Chapter 1439: Female Clown

Zu'an ultimately decided against telling her about Hou Yi shooting down the suns, primarily because of her immense power, and he was unsure of the consequences.

He could only offer her gentle words of comfort. Xihe's emotions gradually calmed, and she increasingly found him considerate, her gaze towards him softening.

The three women nearby watched this scene with odd expressions. However, being intelligent, they wouldn't choose this moment to be jealous.

The golden chariot, pulled by six dragons, sped onward. The group soon arrived at the place where the ten suns were gathered.

From a distance, they saw ten dazzling spheres of light. Waves of intense heat washed over them, so strong that they felt their hair might scorch and wither.

Xihe glanced at him, then waved her sleeve. A shimmering, multicolored light enveloped the golden chariot, and the group immediately felt a profound coolness, no longer bothered by the oppressive heat.

"Thank you, Madam," Zu'an quickly expressed his gratitude, while secretly pondering how her seemingly delicate figure could have given birth to ten suns.

His gaze did not escape Xihe's notice. Under normal circumstances, anyone who looked at her with such an expression would have had their eyes gouged out long ago. Yet, at this moment, she instead felt a surge of pride, sensing that her allure had been recognized.

Naturally, her attention quickly shifted back to her sons. She saw the ten suns suspended in the air, seemingly encircling a single person.

Zu'an and the others also saw it: a woman dressed in green. The hesitation stemmed from her appearance, which was anything but feminine: she was tall and robust, completely bald, and seemed to lack any body hair. In addition to her two normal eyes, she possessed a vertical eye on her forehead. Her already unsightly appearance, combined with this bizarre eye, made her even more disquieting.

Beneath her was a mount: a colossal sea crab, its back stretching a thousand *li* wide. The sheer oppressive aura emanating from this giant crab was no less formidable than that of the octopus monster they had encountered earlier in the North Sea. The bubbles it exhaled from its mouth could even temporarily trap the Golden Crows. The fact that this woman could command such a creature as a mount made her even more unfathomable.

At this moment, the ten Golden Crows were collectively assaulting her. Yet, the woman held her own, unleashing various destructive lights. Even a slight ripple from their clash was enough to obliterate a mountain.

Zu'an and the others were somewhat numb with shock. This was truly a battle among deities. Every participant in this conflict seemed to possess the power of an Earth Immortal. The group's previous idea of hunting the ten Golden Crows now seemed laughably naive; they wouldn't even be enough to fill a gap in their teeth.

"Nüchou, how audacious of you to dare oppose my sons!" Having assessed the situation, Xihe stared at the bald woman with a mixture of shock and fury.

"Nüchou?" Zu'an mused, thinking the name was quite apt, as the woman riding the giant crab was indeed extraordinarily ugly.

"Hehehe," Nüchou rasped from her throat, "Your sons are sons, but are mine not?"

"What do you mean?" Xihe frowned, her delicate brows knitting together. "We've always kept to ourselves; why have you suddenly gone mad?"

"Hmph, you know what you've done!" the ugly woman roared, suddenly summoning a colossal dragon-fish. Its power was no less than that of the giant crab, and it immediately forced the ten Golden Crows into disarray.

"Presumptuous!" Xihe exclaimed. At this point, she had no time to debate and directly joined the fray.

This strike truly caused space to collapse, giving the sensation that even the Great Dao itself was being ground to dust.

Yun Jianyue watched everything intently, then suddenly sighed with emotion, "To witness a battle of this caliber firsthand, even if I were to die now, my life would not have been lived in vain."

"Indeed," Yan Xuehen concurred, deeply moved herself. The techniques Nüchou employed appeared to be legendary sorcery, sharing commonalities with many Daoist methods. After observing for a while, she felt her long-dormant cultivation realm subtly begin to loosen. If she were given time for quiet meditation and seclusion, she might even advance to a higher level. However, she knew that such an opportunity was unlikely in this lifetime. Trapped by such a formidable woman and ten equally powerful Golden Crows, there was no chance of escape for them, even if Zu'an attempted to use his charm.

Yu Yanluo's cultivation was somewhat lower. She, too, watched with dazzled fascination, though she couldn't fully comprehend all the profound intricacies of the battle. Nevertheless, she still benefited immensely.

Zu'an, meanwhile, observed Nüchou. Although she was rather unsightly, the enemy of his enemy was his friend, and they should ideally be on the same side. Thus, he secretly cheered her on. He only regretted that he and his companions were captives and utterly unable to help. Nüchou, fighting alone against such a powerful array of opponents, was likely doomed to a grim fate.

As expected, once Xihe joined the battle, Nüchou was no match, even with the assistance of the giant crab and dragon-fish. She quickly began to retreat, losing ground. First, the dragon-fish was shredded into several pieces by the Golden Crows' sharp talons, its body spouting blood, dying instantly. Not long after, the bubbles from the giant crab's mouth grew fewer and fewer, and its entire body turned scorching red. Clearly, its body could not withstand the combined might of the ten Golden Crows and the Sun Goddess; it was effectively cooked alive.

Seeing this, the Golden Crows scoffed, "This big crab just gave us a lot of trouble; it's perfect to roast and eat to satisfy our anger!"

"Roasted crab is the most delicious! I just love eating roasted crab."

"The meat in those two large claws is mine; it's the very essence of the entire crab."

"I, on the other hand, prefer the meat on either side of the abdomen; it's the most fragrant and tender."

"This is a female crab; her roe is the most succulent!"

Listening to the Golden Crows' wanton discussion, Nüchou was both shocked and enraged. Gazing at her two fallen mounts, a hint of sorrow crossed her unsightly face. With a sweep of her hand, she sent their bodies into the distant sea.

The Golden Crows, unable to stop her in time, glared at her furiously. "Nüchou, give us back our crab!"

"And the dragon-fish!"

Nüchou shot a venomous glare at the Golden Crows. "You forced my hand!" After speaking, her entire aura surged dramatically. Initially, she had clearly been employing water-based sorcery, but now her presence radiated an intense, fiery heat. Her clothes turned crimson, then instantly incinerated into dust.

Zu'an did not avert his gaze, though her body was shrouded by pulsating red light, making it impossible to discern any details. The group was filled with inexplicable horror because the temperature around Nüchou rapidly intensified, and her brightness even surpassed that of the ten Golden Crows, creating an eleventh sun in the sky.

The sea began to boil, the earth cracked open, and the air was filled with the aura of death. Previously, on the chariot, Xihe had cast a spell to block the heat, but now Zu'an and his companions once again felt the scorching intensity, a sensation of extreme desiccation.

Xihe's expression also changed dramatically. "This aura... You are not Nüchou; you are Nüba!"