Chapter 2575: Saving Her

Zu An burst into laughter. He'd thought that Gonggong would claim the moral high ground and lambast Donghuang Taiyi until the latter could no longer raise his head. Who could have thought that Gonggong wasn’t interested in reason at all?

He'd outright declared his determination to mess with them. How could anyone rebut that?

Donghuang Taiyi’s eyelids twitched. “I can give you a fight if you want one, but I have other matters to settle today. I’ll fight you another day.”

Gonggong scoffed, “Do you take me for a fool? Who wants to fight you another day? I’ll fight you right now.”

The waves beneath Gonggong diverged into countless streams to simultaneously attack Donghuang Taiyi from multiple directions.

Donghuang Taiyi scoffed. A massive giant bell that harmonized with the dao manifested around him and blocked all the incoming water arrows. “How do you intend to fight me when you can’t even breach my defense?”

“We’ll have to fight to find out.” Gonggong laughed. A staff appeared in his hand, and he charged at Donghuang Taiyi.

The staff shone with a golden light. Zu An couldn’t help but stare at it.

Why does it look so familiar? Could that be the future Sun Wukong’s Golden-hooped Staff?

Gonggong and the golden staff’s afterimages appeared all around Donghuang Taiyi, attacking the latter from different directions at an astounding speed. A deafening chime would sound with each strike, shaking up the spectators’ blood. Only by retreating fifty kilometers away did the impact of their clashes become more bearable.

“I am feeling better now...” the Goddess of Wu Mountain meekly told Zu An with a reddened face.

Zu An belatedly realized that he was still holding her in his arms. Alarmed, he quickly put her down and said, “My apologies. I was too focused on the battle...”

The sensation of her body lingered on his palm.

Her body is so soft.

The Goddess of Wu Mountain’s heartbeat quickened as well, and she didn’t dare to look at him. She could only try to change the topic. “Who do you think will win?”

Zu An studied the two entities clashing in the sky. “Gonggong has been testing the East Emperor Bell’s defense from different angles for an opening, but he hasn’t found a breakthrough yet. The East Emperor Bell lives up to its reputation as the number one defensive artifact. It’s unlikely that Gonggong can defeat Donghuang Taiyi. At best, he can only push for a draw.”

The Goddess of Wu Mountain said, “Gonggong is an Ancestral Shaman. His abilities can’t be underestimated. There’s a chance he can turn things around.”

Meanwhile, the battle was moving on to the next stage.

Even though Donghuang Taiyi remained unharmed despite Gonggong’s barrage of attacks, those who didn’t know better could think he had been overwhelmed and couldn’t counterattack. How could he, the great East Emperor, leave behind such a dark spot on his record?

Flames blazed from Donghuang Taiyi. He transformed into a massive phoenix and rushed toward Gonggong, burning the sky wherever he crossed. Gonggong’s afterimages were instantly devoured by the phoenix, but Donghuang Taiyi didn’t look satisfied with his counterattack. Instead, he looked at the ground with a grim expression.

A massive snake boasting a length of over thirty thousand meters suddenly rose from the ground. Despite its realistic appearance, it wasn't made out of blood and flesh, but water ki. This was Gonggong’s transformation.

The snake lurched at the phoenix. In response, the phoenix screeched and fought back. It was an intense fight where all sorts of laws and daos clashed, causing the world to shake.

But Gonggong soon found himself at a disadvantage. The East Emperor Bell continued to protect the phoenix, allowing it to claim the upper hand each time they clashed.

“Lord Gonggong, I’ll help you!” Xingtian noticed this subtle detail and charged into the fray with his massive axe and shield.

“Scram! This is my business with him!” Gonggong roared in anger.

He was already annoyed at failing to claim the upper hand, and this tactless junior still wanted to join the battle.

If I fight him two on one, it won’t look good on me even if I win the battle!

That remark left Xingtian in an awkward position.

Zu An flew to Xingtian’s side and said, “Don’t mind it. He needs to uphold his pride too. Leave it to me instead.”

Zu An drew his Sun Slaying Bow and aimed it at the phoenix in the sky.

Xingtian anxiously exclaimed, “The Ancestral Shaman will reprimand you for this too!”

“I’m not a shaman; I don’t obey your Ancestral Shaman,” Zu An coldly spat. This was a rare opportunity to take down Donghuang Taiyi for good. He would be in trouble if Donghuang Taiyi got away, as there wouldn't necessarily be a Gonggong and a Xingtian to help him the next time.

“Brat, what are you doing?” Gonggong noticed Zu An’s actions and hissed.

“I’m just stretching my body. Don’t think too much of it.” Zu An fully drew his bowstring but didn’t fire the arrow.

Gonggong didn’t continue harping on it, since Zu An didn’t release his arrow. Besides, he had to focus on dealing with Donghuang Taiyi’s barrage of attacks.

Zu An’s gesture, however, made Donghuang Taiyi extremely uncomfortable. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t fear Zu An’s arrow since he had the protection of his East Emperor Bell. But Zu An’s refusal to shoot meant that he had to constantly keep an eye out for Zu An and guard against the other party’s attack. Zu An’s red bow, Suzeng, was a deity-grade artifact. If he let his guard down, the tables could be turned quickly.

But being distracted in a fight against Gonggong put him at a huge disadvantage. In the first place, Gonggong’s strength rivaled his. His biggest advantage over Gonggong was the East Emperor Bell. But now that his East Emperor Bell needed to be ready to block the Sun Slaying Bow’s attack at any moment, he had to think twice before deploying it for Gonggong.

This caused the tides of the battle to change. Donghuang Taiyi even had a few close calls, leaving him angry and frustrated. He wanted to charge over and kill Zu An first, but Gonggong wouldn’t give him the chance to do so.

You have trolled Donghuang Taiyi for +888... +888... +888...

The Goddess of Wu Mountain chuckled. She looked at Zu An with gleaming eyes.

Indeed, there’s nothing more threatening than an unshot arrow. To think that he would come up with such a solution.

Perhaps Zu An’s actions looked lackadaisical, but in truth, he was focused on finding Donghuang Taiyi’s opening to unleash a fatal blow on him.

Suddenly, his hair stood on end. There were two exclamations from the side. “Be careful!”

A golden light flashed across the sky. He had never seen such a fast attack before. He'd have been able to dodge the attack under normal circumstances, but he was so focused on dealing with Donghuang Taiyi that he couldn’t react in time.

Fortunately, Xingtian was right beside him. With a furious roar, the mountain-like Xingtian stood in front of Zu An and raised his shield, but much to everyone’s horror, the golden light sliced through the shield and continued surging forth.

Blood splattered as Xingtian’s massive head was lopped off and flew into the air.

The Goddess of Wu Mountain transformed into a fog and enveloped Zu An to pull him to safety, but she, too, was scraped by the golden light. A moan escaped from her lips as she reverted to her human form.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Sensing that she was about to fall, Zu An quickly grabbed her. Her face was ghastly pale. Blood seeped from the corners of her lips. The golden light had inflicted severe injuries on her even though it was just a scrape. Zu An quickly turned toward the culprit.

The golden light slowly morphed into a middle-aged man, who wore a crown with twelve dangling jade pieces. His body was wrapped in the sun’s flames. A celestial chart revolved behind him. A golden fire flower bloomed with each step he took in the air. He had a dashing appearance, but his cold eyes and sharp eagle nose made him look cold.

“What a pity. You escaped from that attack,” a cold voice echoed. He eyed Zu An from the sky as if the latter was no more than an ant, though his cold eyes were filled with hatred.

Zu An’s heart sank. The middle-aged man’s imperial gown, and the solar flames that resembled Donghuang Taiyi’s and the Golden Crow Ten Princes’ made his identity apparent.

He was the next Celestial Emperor, Emperor Jun!