Chapter 104: Battle Against Chaos

The corrupted formations blazed with sickly purple light. The Chaos Sect practitioners stood within twisted circles carved deep into the mountain stone. Their leader, Xiao Wuwei, raised his arms toward the bleeding sky. Dark energy poured from the dimensional tears above them.

"Watch as we birth a new reality!" he screamed. His voice cracked the air like thunder. "Your pathetic harmony cannot stop what we have begun!"

Liu Yun stepped forward. The Earth Shattering Sword hummed in his grip. Seven different energies flowed through the blade now. Each one sang a different note, but together they created perfect music.

"Your chaos destroys everything it touches," Liu Yun said calmly. "Even yourselves."

Behind Xiao Wuwei, three dozen corrupted cultivators began their forbidden ritual. Black flames erupted from their bodies. Their human shapes twisted and stretched. Bones cracked and reformed. Skin turned gray as ash.

Lin Fei's Water Mirror expanded into a massive shield. It reflected the chaos energy back at its source. "Look at what you've become," she called out. "Is this the transcendence you sought?"

One of the corrupted practitioners turned toward her. His face had melted and reformed into something barely human. Three eyes stared from his forehead. His mouth opened too wide, showing rows of needle teeth.

"We are beyond human weakness now," he hissed. Poison dripped from his words. "We are chaos incarnate!"

Jiang Tao activated his temporal sight. Time streams became visible around him like flowing rivers. He could see the future threads spinning out from this moment. Most of them led to destruction.

"They're trying to tear open a permanent gate," he warned his companions. "The ritual reaches completion in six minutes. After that, stopping them becomes impossible."

Mei Shengcao placed her palms against the mountain stone. Her life energy sank deep into the rock. She found the ancient root systems that had grown through the mountain for thousands of years. The plants here were old and wise.

"The mountain itself fights against their corruption," she reported. "But the chaos energy burns everything it touches. The plants are dying."

Echo Prime Zhu faded between dimensions. He moved through the twilight realm to scout their enemies' true strength. What he found there made him manifest quickly back to the normal world.

"Hundreds of void entities wait beyond the tears," he said urgently. "The moment the gate stabilizes, they'll pour through. We face an invasion that could consume the entire continent."

The Seven Harmonies moved into their battle formation. They had practiced this countless times during their three months together. Each member knew their role perfectly.

Liu Yun took the center position. His sword created a pillar of golden light that reached toward the sky. The other six arranged themselves around him in a perfect hexagon. Their combined energies formed a barrier against the spreading chaos.

Xiao Wuwei noticed their formation. He gestured sharply at his followers. "Kill them! The ritual must not be interrupted!"

The corrupted cultivators charged forward. They moved in ways that hurt to watch. Some ran on all fours like beasts. Others floated above the ground trailing intestines that had become tentacles. A few had merged together into writhing masses of flesh and bone.

Lin Fei's water techniques met them first. She created dozens of ice spears that pierced their twisted forms. But the chaos energy in their bodies healed the wounds instantly. The spears melted into steam that burned her skin.

"Physical attacks aren't enough," she realized. "The corruption repairs all damage."

Jiang Tao shifted time around the attackers. He slowed their movements to a crawl while speeding up his allies. But the temporal distortion made the chaos energy stronger. The void tears widened in response.

"Time manipulation feeds their power," he said grimly. "The more I disrupt causality, the more chaos spreads."

Mei Shengcao tried a different approach. She reached out to the life force still remaining in the corrupted cultivators. Under all that twisted flesh, human souls still existed. She tried to heal them back to their original forms.

The attempt nearly killed her. The chaos energy invaded her own body through the healing connection. Green veins appeared on her arms. Her hair began turning black at the roots.

"Don't try to save them," Echo Prime Zhu warned as he pulled her back. "They've chosen this path willingly. Their souls are already lost."

The battle intensified. More void entities began pushing through the dimensional tears. They looked like living shadows with too many teeth. Their presence made reality itself sick. The ground cracked beneath them. The air turned thick and hard to breathe.

Liu Yun realized conventional fighting wouldn't work. The chaos drew power from conflict itself. Every attack they made fed the corruption. Every technique they used gave their enemies more energy to steal.

"We need a different strategy," he called to his companions. "Fighting them directly only makes them stronger."

Lin Fei understood first. "Harmony conquers discord not through opposition but through integration," she said. "We don't fight the chaos. We transform it."

The Seven Harmonies shifted their formation. Instead of creating barriers against the corruption, they began to sing. Each member added their voice to a song that had never been heard before. It was the music of perfect balance.

The song didn't attack the chaos. It offered the twisted energy a chance to find peace. It showed the corrupted cultivators what they had lost when they abandoned their humanity. It reminded the void entities of the beauty they had forgotten.

Several of the corrupted practitioners stopped attacking. Tears ran down their twisted faces. They remembered their names. They remembered why they had begun cultivating in the first place. They remembered love.

"No!" Xiao Wuwei screamed. His absolute darkness robes flared with rage. "You will not steal my disciples with your weakness!"

He began the final phase of his ritual. The dimensional tears merged into a single massive gate. Through it, they could see an endless void filled with hungry shadows. The sight of it drove three of his followers insane. They collapsed and began eating their own flesh.

The gate continued expanding. In moments, it would be large enough for the void entities to pour through in endless numbers. The first challenge of the Qilin Hui was about to become their final failure.

But Liu Yun smiled. He had realized something important during the battle. The Seven Harmonies were stronger together than apart. And their enemies had just shown them the key to victory.

"Everyone, focus on the gate itself," he commanded. "We're not going to close it. We're going to change what it connects to."

The real battle was about to begin.