Along with the Exalted one's declaration, the space suddenly transformed into a field of hellish-black and red colour within a thousand metres around him. Within this enormous field, countless obsidian chains rose from the ground, piercing every person, including the demonic cultivators and those bold enough to ride in the air with their swords in this crisis.
It didn't matter if one was within the barrier of the city. As long as one was in the range of the technique they would become chained into place. The citizens screamed in terror and pleaded for help. They felt the chains slowly corrode their bodies, draining away their strength slowly but steadily.
In their heavy-lidded eyes besides seeing the hell-like scenery, they could sense through the other five senses that the air was becoming corrupted. For the demonic cultivators it was not that bad, but for everyone else it was like living in a pollution of toxic, poisonous gas.
"The calamity! The calamity is here!!"
"The demons are going to sacrifice us all!!"
"Where is the Li Sect Master?!!"
With the phenomena presented in the sky-above superimposed with the Exalted one's technique, the world really appeared as though it was foreboding the grand descent of the Demon Emperor's step to domination.
Li Cheng's limbs wobbled, threatening to collapse. He grunted and briefly rattled against the 4 chains that held his body until he understood how much he could move. Disbelieved, he took two small steps forward.
It turned out he could actually move. Unlike the rest of the people he saw whether it was the people he had forgotten about behind him, or the confused demonic cultivators.
However, there was an issue. While he does have the capability to move, the consequence was he could experience the weakening of his body hasten.
'Could it be because of this robe?'
When he examined his exquisite robe… it was immaculate as always. Completely unaffected by the chains drilled in his body. In fact, none of them could be said to be touching the robe in spite of the surface coverage of the human body. As if the chains themselves were avoiding the robe.
"Ugh.." Li Cheng groaned.
'More importantly are those chains.'
Li Cheng tilted his head and stared at the Exalted one who was laughing maniacally as his body radiated with malefic qi, increasing in reddish-black lustre.
It came as no surprise that he was absorbing the strength of everyone present.
Even the Deity was affected.
'Why do I have 4 chains? What does the number of chains mean or perhaps represent?'
There were 5 chains on the cultivators, 4 chains on Li Cheng, 3 chains on the demonic cultivators, and finally 2 chains on Kuan Yin.
As he pondered, the thoughts suddenly popped; a pleasant sensation swelled from his left shoulder. Before he could take a glance, a verdant tree branch sprung in front of his eyes, stunning him. Its stems crawled on his body like a caterpillar, flourishing and in a couple of breaths blooming with tiny white flowers.
'W-Willow?'
Li Cheng knew that these were willows, but the ones he knew from Earth were completely different. The plant itself was nowhere this green, and the willows' beauty itself was questionable being tiny silky buds. But here, the buds were so beautiful, fluffy, and had a strange attraction that teased and beckoned to touch. Similar to how a cat would be enticed to paw out towards a teaser toy.
'My strength is undergoing restoration? No, I still feel my energy being drained, but it seems this willow curling on me is making up for the loss of strength by providing me with its strength!'
With his vision lightening with various bright colours, he removed his sight from the willows.
Hell had become really strange.
Hell was becoming infested with luxuriant greens. The charred, ruined, and sandy floor was mossed with a vivid green mattress that spread afar. Sporadically, all sorts of plants were growing from the ground. Abundant where people were, latching themselves in protest against the obsidian chains.
It appeared as though mother nature had decided to join the fray by integrating with the ruined hell and adding another layer of chains for the victims. While on the outside it looked like the earth itself had betrayed them, for those chained, after struggling pointlessly, they realised that these plants were not hurting them, but aiding them in their recovery.
"Oh so your Domain is a healing type coming from the wood element. Unfortunately for you, my Restriction Domain appears to be stronger." The Exalted one smirked.
"Wood element hehe, you could say that. Domain Battle!"
Remaining seated on her pink lotus, she put away her willow and jar, and pressed her palms together.
All of a sudden, the infestation of nature spread more vividly, the hairy greens grew taller, and the plants rested on people brilliantly sparkled. The black clouds above were forcefully pulled apart, and the dormant sun was roused. Unconcerned of its raging neighbours, it gloriously hung and shined its rays upon the land, stimulating nature to thrive further!
"What?!!"
But that was only the beginning.
Chirp! Chirp!
As if on cue, a yellow avian erupted from the knot of one of the grown trees. The solitary songbird was soon joined by his beaked companions, creating a symphony of song. Many critters and animals soon joined the fest.
Their chorus cheered their homes, powering the efforts of greens to overrun the reds and blacks. The corrupted air fought to destroy the unwanted lifeforms, but the extermination was unable to outpace the growth of the lifeforms!
"Amazing" Li Cheng awed, stretching his hand out to allow an emerald butterfly to alight.
Li Cheng wondered if these animals were real. If they were, it meant she could actually create life!
She really was a god! Or rather a Deity!
"Heavens! This legendary realm can create life!!"
"She must be the Daughter of Heaven!"
"The Son of Heavens brought his sister to help him vanquish against the great evil!"
Li Cheng felt his mind go numb when he heard these invigorated cultivators. 'What the fuck?! Where are the damn Buddhists?! How many more misunderstandings are we going to get?!'
What Li Cheng didn't know was that there was a group of Buddhists praying devoutly in the city. As for whether, they recognised…
"I underestimated you, Deity. To think you can overpower me while being only in that stage. But you shouldn't get your hopes up, I wasn't even using much of my power!"
With that declaration, the Exalted one spreads his limbs into a stance.
"KAAAHHH!!!"
The Qi in the air turned dense, shaking like waves as it erupted with the familiar hell-like reddish black fumes. The greens of the world began to disintegrate, replaced with fires and lava that threatened to burn and molten the world.
The black obsidian chains surged with vigour and began to cobweb with its nearby strings. Grouped victims were trapped and chained together mercilessly as if locking down an ancient sealed beast.
Fortunately for Li Cheng, he had sensed the chains were having some kind of attraction force, so he had immediately teleported himself away from the others. He stood on top of a branch of a large tree and endured as the chains merged together.
"Sorry."
He mumbled quietly, watching the cultivators become stuck together. It seemed the chains did not differentiate friend from foe as the demonic cultivators themselves were in quite a sticky scenario.
'Now that I'm not disturbed, I can concentrate and use this!'
Eyes of the Strongest Sect Master!
[Name: Wan Xin]
[Cultivation Level: Ruler Realm Late Stage]
[Bloodline: Half-Devil Blood]
[Talent: A Grade]
'Late stage?! No wonder Kuan Yin looks like she is struggling. But even so, she appears to be holding her ground quite well. Damn I was hoping I wouldn't need to land a finger. And he seems to be a half demon I'm guessing. That makes sense.'
Li Cheng thought of a few things, but through his shuffling he was reminded of the chains and willows on him. 'It won't be easy with these restraining me, but for now…' The blue in his eyes glinted, as he looked at the sky above. 'Let's obtain as much experience as possible.'
***
Listening to the despairing cries of the people, Kuan Yin's expression darkened. She closed her eyes and began reading Buddhist scriptures to weaken the enemy and help calm the people.
As time passed, the skies returned back to normal, but the darkness and fires from the clash between two powerhouses' domains meant that the bright day from before wasn't returning for a while.
The battle raged on for about twenty minutes. Kuan Yin already knew quite clearly that this would be an incomparably hard battle and her current strength was inferior. She understood that this dreadful enemy was in the same realm as her but was stages above her.
Despite the polarising clash between the goodness of nature and the evilness of the demonic, set to appear as if it would destroy the world, the truth was less about destruction and more about a relentless struggle to claim it.
Both of their Domains were not offensive in nature and were definitely not attack type Domains, so their strength was unable to bring forth the destructive power that an Attack Domain has.
The ongoing turbulence was akin to two rulers belonging to completely different countries fighting over a location of land. They both were trying to make the land represent them by establishing their 'Domain'. Once one side loses, then the opposing person would be the owner and have a home field advantage, drastically increasing their odds of finishing them off.
This was what is known as a "Domain Battle".
'I can't let this go on for much longer. But the innocent people…' Kuan Yin gritted her teeth as she mused.
If she lets him have the Domain, then it would only be a matter of time until her enemy becomes so strong that she wouldn't be able to win. Most importantly, the people here starting from the weakest would be sacrificed in a few minutes after the Domain is established without her healing prowess.
'Maybe I should ask that mortal to help me? I couldn't see through him, he looked young but he seemed strong. But if that was the case, he wouldn't have called me in the first place. I don't want to get him involved.'
It was shortly after this moment that Kuan Yin suddenly felt a pulse of spiritual sense coming from somewhere. She knew it was Li Cheng because she recognised it from before. Credit is also due to her Domain and the fact that he was the one who called her.
"Young miss. Things don't appear too well. Do you need any help?"
"No.. it's fine I can handle it. Just stay safe… actually, um… sorry if you can, can you take care of the people who are in trouble if you can move?" She had sensed him being able to somehow move before so that's why she requested this.
"Mmm it's a little difficult but with you doing your best, it's the least I can do."
"Thank you. But please don't push yourself!"
Kuan Yin thought that the conversation would be over, but then his voice came again.
"Young miss. This battle… I'm guessing neither of you can move right now?"
"No, that's not true. We can move, but we don't dare to. This is a Domain Battle. If one of us slips, then the opponent can exploit the gap and obtain an upper hand in the establishment of a Domain. In fact, either of us can go attack the other while they are in the middle of establishing a Domain, but the problem with that is unless we finish the opponent off quickly, then they would establish a Domain and be able to reverse the tides."
Kuan Yin exhaled deeply through her nose, un-interrupting her Buddhist scriptures. "With my original cultivation, I would be able to attack and establish a Domain without any impediments, but being at the beginning of the Ruler Realm really is difficult." She paused as a thought struck her mind.
"Your cultivation remains veiled from my sight, yet your presence emanates a sense of mystery. You must be quite gifted. Maybe you have reached at least the peak stage of the Sky-Seeking Realm? If that's the case, you might just hold the key to creating an opportunity for me."
"Young miss… Sorry to disappoint you but I'm actually… Wait! Please brace yourself for this."
'Could he perhaps be higher? Then that means he can really help me get an edge over him! Is he having fun watching this battle? No, he wouldn't do that… he is well mannered and invoking a Deity is no laughing matter. Ah? It must be because he is injured, so he isn't able to fight in his best cond—'
"I'm at the Qi Condensation level."
The words of the Buddhist scriptures stopped for a moment before resuming.
"Mortal, your jest is ill-timed, especially amidst the turbulence of battle. I may have yielded a bit of ground, but equilibrium will be restored. Now, with transparency, please reveal to me the depth of your spiritual cultivation. What level have you attained?"
"Qi Condensation level."
"M-Mortal y-you…"
"Qi Condensation level."
"You're not bullying me are you? It's not good to bully your elders."
"I'm genuinely serious."
"...Amitabha hope is lost."