A fierce battle raged on the back of Ao. The gargantuan tortoise's back shell was once a continent of black mountains and flora but had been reduced to a wasteland. Splinters of trees and uprooted mountains lay in a collateral heap resembling a landfill.
A monstrous figure standing easily over a hundred thousand kilometres tall resembling a praying mantis stood opposing the group of three dragons and one black tortoise.
"This is new," Qinglong said idly from a fair distance away from the mantis. Surrounding him were mountains of corpses ripped to shreds. The azure dragon had been busy as had his comrades.
The mantis screeched into the wind. Its cry was powerful enough to create distortions in reality. The fierce gust of wind generated atop Ao was a testament to its power.
"It's eyeing us as if we're prey," Xuanwu said. His snake and main head alike looked tense at the primordial beast. It was easily the largest living creature he'd ever encountered.
The mantis screeched once more and charged at the group. It smashed into the corpses with enough force to kick up its primordial beast brethren into the air. It was raining corpses.
It turned and swiped at Yinglong who curled up. The pincers were lined with rows of spiked protrusions resembling the teeth of a shark. It scraped against Yinglong's scaled body ripping rows of yellow scales out of his side.
Zulong not taking any chances charged in and smashed into the mantis throwing it off its feet. The golden dragon ducked out of the way of a retaliated swing before grabbing ahold of its head with his hind legs and tossed the creature onto the ground.
Qinglong and Xuanwu flew in and began a bombardment of miniature stars. It was like a shower of comets if each comet were bombs. The light of the Jupiter and Mercury stars spun in the air.
Qinglong and Xuanwu smirked at each other. Their energies mixed together and shot out like an arrow. It pierced at the mantis' abdomen.
However, the creature slammed its pincers on the ground with enough force to flip into the air and landed back onto its feet. It swung down at the two gods.
"Allow me," Xuanwu said retracting his snake head. His shell projected the image of a massive turtle shell carved from ice. It resisted the strike albeit with difficulties. The mantis began repeatedly bashing on the shield.
"It's unlike the others, its strength is easily within the realm of Great Unity Golden Immortals!" Yinglong exclaimed, "I thought master said no primordial beasts ever surpassed the Golden Immortal realm."
"Different eras brother," Zulong replied. He had gotten behind the mantis and grabbed hold of its left shoulder. "Help me," he ordered.
With a flap of his mighty wings. Yinglong was at the mantis' right side in an instant. The two dragons pulled the primordial beast away from Xuanwu.
With the pressure relieved, the scale head of Xuanwu reappeared and opened its mouth. Qinglong opened his mouth as well. The two unleashed their combined attack landing a direct hit on the monstrous mantis.
This time it impacted the creature easily punching a hole through its body. The side of its injuries showcased signs of frostbite and burn marks. The two dragons holding it in place punched with their claws denting its skull.
"This thing's tough," Yinglong commented in the aftermath of his strike.
The mantis inspite of its injuries began rampaging. It was as if it didn't even feel it. It battered the distracted Yinglong aside with a single strike and stomped at Xuanwu and Qinglong.
The two innate gods easily got out of the way and met its oncoming right hook with their bodies. The strike rocked them to their very core as they were pushed back and thrown into the air.
Zulong narrowed his eyes and charged. "You nothing but brute strength," he said as a matter of fact. He raised his claws and both the pincers of the mantis in a head on clash. The dragon and primordial beast met in a statement on Ao's back kicking up a hurricane's worth of fierce wind rippling into the distance.
"There is no mysticism about you, no Dao of any kind, no Qi of any kind. You're like an aberration in the primitive world," Zulong stated. His muscles bulged, his grip tightened.
"Indeed, you are very strong physically," he said idly. "However you are only physical strength. And even in that, you are subpar before me."
Zulong raised his strength. With a sharp movement of his nine digit claws, he broke the mantis' carapace on both pincers. With an extension of his claws, he tore the right limb of the mantis from its body.
The mantis fell onto its side. It rolled over and began to get up completely ignoring its injuries.
"Master's records speak true, they really do lack survival instincts," Yinglong said observing the primordial beast.
"Be that as it may, I bore of this exchange," Zulong said. The dragon raised one claw and prepared to deal a final blow. Golden light gathered on his claws, the tips turned black and pulsated with power.
"Nine clawed killing!" Zulong chanted. He threw down his slow. The massive dragon claw projected the image of a gargantuan dragon claw that blanketed the continent on Ao's back. The dragon was gold and black, his eyes shone with mysterious royal lights that dominated the heavens.
The claw descended and entrapped the mantis in nine directions. Zulong smirked satisfactorily, his new magical technique was working just as intended. Its effects were also very good.
The claw closed in on the mantis preparing to kill. Blood would draw any minute now.
Suddenly, Yinglong, Qinglong, and Xuanwu turned their heads. Zulong was the last to turn around and just barely missed a fast movement of clouds heading in his direction.
He prepared to stop the cloud but it missed him entirely. No, it was more accurate to say that it never aimed for him in the first place. It went onto the mantis and expanded rapidly into a massive auspicious cloudy shield.
'Similar to our clouds,' Zulong thought. 'No, this cloud is very different. Its auspicious in nature but whereas ours carries the good fortune of rain and Yang Qi, this cloud is…' Zulong rubbed his chin in contemplation examining the cloud.
A figure appeared above Ao's continent after the dragon claw disappeared. It was horse like and scaled creature and bore a heavy resemblance to dragons. In fact, Zulong mistook him for a dragon for a moment.
However that was clearly a silly thought. This creature who stood upon golden clouds pulsating with blue flames had gleaming blue scales of darker shade near his back and lighter blue towards his hoofs.
His legs were long and muscular and blue. His hoofs were red in colour and had a tuff of red fur that resembled flames. This tuff of red hair also appeared on his neck like a mane and along his spine. This horse looked like it was on fire. His antlers were huge, even bigger than Zulong's and his head was identical to that of a dragons complete with catfish whiskers.
"Cease for your emperor has arrived," the horse announced.
"My emperor?" Zulong laughed in amusement and annoyance. "How amusing horse, you make quite a jester," the dragon laughed much to the newcomer's irritation.
"How bold of you," the horse said. "You dare copy my appearance and laugh in my presence? You are but another ignorant fool." A hail of light rays descended like the lightning of god smiting the mortals below.
"Brother look out," Yinglong said sending the danger of the attack.
"Stay out my way," Zulong commanded in his royal voice. He keeled his head back and drew a long breath. When the light rays neared him, the dragon roared.
For a moment, the universe held still. All sound disappeared, all matter disappeared. In this void, there was only him. The supreme king who stood above all others. A long serpentine god emperor hung above the primitive world appearing like his own personal table.
The horse dragon stood above a cloud in this world, infinitely smaller then the dragon. He was but another subject to the emperor's will.
Zulin blinked, and the world was back to normal. His attack had disappeared, dispelled. His knees were slightly bent, unlike the high straight position he had them. His golden cloud was dimmer than before.
'What just?' The ancestral qilin thought in confusion before his eyes sharpened in anger. "The audacity!" He roared facing the dragon who had risen to look him in the eye on equal level. No, Zulong had raised himself to be above him.
The continent of Ao shook as two gargantuan auras descended. Two majestic royal auras clashed splitting the cloudy heavens. Two enormous Daos were clashing against each other. Two titanic cosmic trees with the outlines of a Dao fruit were facing each other.
"So much karmic luck," Zulin said sniffing the air. "Hand it over to your emperor and I may just spare your life."
"To dare covet my goodwill? To dare steal my, Zulong's face and prance around like a king of the primitive world? How pretentious," Zulong said in visible rage. "Just who do you think you are to demand anything of your emperor?"
Zulin raised one hoof and stomped at Zulong. His hoof catches karmic fire. His flames showed the images of dancing deities singing in praise of good fortune.
Zulin was born as the beast of good fortune. His mere presence draws in karmic luck allowing him to run unhindered in the world. He could sense the luck of others and obtain the luck of others forcefully if need be.
Zulong met hoof with claw. The two emperors clashed with such force that the two titans resembled nascent Chaos Immortals. The two flashed and reappeared a second later a fifty thousand kilometres apart
In but an instant, over a thousand exchanges were met. Zulong, in his full length curled around himself with a bloodthirsty look. His scales and fur were ruffled but otherwise, he was uninjured.
Zulin who appeared on the other side of him easily stood several thousand kilometres tall. His long scaly tail whipped through the air with a small tuff of red fur at the end. He too was uninjured.
"That was a good warmup," Zulong taunted. Zulin grunted in response, he whipped his tail smacking the much larger mantis in the face knocking out the creature who had recovered.
"What do you want with the primordial beast?" Zulong inquired as golden clouds covered the beast and shrunk. Zulin opted not to answer the dragon.
"I asked a question," Zulong stretched his upper body out. "And you WILL answer," the dragon commanded as he leapt at the qilin.
"And why would the actions of an emperor be a concern to a lowly subject?" Zuling mocked and dodged the dragon. He kicked with his hind legs hitting Zulong's body.
The dragon showed no indication of receiving any injury and twirled around to scratch at Zulin. The qilin leapt into the air standing atop golden clouds. He opened his mouth and swallowed the mantis.
Zulong's claws grabbed onto the edge of the golden cloud Zuling stood on. He pulled and raised another claw to grab the qilin's himself.
Sensing danger, the qilin leapt off the cloud and smashed down with his own tail. Zulong however anticipated this and grabbed hold of that tail with his hind legs and pulled the qilin along with him.
The dragon swung his opponent around like a ragdoll. He slammed Zulin into a multitude of mountains before lifting the qilin high into the air.
"You dare!" Zulin yelled out.
"I dare!" Zulong replied and chopped with his tail. His body was covered in gold and black lights. He resembled a chakram pulsating with immortal might. The art he used was supposed to be applied to treasures, turning them into deadly wheels of destruction like Da Hai had done to the white lotus years ago.
Zulogn applied the technique to his own body. He transformed into a massive hoop shape and slammed into Zulin's back. His scales became steel, his hairs became blades. He was like a beyblade of destruction that grinded into Zulin's scaly back.
"AHG!" Zulin called out in pain. His hoofs landed onto the ground. His scales could not resist and were ripped off. His flesh was cut and bled and he felt humiliated at every moment.
No longer able to resist, he lowered his body creating just enough space to rolled out of the way. A scroll wrapped in skin appeared before him and unrolled unleashing a wave of spectral fire.
Zulong's body reappeared and in his right claw was a shining azure pearl. It unleashed a million dragon projections and clashed against the wave of spectral fire.
The two treasures were evenly matched bringing slight surprise to Zulong. However, he was not undeterred. His right claw gripped a chain of beads with a calming effect. In an instant, the tides were turned. A wave of heavenly water barred down at the ancestral qilin washing away the scroll.
Qinglong, Yinglong, and Xuznwu leapt into the sky to avoid the battle. They couldn't believe how strong both opponents were. If Zulong had been giving his all then that mantis would've died in moments.
Zulin gritted his teeth in frustration. He charged at the dragon with his antlers. His body glowed in a torrent of karmic fire. With a mighty stamp of his hoofs, he charged at the wave. His flames burned away at the water and tore a path through it.
Karmic flames when used offensively was a dangerous foe. The golden flames of luck generated by the excessive usage of karmic luck struck everywhere. It rose and fell with Zulin turning the tides back into his favour.
Zulong saw the danger and retreated. Twirling in the air, he threw down a wave of power using both xiantian treasures. The dragon pearl and the twenty four sea calming beads forced Zulin to return his scroll onto his person. However they could not do anything but somewhat slow down the karmic fire.
Not willing to retreat. Zulong roared for all the world to hear and charged towards Zulin. His radiant light glowed in gold and black, colours of the royal heavens. Antlers met antlers as both gods clashed in the centre of Ao's back.
RUMBLE!
The skies split. Fire met light. Dragon met qilin. An unstoppable force met another unstoppable force. Both combatants gritted their teeth.
Zulong winced under the heat. 'Damnit I need to disengage,' he thought feeling the danger of karmic fire. The sheer power of such flames was beyond his expectations. His scales were slowly getting charred.
Then he had another idea. Zulong grinned and opened his draconic mouth.
What was heard next could only be described as the fierce roar of the king of all beasts. Or was it a royal decree from the emperor to his subjects? Or perhaps the motivating battle cries of a conquering general? Either way, the objective was achieved.
Zulin felt his heart skip a beat when Zulong roared. He felt his muscles loosen against his will. He felt his own determination wavering. He felt his concentration break and the sudden loss of strength along with it.
He was pushed back but tried to hold firm. The innate god born in the north tried to unleash his full might against the dragon of the east but the advantage was lost. His karmic flames briefly receded following Zulong's roar. His hoofs trembled facing the strength of the dragon.
The roar of the celestial dragon was a terrifying thing. It was a special ability that only the dragons possessed and were among their most unique of abilities. A single cry to command to heavens, a single cry to tame the seas, a single cry to dominate the land.
"I Zulin will never yield to you," Zulin roared in fury. The fire reignited around him to burn away at Zulong's own golden black lights. But too little too late, the qilin had long been forced to the point where he was a moment away from losing balance. He could barely apply any pressure to the dragon.
"Say that when you're not getting your ass kicked," Zulong replied with a haughty chuckle. His body began being covered by auspicious clouds. He raised his head breaking the clash and throwing Zulin onto his hind legs.
Zulong raised his right claw at the qilin's face. Zulin widened his eyes in shock and fear. The clouds around Zulong's claw were like ominous flames. They resembled a nine digit claw of a demon in the eyes of Zulin. They merged into a single long blade with deadly intent, merging the power of nine into one.
The impact came next. Zulong landed a hard blow on Zulin's face. The qilin retreated quickly disengaging from the dragon. His face was bleeding with a deep scar running from his eye to the bridge of his nostrils.
Zulin felt extremely humiliated. He glared at the dragon with contempt and some acknowledged respect. He knew at that moment that he was not looking at a senior of the previous generation like that purple clothed old man, nor a timid rabbit like so many innate creatures were. This was a god of the same generation as him. A fellow emperor. A competitor. Someone he had to remove.
Zulin as a last resort summoned forth massive amounts of karmic flames, rapidly burning through his own karma in the process. However, with his own talent, it wasn't a permanent loss. He directed those flames into several laser beams at the dragon.
Zulong stopped as the lasers were fired. He too could recognise Zulin as a factor that had to be removed. One emperor can recognise another and Zulong had long recognised who Zulin was, who he could be.
The dragon called forth a massive tsunami that focused into torrents of water that answered Zulin's barrage. Zulong hastily leapt and dodged and weaved around the rest. Karmic fire can bypass all his defences, if they didn't cost a hefty amount of his luck then he'd use it himself.
His water didn't last long, but they didn't have to. Zulong just had to make sure he wasn't hit.
Zulin opened his mouth to fire a concentrated blast which Zulong twirled around with his slender body. No flames were permitted to touch him.
The dragon unleashed spells after spells to slow the fire down taking care to never be struck directly. He weaved around the figure of Zulin who dodged to the side. And turned around in a hurry.
Zulong by now had raised his claw and struck down in a second display of 'nine clawed killing'. The golden black dragon claw descended towards Zulin who fired the rest of the flames at the claw in the shape of a giant qilin.
Zulong could sense his reserves of Qi depleting rapidly but chose to fire off a second claw with his unused left claw.
Zulin's expression was fierce as he jumped high, avoiding the claw that was going horizontally slashing at him.
"Ha! You missed," he gloated.
"Fool," Zulong retorted. "Unlike my master's version, nine clawed killing isn't a one step move. It's a two step one," he said smirking.
The open nine digit claw turned on the surface of Ao's back like a hand stretching out to grab something. The nine claws were like sharp pillars bathed in black light. They closed in like a flytrap on the figure of Zulin. It was as lit Zulong was closing his fists on an annoying insect, crushing its contents.
Zulin's expression was grim and he closed his eyes. Zulong looked gleeful in response. His claw closed with a loud 'BOOM' that radiated throughout the continent.
"So that's the highest level of combat in the world," Xuanwu said in wonder as he watched the dragon and qilin duel.
"No friend," Qinlong shook his head. "This is nothing compared to our master."
Xuanwu suddenly felt very inadequate. "To think such beings still exists in the world," he murmured.
Zulong looked in satisfactory when he opened his claw. The dragon looked very tired but was otherwise fine. His reserves of Qi will restore itself automatically without any prompt. Immortals in general possessed infinite energy but only in the sense that their limited reserves will continuously fill up from the world.
Suddenly, Zulong's head snapped to the sky at where his claw had closed in on. There standing ragged was the ruffled looking Zulin.
"You missed," Zulin said between huffs. Zulong however looked very startled. Zulin took this chance to dash away.
Yinglong and Qinglong broke out of their shock first and tried to catch the fleeing innate god. However, they recoiled when karmic fire ignited around Zulin and retreated.
Zulong quickly turned around to give chase. However, it was as if the world was working against Zulong. Zulin was unnaturally fast, unnaturally good at dodging all attacks Zulong threw at him.
No, it was more accurate to say that Zulong's attacks all missed. Every single one missed their target. Bolts of energy, water torrents, even another nine claw killing that drained Zulong even further. All missed without exception.
Zulong could only watch helplessly tired as Zulin got further and further away. He only heard the words "you missed" ring out in his head over and over.
"I missed," Zulong said back in his human form. "Or you just got lucky," he said between realisation and clenched teeth.
Away from prying eyes. Da Hai, who had held up a trembling hand out at Zulin before lowering it.
"It's a sin to kill a son of heaven," he said with angry contempt mixed with regret and sat back down on a pile of a dozen corpses. Primordial beasts he removed beforehand discreetly. Beasts that had been munching on Ao's flesh for so long that they grew to be at the strength of Great Principle Chaos Immortals. Beings that would've killed his disciples should they have ganged up on them.