The Daoist transformed into his true form: a Three-legged Golden Crow covered in flames. He threw back his head and cried out, then spat out a sea of fire that burned through the void.
Heavenly Witch Poison Old Man saw this and recalled the stream of poison, swirling it around himself. With every rotation, a little more of it was burned away.
With the two battling, Pangu and Xuanhuang were finally left in peace.
The Golden Crow unleashed his fiery power, scorching Heavenly Witch Poison Old Man until he could barely breathe. Fortunately, the poison also kept his opponent wary. He repeatedly swung his scorpion tail to strike physically. His two massive pincers were fearsome too, snapping left and right and forcing the Golden Crow to dodge frantically. But the Golden Crow had the advantage of flight and was far more agile than the Heavenly Witch, so he still held an overwhelming advantage. From time to time, he would jab his beak viciously into his foe or rake him with his talons, injuring him with every strike.
Heavenly Witch Poison Old Man flew into a rage. His body transformed into five venomous creatures: a jade-green toad, a spotted boa, a black-and-red scorpion, a many-legged centipede, and a gecko covered in sharp spines. The five creatures glared menacingly at the Golden Crow.
"Five Poisons Great Array, seal!" A dense fog appeared at once. It drifted and billowed like layers of gauzy silk, wrapping around the Golden Crow. For ordinary gods and demons, entering a space filled with poisonous qi meant suffocating to death even if the poison itself didn't kill them.
The Golden Crow seemed to have entered a soft tunnel. Poisonous liquid flowed beneath his feet, exhaling a hazy white mist. Foul, black liquid ran down the stone walls, while drops of corrosive water dripped steadily from above.
Looking at it all, the Golden Crow said, "This is child's play. I'm done playing with you."
"Burn the Heavens!"
A vast expanse of scorching flames appeared out of thin air, bringing with them an unbearable heat. In an instant, they burned away the water and mist, along with the seemingly indestructible tunnel.
"Impossible!"
The Golden Crow soared into the sky. Drawing on the rule of fire, a colossal phantom of a Golden Crow appeared and gradually took solid form. Like a sun in the chaos, it bathed everything in gold.
The Golden Crow opened his beak and spat out a fireball, which crashed into the fog array. The simple attack broke the formation. The five venomous creatures immediately weakened and collapsed in the chaos.
The Golden Crow pecked each of the five creatures once, and they were instantly split in two.
Heavenly Witch Poison Old Man cried out, "Why?"
"Fool. Everything has its natural counter; one thing subdues another. It's that simple."
With that, he swallowed the severed corpses, turning them into pure primordial qi to replenish the energy he'd spent using his divine ability.
"Haha! What a thrill! Pangu, you're next. You'll become a delicious meal in my belly."
The enormous Golden Crow shot toward Pangu like a cannonball. One fireball after another formed in his beak, then roared through the air with the low, crackling sound of exploding flames. Their terrifying heat was enough to burn almost any substance.
"Nine Dragon Heavenly Fire Great Array!"
As the fireballs struck Pangu and Xuanhuang, each transformed into nine fiercely burning pillars of fire. One pillar descended over the two of them, while the other eight revolved around it along fixed paths, forming a nine-palace formation. Countless fire dragons seemed to lurk within the pillars, clawing and roaring as they surged in every direction. Sparks flew from the outer edges, each one burning a patch of chaos.
The Golden Crow circled above the two of them, watching the pillars blaze. He cried out gleefully over the flames.
As Pangu stood in the fire, he contemplated it. This fire was the most yang thing in heaven and earth, and it would greatly benefit his cultivation of the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Art. He had now reached what he considered the ninth revolution, yet no matter how he tempered himself, he couldn't perfect it. Nine was the utmost number of things; it represented the great completion.
Just then, a cool sensation came from within the Chaos Green Lotus, and an abstruse insight arose in Pangu's heart. I've always been missing this opportunity: my physical body must be tempered by Supreme Yang Qi. The Chaos Golden Body Art pursued a perfect physique of utmost hardness and strength, requiring the body to be tempered in different ways: beaten again and again, tested in battle again and again, or cultivated in extreme conditions. He had always followed the principle of "breaking before rebuilding," allowing his golden body to break again and again, then grow stronger through resistance. Yet he'd never achieved that final, perfect rebirth, like a phoenix rising from the ashes. He'd thought the Chaos Golden Body Art had limitations, but now he understood that this was the key.
Seeing that the two had no room to fight back in the sea of fire, the Golden Crow spat out several more fireballs from time to time to strengthen the array, as if he meant to refine them away. He couldn't help feeling triumphant. They're nothing special.
Once again, Pangu endured heat like a volcanic eruption, like the collapse of heaven and earth. At the same time, that trace of Supreme Yang Qi seeped into his parched, cracked body, changing its fundamental substance. The Golden Body Art spun wildly, as if he'd swallowed a powerful tonic, greedily drawing in the Supreme Yang Qi from the sea of flames. The qi gathered and condensed into a miniature fire dragon. Summoned by the Chaos Golden Body Art, the dragon rejoiced as if it had returned to its origin. The Chaos Golden Body Art was a cultivation technique of Cang Dui, whose true form was the first dragon-shaped god and demon in the chaos. All the other dragon spirits honored him as their supreme leader.
After absorbing the nine dragon spirits, Pangu transformed into a golden giant ten thousand zhang tall, standing in the sea of flames. He tore the Nine Dragon Skyfire Array apart with both hands as easily as paper, then roared at the Golden Crow.
The Golden Crow's mind reeled, and his spirit took a heavy blow. When he saw Pangu soaring into the sky, he was shocked and knew the situation had turned dire. His greatest reliance had been so easily shattered. At that moment, a colossal hand blotted out the sky and came roaring toward him, as if ready to seize him in its grasp. He hurriedly summoned the fire dragons within the array, only to realize that they had vanished. Condensing the array and summoning fire dragons was one of his divine abilities, too.
The palm bore down on him with supreme pressure. If that blow landed, his Golden Crow body would be shattered. He steeled himself and split off half his spirit, quickly forming another Fire Bird. Then he roared, "Explode!"
His body was already explosive by nature, and the blast of Supreme Yang fire was even more so. The colossal hand was blown apart on one side, and the Golden Crow seized the chance to escape.
Xuanhuang saluted Pangu. "Congratulations, fellow Daoist. You've taken another step closer to the Great Dao."
Pangu looked at his right hand, which the Chaos Golden Body Art had just repaired. "This battle truly benefited me greatly. Though there were many twists and turns, I gained a great deal of insight—especially from the time I was trapped in the Tai Xuan Illusory Realm. I nearly touched upon my own Great Dao."
Pangu fell silent for a moment, then said, "Fellow Daoist Xuanhuang, don't you think this chaos is too monotonous? Shouldn't it change? It should contain all things, every kind of life, and endless variety—a magnificent sight, brimming with life and stretching as far as the eye can see."
Xuanhuang lowered his head and spoke slowly. "I know this is a step in the Great Dao's self-perfection. It is perfected atop the corpses of gods and demons like us. This is a calamity, but also the result of evolution. The Great Dao evolved us, then discovered we couldn't keep pace with the greater trend. So it can only demand that we continue evolving on our own."
Pangu sighed at the sky. "Yes, we are pieces on the Great Dao's chessboard. Yet we must also sacrifice ourselves willingly, becoming part of the world's evolution. This is our mission, and a fate we cannot escape. I understand my mission to open the heavens: I must eliminate the gods and demons who might threaten the world to come, then break open this chaos. But I'm still not sure what comes next."
Xuanhuang said calmly, "You already know. The next step is to create all things. Your Dao is the Path of Creation. I don't know how you'll come to understand it."
He continued, "After the heavens are opened, the world will change, and all things in the chaos will face calamity. But calamity is also an opportunity. Those who survive it will be able to live in the new world. This is the Great Dao's impartiality: it always leaves a sliver of hope."
Pangu murmured, "Could the Great Dao really leave us a sliver of hope?"
Xuanhuang fell silent too, then comforted him. "Perhaps we'll continue in another form. But if we don't meet the Great Dao's requirements, we'll still be erased."
Pangu and Xuanhuang continued contemplating the Dao in their hearts. Pangu would often furrow his brow without realizing it, and the chaos around him swirled with his thoughts, growing deeply unsettled.
Xuanhuang closed his eyes. "Fellow Daoist, your heart seems troubled."
Pangu sighed. "The yang qi inside me keeps surging. No matter what I do, I can't suppress this restlessness, and I can't calm my mind. I keep sensing something vague rising within me."
Xuanhuang quietly began to make his calculations. "Fellow Daoist, you've absorbed the nine yang qi, and now solitary yang cannot give rise to life. Perhaps your opportunity has arrived. Since you can't focus on cultivation, go and see what it is."
Pangu and Xuanhuang followed that feeling. It led along the very route the Golden Crow had taken to escape.
The Three-legged Golden Crow fled in a sorry state. Injured as he was, he had less than a tenth of his strength at his peak, though fortunately his cultivation realm hadn't fallen. He could have found a secluded place to recuperate.
But he didn't. He knew he had to go somewhere—a place he'd been keeping an eye on for a long time.
The aura of that place made him intensely uncomfortable. It was filled with Yin Energy, completely at odds with his cultivation technique. But Taiyin, the god and demon who lived there, was the perfect supplement for healing his injuries.
Taiyin wanted no part in the world and had no friends to speak of. She was one of the few female gods and demons, gentle and guileless. Compared to her, he had an overwhelming advantage in cunning.
Seeing the wounded Golden Crow, Taiyin asked with concern, "Fellow Daoist, how did you get so badly hurt? It seems your spirit has been injured too."
The Golden Crow coughed a few times. "I was ambushed by two evil Daoists. They wanted to take my nine yang qi. I fought them with all I had—"
Taiyin said indignantly, "Because of their selfishness, seven tenths of the Three Thousand Chaos God Demons have already fallen, yet they still keep fighting among themselves."
The Golden Crow sighed too. "We share the same roots, yet we slaughter one another for our own selfish desires. The one who controls the Great Dao must be virtuous. It can't be seized by force."
Taiyin agreed. "Exactly. This is fate. If something is meant for you, you don't need to seek it; if it isn't, don't force it. You'll only bring suffering upon yourself."
The Golden Crow shook his head. "We shouldn't be so passive. Fate can't be changed, but circumstances can. My fate may not be in my hands, but I still have to fight."
Taiyin nodded. "We are indeed different. I've chosen to live in seclusion, hoping only to safely avoid this great calamity.
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