CHOMP!
CHOMP!
SWISH!
CHOMP!
For another thousand years, a war broke out upon the surface of the East Sea. A titanic conflict no one had seen fit to interrupt. The aftershocks alone were enough to deter any would be curious explorers.
Without failure, the East Sea constantly radiated rough waves, ferocious typhoons, and whirlpools that constantly harassed the entire ocean. Even the coastal areas surrounding mainland was barraged by an endless assault of waves.
The source of which lay near the centre of the sea, in a place of water far beyond the reach of any lifeform. A battleground in which a multitude of snakes fought each other in a mindless violent fit.
From the emergence of the first snake above the water, more had followed in his wake. Massive long necks connected to a ferocious serpentine face of blue scales. Pale eyes appearing almost dead, mindless and without conscious. The spongy yellow mane dancing atop their heads.
They roared and they thrashed. They pounced and they bit. These snakes assaulted the first thing they saw which was conveniently each other. They ferociously attacked each other each time drawing blood and chewing off scales.
They impaled each other with their fangs endlessly. Gnawed at each other's throats, impaled each other through the eyes, beheaded one another, strangled one another. Yet each time they seemed to do fatal damage, the heads would just regenerate. They would were always soggy, oozing with clear water that regenerated the heads. Even when entire heads were decapitated, they simply fell into the sea as a blob of water and more liquid will rise through the neck to form a new one. Hence, the brutal violence was endless.
A total of six heads were currently fighting each other. All of them looked the exact same, like clones of the same being. They were both blind and deaf to the outside world seemingly only focused on tearing each other apart.
But the commotion they were causing had not gone unnoticed. The large waves they spewed out, the typhoons, the aftershocks of their clash? People on the mainland had long noticed them for centuries.
In the first yuanhui before the hundred and twenty nine thousand six hundred years limit was up, most individuals just assumed it was more primordial beasts causing a ruckus. After all, personal survival during this time was the most important aspect of living. This was why no one was really interested in finding out what the commotions were about.
All except one type of living being.
Innate gods, Golden Immortals born from heaven and earth. Born with full ownership over their true souls. This first wave of supreme beings were born wielding the apex of power available in the Primitive World.
In fact, Golden Immortals were so powerful that even the strongest of Heavenly Immortals could never even hope to touch a hair of their body. Golden Immortals would be completely unbothered, wouldn't even notice their attempts. They were existences that belonged to completely different dimensions.
Due to their power, these beings could afford live unbothered and lofty. They cared not for the safety of innate creatures nor the primordial beasts that haunt the land. To them, these factors may as well be annoying flees who occasionally wandered too close and needed to be swatted.
In truth, Golden Immortals were never supposed to exist in a Chaos World. They were a type of being who should only be born within the Chaos Sea. For them to exist here is an anomaly in and of itself. But reality would often have surprises that break the norm.
This first wave of innate gods was not in actuality, native to the Primitive World. While their bodies were born within it, their minds and souls had long existed prior. Out of the entirety of the Chaos Godfiend civilization, a number had survived Pangu's massacre.
These survivors belonged to the tippy top, the three thousand venerated ones. A number of them managed to retain themselves and not be torn apart in the aftermath of the Heaven Opening Event which referred to Pangu's act of creation.
They specifically waited until Pangu's presence had completely disappeared after eighteen thousand years before attempting to force their way back to life. Since Pangu ripped out their Dao fruits to create the core of the Primitive World, they lost full ownership over their Daos. This meant their progress would be capped at their previous peak and any theoretical breakthroughs to beyond would be impossible.
However, they could use the connection to gain some benefits. In doing so, their incorporated their presence into the world by using the connection they already had with it through their Daos to their arrested Dao fruits.
However, this was as far as it could go. Ultimately, the Primitive World utilized Pangu's own Dao as a foundation. Its power was so that the godfiends could never try anything malicious to the Primitive World even after Pangu was no longer around. Essentially, it created a clean slate for these godfiends to start again.
Hence they transformed one by one in the years that followed.
In the East continent, it was a bright and sunny day. A shadow had descended from the sky, specifically the Starry Skies. He had been reincarnated in the dimension just above the Great Wilderness and yet had chosen to descend to the Great Wilderness.
This was Lu Ya, the Sun Demon God of the three thousand Chaos Godfiends. A master of Pure Yang Sun Fire which burned the hottest in the world with terrifyingly strong purifying abilities. This Golden Immortal was among the deadliest in combat.
He was however not alone, accompanying him was an elderly man with an indifferent look to him. He wore his head in a tall pony tail and had a short beard. This was Great Immortal Yang Mei of the three thousand Chaos Godfiends.
The two descended from the stars to the East Continent and were immediately taken aback by the storm in the East Sea.
"Hm?" Yang Mei was startled. "It's still ongoing?"
"What is it?" Lu Ya asked his companion. "Oh? A thunderstorm? Its not so strange. Some of the stars are perpetually covered in them. Don't you have to bring gifts for that lass?"
"It was here before I ventured to the Starry Skies," Yang Mei said nonchalantly.
Lu Ya made a curious sound and looked eastwards. The two of them were floating gently in the sky as if gravity meant nothing to them. They emitted no aura nor did they register on anyone's senses and were they not visible to the naked eye, they might as well have not been present.
"Perhaps a fellow brother reincarnated. Its not that strange, I found Kunwu a while back in a similar storm," Lu Ya suggested.
"Kunwu? If he made it then there's a larger chance Tian Hai made it as well."
Lu Ya made a face at Yang Mei's musing. "Huoyun for sure would've made it but I doubt Tian Hai would. That man is as unbalanced as it gets. All brawn and no br…"
Suddenly, the Sun Demon God found it hard to breath. His eyes widened slightly and he witnessed Yang Mei glancing at him from the corner of his eye. The pressure on him felt bone chilling.
"Apologies," Lu Ya hurriedly said. "I do not mean to badmouth daoist Tian Hai."
"Be careful what you say Lu Ya. I may consider you a friend, but Tian Hai is my brother," Yang Mei threatened before taking his attention away from Lu Ya and walking away.
'But it doesn't are what I say any less true,' Lu Ya mentally added. He meekly followed after Yang Mei though he puffed up his chest to attempt to look like an equal. Appearances are important, even if no one is here to witness it.
Yang Mei had made a decision to investigate the storm in the East Sea. His reasoning? Its related to water, Tian Hai had a Dao specialized in vicious aquatic abilities. Therefore it must be Tian Hai. The only other possibility was Si Hai but that godfiend had already made his debut a few centuries back in another part of the world. Quit loudly in fact, very difficult to miss.
Lu Ya supposed he couldn't stop Yang Mei even if he wanted to. He still needed the godfiend's aid with some of his own difficulties other Qiankun, Yang Mei was the only one skilled enough in spacetime to help him retrieve his favoured treasure, the Sun Chakram. In exchange, he would help Yang Mei track down his old comrades.
Yang Mei, Huoyun, and Tian Hai were fairly odd for how close knit they were. Very few godfiends formed friendships as loyal as that much less the arrogant and rowdy Tian Hai. Thinking about it more, Lu Yan ultimately relented to Yang Mei's lead.
"Yang Mei, I honestly do not know what you hope to accomplish in this storm. But I can tell you right now that I do not sense any strong leanings towards yang within it. Your brothers Huoyun and Tian Hai preferred the yang based form and associated themselves with it. I would be able to easily identify the male and female form but I can't tell in this case."
Yang Mei heard Lu Ya's words yet he ignored them completely. There were explanations for it, Chaos Lifeforms pre emergence and even some time afterwards do not really have a form that leaned towards either extremes of male or female. It was only when they began associating themselves with yin or yang do they begin transforming further.
At this early stage of birth, innate gods likely hadn't completely come into full consciousness yet. As such Yang Mei disregarded Lu Ya's thoughts and traveled ahead.
But most importantly, it was because Lu Ya was simply making up excuses to avoid the ferocious storm.
"Do not think your excuse can fool me you silver tongued brat. You're too far away to even come close to identifying that type of information. Now lets move, we've wasted enough time," Yang Mei began moving forward after finishing his speech.
Though as they did so a murder of crow shaped primordial beasts neared their location. It seemed they saw the pair's outlines and followed along. They wore their bloodthirst upon their wingtips as they neared with open beaks.
Lu Yan witnessed the approaching birds and sighed in annoyance. "Again? Wether it is the Starry Skies or the Great Wilderness these things just don't know when to quit. You'd think a Chaos Work made by an expert on Pangu's scale would have a better karmic sin filtering system."
"Annoying as they may be, they are a product of our making," Yang Mei retorted.
"Hmph, for rightful reasons."
Lu Ya made his move without Yang Mei's interference. He swiped his hand sideways at the crows. The flick of his wrist that accompanied the swipe ignited a wave of fire that spread through the air rapidly.
The primordial beasts were too traveling too fast to make a u-turn to avoid Lu Ya's attack. Hence they flew into it with little self preservation in mind. Not to mention, the wave of fire also had a gravitational affect which subtlety sucked the beasts in. Lu Ya being an experienced expert utilized extremely hot yang based solar fire in his attack that reduced them to ashes.
Yang Mei made no sound at the quick actions Lu Ya took. He had seen much better from his fellow godfiend. Lu Ya had just been playing around, these primordial beasts were never a danger to any of them to begin with. At the end of the day, they were just annoyances, nothing more.
"So many of them even after all these years," Lu Ya mused. "You'd think the others would finally get around to clearing them out. What if Shenni taking charge of his old faction as I last heard."
"Enough, primordial beasts are a problem for another day. Let's stop wasting time and go," Yang Mei hurried the Sun Demon God, pulling him along in a platform of mist. They quickly flew off eastward making good progress along the way.
At their current speed, they flew of hundreds more years through and endless barrage of ferocious wind and water. It was like the further they went in, the more violent the East Sea became. A characteristic that was very different from the other four relatively peaceful seas.
The pair of godfiends were unharmed by the natural disasters. As Golden Immortals, they were impervious to most forms of damage the Primitive World could throw at them.
As they neared the centre of the East Sea, they noticed the distinct lack of primordial beasts. Living ones at least for they did notice corpses floating in the waves. Each time they encountered them they made sure to incinerate them with disgust.
While living beings at a sufficient cultivation level no longer experienced rot naturally even after death, primordial beasts still did. Primordial beasts however didn't rot quickly enough due to their high resilience. Hence the godfiends tend to disintegrate them having grown tired of seeing their race again and again for so many years.
Eventually, they followed a trail of floating corpses all the way to a wild storm of typhoons. The distant sound of roaring wind and thunderous clashes were heard clearly by both individuals. A rather distinct sign of battle was visible from the aftershocks as well.
That was also when the two saw the brutal battle between identical body less serpent heads.
Thrashing about like maniacs, biting each other mindlessly, constantly finding new ways to stab each other with their fangs. It was a physical brawl that cased no less then a dozen harsh maimings in the seconds since the two arrived.
"What is this?" Lu Ya uttered in stupefied shock. "A primordial beast of some sort?"
"No, it emits primordial qi. This is an immortal," Yang Mei said with narrowed gaze. "This presence is not unlike our own. A Golden Immortal…yet."
"Incomplete," Lu Ya finished for Yang Mei. "Looks like you were wrong."
"Can't be. This feeling I'm getting."
Before them, a snake carrying multiple bleeding wounds lunged for another snake. The target however swerved out of the way rising high into the air. Then it descended in a ferocious bite, piercing his fangs right into his would be attacker's neck.
The blow drew red blood like essence that leaked from the wounds. The snake being bitten screeched weekly and the one biting swung his head around. His thrashing kicked up more waves, some of which made for Yang Mei.
Yang Mei defended himself by pushing up his index finger. His action split the oncoming wave in have allowing it to bypass him before allowing it to merge back into one after passing him and Lu Ya.
"How brutal, reminds me of how desperate godfiends brawled," Lu Ya made an observation after observing the killing. The snake had ripped the other's head off cleanly before dropping the head into the water. He was then assaulted by two more heads that just attacked him out of nowhere.
Yang Mei observed all of this blankly. He was muttering things to himself with each observation made. His divine sense was analyzing the creatures down to the most minute detail. Through that, he could already identify that the presence of Tian Hai's remnant soul was here.
Yet he remembered that Tian Hai while practicing a water based Dao, was aquatic and scaled. But he had never taken the form of a serpent ever. While this could just be a consequence of the Primitive World or Tian Hai's admittedly damaged soul, it was still a large change of pace.
But Yang Mei also noticed the head being dropped melting into the sea. It dissolved into salty seawater that just broke apart. The headless neck was also began resembling an unstable mass of water swishing in the air. It was a puzzling sight for the immortal.
As for Lu Ya's analysis. Now that he was closer and was able to witness the individual first hand, he felt its alignment leaned a lot closer to yang then anything else. He clicked his tongue but seeing as Yang Mei looked to have entered deep contemplation, Lu Ya chose to take the initiative.
"Fellow daoist, identify yourself!" Lu Ya spoke up towards the six heads that were too busy killing each other. "Which fellow brother are you?"
His words were heard loud and clear and one of the snakes turned his gaze. He instantly hissed at Lu Ya before exploding into an all out roar. The offensive action greatly displeased the Sun Demon God and his hands itched towards attacking the snake on reflex.
"What is the point of this? Can you not…"
Lu Ya was stopped mid sentence as the head that roared at him was torn apart by its contemporaries. Other snakes who rose out of the ocean, three in total bit into the snake simultaneously. They ripped him apart releasing a gross amount of gore that fell out and quickly dissolved into seawater than returned to the sea.
"What the?" Lu Ya uttered feeling weirded out. It was rare but sometime infant innate gods are a little frazzled at birth. But this level of self violence was insane.
Lu Ya could tell that the aura of a Golden Immortal belonged only to one source. This meant there was only one innate god in the water. The same aura came from all six of these heads meaning they were the same individual. The same individual who mindlessly attacked himself.
THOOM!
Below Lu Ya, the water exploded outwards as another head breached the surface. Lu Ya gazed down and witnessed in slow motion as another snake emerged from the waves. This one also looked identical to the first six he saw and was set in devouring the godfiend.
"Hmph," Lu Ya snorted. It was clear this innate god was a hopeless case. He immediately unleashed an attack.
Rings of orange light manifested below his person but above the snake. This was Lu Ya's unique Solar Cycle arts, his own magical martial arts which created from his understanding to his Dao of Extreme Yang.
Though his Dao fruit was arrested and his ownership to his own Dao effectively lost, he was still capable of displaying many wonderful powers. His rings expanded and contracted to wrap around the snake's mouth. They exerted a heavy pressure on the snake's mouth and despite his thrashing, they bound him shut.
"Sixth art, Celestial Order Binds," Lu Ya chanted. He lifted his right hand and pointed down. A spear of light manifested from his fingertips, quickly descending into a pillar of white hot flames.
It scorched through the snake and into the ocean, all the way to the ocean floor. Tons of seawater evaporated on the spot having felt the powerful heat of the sun. The snake was incinerated leaving a huge pit in the middle of the ocean.
Lu Ya's attack had the consequence of wiping out the other six heads in the blast. The pit he made could be measured with a fifty thousand kilometre radius. Yet Lu Ya was on edge.
'The Golden Immortal's presence is still here. No, its more accurate to say its been all around me this whole time,' he concluded looking at the rapidly moving sea.
Water hadn't even finished sealing the pit when snake heads popped out of the sea again. One after another they swam from the sea uninjured as if nothing had happened. They were like a part of nature, just an extension of the East Sea it seemingly formed from.
Now that Lu Ya looked at these snakes closely, he identified that their necks were essentially attached to the water surface.
"You're not even a complete being yet. Yet you're already trying to take physical form? But you clearly have no consciousness like a primordial beast. Oh this is confusing, what the heck are you?" Lu Ya demanded out of frustration. But Yang Mei rested his hand on the godfiend's shoulder.
"His presence, it is so familiar," Yang Mei explained. "But so different. I'm not sure what is…just…Tian Hai is here I know it but…"
Yang Mei appeared frazzled. He soundlessly pushed Lu Ya back as more heads manifested from the East Sea surface roaring. Seven complete heads all looking identical emerged roaring in a conjoined screech of fury.
The sky warped with spatial tears as the snakes dragged their fangs across the air. The every movements threatened to generate typhoons and did create massive waves. Yet he never seemed aware of his actions.
"You are Tian Hai are you not? I am definitely not mistaken. That is his soul I see in you," Yang Mei strolled forwards with a confused expression. The snakes seemed to react to that name and they all perked up simultaneously as they heard 'Tian Hai'. This gave Yang Mei hope as he stepped closer attempting to reach out but Lu Ya shouted at him.
"Fellow daoist, beneath you!"
Yang Mei however did not react was he was swallowed by an eighth head that emerged from beneath the waves.
The sudden events stunned Lu Ya who grew furious. Without Yang Mei, he'd be forced to track down Qiankun. Said godfiend was about as elusive as it could get.
But Lu Ya did not need to make much of a fuss. As before he knew it, the eight head was suddenly decapitated from the base of the head. The head floated in space unassumingly as if unaware it was already dead. The top jaw was then torn from the bottom jaw and both halves were sucked into two black holes above and below a newly Yang Mei.
"So you really are just a beast," concluded Yang Mei as he dusted himself off. "Tian Hai, what has happened to you? Just what has infected you."
"Infected?" Lu Ya asked having moved beside Yang Mei.
"Yes. When I was swallowed just now I sensed a second presence. Its very faint, almost non existent. But there's a second soul or something similar within this snake."
"Is that even possible? Any complete living being only has one true soul and Tian Hai's had transformed into this just as you and I reincarnated."
"Clearly something else is trying to invade. No matter, I'll cut it out myself," Yang Mei spat. "To reduce my brother into a mindless beast? You have made a grave mistake."
Yang Mei entered combat against the snakes. It would not be a pretty battle for the snakes. They were tacticsless, mindless, and behaved like a schizophrenic animal. They were no match if Yang Mei actually tried.
Despite the snakes knowing somewhat Yang Mei was a danger, the seven heads were actually a bit more interested in fighting each other still. Even a newly regenerated eighth head chose to attack another of himself as his first course of action.
Yang Mei saw this and felt sickened. He quickly formed a rope made of starlight and threw them towards the snakes. The rope split eight ways transforming into eight hoops. They all wrapped around the necks of the snakes tightly strangling them in Yang Mei's hands.
In a second motion, Yang Mei pulled them all towards him. The heads screeched in unison and were yanked towards yang Mei. Yet after moving a distance, they became stuck.
"They've reached the limit of how far their necks can stretch," Lu Ya realized. "His only half formed, still attached to the East Sea. Yang Mei you might as well be pulling the entire worth of water in this ocean up with you."
Yang Mei made a grimacing face. For all his strength, attempting what Lu Ya just said was very much impossible. But since the beast hadn't emerged completely, it was also next to impossible of ripping him out of the East Sea without killing him.
"Hmph. Lu Ya, can you try purifying him with your fire? Target the foreign presence as I'll describe to you," Yang Mei ordered.
Lu Ya felt grumbling rile up in his throat. Yet he shoved them down and chose to obey. Yang Mei had securely restrained the heads so Lu Ya approached them while listening to Yang Mei's descriptions.
Thus he began generated a ball of heat in his hand.
"Radiant Sun Most High," he chanted. The ball of heat in his hand was so hot and powerful that it seemed as if spacetime was distorting around Lu Ya. He quickly shoved it into the ocean and began burning through the infant innate god.
The East Sea boiled as a result. Steam was released into the air creating a heavy smog. Lu Ya continued to burn for many days straight and equally in that time, steam continuously expanded from the centre of the ocean.
As he did so, the snakes all screamed in pan and thrashed violently. Yet Yang Mei's hold over them were so strong that they could not budge one inch. But their cries were so sickening to hear that even both godfiends found it revolting.
"Lu Ya, how long do you plan on taking?" Yang Mei asked in frustration after three months.
"I am as sick of his screams as you. But I simply don't know. I'm avoiding Tian Hai for sure. But the other presence isn't being harmed either, not without harming your brother."
"What?"
"Its like they're bonded so tightly that they've become one being," Lu Ya reasoned. "Nothing foreign or infectious is here. My flames can't do anything. Instead, its…its…wait a minute. It's only encouraging his growth? What? I don't understand!"
"GRRH!" Yang Mei gave the snake a glare. His hold over his rope tightened and in response, the snakes' necks started popping.
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
SPLASH!
As four heads had their necks snapped, water below parted as a set of webbed forelimbs with an elongated index claw reached out of the water. They grabbed hold of the ocean surface as if it were a ledge and he a creature holding on for dear life.
Yang Mei felt his breath quicken as the fifth snake head inched back. That head's pale milky white eyes med Yang Mei's own. But instead of the blank look he'd gotten months prior, a small pupil contracted. A pupil Yang Mei was sure wasn't there before.
"Brother…Yang…Mei."
A weak voice whispered into Yang Mei's ear. A startling revelation that caused the godfiend to quickly release his ropes binding the snake. That was Tian Hai's voice, Yang Mei was sure of it. Yet he also felt a strong sense of doubt wallowing inside him.
With the hold broken, the snake sank back into the water. This time, an upper chest had emerged showcasing what the heads were attached to. Below the waves, energy swirled in a whirlpool. They gathered into a forming skeleton and flesh that seem to stretch on below the surface for a huge distance.
As this went on, the eight headed snake began slipping into the East Sea. It very easily drowned back into the waves as Yang Mei and Lu Ya watched in dismay.
"So our task here is accomplished? We can look for your other brother?" Lu Ya asked hopefully.
"Your task is accomplished," Yang Mei sighed. "Leave me. I still need to confirm."
"Wait a minute fellow daoist. You can't be walking back on our deal right?"
"Here," Yang Mei threw something at Lu Ya impatiently. "It's one of my spacetime seeds. It can grow a bayberry plant that'll tear hole through whatever barrier you find your treasure in. Just leave me be."
Lu Ya nodded and graciously accepted the seed. Seeing Yang Mei no longer wishing for his companionship, he quickly fled the scene. Let Yang Mei despair over his problems, he's got more important things to take care of.
Meanwhile, beneath the East Sea. A massive eight headed snake was slowly completing his full manifestation.