This was the experience of Tu Bo's reincarnation, the memory imprinted within the Slaughter Cauldron. Yet now, Qin Mu was seeing it all through Tu Bo's own eyes, feeling everything as if it were happening to him.
The Feathered Serpent had coiled itself around his wife, gripped his two children—Tu Bo’s weakness now firmly in its grasp.
The many demigods were ecstatic. In Youdu, Tu Bo was invincible—not just in strength, but in spirit as well. No one in the Netherworld could defeat him.
But after his reincarnation, Tu Bo was no longer invincible. Reborn, his power was frail, and his mindset full of flaws.
His greatest weakness—his family!
After reincarnation, Tu Bo was no longer truly Tu Bo. He was his mother’s ‘Ugly Ox,’ his wife’s ‘Ox,’ just a plain, honest man in the village—a father of two, nothing more.
He wasn’t Tu Bo anymore—he was just Ugly Ox.
"I was reborn as a human without telling any of the ancient gods, nor did I notify the Heavenly Court. How did you know I’d reincarnated, and how did you know I’d come here?"
Ugly Ox didn’t look at the demigods. His gaze passed over them, searching the empty sky. He said solemnly, "Only the Heavenly Court could track my rebirth and pinpoint where I’d landed. So—who’s coveting my power?"
The sky remained silent.
Ugly Ox felt a pang of disappointment.
"Ugly Ox, don’t you care about your wife and children’s lives?"
The Feathered Serpent demigod snarled, "Do yourself in—make sure your soul’s scattered to the wind!"
Ugly Ox didn’t answer. He hefted the iron plow onto his shoulder. The Feathered Serpent demigod, enraged and ready to kill his wife and children, was suddenly interrupted—a tiny paper boat appeared behind Ugly Ox, its lantern casting light onto the serpent’s face. Without a sound, the demigod’s soul plunged straight into Youdu.
A boy stood on the boat, wearing a ghost-face mask on the back of his head and holding a lantern that illuminated the area. One by one, the demigods collapsed into gigantic corpses, piling up like mountains.
The boy hung the lantern on the prow, shot Ugly Ox a glance, and grinned: "This time it was just the small fry. Next time, it won’t be. I can’t watch your back forever—don’t make me come drag you home."
Ugly Ox looked back at his wife, children, and elderly mother, then shook his head. "I have feelings now—I can’t go back."
The boy tilted his head, thought for a moment, and said, "I’m still not strong enough. There are many terrifying beings among the demigods—I can’t beat them. And if the ancient gods hiding behind them show up, I’ll lose for sure. How much power can you use after reincarnation?"
"This is the living world—I can’t use Youdu’s power here."
Ugly Ox shook his head. "I feel power hidden in my brow, but I just can’t open my third eye."
The boy glanced at his brow—Ugly Ox bore a vertical scar there, but no third eye was visible. The boy could only urge the little paper boat to sink into the gloom. "You’re not Tu Bo anymore. You’re just Ugly Ox. Come back soon."
Ugly Ox watched him disappear, then after a moment, a simple, honest smile crept onto his face. "I can’t go back..."
His wife, holding their child, came over. He told her he was still Ugly Ox, assuring his family there was nothing to worry about.
They couldn’t stay here any longer. Though he was burly, Ugly Ox was deft with his hands—he made a basket lined with soft cotton, and his elderly mother rode inside, carried on his back.
He set his son and daughter on his shoulders, his pregnant wife nestled in the crook of his arm. Together, the whole family began their journey.
Ugly Ox raced the wind and moon, leaving that place behind. But the road was far from peaceful—they were attacked by more and more demigods. In this world, demigods were multiplying, called primordial beasts by the people. They devoured humans, slaughtered everywhere. There’d never been so many demigods before, but now they were everywhere.
Ugly Ox hid and fled with his whole family, but one day, his elderly mother reached the end of her years.
"Ugly Ox, I’m dying."
His mother said, "Take care of your wife and children. You’re so ugly, but I never abandoned you—don’t abandon them. Ugly Ox isn’t Tu Bo, Ugly Ox is just an ugly kid who looks a lot like Tu Bo..." With that, she breathed her last.
Ugly Ox sobbed, desperately trying to open the eye in his brow, desperately trying to call on Youdu’s power. When he was Tu Bo, he could grant blessings and long life to mighty postnatal beings like the Netherworld Heavenly Venerable, letting them coexist with the world. But now, he couldn’t save his own mother.
He took a knife and cut open his brow, blood streaming down—but he couldn’t find that eye. He couldn’t sense any power from Youdu.
He wasn’t Tu Bo.
He still had a wife, children—things that bound him to this world.
He buried his mother, then led his wife and children onward, always fleeing.
At last, his wife went into labor. He had to stop and search for a midwife, but with demigods everywhere devouring humans, it was nearly impossible to find any living soul.
The human race was almost extinct. He searched thousands of miles but found no one alive, so he took shelter in a cave and delivered the baby himself.
After much hardship, the child was born—a girl, healthy, with a pair of tiny horns on her head and tiger fangs from birth, just like him.
Ugly Ox was overjoyed and went out hunting to nourish his wife.
But when he returned, he saw the mountains swarming with demigods, blocking the cave where his wife and children hid.
Several immensely powerful demigods sat atop the mountain, looking down at him. His wife and children were right beside them.
He was like a wild beast, throwing himself at the cliff ahead with everything he had.
The demigods unleashed their powers—beating him black and blue, leaving his flesh mangled, bones shattered, nine-bend horns fractured. But Ugly Ox kept rampaging forward, more like a primeval monster than any demigod.
He fought till he didn’t know how long had passed, utterly spent, but his slaughter left the enemy trembling. Leaning against a tree, panting rough and heavy, he glared murderously at the mountain peak across from him.
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Those demigods just sat there, cold-eyed and silent, unmoving as stone.
Ugly Ox rested a moment, then charged again. All around were severed limbs and ruined bodies of demigods. His strength seemed endless, but the power of Youdu was still beyond his reach.
"Kneel."
A voice rang out from the mountaintop. Ugly Ox looked up to see a demigod gripping his wife by the throat, holding her at the cliff’s edge—one loosened hand and she’d be dashed to a bloody pulp below.
Ugly Ox froze, gazing up at the peak, pleading silently.
The demigod’s hand let go—his wife plunged from the cliff. Ugly Ox howled, throwing himself forward with all his might, but other demigods intercepted him, battering his body raw.
Thud.
The heavy thump of a body hitting the ground echoed.
"Kneel." The demigod atop the mountain lifted his eldest son, voice chillingly flat.
Ugly Ox’s body shook, his knees buckled. At last, he fell to his knees and bowed his head.
A demigod strode up, gleaming axe in hand, sizing up his neck for the chop—when suddenly another voice called out, "Not like this. You can’t kill him that way."
The demigod stopped at once.
Radiance filled the sky as an ancient god descended, his face appearing among the clouds, features hidden, voice indifferent: "Kill him like this and his three souls will still fly to Youdu, returning to Tu Bo’s body. We need him utterly destroyed—soul and spirit scattered. Only then can Tu Bo be replaced."
Another hidden face surfaced in the sky, equally cold: "I borrowed the God-Slaying Headsman’s Blade from the Heavenly Court. It can sever souls. The number one vicious weapon—nothing escapes its edge!"
A beam of light shot down from the heavens, stabbing into the earth. No blade was visible—only a shimmering stream of light.
"Cut him down!" More faces appeared in the sky, their features blurred, but their eyes gleamed with excitement.
A demigod grabbed the God-Slaying Headsman’s Blade, swinging it at the kneeling Ugly Ox.
Vmmmmm.
The blade vibrated violently, shattering the demigod holding it into a mist of blood, while Ugly Ox’s neck remained untouched.
Tu Bo’s three souls were simply too strong—even reincarnated, no demigod could kill him.
Another demigod stepped up, seized the God-Slaying Headsman’s Blade, and swung. He too was pulverized, while Ugly Ox stayed unharmed.
A third demigod tried—and was shattered by the blade. For a moment, the mountain was gripped by terror; none dared touch the God-Slaying Headsman’s Blade again.
"Useless fools!"
A furious shout echoed from above. An ancient god couldn’t hold back—he descended, grabbing the God-Slaying Headsman’s Blade. He sneered, "If Tu Bo isn’t slain, how can we seize greatness? How else do we claim the throne?"
"Brother, it’s time to lose your head!"
The blade fell—Ugly Ox’s neck split open in a bloody line, but the ancient god’s arms went numb from the shock.
The ancient god, startled and angry, burst out laughing: "Tu Bo, your will to live is too damn strong! Even with the blade, I can’t kill you. Looks like you’ll have to give up on living yourself. Throw down his children!"
"No, please—!"
Ugly Ox’s body shook as he watched his eldest son fall from the sky. He desperately crawled forward, but the ancient god stomped on his bull tail and raised the blade again!
The blade carved a deep gash into his neck, blood gushing out.
The ancient god grew excited, shouting, "Still waiting for that Netherworld Heavenly Venerable brat to save you? To kill Tu Bo, you have to kill him first! But now that little demon’s tied up with his own troubles—you’re out of luck, so why keep fighting? Throw another one!"
Ugly Ox struggled to crawl, but he couldn’t move. His eldest daughter was lifted and hurled from the cliff.
Ugly Ox roared, and behind him, the ancient god swung the blade—one flash, and half his neck was severed.
"Throw down another!"
The ancient god shrieked with delight, raising the God-Slaying Headsman’s Blade.
Ugly Ox’s body trembled as he saw his newborn daughter lifted high in the air. He felt as if he’d died, plunged into bottomless darkness with no light left—only the image of his little girl falling from above.
A faint crack sounded in his heart—like it was splitting in two. Another crack echoed from his brow, where the bloody scar he’d once carved refused to heal, now tearing open again.
"Ugly Ox isn’t Tu Bo. Ugly Ox is just an ugly kid who looks a lot like him."
His mother’s words rang in his ears. Through years of suffering, those words had helped him survive, kept him fighting for his wife and daughters. But now, even that promise seemed to collapse.
He sank completely into darkness.
His brow split open—his third eye emerged, dripping blood and blazing with endless karmic fire, setting the land ablaze and making the world itself burn!
Ugly Ox vanished—Tu Bo returned.
But this time, it was an enraged Tu Bo. A vengeful Tu Bo.
Countless chains appeared, piercing his body and rooting him to the earth with a metallic clang.
These were the chains of Youdu’s laws, binding the furious Tu Bo.
As Earth Sovereign, Tu Bo could never defy the laws of Youdu, nor its Dao.
Even Tu Bo himself could not break these chains.
He seized the falling God-Slaying Headsman’s Blade, its light slicing into his palms—blood poured down as he rose to his feet. In his grasp, the blade melted, howling in agony, until it became a stream of molten iron.
The molten iron hit the ground, forming a great cauldron. The resurrected Tu Bo stood inside.
The ancient god behind him quaked with fear as Tu Bo grabbed his head, slammed it into the cauldron, and stomped hard—his skull exploded, his face appearing inside the cauldron.
Inside the cauldron, darkness reigned. Faces floated alone in the black, twisted with terror.
But soon, more demigods joined him. The mountain teemed with death—demigods died in a blink, shattered and refined by the cauldron’s power, their faces joining the others.
Tu Bo’s body grew taller and taller. He caught the falling baby girl, while darkness surged from the cauldron, flooding out in all directions, chasing down the fleeing demigods. Their bodies twisted, turning to empty shells—human skins falling to the ground.
The darkness roared, sweeping across every corner of this barren world.
The ancient gods in the sky were stunned, vanishing as they fled toward the Heavenly Court.
This world had become another Youdu.
They fled, not daring to linger. Looking back, they saw the bull-horned, tiger-faced demon god growing ever taller, striding out of that world on a tide of darkness, his shoulders bearing a little girl with horns.
Chains forged from Youdu’s laws wrapped his body, binding him tight, their other ends linked to the world now transformed into Youdu.
But Tu Bo dragged those chains—and the entire world—after him, chasing them straight toward the Heavenly Court!
"Tu Bo’s gone mad!"
They screamed as they rushed into the Southern Heaven Gate. Ancient gods poured out, hovering in midair to block Tu Bo’s path, all trying to talk him down: "Tu Bo, they were just joking! Why get so worked up?"
"Aren’t you going to apologize?"
Someone tried to smooth things over: "Lucky nothing truly disastrous happened. Tu Bo, take it easy..."
Tu Bo, carrying the Slaughter Cauldron, strode into the Southern Heaven Gate, chains multiplying around him. Beyond the gate lay a realm of Youdu’s darkness.
Suddenly, one ancient god who’d come to mediate fell—his face appeared in the cauldron, twisted in terror.
That day, Tu Bo stormed through the Southern Heaven Gate. Countless gods fell.