"NOOOOO!" Da Hai roared furiously. The portal into the great wilderness' west continent slammed shut, back into real space just as Da Hai swung a massive water blade down. It instead ripped into the void.
"Hey, stop damaging the fabric of reality," Wangshu growled back.
Da Hai instead of listening reached out with his hands and pulled. He tore into the void attempting to open another portal. However, Qiankun slammed his palms down against shutting down each and every one of his attempts.
"Qiankun open another portal now," Da Hai demanded.
"Watch your tone with me," Qiankun retorted angrily. "There will be no gateways to the west. Let Hongjun be Luohu's problem."
"You squandered the perfect chance to end them," Da Hai growled back. The seven snake heads around him hissed menacingly.
"Don't antagonise me Da Hai," Qiankun warned. The cosmic ruler in his palm began glowing.
"Fine, if you won't help me then I'll do it myself," Da Hai said turning around and drawing the teardrop sword. He gathered a huge amount of stellar water onto the surface of his blade and made to strike into the void.
CLANG!
Da Hai's blow clashed against the outstretched form of the cosmic ruler.
"What is the meaning of this?" Da Hai demanded.
"Going after them now is the equivalent to committing suicide," Wangshu roared at the sea god. Da Hai swirled around to glare at the moon goddess who returned with a glare of her own.
"I'm not about to let you walk to your own death," she said snapping her fingers. In a flash of light, silver chains bound Da Hai from head to toe. The sea god tensed to break the chains but they held firm.
"Release me Wangshu," Da Hai growled.
"Not until you calm down," she replied.
"I am perfectly calm."
"You are irrational," Wangshu shouted suddenly surprising Da Hai. "You have allowed your rage cloud your judgement. Analyse the battle, we were barely tying him down. Follow him into the west and the only thing you'll find is your death. Do you really desire to seek your own death?"
The starry skies rumbled in accordance with Wagshu's voice. It was as if the stars themselves echoed her rage. The stars themselves shouted in unison along with her.
"But we were so close," Da Hai argued. "Closer than we've ever been in years. Closer than we ever will have."
"Did that look close to you?" Qiankun said stepping forward in anger. "Hongjun was on his own and yet he stopped all three of us with the lunar star's support. What if Destiny Demon god had shown up?"
"What?" Da Hai turned in surprise. "He's allied with Destiny Demon god?"
"The ancestor of time Sichen and the ancestor of yin and yang as well. Shangxia told me in his recruitment pitch," Qiankun said surpassing the feeling of regret.
"Then it would've been all the more reason to go all in," Da Hai tried to argue. "He was without his greatest allies."
"I underestimated Hongjun as well. I thought we could take him when allied, I was wrong," Qiankun said shaking his head. "Frankly I do not see a possibility of fighting him and winning. Even at my peak I still would've lost. At Da Hai's peak, you still would've lost."
"How can you be so sure. He couldn't gain any ground on us. Eventually, we would've managed to corner him."
"Don't speak to me about battle experiences boy," Qiankun growled angrily. " I have a dozen yuanhui's worth of experience in combat and there was no beating Hongjun. The gaps taken to figure out new techniques was too short to make any meaningful breakthroughs."
"They would've added up over time."
"That's not how cultivation works and you know it," Wangshu scoffed. "We lacked the raw power to hurt him but he still could hurt us. Face it, we simply lacked methods to beat him much less kill him."
"So we should just give up?" Da Hai yelled. The chains binding him started quaking much to Wangshu's shock. "I refuse to spit on brother Huoyun's memory. Hongjun needs to pay, both him and Luohu."
"And now you want to fight both of them? Are you insane?" Qiankun said shaking his head. "I thought you a lot more rational than this."
"Like master like disciple," Wangshu muttered messaging her nose bridge. "Your single minded obsession will be the death of you," she accused.
"It is not an obsession, it is justice," Da Hai cried.
"Do you hear yourself?" Wangshus scoffed. "If not for your naturally non confrontational personality you would be long dead."
"I for one do not wish to walk to my death," Qiankun said with a humph. He turned around and casually ripped a hole into the void. "I will be entering secluded cultivation. Do not try to find me," he said stepping through closing the gateway behind him.
"Damn it," Da Hai growled in frustration. Qiankun sudden refusal to help will negatively impact his progress. He hadn't made any major progress in years and his own lack of power frustrated him to no end.
'Zulong still exists,' Da Hai pondered. 'He's already nearing the Chaos Immortal realmand it'll only be a matter of time before he can properly assist him. By then the dragons should be set up and I can call upon support from around the world.'
'Wangshu in the stars, Zulong in the seas. I'll have Hongjun and Luohu cornered,' he pondered taking a brief look at Wangshu. However, he only found her displeased gaze looking right back at him.
"Qiankun has a point," Wangshu said. "If Hongjun is already so strong, how terrifying is Luohu? Best let them both deal with each other," she said breaking Da Hai away from his thoughts.
"I am sorry," he managed to say. "But I will not stop on this path," he said. "Huoyun can't have died for nothing. You were there, you know what happened. You are the legacy of Pangu, it is your duty to protect this world. So will you help me or not?"
PAH!
The chains shattered around Da Hai as he staggered back from the sudden burst of pain on his cheek. Wangshu's glare was one that frankly frightened the sea god.
"Guilt tripping me? You embarrass yourself in your delusions," Wangshu said disappointingly.
"And you shame his memory," Da Hai said glaring at the goddess. "He saved your life, he saved my life. He was instrumental in saving the world. His killers, those who ploted and schemed against us are still out there having the time of their lives. How dare you stand there like nothing's wrong?
"How dare I?" Wangshu said in startling disbelief.
"Yes, do you care nothing for brother Huoyun at all?" Da Hai accused. "You should be leading the fight against them. Youn Qiankun, Shangxia and all those who know the truth."
"I care nothing for daoist five elements." Wangshu, visibly hurt and pissed off, gave off a chilling aura. "The only reason I went along with you, the only reason I offered my aid was because of you. Because I saw you as my friend."
"You've become so obsessed that you start seeing everyone around you as another tool to use," Wangshu scoffed. "The current you is no different from either of those two. Hiding behind a justifiable cause for your own hatred. Using others for your own revenge. Pushing those close to you away and fencing yourself."
She gripped her fists tightly. The pale light of the lunar star had never shown so menacingly. The light of the moon was a peaceful one. Yet in this instance, it appeared furious.
"I genuinely prayed that that was not the case. But it seems you are consumed down to your very essence," Wangshu sighed in disappointment. "Go back to Yingzhou, you are no longer welcomed here."
"I." Not giving Da Hai a chance to speak. Wangshu struck Da Hai with a powerful kinetic blow. The goddess hurled the sea god away from her, deep into space, into the void, towards the east sea.
At that moment, Da Hai stood still in a trance. He wore an expression of shock even as Wangshi forcibly hurled him across the fabric of reality. Though he could easily resist, he did nothing as he plummeted for the great wilderness.
Those words hit Da Hai harder than any blow he'd been felt before. The tidal wave of guilt settled in at the same time. His rage had given way to clarity and horror.
SPLASH!
Da Hai crashed into the east sea. For a time, he simply floated there unnoticed. His snake heads had long faded into his body. The sea god remained motionless for a long period of time.
Many thoughts raced through his mind. Memories from the time he broke Huoyun's seal to his confrontation against Hongjun. The scenes played within his mind over and over again.
His middle aged appearance suddenly appeared very tired. He did not look like he had any strength to move at all. There was an air of loss surrounding him.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. All the while Da Hai lay in a blanket of despair contemplating his choices until now. Was Wangshu right? Was he truly so consumed in wrath that it had become an obsession?
He thought about his disciples. Originally accepted with the intention of producing powerful pawns. Then he thought about his commitment to that plan. 'Just what had I been thinking at the time,' he pondered.
Aimless, clueless, hopeless. The emotions the sea god felt were ones he'd suppressed for nearly half a yuanhui. He thought about Zulong and the other sovereigns he'd observed. The lessons he'd tried to teach, to steer the dragons into a certain direction.
About the result he wanted to achieve. About the contradictory claims he'd made and contradictory actions he'd taken.
'I guess I wasn't thinking at all. Deep down, I had long realized how impossible of a foe I face. How aimless I was. How I was drifting from half baked idea to half baked idea. Acting in bad faith to myself and those around me.'
Looking up at the moonlit night sky, Da Hai sighed depressingly. "I really am trash."