? Is it not to stand at the peak of the world and look down on all living thing? Is it not to feel the admiration of trillions of existences? Is it not…to be invincible?"

"If not…why?!"

Tian Mo bellowed.

"For the right to be free to love and protect those I cherish."

"For the right to be true to my heart."

"That is why I cultivate."

Hou Hui calmly replied.

Hearing those words, Tian Mo closed his eyes. And the divine power suppressing Hou Hui was dispelled and replaced by a soothing force that quickly repaired his broken bones and mended his wounds. Even the damage his soul had suffered when severing the connection between Ba Zu and Si Wang She had been resolved.

Confused by the unexpected change, Hou Hui stood up and stared at Tian Mo with a deep frown. Quickly, however, he comprehended the ploy.

"I was never supposed to make the same choice."

"Indeed you weren't. If you did, I would have already killed you."

"Because what I despise the most is "me". I despise the "me" who didn't hesitate to forsake his beloved because he was overwhelmed by his newfound powers."

"I despised the "me" who was too vain to understand where his heart truly lied and deceived himself into thinking that his choice was right."

"So what if I slew Xuan Yuan? So, what if I became legendary? What I truly obtained was a regretful heart."

"Especially since…she truly died because of me."

Having personally been a part of those events, Hou Hui had already reached that conclusion. It was obvious that the reason why the Ancient Sea World had not sent troops was that Hai Meng prevented them to do so. At the time, she was at the peak of the Great Dao Immortal Realm, and ready to step into godhood at any moment.

Moreover, her talent was extremely high, and she had successfully cultivated three ancient laws. Thus, upon becoming reaching divinity, she would certainly be powerful enough to suppress anyone within the Ancient Sea World.

And that was exactly what happened. Soon after Tian Mo left the Ancient Sea World, she broke through the God Realm and subsequently crossed two tribulations. With her newly acquired strength, she easily suppressed her elders, prevented them from dispatching troops, and sealed the Ancient Sea, knowing fully well what disaster would follow.

Was it selfish? It certainly was.

Was it love? It certainly was.

For him, there wasn't anything she couldn't give up.

But for her, there wasn't much he was willing to give up.

When Tian Mo saw the destroyed Ancient Sea Country and realized the reason behind Hai Meng's death, he went mad with grief.

"For decades I sought the means to bring her back. But since deities have no hope of reincarnation, all my attempts were futile."

Just like immortals, gods could only truly be killed by destroying their soul. There was, however, one fundamental difference. If an immortal's body was destroyed, they became virtually useless and if left unchecked, their soul would wander until it found a suitable body that could allow them to be reborn. Gods, however, could immediately rebuild a new body from their divine power.

But while an immortal's soul could be sent into reincarnation by a powerful Fate Wielding cultivator, a god's could not. Thus, when they were finally destroyed, it was quite final.

"But at the same time, I understood greater mysteries of heaven and earth. And for reasons you can only understand upon reaching that level, I was convinced that if I could cross the seventh tribulation, there was a chance for me to bring her back. So, I tried to, I failed to, and I died, but not before leaving behind my inheritance and the means to protect her resting place."

"I did not want any unscrupulous cultivator to inherit my arts. I didn't want the birth of another me. So, I came up with this trial."

"You…are qualified."

"I hope that you will remain true to your convictions and that your heart will never stray."

Strange characters formed of golden light flew from Tian Mo's forehead and dived into Hou Hui's sea of consciousness. Immediately, the mnemonics of the Immortal Demon Scripture appeared within his mind.

*Thud*

Sitting down cross-legged, Hou Hui slowly digested the mnemonics with closed eyes and a focused mind.

"Immortals seek the approval of heaven's will.

Saints sever it.

To change the nature of the innate; to refine the spiritual into the holy; that is demonism! Wield the true essence of the holy path. Assume the thirty-six hundred forms. Snatch the ancient paths of immortality! And by the formation of the three selves, become enlightened in the supreme Dao!"

Three Corpses Incantation!

War Demon Form!

Thirty-Six Hundred Incarnations!

Those were the three major magical abilities contained within the Immortal Demon Scripture. And only after being confronted to the scripture did Hou Hui understand why a foundation in the holy path was so capital. However, after experiencing Tian Mo's thousand years of cultivation, although he still had no foundation in the holy path, he could grasp its mysteries. That combined with his sky-high comprehension level and achievements in the ancient paths allowed him to slowly become enlightened in the Immortal Demon Scripture.

After three months of meditation, the mnemonics had been fully digested. Moreover, still, thanks to the excellent mixture between Tian Mo's experiences and his owns, he broke through the last shackle and not only achieved law wielding in the yin path but also built the foundation to quickly cultivate the yang and death laws.

There were now two roads to take.

He could either choose to first get enlightened in the three magical abilities or to cultivate the yang and death laws to the pinnacle. Both roads had their advantages and disadvantages. But he chose to try to get the best of both worlds by cultivating the yang path he was already familiar with to the pinnacle then get enlightened in the Thirty-Six Hundred Incarnations and the Three Corpses Incantation. The reason was that the first was built on the immortal path while the second was a mix of the two. As for the War Demon Form, without holy qi, it was simply hopeless.

And so, time flew by. Sixty years of arid cultivations following which Hou Hui not only became enlightened in the Thirty-Six Hundred Incarnations and the Three Corpses Incantations but also fully grasped the mysteries of the path of yang. Now as long as he returned to the outside world, he would only need to embed those laws with immortal qi to forge his fifth Dao armament, his fifth incarnation, and reach both the peak of Dao Threading and law wielding in the path of yang!

As for the path of death, he was still at the preliminary stages.

.........…

Meanwhile in the Heavenly World, as she held an invitation within her hand, Feng Wu Shuang was facing a frustrating dilemma.