339 Overwhelming Pride
The Bloody Totem Tribe Leader and Ga Shu were finally killed by the Primordial Devil, who had been tormenting them relentlessly ever since Yaan's rebirth onto the Spirit Plane.
They had suffered in misery for so many years, and what did they get at the end of it? A pitiful, lacklustre death. Their lives were taken by a heartless giant casually squeezing his hand, and the only other person to bear witness to their tragic demise, was the Dao Clone of Qi.
At least, that was how it seemed on the surface.
From the shadows, the Primordial Sage, Law Empyrean, and Old Thief, watched everything transpire in silence. They did not comment on the events as they proceeded, and none of them showed any traces of emotion towards the outcome, which was entirely within all of their expectations. If they did feel something, then they wouldn't show it before the others, no matter what.
On the Spirit Plane, Yaan was in a similar position. He was watching the disastrous events as they unfolded on the Qi Plane, but he showed no intention of taking action. It's not that he didn't want to take action, but simply that there was nothing he could do.
His dao heart, still split into multiple pieces thanks to his two remaining Dao Clones, was feeling torn. Part of him remained rational, uncaring, and fully focussed on his plan. But the other part of him, the part of his heart that he shared with the Dao Clone of Qi via their powerful karmic link, was filled with an unspeakable pain and unwillingness so deep that it threatened to overwhelm him.
Back when he had embarked upon his three Dao Clones plan, Yaan knew that he might end up experiencing something like this - intense emotions, thrusting his heart into disarray, due to the splitting of his dao heart and Dao Soul into multiple separate sentient entities. He knew that experiencing the perspective of each Dao Clone as it walked its path, would force him to feel what they felt, and think what they thought. He knew this would happen…
But even so, it hurt.
Perhaps what hurt most of all, was that he could not express even the faintest hint of his conflicted heart. The Primordial Sage was always watching, and he refused to show her any weakness. Showing her any sort of reaction could potentially allow her to deduce more of his plan. It was also possible that after seeing through the current state of his heart, she would change her mind and stop providing him with 'assistance'.
The Sage was not reliable. Yaan was using her to help him right now, but she was like a scythe hanging over his neck. There was always the possibility of her turning on him.
If Yaan's plan failed, then all of this would have been for nothing. And so, as the Bloody Totem Tribe Leader and Ga Shu were crushed to death, and the Primordial Sage stared at him with her piercing emerald eyes, Yaan continued to expressionlessly build his current sub-formation on the 5th Layer of Abyss.
Before long, he finished the sub-formation, then hopped back onto the mad elephant's back. As the Dao Clone of Qi snapped out from his daze and faced the Primordial Devil with a rage that he had never experienced before in his reborn life, Yaan gently patted the mad elephant's side.
"Let's go, little elephant."
The mad elephant would usually roar in excitement whenever they set off on their journey once again, but this time, for some unknown reason, the mad elephant remained silent.
The boy and the elephant trudged along in silence, towards their next destination, once again chosen by the mad elephant's whim.
Meanwhile, on the Qi Plane, the Dao Clone of Qi felt like he was losing his mind.
The Primordial Devil had appeared too suddenly, at the worst possible moment, when Devil was trapped in the 5th Trial Realm. And now, the Primordial Devil had struck a powerful mental blow, by suddenly killing two important people from Yaan's life…two people whom the Dao Clone of Qi had not expected to see.
But that wasn't the end of the mental pressure faced by the Dao Clone of Qi.
The red-robed Dao Clone gritted his teeth and held himself back despite his rage. He would not make the first move against his opponent, no matter how chaotic his emotions became, because he needed to accumulate as much power as possible for this fight.
'Too fast, far too fast! The Primordial Devil killed them both, the Bloody Totem Tribe Leader and Ga Shu, before I could even react! Just what is the deal with his strength…how is he just a 9-Star Realm Immortal? How is he at the same realm as me?!'
Light of every imaginable colour spiralled upwards from the Heavenly Rebirth Formation, endlessly fusing into the Dao Clone of Qi's formation spirit body. He wasn't merely absorbing the power from the formation, though that was part of it. No, more importantly, he was increasing his spirit body's synchronisation with the formation, which would allow him to bring out the full power of the formation, even when standing outside of its bounds!
In truth, he would be at his strongest if he allowed the Primordial Devil to enter the Heavenly Path Province and they did battle within the bounds of the formation walls. But how could the Dao Clone of Qi do something like that? If they were to fight within that dome of crimson light, then every living being in the Heavenly Path Province would be killed within the first few moves of their battle!
As the Dao Clone of Qi thought about all of this, and as his mind flicked back and forth between the present, and the memory of the Bloody Totem Tribe Leader and Ga Shu being crushed to death as if their lives were worth nothing, the all-coloured light surrounding his body gradually took on a red hue.
"Oh?" The Primordial Devil raised an eyebrow. He examined the Dao Clone of Qi for a moment, before bursting out with a roar of laughter. "Hahaha! You little wretch of emotions, are you actually playing with killing intent before this devil? Do you seriously believe that your killing intent could even approach a fraction of my majesty, just because you have the support of that little formation? Hahaha…how amusing."
The Primordial Devil's smile faded. His gaze suddenly became cold, as did the surrounding world. In an instant, the Dao Clone of Qi's killing aura was suppressed almost entirely, and the upwards spiral of light storming into his body was forcefully slowed down so much that it almost came to a halt.
For a moment, the world turned cold. At this moment, a certain person had finally arrived just outside of the Heavenly Path Province after she recognised a familiar, yet somehow different aura.
"Master…?" Gentle Butterfly Immortal muttered uncertainly as she stood a few hundred miles away from the Primordial Devil.
Neither the Primordial Devil nor the Dao Clone of Qi cared to pay her any attention right now. When she felt the aura of her 'master' for the first time in many years, she immediately rushed towards this place to greet him. However, this 10,000 feet tall giant, although very similar to her master…was not her master!
Realising this, Gentle Butterfly Immortal's expression changed. She hastily retreated, forming countless hand seals and manifesting rune after rune to propel her as far away from this monster as quickly as possible. Each of the seven butterflies continually lit up with a different colour of light, and before long, she was over a thousand-
WAM.
The cold, still air, turned into an infernal hellscape of blazing red. In a single instant, 7th Seal Island, then the other six Seal Islands, then further, and further out, became enveloped by a world of blood.
Gentle Butterfly Immortal's body was incinerated, followed immediately by the seven brightly coloured butterflies which contained her soul.
Just like that, an immortal died. But she wasn't the only one; as soon as the Primordial Devil released his complete killing aura, which rapidly transformed into a domain of overbearing will, almost every living being across the Demonic North lost their lives.
The ripples of crimson erupted like a volcano, spreading out further and further, until before long, the entire Planet Yushu was covered by a veil of red.
The Dao Clone of Qi coughed out lungful after lungful of blood and Qi. If it wasn't for the Heavenly Rebirth Formation supporting him, he also would have died under the assault of this domain.
For the first time since his rebirth, a trace of despair appeared in the Dao Clone of Qi's eyes.
Within minutes of making his move, the Primordial Devil's domain had covered all of Planet Yushu. The sheer scale of a domain like this surpassed the Dao Clone of Qi's understanding, and really, this completely transcended the power that any Immortal Step being should possess.
When the Primordial Devil saw the Dao Clone of Qi being half-destroyed, then reformed by the power of rebirth contained within that strange formation, time and time again, his red eyes glowed with sadism. He was taking great pleasure in watching the Dao Clone of Qi suffer. Getting to watch him die and come back repeatedly, was very, very satisfying for him.
The Dao Clone of Qi was pushed backwards and downwards, until his legs were now halfway pushed through the formation itself. He gasped for breath, but as he inhaled, all that entered his lungs was a thread of the Primordial Devil's will…
The will within the Primordial Devil's domain was filled with slaughter. This slaughter was no weaker than that contained within Devil's domain, and yet, this was not a slaughter domain; the Primordial Devil's heart was not a heart of slaughter…but a heart of pride!
His pride was too strong. After dying and reincarnating, his pride had not weakened, but had been refined into a stronger state. Now, his pride was so strong that it could even suppress the Dao Clone of Qi's heart with its overwhelming might!
His pride shone down on the world with a crimson light, slaughtering all living beings beneath its might. Only a few immortals were able to escape by fleeing from Planet Yushu as quickly as possible, and only those currently in the Southern Continent were distant enough from the centre of the domain to manage this.
They died, because the Primordial Devil's disdain towards all life, forced that life to cease living!
The Dao Clone of Qi let out a roar of desperation. He reached above his head, forcing his arms to overcome the immense will which threatened to collapse his dao heart on the spot. A wooden sword manifested between his two hands and he slashed down, not holding anything back and immediately using the Agile Illusion Art's 3rd Step, the step of death!
Through his bloodshot eyes, the Dao Clone of Qi visualised the scene of the Primordial Devil dying under his blade…
BANG!
"No…" Dao Clone of Qi could only mutter weakly, his eyes wide with hopelessness and disbelief.
The wooden sword shattered, dying under the backlash which resulted from the Agile Illusion Art's 3rd Step failing to properly manifest.
The Primordial Devil's eyes glowed with crimson disdain.
"You thought that you could end my life with a single move? You overestimate yourself; you are merely a clone of my heart demon, you cannot resist me."
The explosion of the wooden sword created an eruption of bloody light, swallowing up the Dao Clone of Qi's body and disintegrating it into countless fragments. The Primordial Devil laughed wildly at first, but he stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes when those fragments fused into the formation down below.
The entire Heavenly Rebirth Formation turned dead-black as a pillar of red light shot down from the centre at the top. The beam of red slammed down into the ground below, almost destroying the entire lands beneath, but just about stopping this from happening as the Dao Clone of Qi's will refused to let this happen.
When the Dao Clone of Qi opened his eyes, he saw two things.
Firstly, he saw the Heavenly Rebirth Formation fading from black, to a translucent grey. The formation wasn't destroyed, but it had suffered from too much damage, sending it into a temporarily dormant state. He watched bitterly as the Primordial Devil casually ripped apart the top layer of the formation, opening up a giant hole and taking a step inside.
The second thing he saw, was Elia. When he saw Elia, he desperately wanted to sit up. His heart was racing and he was almost overwhelmed by panic…
Unfortunately, he was too exhausted, too depleted of all strength, to even move.
And so, he could only stare up at Elia as she looked down at him with a loving smile.
Her face had turned pale, her lips had lost their colour, only somewhat given life by the blood that dripped down from her mouth.
The Dao Clone of Qi looked down at her body, only to see that…it was no longer there. A giant, bloody hole had torn straight through her white robe and tender body, destroying her heart and turning her internal organs into a mangled mess of flesh, splattered across the ground beneath them. Her sides were only held together by a few tendons and some skin, making her look like she might fall to pieces at any second.
As an Origin Soul Realm powerhouse, she could survive for a while in this state, but unless she was given an extremely powerful immortal medicine, or something for her Origin Soul to attach to, even she would not be able to survive this. Perhaps, in any other situation, he might be able to do something to save her…but the current situation would not allow it.
"E…li…a…" The Dao Clone of Qi managed to mutter with great difficulty.
There were so many things that he wanted to say, but he was too tired, so tired that he could barely even utter her name.
"Yaan…I hoped for you…I did my all to hope for your return…in the end…this…was as much as I could do…I'm sorry…"
Elia smiled as her tears mixed with her blood.
The Dao Clone of Qi's eyes were wide and trembling as Elia breathed her last, falling forwards atop his drained body. He lay there, not even caring about the descending Primordial Devil, as the last of his love bled out onto his crimson robe.
