NOVEL WEB Chapter 56: The Eternal Cycle
The future was unpredictable. Countless variables contributed to the end result, just like how the flap of a butterfly's wings could result in a hurricane on the other side of the world. However, the Great Desolation was different.
Since Pangu incarnated into all things, aren't all things Pangu? After the Immeasurable Calamity, heaven and earth will collapse and return to Pangu. Tongtian's thoughts went deeper. 'Is it possible that this isn't the first world created by Pangu?'
What if the process of Pangu killing the three thousand chaos fiendgods was an eternal cycle? Every time Pangu created the Great Desolation, it would fail the Immeasurable Calamity and return to chaos. Then the chaos would birth the three thousand chaos fiendgods, which Pangu would kill to create the Desolation once more. Creation and Destruction, an eternal cycle.
Tongtian’s thoughts frightened her. Since everything returns to Pangu in the end, are her actions her own or driven secretly by Pangu?
"No, the Great Dao is fifty, the Eye of Heaven is forty-nine, and one escaped," Tongtian said. "I'm likely a survivor from the previous iteration of the Great Desolation. I likely stuck onto the Chaos Fiendgod of Time but was truly revived as the Supreme Purity."
Tongtian felt as if she had touched upon the truth and her destiny became clearer. "Even if I die and perish forever, I won't be absorbed by another person."
A pressure began to emanate from Tongtian's body, like when she broke through each stage of the Quasi-Saint Realm. It quickly reached one hundred and twenty li and soon surpassed it.
"Sever!"
"SEVER!!"
"SEVER!!!"
All the Saints opened their eyes and peered into the River of Time. They saw it tremble, watching as a silver light flew out of it and flew toward Kunlun Mountain. When they followed to investigate, a snort thundered in their ears.
Their eyes widened when Yuanshi destroyed their spiritual probes. Although they were unhappy, the Saints didn't take any action because they had intruded into someone else's territory first, and they vaguely felt that Yuanshi's strength outstripped theirs by at least one level.
In Supreme Purity Hall, a hazy figure of silver formed in front of Tongtian.
Tongtian waved her hand, and twelve drops of blood appeared in front of her. The twelve drops emanated faint fluctuations of space, time, wood, metal, water, fire, wind, thunder, lightning, storm, rain, and earth. These were the blood essence from all twelve titans.
When the Titan Tribe asked Yuanshi to improve and repair the Titanomachy Flag, they paid him in blood essences, resulting in the Three Purities having even more titan blood essences.
The twelve drops of blood essences merged into the silver figure. First forming the bones, then the organs, muscles, and finally the skin. When it was completed, a woman with eighty-ninety percent similarities to Tongtian stood in front of her. Only, she wore fur instead of red robes, had untamed hair, tanned skin, and exuded a wild aura, slightly resembling Pangu.
From her Future Incarnation, Tongtian could feel the aura of a titan. Although the strength was only at the Great Firmament Realm, its source and origin were even more perfect than the twelve titans. Since it was an incarnation, it had the same strength as Tongtian, only the Future Incarnation focused more on the Strength Path like the titans.
"Since you are born from my future, resulting in all things returning to Pangu, and are a titan, I shall name you Tonggu," Tongtian said.
"Tonggu greets Main Body," Tonggu said with a careless salute, suiting her wild atmosphere. She turned into a silver light and merged into Tongtian's body.
Tongtian closed her eyes and studied her changes. Her body felt lighter as if weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her comprehension speed did not necessarily increase like when she severed a Corpse, but she just felt...free-er.
Under the influence of this wonderful feeling, Tongtian immersed herself in comprehending the Law of Time, ignorant of the world around her.
With Tongtian in a state of enlightenment, Yuanshi sealed Supreme Purity Hall and prevented anyone, especially Wutian, from disturbing her. Years passed. After the creation of the Underworld, neither the Titan Tribe nor the Demon Clan made any large movements. Both sides focused on amassing their power, waiting for the ten eons time limit to end and rekindle the fire of war.
As the ten eons time limit neared, many things occurred. Chiyou took Houtu's place as the new Titan of Earth. Although he had not inherited her innate ability to control the earth, he could still become one of the cornerstones of the Pangu Genesis Formation.
Di Jun sat atop the Throne of Heaven in Eminence Heaven Palace. In front of him floated a black sword, its blade swirling with the phantoms of dead human souls howling in agony.
"Refine!" the Heavenly Emperor roared as he concentrated the final batch of human souls into the sword. When the sword came to completion, a pillar of baleful qi erupted from Eminence Heaven Palace, attracting the attention of everyone in the Thirty-Three Heavens.
The completed spiritual artifact did not leak any aura, appearing much like a simple sword, but Di Jun caught glimpses of the howling phantoms swirling within the blade. He reached out and grabbed the handle. The moment his hand grasped it, killing intent flooded his mind, urging him to kill everything in sight. If there was nothing in sight, go seek out and end all life. Sweat dripped down Di Jun's brows as he broke free from the sword's influence.
Had it not been for the Throne of Heaven fortifying his mind with the Karmic Luck of the Demon Clan, Di Jun truly might have become a mindless devil that only knew slaughter. However, that only made Di Jun happier. The more powerful the sword, the better.
Although the sword was only a top-grade acquired spiritual artifact, Di Jun knew it could rival cardinal artifacts in terms of pure power. "Good sword, good sword."
The hatred in Di Jun's eyes resonated with the negative emotions contained within the sword. "I shall name you Titanslayer!"
Titanslayer hummed as if resonating with its new name. After completing the artifact, Di Jun's eyes seemingly peered out of Eminence Heaven Palace and into the Great Desolation. Specifically at the Titan Tribe’s location. "Oh accursed Titan Tribe, I'll have you accompany my sons soon enough."
Laozi also accepted a disciple during this period. To be more precise, it was his Saint Corpse, Taishang Laojun, who accepted a disciple. Although Laozi's way was the Way of Inaction, he established the Human Way to consecrate his Corpse, so he must accept a disciple to pass down his teachings.
While Laozi stayed on Kunlun Mountain to cultivate, his Saint Corpse roamed the Great Desolation. Along the way, he encountered a human kneeling in front of a mountain. He observed the human for years.
The human lived a nomadic life, living off whatever berry or prey he could catch. When he saw a majestic mountain, he would kneel for thirty days, hoping to find a master to lead him on the Immortal Path. When no one answered, he would move to find the next mountain and kneel for thirty days again.
One day, Taishang Laojun appeared next to the human and asked, "Young man, what are you doing?"
"Hello, Mister," the young man said. "I am begging for an immortal to take me as a disciple."
"What if there's no immortal on the mountain?"
"That's fine. I'll kneel for thirty days. If there is no immortal, I'll search for the next spiritual mountain and kneel for thirty days again," the young man answered.
"What if you never find an immortal?"
"I believe that as long as I persevere, I will accomplish my goal."
Taishang Laojun nodded. He pinched his fingers and deduced that the young man in front of him had some fate with him. He no longer hid the aura on his body, revealing his holy aura. "I am the Heavenly Venerable of Virtuous Way. Are you willing to become my disciple?"
"Willing!" the young man cried as he tried to contain his excitement, kowtowing to Taishang Laojun. "Disciple Xuandu greets Master!"
After accepting Xuandu as his only disciple, Taishang Laozi brought him back to Kunlun Mountain, where he met Wutian.
"Descendant Xuandu greets Martial Ancestor," Xuandu said as he bowed.
Wutian had a strange expression on his face as he took in Taishang Laojun's newest disciple. Finally, he said. "There's no need to bow or call me Martial Ancestor. You are now Uncle-Master's disciple, you can just call me Senior Brother."
Xuandu hesitantly accepted Wutian's suggestion. "Greetings, Senior Brother Wutian."
With Wutian's presence and guidance, Xuandu showed remarkable improvements in his martial arts, but he displayed far greater talent with Laozi’s Grand Purity Scripture. Within a thousand years, he entered the Earth Immortal Realm; within a hundred thousand years, he entered the Sky Immortal Realm; within the eon, Xuandu became a Profound Immortal.
Now, as the ten eons time limit came to an end, Xuandu was just at the cusp of becoming a Golden Immortal.
War began between the Titan Tribe and Demon Clan without any warning. It started as a minor scuffle when the demons of the Heavenly Court could officially descend onto the Great Desolation once more.
The giants had ambushed them and killed the first group of demons. In response, the Heavenly Court dispatched more demons to kill the giants. The Titan Tribe then sent even more giants. Their actions only prompted the Heavenly Court to send out more demons.
The cycle continued, and without a word, the third and final war between the Titan Tribe and Demon Clan began. Unlike the first or second war between the two forces, which were concentrated on Buzhou Mountain, this war spread everywhere.
With ten eons of recuperation, the population of Titan Tribe and Demon Clan exploded tremendously. The Demon Clan had grown more than a hundred times larger, but that included all demons, including those in the Earth Immortal Realm. For their top-level strength, it had only increased around five times.
Although the Titan Tribe’s growth wasn’t as massive as the Demon Clan, their population still grew tremendously due to the titans using the blood pool to boost their population. In addition, half of their population was made up of demigiants or their descendants born of the union of humans and giants.
On average, the Titan Tribe still had the upper hand, but the Demon Clan frequently teamed up against them. Even though the giants had also learned rudimentary teamwork, they could not compare to the demons. Still, both sides suffered heavy losses. It was as if they had entered a blinded rage and could not see the increasing deaths of their comrades.
Their war shattered the land, split the seas, splintered rivers, ravaged the forests, blotted the skies, upended the mountains, and dyed the land red with blood.
"Leader, why can't we just rush up to Thirty-Three Heavens and crush them?" Chiyou asked. After absorbing Houtu's blood essence, he managed to break through and enter the Quasi-Saint Realm, but only the early Quasi-Saint Realm.
He and the rest of the titans were sitting inside Pangu Temple, directing the war. During these ten eons, only Di Jiang and Jiuyin reached the Peak Quasi-Saint Realm, while the others only managed to reach the Advanced Quasi-Saint Realm.
"Chiyou, there's no longer any need to address us with any honorifics," Jumang said. "You can address us by our names or just call us brothers."
"Have you forgotten about Nuwa?" Jiuyin said after. "Although she is in the chaotic boundary, you shouldn't underestimate the means of a Saint of Heaven. This war can only be won, not lost."
"Do you think it would be possible to lure Nuwa into the Underworld and have Hou–Pingxin deal with her?" Gonggong suggested.
Jiuyin shook his head. "It's no use. Pingxin refused. She said that Nuwa or any Saint would not stay to fight her in the Underworld. Damaging the Six Paths of Reincarnation will decrease Karmic Luck and incur massive amounts of Karmic Sin. You've seen what luck could do, but if all our luck turned to sin, it would not be worth it. It's even more the case for Saints who follow the Way of Heaven."
"Merit and sin aren't important. As long as we defeat the Demon Clan, it'll only take time to restore our luck. By then, who would dare to fight us?" Zhurong declared contemptuously. "Once we deal with the Demon Clan and Nuwa, the other Saints are next."
At Zhurong's words, although the titans didn't agree nor object, their eyes came alive with fighting spirit. They never considered Saints to be invincible. As long as they improved their strength, who would be their opponents?
The glory of Saints of Heaven was only temporary.
"Enough," Di Jiang said. "Leave the other Saints for later. It would mean nothing if we could not defeat the Demon Clan without a clear victory. We have to focus on minimizing our losses. Also, do not act independently. If we lose just one of us, we can no longer form the Pangu Genesis Formation."
All the titans obeyed Di Jiang’s words. And so, the terrible war continued.