Chapter 182

While the Phoenix clan was tallying its losses, the Dragon and Qilin clans were secretly plotting a second great war.

The Phoenix clan's full withdrawal to the Southern Continent gave the Dragon and Qilin clans a chance for a direct confrontation; without intervention from the Primordial Dao, the gap between the two sides was not as large as expected.

The western beasts retreated, and the eastern scaled-armored beings likewise refused to join the war; the conflict among the three clans should never have dragged on so excessively.

Ya Zi could not participate in this battle due to pollution of the Spirit Terrace, causing the Dragon clan's foremost expert beyond its innate divinities to be absent, which made the difference in top-tier combat power between the two sides not great.

Several children of the Primordial Qilin jointly led the army; with one of the Dragon's Nine Sons absent, the Five-Element Qilin, which had likewise earned fame in the wilderness, was also no longer complete.

"Now the great calamity is about to end, the Heavenly Dao will emerge, and the Phoenix clan's retreat to the Southern Continent is the final opportunity to decide the victory of the great calamity."

"This confrontation with the Qilin clan must be settled by a single battle to determine victory or defeat!"

At this moment, the Ancestral Dragon and the Azure Dragon were full of vigor; in their view, this battle was certain to be won without doubt.

Both sides launched their decisive battle on the Northern Continent, and the myriad gods also turned their gaze to this place.

The departure of the Great Dao is imminent; its departure also marks the end of the great calamity. Within a thousand years, the two clans will surely determine a clear victor before the calamity concludes.

At Yunmeng Marsh, Qi and everyone else focused their gaze upon the water mirror, so as to behold the entire battlefield.

Neither side attempted any concealment; it seemed they wished, under the eyes of the gods, to ascertain who would be the victor of the great calamity, and who would henceforth govern the future wilderness of heaven and earth.

The disaster on the Xifang Dalu seemed not to affect their determination to contend for hegemony; even the gods seldom turned their gaze westward.

First, they knew they could not intervene in the Western immortals' and demons' struggle; second, under the great calamity, sensations were chaotic, and even places somewhat distant from the west remained unaware.

Moreover, as the Eastern Continent is the most beloved land of the gods and of heaven and earth, they could not permit a decisive battle there; thus the Northern Continent became the site of the war.

The innate divinities of the North, though dissatisfied, were weak in strength and lacked a powerful leader, so their opinions naturally held no weight.

Gazing upon the shocking heavenly waves and earthen tides colliding, with countless Golden Immortals flashing like meteors across the battlefield, he could not help but exclaim:

"In such a grand war, without absolute strength, one can only be as insignificant as a firefly."

"Even a Great Luo Golden Immortal, in this situation, seems to have become unimportant."

Tai Yi gave a slight nod and said: "Moreover, to influence this battlefield with absolute power, I even feel that even if the Dragon and Qilin clans' Primordial Dao great gods were to act, they would still be insufficient to easily interfere."

Fuxi likewise wore a grave expression and spoke plainly:

"The Dragon clan manipulates the Primordial Heavy Water; each drop bears the force of ten thousand jun, with over a hundred Great Luo Golden Immortals participating—how could even one who has entered the Primordial Dao dare to enter it lightly?"

"The Qilin clan is likewise; the Everfertile Soil, as a treasure of the Earth Dao, spreads like a tide, and under someone's control, who could claim they could easily interfere?"

"Gathering sand forms a pagoda, gathering wood forms a forest; this is the might of the Human Dao, the power of clinging ants, which can also overturn heaven!"

On the battlefield, the two clans manipulated colossal tides that collided, the roaring sound nearly echoing throughout the entire Northern Continent, causing the previously repaired earth veins to again risk rupture.

Each impact would cause the miserable death of countless living beings; they could not even preserve their physical bodies, and even their true spirits would be utterly annihilated in this endless pressure.

The renewed collision of the waves made the Northern Continent emit a wail it could hardly bear; the sky shattered, and the earth veins, unable to bear the burden, appeared fractured.

Yet neither side paid the slightest attention; instead, they continually strengthened their own momentum, hoping to suppress the opponent in subsequent collisions.

The Northern earth began to tremble, countless cracks spreading across the land, and the scene from the time of the Ferocious Beast Calamity reappeared once more.

Black fire rose from the earth, burning the resentment of living beings into murderous aura, which permeated the entire heaven and earth.

The occurrence of two successive great calamities left the Northern Continent devastated; although there had been a brief respite, the time allowed for recovery was still far too short. These murderous auras seeped into the land and sky, entwining resentment with heaven and earth.

Although its degree of destruction did not reach the point of being as untenable as the West's, the ensuing influence could be even more enduring.

Under the command of the Prison Ox, the Dragon clan had a certain advantage, though it was extremely slight; the Five-Element Qilin, though incomplete, was also not an easy opponent.

In the melee on the front battlefield, the Prison Ox's forte of overseeing the overall situation could not be exerted; they could only contend with each other in sheer strength.

Moreover, a thousand years is but a blink of an eye for the gods of the wilderness, and the same holds true for the three clans.

This made both sides feel somewhat urgent; even Golden Immortals could sense the pressing feeling that the Great Dao was about to depart.

This urgency constantly drove them to intensify their slaughter, and also compelled the two clans to continually invest resources, converting them into war provisions.

Such investment of cost even left them no room to consider stopping.

Once they halted, both sides would become utterly incapacitated from their losses; if they could not reap the qi of dominating the wilderness, the accumulated karmic karma of the great calamity would leave them forever without a chance to rise again.

In the final three hundred years, even the Azure Dragon and the Ancestral Dragon, as well as the Primordial Qilin, began to take part.

They did not go to Chaos to fight; instead, they personally commanded the great armies and participated in the clash of formations.

This also left the Northern Continent utterly unable to bear the burden, as the earth veins began to continually fracture.

In the previous great calamity, the Northern region, which had remained relatively intact, became comparable to the Xifang Dalu after Rahu activated the Slay Immortal sword formation, within just a few short centuries.

Mount Sumeru.

Rahu sensed that the great calamity was about to end, and the Heavenly Dao had already begun to emerge.

Then, suddenly, the Dao resonance rang out from the sky; the entire wilderness was drenched in blood rain, and the lament of heaven and earth continued without cease.

Those who cultivated the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth and the Yin-Yang Dao felt it even more deeply, a sense of sorrow permeating their hearts.

As the Great Dao was about to withdraw from the wilderness, Yang Mei was also startled awake by it, crying out in grief: "Heaven and Earth! Yin and Yang!"

Within this thousand-year span alone, the Ancestors of Heaven and Earth and of Yin and Yang were burned to exhaustion by the qi-flame, perishing as they returned to the Dao.

"Yang Mei Daoist, it seems we have ultimately lost by a single move, outwitted by that petty Hongjun; since I have been defeated, I too must depart."

Rahu did not wait for Yang Mei to react; upon sensing that the Heavenly Dao had already emerged, he immediately spoke first: "Heavenly Dao above, I am the Demonic Ancestor Rahu of the wilderness; I wish to open the Demonic Dao, establish the Demonic Sect, using the World-Ending Great Mill and the God-Slaying Spear to suppress the qi fortune—henceforth, when the Dao thrives the demon wanes, when the demon thrives the Dao wanes; if the Dao endures, the demon will not cease!"

"Since I united with the Dao, to let them know cultivation is not easy, for anyone who cultivates, upon breaking through their realm, there must be a heavenly demon obstructing the Dao."

"If one of the two exists, the demon's death brings the Dao's advance, the demon's advance brings the Dao's demise; for all who set their hearts on the Demonic Dao, when they break through their realm, I shall act as the guide to the Dao!"

"If the Dao has no birth and extinction, I shall not appear; if the Dao flourishes, the heavenly demon likewise shall be so!"

Heaven and earth immediately resonated again with the Dao sound; Rahu, entwined with spiritual treasures, gradually faded away.

Hongjun saw this and angrily shouted: "How could this be so easy!"

Having spoken, he struck out in anger, severely injuring Rahu; among the casualties were the Twelve-Grade World-Ending Black Lotus, the Four Slay Immortal Swords, the Slay Immortal Formation Diagram, and countless spiritual treasures, all knocked down and fallen into the wilderness.

Only the Demonic Dao's fortune-suppressing treasure remained, taken away by Luo Hu, disappearing together with his silhouette.

(End of chapter)