NOVEL WEB Chapter 58: Madness
Inside Wa Outer Heaven, Nuwa observed the increasingly intense battle between the Titan Tribe and Demon Clan. She also detected the probes from the other Saints of Heaven participating in the battle.
Her heart clenched when Fuxi and the other demons formed the Starry Sky War Array and engaged the Pangu Genesis Formation in battle. Every time the false Pangu swung its ax, Nuwa worried for her brother.
As the Pangu Genesis Formation chased after the Starry Sky War Array, so did the giants of the Titan Tribe. When the two most powerful formations clashed atop Buzhou Mountain, the giants and demons warred in the surrounding land. It was a terrible war; thousands of demons and titans died by the second.
When the demons died, blood spilled out of their body, forming rivers of blood that flowed endlessly. Their flesh rotted, leaving only bones behind. When giants died, most often, their bodies turned into mountains or other geographical features.
Giants from the Zhurong Tribe turned into volcanoes; giants from the Gonggong Tribe turned into lakes; giants from the Jumang Tribe turned into giant trees and forests; giants from the Rushou Tribe turned into metal veins; giants from the Houtu Tribe directly merged with the land; giants from the Di Jiang Tribe disappeared and merged with space; giants from the Jiuyin Tribe supplemented the River of Time; giants from the Qiangliang, Jizi, Shebisi, and Xuanming Tribe turned into storms; giants from the Tianwu Tribe turned into tornadoes.
After the Pangu Genesis Formation destroyed the Starry Sky War Array, Nuwa's hands moved. Using her mastery of the law and the ability granted to her as a Saint of Heaven, her hand appeared in Buzhou Mountain and split apart the Pangu Genesis Formation.
Nuwa had wanted to kill a few titans so that although both sides would still lose, the Demon Clan could still preserve their numbers. However, this went against the Way of Heaven, forcing her to settle on injuring the titans and destroying the Titanomachy Flags. She continued to watch the battle with bated breath. When Nuwa saw Fuxi enter a dangerous situation, she wanted to take action again, but several Saints locked onto her.
"What is the meaning of this?" Nuwa asked with a dangerous flash in her eyes as Yuanshi appeared in front of her.
"Junior Sister should understand that we Saints can not intervene in this war," Yuanshi calmly said, ignoring Nuwa's look.
Nuwa's hands moved, but the incoming coercion from Yuanshi stopped her. It wasn't that she feared Yuanshi's strength, but the Way of Heaven's power overlaid with Yuanshi's coercion.
The Way of Heaven was using Yuanshi to stop her.
Left with no other choice, Nuwa could only watch the ongoing war between the titans and demons. Even if she wanted to extract Fuxi from the war, she could no longer do so.
Blood leaked from Fuxi's lips as he dodged the Titan of Lightning's fist. Electricity exploded from the mass of lightning and struck Fuxi, injuring him. He didn't have time to recompose himself as Qiangliang, the Titan of Thunder, unleashed a sonic roar upon him.
Pushed to the brink, a decisive look flashed through his eyes. Two figures emerged from Fuxi's body. They were his Good and Evil Corpses.
Fuxi held the Fuxi Qin, his Good Corpse held a pipa, while his Evil Corpse had a flute at his lips.
All three instruments sang at the same time. Their song disrupted the flow of lightning in Jizi's elemental form, destabilizing it. The song also drowned out Qiangliang's thunder, overpowering the Titan of Thunder and causing blood to leak from his orifices.
Jizi pointed his hand at Fuxi and shot out a beam of lightning, interrupting his song and allowing Qiangliang to regain his bearings. The two titans and Fuxi reignited their battle.
Bai Ze's divining plate smashed into Chiyou's chest. The new titan coughed blood, reeling backwards. Then, Ji Meng transformed into his true form, a colossal white stag with crystalline antlers. He charged toward the pseudo-titan and pierced his chest.
Chiyou roared even as more blood spilled from his mouth and chest. He used his barrel-like arms and wrapped them around Ji Meng's neck, slowly tightening it like a boa constrictor.
Ji Meng struggled but was unable to free himself.
Chiyou ignored everything else, focusing solely on snapping Ji Meng's neck. Even as Ying Zhao and Qing Yuan, two of the Ten Demon Sages, assaulted him, he shut out their attacks. Finally, Bai Ze smashed Chiyou's head with his artifact, loosening his grip. Ji Meng transformed into his humanoid form again, drastically reducing in size and slipping out of Chiyou's grip.
"Slippery bastards!" Chiyou roared. His voice boomed and ruptured the ears of the Golden Immortal demons surrounding him. He set his sights on Ying Zhao and tackled him into the ground. Then, Chiyou punched him until he was a meat paste.
After killing Ying Zhao, Chiyou released labored breaths. He could tell that he wasn't going to live, so he roared again and charged at the weakest of the three remaining demon sages, Qing Yuan.
When Chiyou also turned Qing Yuan into a meat paste, Ji Meng gouged out his internal organs after transforming back into his true form, and Bai Ze decapitated him. Bai Ze and Ji Meng didn’t have time to celebrate their victory, swiftly joining their fellow demon sages and Kunpeng in fighting against Tianwu and Jumang.
Taiyi faced Rushou, Zhurong, Gonggong, Xuanming, and Shebisi. Gonggong and Xuanming had merged their innate abilities to control water and rain to combat Taiyi's mastery over the Solar Truefire. In addition to Shebisi's storm abilities, they curbed Taiyi's advantage over Rushou.
When Chiyou died, the five titans roared. They fought with reckless abandon and disregarded all defense. Even Taiyi felt pressured by the increased onslaught and had to rely on the Chaos Bell to defend himself.
Despite ten eons passing, Taiyi was still at the Advanced Quasi-Saint Realm, having never severed his obsession. However, he had not stagnated, his power now comparable to peak Quasi-Saints. Unfortunately, collectively, the titans had progressed farther than him, having all reached the Advanced Quasi-Saint Realm.
Rushou and Zhurong combined their abilities to form a giant metal molten spear that shot towards Taiyi. When it struck the Chaos Bell, it forced Taiyi to take hundreds of steps back, but that wasn’t all. The spear deformed into a molten sludge that started encapsulating Taiyi and the Chaos Bell.
Taiyi punched the Chaos Bell with a roar, causing the engraving of himself and Tongtian to light up. The bronze bell's rings shattered and dispersed the molten metal, but before he could catch his breath, a tide of water engulfed him.
An intense heat rolled off Taiyi's body, evaporating the water around him. Soon, fire started to burn around Taiyi even as the water threatened to crush his body.
Suddenly, a hole appeared in the sphere of fire surrounding Taiyi. He doubled over as if something had punched him into the gut. As the holes multiplied, Taiyi convulsed with numerous holes appearing all over his robes and body, blood leaking out.
As Taiyi's body became more and more bloody, the phantom image of a three-legged crow appeared above him. The golden crow roared, unfurled its wings, and unleashed a wave of Solar Truefire that vaporized all the water. Taiyi fell onto the ground, drenched in a mixture of blood and water. The remaining wave split into two, transforming into a weakened Gonggong and Xuanming.
Without waiting for them to recover, the Chaos Bell smashed toward the downed titans. Rushou appeared in front of them and held out his arms, stopping the incoming Chaos Bell. He roared as he was forced back a thousand steps. When he finally stopped, numerous cracks covered both his metallic arms.
The Chaos Bell flew back but immediately smashed towards the Titan of Metal again. At this time, a fiery colossus appeared and punched the Chaos Bell, sending it careening into the ground with such great force it caused an earthquake.
Zhurong didn't wait for the others, charging toward Taiyi by his lonesome. A golden crow phantom appeared above Taiyi's head and merged with his body, covering him in fiery armor. He, too, charged Zhurong.
As the battle between Taiyi and the Titan of Metal, Fire, Water, Rain, and Storm raged on, Di Jun and Xihe battled Di Jiang and Jiuyin.
Di Jiang had transformed into an amorphous blob of gold radiating spatial aura. Jiuyin also took on an amorphous form, only he radiated a timeless silver aura.
Di Jun held the Celestial River Diagram in his left hand and Titanslayer in his right. The miniature Starry Sky he formed with the Celestial River Diagram appeared above his head and rained down starlight.
The starlight phased through Di Jiang's body, while it seemed to exist in a different time than Jiuyin. Di Jun tightened his grip on his sword and charged toward Di Jiang. Starlight gathered on his body, covering him in armor formed of constellations.
Behind him, Xihe followed. In her hand, a gray gourd appeared. She uncorked it, and it unleashed a torrent of Solar Truefire and Lunar Truewater. The Solar Truefire and Lunar Truewater swirled around each other in a spiral but never touching. The empty space between the streams produced a unique power.
Di Jiang tried to phase through them, but to his shock, he couldn't. The two streams actually bound him in space. Taking this chance, Di Jun slashed with the Titanslayer, forcing him to revert back to his physical body.
"Di Jiang!" Jiuyin shouted as he rushed over. He punched towards Di Jun and forced him to retreat, lest he wished to test his physical prowess against a titan.
Di Jiang recomposed himself and transformed into a spatial colossus again. Both he and Jiuyin rushed towards Xihe. She was the weakest of the four, but now that she posed a threat, they wanted to eliminate her first.
Starlight formed before Xihe and shot toward the two titans, but they ignored it. As the starlight phased through them, Di Jiang and Jiuyin punched Xihe. Xihe unleashed her fire-water formation again, but under the combined might of the Titan of Space and Titan of Time, it was ruthlessly shattered, and the two punches landed on Xihe's body.
The gray gourd dropped from her severed arm.
Di Jun screamed. "Xihe!"
Xihe acted as if she hadn't heard Di Jun and charged at Jiuyin. The Titan of Time grabbed Xihe in his hands and squeezed. Blood poured out of the lunar goddess's lips, but she didn't scream or cry. Two more figures appeared within Jiuyin's grasp. They were her two Corpses.
"Hmpf! Even if you add two more, the end result will be the same!" Jiuyin said as he used his other hands to tighten his grip. Di Jiang blocked a furious Di Jun.
As the life disappeared from Xihe's eyes, she revealed a ghostly smile.
Jiuyin felt an ominous premonition, but before he could react, Xihe self-detonated. The self-detonation of a Quasi-Saint could not be underestimated, and Jiuyin suffered immense injuries and reverted to his physical form.
"Jiuyin!"
The Titan of Time looked in Di Jiang's direction, and all he saw was an incoming blade. The Titanslayer pierced his head, and the light of life faded from Jiuyin's eyes.
Titanslayer pierced the ground as Jiuyin's body dissolved into silver lights and merged with the River of Time.
Di Jiang roared and attacked Di Jun with all his strength. Di Jun lost an arm, but he ignored the injury. Retrieving the Titanslayer, he threw it toward Rushou.
The Titanslayer pierced Rushou's chest, causing him to revert to his physical form and fall to his knees. Taiyi appeared behind Rushou. Grabbing the sword’s handle, he slashed upwards, splitting Rushou's head vertically.
"Rushou!" Gonggong roared. He rushed Taiyi and sent him flying with a punch.
Taiyi smiled. Although his injuries had worsened, he still gained the overall advantage since he only needed to face four titans instead of five. However, all was not well for Heavenly Court.
While Di Jun was distracted, Di Jiang appeared in front of the Heavenly Emperor. He exploded his spatial body, and numerous spatial blades lacerated Di Jun's body, turning it into a bloody mess.
Di Jiang reverted to his physical form and sneered. "Haha, Di Jun! Today you will die under my foot!"
"I will never be killed by the likes of you!" Di Jun roared and charged toward Di Jiang. He repeated Xihe's earlier actions and self-detonated. "I'll be joining you soon, Xihe, my sons."
Di Jun's self-detonation resembled a supernova, brilliant and memorable but ultimately fleeting. When the explosion disappeared, neither Di Jun's nor Di Jiang's remains were left.
"Brother!" Taiyi screamed. However, before he could grieve, things turned even worse.
Fuxi's face paled as Qiangliang smashed him into the ground. He had transformed back into his original form, revealing the lower half of a snake. His Corpses had been destroyed, but neither Qiangliang or Jizi could maintain their elemental forms any longer.
Jizi appeared next to Qiangliang and raised his foot, ready to stomp Fuxi to death.
"Kunpeng, save Fuxi!" Taiyi roared.
Kunpeng, who was fighting Tianwu, glanced over, and his eyes shined. Although Jumang had seemingly endless vitality, he was eventually killed through sheer numbers. Nearly half of the demon sages and over ten thousand Golden Immortals fell, but Jumang died, his corpse growing into a gigantic tree.
The Demon Preceptor’s figure disappeared and reappeared where Di Jun had self-detonated. He transformed into his true form, a great roc, and grabbed the Celestial River Diagram in his talons before fleeing north. His actions severely demoralized the Demon Clan. The giants took this time and slaughtered a massive amount of demons.
Fuxi laughed, madness filled his laughter as he rushed towards Qiangliang and Jizi. Before they could react, he also self-detonated, killing Qiangliang and gravely injuring Jizi. Jizi didn't last long either, as the surrounding demons ganged up on him and killed him in his weakened state.
Despite the deaths of many upper echelons on both sides, the Titan Tribe and Demon Clan continued to war, unable to extricate themselves from this bloody affair.
Tianwu eventually died but at the cost of nearly all the demon sages' lives. Taiyi also killed Xuanming, leaving only Gonggong, Zhurong, and Shebisi remaining, but injuries riddled his body. The Eastern Emperor would not last much longer in his current state and with his dwindling qi.
Taiyi suddenly stopped, and a calm silence dominated the battlefield for a brief moment as he stared at a certain location in the sky. He sighed and closed his eyes. When he reopened them again, his face paled, but his gaze never wavered.
With the Titanslayer in his left and the Chaos Bell in his right, the Eastern Emperor charged at the three titans. Gonggong, Zhurong, and Shebisi exchanged over a hundred blows with Taiyi. Each time, more wounds appeared on Taiyi's body.
"Haha, you damn bird, the Titan Tribe is going to prevail in this war!" Gonggong shouted. He and the last two remaining titans surrounded Taiyi. All of them stepped forward and punched.
Taiyi blocked one of the punches and threw the Chaos Bell into the sky, attracting all three titans' attention. Then, a forlorn smile appeared on Taiyi's face. "Farewell."
Zhurong was the first to react. He shoved Gonggong away and said, "Haha, cowards like you shouldn't die, live Gonggong!"
Taiyi's self-detonation enveloped Zhurong and Shebisi. When the explosion settled, their remains were gone. Gonggong stared straight ahead in a mixture of stupor and disbelief. He suddenly awoke from his battle trance and stood up. His eyes scanned the surroundings and saw the bloody state of the Great Desolation. Both sides had dwindled to a pitifully low number.
The titan erupted with mad laughter, much like Di Jun and Xihe. His cackles echoed in the surrounding million li, drawing the remaining fight to a halt. Then, Gonggong grew until he was over a thousand li tall. He raised both hands above his head, clenched them together, and smashed Buzhou Mountain under the horrified eyes of the giant and demons.