Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor

Immediately after seeing Ao Shen's presence, Jungwu Hua knew she was in danger. She was already severely injured, and given the strong aura from her opponent, she knew she had to use drastic measures to survive this encounter. 

[Innate Talent: Atavism]

Jingwu Hua used her talent to revert to the state when their Golden Crow Clan was an Innate Creature. As such, her Dao changed into Innate Laws. She then transformed into her demon form–a humongous Golden Crow with three legs.

She had a claw artifact in all three legs, emanating the aura of the Grand Dao Source. Because they were from the same source, Jingwu Hua could better use her father's Emperor's Artifact.

Finally, numerous runes appeared around her demonic body, forming a flame mark between her eyebrows. In her current state, Jingwu Hua's Incomplete Awakening was more condensed.

Ao Shen frowned after seeing her transformation. He detected her power had reached beyond 7-Leaf, but it was fading. With each passing second, Jingwu Hua's aura was rapidly weakened.

"Innate Law," uttered Ao Shen before sneering. "Can you traitors be worthy of using such a thing?"

"Traitors? How are we traitors?" she replied before opening her mouth and spewing out flames of an unquantifiable temperature. Ao Shen casually teleported far away to evade.

"The Golden Crow Clan abandoned their status as Innate Lifeforms to become Acquired Creatures. You, people, don't even cultivate Bloodline and use the Origin System. If you're not a traitor, what are you?"

"Our ancestors saw the flaws of Innate Lifeforms. You rely too much on your bloodline and innate advantage. As such, you were destined to become obsolete," replied Jingwu Hua, her voice full of pride.

"History has proven we made the right choice: Acquired Lives became the protagonist of Heaven and Earth."

Bang!

Her colossal claw tried to destroy Ao Shen. The sheer force behind her attack destroyed millions of galaxies, stars, and planets. And it was followed by a heat that incinerated everything.

A shield appeared before Ao Shen, bouncing the attack. His body flew a fight light years away while Jingwu Hua took a few steps back. Then, she pounced on him again.

"As for cultivating the Origin System? Didn't you do the same? Plus, I know you have been implementing more human ideologies in the demon race in the past few hundred thousand years. So, don't be a hypocrite."

"You can say whatever you want, but it won't change the truth," countered Ao Shen. "You people watched as the demon race suffered Eras after era while remaining neutral and enjoying a peaceful life."

Ao Shen blew to create a blizzard of ice that froze the surrounding galaxies. However, Jingwu Hua's flame overwhelmed him, and he had to teleport away to avoid her attack.

"Our Golden Crow Clan did what we had to survive. You and I know for a fact that 99% of other tribes would make the same choice if they were in our shoes.

"You are lucky we did not take advantage of your dire situation."

"So, we should thank you because you did not profit from our misery?" asked Ao Shen with a sneer. He waved his hand to create a massive ocean of water. Then, he controlled the water to entangle Jingwu Hua, trying to subdue her.

She released an extreme Yang Flame and incinerated the ocean. The process was swift, not even creating any vapors or mists in the process.

"You should thank us for all the people we provided. Without our clan, the situation of your demon clan would have been a hundred times worse."

"You could have done more," he replied as he waved his hand to create chains with sealing powers. Jingwu Hua burned the chains, but she secretly frowned.

'Something is wrong,' she thought. 'Ao Shen's Dao is Darkness. However, during our fight, he used countless divine abilities that were not Darkness related.'

The two had met before. The Demon Race blackmailed their Golden Crow to gather resources for Ao Shen before sending him to the Martial Hegemony World. They even suggested creating an alliance through marriage.

Jingwu Hua had no desire to marry Ao Shen. However, she wanted to gather information from the latter, so she did not immediately reject the proposal and asked to meet first.

'How could I be so stupid,' she suddenly thought of something. 'My state is deteriorating with each passing second. I should be running away instead of fighting or debating with him.'

She figured out he was buying time and waiting for her secret techniques to end. So, Jingwu Hua immediately took action. She used her Yang Dao to access the power of speed and ran in another direction.

'Damn it,' cursed Ao Shen as he appeared before her. A cloud of darkness appeared to swallow the Golden Crow.

However, Jingwu Hua seemed to be waiting for this move. She used her Yang Dao to control the power of Light (Yang)–which is the opposite of Darkness (Yin).

'Shit,' cursed Ao Shen before activating a bloodline ability from a Turtle Demon Race.

Bang!

A massive explosion echoed throughout the Northern Quadrant. Ao Shen waved his hand to remove the dark clouds around him. His clothes were tattered, and he had burn marks on his hair and face.

However, in just a few seconds, he returned to normal. He looked around and found Jingwu Hua had disappeared.

"Do you think you can escape?" he muttered with a sneer. He used the Heavenly Dog Trible's [Smell Tracking Ability] and the Purple Bat's [Sound Detection]. At first, he did not detect anything, but Ao Shen was not discouraged.

His Chaos Bloodline contained too many abilities, many of which can be used for tracking. So, after searching for a few more bloodline abilities, he finally found his target.

Then, he activated the Chameleon's Bloodline Ability and turned invisible.

Southern Quadrant:

Jingwu Hua appeared and looked at the surroundings. Her aura was utterly restrained, and she had already reverted to her human state. However, her current state was miserable. She looked like a woman in her 90s that was about to die.

'I should be safe for now,' she thought before setting up formation on a nearby half-destroy star. She popped many pills in her mouth, trying to heal her injury as soon as possible.

Ten minutes did not pass before she felt the surroundings tremble. Her face became ugly as she felt the area was completely sealed.

"Ao Shen, do you want to go this far?" she roared.

"I do," said a cold and indifferent voice.

"Fine. I'll fight with you to the end."

Jingwu Hua turned into her demon form and rushed toward Ao Shen, who was sneering. All her secret techniques were already used, so she was nothing but a lamp running out of oil.

However, the smirk on his face did not last long before becoming ugly. "You!' he roared, but it was too late.

Boom!

Jingwu Hua was ruthless and exploded most of her body and soul, creating a maelstrom of flame that could sunder the Heavens. A small piece of her soul escaped.

At the center of the explosion, Ao Shen stood in terrible shape. He only had his upper body, and burn marks were all over his body. Anger flashed in his eyes before he calmed down.

"It doesn't matter. My purpose is accomplished," he muttered before summoning a beating heart. Before the body exploded, he made sure to take the Heart where the Bloodline Source could be extracted.

"However, the situation is changing at every moment. I cannot take too long to heal."

Without wasting time, he returned to his demon race legion. Ao Shen swallowed the best healing pills he possessed, but he knew it was not enough. So, he asked his Demon Legion to inject their Life Force into his body to accelerate the process.

Additionally, he had a few bloodline abilities that were perfect for healing from terrible injuries.

Meanwhile, Jingwu Hua's Primordial Spirit Remnant appeared somewhere in the Western Quadrant. She found a place to hide again, this time being even more cautious.

"Has my Emperor Path come to an end a second time?" she muttered as she reflected on herself. In her current situation, it was impossible to grow another fleshly body–especially since most of her Primordial Spirit was destroyed.

Additionally, she realized how poorly she performed in this battle. As a veteran, she made too many mistakes–mistakes she did not even make in her first battle.

And it's all because she cannot stop her worries regarding her father's absence.

After figuring these things out, Jingwu Hua opened her mouth, but a feeling of unwillingness prevented the words from coming from her mouth. So, after reflecting over and over for five minutes, she sighed before saying these magic words of relief.

"I give up."

A white light enveloped her, and she received the message she was no longer a participant.

Jingwu Hua sighed, unable to describe her immense sadness. She waved her hand to manifest a piece of bones. Although she destroyed her body, she still saved her father's Emperor Bones.

'I cannot return to the Golden Crow Clan in my current situation.'

Many people wanted the bones, and in her current weak state, she was not confident to control them.

'I need to find a place to recuperate. Then, I need to find a way to ascend.'

She calculated how she could ascend to the upper dimension.

'As long as I convince one of my father's Immortal Venerable or Dao Ancestors to ascend with me, it's still possible.'

Jingwu Hua pondered. Many of these people considered their role as guardians of particular clans or factions a curse. They dreamt of ascending to the upper dimension, full of resources and opportunities.

As long as she promised them freedom, many should be happy to help. However, it was not easy for people–besides Great Emperors–to bring mortals to the upper dimension.