Dijiang and Lu Yun were entangled in battle. The Bell of Chaos hovered over the demon god’s head, erupting with golden oscillation after golden oscillation that washed away the ocean of hellfire that Lu Yun had summoned and destroying even the mirage of the Sal Tree of Life and Death.
No ordinary connate treasure could hope to measure up to the most exceptional of their kind in the great wilderness. If it wasn’t for Rearbow fully devoting its energies to protecting Lu Yun’s body, he too would be made into minced meat in the face of the bell’s might.
At the same time, Lu Yun was no longer who he’d once been. He’d obtained Yi’s bow and refined the Constellation Willow, both of which resulted in substantial improvements to his body of the world. Even though his flames were continuously beaten back, his strength was still immensely considerable.
Whirr.
Whirr.
Whirr.
Rearbow appeared in Lu Yun’s hands in the form of a bow again and sent a cascade of flaming arrows speeding toward Dijiang. The demon god was unfathomably quick, his four wings leaving afterimages in the air as they beat furiously to evade the attack.
Morphing into a curtain of golden light, the Bell of Chaos loomed over Lu Yun. Fire and lightning shrieked and howled inside its curtain; all five elements spewed forth in a rage of offensive fury that combined into a horrifying destructive power.
Unable to react in time, Lu Yun could only watch as the bell itself came down on him, trapping him inside.
RumblerumbleRUMBLE.
It felt like his replica would be physically ripped apart inside this bell!
“Break!!” He stowed Rearbow as a shadow fragment inside his armor and pummeled the light curtain of the bell with both fists.
The Bell of Chaos began to shake, but it was too strong for even Lu Yun to punch through at his current strength. Due to his capture, the Sal Tree mirage and sky full of hellfire began to vanish.
“I see… he can call upon the strange tree in the Sea of Hellfire, which is why he can use that tree to deploy the flames.” Dijiang waved a hand and put away the bell. Contempt curved his lips as he looked at the dissipating Sal Tree of Life and Death.
In fact, many demon gods observing the battle were also smiling. Lie Shan of the human race had been defeated and was now imprisoned in Dijiang’s Bell of Chaos!
Thus ended the chapter of humanity’s legend, and arrived the doom of a peak faction not yet to find its footing.
Many of them looked at the human tribes located in the Yellow River basin with awakening bloodlust. Lie Shan had been pompous and overbearing, daring to use force and coercion on blue-blooded demon gods, on them!
He’d really thought that he was something. How ludicrous and absolutely insulting that a pointless existence lower than a bug had dared to threaten them!
Well, now that he’d been captured in defeat, it was time to take revenge on those mewling humans.
Dijiang ignored the stirring desires of his kind and glanced further up in the sky. He snorted at what he found in the high reaches. “Leize, are you looking to stick your neck out for the human race still?”
Leize’s enormous body was in the firmament, and he was displaying his true form of a dragon five hundred thousand kilometers long. He was a connate divine dragon, the first of his kind in the world. Future generations would bestow another name on him—the ancestor dragon.
Coiled in midair, he stared frostily at Dijiang.
“Release Lie Shan,” he growled.
“Don’t come throw your weight around here, Leize. Do you really think you can bully me with just a replica?!” Growing ire sounded in Dijiang’s voice.
It was a publicly known fact that Leize was very strong. But he wasn’t here in the flesh, just one of his replicas! He couldn’t even be bothered with personally threatening Dijiang, someone with the Bell of Chaos in his hands!
Dijiang had once thought he was on par with Leize, especially after he’d beaten Rushou to death. But that plainly wasn’t the case since Leize had only seen fit to send a replica!
Enraged and humiliated beyond belief, he stared mutinously back at the dragon in the skies.
“There’s no need for this, senior, a mere Dijiang can’t do anything to me yet.” Lu Yun’s voice suddenly echoed in the air around them before the Bell of Chaos started trembling violently. Dijiang looked at it with horrified shock.
“This is a battle between me and Dijiang. If you wouldn’t mind, senior, please don’t interfere.”
Blinking, Leize paused before bursting out in hearty laughter.
“I see!” Still laughing uproariously, his mammoth figure faded away.
Humm.
The Bell of Chaos shot into the air and magnified to the size of a mountain. Hellfire sparked inside it and slowly fanned into embers that set the treasure ablaze.
His expression ominously brooding, Dijiang hadn’t anticipated that Lie Shan would still be able to cause trouble after he’d suppressed the human with the bell!
“There’s one last restriction in the Bell of Chaos! I’m just one final step away from fully refining the greatest treasure of the great wilderness! Jin nation, Bai Zhaoju!” Dijiang looked to the west where the Jin nation was.
“Get down here!” He reached out with a fore claw and dragged the burning bell into his grasp, suppressing the activity within as well. Then, his four wings beat softly before he vanished on the spot.
……
Jin nation drowned in immense grief. Upon the death of their ruler, Goldflare Mountain pulsed with golden radiance at the heart of the kingdom, protecting the land. It was the foremost metal-attribute treasure beneath the heavens and synonymous with the Builder Tree in the Mu nation.
However, it hadn’t seemed to be passed down by later generations, so it wasn’t as famous as the Builder Tree.
Craaaash.
The country shuddered as the now master-less Goldflare Mountain quaked, its protective light curtain torn to pieces.
“Hand over Bai Zhaoju, or witness the annihilation of your nation!” Dijiang demanded coolly from the air.
“Dijiang, you killed our liege, we will not suffer you to take another breath!” The country boiled over at the demon god’s appearance as countless Jin citizens took up arms and charged him.
Munch!
Dijiang opened his mouth wide and devoured the vanguard of citizens coming his way.
“Since you won’t give up Bai Zhaoju, the Jin nation will be erased from the great wilderness today!” He flew into a fit of frustrated rage.
As time went on, resistance from the Bell of Chaos grew increasingly stronger; he was already using half of his cultivation to keep the agitating Lie Shan under control. He had to find Bai Zhaoju as soon as possible and take the Taiyi true feather from him!
It’d dawned on Dijiang by this point that Lie Shan had allowed himself to be captured by the bell. It made it easier for him to wrest the treasure back!
“Erase the Jin nation from the great wilderness? Just listen to yourself, Dijiang.” A cold snort sounded from the void before a burning hot presence descended from the skies. Looking very much out of place, a giant surrounded by flames popped into existence.
“Zhurong!” Dijiang’s eyes widened at the newcomer. An enormous ripple materialized behind him the next moment—a black figure stood within it, looking across at him with the frostiest glare possible.
Gonggong!
The rulers of the Shui and Huo nations had arrived at the same time.
“Do the two of you also want to stick your noses where they don’t belong?” Dijiang regarded the two with hostile unwelcomeness.
“I owe Rushou a debt of protection and enlightenment. I would be the most ungrateful sinner in the eyes of heaven if I allowed you to destroy his kingdom,” Zhurong denounced coolly.
Zhurong and Gonggong were divine spirits of nature rather than connate demon gods. One had been born of connate li fire, while the other from connate kui water. They’d only been empyrean realm at birth, but possessed the innate ability to control their element. Thus, many demon gods naturally looked covetously at them.
It’d been Rushou and Goumang who’d stepped forward to keep them safe until they reached chaos realm and constructed their nations.
They would never stand for Dijiang destroying the Jin nation after killing Rushou. They couldn’t kill Dijiang equipped with the Bell of Chaos, but they could and would protect the Jin nation! Therefore, they’d made use of their elements to project their images and hold him off outside the kingdom.
“In that case, the two of you can follow Rushou!” Dijiang sprang into motion.
He couldn’t use the bell at the moment, but he was still stronger than both of them. Utilizing his speed to the utmost, he destroyed their projections before anyone could take another breath.
“It was all due to Rushou and Goumang’s protection that you survived to this day. How else would a mere water and fire divine spirit be able to create a kingdom in the great wilderness?” He sneered, not thinking much of Zhurong or Gonggong at all. He looked at the reformed curtain of light from Goldflare Mountain and flung himself at it.
Crack crack craaaack.
The protections from this wondrous treasure didn’t last any longer this time around.
“Dijiang! If you dare attack the Jin nation today, I swear I will not rest until you are dead!” Zhurong’s true form suddenly rushed out of the void to stop the demon god.
“Hmmph!” Dijiang sniffed, took human form, and slapped Zhurong away into the ground. “Wait, what?” Shock appeared on the demon god’s face. “Why am I… in human form?!”
This terrified him more than anything. Logically speaking, connate demon gods of the great wilderness had only two forms. Their true form, and one that took the shape of whoever looked at them.
But he was now in human form, and being in this form gave him the most comfortable feeling of connecting perfectly with the great dao! Even more than terrifying, this was horrifically uncomfortable!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Muffled thuds sounded from the bell on him. Standing within it, Lu Yun unleashed all of his power, techniques, arts, and knowledge with wild abandon so they would meld into the connate great dao.
And in this moment, human dao was first established.
Whoosh!
The Bell of Chaos suddenly flew out of Dijiang’s robes and shot into the clouds. Lu Yun’s figure appeared above it, looking down loftily upon the demon god.
