"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
When Huang Tian opened his eyes again, earth-shaking drumbeats filled his ears.
The drums were louder than billions upon billions of thunderclaps. Merely hearing them set one's qi and blood boiling and one's momentum soaring.
He looked all around, and only then realized that he was standing on an ancient war chariot. The chariot flew through the high sky. Ahead, a hundred primordial divine elephants, towering like mountains, drew it along. To the left and right, six hundred heavenly dragons circled, and phoenixes of many colors wheeled about, scattering trails of brilliant divine light.
Around his chariot stretched an army with no end in sight. War banners snapped through the host. Even a common soldier had the cultivation of a third-rank Golden Core. The seventh and eighth ranks served as generals, and the ninth rank as marshals. Their momentum shot straight into the empyrean, chilling the heavens through and setting the stars swaying!
On the distant horizon was another vast army. Their war banners flew and their morale was mighty. Several hundred gods and demons, ten thousand li tall, stood sternly in the void, and fierce beasts such as winged flying tigers and eight-armed savage apes joined the battle.
At the very center of the formation was a man with his upper body bare and the hair at his temples like swords and halberds. He rode a snarling, clawing iron-eating beast and held a long blade of dark black. His qi and blood surged into the sky, blazing like a pillar of heaven!
"Is this—the great war of immortals and demons?"
Huang Tian stared, blank. In an instant a vast memory poured into his mind, and he understood everything.
This place was the Honghuang Zhuolu Realm. A wisp of my soul light swam upstream and fell into this point in time. I became Ji Xuanyuan, and the one opposing me was Chiyou of the Nine Li tribe—
"Xuanyuan! Today we decide victory and defeat, and settle life and death!"
Chiyou suddenly spoke, his voice ringing through heaven and earth.
At once the drums thundered. At the sound of them, the whole army under his command was shrouded in a layer of blood-red gauze, and their morale soared.
"Kill! Kill!"
In a flash, arrows fell in rains beyond counting. Every arrow was enough to pierce a great star!
After the dense rain of arrows came fierce thunder-fire with no end in sight. Across the long expanse of sky, it roared down upon Huang Tian!
Facing an attack that nearly blotted out an entire realm, inspiration struck Huang Tian. He raised the longsword in his hand.
On one face of the blade were carved the sun, moon, and stars; on the other, mountains, rivers, grasses, and trees. One side of the hilt bore the arts of farming and raising livestock; the other, the strategy of unifying the four seas. Infinite power lay within it!
The moment he raised it, golden-yellow divine light burst forth. The heavy radiance braced up against the sky and became a curtain of light, blocking every attack.
Then—
"Dong!!!"
At a single drumbeat, the armies on every side of his war chariot boiled up. Arrows soaring like dragons, thunderbolts that shattered mountain ranges, divine fire that could boil the seas—poured toward Chiyou's army like mountains and like seas.
Besides the battle in the sky, across the vast earth armies in the billions upon billions could be seen locked in melee. At every moment, soldiers beyond counting died. Great bone demons rose one after another, or hideous yao-ghosts ran rampant, churning the boundless earth into a field of blood and filth.
Gods and demons, cultivators, yao—the whole world was locked in a chaotic slaughter.
Seeing the battle locked in stalemate, two figures walked out from beside Chiyou.
One was a white-bearded old man, a wheel in his left hand and a fan in his right. The other was a strong man with a black beard, a basin in his left hand, and within the basin a dragon sported, spouting waves.
These two were none other than the commanders under Chiyou: Fengbo and Yushi.
Fengbo raised his fan and gave it a shake. In an instant, wild winds raged through the great realm. Wind blew in from outside the realm and, in a rush, blew the stars down. Stars fell like rain. Huge fireballs dropped from the sky one after another, and a bone-scraping divine wind blew through the officers and soldiers of Huang Tian's army. Those whose power and cultivation were not enough had their flesh blown away in an instant, leaving only a skeleton where they had stood.
Yushi stepped forward and inverted the basin. The divine dragon within shot into the sky, and then torrential rain filled the heavens. Every drop was heavier than a high mountain, and each had the power to wear away sinew and bone and corrode the Soul.
If this rain were allowed to spread, it would likely be a scene of whole armies dying on the spot.
Just then, a slender woman in blue walked out from Huang Tian's army. Her name was Ba. She had once attained the Dao fruit of Drought. She waved a hand, and the profound power of the Dao fruit rose into the sky like ripples.
Wherever it passed, the rain falling from the sky all became threads of mist and cloud, and the stars crashing down became puffs of ash.
"Still the wind!"
At the same time, a Daoist strode out and offered up a lustrous precious pearl. The pearl hung at the center of the sky and bloomed with vast divine light. One sweep of that light, and the howling gale ceased at once.
"Roar!!"
Seeing that the wind and rain had been stilled, several hundred gods and demons leapt out from Chiyou's army. Their bodies pierced the layered clouds, and their ankles sank deep into the earth.
One step, and the vast earth collapsed and rose again beneath their feet. One breath, and surging gales howled from their nostrils, rolling the heavy clouds.
Some gripped giant axes, some clutched chains, some leveled long spears, flaunting their might as they pleased.
On Huang Tian's side, seeing this, giants leapt out as well, a full thousand of them. They wore armor forged of stars, and every step they took shook the void.
"Boom!!"
In the blink of an eye the two sides crashed head-on. Long spears pierced armor. Blades and axes severed flesh. They rolled and tore at one another, tumbling away among the mountains and seas.
"Peng!"
A giant foot sank into the earth and crushed a continuous range of mountains. When it lifted again, a deep ravine lay there.
An axe blade chopped down into the great ocean. The vast waters were split apart, exposing the seabed. The seas on either side rose ten thousand zhang, and giant whales were swept up into the sky!
Every blow reshaped mountains and rivers. Plains overturned into deep valleys. The ocean heaved up into islands. Earth-fire erupted. Thick smoke and dust climbed, dyeing the sky an ochre red, as if the world were dripping blood!
No one knew how long had passed. The slaughter still went on. Suddenly Chiyou raised his long blade high and flew into the air. His gaze stabbed straight at Huang Tian, and his voice rolled like a tide. "Come!"
Huang Tian did not hesitate. He stepped off the war chariot. The Xuanyuan Sword in his hand blazed with light, as if heaven and earth were being split open, and he cut straight at Chiyou!
"Clang!!!"
Blade and sword met. Peerless light burst forth. A vast shock wave overturned ten thousand mountains and boiled up the seas. It was as if the whole world were shaking—
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The two fought at close quarters. With every clash, sword light and blade qi shot out. The aftermath heaved up the earth, pierced the layered clouds and rolled them backward, and the radiance of the sun, moon, and stars flickered, bright and dim.
No one knew how long they had fought. At last, in one moment, Huang Tian saw his opening. He took a step. The Xuanyuan Sword flew up like a dragon and cut down at Chiyou's neck!
"Shhk!"
Blood sprayed. The look of shock was still upon it as Chiyou's incomparably vast head left his body, flew, and fell.
"Rumble—"
The head struck the ground with an incomparably huge muffled boom, and then became a Pitch-black Peak tens of thousands of li high, standing upon the earth.
Huang Tian stood with sword in hand. The light of the Xuanyuan Sword slowly drew inward and returned to a plain, ancient look.
Through the rolling heavy clouds, a thread of clear, cold light from heaven pierced the layers of murk. It shone upon him, and shone upon that blazing sword of the sacred Dao!
"Yellow Emperor!!!"
Seeing this, the countless soldiers under his command erupted and cheered as one, their cries shaking the sky. The army Chiyou had led, however, felt fear rise in their hearts and fled in panic.
"Yellow Emperor! Yellow Emperor!!"
Listening to the cries spreading through heaven and earth, a realization stirred in Huang Tian.
The Yellow Emperor bore the auspicious sign of the central virtue of earth. He was the first ancient emperor of Yanxia, foremost of the Five Emperors, revered as the first ancestor of human civilization. His original surname was Gongsun, and his name was Xuanyuan. Because he had long dwelled by the Ji River, he could be called Ji Xuanyuan.
He might also be called the Youxiong clan.
The Dihong clan!
"I am the Yellow Emperor. No—to be precise, my true body is Huang Tian. The Yellow Emperor is only an alt account I created while tracing time backward—or rather, a disguise—"
Just as he was turning this over, his vision blurred. This wisp of soul light flew up, returned to the river of time of the Honghuang Realm, and continued upstream along the river.
This time he did not stop at some point midway. He went straight to the very beginning, when heaven and earth were born—
At that time, all was turbid and dim, with no division of south or north, west or east. All was glued and tangled, and up and down, beginning and end, could not be told apart.
There was no light and no shadow, no cold and no heat. All was murky and obscure. Yin and yang had not yet been divided. All was vast and dark, and the traces of creation lay hidden.
Suddenly a Daoist was seen walking in the void, a jade crown on his head, a Dao robe on his body, and a ruyi in his hand. He looked upon the Chaos and said, "Such turbid muddle—what proper order is this?"
With that, he drew the ruyi in his hand once across the void. That one stroke opened the clear and the turbid into heaven and earth, fixed earth, fire, water, and wind, and in the vast Honghuang Realm, the First Heaven was established!
At this very moment, outside Chaos.
"Hongjun? Master of the Three Pure Ones?! Hongjun opened heaven?"
The expressions of the gathered Daluo Supreme Saints changed sharply. A being who had never existed before had suddenly appeared in their memories. If it had only been that, it would have been one thing. After all, every Daluo could trace a timeline backward. Anyone could change an identity and its origins, open an alt account, and put on a disguise.
But what mattered was that an identity at the beginning of heaven and earth was not something one could change merely by wishing it. If one's strength had not reached that level, who would allow it?
Say you were a mere newbie Daluo, and you wanted to return to the beginning of heaven and earth and become the father of the Ancestral Dragon. That was plainly asking for a beating. Wouldn't the Ancestral Dragon beat you to death?
Yet this suddenly appearing Hongjun had truly, in fact, become the master of the Three Pure Ones. From high antiquity to the present, across infinite points in time, not a single Daluo had raised an objection to it. The Three Pure Ones had not even followed the timeline back to fight him once?
Zhulong's heart shook. His gaze flicked toward Huang Tian's true body in the distance, eyes closed in deep meditation. "Where did this Hongjun come from? Is it Fellow Daoist Huang?"
Emperor Xi's brows knit hard as he calculated the heavenly secrets. "The First Heaven of the Honghuang Realm was opened by Fellow Daoist Yuanshi. He is the Yuanshi Pangu Heavenly King. Now it has turned into Hongjun opening heaven—effect turned back into cause. Is the so-called Eighty-first Heaven actually the First Heaven?"
In the Honghuang Realm there was no Pangu. Or rather, Yuanshi was Pangu. Because he had opened the First Heaven, only then were there the later seventy-nine heavens, and so countless worlds also called him the Pangu-clan Yuanshi Heavenly King.
And now, the one who had opened the First Heaven had changed. It was no longer the Yuanshi Heavenly King, but Daoist Hongjun!
What an inconceivable thing!
The Yuanshi Heavenly King's gaze stirred, and the river of time appeared before his eyes at once. He shifted his gaze and saw, at the beginning of remote antiquity, amid the turbid murk, a Daoist of indistinct features seated cross-legged.
Five colors circled that Daoist's body. Beneath him, yin and yang of two colors turned, giving off an incomparably mysterious Dao rhythm.
From his mouth he chanted:
"High I recline upon the ninefold clouds;
On a rush cushion I perfect the truth of the Dao.
Beyond the black of heaven and the yellow of earth,
I shall hold the honor of the teaching's master.
Pangu is born of the Supreme Ultimate;
The Two Modes and Four Images follow in turn.
One Dao is passed on to three friends;
Two teachings, Chan and Jie, divide.
Of the mystic gate, I lead all who excel;
One breath of qi becomes Hongjun!"
And before him, the First Heaven had already been opened, and three Daoists stood reverently at his side.
When he saw what those three Daoists looked like, the Yuanshi Heavenly King's expression shifted slightly. The one in the middle of the three was himself!
The other two were the Taishang Dao Lord and the Lingbao Heavenly Venerable.
He had only just attained Daluo. His strength fell far short of mine, let alone the three of us. How did he make the three of us take him as master?!
The Yuanshi Heavenly King's heart surged. He almost wanted, at that very moment, to strike at that Daoist Hongjun along the timeline. But he knew that his selves at many earlier points in time must already have done this, and must certainly have been defeated. Otherwise the Three Pure Ones at the beginning of remote antiquity would never have taken him as master so obediently!
"The three of us together, and we still could not defeat him alone?!"
To one side, the Taishang Dao Lord exchanged glances with the Yuanshi Heavenly King and the Lingbao Heavenly Venerable, their eyes full of astonishment.
The Lingbao Heavenly Venerable gathered his spirit. His will swept the whole river of time, and with a wave of his hand he cut out a fragment of time.
They saw:
Within the Chaos, Daoist Hongjun stood with easy grace, his Dao rhythm natural. Opposite him, the Three Pure Ones stood together. The Yuanshi Heavenly King said calmly, "Fellow Daoist Huang has fine methods. Having only just attained Daluo, you traced time backward and made yourself master to the three of us. Heh. Then I must seek instruction in Fellow Daoist's methods, and see whether you truly have what it takes to be teacher to the likes of us!"
As the words fell, the three struck at once. The jade ruyi, the Green Duckweed Sword, the Qiankun Bracelet—every kind of treasure and divine ability was brought forth together. For a time Chaos churned, and divine light shot out.
Huang Tian, however, unfurled divine light from his back, seven colors in all. The first sweep seized the treasures. The second sweep suppressed the divine abilities. The third sweep swept across a thousand universes. A long rainbow crossed the sky and pressed on and on, until the three could hardly break free—
"Hua~"
The Lingbao Heavenly Venerable put the fragment of time away, was silent for several breaths, and then spoke. "We, at tens of thousands of points in time, have all crossed through time and returned to the origin, and fought Daoist Hongjun. Yet we did not win a single bout. And so this bond of master and disciple was fixed."
The Yuanshi Heavenly King and the Taishang Dao Lord were both speechless.
So were the various Daluo beings. Empress Wa murmured, "Can fulfilling nine times nine let one leap to the top in a single step?"
Daoist Kunpeng pondered a moment, then said, "Haven't we always guessed that after the eighty-one heavens fuse, the Honghuang Realm might give birth to a portion of power above Daluo? Perhaps that portion of power was obtained by Fellow Daoist Huang?"
Above Daluo?!
At these words, none of them could help the excitement that showed on their faces.
"Yes. If it were not an opportunity above Daluo, how could he, the moment he first advanced, surpass the three of Fellow Daoist Yuanshi?" Patriarch Minghe was beside himself with excitement. He looked toward Huang Tian's true body in the distance, yet he did not dare to act. Since Huang Tian had already established himself as Hongjun when heaven and earth were first opened, his strength at this moment could only be stronger than before!
If they struck rashly, they would only bring humiliation on themselves. What was more, Daluo do not die. Even if the dozens of Daluo Supreme Saints present joined forces and killed Huang Tian, he could still be reborn at some moment in the future. Best not to fail to seize the opportunity, and instead plant a mortal enemy—
So Minghe and the other Daluo did not intend to take it by force.
Emperor Xi stepped forward of his own accord and looked at Huang Tian, whose eyes were closed in concentration. He asked tentatively, "I wonder, Fellow Daoist Huang—have you glimpsed a thread of attainment above Daluo?"
At these words, Huang Tian slowly opened his eyes. Divine light shone clear within them, yet there was a trace of regret. Looking at the hope on the faces of the gathered Daluo, he said outright, "I have not seen anything above Daluo. That my strength has advanced so greatly is thanks to the aid of the Honghuang Realm. That is all."
After Zhonghuang Yuanji Heaven merged into the Honghuang Realm, the benefits fed back were enormous. They let him skip a newbie Daluo's period of accumulation and step at once into the category of a great divine-ability being. Among great divine-ability beings he could even be counted the strongest, having nearly walked to the very limit. That was why he could overpower the Three Pure Ones and become the new Pangu.
Yet his realm, in the end, was still Daluo—
The so-called opportunity above Daluo did not exist at all. At least, he had not found it.
Hearing this, Emperor Xi and the others all let out long sighs. Of course, some of them sighed while quietly studying Huang Tian's expression, as if to see whether he was lying.
But observation was observation. For the moment, they did not dare to strike—
Amid that string of sighs, Huang Tian's heart suddenly stirred, and a tide surged up within him!
For before his eyes, a purple voice line pierced who knew how many dimensional universes and came hanging down!
Purple!
Before, they had all been white, black, and gold. Now, of all things, purple had appeared!
A color that had never existed before!
Chapter 229