Silence.
Followed by silence.
Then the reactions set in.
Taotie snarled. "So a native livestock think he has the right to be one of us? What a joke. The only thing natives are good for is for food."
Taotie acted first. His maw unleashed a strong suction force aiming to suck everything in. Taotie was like a black hole made of flesh and blood. His grotesque teeth made both Da Hai and Wangshu grimace in disgust.
"That announcement was nice and all Tia…sorry Da Hai. But I think you only pissed him off," Wangshu said with gritted teeth. Around her body, silver light condensed into a spiraling parasol shaped construct where the image of the archaic night sky dwelled. She was attempting to disperse Taotie's attack.
"Yeah thinking back there probably was a better time and place," Da Hai chuckled helplessly. "But on the other hand, I can finally think a lot clear now. What's more, I can almost see the karmic sin in that thing's belly. It's horrifying."
Taotie's throat was not only visible, to Da Hai who had just absorbed large quantities of life giving energy, the fresh tint of digested souls were very much visible. The cries of agony from millions of lifeforms, likely even billions were convulsing in a massive blob of sinful karma.
It couldn't affect Taotie due to his already immense might. Since there was no guiding consciousness for this universe such as a Heavenly Dao, Taotie was also able to stave off attracting bad encounters. It ended up with a polluted mess stored in his own stomach.
"Take this!"
Da Hai shot out gallons of water from all eight of his mouths. They ripped throughout the air, taking in the rich lunar energy from the environment before twisting into a long winding dragon. A Chinese dragon with long catfish whiskers and deer like antlers and large claws.
"Copying the Chaos Sky Dragon now are we?" Taotie was amused. He was even more so as the dragon entered his mouth and enlarged. Then it exploded with mighty force.
THOOM!
"Was that meant to do something?" Taotie mocked.
"Uhh…" Da Hai was taken a back.
"A good attempt Da Hai but your cultivation is still new and a bit unstable. What's more that guy is already in the Primal Zenith Chaos Immortal realm. Nothing either of us do can really injure him," Wangshu said.
But as the shock wore off, Shen Feng and Earthly Sky moved into action as well. The launched attacks resembling an avalanche of soil and a roc made of air at their two contemporaries. "No matter what you call yourself, you don't have the right to be a godfiend. Die!"
Acting quickly, Da Hai pulled out the 12 Petals White Lotus from his inventory. His serpentine body shrunk down to a human one with his arm firmly on the lotus' stem. Its twelve petals resisted the full blow of those attacks without a single scratch. Even as Earthly Sky smashed his ruler into it, it did not flinch even once. At the same time, it's white texture began swaying at the direction of Taotie.
'The lotus is a treasure specialized in purifying. It matches its definition of such to my own. It's not afraid, its uncomfortable, disgusted with Taotie,' Da Hai realized. "You're furious aren't you," he said correcting the flower.
"A top grade xiantian spiritual treasure? Impressive," Wangshu praised. She waved her hand causing over a dozen low grade xiantian spiritual treasures to appear. She shot them out like projectiles at her opponents.
Such wasteful act naturally made Shen Feng and Earthly Sky green with envy. The latter battered away these treasures with his ruler and charged for them. He unleashed a flurry of swings totaling thirty six hundred strikes.
Da Hai hid behind the shield he made with his lotus but even he found it difficult to retaliate against the pressure. Seeing this, Wangshu dived out to attack instead.
"Wait!" Da Hai warned.
Wangshu swiped her arm through the sky creating a crescent shaped moon. Her motion collided with Earthly Sky's combo and sent him spinning through the air. But as he did so, three arms made of sand, mud, and rock emerged from his body each holding a version of his ruler.
Da Hai pulled out his water jug and shot out a serpent shaped construct of water at one of the rulers. Wangshu also unleashed a breath of radiant light from her mouth at another.
But the third one bypassed their attempts and was about to slice into her body. 'I see, he planned for this,' she thought bitterly. Her body darkened as the ruler neared, it lost the luster formed from the starlight it previously held and seemed to become dead wood. But from its back, another Wangshu emerged running away.
"Sheng Feng!" Earthly Sky roared.
From behind Da Hai, the ancestor of divine winds appeared holding a sickle. The sea god's eyes widened at his sudden appearance. He instinctively held out his hand towards Shen Feng.
"Think that can stop me? Your fleshy body is paltry compared to my attack," Shen Feng said.
But Shen Feng did not strike Da Hai. Wangshu at the last second swerved around. She pushed Da Hai out of the way just in time. But with her arm outstretched at the time, she failed to stop the slice.
Shen Feng retreated as soon as his death blow failed as Da Hai retaliated. Wangshu's wooden faced grimaced looking at her new stump.
What's more, the limb Shen Feng had cut off was blown into the atmosphere by the sheer force of Shen Feng's speedy attack. The airstream that enchanted his blows carried it all the way out of the atmosphere into regions unknown so that Wangshu couldn't even reattach it if she wanted to.
"You alright?" Da Hai asked. When she nodded he asked again, "Can you regenerate a new arm?"
"His attack wasn't just physical, it shaved off part of my true soul. The part that was my right arm. It'll take some time before I can get that arm back," Wangshu revealed.
Their enemies retreated after their ambush failed. That was when Taotie broke out of his stupor and approached.
"You two are so diminished," Taotie sighed in disappointment. He charged forwards and clawed at Da Hai.
Da Hai once again brought up his lotus as a shield. This time, one of his heads also held onto his water jump in his jaw.
Taotie's putrid claws scraped across the white lotus' surface. While the treasure was pushed down, it did not suffer any damage from Taotie's attack. It was so sturdy that even Taotie was shocked. He grabbed hold of the flower's edges and began an attempt to rip it out of Da Hai's grasp.
Da Hai attempted to launch a counter attack through the lotus. By using such a strong treasure, he hoped to bridge the gap in cultivation. He slapped the bottom side of the flower sending a command to repel Taotie.
The 12 Petals White Lotus vibrated as its twelve towering petals enclosed. Then they swung back as the centre of the flower released a strong gust white light. It made Taotie feel miserable mentally.
"What is this?" Taotie let go of the lotus. Then he was immediately beseeched with white hot sun fire.
"GAAAHHH!"
"Thank you for distracting him Tian…Da Hai," Lu Ya had appeared sometime during that brief clash. He looked very pale but didn't appear to be in any life threatening risk.
"You little shit," Wangshu did not mince words when she arrived next. She addressed Lu Ya with vitriol seemingly ignoring Da Hai. "You have some nerve luring them here causing all this!"
"Hmph, we all do what we must to get by. You're taught by Yang Mei right? You should know this basic principle," the Fire Demon God said defensively.
But even as the two were speaking, the outer layers of the Lunar Star was abruptly ripped open. The giant red face of Shenni emerged shaking with fury.
"A filth of Pangu stealing the position of godfiend? DIE!"
Aside from his face, his burly palm penetrated through. It expanded in size so much that Shenni would effectively envelope an eighth of the Lunar Star's surface with it.
"He broke past Yang Mei?"
None of the three could keep calm when Shenni suddenly attacked. Not even his own allies Shen Feng and Earthly Sky felt safe. It seemed as if Shenni had gone insane and was trying to crush everyone and everything.
As if the apocalypse had come, the Lunar Star's atmosphere turned red. It didn't even feel like the Primitive World's moon anymore. Instead it was like a planet about to meet its apocalyptic extinction event by way of meteorite.
"Wait your majesty we're still here!" Earthly Sky cried out at the sky. "Taotie where are you? Save me!"
"Screw this," Shen Feng cried while blasting into the air. "Fellow Daoist Earthly Sky let's get out of here as fast as possible."
Lu Ya had already began fleeing without warning.
Even Da Hai's lotus was pressed down by the force without any effort and Da Hai along with it.
"You won't destroy my home!" Wangshu snarled. He body spread out in numerous branches and twigs. Each one new branch that emerged held onto a treasure Wangshu had collected over the years.
Not all of them were compatible with her, not all of them were usable in combat either, not even if she'd refined them. But in this moment of desperation, Wangshu used her own energy to force all these treasures that she'd collected to overload.
Da Hai watched with baited breath as these xiantian spiritual treasures lit up like stars. None of them surpassed the middle rank and the vast majority were low rank. But Wangshu must've had hundreds of them.
Da Hai's body was already coiled around the stem of the white lotus. He forced his treasure to fold convexly to envelope him under its protection. Wangshu's attack fell into the category of friendly fire and he didn't want to be caught in it.
BOOM!
The landscape of the Lunar Star changed in an instant. Mountains collapsed, forests burned away, oceans dried up. Wangshu fell from the sky charred by her own attack. She felt spent but was satisfied as the giant hand above her halted in its movement.
"NRGH!"
Shenni had flinched. His hand jerked away while divine blood fell into the earth. Wangshu's bombs managed to push and injure him. But he quickly gripped a tight fist with clear intention to punch down again.
"Stop!" Yang Mei cried.
Outside the Lunar Star, Yang Mei had transformed into a gigantic giant see through skin. His skeleton resembled branches of a tree that piloted this body. His large hand had managed to grab Shenni's shoulder and dragged him away from the Lunar Star with much effort.
Watching the two titans battle, Da Hai was astonished by their showcases of strength. He scanned the battlefield and quickly located Wangshu who was luckily still alive.
"My Lunar Star," she said between wheezing huffs.
Da Hai carried her away but kept an eye out for other enemies.
Yang Mei punched Shenni square in the face afterwards sending him back a few paces.
"After that and you still defend these filthy creatures? After what that thing just admitted? I thought Tian Hai was your brother!" Shenni spat in disgust.
"My brother died along time ago, I've learned to accept that," Yang Mei said. "Cultivation is long and hard and you'll eventually have to see your friends go. Something you clearly haven't learned what with this obsession over that monkey."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" Shenni roared again and again. "You don't know anything!"
"All I see a brutish warlord," Yang Mei said. However that seemed to have set Shenni off even more.
"Warlord? You think I want to conquer this cursed rock?"
Yang Mei's right brow raised in confusion. Shenni's body crackled in a blazing aura that ripped away at the Starry Skies creating small tears in reality which lead to the void between realms.
"Emperor this, territory that, fuck this cursed world. It should just die like the worthless garbage it is!"
He was simply tired of playing that act. Fuck whatever Hundun thought was wise. Fuck this charade of beast emperor. He didn't want conquest. He didn't want subordinates. He wanted Pangu to pay.
Screw these so called resources. Curse his failed brothers and sisters who'd fallen to this filthy world's temptation. And most importantly, he hated having to look outside his cave every morning to see that towering mountain in the distance.
"All I want, is for this world to end. I'll crush it, destroy it, grind it to dust until nothing is left!"
Shenni's body emitted waves of power unprecedented within the Primitive World's short history. Even Yang Mei felt uneasy at the force he was displaying.
Shenni cried out into the vast expanse. His scream accompanied a horrifying feeling of dread and bloodlust that sent stars crashing into each other. Da Hai, Wangshu, Earthly Sky, and Shen Feng suddenly all felt a surge of irrational hatred for the Primitive World. The desire to send heaven crashing into the earth and bring about a true end for this universe.
It was then they finally understood. 'He's insane,' they all concluded.
"Your majesty…" Taotie was a little speechless. He stood up from the rubble he had fallen to and was a bit torn on what to. 'Hundun what would you do in this scenario?'
"Shenni what is the meaning of this?" Earthly Sky cried out. His current state was miserable, his cloths were torn and blood littered throughout his entire body. Even parts of his flesh looked to be falling off becoming streams of air and soil.
"Hm?" Shenni glared at this subordinates with nothing but disdain. "It means I will kill this world. I'll smash Buzhou apart, dry up the seas, implode the continents, whatever it takes to obliterate this fucking Chaos World I'll do it!"
"But what about all the resources? The qi rich spiritual veins, the countless herbs unique to this place for pill concoction, what about all the xiantian spiritual treasures formed from heaven and earth?" Shen Feng cried out. He had weathered the storm much better than others and didn't appear too injured.
Even the Lu Ya who had gone into hiding in the rocky remains of a mountain was utterly shocked at Shenni's declaration. Now all the cruelty and disdainful acts towards the North Continent's population made a lot more sense. It wasn't just from a place of superiority, he genuinely hated them.
"I better get out of here before it's too late," he whispered. Moving as stealthily as he can while Shenni was ranting, he began moving towards space. He would've gotten away with it too had not another figure appeared.
A purple robed old man with his arms folded behind his back walked out of a spatial tear. The moment he stepped into real space, all spatial anomalies caused by various displays of power ceased. Everything returned to an orderly state as if the battle had not taken place at all.
Yang Mei glanced over, "Hongjun?"
"The cricket?" Shenni glared at the man. He'd been a thorn at his side for a long time. Constantly blocking his advancements towards the Central Continent.
In Hongjun's hand was a painting, one which depicted a scene like a video. Hongjun nodded stroking his beard before putting the painting away. "Convincing the others won't be so hard now."
"Beast Emperor Shenni, you truly are a sinful creature," Hongjun stated with a booming voice. "Not only do you torture and enslave the innocent creatures of the far north. Not only did you massacre our kin for disagreeing with you. You also wish for the destruction of our new home?"
Hongjun's voice was loudly projected. All corners of the Starry Skies and even beyond could hear him speak. The Chaos Immortals present had no doubt he was intentionally doing so. Taotie glanced at Shenni hoping to catch his attention.
"So what if I do?" Shenni retaliated with an equally loud voice. "Why are you so dead set on defending this place? Have you no sense of pride? No sense of justice? You're Chaos Godfiends not innate gods of this world. You should be with me in smashing it apart!"
"You go against the natural order of things. Pangu may've killed us but he'd also saved us. This Primitive World is the new era for the Chaos Godfiends. As such I cannot condone your actions any longer," Hongjun shook his head in disappointment. "Know that I will destroy you and your cause. Any who follow you will perish as is…"
"Oh piss off with your self righteousness," Shenni growled. "You disgust me cricket. You think I didn't see you gleefully running to that axe? I bet you knew that fucker was there already. I bet you lured him to kill him!"
In the darkness of space where everyone watched. Where a slight sparkle flashed throughout. Where Hongjun merely stared expressionlessly at Shenni. "I had no intentions on senior Demon Ape," he said. "I only seek the Dao as do all godfiends." He gestured at Shenni in a clearly pitiful way.
'Unlike you who lost his way,' was left unsaid.
Taotie floated up to join Shenni despite the stares he was receiving. Shenni did not pay him any attention. Instead his arm suddenly shot out, stretching for millions of kilometres.
BAM!
His palm grasped hold of a fiery ball of light. A fiery ball that cracked instantly beneath his grip revealing a fearful Lu Ya.
"Let me go!"
Shenni held Lu Ya before and scanned everyone around him. The his gazed peered into the Great Wilderness and the hundreds of godfiends who'd no doubt turned their attention here since the commotion began.
"I seek to destroy this world. So what? You all should join me! And traitors like this? A traitor who turned against his own kind. A traitor who gave no shits to the brothers and sisters we lost?" Shenni squeezed as he spoke.
"GAAAAHHHHH!" Lu Ya screamed. His body lit ablaze as he desperately tried to claw his way out. His fire burned so hot he was leaving behind burns in Shenni's skin yet the latter did not budge.
"Yang Mei! Remember our partnership? Help me!" Lu Ya cried.
But Yang Mei did not move. He stayed in front of the Lunar Star and was soon joined by both Da Hai and Wangshu. None of these three moved from their spot.
"Hongjun! Save me please. I can help you in the upcoming battle!"
Lu Ya's cries grew more and more desperate. But as those last words were uttered out, his entire body was compressed in Shenni's palm. Nothing he did or said mattered for he was crushed into a bloody paste in a few seconds.
Shenni glared threateningly at Hongjun and Yang Mei releasing an animalistic growl. Hongjun's eyes flashed in purple light while twin shapes swirled within them.
Another portal then opened and out stepped an entirely faceless individual wearing a long cloaca obscuring his form. Hundun had arrived and immediately showcased his power in an attempt to offset the two opposing Chaos Immortals.
Unlike Taotie, Hundun was exponentially stronger. His strength was closer to that of Shenni, Yang Mei's and Hongjun's than it was to Taotie.
"Your majesty, I implore to retreat and recuperate. With the united strength of the us four evils and yourself as well as the countless beasts you tamed. We can march on Mt Buzhou in an united front. Surely nothing can stand in our way then," he said placatingly.
"Hmph," Shenni seemed to calm at Hundun's words. He sent the latter a rather unwilling glare but did hear the wisdom in those words. Truth be told he was weary of Hongjun, he hadn't even detected him until he appeared. For all his anger he retained enough rationale to not run headlong into things with so few backup.
He wordlessly turned back. "Shen Feng, Earthly Sky let's leave."
"Uh…" Earthly Sky was hesitant. Knowing what he did now, he didn't quite want to follow Shenni back.
As if sensing his lack of interest, Shenni's face turned into a scowl. "Are there nothing but traitors around me?"
Above the Lunar Star, Wangshu met Yang Mei's eyes silently. Then the former waved his hand back encasing the Lunar Star in belts of starlight resembling branches.
"Huh?" Earthly Sky was alarmed.
But Wangshu was already trying to attack him. She roared a harrowing cry that echoed throughout her domain. Her remaining arm transformed into a spear which she shot towards him.
"You dare?" He battered away the spear attack and turned to flee. However he suddenly felt wet patches on his body. "Huh?"
Then out of nowhere, water arched out of these patches connecting with each other. They coiled in and out of his body before the head of a snake penetrated from out of his shoulder blade and bit him in the neck.
Da Hai descended from the clouds. He nodded at Wangshu and enclosed his palms.
Were he in better condition, Earthly Sky would've ripped the water snake off of him. But he was too injured to do so. Instead he looked around for his comrade. "Shen Feng where are you? Get these two off of me!"
But the ancestor of divine winds was already long gone. No one had even noticed when he departed.
"No! Let's talk about this! It was just a small scuffle!" Earthly Sky argued desperately. "I…"
"Shut it." Wangshu gestured to her missing arm. With Earthly Sky kept immobile by Da Hai, she speared him through the skull ending his life.
"Thank you Tian…sorry Da Hai."
"No problem. I kinda owe you too much to not help," he replied.
The Ruler of Sky and Earth fell unceremoniously onto the ground. But before it landed it was suddenly swallowed by a portal. Then it appeared safely in Hongjun's hands much to the shock and confusion of both Great Unity Golden Immortals.
"Your control over space time is quite something," Yang Mei couldn't help but be startled as well.
"You're welcome fellow daoist," Hongjun welcomed the compliment. He sent one more warning glance at the departing Shenni, Hundun, and Taotie before taking his own leave as well.
"Godfiends of the great chaos. It is time to unite against Shenni's cursed cause. I implore you all to aid me in defending this new world," he said before fully disappearing.
…
Far away.
Within the eastern part of the Great Wilderness, a falling piece of wood penetrated the outer atmosphere. The lost limb cleaved off by Earthly Sky which once belonged to Wangshu sailed across the sky like a shooting star. After it detached from its owner, it could be considered to be a natural resource rich with qi and Dao laws related to the moon, stars, and nature.
Despite its profound nature, very few took notice of its landing. By chance, it smashed into the side of a particular mountain range. A naturally spiritually strong area known by passerby's as Mt Kunlun.
As the limb rested upon the mountain, its form slowly dissolved as if it was rotting away. It's energy seeped into the soil and further down into a dark hidden cavern where three circular prayer mats sat. Upon them were three clouds of gas. The rightmost was completely colourless and exuded a grandiose feeling, the central cloud was jade in colour and exuded a chaotic primordial feeling, the leftmost was golden and exuded a superior feeling.
The qi from Wangshu's lost limb merged with the rightmost gas cloud. From this merger, the white gas cloud turned silver and glittering spots seeming like stars appeared throughout its mass.