Encounter the Devil

THOOM!

BOOM!

THOOM!

KAKOOM!

Wild tears in spacetime, apocalyptic explosions, stray blasts of power tore across the surrounding lands of the West Continent. Trillions upon trillions of tons of rocks flew across the sky every time an ounce of energy smashed into the ground. Lakes the size of oceans evaporated, mountains the size of worlds disintegrated.

The clash of Chaos Immortals was tearing the world asunder. To the extend that the damages to the fabric of reality revealed large portions of the void. Spatial tides ripped into the world sucking an uncountable number of things in. Primordial beasts, innate creatures and geological features alike were not spared.

The combatants? They did not give a single crap about those caught int he crossfire. Chaos Godfiends were a civilization of people who were self centered by nature. All things in the service in the pursuit of the Dao.

Wether one becomes a righteous god, or a malevolent fiend, the Dao was most important. The path of moderation was emphasized by Tai Chu long ago, to walk the balance in between extremes hence the motto. But very few could truly live up to it.

In Luohu's opinion, any path was valid as long as the goal was achieved. Extremes or moderations were just arbitrary figures. This was where Hongjun was wrong. But then Hongjun was always arrogant, it was always his way or the highway.

Luohu sat upon the sky relaxed. His posture lay on his side with only one arm holding up his head. His seat was a massive lotus floating completely and utterly still. A pitch black flower with twelve petals. A top grade xiantian spiritual treasure, the 12 Petals Black Lotus of Destruction. It too was one of Pangu's 36 Petals Chaos Green Lotus' five seeds.

Luohu despite his appearances was fighting hard. Around him, a wild transformative scene was taking place. A virtual ocean of filthy water manifested as a gigantic tiger swinging its paws and wings at him. It seemed nothing could survive the blows of this beast. Each droplet of water held the weight to crush mountains and fill seas.

But the answer was equally valid. Luohu's figure emanated mysterious undefined light. It constantly changed on a spectrum of many colours and formed an illusionary figure. This figure had seven heads and six arms. The heads each had a distinct expression showcasing a different side of living beings.

Happiness, anger, sadness, fear, love, hate, and an expression of deep desire. These heads spat out orbs of qi that clashed against the blows of the water construct. A ferocious onslaught of power that would've torn universes apart were it not for the suppression of the Primitive World.

Even then, the natural suppression was still at its weakest at this point in time. It could not stop these deities from performing absurd feats of power that deformed the environment.

The constant struggle of power both spectacular and horrifying. For decades, this brawl raged on with no clear winner in sight. Luohu nor the northern invader could gain one foot over the other. A battle that seemed to never end.

So why did Luohu look so bored?

Qiong Qi, one of the four evils and a top contender among the currently active godfiends. An innate god who was a survivor of countless wars. His battle instincts were second to none and his abilities were top notch.

Just based on pure brute power, Qiong Qi had his brothers beat. In addition, he also had his filthy water which dampened the abilities of others giving Qiong Qi a home field advantage at any given time. Qiong Qi was mighty, this cannot be counter argued.

And Qiong Qi was furious.

Because how dare he? How dare he be so bored? How dare he not try? How dare Luohu regard him as another bug in the wind?

Who was Luohu?

He was nobody.

He was among the last the die at Pangu's hands because of his cowardliness. Hongjun's companion and assistant, he barely qualified to stand in the top three thousand. How did something so insignificant like him treat the exalted Qiong Qi as he is right now?

It was always strange how events up till now went. Hongjun came and went as he pleased disregarding Shenni's authority and the four evil's presences. His threats to Hundun were remembered and disdained upon. Luohu was no different.

The Chaos Cricket and the Chaos Desire Beast did not have the same social status as them. But they acted as almighty figures unconcerned and unbothered. Just what gave them the right.

Qiong Qi roared and roared. His figure attacked and attacked unleashing every daoist spell and battle technique he knew. His tail flailed like a mace, his teeth struck down like axes. His wings made hurricanes, his paws struck in gargantuan waves.

His water spewed everywhere uncontrollably, enveloping the hot lands of the west. The thick gunk contained within the watery spills corroded the land decreasing its fertility and damaging its spirituality. Any living creature unlucky enough to be caught would find themselves sucked in and drowned.

But the western ruler reacted to none of it. Sure, he may've given some pointers, taught a bunch of people, spread his teachings and eliminated primordial beast to the point where the west statistically had the fewest primordial beast attacks out of anywhere in the world. Yet Luohu made no attempts to save the western people.

'Save yourselves, only the best of the best of the best survives in this world. Only they are worthy.'

"Qiong Qi," Luohu said in a long drawn out manner. "You really are remarkable. Your strengths have been so fascinating to experience first hand."

"What?"

"Your strikes, your brutality, your unhesitatingly to kill. Reputation truly doesn't speak of you enough."

"You mock me?"

"No no! I praise you."

Luohu broke out in a smile. He had the appearance of a dashing young and virile man. His long black hair was tied in a pony tail and his eyes carried no malice during the many decades long altercation. His robes were tidy and he rather appeared jovial.

Luohu never considered Qiong Qi an enemy in the first place.

He was an opportunity.

And like any good godfiend, Luohu used that opportunity to its fullest. He tempered himself, tested his own techniques against Qiong Qi's. Qiong Qi was battling to kill, Luohu was battling to train.

'Perfecting ones own Dao within a life or death battle, what a careless madman.' Qiong Qi was secretly impressed by Luohu. In his opinion, Demon Ape would've liked him if he knew this was how Luohu truly was. But he did not show it on the outside.

Despite his opinions on the man, Qiong Qi still felt deeply insulted he was being treated like a testing dummy. He pushed on with all his efforts bringing out whatever he could muster with his current cultivation base.

The two godfiends had already returned to the Great Principle Chaos Immortal realm. Their powers were extraordinary already within the current Primitive World.

…

Tian Hai entered the West Continent with a grunt. His state of dress was messy, his hair was wild and unkept. A trail of blood leaked from his mouth and his skin was marred by injuries.

"The hell." He dusted himself clean of remnant void energy and observed his surroundings. His heart tightened when he witnessed the scene before him. He was alarmed and felt fearful because what he saw looked like something out of revelations.

"Is this the end of the world?" He uttered.

Furious gashes into realty littered the sky. Void energy poured in forming tons of sediments and living creatures into spatial tides only to be torn apart within the wild void. The ground in man y places wasn't even visible, covered by layers of water. It was simply chaos.

Tian Hai braced himself as a wave of powerful qi washed over him. His hairs stood on end and he felt a terrifying amount of bloodlust emanating from the source. For a few seconds he froze.

It was the same fearful feeling one would experience when facing up against an apex predator. Tian Hai second guessed his decision to be here.

"No, I have to continue on." He convinced himself to move forwards against the storm of chaos. Were it many years ago, he'd be stuck in a loop of indecision. Even now, he still felt voices screaming at him no matter how toned down they were.

But Tian Hai also had his own thoughts an opinions. He believed the pitiful innate creatures deserved a chance and that they he was needed in this moment. With that in mind, Tian Hai morphed his body into into a stream of water and shot across the sky.

It was a crude attempt at creating a movement technique. Huoyun has shared bits and pieces of his own but Tian Hai wasn't that creative in spell crafting activities. He was always blocked off when conjuring them up and could only manage half assed replicants.

Even so, Tian Hai traveled fast using his own divine sense to search for people. It was only then that he realized he didn't even know what the, 'fourth caravan' looked like. His eyes widened at the realization and suddenly he felt lost.

"Fuck! Where do I even look?"

The chaotic forces of the west was insanely wild. Creatures below the Golden Immortal realm would find it hard pressed to survive in such an environment. Heck even Tian Hai found it difficult to resist the currents in the air. The wind was too strong, the void spatial tides were too strong, the water was filthy, draining and heavy. So many factors designed to kill you.

WHOOSH!

A groan of the wind washed over Tian Hai and another wave of qi sent shivers down the innate god's spine. Tian Hai looked towards the epicenter of the conflict and couldn't help but avert his eyes.

"Insane," he muttered. Chaos Immortals were beasts on another level. It was as if they were destroying the very universe they inhabited.

Throughout his short time in the west, Tian Hai encountered no less then thirty stray blasts and disasters. Each of whom would severely damage him if they landed a direct hit. Each one deeply affected his mentality regarding his quest.

THOOM!

A nearby mountain collapsed beneath the pressure of the constant barrage of qi waves. It's rubble plummeted into the soil bringing about a tide of sediments. The avalanche was so aggressive that it spread out in all directions at an immense pace.

"No," Tian hai called out with an outstretched hand. He manifested a blast of water that stretched into a wall of liquid. He blocked off the sediments and forced it into a dome of water before transforming it into ice.

"If that had spread, countless living beings would be harmed. Speaking of." Tian Hai scanned the land desperately searching for living creatures. He can't have possibly came to the west for nothing right?

In truth, the chances of him finding any people were monstrously low. The stalemate between Luohu and Qiong Qi had been ongoing for decades. The only reason Tian Hai and Huoyun didn't feel it in all that time was because Mt Buzhou and the Central Continent blocked the shockwaves.

As a creature born of water, Tian Hai had a fringe connection to life. He could sense living beings somewhat better than most immortals at his stage. This extra sensitivity allowed him to gain some grounds in his search.

Despite the aftershock's interferences, Tian Hai found deceased corpses all over the place. Half disintegrated third parties and torn up limbs as a result of the disaster. Tian Hai could practically feel the negative energy of grudges conglomerating in the ground. Karmic sin was attracted by these feelings and enormous amounts of this energy would send the world into turmoil.

Thoughts of living beings would be muddled, divination would be blocked, malice infected the air. All results of tribulation that were the end result of excessive amounts of karmic sin. This same energy was what spawned primordial beasts in the first place. The malice of the Chaos Godfiends that still haunts the world till this very day.

Tian Hai wondered if incidents like these were what kick started the Beast Emperor Shenni tribulation in the first place.

CRACKLE!

An open rift in the distance bristled. Radiant light of red, green, black, yellow, and white came pouring out as Huoyun's figure tried to come through. He was visible straining himself having to defend against the chaotic tides within the void between realms.

"Damn it Tian Hai!" He cursed.

But Tian Hai couldn't hear him from the distance he'd already gained. His senses had finally managed to spot some stragglers.

At this point in time, Tian Hai had already lost hope of retrieving whatever fourth caravan the innate creatures had spoken about. At this point he just wanted to save someone so that this trip wasn't meaningless. He has to have accomplished something.

Hence Tian Hai flew towards the lifeforms he'd sensed. Coincidentally, this was towards the epicenter of the battle between Qiong Qi and Luohu.

Seeing this, Huoyun gritted his teeth in anger. "That stupid reckless…" he spewed forth insults uncharacteristic of him. The rift he was traveling through was a lot more unstable then the one Tian Hai lucked out in entering. It had taken quite a bit of effort on his part to stabilize it. He wasn't like Tian Hai who had the benefit of the 12 Petals White Lotus which was an extraordinary defensive treasure.

…

THOOM!

BOOM!

CRACKAKOOM!

Tian Hai avoided rains of water and qi doing his best impression of a mosquito dodging slaps. His eyes trailed upwards and briefly witnessed the titanic struggle of Chaos Immortal. The feeling of smallness could not sop permeating him.

"Hm?"

Luohu's attention caught on to Tian Hai's presence. His eyes trailed down and spotted the innate god's figure in recognition. "Sea God Tian Hai?" He along with Qiong Qi were both surprised at the previous martial deity's sudden appearance.

What was Tian Hai doing here? How was he even able to be reborn with the state Pangu left him in near the end of Heaven Opening? Actually, why was a mere Golden Immortal sneaking through a battle of Great Principle Chaos Immortal experts?

The coincidence was so startling that the two stopped trading blows entirely in bewilderment.

Thousands of kilometres below the two immortals, in the rubble of mountains. Several crushed figures breathed their last. By some miracle, some innate creatures had been able to survive through the chaos so close to the battle. Yet just a few seconds ago, they were unlucky and finally met their ends.

Their figures resembling reptilian creatures with long spiked tails and beaked heads with five eyes were crushed to paste. Red gore littered the rocky surface that Tian Hai arrived on.

'No!' Tian Hai knelt at their graves. The feeling of regret and uselessness flowed through his mind. Subtle whispering flowed from the darkest recesses of his mind.

It felt so pointless. These beings weren't even the targets of anyone's wrath. Just unlucky creatures caught in the blast of uncaring superior lifeforms. It was such a waste of life that Tian Hai couldn't help but feel angered.

He felt for them. He felt terrible for their fates. He felt pity at their circumstances. He was empathetic to their suffering. The pointless losses sickened him. His inability to fulfill his desire angered him. He was bothered by it all.

Tian Hai glared up at a dispassionate Luohu and Qiong Qi.

"Fellow daoist Tian Hai," Qiong Qi greeted first. He was rather warm towards the innate god. In the Chaos Sea him, Tian Hai, and Si Hai were sorta kindred spirits. All warlike immortals who cultivated water related Daos. He concluded the chances of Tian Hai being amicable to him and Shenni to also be quite high.

"I am pleased to know you've returned too. Unfortunately your new cultivation is a little too low to be here at the moment. However, I would like to extend an invitation to visit the North Continent. His majesty emperor Shenni would be glad to know a fellow war god has returned. But in the meanwhile, please excuse me while I settle the score here."

Luohu eyed Qiong Qi's after hearing his words and scoffed. He rose from his lying position and stood upon his lotus on both feet. His lazy demeanor was still there but his aura noticeably more vicious than before.

"Settle the score? Little kitten really has no idea what he's dealing with," Luohu said. "Listen to his words daoist Tian Hai. I'd hate for a fellow godfiend to lose his life in the crossfire but I'm not going to play around anymore."

"Lose in the crossfire?" Tian Hai couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did Luohu not care an ounce for the destruction he was causing. Did Qiong Qi not care about how badly he was flooding the west?

"You two!" Tian Hai called out as loud as he can. His voice echoed with eight simultaneous roars and was easily legible for hundreds of thousands of kilometres. Tian Hai's face was flushed in anger and his childish body was shaking.

"Do you guys not see the harm you're causing? What devastation you've wrought to the land? To its people? Untold millions must've been caught up in the fighting and perished!"

""Huh?""