"Your maddened ramblings clearly shows me the type of person you are Shenni," Hongjun justified. His battle was as good as won. As good as Shenni had become he was no Luohu.
Shenni was so furious he couldn't even think coherently anymore. He was like a rampaging animal with no higher thought. Hongjun looked at him with pity. 'At the end of the day, we all must do what we must,' he thought.
He deflected Shenni's strike once more with the Taiji painting. The swirling of the double extremities was impervious, it was as if no attack had been made at all. Hongjun surveyed other battles around him. Progress had not been good.
Dozens of reincarnated godfiends had decided not to show and those like Yang Mei had long left for the chaos. It would seem a compromise had to be made. Hongjun will have to be satisfied with what he has at the moment.
He frowned with dissatisfaction when he saw the knocked out Taotie. With Hundun and Qiong Qi tied down, Taowu will be at a severe disadvantage against so many power gods at once.
The difference between Great Unity and Chaos Immortals was vast but this gap had been closed by several factors. The use of the chaos heaven formation interlocked so many times had created a beast of a cosmic giant whose power rivaled a Great Principle Chaos Immortal.
Suddenly Hongjun thought of a plan. Shenni was still out of it so it might just work. He brought up the banner and retracted the chaotic sword Qi. Condensing it all around the flag pole it elongated into a grey longsword.
"Marvellous, the power which separated heaven from earth," Hongjun exclaimed. He swung the weapon with both hands directly at Shenni.
"ROAR!" The mindless beast spun in the air, turning into a spinning wheel of purple flames. Spectral screams emanated drawing power from all the deceased souls of the land. While only a short time had passed hundreds of thousands of innate creatures had already perished.
The unique quality of Shenni's spectral ghost fire was the ability to draw in and consume spirits. It was a sinister ability that grew stronger the more souls were added as fuel.
Depressing wails could be heard by everyone across Mt Buzhou. The army of innate creatures felt their hearts give out and their minds breaking. This left them vulnerable to the army of primordial beasts who gladly consumed them
Da Hai who was supporting the cosmic giant with powerful blasts was surprised. 'Things are not looking good,' he thought.
Of course the situation was only bad for the innate creatures below. For the innate gods, they were unconcerned nor bothered by the turn of events. To them as long as the 4 evils are out of the picture then they win.
They also weren't wrong in this thinking. Primordial beasts pose no threat to them nor to Mt Buzhou, they could always kill off these creatures later.
Da Hai however was unsatisfied, he had inherited empathy from the human who perished eons ago and could not tolerate this sight.
"Fellow daoists, can you hold for a little while?" He inquired.
Kunwu who was a bit confused asked, "What's the matter?".
"Yes or no, just answer me"
"Yes, with the addition of fellow daoist Wangshu and yourself Taowu will eventually be defeated"
Da Hai nodded, he allowed himself to break away from the clash of gods and fall towards the battleground below. To the shock of all the innate godfiends Da Hai went to rescue creatures suffering below.
He unleashed the
12 Petals White Lotus which split into thousands of small flowers all flying towards innate creatures. They attached themselves to their bodies and shielded them from oncoming attacks.
Da Hai controlled the water remaining in the environment. A massive downpour rained over the bodies of countless primordial beasts. Unlike a regular harmless rain, each droplet of water smashed into the beasts as if an anvil was dropped on a regular human.
Beasts died by the millions leaving nothing behind but blood paste. This was the difference between reincarnated innate gods and innate creatures. Despite both being of the immortal realms, one can effortlessly slaughter the other.
Huoyun watched as Da Hai decisively took action killing as much as he can before returning to attack Taowu. 'So different yet so similar,' Huoyun thought. Da Hai did not react at all like he did thousands of years ago, his belief system was a little different from what you'd expect of a chaos godfiend but it would seem Da Hai was fully capable of taking care of himself.
Da Hai formed a drill that pierced at Taowu's stomach. The god growled in visible pain, his body was not as strong as Taotie and it was easier to do damage to him. Although killing him was extremely difficult it was not as hard as Taotie.
Fire and wind swirled around the Chaos Immortal. Taowu has had enough. Pride as a being of superior power stopped him initially but he'd had enough of being battered.
"You lot really a pest among pests" Taowu's human face growled in anger. He slammed both front paws down at the cosmic giant with great force tearing away at the chaotic energy skin.
"Everyone, repair the wound," ancestor Shangxia commanded the godfiends within the formation. Wangshu moved to grab Taowu with her star whips. Kunwu and the exhausted Qiankun aided her as best they could to attempt to pull Taowu off.
Da Hai who was infront of Taowu slapped the ocean swallowing water jug to blast Taowu like a canon. Taowu roared shooting fire from his mouth meeting the blast. Taowu's focus was on the cosmic giant yet he was still fully capable of resisting Wangshu and Da Hai at the same time.
Kunwu was deeply frustrated as he saw Taowu rip off one of the cosmic giant's arms. 'If only that coward Yingyang was here' he jumped at Taowu's back with his sword.
"Die" he cut across Taowu's soft fur drawing blood which spilled onto the ground. Each drop was like a small lake containing strong vital energy. Taowu whipped his tail around catching Kunwu off guard.
Kunwu spat out blood, his falling body was caught by Taowu's lower legs. Taowu smirked and squeezed.
"NO!" Da Hai, Shangxia, Wangshu, and Qiankun moved to save Kunwu but were too slow as the ancestor was crushed to bits in Taowu's paws. Bits of scales and flesh dropped from Taowu's paws.
Taowu caught sight of Shangxia and said, "You're next". He bit into the cosmic giant's head and tore it off, burning off many formation defenses with his flames and cutting what's left with wind.
Taowu's human face revealed a deceptively terrifying mouth. It was filled with rows upon rows of seated fangs accompanying a long red tongue. Taowu's tongue stabbed into the cosmic giant's wound pulling out dozens of Great Unity Golden Immortals.
Ancestor Shangxia however was not helpless. He was a mighty expert of the past and it was not too difficult to repel Taowu's tongue strike. Sadly he could only watch and do nothing as the dozens caught by Taowu perished in the fiend's mouth.
Above the clouds, Hongjun did not show his satisfaction on his face. His desired outcome had already begun to take form.
The sudden death of so many immortals released tons of vitality which the primitive world quickly gobbled up. It was easily more potent than the deaths of the innate creatures.
Taowu leaped off the decapitated giant and chased the fleeing innate gods. Wangshu could barely slow Taowu down even when she elongate her arms as whip like roots ending in sharp spears. Taowu quickly slapped several more gods to death.
'So much for invincible gods of the chaos,' Da Hai thought bitterly, even in this situation he could only defend himself. His extremely high cultivation base ensured his safety for the moment and he could only kite around Taowu.
"I'd have to get you back for killing our army" Taowu suddenly changed directions and targeted Da Hai directly. The sudden attack caught Da Hai with his metaphorical pants down.
A half complete lotus shield sprung up but was quickly smashed apart by Taowu. Taowu swung his body hitting Da Hai with a flame encased tail slap. The blow was so great that a loud boom was heard and Da Hai's human form spat out blood.
The instant Da Hai was sent flying his true form was revealed, bloodied but alive. Taowu had hit Da Hai so hard, it knocked him back into the 8 headed snake.
Da Hai landed groggily on his feet, his sickle like claws dragged across the soil and water stopping him eventually. His eight heads all rose and roared. Eight massive energy blasts raced toward Taowu.
Wangshu's tree like appearance was joined by Qiankun's spiraling galaxy form. The two joined hands to attack Taowu from the back. Taowu however managed to jump out of the way and flew towards Da Hai.
"All actions have consequences," Taowu said.
"I know" Da Hai rose to meet the god in the air. Taowu engulfed his whole body in flames further empowering him. He smashed down at Da Hai like a meteor.
Da Hai in response drew a new spell from within him. His own cultivation since the discovery of his own Dao had been smooth. It allowed him to develop a uniquely powerful resource similar to Shenni's spectral ghost fire or the Solar Star's pure yang divine sun fire.
Da Hai will not compare them to his own creation in the meantime but with the use of the three brilliance sacred water, it had allowed him to develop his own water different from the pre-established primeval forces.
A transparent water like substance rose up from beneath Da Hai. It met Taowu's flames equally without losing out. To Taowu's shock, he found that he could not overcome this water with ease. The water contained a spirituality unlike any he had seen.
His flames were not special compared to the primeval fires such as the Sun Fire, Nanming Divine Fire, nor Shenni's spectral ghost fire. However, it was still a pretty good spiritual fire which formed from his cultivation.
The two clashed head on in a tornado of fire and water. The two gods clashed against each other amidts the vortex.
"I refuse to believe I can lose to someone inferior" Taowu roared as the two forces met. Da Hai roared in response, his sickle claws extended becoming translucent blades of water.
BOOM!
The tornado was expelled and both individuals appeared. Taowu's body suffered light cuts along with his front limbs and chest. The most noticeable however was the long scar that ran along his face, from right cheek to lower jaw.
Taowu looked down with disbelief and admiration. Although he won the clash he couldn't help but respect the sea god for his strength.
Da Hai's massive body crashed into the ocean below. Five of his heads were blown off and chunks of his flesh were missing. The remaining three heads looked up in defiance.
"My divine water still needs to improvement," he said tiredly. The quality was already beyond his own expectation but it could still be improved. 'Translucent water, now that I think about it I never gave it a name,' he thought. 'I think I'd name it pellucid divine water'.