Both Sides Wounded

He finally understood.

This was no final battle between the three clans. It was a carefully planned battle of expendable pawns!

The three clans' leaders had used their own people, already tainted by Demonic Qi, as bait. They could eliminate a hidden threat while showing the world a brutal final battle.

"If you want to play, I'll play to the end!"

"The Sword Formation of Immortal Execution needs only one last step of tempering. I'll finish its blood refinement with the three of you."

A flash of frenzied killing intent crossed Luo Hou's eyes.

"Sword Formation of Immortal Execution, rise!"

At Luo Hou's furious roar, four sword lights erupted beneath Mount Sumeru, stretching from earth to sky!

The Immortal-Execution Sword, the Immortal-Slaughter Sword, the Immortal-Trapping Sword, and the Immortal-Severing Sword!

The four peerless Slaying Swords carried the terrifying power to destroy heaven and earth. In an instant, they sealed off the space for hundreds of millions of miles around.

The Immortal Execution Formation Diagram flew from Luo Hou's hand and hovered among the four swords, radiating endless Chaotic Baleful Energy.

Boom!

The moment the sword formation took shape, heaven and earth changed color.

The surviving soldiers of the three clans, still clinging to life on the battlefield, had no time even to scream. A stray wisp of sword qi from the formation shredded them into bloody mist and erased their souls completely!

"Ancestral Dragon! Yuanfeng! Primordial Qilin!"

Mount Buzhou, Pangu Hall.

"Big brother, should we come out of seclusion and bring more living beings to Mount Buzhou? If they benefit from our protection, our Fortune will grow, and we'll cultivate faster..." Seeing Ancestral Dragon and the others head west for their final battle had set Zhu Rong's thoughts stirring.

"Keep cultivating. Pay no attention to them. We're far too weak to stand before them. Only when we break through beyond the Daluo Golden Immortal realm will we truly have a say."

Dijiang spoke in a low voice.

"Understood, big brother."

Zhu Rong nodded, and everyone resumed cultivating. Dijiang had already reached the Perfected Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm and had begun considering how to advance beyond it. With no one to guide him, he had only conclusions to go on: there was the Three-Corpse Severing, and there was the path of the Primordial Origin Golden Immortal, attained by comprehending laws. Yet no one had walked that path. It seemed to exist only in novels about the Primordial World.

Which path should I choose?

Elsewhere, Luo Hou was already battling Ancestral Dragon and the other two.

The Western Continent.

Heaven and earth had become an ocean of chaos and slaughter.

"Luo Hou! You dared scheme against us. Today, we'll grind Mount Sumeru to dust!"

Ancestral Dragon's roar shook the heavens as he revealed his true form: a Nine-Clawed Golden Dragon hundreds of millions of feet long. The golden scales covering him blazed like the sun, and every strike carried enough force to shatter stars.

Yuanfeng bathed in boundless Southern Bright Flame. Her outspread wings blotted out the sky, while her heaven-scorching fire seared the surrounding void.

Primordial Qilin planted his feet upon the earth. Mystic Yellow Aura churned around him like furious dragons as he drew upon the Western Continent's already fragile earth veins, turning their power into the strongest defense and the heaviest blows.

Facing the combined assault of three overlords of the Primordial World, Luo Hou neither dodged nor retreated. He stood atop the Twelfth-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus at the center of the Immortal Execution Formation Diagram and laughed wildly.

"You three fools, buried in karmic debt, think you can break my Sword Formation of Immortal Execution?!"

Luo Hou formed seals with both hands, and the laws of the Devil Dao surged wildly.

The Immortal-Execution, Immortal-Slaughter, Immortal-Trapping, and Immortal-Severing Swords unleashed hundreds of millions of destructive sword qi. Bolstered by the Immortal Execution Formation Diagram, they became a storm of blades that shredded all it touched, trapping Ancestral Dragon and the other two inside.

As a reincarnated Chaos Fiend, Luo Hou possessed cultivation and reserves that surpassed any one of the three. Even against all three at once, he did not yield an inch.

But this earth-shaking battle took an unexpected turn.

Boom—!

After a collision that threatened to destroy heaven and earth, the Immortal Execution Formation Diagram suddenly shuddered. The light of all four Slaying Swords dimmed with it.

"Damn it! The formation still lacks its final blood sacrifice. It was never perfected!"

Luo Hou's expression changed sharply, and he spat out a great mouthful of dark-purple demonic blood.

The Sword Formation of Immortal Execution could not be broken without the Four Saints—but only if it had been fully tempered.

The three clans' leaders had staged their battle of expendable pawns, denying Luo Hou enough blood from their elite warriors. The sword formation's power had fallen far short of its potential.

Sharp as they were, Ancestral Dragon and the other two instantly caught that tiny flaw in the formation.

"Now! Break the formation!"

Ancestral Dragon roared and burned his vital blood. He drove his massive dragon body straight into the edge of the Immortal-Trapping Sword. His horn snapped and great swaths of scales tore free, but he forced open a gap.

Without hesitation, Yuanfeng and Primordial Qilin used forbidden arts that would wound them as badly as their enemy, then charged madly through the opening.

Bang!

The sword formation was torn open by force, and a terrifying backlash swept over both sides.

Sword qi had nearly shredded half of Ancestral Dragon's body, and golden dragon blood poured from him like a waterfall. One of Yuanfeng's wings had been severed at the root, and her Southern Bright Flame had faded almost to nothing. Primordial Qilin's organs lay exposed, and he was barely breathing.

But they had escaped.

"Luo Hou! The three clans won't forget this!"

The three dared not linger. Dragging their dying bodies behind them, they became three streaks of light and fled toward their respective strongholds without looking back.

"Think you can leave?!"

Luo Hou's eyes blazed. He was about to give chase when a tearing pain ripped through his body.

Breaking the unfinished sword formation had dealt him a severe backlash. His very foundation was gravely damaged.

Luo Hou spat out another mouthful of blood and staggered. He could only watch the three escape.

"Count yourselves lucky... Once I repair the Immortal Execution Formation Diagram, I'll tear out your sinews and flay you alive!" Luo Hou ground out a furious snort, put away the dimmed Four Swords of Immortal Execution, and retreated deep into Mount Sumeru to heal in seclusion.

At the same time, on Mount Yujing in the east.

Old Ancestor Hongjun, who had concealed his presence with the Jade Disc of Creation while secretly watching the battle, slowly opened his eyes. Unconcealed astonishment flashed through their depths.

"Both sides... wounded?"

Hongjun frowned slightly and tapped a finger against his knee.

By his original calculations, once Luo Hou deployed the Sword Formation of Immortal Execution, he would drive Ancestral Dragon and the other two into a hopeless dead end with the force of a storm sweeping away dead leaves.

Facing the despair of their clans' extinction, the three would surely come to their senses. To preserve the last of their bloodlines, they would make great vows to Heaven's Way, atone with their own lives, and forever guard the Four Seas, the volcanoes, and the earth.

The three clans would then withdraw from the Primordial World, and most of the karmic debt burdening heaven and earth would dissipate. Hongjun could naturally join forces with other great powers to campaign against Luo Hou, with right and Heaven's Way on his side.

But now the course of events had gone completely astray.

Luo Hou's sword formation remained unfinished. Though Ancestral Dragon and the other two were gravely wounded and near death, they had escaped. The despair needed to make them come to their senses had fallen just short.

"The unexpected turn... where did it come from?"