"What are you doing?" the Purple Pole Great Emperor exclaimed in a rage.
Mu Hua the Page curled his lips. "Can't you tell? I'm absorbing your powers."
Tu Yang frowned, sensing something amiss. "Why do you want to absorb their powers?"
Mu Hua the Page rolled his eyes, an idea coming to him. He shouted, "Everyone, listen up! I'm here to help you defeat Yao Hua. Please don't resist!"
Hearing this, all the gods were delighted.
Only the Purple Pole Great Emperor vaguely sensed something wrong. "No, don't believe his words."
"He's your page. How could he betray us?" The gods didn't take his warning seriously.
Under the nourishment of numerous divine powers and the power of faith, Mu Hua the Page's body gradually grew to the size of a normal person instead of remaining like a little boy as usual.
He clenched his fists, intoxicated. "Is this the aura of power? How wonderful."
Then, he grabbed Tu Yang by the throat.
"What are you doing?" the Divine Lord roared in fury. "Let her go!"
"Hehe, you all looked down on me. Now the tables have turned. Since I've become powerful, I'll surely humiliate you all." With an arrogant gesture, he strangled Tu Yang to death.
No one had expected Tu Yang to die in such a way.
The Divine Lord stood there, stunned. The grief and indignation of watching his beloved die overwhelmed all his reason. He let out a roar and charged at Mu Hua.
But Mu Hua was now extremely powerful. He easily subdued the Divine Lord and then sneered, "How does it feel to be at someone's mercy? That's how you all treated me before!"
Suddenly, a magical wave came from the side. Then, Yao Hua and Chong Ming disappeared.
Mu Hua's eyes turned cold and sharp. He suddenly turned his head and met the weak but determined gaze of the Purple Pole Great Emperor. "I won't let you take control of the Three Realms so easily!"
The couple only felt a blur before their eyes and then found themselves in the Red Lair Mountain.
"What should we do next?" Yao Hua asked worriedly. "Mu Hua seems to have evil intentions. The Divine Lord and the others..."
"First, sit in meditation to recover your strength. We must prevent Mu Hua from coming and capturing us too." The more critical the situation, the calmer Chong Ming became.
The two didn't hesitate to use rare treasures of heaven and earth. Soon, they recovered from their injuries.
Yao Hua contacted Yan Ling and united the remaining clans of the Divine Continent to resist Mu Hua together.
Chong Ming contacted the immortals.
At this time, a figure walked over from not far away.
Yao Hua asked warily, "Who's there?"
"Has junior sister forgotten me?" The man smiled gently.
"Azure Sparrow? What are you doing here?" Chong Ming instinctively protected Yao Hua behind him.
"I'm here to make a deal with you." Azure Sparrow smiled. "I believe you'll be willing to make this deal with me. Otherwise, it won't be good if I defect to Mu Hua's side."
"What deal?" Chong Ming asked.
"If you help me collect the qi of the Nine - Heavens Demons and Devils, I'll help you deal with Mu Hua. I can swear by the Heavenly Dao." Azure Sparrow smiled. "What do you think?"
To deal with the heinous Mu Hua, the couple had to compromise.
After Azure Sparrow left, Yao Hua asked uneasily, "Master, should we really help him collect the qi of the Nine - Heavens Demons and Devils? What if the Nine - Heavens Demons and Devils harm the mortal world after we collect it?"
Chong Ming stroked her head. "You can withdraw your spiritual light. In this way, the Demon Lord and the Nine - Heavens Demons and Devils will fight each other, leaving them no time to harm the mortal world."
Yao Hua's eyes lit up. "That's a good idea!"
Chong Ming took out a wisp of soul. Yao Hua sensed a familiar aura and exclaimed in surprise, "This... This is Yaoyao's soul?"
Chong Ming nodded. "She's a phoenix. She has the power of nirvana and her soul is very powerful. So I managed to collect it. Maybe she can be reborn."
Next, the couple waited for the right moment and stuffed Yaoyao's soul into a lifeless phoenix egg to let her be reborn.
The female phoenix they had adopted was especially affectionate towards Yaoyao's soul. Under her care, Yaoyao quickly regained her consciousness.
After Yao Hua united with the remaining clans of the Divine Continent, Mu Hua didn't show up, perhaps because he was busy absorbing the powers of the gods.
On the demon side, Azure Sparrow, with the power of the Nine - Heavens Demons and Devils, was evenly matched with the Demon Lord.
The Divine Continent, free from troubles, gradually recovered.
One day, the couple was distributing porridge when a figure appeared in the distance.
They glanced at each other, immediately stopped distributing porridge, and walked up to the person. "What are you doing here?"
Azure Sparrow's brows showed a bit more vicissitude. Hearing this, he smiled. "Don't be so wary. I'm not here to do anything bad."
Yao Hua asked warily, "Just say what you want. What on earth do you want?"
Azure Sparrow looked at her, unable to hide a bit of affection in his eyes. "Junior sister, I'm just here to unite with you to deal with the Demon Lord and Mu Hua. Didn't we discuss it well before?"
The system jumped out of her arms. "The three - way struggle between you maintains a delicate balance. None of you can be missing. That's why the common people's lives have become better."
Azure Sparrow smiled. "If junior sister doesn't agree to help me, I'll surrender to the Demon Lord directly. Then the balance will be broken, and you'll have to watch the common people suffer."
His tone was gentle and lingering, like a lover's whisper, but the words were a threat.
Yao Hua's face darkened. She wished she could kill Azure Sparrow, the trouble - maker, but on the surface, she had to agree to his request.
After all, compared with the common people in the world, her gains and losses were nothing.
Azure Sparrow smiled. "By the way, I'll tell you a piece of news. The Divine Continent has been targeted by Mu Hua."
He took out a small statue and handed it to Yao Hua.
Chong Ming wanted to take it, but he refused and insisted on handing it to Yao Hua himself.
Yao Hua examined the statue for a while. "Where did you get this? Why is Mu Hua carved on it?"
"This is the statue worshipped by the people in the Southern Border." Azure Sparrow replied.
Yao Hua suddenly realized. "No wonder I couldn't find any trace of Mu Hua anywhere. It turns out he's gone to the Southern Border?"
Without delay, the couple immediately headed for the Southern Border.
The Southern Border was covered in numerous mountains and miasmas. Every household had gu worms or raised poisonous spiders, centipedes, and other creatures.
The appearance of Yao Hua and Chong Ming made them extremely wary. "Who are you?"
"I'm a refugee from another place seeking shelter." Yao Hua didn't want to reveal her identity and lied.
The people of the Southern Border sized them up with flickering eyes.
Yao Hua pleaded, "Please, let me take shelter here!"
She used the illusion technique she had learned from Azure Sparrow and looked like a skinny girl. After much consideration, the people finally decided to let them in.
After entering the village, they didn't find anything abnormal. Yao Hua deliberately dropped the statue, but the people didn't show any unusual reaction.