Shen Ni stood in the void, staring hard at Hongjun. His pupils contracted sharply. That aura was as vast as an abyss, making him tremble from the depths of his soul.
"You... you've surpassed the Primordial Origin Golden Immortal realm?"
Shen Ni's voice trembled with an emotion he had never felt before.
"Impossible... This is impossible! How could such a realm exist in the Primordial World?"
He roared as though trying to convince himself:
"I refuse to believe it!"
Hongjun did not answer. He merely watched him, his gaze calm, as though looking at a child too stubborn to see reason.
Shen Ni bit down hard on his tongue. The sharp pain jolted him out of his shock, and madness surged back into his eyes.
"So what if you really have surpassed the Primordial Origin Golden Immortal realm?"
Shen Ni howled,
"Beneath the World-Extinguishing Millstone, all things perish! Let's see whether you can withstand this strike!"
His hands flashed through seals, and the Laws within him poured madly into the World-Extinguishing Millstone. The millstone began to shudder violently.
Its upper and lower stones spun wildly in opposite directions, faster and faster. Space around it began collapsing across a vast area,
and the sky over the entire Far West Lands abruptly darkened.
A terrifying suction erupted from the millstone and began devouring everything nearby.
Ferocious beasts and soldiers of the Three Clans who had failed to flee far enough were dragged toward it against their will. Screaming, they vanished inside and were ground to dust.
Above the millstone, an enormous black-and-red pillar of light shot into the heavens,
and the entire Primordial World felt its heaven-destroying, earth-annihilating aura.
Hongjun gazed at the frantically spinning World-Extinguishing Millstone. At last, his unruffled expression faded, and he frowned slightly.
"As expected of something derived from the Destruction Demon God's companion supreme treasure... Even a copy holds such power."
He drew a deep breath. The Pseudo-Creation Jade Disk hovered above his head, its three thousand Great Dao Laws lighting up one after another and casting down ten thousand beams of white light.
Hongjun raised a hand toward the World-Extinguishing Millstone and closed it around empty air.
"Three thousand Great Daos... Bind."
As his words fell, the Pseudo-Creation Jade Disk trembled.
Three thousand rays of Law shot from the Jade Disc and wove themselves into an enormous net of Law in midair, descending over the World-Extinguishing Millstone.
The World-Extinguishing Millstone seemed to sense the threat. It spun even more frantically, battering the net of Law in an attempt to tear it apart.
The net of Law slowly contracted, suppressing the World-Extinguishing Millstone's struggles bit by bit.
Shen Ni's face began to pale.
He could feel the net of Law severing his connection to the World-Extinguishing Millstone, little by little.
He drove his Laws forward madly, trying to break free. But he was only a Primordial Origin Golden Immortal and could not draw out the World-Extinguishing Millstone's full power.
"No... Impossible..."
Blood began to trickle from the corner of Shen Ni's mouth.
The World-Extinguishing Millstone spun slower and slower. At last, when the net of Law tightened completely, it stopped.
"Pfft!"
Shen Ni spat a mouthful of blood. His body plummeted like a kite with its string cut and slammed into the ground, gouging out an enormous crater.
He lay at the bottom, barely breathing. The eyes that had once blazed with dominance now held only bewilderment and resentment.
In the distance, Taotie had been hiding in the shadows, secretly watching the battle. At the sight, his heart began to race.
An opportunity!
He was just considering how to seize the World-Extinguishing Millstone when the system's voice sounded in his mind:
[Ding! Shen Ni is critically wounded and near death. Host, this is the best time to complete the mission.]
Taotie's spirits soared. "System, I'm only a Daluo Golden Immortal. How am I supposed to steal the kill from under Luo Hou's nose?"
[The system can advance your reward: one Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal Experience Card, lasting fifteen minutes. Accept?]
Taotie was overjoyed. "Yes! Give it to me now!"
The system fell silent for a moment.
That silence seemed to carry a barely perceptible pang of heartache.
[Ding! Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal Experience Card issued. Valid for fifteen minutes. Host, please use it as soon as possible.]
A vast power surged into Taotie's body.
A Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal!
He had only fifteen minutes.
Taotie hesitated no longer. In a flash, he appeared above the crater where Shen Ni had fallen.
At the sight of Taotie, a glimmer of hope rose in Shen Ni's eyes.
"Taotie... Quick... Get me out of here..."
Shen Ni reached out with difficulty, trying to grasp him.
Taotie looked down at him without expression, then raised his right claw.
"Shhk!"
The sharp claws pierced Shen Ni's chest.
Shen Ni went rigid. Slowly, he lowered his head to stare at the claws protruding through his chest. Then he looked up at Taotie, disbelief filling his eyes.
"Taotie... you..."
His broken voice carried confusion and rage:
"Why... betray me..."
Taotie gave no answer. He simply pulled his claws free.
Shen Ni stared at the darkened sky, an intensely tangled emotion flashing through his eyes.
With the last of his strength, he threw back his head and roared:
"Luo Hou... Taotie... I cannot accept this..."
His gaze began to lose focus, and his voice faded:
"Father God... Forgive me... I failed to complete... your task..."
With those words, his life went out.
Shen Ni, emperor of the Fierce Beast Clan, had fallen.
[Ding! Mission complete. Reward issued: the Innate Supreme Treasure, Chaos Bell.]
Taotie felt a weight settle in his hand. An ancient little bell had appeared in his palm. It was dark yellow from top to bottom, its surface engraved with patterns of the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, grasses, and trees. A heavy, boundless aura emanated from it.
The Chaos Bell! It really is the Chaos Bell!
Taotie was wild with joy, but he had not forgotten his true objective.
The World-Extinguishing Millstone.
He looked up at the millstone bound by three thousand chains of Law, greed flashing in his eyes.
Once he had the World-Extinguishing Millstone as well as the Chaos Bell, he could walk sideways through the Primordial World!
In a flash, he lunged toward the World-Extinguishing Millstone.
But just as his hand was about to touch it,
a streak of white light flashed past.
Taotie felt his body stiffen. He froze in midair, unable to move.
Horror seized him. He desperately tried to summon the power within him, only to find that his Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal power had vanished like an ox sinking into the sea. He could not move a shred of it.
"Interesting."
A calm voice sounded behind him.
Hongjun approached at an unhurried pace, Whisk in hand. His gaze rested on Taotie with a hint of curiosity.
"To raise your cultivation from Daluo Golden Immortal to the first heaven of Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal in an instant... That is a fascinating method indeed."
He stopped before Taotie and looked him over as though examining a rare curiosity.
"Let this old Daoist see what secret you're hiding inside."
With that, he raised his hand and slowly lowered it toward Taotie's head.
Taotie was scared out of his wits. He screamed for the system in his mind:
"System! System! Save me! Hurry!"
But the system said nothing.
"I'm the child of the Heavenly Mandate! You can't just watch me die! System! System!"
The system remained silent.
Despair unlike anything Taotie had ever known welled up inside him. He watched the hand draw closer and closer, madness flashing in his eyes.
No! I can't give up like this!
He abruptly reversed the flow of power within him, managing to move his fingers just enough to summon the Chaos Bell he had only just obtained.
"DONG—!!!"
A clear bell toll rang through heaven and earth.
The Chaos Bell hovered above Taotie's head, casting down a dark-yellow curtain of light that enveloped him.
The moment the bell rang, Hongjun's immobilizing spell loosened ever so slightly.
Taotie seized that tiny opening, and his body abruptly regained its freedom.
He reached out again, still intent on snatching the World-Extinguishing Millstone and fleeing!
Surprise flashed through Hongjun's eyes.
"The Chaos Bell?"
He looked at the little dark-yellow bell above Taotie's head and raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't the Chaos Bell still on the Sun Star, beside that Little Golden Crow?"
"Interesting... I grow more interested in you by the moment. You can even conjure an Innate Supreme Treasure out of thin air."
A chill ran through Taotie at those words, but he could no longer worry about it. His hand drew closer and closer to the World-Extinguishing Millstone,
when Hongjun raised his hand. The Pseudo-Creation Jade Disk blazed, sending out a white beam even brighter than before. It enveloped Taotie completely.
Taotie felt his body sink, as though ten thousand mountains had come down upon him.
He struggled with all his might, only to discover that not even the Chaos Bell's dark-yellow curtain of light could free him this time.
Hongjun walked up to him and gave a gentle sweep of his Whisk.
"DONG—!"
The Chaos Bell let out a mournful ring and went flying.
Taotie watched helplessly as it was knocked away. His last shred of hope shattered.
Hongjun stood before him, watching him calmly.
"This old Daoist told you he was interested in that thing inside you."
He raised his hand and once more lowered it slowly toward Taotie's head.
"So until I find out what it is, you had best stay still."
Taotie finally broke. Watching the hand draw ever closer, he cried out, his voice thick with tears:
"Senior Luo Hou! Spare me! I surrender! I'll serve you! Please let me go!"
Hongjun's hand stopped in midair.
He looked at Taotie with an expression that was almost a smile.
"This old Daoist is Hongjun. You're begging Luo Hou for mercy. What does that have to do with me?"
Taotie's pupils dilated sharply.
Hongjun.
Hongjun?
The man before him was not Luo Hou, but Hongjun!
Dao Ancestor Hongjun, who stood high above all others in the myths of the Primordial World! He had been caught in a scheme all along!
A chill shot from the soles of Taotie's feet to the crown of his head. He felt as though he had fallen into an icy abyss.
He opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but could not utter a word.
Hongjun paid him no further attention. With a wave of his hand, the World-Extinguishing Millstone became a streak of light and disappeared into his sleeve.
Only after that did he look at Taotie again.
"As for you... This old Daoist has no intention of killing you yet. Dao Venerable Shichen said that thing inside you might be useful to the Chaos World."
Meanwhile, deep within the Chaos World, a furious roar erupted and swept across its entirety:
"Luo Hou! You dare destroy the contingency I left behind? You're courting death!"
Countless Demon Gods in seclusion were startled awake by the roar. They opened their eyes, their faces filled with shock and suspicion.
In the Domain of Slaughter, Luo Hou heard the roar and frowned sharply.
"What madness has seized the Destruction Demon God?"
He looked utterly baffled. "When did I destroy his contingency?"
Then he snorted.
"Besides, whatever lies in the Primordial World belongs to whoever can claim it. Someone uprooted the piece he planted himself. What does that have to do with me?"
In the Domain of Karma, the Karma Demon God was idly toying with the Karma Threads in his hand.
Hearing the roar, he followed the Karma Threads out of curiosity. His expression immediately turned strange.
"Well played, Hongjun, Immortal Demon God..."
He clicked his tongue and studied the tangled Karma Threads in his hand. One of them seemed faintly connected to Shichen.
"Why are the Karma Threads around you such a mess?"
The Karma Demon God muttered to himself, then raised his hand without hesitation and severed the Karma Thread between Hongjun and Shichen.
Shichen was as cunning as a ghost. If he mistakenly thought the Karma Demon God had been pulling strings behind the scenes and came over for a chat, the Karma Demon God would be in for more than he could handle.
After cutting it, he looked at the remaining tangle and chuckled.
"Interesting. More and more interesting. My contingency should have just taken form in the Far West Lands, shouldn't it? Zhun Ti, Jie Yin, don't let me down!"
Before you continue