Killing Birds

The strength gathered by the combined might of an army of immortals was something seldom seen. Each individual gods in and of themselves, capable of moving mountains and filling seas. Each movement of theirs were masterful techniques honed through thousands of years of experimentation and experience.

Yet the world of cultivation was one where each stage of progression significantly amplifies the strength of an individual. While at lower realms, the gap between cultivators could be bridged with superior treasures, techniques, pills, or foundations, this gap that exist between the immortal realms were simply too significant.

As one climbed the latter, this gap only gets bigger. Such fantasies as crossing realms to fight a stronger opponent were just that, fantasies. The chasm would only worsen as one moves up.

So even if an army of ten thousand Heavenly Immortals were to face a Golden Immortal. The result will be a casualty of ten thousand while the Golden Immortal grand master will walk away with no injuries.

So a war between cultivator factions were in actuality a contest of champions. Armies in the conventional sense were pointless beyond showing off one's charisma or authority. They made for pretty marching props during events but that's really it.

So why did Zulong bring so many immortals of lower realms with him? After all, they'd get slaughtered under the hooked claws of the phoenixes. Realistically, only the top most Great Principle Chaos Immortals should be enough.

The answer was formations. Battle formations that interlocked the powers of many and significantly amplifies them into one. A mighty spell diagram that would turn an army of fodder into an ultimate weapon.

There were many categories of formations. Defensive formations that used natural resources and treasures lay upon a foundation of significant Primordial Qi. This was always a leyline just like Kailong Chen was. They were unmovable and acted as defensive barriers. They were planned constructs set up beforehand and tied to the commands of a single individual.

Battle formations were different however. They were war formations designed for the use of attacking. Unlike defensive formations which didn't require personnel, battle formations exclusively relied on the many. Many weak come together to fight a strong, that was the underlying principle.

So with a battle formation, ten thousand Heavenly Immortals would instead squish the Golden Immortal like a bug. Even dozens, hundreds of Golden Immortals together will be unable to prevail such a force.

In the most ancient era, over a hundred Great Unity Golden Immortals interlocked themselves to fight a Great Principle Chaos Immortal. Now in the current era, an army in the billions came as a formation. Alongside their own Great Principle realm and even stronger elders, the dragons pressed hard upon the phoenixes.

It was a harrowing sight, when the corpses of many avians fell from the air. Zufeng had wasted time to call upon Phoenix's Roost's defensive formation. The manifestation of a gargantuan firebird sang the area with virtue and harmony.

It was a siege where reality was ripped asunder. The environment tore apart, lands and forests were uprooted. Mountains shattered and distant oceans kicked up tsunamis.

The furious roar of a dragon drowned out the cries of the phoenix as copious amounts of sea water clashed against copious amounts of divine flames.

Zulong, blinded by rage, wrestled against both Zufeng and Zhuque. His scales, too tough for their claws to penetrate, too resilient to burn. Yet he also struggled to catch the two with his claws and any damage he felt healed with their nirvana abilities.

There was none of the humanoid elegance. One bestial fury in Zulong. His roars were like shockwaves that ruptured the foundations of the cosmos.

Zulong thrashed wildly in the sky. His serpentine body was used both for defending and attacking in a flurry of tidal like movements. In his claws gripped two divine treasures, one of which was his pearl while the other was his chain of beads.

In other to counter this, Zufeng and her sister drew forth every ounce of the Nanming Divine Flames they could muster. Her own top grade xiantian spiritual treasure, a fan made of tail feathers clashed fiercely against the roaring dragon's beads.

Away from them, Yinglong lead the other supreme elders of the seas in a duel against the avian elders. Their fight was much more lopsided. As despite having a defensive formation present, the four seas brought a formation of their own.

Each of Zulong's eight children floated within, surrounded by countless lesser immortals. Their hardened gazes held a killing glee as more and more Chaos Immortals of the enemy fell.

Even their bird like shape did not deter the prince Chao Feng, who himself was birdlike. Chao Feng did not consider himself an avian despite his appearance. He ruthlessly channeled his ninth of the formation into a firestorm that incinerated phoenixes who used fire of their own yet still could not defend properly.

The formation formed by the dragons split into rays of cosmic light. Each light embodied one of the nine son's positions. Each light formed into raging monstrosities of beasts out for blood. They smashed into the barrier around Phoenix's Roost with a crushing glee.

The sky was painted orange as an explosion of fire irradiated from the epicentre of the impact. Thousands of avians within the city perished on the spot while weaker experts just barely held on.

Those distant spectators in the other continents could even hear him despite the distance.

As the fighting scaled up further and further, even Mt Yujing could feel the shockwaves.

"Do you think Luohu planned all this?" Haotian asked Hongjun. The elderly man had no part to play in this event. Sure he may have tried to steer in a certain direction, that much Haotian was sure of. But a sudden eruption of war was beyond his actions.

Hongjun contemplated silently. He wondered about the possibility himself.

"If I know Luohu, it's that he can be pretty devious at times. But he's nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is."

"That doesn't answer my question master."

"I wonder as well."

…

"WOAH!"

Above the south sea, Taiyi and Dijun had to steady themselves in the air. Trying to fly in the great wilderness right now was like trying to fly through a typhoon.

Even for the two crows of not insignificant strength, there was still powerful turbulence.

"Seems we came at a bad time brother," Taiyi grimaced. "Perhaps we should head back to the stars, Jianmu is right there."

He pointed with his wing towards the swaying celestial tree. But his elder brother Dijun shook his head.

"No brother, my premonition is telling me we're needed here," the sun crow said.

…

"Heavens! It's like the world is ending," a woman's voice echoed the valley where two siblings sat gazing at the horizon. The blue sky had long been painted orange in a fierce radiation of Qi.

The two siblings, a brother and sister pair huddled together as waves and waves of diminished power ran through them. Their upper halves were nude humans while their lower halves were that of serpents.

Despite that, their power hovered in the Great Unity Golden Immortal realm, not a small feat but by no means top tier.

"Don't worry sister, they won't reach here. Mt Buzhou is safe from such secular conflicts," the older one, Fuxi said.

"That sounds like tempting fate," Nuwa, the younger one, deadpanned.

Fuxi looked at her with a disbelieving look. "Come on, Buzhou is a celestial mountain. It's a holy ground, no one would dare fight here."

THOOM!

The trees around them swayed as the ground suddenly shook as more Qi of clashing elements washed over them.

"Alright then," Nuwa said snakily, accepting Fuxi's words.

…

CRUNCH!

While the opening battle between dragons and phoenixes were ongoing. In the jungles at the border of the east and south continents. Liu Er munched on corpses.

He looked up in surprise and unconcealed glee.

"The dragon-phoenix tribulation is finally starting?"

He swallowed the rich chunk of flesh and shuddered in excitement. The digested Dao essence coursed through his body as he danced with joy.

"Finally. Why the hell was everything so damned peaceful. You'd think these scaled bastards and the flat haired dumbasses had some ambition but NOOO! I bet they don't even know what a real fight is like."

He leapt into the sky and landed on a piece of cloud.

"Well you know what they say. The mantis stalks the cicada unaware of the oriole behind. Time for me to collect my due."

The six eared monkey took a moment to look eastwards. "3 Purities. I don't forget ever, you're next," he growled and pointed towards the direction Kunlun was in.

The utter humiliation he'd suffered was too egregious. He'd underestimated the 3 purities. But never again will he do so. Since the tribulation seems to be starting, tons of treasures will become ownerless.

Who knows, maybe he'd even be able to nab the Twenty Four Sea Calming Pearls or the Cosmic Ruler. All things that were legendary back when he read internet novels based on Investiture of the gods.

Since he lacked a system of any kind(damn you heaven), he'd need to take risks. But even so, Liu Er adhered to the, "no pain, no gain", philosophy.

…

For Zufeng, the worst of all possible scenario was her current reality. She had no luxury to prepare. How on earth was Zulong able to rally an army so fast? How on earth can he catch her flatfooted like this?

It's like he was expecting to come fight her at a moment's notice. Even if he was wary, his guard shouldn't be so high as to be ready for all out war at a moment's notice.

'Look at him, so bestial. None of the elegance befitting of a true sovereign,' a darker younger voice in her head scoffed.

She flapped her wings and released a trail of glitter. This was a spell that interrupted Zulong's manifestations of glaciers. The two canceled each other out and the dragon moved on to attack her younger sister.

'What's the point of even reasoning with this buffoon?' She mentally sighed. 'A primitive creature like him lacks any form of higher thinking we avians posses.

So what if the seafolk had so much so called 'advanced technology?' Just parlour tricks that an immortal could replicate in a far more powerful manner.

Zufeng doubted Zulong would be smart enough to make them in the first place. Probably a product of one of those moth fairies they're always on about.

She pecked into Zulong's spine and quickly retreating, catching a retaliatory scratch by the dragon's leg. Her blood bled into the sky and melted into droplets of fire that rained at Zulong. But the dragon's hydrokenesis dispelled any semblance of the attack.

Instead, lighting shot out of his mouth and electrocuted her body. She yelped in pain and called upon Phoenix's Roost's defence formation to support her. Her Nirvana healing will take care of the rest.

On the other side, Zhuque had recovered and attacked the dragon once more. She smiled to know her family would not abandon her. For the sake of her unborn children, Zhuque and herself will fight to the death.

She did not like to admit this but she held some reservations about Zhuque in the beginning. She was very close to the Dragon Sovereign's own brother and that in and of itself called her loyalty into question. But her willingness to fight to the bitter end had warmed her heart greatly.

'Rekindle my ambition. This lowly worm deserves to die for. What right does he have to resist me for so long?'

'What right does he has to call himself Sovereign before I?'

'What right?'

'What right?'

'I'll kill him!'

'I am the only one who is venerable!'

'I alone am the strongest!'

'That's right, why have I been so reserved until now? I'm a coward. I should've attacked and gotten I'd of him. He's nothing before me. I am the daughter of Pangu, inheritor of the Chaos Sky Phoenix. Why did I have to fear? Why did I hold back?'

'Yes, yes, yes. I would've launched a conquest years ago.'

'I alone!'

'I alone!'

"What?" Zufeng's head snapped back as she suddenly felt a bit light headed. She narrowed dodged Zulong's charge, dropping small feathers in the process.

"Sister! Are you alright?" Zhuque asked.

"I'm fine, blast him!" She commanded.

The two phoenixes united their flame and shot it forth like a canon. Harmonised in Ying-Yang, their flames were not hot. But they possessed a unique power that made them even more dangerous.

"GRAH!" Zulong roared in frustration. He blasted out his own attack in the form of a dragon shaped lightning bolt from his mouth. What followed was a clash that ripped apart this side of reality and hurled the pieces into the void.

"Even without our rebirth ability, he still has an advantage. He just won't go down," Zhuque sighed in disappointment. "Other phoenixes should've already noticed by now. How long till they get here?"

"I'd wager several days up to several weeks. Even a year for the ones in far off places," Zufeng said in disgruntlement. Her fire was greatly diminished even beneath the effects of her defensive formation.

"Ram yourselves down!" Zulong suddenly commanded. "Crush this city underfoot!"

Zufeng's eyes widened. "You're insane, won't that endanger your down children?"

Zulong gritted his teeth. "Hmph, you don't have to be concerned about that," he said as the formation set up by his army descended in full force rather than attacking with spells. With the stabilised way the formation was constructed, breaking it will be nigh impossible for the avians as they were now.

"KILL!"

A swarm of voiced announced. Zulong narrowed his eyes at them but dismissed it a second after.

"You and I have had our differences," Zulong said. "Do not worry, I will protect the birds after you're gone after I purge all the ingrates."

"You," Zufeng's glare was venomous.

The closing in army smashed into Phoenix's Roost. The barrier resisted but was being torn apart. Phoenixes and other strong avians fell by the hundreds and eventually thousands.

Zulong closed in with a raised claw. But Zufeng met it with her own.

They clashed like metallic swords, sending sparks into the air. They sliced and sliced, each time emanating metallic clashing sounds.

"GAH!"

Zulong's neck stretched out and bit Zufeng's exposed nape. He lifted her up and thrashed about with her body, smashing it into Zhuque.

"Your majesty!" Chongming called out in distress. But before he could act, Yinglong's tail dragged him across the sky and onto the earth with a harsh smash. In the rain dragon's claws lay the corpse of another mighty figure.

"COCKAW!"

Zufeng cried out trying to rip her way out of Zulong's grasp. But his stronger fleshy body proved too much for her as once she was in his grasp, the dragon ruthlessly smashed her about.

The barrier collapsed and Zulong's army entered in droves. His sons each sent rays of attacks, supported by numerous others. In seconds, they collapsed the imperial palace into a massive crater.

As the destruction was going on, the air rippled. In the turbulent airwaves of the void. A gargantuan moth flew against the rough currents.

The aftermath of Zulong's callous display of power had made the void chaotic like never before. But Yi Fei'e was not the second best disciple beneath Da Hai for nothing.

Her thin legs grabbed Bi An's body firmly and her wings formed a barrier of cosmic starlight. In the hours since he'd awoken, Yi Fei'e nabbed him and flew towards the south continent. This was mainly to help his father and also to find out what was really going on.

So as Yi Fei'e finally managed to arrive many hours into the battle. Most of the avians in the capital had already perished. Chaos Immortals died in droves, the avians more so than the seafolk.

"Father!" Bi An called out, freeing himself from Yi Fei'e.

"Bi An?" Zulong cried in joyful surprise. The sight of his son was so much so that he dropped the prone form of Zufeng from his mouth.

Yi Fei'e on the other hand scanned the land around her. Looking at the seafolk, dragons, and avians killing each other. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Her pearl glowed a viridescent light.

"Just like Bi An," she said in recognition. "But even more subtle."