Both Sides Gravely Wounded

He finally realized it.

This was no decisive battle among the three clans at all, but a meticulously planned "battle of abandoned pawns"!

The upper echelons of the three clans had used these clansmen already corrupted by Demonic Qi as bait, eliminating hidden dangers on one hand while putting on this brutal decisive battle for all beneath heaven to see on the other.

"Since you want to play, then I'll play along to the bitter end!"

"Besides, the Sword Formation of Immortal Execution is only one final step away from being tempered. I'll use the blood of you three to complete this final blood refinement."

A trace of frenzied killing intent flashed through Luo Hou's eyes.

"Sword Formation of Immortal Execution, rise!"

With Luo Hou's furious roar, four sword lights that pierced heaven and earth erupted beneath Mount Sumeru!

Immortal-Execution Sword, Immortal-Slaughter Sword, Immortal-Trapping Sword, Immortal-Severing Sword!

The four peerless killing swords, carrying terrifying might capable of destroying heaven and earth, instantly sealed off the space within a radius of hundreds of millions of li.

A formation diagram flew from Luo Hou's hand and hovered amid the four swords, radiating endless chaotic Killing Intent.

Rumble!

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

The surviving remnants of the three clans still struggling for breath on the battlefield did not even have time to scream before a wisp of Sword Qi leaking from the formation ground them into bloody mist, erasing even their Primordial Spirits completely!

"Ancestral Dragon! Origin Phoenix! Primordial Qilin!"

Mount Buzhou, Pangu Hall.

"Big Brother, should we leave seclusion next and continue gathering some living beings onto Mount Buzhou? If they receive our grace, the fortune upon us will grow stronger by several degrees, and our cultivation speed will become even faster..." Seeing Ancestral Dragon and the others head west for their decisive battle, Zhu Rong could not help but let his thoughts stir.

"Continue cultivating. Don't concern yourselves with any of that. Our strength is far too weak before them. Only when we break beyond the Great Firmament Realm will we truly have a say."

Dijiang spoke in a deep voice.

"Understood, Big Brother."

Zhu Rong nodded. The others then resumed cultivating. Dijiang's cultivation had already reached Perfected Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, and he began pondering how to break through the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm. With no one to guide him, he merely knew the conclusions: Three-Corpse Severing, as well as a path to Primordial Golden Immortal through comprehending laws. Yet no one had ever walked that path; it seemed to exist only in all kinds of Primordial World novels.

"How should I choose?"

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

Western Continent.

At this moment, heaven and earth had completely become an ocean of chaos and slaughter.

"Luo Hou! You dared scheme against us? Today, I'll turn your Mount Sumeru into dust!"

Ancestral Dragon's roar shook heaven. He manifested his true form as a nine-clawed golden dragon hundreds of millions of zhang long, golden scales all over his body like a blazing sun, each strike carrying terrifying force capable of shattering stars.

Origin Phoenix bathed in boundless Southern Bright Flame, her spread wings blotting out heaven and sun as flames that could burn the sky crazily scorched the surrounding void.

Primordial Qilin stood upon the earth, Mystic Yellow Aura rolling like enraged dragons as he drew upon all the already fragile earth-vein power of the west, turning it into the staunchest defense and the heaviest attack.

Facing the combined siege of the three overlords of the Primordial World, Luo Hou neither dodged nor evaded. Standing atop the Twelfth-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus at the center of the Sword Formation of Immortal Execution's diagram, he laughed wildly.

"With just you three fools entangled in karmic sin, you think you can break my Sword Formation of Immortal Execution?!"

Luo Hou formed hand seals, and the laws of the demonic path surged madly.

The four heaven-piercing killing swords—Immortal Execution, Immortal Slaughter, Immortal Trapping, and Immortal Severing—erupted with hundreds of millions of destructive Sword Qi strands. Empowered by the formation diagram, they became a Sword Qi storm that shredded all things, trapping Ancestral Dragon and the other two firmly within.

It had to be said that, as the reincarnation of a Chaos God and Devil, Luo Hou's cultivation and foundations truly surpassed any one of Ancestral Dragon's trio. Even fighting one against three, he did not fall into the disadvantage.

But this earth-shattering battle ultimately still encountered an unforeseen variable.

Rumble—!

Amid a heaven-destroying collision, the formation diagram of the Sword Formation of Immortal Execution suddenly shuddered violently, and the radiance of the four killing swords dimmed along with it.

"Damn it! This sword formation was still one final blood sacrifice short of complete refinement. It never reached true perfection!"

Luo Hou's expression changed drastically as he violently spat out a mouthful of dark-purple demonic blood.

The Sword Formation of Immortal Execution could not be broken save by four Saints, but that was only if the sword formation had been fully tempered.

Now, the upper echelons of the three clans had used the battle of abandoned pawns, leaving Luo Hou unable to absorb enough blood from the three clans' elites. The formation's power had been greatly diminished.

How sharp were Ancestral Dragon and the other two? They instantly caught this trace of a flaw in the sword formation.

"Now! Break the formation!"

With an angry roar, Ancestral Dragon directly burned his origin blood essence. His massive dragon body slammed headlong into the blade of the Immortal-Trapping Sword, and at the cost of his dragon horns breaking and vast swathes of scales being torn away, he forcibly ripped open a gap.

Origin Phoenix and Primordial Qilin likewise unleashed forbidden arts that would wound both sides without hesitation, charging frantically through the opening.

Bang!

The sword formation was forcibly torn apart, and terrifying backlash instantly swept over both sides.

Half of Ancestral Dragon's body was nearly pulverized by Sword Qi, golden dragon blood cascading down like a waterfall. One of Origin Phoenix's wings was severed at the root, and her Southern Bright Flame dimmed to the utmost. Primordial Qilin's internal organs were even exposed, his breath faint and weak.

But they had escaped in the end.

"Luo Hou! Our three clans will remember this debt!"

Ancestral Dragon and the other two did not dare linger for even an instant. Dragging their near-dead, mangled bodies behind them, they transformed into three streaks of light and fled madly toward their respective strongholds without looking back.

"You think you can leave?!"

Luo Hou's eyes flew wide with rage. Just as he was about to pursue, tearing pain suddenly surged from within his body.

The incomplete sword formation had been forcibly broken, causing him to suffer an extremely severe backlash as well. His origin had been deeply wounded.

Pfft!

Luo Hou spat out another mouthful of blood and staggered, able only to watch helplessly as the three escaped.

"Consider yourselves lucky... Once I repair the formation diagram, I'll strip your tendons and skin you alive!" Luo Hou snorted through gritted teeth, put away the dim Four Swords of Immortal Execution, then turned and fled back into the depths of Mount Sumeru to enter seclusion and heal.

At the same time, Mount Yujing in the east.

Hongjun, who had been concealing his aura with the Jade Disc of Creation while secretly observing this battle, slowly opened his eyes. A trace of undisguisable astonishment flashed through his profound gaze.

"They actually... ended up gravely wounding each other?"

Hongjun's brows furrowed slightly as his fingers lightly tapped his knee.

According to his original deductions, once Luo Hou deployed the Sword Formation of Immortal Execution, he would surely force Ancestral Dragon and the other two into a dead end from which there was no chance of survival with unstoppable momentum.

Under such clan-destroying despair, in order to preserve the last bloodline of their clans, Ancestral Dragon and the other two would surely awaken to their error and make grand vows to Heaven's Way, redeeming themselves with their bodies and forever guarding the Four Seas, the volcanoes, and the earth.

That way, the three clans would withdraw from the Primordial World, the karmic sin of heaven and earth would largely dissipate, and he, Hongjun, could naturally join forces with other great powers to rightfully crusade against Luo Hou, conforming to the greater trend of Heaven's Way.

But now, the script had completely veered off course.

Luo Hou's sword formation had not been completed. Though Ancestral Dragon and the other two were grievously wounded and near death, they had ultimately escaped. The despair sufficient to make them awaken to their error was still just short of that final spark.

"Where exactly did this variable arise?"