Xuan Wazi's "diligent cultivation" had produced remarkable results. Across the Primordial World, the conflicts between the Dragon, Phoenix, and Kirin Tribes intensified by the day, no longer confined to border skirmishes. Small-scale encounters gradually escalated into legion-level clashes, while hatred spread like wildfire, sweeping through one tribe after another, one territory after another.
At last, on a vast wilderness at the border between the western and central regions, the main forces of the Three Clans collided with a thunderous crash, driven by countless years of accumulated resentment and a series of recent "unexplained" incidents!
"Roar—!"
Dragon roars shook the heavens as tens of thousands of divine dragons rode the clouds and mist into battle, their scales reflecting a cold, sinister gleam. At their head was Ya Zi, one of Ancestral Dragon's nine sons. Violent by nature and bloodthirsty in battle, his colossal dragon body radiated the terrifying pressure of an Early-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal. Behind him, the Dragon Tribe army formed into battle arrays and drew upon the waters of the Four Seas, turning them into overwhelming floods that covered the sky and earth.
"Cry—!"
Phoenix cries rang clear, yet carried a chilling killing intent. Phoenixes that blotted out the sky led azure luans, Fire Crows, and other feathered clans through the heavens. Southern Bright Leaving Fire burned half the sky crimson. Leading them was a Phoenix Clan elder named Yan Ling, also an Early-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal. Laws of fire coiled around her, scorching even space into distortion.
"Roar—!"
Kirin roars shook the earth. Countless kirin and powerful beasts surged across the land like a torrent of steel, their hooves thundering as dust billowed into the air. The power of the earth gathered beneath their feet, forming a heavy yellow glow. At their head stood a Kirin Tribe elder named Panshi, likewise a Grand Unity Golden Immortal. His aura was as steady as a mountain, as though he had become one with the land beneath him.
The three torrents, representing the three strongest powers in the Primordial World, crashed together upon this wilderness!
In an instant, heaven and earth lost their color!
The Dragon Tribe summoned wind and rain, overturning rivers and seas; the Phoenix Clan scorched the heavens and boiled the oceans, hurling flaming meteors; the Kirin Tribe shattered mountains and split the earth, shaking peaks and suppressing seas... All manner of mighty innate divine abilities, dazzling treasures, and the power of laws collided and annihilated one another in a frenzy.
Blood poured down like torrential rain, dyeing the wilderness red and gathering into streams. Shattered scales, charred feathers, and severed limbs flew everywhere. The sounds of brutal slaughter, explosions, and wails intertwined into a symphony of destruction. The terrifying aftermath of battle reduced the wilderness for thousands of miles to ruins, severing earth veins as spatial cracks flashed intermittently like black lightning.
The Malevolent Energy of the calamity had grown dense to the extreme, permeating every corner and corroding the minds of every combatant, making them even more berserk, bloodthirsty, and unwilling to stop until one side died!
Meanwhile, one of the culprits behind all this, Xuan Wazi, was leisurely hiding at the edge of the battlefield within a concealment formation he had carefully arranged using the Chaos Bead to mask his aura, along with his own mana.
He cracked "melon seeds" and drank spirit fruit wine he had brewed himself, as though watching an immersive epic blockbuster.
"Tsk, tsk, this is more exciting than any effects-heavy movie!" Xuan Wazi exclaimed, his eyes gleaming as he swept his gaze over the battlefield. "Now's the time! System Bro, get to work!"
Like the most efficient battlefield scavenger, his divine sense functioned like a precise radar, locking onto spiritual treasures that had been damaged and flung away amid fierce clashes, ownerless objects whose masters had just fallen and which still carried traces of their former owners' imprints, and even the remaining blood essence and fragments of origin left behind after powerful beings had been blown apart.
A streak of azure light flickered through the chaotic currents of energy. It was a Phoenix Clan Feathered Sword that had been knocked away by a Dragon Tribe general. Its grade was not high, but its material was unusual.
"It's mine!" Xuan Wazi grabbed through the air. Space rippled slightly, and the Feathered Sword vanished from its original location, appearing in his system storage instead.
A kirin scale fragment containing pure Wutu Earth Qi fell from a fallen Kirin Tribe expert and plummeted toward the ground.
"Get down here!" Xuan Wazi crooked a finger. As though pulled by an invisible string, the scale fragment abruptly changed direction, slipped into the void, and joined his collection.
He even set his sights on a Dragon Tribe Profound Immortal who had been severely injured by a kirin's paw strike and was on the verge of death. In the final moments of that Dragon Tribe Profound Immortal's life, Xuan Wazi quietly took a drop of Natal Blood Essence condensed within his body, along with his storage pouch.
[Ding! Obtained one mid-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure: Fire Feather Sword.] [Ding! Obtained one Golden Immortal kirin origin scale fragment.] [Ding! Obtained one drop of Profound Immortal Dragon Tribe Natal Blood Essence, Dragon Tribe standard armor, and several medicinal pills.]
The system notifications rang out without pause. Though none of the individual rewards were top-tier, there were simply too many of them! Xuan Wazi grinned from ear to ear. This was practically a business with zero investment and limitless profit!
Naturally, he had not forgotten the other requirement of the main quest—pranks and provoking curses.
He chose his timing carefully. Just as the destructive torrent of energy spat out by Ya Zi was about to strike the Phoenix Clan formation, he secretly used the Law of Space to alter the edge of its trajectory by the tiniest amount. The Phoenix Clan battle formation, which should have been struck head-on, was merely grazed at the edge. Though it still suffered considerable losses, its core strength was preserved. Meanwhile, the distorted energy torrent happened to brush past the edge of the Kirin Tribe formation, blasting several unlucky kirin into the air.
"Ya Zi! You dare attack my Kirin Tribe as well?!" Elder Panshi's eyes bulged with fury, believing Ya Zi intended to take them out while he had the chance.
Ya Zi was stunned as well. He had clearly aimed at the Phoenix Clan! But any explanation was useless now. The Kirin Tribe's counterattack had already arrived.
Elsewhere, when Elder Yan Ling condensed an enormous fireball and hurled it at the Dragon Tribe, Xuan Wazi secretly added a trace of weak wind laws to the fireball, increasing its flight speed and blast radius ever so slightly. By "accident," it enveloped several elite Kirin Tribe beasts that were fighting the dragons.
"Yan Ling! Is your Phoenix Clan declaring war on my Kirin Tribe?!" Panshi roared again, feeling that both sides were targeting him.
Elder Yan Ling frowned tightly. She, too, sensed that her technique had undergone a subtle change beyond her control.
Similar "accidents" occurred one after another. Though they could not alter the overall direction of the battle, they utterly destroyed the Three Clans' trust in one another. Each believed the others were taking the chance to stab them in the back, and the fighting grew even more chaotic and brutal. Angry curses and vicious insults rang out without end.
"Ya Zi, you bastard! You're not being a person!"
"Yan Ling, you old hag! Despicable and shameless!"
"Panshi! Your Kirin Tribe wants to profit from this too? Dream on!"
Naturally, some of those curses were credited to Xuan Wazi, who was constantly stirring up trouble in secret.
[Ding! Provoked Ya Zi of the Dragon Tribe into furious cursing. Unfilial Points +188!] [Ding! Provoked Yan Ling of the Phoenix Clan into extreme curses. Unfilial Points +166!] [Ding! Provoked Panshi of the Kirin Tribe into enraged rebukes. Unfilial Points +199!]
Xuan Wazi watched the constantly rising Unfilial Points and rapidly growing treasure collection on the system panel, and his smile became increasingly radiant. "Curse away, curse away. The more you curse, the stronger this Daoist becomes!"
Just as the Three Clans fought until blood flowed like rivers and the Malevolent Energy, resentment, and killing intent between heaven and earth grew so dense they nearly became tangible, deep within the western lands stood a palace shrouded in endless demonic qi.
Demon Ancestor Luohu slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was as deep as an ancient demonic abyss, reflecting the tragic scene unfolding on the battlefield of the Primordial World. A cruel, satisfied smile curved across his lips.
"Kill. Kill to your hearts' content! This endless slaughter, hatred, and fear are the finest nourishment for my supreme demonic path!" He took a deep breath, and the calamity qi and negative energy pervading heaven and earth in the Primordial World flowed toward him like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, slowly absorbed by the Twelve-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus beneath him and the God-Slaying Spear in his hand.
"Hongjun... Once I prove the Dao through slaughter and attain the Primordial Unity, it will be the end of you, leader of the Immortal Path!" Luo Hou's gaze seemed to pierce endless space and settle upon an immortal mountain range in the east.
He had already intended to provoke a great war among the Three Clans and use endless slaughter to aid his path to enlightenment. Yet he had not expected the process to proceed so smoothly, even beyond his expectations. He vaguely sensed that some invisible "masterful hand" was secretly pushing everything along, intensifying the Three Clans' conflicts at an astonishing pace.
"Whoever you are, you have done me a great favor." Luo Hou sneered softly. "Once my work is complete, perhaps I will leave you an intact corpse."
The stage for the calamity had fully opened, and all the actors had entered. Yet there seemed to be more than one director hidden behind the curtain. Xuan Wazi was still happily picking up "trash" and drawing curses upon himself, unaware that the flutter of his butterfly wings had already caught the attention of a true giant.
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