Call to War

Da Hai smiled softly. He'd expected that, after all, Zulong will not be Zulong if that wasn't the first thing on his mind.

Da Hai turned his head to look in the northwestern direction. His smile became a mocking one. The newly christened Heavenly Lord nodded.

"I didn't expect he'd have the balls to so daringly attack," he mused. "I guess my impression of him was wrong."

"Doesn't matter now," Zulong sent Da Hai a determined look. "He crossed a line. The four seas will never rest until this enmity is settled."

Da Hai closed his eyes for a few seconds. "I suppose you'll be leading the charge."

Zulong's silence was a very obvious sign. Da Hai nodded in understanding. 'On this path, you've made many enemies. I've already sworn to do so but I will support you wholeheartedly,' he promised in his heart.

"As a chosen of heaven, Zulin receives divine protection that places him out of my reach," Da Hai said. "I cannot attack without severe repercussions nor can I guarantee a success."

"I don't need you to fight my battles for me," Zulong crossed his arms appearing slightly annoyed.

"And I won't," Da Hai admitted. His gaze tracked the distant fleeing luck Qi. He held out his right arm and made a tearing motion. His arm then made a gripping motion.

Reality distorted, space twisted and tore into a hole. The other side was a blank void of violent currents. In fact, reality around the east sea and beyond began cracking on a macro scale.

Multi coloured lights from the most vibrant of reds to the most dull of blacks blanketed large portions of the primitive world. They swirled and twisted and converged eastwards and northwards.

The commotion was so big that experts who were about to go back into seclusion after the Sea Eye fiasco came back out again to see what in the world was happening.

Da Hai stood before the hole that grew to a massive size reaching a hundred million kilometres in radius. His arm was outstretched his face was constricted to a serious strained expression.

The primal chaotic energies whipped and lashed out in all directions yet they were not permitted to reach below the waves. As such, the Great Principle and Great Unity Golden Immortal realm experts who could resist such energies remained floating in the air staring in wonder at Da Hai's work of magic.

"Exalted Saint's mastery in Spacetime Dao laws are so high," Primordial Turtle King gazed in wonder. It was rare to see Da Hai do anything these days so whenever he worked his magic, it was a sight to see.

Many who thought they had closed the gap by reaching the Great Principle Chaos Immortal realm suddenly felt very inadequate. The gap between them and Da Hai seemed to be even larger than before.

What they didn't know was that although the Chaos Immortal realm was effectively the final realm of cultivation. It was also the most diverse realm in terms of power. It was very possible for one Chaos Immortal to be an ant before another one.

Da Hai had long ago, obtained the Great Principle and his Dao fruit. Since then his Dao had evolved to the level of primordial chaos. That and fundamentally, the Dao of Ever Distant Seas was closely linked to the concepts of space and time. Added on to Pangu's own insights he'd listened to and the result was a manipulation of reality on a macro scale.

The only weakness of such an ability was that it was very noticeable. Da Hai can't wantonly link two places of such distance that were separated by dimensional barriers without causing a huge light show.

"Due to the recent disaster, the void between realms is in a chaotic flux. Even a ChaosImmortal would get swept away if they're not careful. Travelling through the void, though shorter will be more difficult than travelling overland," Da Hai mused.

"But travelling overland will also take a few years. Luckily, I've learned quite a few things since we last talked." Da Hai shook his head bemused. "That was if you didn't have me."

The portal changed. It shone in grey lights swirling into the abyss. A watery texture overcame the portal and condensed into a mirror like construct. The cracks in reality faded and the lights condensed into the mirror.

Da Hai lowered his arms and breathed a long sigh of exhaustion.

Zulong raised his eyebrow at Da Hai's action. "I thought the Heavenly Dao prevented action from seniors against us Sovereigns? And when can you manipulate spacetime so well?"

"What? This old man can't learn any new tricks? And besides, what action? I'm just a doorman," Da Hai smirked at Zulong.

"Heh, just a doorman," Zulong smirked back. He glanced back at his entourage.

"En, I'll keep the pathway stable so don't worry about it."

The Sea Eye was still fresh on their minds. Trillions were reeling from the losses of the other trillions who perished. Everyone had lost someone and were still for the most part in a state of shock.

Even Immortals felt overwhelmed by grief. It wasn't just their own feelings in the matter, but also the aftereffects by the invasion of negative karma. Not many even had the will to fight at the moment.

Although the Sea Eye had been offset by the Heavenly Sea Suppression Needle, the negative karma hadn't gone away. In fact, any qilin will identify that the battle of karma was ever continuous. In terms of the matter of luck, the Sea Eye is the most active in the primitive world.

But Chaos Immortals weren't ordinary people. They were rare, one in a hundred trillion. For every cultivator who makes it to this realm, countless will fail. Each and every single one of them were mentally strong, extremely talented, and resourceful individuals.

Throughout his tenure, Zulong had recruited quite a number of them. Many were surviving seniors from the earliest generation of postnatal lifeforms, then referred to as innate creatures. These connate lifeforms represented the apex of the primitive world.

And they were all PISSED!

The Dragon Saint Guardian Qinglong, Dragon King of the Four Seas Yinglong, Primordial Turtle King, Mosasaur Ancestor, Plesiosaur Ancestor, Colossal Shark Ancestor, Calamity Snail God, Primordial White Dolphin Ancestor, Unbreakable Crab Patriarch, etc. Over two dozen Great Principle Chaos Immortals had been present.

And they all looked positively apocalyptic.

"Father-in-law," Zulong said with a voice which barely contained his fury. "Protect Kailong Chen with Yu'er."

Primordial Turtle King nodded cupping his hands and bowing. "This minister obeys."

"Be safe," Gui Daiyu murmured.

"This is just a small fry," Zulong smirked. "I'll present you his skull personally."

Then he stepped through the mirror.

…

The colossal change in the world stupefied many experts around the world no matter how brief. While the coming of the three sovereigns were big news, they weren't enough for ancient experts to come out of seclusion.

However, the abrupt appearance of the Sea Eye caused the surviving chaos godfiends to awaken and come out of hiding after eons of cultivation.

No matter how brief its appearance, the Sea Eye had irreversibly changed the world.

The ancestor of divine winds, Shen Feng floated in the air stroking his goatee.

"Damn, it's over already?" The godfiend frowning opening at the change of air. His detection airflows told him of the Sea Eye the moment its incredibly suction force appeared, then in under half an hour it disappeared.

"There goes my chance. Che, to think they resolved it that quickly. And here I was hoping to get some benefits, oh well," he shrugged picking up a satchel from a floating corpse.

All around Shen Feng, the bodies of several birds floated. They were incredibly brutalised, some having been torn into pieces while others were contorted into unnatural positions.

"To think I missed such an opportunity," he grumbled while searching through the ring. "Man, avians make such good hunting targets."

After retrieving the goods he found including a few decent spiritual herbs and some rare ores, Shen Feng began planning his next course of action.

The great god of wind pinched his fingers and held them before him. His delving into the secrets of the Heavenly Dao was still much restricted due to the three sovereigns. However, his personal power allowed for some leeway in this aspect.

CRACK!

FWOOOSH!

"Hm?" A sudden disturbance made Shen Feng pause momentarily. "Something's gonna happen…in….north? East?"

Massive cracks in reality appeared in the distance along with a myriad of lights. The immense vortex of primordial Qi was frankly astounding to the wind god.

The man turned his head northwards. His senses saw past quintillions of kilometres with aid by airstreams. His current location at the edges of the north continent was a little too far for him to accurately see what was going on.

But he felt the massive distortions of space as clear as day. Shen Feng contemplated what he should do. His movement techniques had gotten a lot better since the early days.

Making up his mind, he quickly grabbed hold of one of the fading cracks and traced its destination. Then he dived in.

…

Hongjun stroked his long white beard in contemplation. He stood on his balcony observing the fierce changes in the great wilderness with great concern.

"Things are needlessly heating up," he grumbled.

His purple eyes shone with immortal light. With a few glances, he casually saw through the mysteries of the Heavenly Dao.

"Hm, the East Sea is still shrouded but the restrictions are a lot less than last time. Sea Eye perhaps? Hm…although," He looked northwards sensing the distortions in spacetime that were clearly visible from his vantage point.

Examining the ongoings of the primitive world had become incredibly difficult these days. Luo Hu was his equal and hence near impossible to calculate. The three sovereigns were invisible from divination and the other surviving godfiends had their own methods.

Thank heavens for the trackers he left on them.

In order to contact his allies, he'd need some time. To be honest, Hongjun doubted wether they would return to the wilderness. They were more concerned with their own cultivation at the moment and only something as serious as the Sea Eye going out of control will catch their attention.

For the first time, he was starting to regret not starting an all encompassing sect like Luo Hu had preemptively done.

"How should I handle?" He wondered aloud.

…

Zhuque breathed a massive sigh of relief when the Sea Eye incident passed. Even here in the heart of the south, she could feel the malice emanating from it. Though the reemergence of spatial distortions did startle her.

The Vermillion Bird glanced at her elder sister who had her eyes closed resting in her knuckle. She was likely calculating her next course of action.

In a way, her loss against Zulong had been helpful. Zufeng was a lot calmer now and many times wiser. Even the avian higher ups were praising her as a more competent ruler.

"Enter," Zufeng's voice broker Zhuque out of her musing. The empty throne room echoed her voice and the doors were pushed open.

Zhuque realised that someone outside must've asked for permission via mental transmissions.

She frowned when she saw the old vulture headed adviser walk in unsteadily.

"Your majesty, I am honoured by your glorious presence," he praised kowtowing on the fur carpet.

Zhuque didn't like the vulture immortal but she had to admit, he was a good minister. He gave good advice and had earned her sister's good graces. Yet still she couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"It is rare for you to leave seclusion. I believe the last time we properly spoke was nearly nine thousand years ago. Speak, why do you wish for this audience," Zufeng opened her phoenix eyes into slits. His gaze alone was as if the highest heaven's lord of all encompassing light bore down on a single person.

Yet the vulture shrugged the gaze off and smiled getting on to his feet leaning on his staff for support.

"This minister wishes to report, big changes are going on in the world. The dragons are about to make a move," he said.

"Things that I already know. If you're here to waste my time repeating information to me then get out," Zufeng retorted harshly. Zhuque grimaced, her sister had been in a bad mood since the Dragon Sovereign announced himself.

"Ah but I do have important news. It would seem that with the opening of the spatial distortions, a portal was opened up heading northwards. Your rival Qilin Sovereign is about to be attacked," the vulture said.

Zufeng raised her eyebrow. "Why should I care what that luck sacking horse is up to?"

"Forgive this minister's audacity but can your majesty honestly say the avian's are a match for the dragons?"

The atmosphere instantly changed. Zhuque gasped at the audacity of this man. Zufeng's fury was palpable, the pillars of her throne room was lit ablaze.

Her left armrest was pulverised when she gripped her fist. Zufeng glared at the vulture for several breathes of time before sighing.

"Continue," she ordered.

"I believe it would be most prudent for your majesty to join the Qilin Sovereign in the battle to come. Alone, you will be unable to resist the dragons," the vulture said.

"The north continent is at the heart of the north in a location unknown to me. Not any of my spies had ever made it out of there alive nor have they sent back information," Zufeng said. "How do you expect me to cross that distance in time and to have the right coordinates?"

The vulture smiled. "Not to worry your majesty," he reached into his own pocket dimension and pulled out a mirror. It was antique looking but retained a noble quality.

"This is the Vast Heavens Mirror," the vulture said. "it reveals the location of all things and is capable of reaching anywhere in the world. With aid from Imperial Princess's Universe Traversing Boat, it would be paltry to reach the north continent."

"How convenient," Zhuque snorted. "You've had that for all this time and never said anything. Sister, don't listen to his drivel, it's likely a trap to besiege you."

Zufeng closed her eyes in contemplation. "Why did you keep such a treasure hidden from me," she commanded.

"I exist only to help you rule your lands," the vulture headed elder said calmly. "I exist to keep the balance of the world and stop all evils. I work not for your benefit or anyone else's."

"But, should the Qilin Sovereign fall. This world will fall into a state of chaos. The dragons will trample over all living beings bringing misery on an unimaginable scale," the vulture sighed.

"Your majesty, please see reason," he offered up the Vast Heavens Mirror with a pleading look.

Zufeng stroked her chin and closed her eyes in contemplation. Many simulations ran in her mind before she finally opened them again. "Even if we're optimistic, we would still take a few years to reach there. What you're suggesting is impossible," she said.

The vulture headed immortal signed. 'I need to salvage this. If Zufeng isn't willing to go there then she must at least be willing to take a stance,' he had been careless and he knew it. He had invested too much time in cultivation that so many big events had gone over his head.

This vulture body was merely a lesser aspect of Hongjun, sent here to aid the phoenix. A similar body aids the qilin. However, they had all gone dormant for many years now.

He knew he was being too optimistic. But in all his years, he had not anticipated so many factors will go off course. Hongjun was deeply troubled and the more he thought about it, the more he came to realise his position was not secured at all. Luohu wasn't his only opponent, others were competing as well.

'Damn it. It's too soon. I should've kept a closer eye on Zulin,' he cursed. Even bringing out the Vast Heavens had not convinced his charge. 'I can't let the qilin be wiped out like this, there has to be another way.'

Deciding to change tactics he made a different proposal.

…

"DAMN IT!"

Zulin slammed his fist into a pillar leaving the stone structure. Qi An grimaced standing far away from his venting father.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. It was perfect, perfectly executed. But that fucker just had to fuck it up," he roared. His unrestricted aura shook the entire palace and mountain.

"Emperor-father calm down," Qi An urged. "You'll level this place at this rate."

Zulin glared at his most accomplished son in irritation. He humphed and returned to his throne with a huff.

"Father, we didn't lose this," he attempted to placate the elder qilin.

"Our source of karmic luck had risen by over 1000% and the dragons had lost much of their luck. What's left is being used to suppress the Sea Eye. Ultimately, we still won," Qi An said.

"It's not a victory until he's dead," Zulin growled. His ugly scar burned even now in phantom pains. Though in his heart, Zulin accepted Qi An's words.

His sons words were true. Ultimately, they had succeeded in their original goal. Zulong's death would've been icing on the cake. But now the north continent can truly heal.

Their central spiritual veins were already filling up with vigorous Qi and the very ambience of the land was improving. In time, the north continent will surpass the others.

Taking a bit of luck from here, a bit of luck from there, a bit of luck everywhere. Zulin worked tirelessly to improve the north continent. Whether it be central, east, south, or the seas, he had taken karmic luck from all those places.

"Fine, we'll take this time to develop. Let's see the dragons catch up now," he sneered.

Then the world shook.

"Emperor-father," Qi An's startled voice was heard but ignored.

Zulin stood from his throne weirded out. "The Sea Eye's been suppressed. What is happening?"

Zulin could sense the distortion of spacetime. He could even see the cracks forming outside. But he didn't fully understand the changes going on. His mastery of such Dao laws was nonexistent.

CRACK!

A slit opened up, sucking in cracks and light. The mountain shook uncontrollably. Zulin could feel a tangible nervousness rolling out of him.

"What is," he frowned when a portal resembling a mirror opened it directly above his palace. Rather, it was directly above where his karmic luck had landed and where his Dragon Qi of luck representing his empire's destiny was condensed.

"Spacetime distortion on this scale," a wisened old voice was heard as a new figure shimmered into existence.

"Old benefactor," Zulin frowned. "Do you know what is happening?" Qi An also saluted the new figure.

The person he was addressing was a wisened figure in all black. He resembled a demon with a wrinkled bull like face. Though if one was familiar with Hongjun, they can spot some similarities between that old man and this figure.

"You majesty, this minister has some theories," the demon said stroking his beard.

"Speak your mind, you have never led me astray."

"This is a spatial distortion, a worm whole that connects two places perfectly. Reality was ripped asunder and remoulded into a doorway," he said.

"Strictly speaking, this is a move that requires two prerequisites. One of which is the power to destabilise reality and fragment it into pieces. Then one must posses the understanding of spacetime to open a universal doorway that connects two places at once," he added.

"At such distance?" Zulin grimaced. What ugly demon had said were things he'd already been aware of. But he was also aware of difficulty of it.

"I only know one person with enough mastery over space to do this," Hongjun's avatar said. "But Qiankun had long gone into hiding, what could've led him to showing up now?"

Then all of a sudden things stopped. There was a long silence as the cracks all disappeared leaving the portal on its own. Zulin tensed glancing back to Qi An.

"Go to your siblings, you'll be useless for what comes next," he ordered. At the same time, he sent mental transmissions to his ownChaos Immortal subordinates who resided at his capital below the mountain.

"Yes emperor-father," his son obeyed and ran out of the main hall.

Looking at his old adviser, Zulin felt somewhat nostalgic. This man had helped and guided him in the past but rarely showed himself otherwise. If not for him, he may've never reached his current position.

"You disapprove?" He asked.

"You were hasty," Hongjun's avatar signed turning away. "Such a act of theft at such a scale is threatening to many figures. You've made many enemies unnecessarily."

"With this pool of luck, nothing can touch me," Zulin argued back.

"Luck can only take you so far," Hongjun's demonic avatar snarled. "Miracles must still exist in the realm of possibility. You've grown overconfident, you put too much stock in karmic luck."

Zulin was silent as his old benefactor ranted. Though he did not know his true identity, he theorised that this was one of the old chaos godfiends. "Hmph," Zulin snorted. "You came from a place where obtaining karmic luck was near nonexistent, of course you would not understand."

Hongjun's bull like face gritted his teeth. "Do not speak on things you don't understand. You know nothing of the Chaos Sea." He abruptly turned around and began walking away. Disappointment was evident within him.

"The destiny of you sovereigns prevents us seniors from acting. I'll try to stop them as best I can," he said.

"That is all I can ask," Zulin nodded.

There were several more moments of silence. Zulin stood alone in his throne room in anticipation. The Qilin Sovereign sighed.

"It doesn't matter, I have all the luck in the world. By right I am protected. I have committed not crime in the eyes of heaven, I merely swapped things around a little. Besides, things solved themselves didn't they?"

Then he heard the most hated voice in the world.

"HORSEY, ROLL OUT HERE FOR YOUR SOVEREIGN!"