Within the infinite Chaos, Ling Xiao awoke from his meditation, a strange light flashing in his eyes.
"The Sanqing (Three Pure Ones) actually siphoned away the divine fire I left behind?"
Ling Xiao whispered to himself. That flame had been left before his ascension as compensation for Yuan Phoenix, since he had consumed the original fires of South Bright Volcano.
With a thought, the Eye of Divine Punishment (Eye of Divine Punishment) manifested. His gaze pierced through the illusions of space and the fog of the Chaos, blanketing the entire Honghuang World. Everything became starkly clear; nothing could hide from his sight.
"Heh, interesting. The Sanqing and those two baldies from the West are directly meddling in the Witch-Demon Calamity."
"Do they think the races aren't dying fast enough?"
Ling Xiao chuckled. The secretive maneuvers of the Five Saints were transparent to him. They were clearly exerting immense effort to balance the Yao Race's power against the Witches to ensure a mutual downfall. They had even dragged that old fossil Kunpeng out of the North Sea.
Ling Xiao's divine eye scanned across the eons of space-time, settling on the North Sea. Ten billion fathoms beneath the waves, he saw Kunpeng's reconstructed form.
"Impressive. They even offered their own Essence Blood (Essence Blood) to nurture him."
Ling Xiao saw through the situation instantly. He was surprised that the arrogant Laozi and Yuanshi would give their blood to a being they usually dismissed as "feathered and scaled." Only Tongtian likely lacked such prejudices—though that open-mindedness would eventually lead to the disaster of the Investiture of the Gods (Investiture of the Gods Calamity).
Absorbing the blood of three Saints had made Kunpeng far more powerful than before. Even a few drops of Saintly essence were enough to change a creature's fundamental nature. As Ling Xiao prepared to withdraw his gaze, he paused, a flicker of doubt crossing his mind.
"There is a trace of Fate clinging to Kunpeng's aura?"
"What is this? Did absorbing Saint blood grant him a Protagonist Halo (Protagonist Halo)?"
Ling Xiao was momentarily puzzled. This Kunpeng felt fundamentally different from the one he knew, though the exact nature of the change remained elusive. He eventually withdrew his gaze, choosing not to obsess over it.
He knew this was Hongjun's doing, carried out by the Saints to enforce the Great Trend of the Heavenly Dao (great trend of the heavenly dao). The current timeline had deviated too far from the original "script," and Hongjun was desperate to force the world back onto its tracks.
The relationship between Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao was complex. By merging with it, Hongjun gained infinite power but became a servant of the Trend, unable to intervene directly in mortal affairs while the world followed its predetermined path.
Ling Xiao's lips curled into a faint smile. Hongjun wanted the Wu and Yao to perish, but Ling Xiao would not make it easy. If the races were wiped out, Di Jun and Tai Yi—the protagonists of the Calamity—would be dragged down with them. Only once his brothers reached the Grand Unity Golden Immortal (Daluo) rank could they step off the chessboard.
Furthermore, Ling Xiao suspected that the "Calamity" was a mechanism for Hongjun to further perfect his merger with the Dao. By thwarting the Trend, Ling Xiao could weaken his rival.
"If that's the case, I'll add a little more chaos to the mix..." Ling Xiao whispered, looking toward South Bright Volcano. "Let a protagonist from the last age return. That should give you a proper headache."
With those words, Ling Xiao vanished into the Chaos.
The Battlefield: Central Plains
The main armies of the Witch and Yao races had finally collided in a titanic struggle.
"Children of the Witch race, slaughter them!" Zhu Rong (God of Fire) was the first to hit the lines. He exhaled a pillar of flame ten million feet long, vaporizing a sea of demons instantly. This wasn't just the power of his Law of Fire; it was the venting of his long-suppressed humiliation.
"Bastards! Do you think we are invisible?" Fuxi, Bai Ze, and Jiuying arrived, retaliating with massive strikes that crushed thousands of Witch warriors.
"You trash? You think you can stop me?"
A streak of lightning tore through the sky as Qiang Liang arrived. He dove straight into the heart of the Yao formation, a peerless force of nature. As the incarnation of thunder, he left only devastation and dust in his wake.
"Bold! You seek death!" Jiuying screamed, feeling insulted that Qiang Liang was trying to take them all on at once. Guiche, Ji Meng, and the other Great Demons swarmed him, knowing that in a one-on-one fight, none of them stood a chance against an Ancestral Witch.
BOOM!
The battle shook the universe. As Gonggong arrived, Fuxi was forced to engage him directly. Within moments, the earth was littered with the corpses of millions, and blood stained the land for ten million miles.
When Di Jiang and the other Ancestral Witches finally descended, the Yao Race's front lines began to crumble.
"Hahaha! Keep up the act! Without a Saint to hide behind, who will save you now?" "I've waited years for this! I won't be satisfied until I've torn every one of you to pieces!"
The Ancestral Witches roared with a cruel, vengeful joy. Their Evil Qi (Evil Qi) turned the sky the color of blood. The Yao, from the highest general to the lowest soldier, felt a bone-chilling terror.
They couldn't win. It was impossible.
Fuxi's face was grim, and many of the Great Demons were already eyeing the exits. They had no desire to die for a lost cause.
"Fellow Daoist Fuxi, I have come to assist you!"
A sudden burst of celestial light heralded the arrival of the Queen Mother of the West. She led a massive army of female immortals and the remnants of the old Immortal Court (Immortal Court).
"Queen Mother of the West, you dare oppose our Witch race?" Di Jiang asked coldly.
"You stole my Dao-site without provocation. That debt has yet to be paid!" she replied, standing at the head of her army with regal majesty.
"Heh, seeking death," Di Jiang sneered. Her arrival changed nothing.
"Di Jiang... did you ask for my permission before invading the Yao Race?"
A second, arrogant voice rang out. A dark silhouette walked across the horizon. When the Witches and Yao saw the face of the newcomer, they were all struck dumb with shock.
It was the Demon Master—Kunpeng.