The ground beneath Song Taiyi's feet was fractured, spiderweb cracks radiating outward as if the earth itself feared what was coming. His breathing was uneven, each inhale pulling dust and blood into his lungs. His knees threatened to give way — but his spine remained straight.
Above him, the sky churned like a living ocean. The Eight Divine Beasts stared down at him, their eyes ancient and unblinking. The air trembled with their combined presence.
The First Strike – The White Tiger
It moved without warning — one heartbeat the world was still, the next it was a blur of white and gold, crossing the distance between heaven and earth in the blink of an eye. Its roar hit first, a sound that punched through Taiyi's chest, nearly collapsing his lungs. Then came the claws — a sweep so fast that space itself rippled.
Taiyi threw himself to the side. Stone split like tofu where he had stood, the strike carving a canyon twenty paces deep. A shockwave sent him tumbling. He hit the ground hard, rolling until he smashed against a broken pillar of rock. Pain flared through his ribs.
The tiger didn't give him a moment. It lunged again, eyes locked onto his heart. Without qi, Taiyi had only his body and his experience. He stepped in — too close for the claws to fully swing — and drove his elbow into the beast's jaw. The blow barely moved the tiger's head, but it bought him enough time to vault over its back and land behind it.
The White Tiger spun, tail lashing like a whip. Taiyi ducked under it, but the wind from the strike still slammed into his back, sending him skidding across the ground. His palms bled from catching himself.
"You won't kill me that easily," he muttered, spitting blood.
The Second Strike – The Dragon
The clouds darkened. A deep, resonant hum filled the air — not sound, but a vibration felt in bone and marrow. Then the Dragon descended.
Golden scales the size of shields rippled down its massive body. Lightning danced along its whiskers, arcing toward the ground in jagged bolts. Its eyes — ancient, indifferent — locked onto Taiyi.
The first bolt struck where he stood. He was already moving, but the heat and force still burned across his side. The second bolt followed instantly. Then a third. The Dragon's strikes came like a rainstorm, relentless and precise.
Taiyi dove behind a crumbling stone arch, only for lightning to blow it apart. Fragments of glowing rock cut into his skin. His vision blurred. His heartbeat slowed, steadied. The Dragon will not tire. If I stay on the defensive, I die.
He waited until the Dragon reared back, lightning gathering in its throat — then he charged straight toward it. The bolt came, and he slid beneath it, feeling the heat singe his hair. His hands caught the base of a scale, and he pulled himself onto the Dragon's neck.
With a roar, the Dragon twisted, trying to shake him off. Taiyi drove his fists down between the scales, over and over, until a crack appeared. He struck the same spot again and again — not to kill, but to mark. The Dragon whipped its head violently, throwing him off, but the mark glowed faintly in the golden light.
The Third Strike – The Phoenix
The Dragon's roar had barely faded when the Phoenix descended. The sky ignited. Flames rained like meteors, each ember carrying a fragment of divine will. The air itself became fire.
Taiyi's lungs burned with every breath. His skin blistered. He tore away the scorched remnants of his robe and sprinted between falling columns of flame. A stray ember grazed his arm — flesh charred instantly.
The Phoenix screamed, a sound of pure, unbroken pride. It dived, a comet of living fire.
Taiyi didn't run. At the last moment, he dropped to the ground and rolled beneath the flaming wings, feeling the heat sear his back. As the Phoenix passed, he snatched a shard of molten rock from the ground — still burning with the Phoenix's flame — and hurled it at the mark he'd left on the Dragon's neck.
The shard struck true. Lightning and flame exploded together. The two beasts recoiled, their auras colliding in a blast that shook the heavens.
The Fourth Strike – The Qilin
The battlefield fell silent. The Qilin stepped forward, its hooves silent on the stone. It was majestic, its mane glowing with threads of gold, its eyes deep pools of judgment. It did not rush him. Instead, a wave of light rolled from its horn, passing through him like water.
The world shifted.
He stood in a field of corpses — faces he knew. Soldiers who had died following his orders. Friends who had fallen before he could save them. The Fire God, bleeding out in his arms.
The guilt struck like a blade. His knees buckled.
"You failed them," a voice whispered, though it was his own voice speaking. "You were not enough."
For a moment, Taiyi almost agreed. Almost.
Then he snarled. "And yet I still stand!" His voice rose, shattering the illusion like glass. The Qilin's calm gaze did not change, but it dipped its head slightly — an acknowledgment.
The Fifth Strike – The Azure Bird and Tortoise
Cold came first — a wind so sharp it froze his breath midair. The Azure Bird's wings cut the sky into ribbons, each flap unleashing gales that crystallized the ground in sheets of ice.
From the other side, the Tortoise emerged from the mist, vast and unyielding. Its step summoned tidal waves from the void itself, water crashing into the canyon in a deluge.
Fire was gone now — water and ice ruled the battlefield. Taiyi's body was sluggish, his fingers numb. A wave surged toward him, carrying chunks of ice the size of wagons. He leapt, landing on one chunk and using it as a stepping stone to vault over the wave — straight into the path of the Azure Bird.
Its beak snapped at him. He caught it with both hands, the impact jarring his shoulders. He twisted, forcing the bird to angle downward — right into the Tortoise's path. The crash was deafening, water exploding in all directions.
The Sixth Strike – The Golden Crow
The cold shattered under a new sun. The Golden Crow blazed overhead, its wings eclipsing the sky in light. Heat crashed down like a hammer, evaporating the waves in an instant. The sudden shift from freezing to boiling sent agony through Taiyi's body.
The Crow's fireballs fell like artillery. Taiyi ran, weaving between craters, every step heavier than the last. His muscles screamed. His vision tunneled.
I can't last much longer…
His hand brushed against the jade fragment at his belt — the Fire God's token.
He stopped running.
"I will not die crawling," he whispered.
He crushed the token.
The Final Stand
Flame erupted, a pillar reaching the heavens. The phantom of the Fire God appeared, towering, armored, his eyes burning with the light of a dying star. It merged with Taiyi, fire searing into his veins, reforging bone and flesh.
When the White Tiger leapt again, he caught its claws in his bare hands and crushed them to light.
When the Dragon struck, he met its lightning with fire and split it apart.
When the Phoenix descended, he soared to meet it, driving a flaming fist into its heart.
The Qilin bowed as he passed.
The Azure Bird's wings turned to ash in his grasp.
The Tortoise's shell cracked beneath a single, burning strike.
The Golden Crow's sunfire was devoured by his own.
One by one, the beasts dissolved into radiant motes, their forms returning to the heavens.
The light faded. His body trembled, the flames gone — but within him, his spiritual root blazed anew, reborn in the fire of trial.
Far away, the Demon King Tai Long opened his eyes. "So… the dragon ascends."
In the canyon, Taiyi looked up at the empty sky and whispered, "Come, then."
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