The battle on the eastern border of the Primordial World had cost both sides dearly, whether the allied forces or the armies of the Fierce Beast Domain and Demon Domain. Though the fighting had temporarily stopped, it was clear the war was far from over. The next clash was bound to be even more brutal.
The astonishing strength Main Body, Hongjun, Yang Mei, Luo Hou, and Shen Ni had displayed on the battlefield had shaken the entire Primordial World. The five had been honored with the title of the Five Great Supremes.
Main Body was far too mysterious. No one knew his real name, so he was known as the Blood Prison Supreme.
The allied forces had lost nearly all their Sacred Dynasty Lords and elders. Even the surviving Old Ancestor Lu Ya, Yin-Yang Ancestor, and Qiankun Ancestor had disappeared into some unknown corner. On top of that, the Golden Immortals, Mystic Immortals, and Heavenly Immortals had suffered heavy losses.
As a result, the Six Great Sacred Dynasties and the Eastern and Western Alliances officially dissolved. The alliances began to unite under Hongjun and Yang Mei, and even the Three Clans were no exception. The two men's prestige had reached its peak.
In truth, the Three Clans had also suffered considerable losses in the battle. But they had withdrawn early, and the forces they sent to fight had not been their main strength; they had mostly consisted of elders. Their strongest fighters—Ancestor Dragon, Heavenly Phoenix, Ancestor Lin, and others, who could rival Lu Ya and the rest—had never appeared.
Thus, after the alliance united, the Three Clans held nearly half the say in its affairs, and their influence actually grew even greater than before the tribulation. If not for Hongjun and Yang Mei's heaven-defying strength—their casual gestures could reduce billions of cultivators to ashes and shatter heaven and earth—their positions would have been unassailable. The alliance might already have fallen into the Three Clans' hands.
Of course, Hongjun and Yang Mei paid little attention to such matters. At their level, power and status were nothing but clouds. Proving the Dao was all they desired.
Especially after seeing Main Body's strength, they had been deeply shaken and devoted themselves single-mindedly to cultivation. They were both Chaos Demon Gods, proud to their very bones. They might not show it, but neither of them was willing to fall behind the other.
So, after settling the allied forces, the two went into seclusion and stopped involving themselves in the alliance's affairs. This indirectly helped the Three Clans, and Ancestor Dragon, Heavenly Phoenix, and Ancestor Lin all gained greatly in prestige.
The four Supremes of the two great powers had all entered seclusion, while the Blood Prison Supreme had never concerned himself with worldly affairs. Both powers were therefore gathering strength in preparation for the final battle. Nearly every cultivator in the Primordial World at the Golden Immortal level or above was conscripted by one of the two powers. The fate of anyone who resisted went without saying.
Of course, although both powers tried hard to exercise restraint and refrained from launching a full-scale war, small clashes kept breaking out. The fierce beasts in the eastern and southern regions of the Primordial World were nearly wiped out, while cultivators from the Demon Domain no longer dared enter those regions lightly.
Naturally, the north and west belonged to the Fierce Beast Domain and Demon Domain, with the exception of Blood Prison City.
The two powers also kept sending small groups to raid each other's mines, spiritual stone deposits, and other important sites. The border between the eastern and western regions became a killing ground: today one side launched a sneak attack, tomorrow the other struck back. Chaos reigned.
On the whole, things remained peaceful, though local skirmishes continued. Another five hundred thousand years drifted by, and the killing intent and baleful energy between heaven and earth grew so dense that a dark veil covered the entire Primordial World, blotting out the sky.
Every cultivator knew the final battle was close.
At that moment, Li Yi stood on a barren mountain in the eastern region, looking down at the heaps of white bones below. He could not help sighing. Over the years, Li Yi had fought countless battles on the border and made a great name for himself. Since his weapon was the Green Lotus Ancient Sword and he excelled at swordsmanship, cultivators had come to call him the Green Lotus Sword Master.
In truth, Golden Immortals still held the dominant position in the Primordial World. Grand Unity Golden Immortals were simply too rare. Although the two great battles had claimed hundreds of millions of cultivators, only a very small number of Grand Unity Golden Immortals had fallen—just a few hundred.
Before the tribulation, each Sacred Dynasty in the Primordial World had roughly a hundred Grand Unity Golden Immortals, and other powers had about the same. The Demon Domain and Beast Domain had somewhat more. Including the independent cultivators, there had been around four thousand in all. The Primordial World stretched for dozens of light-years, meaning that on average, not even one Grand Unity Golden Immortal could be found across tens of millions of miles. That showed just how rare they were.
So, over three thousand Grand Unity Golden Immortals likely remained in the Primordial World. Each held a high position and spent most of their time cultivating; they rarely ventured out unless a particularly important stronghold needed to be dealt with. The death of even one Grand Unity Golden Immortal was enough to send shock waves through the world.
Li Yi was practically invincible among Golden Immortals. Even when facing a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, as long as he was not surrounded, he had a good chance of escaping. Over the years, he had killed nearly ten thousand Golden Immortals along the border and escaped several times from Grand Unity Golden Immortals pursuing him, thanks to his extraordinary speed. For a time, his name struck fear throughout the borderlands.
Li Yi therefore held a very high position in the alliance. Apart from the Grand Unity Golden Immortals, who were often in seclusion, and a few rising stars from the Three Clans, he ranked near the top.
Recalling the fifty hundred thousand years of slaughter, Li Yi could not help but sigh. He also began to understand why the immortals and Buddhas of later generations regarded all living beings as ants and treated them with such cold indifference.
Part of the reason was the enormous gap in strength and level of life. Another reason might have been that they had experienced too much and witnessed too many deaths.
The powerful cultivators who had existed since soon after the world was created had lived through several great tribulations. They had watched hundreds of millions of cultivators fall one after another. When they looked at those weaker living beings, they could hardly see them as equals—just as humans saw ants. They could crush them whenever they wanted, without a second thought.
Thus, better to be a dragon or elephant among the Buddhas than an ox or horse among the common people.
Casting aside these pointless thoughts, Li Yi took stock of what he had gained over the years. A man did not grow rich without a windfall, nor a horse without extra feed. Having killed nearly ten thousand Golden Immortals, he had acquired more than a dozen Innate Spiritual Treasures. The rest were Houtian Spiritual Treasures, which he paid little attention to.
To his surprise, three of the dozen or so Innate Spiritual Treasures were top-grade. Li Yi could not help marveling at that. It seemed he was not the only one lucky enough to have one; many Golden Immortals had top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures too. They had simply kept them hidden, never showing them to others.
The three top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures were the Earth Suppressing Bead, Blood Spirit Pagoda, and Purple Cloud Halberd. There was no need to list the remaining Innate Spiritual Treasures.
This finally lifted Li Yi out of the awkward position of having almost nothing. Back then, he had not even had an Innate Spiritual Treasure to reward Azure Flood Dragon with. Now, at last, he no longer had to worry about that.
These spiritual treasures were not particularly useful to Li Yi. Neither his clone nor his Main Body needed them for protection, so he planned to keep a few and hand the rest over to Main Body as rewards for Blood Prison City.
In fact, the greatest thing Li Yi had gained was not these spiritual treasures, but a deeper understanding of life. When he had left Penglai Island, he had only begun to grasp the Power of Life. Over the past five hundred thousand years, as he continued to kill, he had also unconsciously deepened his understanding of life.
He had seen countless cultivators struggle and fall amid the great tribulation. Their helpless despair, cries, and sorrow had seeped into the depths of Li Yi's heart without respite.
And in the face of the Great Tribulation of All Beings, hundreds of millions of cultivators had braved the danger of death to face their tribulation. Clad in bloodstained robes and bearing broken blades, they had fought their way upstream through bloodshed, forcing open a path with their own hands for that single glimmer of life. They had faced death without regret, with the unyielding resolve to challenge Heaven itself. Their image had moved Li Yi deeply.
Joy and sorrow, the myriad forms of life—Li Yi's understanding of life grew ever deeper. Now, he only needed to break through one last barrier before he could draw upon the Power of Life and manifest the "Rebirth Sword Dao."
At that moment, Li Yi had an intense premonition that a breakthrough was just within reach. So he quietly made his way to a remote barren mountain on the border, where no one would notice him, intending to break through there.
However, Li Yi knew that haste made waste and did not rush into seclusion. First, he took stock of what he had gained over the years, recalled his memories of the past five hundred thousand years, and organized his findings and thoughts. Once he had sorted everything out and fully calmed his mind, he prepared to break through and draw upon the Power of Life.
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