Cornered

The gargantuan Reincarnation Pagoda groaned beneath constant barrages. It was a chaos spiritual treasure, an almighty weapon of epic proportions that in any other scenario, could easily topple Primal Zenith Chaos Immortals with ease. It's own treasure spirit was also an ancient experienced figure with substantial experience.

But currently, Mara felt miserable. He had one mission, and that was to win the battle for Luohu. The lives of their devils were unimportant as he and he alone had the capability to bring them back in massive quantities.

Now that he didn't have to spread out, nor did he have to opposite in the land of the living, he was supposed to be nigh unstoppable in the Netherworld. But as he pulled and pulled at strands of yin qi, he felt resistance becoming stronger and stronger.

The wheel that the ritual formed was painfully familiar. To the point where Mara suspected foul play from his original home. It certainly wouldn't surprise him if they made contact with Da Hai given how often he'd observed the sea god leave Yingzhou for the Chaos Sea.

THOOM!

The secondary problems arose once again. The pagoda trembled as Di Jiang's massive bulk slammed into its side. The thick flesh of the Ancestral Divinity had such power, that space and dimensions crunched whenever he threw a punch.

Not far away, several more Ancestral Divinities continued to assault him. Their attacks were largely physical in nature, possessing staggering strength in their fleshy bodies. But their natural ability to control the full extent of a Dao from the Primitive World's core was also a problem.

Zhu Jiuying put his authority over time to good use by constantly blinking his eyes. Each time he did so, time slowed to a crawl. He bypassed any temporal defences Mara had to halt the spawning of ghost devils which only added to the burden in his tug of war with the ritual.

'Shichen's Dao, this fucking worm,' Mara swore in his mind.

"Haha, take this you pile of kindle," Zhurrong laughed riding on two massive red dragons. His corporation with the Primordial Celestial Dragon clan granted him air superiority as well as incredibly speed.

His fists manifested divine flames that burned just as hot as the Pure Yang flames from the Solar Star. Just the head from Zhurrong's divine flames threatened to scorch the Reincarnation Pagoda.

"I'll show you real fire caveman," Mara roared. From the pagoda, his voice sounded far more grander then one would expect. But just as promised, yin based spiritual fire ignited from the portals where ghost devils were supposed to be from.

"Brother, be careful!" Zhu Jiuying called out.

Zhurrong's clash against Mara's spiritual flames seemed to stalemate at first. In fact, Zhurrong was gaining an advantage. "Haha! I am the god of fire," he proclaimed.

"Is that so? Grand Cleansing Vaitarani."

Water flowed from the Reincarnation Pagoda. Those in the sky like Yi Fei'e, Xuangming, and Jumang flew higher to avoid the sea not understanding what it was. But Zhurrong quickly found himself submerged.

His fire did not burn out, and neither he nor his dragons were harmed. He was confused as he did not feel any adverse affects. But slowly, he felt his ill contempt for Mara dying. In response, his fierce divine flames started fizzling out.

Water was seeping into his flesh, penetrating his powerful divine body extremely slowly. But his soul was already feeling the cleansing effect. He did not know why he wanted to harm the pagoda, only that he should instead be protecting it.

"Get out, water is my domain!" Gonggong came to Zhurrong's rescue. He slithered his way through the water identifying it as both a spiritual and mental attack, both forms that the Earthly Divinity clan was still lacking.

Di Jiang, Shebishi, and Tianwu all landed inside the flood to help Zhurrong. But only Di Jiang was able to completely resist the cleansing Mara was attempting on him.

THOOM!

Yi Fei'e slashed with all her might across the pagoda's body. She prioritised destroying it over helping the Ancestral Divinities. As such, she brought all her spells to focus exclusively on the pagoda's upper structure.

'So many esoteric abilities, but in the end it all ties back to manipulations of the spiritual, and yin energy.' The moth fairy could see unexpected casualties being caught in between the crossfire, but she couldn't help it either.

Another sword light cut through the area aiming for Mara's spells. A dragon and a phoenix manifested briefly and managed to simultaneously destroy one of the treasure spirit's attacks aimed at Yi Fei'e while giving Gonggong some breathing room by cutting a trench into the earth.

Haotian's white robed figure appeared riding on a cloud made of swords. His expression solemn when he saw all the carnage around him.

He quickly made a hand seal to generate purple clouds and spread them throughout the area. He did this as an attempt to save the lives of countless weaker cultivators who were only surviving in wide reaching effects of Mara's battle against top tier powerhouses.

"You…you are daoist Haotian," Yi Fei'e narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Do you have any means to crack that chaos spiritual treasure open?"

"I…" Haotian gritted his teeth. Destroying something of that calibre was easier said then done.

Over on the water's edge, Gonggong wrapped Zhurrong and his mounts with his serpentine tail. His hydrokinetic powers were failing him much to his frustration. 'I'm the water god damn it.'

But help arrived when a sun appeared overhead. Water evaporated in quick succession.

"My thanks Di Jun," Di Jiang greeted after running to his younger brother's side.

"No problem brother Di Jiang," the Demon Emperor reciprocated. The Celestial River Diagram and the Sun Chakram were acting in tandem to bolster his power. Currently, despite his young age many ancient powerhouses cannot claim to be his match.

"Grab on, the ground is no longer safe," he offered the Sun Chakram as a vehicle.

"We can fly on our own," Tianwu insisted while lifting himself up with storm clouds. Di Jun nodded, then turned his attention back to Mara.

Too bad Taiyi was distracted by Hundun, his help would've been greatly appreciated. Many of his Demonic Grand Sages were also spread across the Netherworld battling powerful devils.

He quickly flew back up to rejoin his wife and sister in law to assault Mara.

The Reincarnation Pagoda's treasure spirit could see everything going on. But he was helpless to stop his targets from being rescued. He was unable to catch Yi Fei'e nor Xihe nor Changxi nor Di Jun. Because of so many distractions, his attack potency wasn't enough to overwhelm Haotian.

He felt cornered, the only good thing was that his innate durability was high enough to resist them.

"Brother Luohu, I cannot do this on my own. Use me, wield me as a weapon."

For a treasure, fighting on their own would never be as effective as fighting alongside a wielder. The Reincarnation Pagoda circumvented most of that by virtue of once being a living breathing deity. But his magical power would be even greater when bolstering Luohu.

The only reason they hadn't done so was to cover more ground.

The Immortal Extermination Formation was being pressed down. It wasn't defeated as Luohu had brought out the Destruction Mill to supplement himself, but Mara could tell the Devil Ancestor would struggle to break out of that encirclement.

DONG! DONG!

"Hm?"

Everything seemed to ripple before Mara's senses. His spells were being toyed with, his control over his battle lowered to a significant extent. His hold over the tug of war with the illusionary Reincarnation Disc faltering.

All stemming from the ringing of a bell. A chaos spiritual treasure just like his current body, one of the three treasures that broke off from Pangu's axe. Di Jun's younger brother Taiyi was floating freely without any signs of battle.

In the human form sun crow's right hand, he rung the Chaos Bell vigorously. Sweat poured down his head, a clear sign of the struggle to draw out the full power of the treasure.

"No no no no no! Hundun you useless thing, where are you?" Mara practically screamed.

The faceless Limitless Supreme Chaos Immortal was beside himself observing. He hovered without a care in the world after deciding to let Taiyi go. Instead, he constantly looked around in both the direction of the Great Wilderness as well as the Netherworld.

"Hundun, what is the meaning of this?" Mara cried.

"I…I didn't expect you two to show up," Hundun said. But he did not address Mara, instead he spoke towards roots pulling apart a tear in the Netherworld's reality.

From that tear, a chilling breeze that reminds one of a frigid night on the coast emanated from a female figure. This was followed by a mysterious stern presence that walked out following the woman.

Wangshu was the first to step through, the first thing she did was dash towards the illusionary Reincarnation Disc. But for Yang Mei, his expression was one of pure fury. He snapped towards the Immortal Extermination Formation and immediately said.

"Luohu, did you kill Huoyun?"

By this point, over eleven yuanhui had passed since Yang Mei last set foot in the Primitive World. No one except a select few even remembered his existence. Even Hongjun was stunned to see the old man who'd seemingly had no interest in Pangu's creation nor his original Dao return once again.

Yang Mei cut an imposing figure in the Netherworld. The moment he appeared, the image of an ominous swaying willow tree overtook the ominous night sky. Luohu had to raise his head to meet the senior godfiend's cold gaze.

"What about it?"

Yang Mei descended without hesitation into the Immortal Extermination Formation. Mara cried out for him to stop. But the latter was already tied down by everyone else.

Wangshu made her full appearance behind Da Hai with an expecting look. "What happened here?"

"Isn't it obvious? Take a look around you," Da Hai said regretfully.

Wangshu sucked in her breath and looked behind her. Her disciples Xihe and Changxi were fighting alongside an unknown man. Xihe had advanced so suddenly to become a Chaos Immortal and clearly had more power than Changxi. So many unknown faces brawling against devils.

Most disturbing of all was Qinglong. The Azure Dragon's presence was felt, but his life force was not. Looking at the Four Symbols formation formed by the Heavenly Dao, she saw only a corpse.

"What now?" She asked with a confused look. It was difficult to wrap her head around how so much could change from just one trip into the Chaos Sea.

"I kill that son of a bitch," Da Hai said. "Will you help me fight this war Wangshu?"

The Moon Star Lord sighed. "Someone has to watch your back. That's the Immortal Extermination Four Swords you told me about right? Zulong, Zufeng, and…I have no idea who that is but Yang Mei has also entered it."

"That's Zulin's son, the new Qilin Sovereign Qi An," he answered. "Trust me, I'm shocked too."

The female godfiend could only nod in understanding. Logically speaking, Qi An should hold a grudge, but he was still coordinating with Zulong perfectly. Her phoenix eyes glanced at the equally ferocious battle against the reincarnation pagoda.

As a congenital goddess born out of the Lunar Star, she held a natural inkling towards the yin attribute. Even as a Limitless Supreme Chaos Immortal, she cannot say she was too well versed in the deathly aspect of yin.

"I'll ensure my disciple's safety first." She then transformed into a beam of moonlight directly at the towering pagoda.

Yuanshi and the others looked curiously at Wangshu. They'd all nearly forgotten that there was once another Limitless Supreme Chaos Immortal inhabiting the Starry Skies. Previously, they still felt unsure over the war, but now their confidence was bolstered.

"Houtu, prepare yourself," Da Hai said suddenly. "The Reincarnation Pagoda cannot put its all into fighting with us for now because of the Chaos Bell. We should hurry things along and finish the ritual."

"Good, I…I was waiting for you to say that," Houtu said.

"Don't back out now," Minghe warned. "You fuck this up and this whole operation's fucked."

"I know what's at stake blood god," Houtu retorted. She sent a lasting look at her divine siblings in the distance.

…

To say Luohu was not having a good time was the understatement of the yuanhui. He felt almost as worse currently then when he initially failed in the siege of Mt Buzhou. The 12 Petals Black Lotus constantly spun in order to burn away at the roots reaching for him.

In the distance, Zulong roared and clashed against the Immortal Trapping Sword. His body glowed black and yellow and a swing of his tail destabilised a quadrant of the formation.

In another, the cries of Zufeng deafened him as she wrestled through millions of sword strikes to get at the Immortal Ending Sword.

The other two swords were also diverting large amounts of power to deal with Qi An's karmic based strikes as well as the Heavenly Dao's Four Symbols formation. The battle against the latter was considerably easier as it was a clash from both formation's outer shells.

"LUOHU!"

The Devil Ancestor gripped his spear tightly. He held it up to block a palm strike that nearly threatened to throw him off his feat. Countless spirally immortal killing sword light gathered around him to lift him up.

Despite being an element originally for the purpose of mass slaughter, it played defence when it came to Luohu.

"Yang Mei, you shouldn't have come back here."

The elderly man named Yang Mei couldn't control his temper. He was practically snarling with each palm strike he threw. Each one was like a new universe slamming into the devil's being.

Yang Mei was trapped within the formation too, but his body was powerful enough to not be affected by the cuts the four swords' sword light were trying to enforce. His cultivated spells, born from many years in the Chaos Sea expelled from his body.

In natural response, the Immortal Extermination Formation's sword light defended by parrying with brutal efficiency.Luohu swung the God Killing Spear at Yang Mei as well.

The stability of this formation was legendary at this point. Even with so much chaos going on, it still could not be broken easily. But quivering signs did result from the many exchanges between Luohu and Yang Mei.

"So worked up as well? For a godfiend who also chose to fanatically chase the Dao, you're awfully attached." Though this was said by Luohu in a mocking way, Yang Mei merely snorted at the attempt to rile him up.

"I treasured friendship, I treasure the Dao. I left to pursue my path but that hardly means I've forgotten my relationships. Something I doubt you understand with your slave army."

"You're a disgrace to Tai Chu's legacy," Luohu said. "How can you ever expect to achieve enlightenment in the Dao that way? None of you understood in the end, godfiends my ass. You've all forgotten what it meant to be one of the Chaos Godfiends!"

"I should be the one saying that," Yang Mei snorted. "With your Dao on full display, don't think I don't notice. Ancestor Tai Chu preached the Dao must be something every individual must strive for on their own. But all that insight? None of it is yours."

Yang Mei fought with an anger he never thought he'd been capable of. He had parted ways with Huoyun so long ago, but he never expected him to be gone just like that. First Tian Hai, then Huoyun, even for Yang Mei who steeled his heart to pursue a lonely path, the pain was immense.

In truth, Yang Mei had considered his fate with his sworn brothers to be over after he left the Primitive World. He would not go out of his way to ensure their paths crossed, he would not mind if they end up strangers again. But when Wangshu revealed the truth, the guilt came back.

'I should've tried harder to convince him. Could've shown him the true way of seeking the Dao rather then obsessing over his former one and that brat.' This was the sole thought in his mind. He didn't even bother speaking with Wangshu the whole trip back.

"All paths are valid in seeking the Dao!" Luohu countered back. From his perspective, Yang Mei's words were like the judging gaze of Hongjun. What was wrong with his Devilish Dao? It worked didn't it?

Luohu's insight into the wuji was even stronger then Yang Mei. Whereas the latter studied how primordial nothingness divided into two extremes, Luohu was already understanding how the source begets everything. He considered himself the furthest ahead in reaching the Dao realm, surpassing his rival Hongjun and the first person to break into this path, Da Hai.