On the other side of the mist.
Primordial Celestial Venerable stood atop the waves. Golden flowers rose from the surging tide, dyeing the entire sea gold.
The sea breeze brushed the loose strands by his temples. He looked up at the mass of dark clouds blotting out the sky, where dense tentacles protruded from the clouds. Giant writhing eyes opened at the ends of those tentacles, staring fixedly at the Daoist on the sea as if contemplating something.
"It is time to settle the old score from Chennan Pass... Black Goat," Primordial Celestial Venerable said calmly.
The tentacled dark clouds churned in the sky, as though they had sensed something. The writhing giant eyes spun madly, looking in every direction at once. At the same time, the clouds at the center roiled violently, as if something were about to break through.
The daylight dimmed at a visible pace, and the moon hanging in the distant heavens suddenly took on a faint crimson tint.
Whoosh—!!
A fierce gale erupted from the dark clouds. The sea for hundreds of kilometers instantly fell into deathly stillness, as if an invisible pressure had descended upon the world. Not even a single splash could rise from the water, and the entire sea became smooth as a mirror.
A red moon reflected upon the sea, spreading like ink. In the blink of an eye, it had dyed the entire ocean blood-red.
Violent, crazed, bizarre... an aura from beyond this world seeped wildly through the sea. In mere moments, the Red Moon contamination that had once destroyed Takama-ga-hara appeared once more, at an even greater concentration than before.
Within this blood-red world, the tentacled dark clouds slowly descended from the sky like a collapsing firmament, pressing down bit by bit toward Primordial Celestial Venerable's head. The tentacled