The Chaos Tradition

After a long while,

Shichen finally withdrew his hand, dusted off the nonexistent dust from his green robe, then turned and shattered time itself, vanishing into the depths of Chaos in a single step.

Only Fate Demon God Mingyuan remained where he was, half his face swollen high and blood still hanging from the corner of his mouth. He stared in the direction Shichen had disappeared, gritting his teeth as he spat out a threat:

"Shichen! Just you wait! If I do not avenge this, I swear I will never let it rest! Once I break through, I will make you repay it a hundredfold!"

Before his words had even faded, a soft laugh suddenly came from behind him.

"Well, your mouth is still pretty tough."

Mingyuan's entire body stiffened as he whirled around.

A figure in green robes was lounging lazily in the void, idly playing with a fragment of space in his hand. It was Yang Mei, the Space Demon God.

With a smile in his eyes and the air of someone enjoying a spectacle, he swept his gaze across Mingyuan's swollen cheek and deliberately drawled:

"You just got beaten up by Shichen, and you're already full of spirit again? Looks like he didn't hit you hard enough."

"Yang Mei?" Mingyuan's expression darkened. "What are you doing here?"

Yang Mei looked him over from head to toe, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

"I was passing by. I heard someone making threats, so I came over to watch the show."

"You!!" Mingyuan was so furious his face turned green.

"Did you two plan this together? One comes to beat me up, then the other comes afterward?"

"Planning it together would be an overstatement."

Yang Mei spoke leisurely.

"Still, you used your threads of fate to link me into your mess just now. We do have a score to settle."

Mingyuan took half a step back and watched him warily.

"What do you want? The Great Dao said no life-and-death battles are allowed!"

"Relax, I won't kill you." Yang Mei rolled his wrist.

"But Shichen was right. The Great Dao only said no life-and-death battles. It never said no one could beat you up."

"Yang Mei! You wouldn't dare!"

Mingyuan had just tried to activate the Dao of Fate when he discovered that the surrounding space had suddenly frozen. He was like an insect sealed inside transparent amber, unable to move, barely even able to open his mouth.

Yang Mei walked up to him and slowly raised a hand.

"You're the Fate Demon God, right? You like tying people up with strings, right?"

Smack!

"This one is for me."

Smack!

"This one is to make up for Shichen."

Smack!

"This one... has no reason. I just feel like hitting you."

Mingyuan was beaten senseless, filled with indescribable grievance. He was the third-ranked Demon God, for heaven's sake. How had he been beaten twice on the very first day after his birth?

When Yang Mei finally finished, Mingyuan slumped where he was, his face swollen like a pig's head.

"You... just you wait..." he said weakly.

Without even looking back, Yang Mei waved a hand.

"Got it. I'll come find you again next time."

Mingyuan: "..."

Three hundred Chaos epochs passed in the blink of an eye.

During that time, another giant egg cracked open within Chaos.

"I am the Karma Demon God, master of the Dao of Karma. Today, I am born. Let the Great Dao bear witness!"

A gray figure emerged from the shattered eggshell, densely packed threads of karma wrapped around his body. He looked around, about to familiarize himself with this brand-new Chaos World, when a black shadow suddenly fell from above.

Boom!

Before the Karma Demon God could react, a fist smashed into his face and sent him flying.

"Who?" He crawled up from Chaos, shocked and furious.

Fate Demon God Mingyuan stood with his hands behind his back, wearing an expression as though this were only natural.

The Karma Demon God froze for a moment, then flew into a rage.

"You and I are both Demon Gods. Why did you attack me for no reason?"

Mingyuan rolled his wrist, a gleeful smile appearing on his face.

Three hundred epochs had passed. At last, he had somewhere to vent the frustration of being repeatedly "looked after" by Shichen and Yang Mei.

He looked at the Karma Demon God and calmly uttered:

"Why would I need a reason to beat you?"

As soon as the words fell, the Law of Fate came crashing down like an overwhelming tide.

The second welcoming ceremony in Chaos had begun.

Though the Karma Demon God was deeply aggrieved, he had only just been born and was merely at the Fourth Level of the Primordial Unity Realm. He was no match for Fate Demon God Mingyuan, who had already reached the Seventh Level of the Primordial Unity Realm.

After a savage beating, he lay bruised and battered in Chaos, staring at the gray sky as he fell into deep thought.

Why was this Chaos so different from what he had imagined?

Time flowed on, and several thousand Chaos epochs passed in an instant.

Chaos grew increasingly lively.

Creation, Destruction, Five Elements, Yin-Yang, Reincarnation, Order... Demon Gods emerged from their eggs one after another, and at some point, an unwritten tradition formed within Chaos.

Every newly born Demon God, after declaring their name, would invariably be sought out by some senior who had been born earlier for a sparring session.

It was elegantly called: education through love.

Even Creation Demon God, Order Demon God, and World Demon God, who had been born in female forms, could not escape the custom.

Only the Demon God of War, Chaos Demon Ape, was a complete anomaly.

This ape was pitch-black from head to toe and possessed an innate obsession with battle. Others found being beaten humiliating, but he became excited by it, growing more energized the harder he was hit.

Before long, all the Demon Gods were numb.

What had begun as proper education turned into one-sidedly satisfying a pervert. Eventually, nearly every Demon God would take a detour upon seeing that black ape, terrified that he would latch onto them and refuse to stop.

Over those long years, the highest ranks of Chaos had gradually taken shape.

Shichen held firmly to first place, at the Fifth Heaven of the Heavenly Dao Realm, his Law of Time becoming ever more unfathomable. Yang Mei followed closely behind at the Third Heaven of the Heavenly Dao Realm, his mastery of space reaching miraculous heights. Even Mingyuan had gritted his teeth and chased after them with all his might, barely touching the threshold of the First Heaven of the Heavenly Dao Realm.

On this day, another long howl rang out through Chaos.

"I am the Demon God of Disaster, master of the Dao of Disaster. Today, I am born. Let the Great Dao bear witness!"

Along with that declaration, a gloomy aura suddenly appeared in Chaos.

It was the Qi of the Tribulation, the source of all calamities and disasters. With the birth of the Demon God of Disaster, it began spreading through Chaos.

Shichen, who had been in seclusion, suddenly opened his eyes.

"Qi of the Tribulation..."

He frowned slightly and rose, leaving his place of seclusion.

Over the long years, Shichen and Yang Mei often discussed the Dao together, exploring the mysteries of time and space. The two had long since become friends. Now that the Qi of the Tribulation had appeared, he felt it was necessary to seek out Yang Mei and discuss it.

Shichen walked through Chaos. Everywhere his gaze reached was a gray, desolate wasteland.

There were no mountains, rivers, plants, sun, moon, or stars. There was only endless nothingness and drifting currents of chaos qi.

"Alas, the Chaos World is still so barren."

He sighed, recalling the flourishing sights of the Primordial World in later ages, and could not help feeling a little wistful.

Just then, violent energy fluctuations erupted ahead.

Shichen looked up and saw two figures fighting fiercely in Chaos. One was massive as a mountain, his fur standing on end as he wielded a Chaos iron staff. It was the Chaos Demon Ape.

The other was Slaughter Demon God Luo Hou, surrounded by dark-red killing intent and holding a black spear.

Their battle was earth-shattering. The Chaos space across countless trillions of light-years had been churned into ceaseless turmoil.

Shichen stopped and watched the battle with interest.

He remembered clearly that, in the original history, neither of these two had met a good end.

When Pangu opened the heavens, the Chaos Demon Ape was split into four pieces by two blows of Pangu's axe. His remains became the Long-Armed Ape, Red-Rumped Horse Monkey, Spirit-Sighted Stone Monkey, and Six-Eared Macaque of later ages, while his true spirit completely dispersed.

Although Luo Hou had luckily preserved his true spirit, he was still gravely wounded, his cultivation diminished. After fleeing into the Primordial World, he fused with the demonic Dao laws of lower-ranked Demon Gods and was reborn.

Later, he launched the Dao-Demon War against Hongjun. After his defeat, he established the Demon Realm and became the source of inner demons in the eyes of cultivators in later ages.

At this moment, Luo Hou was clearly beginning to lose ground.

The Chaos Demon Ape's battle intent surged higher with every exchange. His iron staff whistled through the air, every strike carrying the force to shatter the void. Although Luo Hou's killing arts were fierce, he gradually fell into a disadvantage in their direct clashes.

"Dead monkey, don't think being ranked eleventh, ahead of me, means you can definitely beat me!"

The killing intent in Luo Hou's eyes surged as he suddenly roared:

"God-Slaying Spear—appear!"

Buzz—

The void trembled. A completely black spear emerged behind him, its tip glinting with scarlet, chilling light.