Shennong glanced at Ji Hao, slowly nodded, and said, "Good children, you are all good children…Facing the disaster, remember that you are human beings. Fight hard, and be careful. We… have our own missions to accomplish."
Turning around and looking at the north, Shennong continued in a deep voice, "We might fail, but we have to try. We can’t take too much time, and we can only try our best. Ji Hao, go tell Emperor Shun to be more careful about his flood-control mission."
Shouting deeply, Shennong and Candle Jiuyin both transformed into bright light streams and darted away in a blink of an eye.
Ji Hao looked at the direction that Shennong was facing. That was the location of Liang Zhu City, the city of the non-humankind. ‘Even these former human emperors have to join hands to accomplish that mission…Are they going to destroy the twelve portals which connect Pan Gu world with the twelve water worlds?’ Ji Hao wondered silently.
‘Hopefully, they will succeed, and the non-humankind will not try to stop them.’
Ji Hao murmured to himself for a while, then cast a glance at the collapsed gate of the heaven. Intentionally, he laughed out loud, then activated the golden bridge and left with the others. Not long after he left, a group of water-kind spirit creatures rushed out of the heaven, wielding their weapons and cursing Ji Hao. They attempted to do something to Ji Hao, but how could they possibly catch up with him?
The seven-colored mist coiled, as long streaks of rainbows shone across the sky. The heaven and earth great formation was unpredictably magical. After Gong Gong ordered his people to fully activate the great formation, the fragments of those collapsed palaces in the heaven flew up and merged back together within a splendid, sparkling glow. Soon, all buildings in the heaven were fixed.
In a magnificent great palace, Gong Gong stood in the middle of the great hall with a sulky face, looking at Wuzhi Qi, who was covered in blood.
Wuzhi Qi sat on the ground, breathing loudly while helplessly looking at Gong Gong as he said, "It happened too fast, I didn’t see it coming. Those human beings launched that deadly strike so suddenly. The clones of nine former human emperors, those clones were built with their natural reward powers…They launched the strike together. If I didn’t run so fast, I would have turned into ashes along with the Huai water eye."
While speaking, Wuzhi Qi coughed out large clots of blood. Coughing intensely for a while, he began breathing deeply. Then, rapidly flowing streams of watery mist coiled around his body and covered him up with a deep blue light.
Gong Gong looked at Wuzhi Qi and finally restrained the rage in his heart.
Earlier, Gong Gong accepted the message from Yu Ancestor. Through the message, Yu Ancestor informed Gong Gong that the scouts of the humankind sneaked into the Huai water eye, and had already discovered the altar and the three dragon coffins in the water eye. Hurriedly, Gong Gong sent his very capable senior minister, Wuzhi Qi, to handle this. Additionally, he also sent Kun Peng and a large group of powerful ones to follow Wuzhi Qi to the water eye.
As a result, all those powerful ones brought out by Kun Peng were dead, while Kun Peng himself went missing, with his life uncertain. In the nine water eyes, in the four great rivers, those altars and coffins which had cost Gong Gong some solid efforts, were all destroyed by the strike launched by the nine former human emperors.
Those overwhelming torrents of starlights struck down from the sky. Enormous, violent waves rose when the water eyes were destroyed; that world-destroying, dreadful power…Thinking of what he saw in the heaven, Gong Gong couldn’t help but quiver with the lingering fear.
Shennong, Xuanyuan, these ancient human emperors hadn’t shown their faces for a very, very long period of time. Perhaps, people in the world had long forgotten their illustrious accomplishments. But when human beings were facing a disaster, these former emperors launched such a destructive strike.
Thinking of the bloodcurdling power contained in those starlight torrents, Gong Gong glanced at Wuzhi Qi, nodded slowly, and said, "Indeed, that was not your fault…Even if I were there myself…I’m afraid…"
Gong Gong seemed to speak but stopped on second thought, while Wuzhi Qi sighed in relief and began talking with a bitter face, "Yuan Sheng, my poor boy, he died so miserably. Even his soul perished…Nothing left, not even a little bit of him remained…I sure have many children, but not all of them are capable…I was counting on Yuan Sheng to take over my position as the Huai Water God!"
Gong Gong’s face turned darker and darker, but Wuzhi Qi was a senior minister of his after all, and he had no choice but to patiently comfort this grumpy old monkey. After Gong Gong promised Wuzhi Qi many benefits, Wuzhi Qi finally closed his eyes and breathed deeply to heal himself.
The clones of the twenty-seven old Gong Gongs were destroyed, but Gong Gong couldn’t blame Wuzhi Qi for that at all. Wuzhi Qi was only there to try to solve the problem, and he was injured seriously, almost killed by the nine former human emperors. No matter how, Wuzhi Qi should be rewarded instead of being punished for what happened.
Gong Gong turned around and looked at Yu Ancestor, who was kneeling on the ground, daring not to move, and also covered in blood.
"Wuzhi Qi has made his contribution. For saving you, he almost got himself killed. Therefore, I will record his merit. In the future, when the great plan is accomplished, he will be rewarded. But you…Old trash, look at what you’ve done!"
Gong Gong suddenly pulled out a dark jade ruyi which was embossed with coiled dragons, and violently smashed on Yu Ancestor’s heads.
Followed by a loud cracking noise, Yu Ancestor’s head dented, while he was sent tens of meters away by Gong Gong. Blood spurted out from the wound on his forehead. Vomiting blood, Yu Ancestor struggled back up from the ground, kneeled again and dared not to many any move other than screaming hoarsely, "Lord Gong Gong, they were too fast, too brutal. I couldn’t stop it! I couldn’t!"
"Too fast, too cruel! I never had a chance to stop it!" shouted Yu Ancestor heart-breakingly, "Countless children of mine died…I managed to save myself, and it was already very lucky!"
Silently, Gong Gong held the jade ruyi and launched a mad series of bashes towards Yu Ancestor’s head.
Yu Ancestor’s head was even out of shape. Gong Gong then kicked him away and roared, "Old trash, if my ancestors can’t return, how am I supposed to fight those human beings?"
Yu Ancestor gasped for air, then carefully raised his head and said cautiously, "We can still do it, we can still do it…After all, through their clones, those old lords have already accepted some of the powers of my children. Although their clones were destroyed, Lord Gong Gong, as long as you are willing to consume some of your spirit blood, I can still lead their way and help them to return."
"My spirit blood?" Gong Gong looked at Yu Ancestor and asked.
"You share the same origin with those old lords. With only a small amount of your spirit blood and my secret magic, I can help them to return to Pan Gu world. However…I am now slightly underpowered…I’m afraid, it would be very difficult for me to help all twenty-seven old lords return simultaneously. "
Gong Gong knitted his eyebrows. Looking at Yu Ancestor, he asked word by word, "Underpowered? What do you mean?"
Yu Ancestor put his head on the ground and responded tremblingly, "I dare not to be greedy, but in order to cast the secret magic, dear Lord, please…"
Hesitating for a short while, Yu Ancestor gritted his teeth and continued with a deep voice, "Dear Lord, please open the Black Emperor Divine Palace and empower me with the world essence water."