That voice... is it Tiantian?
Zhang Yu's eyes widened suddenly, his mind reeling!
Within his Sea of Consciousness, the phantom of a little girl, dressed in a pale yellow dress and as delicate and adorable as a porcelain doll, slowly emerged.
"Tiantian, what are you doing?"
Zhang Yu instantly understood what the strange power surging into his body was—it was the Origin power of the Heavenly Dao.
It is the core power of the Heavenly Dao Incarnation!
A strong sense of unease welled up within him, and a piercing pain instantly seized him.
"Refine my power, big Brother, and you'll be able to break through to the Golden Immortal..."
Otherwise, you, and Sister Houtu, and many others... will all die...
Tiantian's illusory image began to blur and become transparent, but her gaze remained incredibly firm:
"I don't want to see older Brother and sisters being bullied by that bad guy... Big Brother, hang in there..."
Zhang Yu wanted to speak up to stop them, but the words wouldn't come out.
Reason coldly told him that he had to accept, refine, and break through before he could possibly defeat Zilu and save everyone.
This is the only correct and rational choice.
But his conscience and emotions were tearing his heart apart.
How can the sacrifice of a little girl be used to achieve so-called victory and survival?
What difference is there between myself and those demons who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals?
Conflict, pain, self-blame, anger... all sorts of emotions gnawed at his heart like venomous snakes.
He opened his mouth, but no sound of protest came out.
Because he needed this power to defeat Zilu.
Otherwise, Houtu, Xu Xinwu, Xiang Yu, and the others would have certainly died.
Furthermore, the Li Family, the Xiao Family, and the Soul Refining Sect will all be destroyed, and the entire Great Xia will be wiped out.
He couldn't stand by and watch all of this happen.
Amidst this extreme contradiction and pain, every moment he spent with Tiantian flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
That little girl, newly arrived in the human world, full of curiosity about everything, tugging at his clothes and asking him all sorts of questions...
"Big Brother, what is this? It tastes delicious!"
"Big Brother, I'm so bored, can you tell me a story?"
"Big Brother..."
Scene after scene, sentence after sentence, so clear, so vivid.
They didn't spend much time together, but those memories were already deeply imprinted in his heart, warm and real.
As he looked into his mind, the petite figure grew fainter and fainter, but the smile grew brighter and brighter, as if she wanted to leave him with all the warmth and hope.
Zhang Yu, who was hard-hearted, had experienced two lifetimes of bloodshed, and considered himself to have an unyielding will, suddenly had tears welling up in his eyes, and two streams of hot tears uncontrollably slid down his cheeks.
"Tiantian..." he murmured, his voice hoarse, his heart aching.
At the same time, an unprecedented, overwhelming hatred, like the most intense poisonous flame, burned and boiled wildly in his chest, rushing straight to the top of his head!
This hatred stems not merely from the fear of death or anger at the predicament, but from the deepest and most profound hatred for Zilu, the instigator!
"Zilu --!!! I'm going to kill you--!!!!"
A frenzied roar, seemingly from the deepest hell, filled with endless sorrow and rage, burst forth from the depths of Zhang Yu's throat!
This roar pierced through metal and split rocks, temporarily drowning out the rolling thunder of divine punishment in the sky!
His aura began to surge wildly at an alarming rate!
The bottleneck to the Unparalleled Realm, which had been stagnant for so long, began to loosen violently. An even more vast and profound aura, seemingly touching the Origin of the world, was being nurtured and erupted within him!
"The power of Heavenly Dao?"
You're actually refining the Heavenly Dao Origin?
High in the sky, Zilu's expression finally changed completely for the first time!
The initial surprise and solemnity had given way to genuine, unmasked horror and fear!
He stared intently at Zhang Yu below, whose aura was surging wildly and whose entire body was enveloped in a hazy and mysterious pale golden halo, and exclaimed in shock:
"It's that Heavenly Dao Incarnation that escaped!"
She... she actually offered herself as a sacrifice, merging her own Origin with yours?"
Zilu could no longer remain calm; his heart was filled with turbulent emotions!
He spent hundreds of thousands of years secretly devouring and refining the Heavenly Dao Origin of this world, like a rat in a sewer, before he could barely recover his Golden Immortal Cultivation and begin to take control of the world.
Zhang Yu, at this moment, is actually fusing with a complete Heavenly Dao Incarnation!
If he succeeds, he will break through to the Golden Immortal Realm, posing an absolute threat to him.
"Go to hell!"
Zilu's eyes flashed with murderous intent, all traces of his previous composure and playful teasing were gone.
Fear drove him to change his target without hesitation.
The terrifying power of divine punishment, which had been locking onto everyone below, struck down fiercely towards Zhang Yu, who was at a critical juncture in his breakthrough, at a speed beyond comprehension!
He wanted to completely obliterate Zhang Yu, along with the Heavenly Dao Origin that was currently fusing within him!
"Damn it, the power of the Heavenly Dao hasn't been fully refined and fused yet!"
Zhang Yu's heart tightened.
He could feel that Tiantian's Origin was rapidly merging with him.
His Cultivation level is also breaking through at an alarming rate, but it will still take some time before he can completely break through to the Golden Immortal and fully control this power!
In that brief moment, under Zilu's merciless and deadly divine punishment thunder, the difference between life and death was immense!
"Protect the main body!!!"
Just then, a weak yet resolute roar rang out!
It's Emperor Donghua!
He and Maitreya share the same origin as Zhang Yu, and are therefore most able to clearly sense Zhang Yu's current state and crisis.
Without any hesitation, in the instant Zhang Yu roared, Zilu Lu's expression changed, and the Heavenly Punishment turned, Donghua and Maitreya exchanged a glance, both seeing the determination in each other's eyes.
Both men were already severely injured and collapsed to the ground, barely breathing.
At this moment, the last bit of power, which seemed to come from nowhere, suddenly sprang up from the ground like two shooting stars, resolutely blocking Zhang Yu's path and facing the earth-shattering purplish-black lightning!
"Boom--!!!"
No miracle occurred.
Faced with an absolute disparity in strength, the critically injured and dying Donghua and Maitreya were unable to mount even the slightest decent resistance.
The purplish-black lightning bolt, imbued with Zilu's Killing Intent, struck them without any resistance.
A blinding flash of lightning completely engulfed the two figures.
There were no screams, no struggles, only two faint, almost inaudible sounds, like porcelain shattering.
When the lightning dissipated, the spot where Donghua and Maitreya had stood was completely empty, without even a speck of dust remaining.
Only the lingering, rapidly dissipating Sword Intent and Buddhist light in the air proved that they had once existed.
Their souls scattered, their forms and spirits utterly destroyed.
"... No!!!"
Zhang Yu's eyes were bloodshot.
He watched helplessly as his two clones vanished before his eyes like bubbles. The excruciating pain of having a part of his soul forcibly torn apart almost made him faint.
Endless grief, anger, and hatred eroded his heart like venom.
"An ant that overestimates its own strength."
Zilu glanced indifferently at the spot where Donghua and Maitreya had disappeared, as if he had merely crushed two insects.
His gaze returned to Zhang Yu, whose aura was becoming increasingly unstable but whose upward trend was unstoppable, and his Killing Intent intensified.
We absolutely cannot let him succeed!
Alarm bells rang in Zilu's mind. He was determined to use the most ferocious and concentrated attacks to completely annihilate Zhang Yu before he could complete his breakthrough!
"Protect Zhang Yu!!!"
Just then, another hoarse but resolute voice rang out.
It's Xiang Yu!
His Soul Body, which had been nearly transparent and on the verge of dissipation, suddenly burst into a blazing, dark red soul flame once more!
However, this soul flame was no longer blazing and flamboyant, but instead exuded a tragic and desolate sense of defeat!
He was completely burning away his last, most Origin part of his divine Divine Soul!
This is a more thorough annihilation than the complete dissipation of the soul, meaning that he will disappear from this world completely, leaving not a trace, and will even lose the qualification to enter the cycle of reincarnation!
"Overlord!!!"
The surviving Western Chu generals, including Longqie, Zhongli Mei, Jibu, and Fan Zeng, roared in grief and rage upon witnessing this scene.
But they didn't stop it, because they made the same choice!
"Soldiers of Western Chu, follow me—to your deaths!!!"
Xiang Yu roared to the sky, carrying an indomitable determination and regret for his unfinished ambition, and transformed into a burning meteor, rushing against the heavenly lightning that was falling from the sky!
Behind him were the Western Chu War Souls, also burning with their last soul flames.
They would use their last remaining soul flames to buy Zhang Yu that precious, perhaps only fleeting, chance to catch his breath!
"Like ants trying to shake a tree, like mantises trying to stop a chariot—all of you will be reduced to ashes!!!"
Zilu was thoroughly enraged by the repeated and fearless obstruction from these "ants," and his anger soared to the heavens!
He held nothing back, unleashing the full power of the Heavenly Dao of this realm that he could muster!
The Tribulation Cloud, and countless bolts of purplish-black lightning, as thick as water vats, intertwined to form a deadly net of lightning, which indiscriminately descended upon Xiang Yu and the countless Western Chu War Souls were rushing towards him!
"Boom--!!!"
Lightning raged, illuminating the entire dark sky.
Amidst the destructive lightning, countless indomitable Soul Shadow, like moths drawn to a flame, vanished completely after emitting their last glimmer of light, turning into Void.
"No one can save you now."
After Zilu annihilated all the Western Chu War Souls, he launched another terrifying Heavenly Punishment attack on Zhang Yu was still in a critical period of advancement.