Planet Yushu’s Immortal Slaughter

As the Dao Clone of Qi accepted the Primordial Sage's tutelage and the Dao Clone of Mind continued to comprehend the Dao Formation, they both ended up shifting their focus towards the dao of karma, yet their comprehensions of this dao never once overlapped with one another. Their dao comprehensions remained lacking in this regard.

Only the true Yaan on the Spirit Plane was able to reap the full benefits from their efforts.

Meanwhile, the Dao Clone of Soul had not comprehended a single trace of an earthly dao, and he never would; in the first place, he lacked the ability to comprehend anything under the Heavenly Dao. Of course, Devil would never choose to pursue earthly dao comprehension, since he only cared for his own dao…

His dao heart of slaughter.

After leaving the Heavenly Path Province, Devil completely overturned the entire immortal world on Planet Yushu within a matter of minutes. He not only forced two immortals to fight to the death, resulting in the death of an immortal from the Demonic North, but after doing so, he immediately acted personally, killing the Xuqi Sect's Supreme Ancestor, along with the Ancestor of the Hukon Clan…

These were the two strongest immortals from the Southern Continent, an Ancient Immortal, and a True Immortal who was just decades away from reaching the Ancient Immortal Realm!

In the past, when Yaan had lived in the Southern Continent's Fragment Sect, every single immortal in the Southern lands was a terrifying figure that he couldn't hope to match up to. But now, Devil, a single one of Yaan's Dao Clones, had killed two of those figures whom had seemed so untouchable, as if he was simply cutting grass. It took him no effort at all to end their lives - they were extinguished with his killing intent alone.

Devil had even killed an Ancient Immortal when he was at the Nirvana Realm, so it was only naturally that after becoming a Dao Immortal, his power had risen by leaps and bounds. Out of the three Dao Clones, he was indisputably the strongest…outside of the Heavenly Path Province at least.

"Now then, Little Butterfly. I believe that I made you a promise, didn't I?" Devil smiled at his interesting new subordinate, his first subordinate in his life as a Dao Clone, and he reminded her of why she had fought so intensely against the boil-faced old demon to begin with.

When Devil immediately killed two immortals from the Southern Continent following her victory, Gentle Butterfly Immortal had felt somewhat concerned, wondering whether or not this monster of an immortal actually intended to keep his promise to her. She kept a pleasant smile on her face and acted politely, but frankly, her new master scared her.

Well, given how easily and casually he had killed her clan's supreme ancestor, this was to be expected.

However, her worry was for naught. Devil had indeed promised to side with the victor's force, taking them as his own subordinate force, but he never said anything about not killing any of his own subordinates, did he? He killed Qi Mountain Immortal because that man had dared to threaten him using the Divine Court's name, and he killed Harmony Immortal, the ancestor of the Hukon Clan, in order to shatter the karma between them.

The fact that he was able to destroy this karma using slaughter, gave him some hope for his coming battle against the Primordial Devil.

That said, Devil was not one to go back on his word. In his mind, his word was worth more than any of these peoples' lives.

"Master, you're going to kill the Demonic North Immortals?" Gentle Butterfly Immortal looked up with a shining gaze. When she saw Devil smile at her and nod, she felt a sense of exhilaration fill her heart.

She had never experienced such freedom, such a lack of restraint! She had lived her entire life under the righteous path, so naturally, she was not accustomed to such things. However, admittedly, this feeling…was pretty good!

But when she remembered what Devil had just done, her expression changed and her heart filled with worry. She didn't want to question her master, but when she thought about the Divine Court, she was concerned to say the least…

"Master, about the Divine Court…"

"Don't worry Little Butterfly, the Divine Court won't be coming to this place…not yet at least. No, I don't need to worry about any divinities getting in my way right now…"

Gentle Butterfly Immortal felt uncertain, but she smiled and nodded, not daring to refute his bold claim.

The Divine Court was an immeasurably powerful organisation in her eyes, and she knew that a single Dao Immortal meant nothing to them. If the Divine Court did end up investigating the Xuqi Dynasty Supreme Ancestor's death, and Devil was wrong, then they would definitely kill him, and they would undoubtedly kill her for siding with him. However…

If she antagonised her master over this point, he might just kill her even sooner, so she decided to keep her mouth shut, despite her worries.

Devil naturally saw through her concerns, but he didn't bother explaining why he wasn't worried about the Divine Court.

It was simple, really.

'Law Empyrean was already made aware of Planet Yushu's strangeness when Yaan attracted his attention in the Tower of Mortal Dao back then. It would be normal for him to keep an eye on this planet after something so extreme like that, but he hasn't showed himself, even after the Dao Clone of Qi's actions over the past years. The only explanation is that the Primordial Sage has done something to prevent Law Empyrean and the Divine Court from acting. No matter what I do, it won't change this.'

Devil didn't see this as relying on the Primordial Sage for protection, rather, he was just taking advantage of the situation. The fact that he had killed the leader of the Xuqi Dynasty, one of the Divine Court's subordinates forces, simply didn't matter, because his existence was already enough to warrant the Divine Court taking action…but they didn't.

For whatever reason, the Divine Court was not intervening with the goings on on Planet Yushu right now, so Devil could run as rampant as he pleased. So long as the Qi Plane's divinities didn't get involved, he was confident that nobody under the stars could threaten him…that is, with the sole exception of the Primordial Devil, but he was still stuck on the Blood Plane for now.

With a malicious grin plastered across his face, Devil began walking, wrapping Gentle Butterfly Immortal up with his aura whilst doing his best not to kill her with it, as he headed towards the nearest immortal.

Wam!

A middle-aged woman showed a terrified expression as she felt a killing intent like no other suddenly descend upon her, paralysing her body, preventing her from fleeing and cancelling out her concealment method, forcefully bringing her out into the world. She couldn't move, but she didn't need to look around to know what had happened…because Devil was now standing directly before her.

Devil released enough killing intent to terrify the woman into paralysis, but not enough to kill her on the spot. Killing a True Immortal with an aura of killing intent alone was not something that any ordinary Dao Immortal could do, but for Devil, it would be simplicity itself. After all, he possessed a true domain, which was basically a more substantial and amplified version of his slaughterous aura.

"Little Butterfly, I don't recognise this fly. Since she was fleeing, I take it that she's a Demonic North immortal?" Devil asked casually.

When Yaan was living in the Southern Continent, he had visited the Fragment Sect's library and read through books detailing the immortals from the Demonic North. However, those records were old and somewhat outdated, so it was normal that Devil would encounter immortals that he didn't recognise.

Not only that, but there were definitely a few immortals on this planet who had managed to keep their existence a secret from the other immortals.

Gentle Butterfly Immortal blinked in surprise. They had only been moving for a few seconds, but in that period of time, the world around her was moving so fast that she almost felt nauseated. Now, looking around, she realised that they had travelled over ten thousand miles!

'My new master is far too terrifying, to move so fast on the surface of a life planet!'

The stunned immortal woman shook her head and removed these thoughts from her mind. Honestly speaking, she had never met a Dao Immortal before, so she had no idea whether or not this sort of travel speed was normal for beings at this realm. She also wasn't sure whether Devil was moving at his fastest speed or not…but she guessed not.

Devil also had some thoughts on his travel speed.

'Just now, I travelled at a speed similar to what the Primordial Devil showed Yaan back then, when he dragged him across millions of miles on the Blood Plane. I wasn't using my fastest possible speed, but the suppression on the Blood Plane is also much greater…hmm…'

Devil's thoughts were interrupted when a pleasant melodic voice sounded out from his side.

"Master, Little Butterfly doesn't recognise this woman. There are no immortals from the Southern Continent that I don't know about, so she should be a hidden immortal from the North."

Devil glanced at Gentle Butterfly Immortal and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? You seem fairly confident that you know of every immortal from the South, but how can you be certain?"

"The Xuqi Dynasty has kept a careful watch over the appearance of every immortal throughout the South ever since they rose to power and became a subordinate force of the Divine Court 30,000 years ago. This is just my guess, but I believe that the Divine Court supplied Qi Hill Immortal with some sort of method to assist with this. It is likely that they handle all of their subordinate forces in this way."

"Hmm…interesting. Anyway, since this woman is from the North, I will do as I promised and kill her."

The pitiful True Immortal was filled with terror, but she couldn't even scream. All she could do was watch helplessly as Devil casually raised his hand up to her forehead…and then flicked her to death.

A True Immortal who died from being flicked in the forehead was truly too miserable.

In Gentle Butterfly Immortal's eyes, after Devil raised his hand, there was an explosive shockwave of killing intent, and then, the unknown True Immortal simply vanished. Only Devil was able to see the rapid rate at which his victims were transformed into pure Slaughter Aura following his slaughter.

Unfortunately, to the current Devil, devouring the Slaughter Aura from a True Immortal was akin to eating a light snack. He had confirmed that his domain could be strengthened further by devouring more Slaughter Aura, but unless they were at least at the Dao Immortal Realm, then no matter how many living beings he killed, the improvement was basically negligible.

"Right then, next."

Gentle Butterfly Immortal's vision became a blur once again as Devil moved towards his next victim.

For the following hour, Gentle Butterfly Immortal felt like her world was spinning, and not just because of Devil's nauseating travel speed.

"Master, Little Butterfly recognises this person, he is Sunken Sea Immortal from the North, he- oh…you killed him already…"

"Master, this person is from the South- ah. We're moving again…"

"Master, this is actually Yushu Demon Immortal! He is the strongest and oldest immortal on Planet Yushu, the Ancient Immortal ruling over the Demonic North! So he actually fled into space, and he's even…oh…you…you killed him so easily…"

After killing the strongest immortal on Planet Yushu with a single strike, with seemingly no more difficulty compared to every other immortal that he had killed previously, Gentle Butterfly Immortal became numb to Devil's strength and his ongoing hunt, which he refused to bring an end to, until he had fulfilled his promise and killed every single immortal from the Demonic North.

In all, after killing the two immortals from the Southern Continent, Devil killed not only the four remaining immortals from the North whom Gentle Butterfly Immortal knew of, but also three hidden True Immortals from the North. Those three immortals had put so much effort into keeping their existences hidden from the world, but when faced with Devil, they were completely helpless.

Just a single hour after leaving the Heavenly Path Province, ten of Planet Yushu's immortals had been killed, and the remaining immortals from the Southern Continent had become his subordinate force. Although those immortals all belonged to the Southern Continent's righteous path, after learning of Devil's exploits, especially how he had killed Planet Yushu's only two Ancient Immortals so easily, nobody dared to speak out against him.

In their eyes, Devil was simply a madman. He was even willing to kill the Xuqi Dynasty Supreme Ancestor without giving him a chance to speak for himself, so what hope would they have, if they showed the slightest hint of resistance?

They might belong to the righteous path, but they still valued their lives.

*****

Outside of Planet Yushu, many millions of miles away from the planet's surface, three individuals sat within a temple which had appeared on the planet's only moon.

Planet Yushu's moon was a barren place that could not support mortal life. Until this unlikely trio arrived, this moon had been devoid of all life for a long, long period of time, acting only as a temporary dwelling for any powerful beings coming and going from the nearby planet.

The three individuals sat around a circular wooden table, drinking tea in silence, only occasionally speaking to one another. Although none of them were even facing the planet, and despite it being so far away, they were easily able to watch everything as it transpired using their various methods.

After all, these three were divinities, and they were no ordinary divinities; they were all Empyreans, beings at the highest attainable realm within the 2nd Origin Era!

As for their identities?

The Primordial Sage.

Law Empyrean.

Old Thief.

If the world of divinities were to see this trio sitting together, drinking tea as if they weren't the greatest of enemies throughout the four planes, they would certainly feel shocked to the point of disbelief.

"Primordial Sage, do you really intend to protect those two from my Divine Court, all the way until the finale to this little play?" Law Empyrean glanced at the young looking girl as he spoke, despite already knowing her answer.

"I do." The Primordial Sage replied to Law Empyrean without hesitation.

"I also have no intention of letting you annoying fellows interfere." Old Thief added, openly glaring at Law Empyrean.

Law Empyrean glanced at Old Thief, showing no emotion in response to his provocation.

"The Primordial Sage has always been an enigma in her actions and motives, but I really can't understand why you are so heavily invested in this matter, Old Thief, to the extent that you are actually keeping guard over this planet with your true body."

"Stop calling me Old Thief, 'Law Empyrean'." Old Thief retorted sharply.

Law Empyrean's expression became slightly dark before returning to normal. Others might not understand the relevance of Old Thief saying his divine title with such a mocking tone, but this was half of the reason that Law Empyrean had not acted against Yaan or the Primordial Devil, despite knowing exactly what was currently transpiring.

"I will stop calling you Old Thief, if you tell me your true identity, outsider."

"Outsider?" Old Thief laughed disdainfully. "The three of us are all Gods from the 1st Origin, hiding our identities from the world, are we not? Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't actually succeed in hiding your identity, at least not from me, did you, 'Law Empyrean'?"

Law Empyrean didn't respond to that, and the Primordial Sage saw no reason to interject into their squabble.

Old Thief claimed to have hidden his identity, and whilst Law Empyrean indeed hadn't managed to deduce which God from the outside world Old Thief was, he had still discovered that Old Thief was an outsider…or at least, Old Thief had approached him when he visited Yushu Planet back then, revealing this to him of his own accord…

After hiding the truth from the world for three million years, suddenly and for no apparent reason, Old Thief had revealed to both Law Empyrean and the Primordial Sage that he was an outsider, a God from the 1st Origin Era!

As for the Primordial Sage, she had made no such declaration, but Old Thief kept referring to her as an outsider as if it was only natural.

It was extremely suspicious; not only Law Empyrean felt this way, the Primordial Sage and Old Thief were also wary of the other two's intentions.

These three were perhaps the only three divinities in this world who truly understood what had happened to the Primordial Devil back then…these three were the only three beings in this world, aside from Yaan and his Dao Clones, who understood the truth in its entirety. If there was one uncertainty, then that would be Defiance Sovereign, but nobody felt like seeking him out just for this.

In the first place, not one of these three properly understood why the other two seemed so intent on watching over Yaan's Dao Clones on Planet Yushu.

The trio fell silent once again, as they continued to hold one another in this stalemate, allowing the Dao Clone of Qi and the Dao Clone of Soul to live freely on the planet below.