Volume One: The Cloud-Obscured Immortal Hall — Chapter Ninety: Standoff

The vast ocean in the world of the Immortal Grotto Heaven was now in upheaval, with monstrous waves surging and roaring as though the sea itself harbored ferocious beasts crying out in fury. At the center of the sea lay a small heart-shaped island, only about a thousand miles across. Around it stood a golden city wall three hundred feet high, once an Immortal-level shield, now serving to withstand the endless assaults of countless sea monsters.

All around the heart-shaped island, the waters were black with creatures as massive as mountains. They threw themselves again and again against the island, only to be repelled by the luminous barrier formed from the golden wall. In an instant, beast blood flowed in torrents, staining the sea red, and the stench of gore hung over the horizon for a long time without dispersing.

Nor was the island itself peaceful. A volcano in its center had erupted, firelight blotting out the sky, black smoke billowing upward and turning the entire grotto world into something like the end of days.

High in the firmament, a strange being with a dragon’s head and a peacock’s body stood in a standoff against a yellow gourd. Both sides’ gazes were icy to the extreme, as though they were ten-thousand-year ice that could never melt.

On the summit of a green peak on the island, three figures stood side by side, staring fixedly at the two in the sky.

Zhou Hao wore a white disciple’s robe. Though he still looked like a refined young man, his eyes had grown deep and unfathomable. He had already passed the great tribulation and become a true Golden Immortal, yet this battle was beyond his power to control. His opponent was far too strong, strong enough to crush him with a single finger. The gulf between them was like that between an ant and a human being, so he could only steel himself and focus every ounce of attention on the battlefield.

To Zhou Hao’s left stood Su Qing, also dressed in a plain white disciple’s robe. Light and graceful, her figure seemed ready to ride the wind and depart at any moment, while her face, as beautiful as a celestial maiden in a painting, was impossible to look away from. Yet Su Qing had always carried a cool disposition, her features exuding a sense of distance that kept others at arm’s length. She was the very image of an icy beauty.

To Zhou Hao’s right stood a petite girl in bright red clothes. Huahuo was a full head shorter than Zhou Hao, with large, bright, round eyes, skin as fair and smooth as凝脂, and a head of fiery-red hair cascading to her waist. Her delicate doll-like face was beautiful and adorable beyond measure, a living little loli.

“Zhou Hao, do you mean that dragon-headed, bird-bodied monster is Gourd Grandpa’s old lover, a female Dragon King?” Huahuo asked in astonishment after hearing Zhou Hao’s brief explanation.

“Yes. It is Luo Hai’s Dragon King’s younger sister, Luo Tianyi, and a powerful immortal king as well. The Crystal Palace is her magical treasure,” Zhou Hao said with a nod.

“But why does the Dragon King look like that?” Huahuo asked, still somewhat unconvinced.

“I don’t know that either. But why do I keep feeling that the aura emanating from Luo Tianyi seems familiar? That peacock body makes me think of something. What exactly is it?” Zhou Hao frowned tightly.

At that moment, Su Qing’s expression shifted, and she cried out, “Could it be... that peacock body is Cailingzi?”

“You mean Cailingzi?” Zhou Hao abruptly turned to look at Su Qing, and she looked back at him at the same time. Both wore expressions of shock.

“It really is him! Yes, Cailingzi must have opened the box, and when the dragon’s head inside fused with him, it became this monster,” Zhou Hao said, gathering his thoughts. Then he looked again at the monstrous figure in the distant sky and finally concluded that it was indeed Cailingzi.

“I once saw Cailingzi before. He told me to save him. In his panic, he said that he really had opened the box, and that whatever was inside had crawled into his mouth. Looking back now, Cailingzi was indeed being controlled by the dragon head in the box. He is at the Immortal King level now,” Su Qing said after the brief shock had passed, her tone returning to calm.

“There’s even such a move?” Huahuo’s cherry lips formed an O.

“No, things aren’t that bad yet. Senior once told me that in that battle all those years ago, he used the yellow gourd to sever Luo Tianyi’s head and seal it in the box, using the Yin-Yang Eyes of the Two Primordials to imprison her soul. What you’re seeing now, this dragon-peacock monster, is only at the quasi Immortal King level. Still, even a quasi Immortal King is someone who could slap us to death with one hand,” Zhou Hao explained.

Under the darkened sky, Luo Tianyi, with her dragon head and peacock body, radiated overwhelming immortal might. Her body was expanding, and in the blink of an eye she towered between heaven and earth like a divine mountain. With a single flap of her wings, the sea below was driven into monstrous upheaval, water columns spiraling skyward like dragons and tornadoes, reaching ten thousand feet high, as though sea and sky had merged. Many sea beasts, terrified by such power, fled to the depths of the ocean. Had it not been for the golden wall formed by the indestructible shield, a divine weapon of Immortal level, protecting the heart-shaped island, the heaven-toppling waves would have swallowed the entire island whole.

This was the divine ability of Heaven and Earth As One: the immortal body grows vast, commanding the might of heaven and earth, like the descent of a true god.

“It seems I overestimated you. Your strength has fallen far too much. In my eyes, you’re only at the peak of the Immortal level,” Deng Tulang said, looking at the towering being before him without fear. On the contrary, a touch of smile and mockery appeared on his face.

“The Yin-Yang Eyes of the Two Primordials truly deserve to be called a heavenly formation. Even after you transformed it into an immortal formation, its power remains immense. Indeed formidable—it can even grind down my Immortal King soul. If I still had the Sea Suppressing Pearl with me, I would never have declined to this stage,” the dragon-headed peacock said in human speech, every word filled with unwillingness.

“The Yin-Yang Eyes of the Two Primordials were prepared especially for you. I knew an Immortal King truly possessed terrifying recovery and endurance, so I spared no cost to confine your soul within this yin-yang purgatory. That way, even if one day you break the seal, I will still have the strength to fight you again!” Deng Tulang said, gazing at Luo Tianyi, his eyes full of unwillingness, yet his voice remained detached.

It turned out that the Yin-Yang Eyes of the Two Primordials sealing Luo Tianyi’s soul were originally a naturally formed heavenly array. It was a very unusual formation: the yin and yang of the two primordials were not merely the visible sea of fire and glacier, but also contained the profound principles of life and death. In other words, the Two Primordials Eyes could be used both as a place of cultivation, like the aid Zhou Hao and Su Qing had received, and as a final killing formation, like the one Deng Tulang used to seal Luo Tianyi’s soul.

Heavenly formations are the work of creation, formed by the union of celestial phenomena and earthly terrain, and possess power beyond the understanding of gods and ghosts. Back then, Deng Tulang had traveled the world before accidentally finding the Yin-Yang Eyes of the Two Primordials. Yet ordinarily, a heavenly formation cannot be altered or moved. It can only unleash its full might in its original place, because such formations arise only when heaven rises above and earth follows below. Once formed, they are extremely difficult to change, and if altered, they are usually rendered useless. Fortunately, the core of the Yin-Yang Eyes of the Two Primordials lay in the Solar Fire Essence and the Lunar True Essence. It was not a complicated heavenly formation, but rather the simplest path of yin and yang in harmony. That meant that no matter where it was, so long as the Solar Fire Essence and the Lunar True Essence were arranged according to the pattern of the Great Ultimate, the formation’s ferocity could be reproduced.

It had to be said that the Yin-Yang Eyes of the Two Primordials were truly an exceedingly simple heavenly formation. Its creation depended on the union of two opposing extremes, with yin embracing yang. At the time, Deng Tulang had wanted to use the yellow gourd to directly collect these two extreme elements and then rearrange them into a new immortal killing formation.

But in the end, something of the natural way was still missing. Coupled with the fact that Deng Tulang was no true master of formations, the sealing formation he used on Luo Tianyi’s soul was not perfect. That gave Luo Tianyi room to maneuver. She tried to influence the minds of the sea beasts in the deep ocean and invade the heart-shaped island. Then, as Zhou Hao and Su Qing used the Solar Fire Essence and Lunar True Essence of the Yin-Yang Eyes of the Two Primordials for their own cultivation, the seal grew even weaker. When Zhou Hao underwent his tribulation, the depths of the Dragon King’s treasury were locked down by thunder and lightning. Cailingzi, carrying the box that sealed Luo Tianyi’s dragon head, had intended to leave, but in the end he was a step too late. Forced into tribulation himself, the box was shattered by lightning, releasing the dragon head.

Once Luo Tianyi’s dragon head emerged, her soul naturally returned to its rightful place. However, her original body had long since been annihilated by Deng Tulang with the yellow gourd, which was why she had no choice but to reappear in Cailingzi’s body.

After all this, Luo Tianyi’s cultivation had fallen from a first transformation Immortal King all the way to the peak of the Immortal level. The main reason was that her soul had been damaged. Although hundreds of thousands of years could not entirely erase the soul of a sovereign, they could wear away much of it. And this was the confinement of the Yin-Yang Eyes of the Two Primordials, a purgatory designed specifically to temper souls. How could one remain there and still feel comfortable?

“Deng Tulang, you have been dead for hundreds of thousands of years. Even when you were alive, you could not kill me. Do you really think that now, with only a single strand of your immortal will, you can pose a mortal threat to me? I tell you, today I break this seal, and the last trace of your existence in the Immortal Domain will vanish. The debts between us will be settled once and for all today!” The dragon-headed peacock brandished its claws and teeth, its tone icy.

“There’s nothing left to settle. The moment you killed the Snow Maiden, your fate was sealed. You were always destined to accompany her in death!” Deng Tulang’s words were equally frigid, like those of a ruthless ghost with no trace of feeling.

Boom, boom!

A streak of white light rose from the top of the yellow gourd and shot into the dark sky. In an instant, wind and thunder raged, and the white radiance illuminated the heavens above Deng Tulang. Almost at the same time, the dragon-headed peacock roared forth a deep blue beam. Wherever it passed, space trembled, leaving behind a black fissure that spread outward in all directions. If struck, there was no doubt one would die on the spot. It was the Dragon Tribe’s light of destruction.