Ghost Devils

The initial offensive of the Anti-Devil alliance had slowed their initial push. Since the reappearance of numerous deceased devils, the West Continent's defenders suddenly swelled in both numbers and confidence. Suddenly, their Primal Origin and Primal Zenith experts were no longer the ones being hunted.

With the sudden emergence of numerous powerful devil fighters, even dragons and phoenixes fell. Even top powerhouses of the rest of the Primitive World had had suffered injuries beyond their expectation.

After Buzhou, they'd assume the devils had exhausted themselves. After all, they were one continent fighting and entire universe's worth of factions. But time and again, they revealed that nothing about them were ever so simple.

In a battlefield littered with corpses, dozens of Golden Immortals fell. Their landing created dozens of craters which only served to further damage to West Continent. However, they were but ants compared to the person who killed them.

Instead, the main event was a devil holding the gaunt body of an east sea expert. An ancient existence born many yuanhui ago. A great immortal known as Ink Flower deity, a leader from the Octopus clan.

The denizens from the sea, east, south, and northern lands were fearful of their lives. Their leader had been surrounded by over a dozen Primal Zenith Chaos Immortal level devils, two living and ten ghostly devils. He'd only managed to hold out for seven days before his defense were penetrated.

"Cowards! Resorting to this tactic of all things?" The dying octopus snarled. Her reference to the unfair numbers advantage did not amuse any of the devils.

"Blame yourself for being too weak then," the leading devil spat. He sucked the rest of Ink Flower's essence and shattered her Nascent Soul. Watching her Dao fruit disintegrating into particles, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Inwardly, he felt jealous of foreign cultivators, a feeling many from the current generation of defenders secretly felt.

They were all dazzling geniuses who emerged from the slaughterhouse that was initiation. Each and every devil expert had sacrificed too much to reach their current heights. Yet no matter how brilliant they were, how deep their understanding into the Dao was, in terms of power they always fell short of their enemies.

Very few individuals could actually fight an immortal from outside the west of the same cultivation realm and win consistently. Most of them simply didn't have the raw power.

Realizing the problem had been their secondary concern aside from fighting for their own survival.

"Great grandfather," the devil leader said to a ghostly devil beside him. "Capture these fleeing immortals for me. I want to know everything they know."

"You dare to command me brat? I built this clan from the ground up!"

"And you lost it the moment that dual sword innate god from the east killed you. You listen to what I say understand?" He released a sharp burst of power that was almost as much as three of his great grandfather.

"Hmph! Without me, do you really think your ascension to Primal Zenith would've been so successful?" The ghostly devil grumbled. But he did as he was told anyway. Years of cowering to the strongest had instilled obedience into him long ago.

Numerous True, Profound, and Heavenly Immortals watching this exchange was terrified. Who knew what these devils would do to them? Especially after they'd already ravaged a good portion of this specific territory.

"Run! Flee for your lives!"

"Run!"

"Get away!"

Tens of thousands of remaining immortals attempted to flee. Even Great Principle Chaos Immortal leaders were scrambling to save their own hides.

Millions of devils descended towards them. Their bodies chilled the air and caused snowflakes to form. Combined, their mounting pressure caused weaker immortals to suffocate or hallucinate.

Their emotions went erratic and thousands lost the will to run or even live for that matter. Others lost all senses of their bodies entirely, as if all six desires have left them. As Luohu's Dao, the Devilish Dao's founding core principle defined the six desires as life, death, sight, scent, hearing, and taste, all devils on some level possessed powers over them.

The Primal Zenith, Primal Origin, and Great Principle Devils erected pillars of energy, blocking all forms of escape.

True Immortal devils harassed their counterparts while Profound Immortals grabbed them. Profound Immortal devils and Heavenly Immortal devils captured their own corresponding enemies. With their leader gone, their protection against the western formation's mounting pressure was all but gone. They couldn't even resist.

"AH!" A cultivator screamed as he was disintegrated.

"Didn't the previous clan head want us to capture them?"

"Look at how many there are?"

Frantic and screaming, this was the scene an almost undetectable force came across in his touring of the west.

The sound of galloping hoofs were foreign to the devils at first. It was drowned out by their overwhelming victory. But it wasn't before long someone noticed an odd feeling in their chest.

"Uh," one of the Great Principle devil elders groaned. Beside him, dozens of others suffered the same feeling. The next thing they knew, even the hundreds of Chaos Immortals present felt the same. All the living ones at least

"I feel…"

The devil ran his hand into his own chest. His physical form collapsed and his Nascent Soul imploded. Their Dao did not disintegrate, rather they disappeared into the greater Dao of Luohu. The perpetrator narrowed his eyes in fascination.

"What is happening?" The devil leader screeched. The ghostly devils across the whole battlefield were in a frenzy. Suddenly, millions of devils annihilated their own being leaving only the resurrected devils behind.

"Oh don't mind me," Qi An's majestic figure said. "Just making you all pay back their karma."

"Th…that's the Qilin Sovereign!"

"Kill him!"

SPLATTER!

Qi An did not pay them any attention as all devils in his vicinity suffered a radiating force of wind. It tore through their body and destroyed them so utterly, that even the deceased devils returned by the Devilish Dao's formation were killed again.

"STOP!" The Primal Zenith survivors roared.

But Qi An, despite technically being in the same realm, his power was on another plane of existence. The Qilin Sovereign's horns vibrated, and a mysterious golden light emanated from them.

As Qi An raised his head, bands of light cut through the sky like arrows. Their tore into each and every devil too powerful to be easily killed by his wind, and ripped them apart. For good measure, Qi An projected his true form.

A golden transparent Qilin hundreds of millions of kilometres in size appeared. A single stomp covered the entire battlefield, pushing through non devils like a hologram, but crushing devils to paste.

"Don't think this is over qilin. I came back once and I'll do it again!"

"NO! I can't die here, I can't end up like them!"

SPLAT!

"We're saved!"

"Thank you great immortal!"

"What dragon? What phoenix? The qilins are the true protectors of the Primitive World!"

Qi An could only shake his head. These people in their thankful stupor, and security, had blurted out some blasphemous things. Qi An didn't even want to acknowledge them anymore.

"The dragon elder Jiang Koilong made his encampment five hundred million kilometres that way," he said pointing north. "If I were you I'd move."

He did not spare them a glance before leaving. From beginning till now, he had moved alone. Aside from the initial invasion, he fought with no dragon nor phoenix or even any living creatures from the east.

He was the lone qilin to have come and the lone expert from the former empire of the north. Yet he alone was worth more then any single army Zulong or Zufeng could muster. They were suppose to cooperate together, tear the west apart before uniting to end the the devil heritage once and for all. But he could not find himself staying near any of them.

The less said about Zulong the better.

'No qilin lives will be sacrificed for their sakes. I alone am enough.'

This was his sole thought upon arriving in the west.

Instead, Qi An found the new developments of this invasion interesting. Like many of his realm, he'd noticed the uptick of wind laced with yin qi. And like just as many he'd thought nothing of them. At least until the dead started returning.

The existence of these ghostly devils were something completely alien to him. So unnatural and should not be possible. Yet at the same time so fascinating.

His own Dao was formulated from his understanding of karma. The mysterious force that interlinked events from across of existence. He was trained for eons to sense and interpret it. So he could not understand why he couldn't detect anything from the resurrected devils.

He wanted to study them, but knew he couldn't afford to. His owner was still MIA but he knew it wouldn't be pleased if he didn't do anything to defend it's world.

Qi An left the scene after everything remotely devil related was dead. Because even though a devil mighty figure had perished under his watch, he had no time to celebrate.

The reality of the situation was, he was covering for the retreat of shattered armies. It was a consequence of the sudden uptick of powerful devils. These smaller forces that branched off from the main host were not powerful enough to handle it. Including this latest operation, he'd already found and bailed out at least seven other armies.

Qi An immediately flexed his senses to scan the land. Seeing the fuzzy lines of karma dizzied him, the interference from all the bloodlust in the air was so consuming that it nearly blinded him every time he used his innate talent. But he managed to identify where mass congregations of people were at and followed their trail.

In the distance, he recognized an avian and a dragon tussling with two dozen Devil Great Emperors. The dragon was covered in bolts of electricity while the avian resembled a chicken.

'That's the dragon Leize, and the Chongming bird from the second generation of innate gods.'

Qi An considered whether they could hold out without him there.

Leize and Chongming were being overwhelmed. Once again, the same obstacle occurred with numerous other Primal Zenith Chaos Immortals. Devils of the same realm weren't able to defeat them, but they were just strong enough to harass them and damage them that in big numbers they can overwhelm them.

Qi An readied himself to kick.

But a sudden surge of water washing over this new battlefield stopped him.

'Enemy? Why didn't i sense any…oh wait.'

Qi An looked at the distant horizon and the approaching figure of Da Hai's true form. Evidentally, Leize and Chongming turning their heads meant they did too.

Da Hai did not appear pleased in the slightest. In fact, all eight of his hissing heads were enraged. The strongest immortal invading the west wasted no time sucking even the ghost devils into his gullet.

Whatever occurred inside his stomach? Qi An did not dare think about.

"Senior Oceanic Suppression," Qi An greeted.

"Qilin Sovereign," Da Hai returned the greeting. "You two, how many have you lost?"

Leize and Chongming looked at each other awkwardly. "It was because fellow daoist showed up to help that our losses wasn't much. But at least five million fifty seven thousand immortals below the Chaos Immortal realm has been lost out of eleven million we started with."

"These ghosts managed to ambush you lot too?" Da Hai gritted his teeth. "What direction did Zulong move to?"

"Last we communicated his majesty was heading towards the training grounds of promising devils ran by Hundun. At least I think it's Hundun," Leize answered.

Da Hai seems to have fallen into deep thought. From Qi An's perspective, the godfiend appeared a bit lost on what to tell Leize. But he couldn't be sure, years of hearing his master yell profanities about him had coloured his perspective some what.

From what he could tell, Da Hai never seemed to be the type to take charge as a leader. But nevertheless, Da Hai told him to pull back for now and rendezvous with other remnants several million kilometres away from here.

"I suggest pulling back the the stronghold the Phoenix Sovereign set up past the Hanging Mist river. That place works was where most of the retreating cultivators decided to go and where I know at least two dozen mighty figures are based," Qi An suggested.

"The base set up after the first clash? Good idea," Chongming said.

Da Hai nodded along and sent Leize, and the rest on their way. "Thank you. My information is not up to date."

"Don't mention it, divination in this current climate is nigh impossible," Qi An said.

Da Hai felt uneasy around Qi An. Knowing his history with dragons, he wasn't sure if Qi An would do something hasty.

"Say, is your Dao related to karma? Or is that just your innate ability?" Da Hai asked.

"Senior is correct the first time. My Dao is about the flow and exchange of karma. Though I have yet to comprehend how that could birth the source of all things, my understanding of karma on its own is the best in the world," Qi An boasted.

"Are you able to sense how deceased devils are returning to the world? Not even reincarnating but reappearing with nearly their full strength. No matter what, for Golden Immortals and above, this shouldn't be possible."

Qi An considered Da Hai's question, but he shook his head. "I am as clueless as anyone else. Unnatural is the only thing I can say."

"But the samsara from Indian mythology is related to karma."

Qi An was puzzled by Da Hai's words. "Indian mythology? Forgive me, what is this…place? Is it a place you speak of?"

"Another Chaos World in the Chaos Sea. A world much like our own where the existence of third order celestial beings exist and roam without limit," Da Hai said offhandedly.

Third order celestial beings referred to Golden Immortals through to Chaos Immortals, in other worlds people who'd jumped out of the cycle of reincarnation and were in full ownership of themselves and could live in the Chaos Sea.

"What?"

Qi An was not prepared for this revelation. Pangu's ability to create a universe like the Primitive World was unique wasn't it? Even the backlash killed him, such a feat cannot be replicated cause it'll produce something that could grow to rival the Chaos Sea in its entirety.

"Forget it, keep doing what you're doing. Put your karmic sensing abilities to good use and investigate this phenomena. Not only is it crucial to our cause, but this formation covering the west should definitely have karmic manipulating abilities. Find it out and track the source of all this," Da Hai said.

The feeling of urgency was tangible in Da Hai's mannerisms. He too felt the mounting pressure that only continued to build. Not the physical weakening the formation initially caused, but by the disadvantage they now faced.

"You said Zulong moved towards the centre of the west right?"

"That's where Hundun's training grounds were."

Da Hai blasted off before Qi An could question him more. The ground beneath them drowned in even more water and the qilin was left to his lonesome.

"Investigate? Where would I even start? Heavenly Dao if you're still conscious, please help me!"

…

Within Mt Sumeru itself, Hundun was continued to feel perplexed.

"I didn't know where he is. But I could see him. I didn't know where he was, but I did know. Ah this is infuriating!" Hundun worked through numerous theories regarding the workings of whatever illusionary spell that affected him, yet he only continued to feel flustered. It took several hours for him to return to composure and he thanked the heavens no one was there to see it.

"What was it? Some sort of spell? I need to analyze it. Oh Da Hai, you've truly hidden yourself this past million years."

The cloaked faceless godfiend took this moment to analyze the system Mara built. Everything was working smoothly albeit slowly. Now the invading force had slowed giving Luohu more time to recover. Hongjun should be doing the same.

Hundun cannot let the Devilish Dao be destroyed. Not after all his personal investment.

"If only a way existed for us to forcibly illuminate, and thus convert immortals to devils. But this rebirth method works too."

THOOM!

Mt Sumeru shook, surprising the faceless godfiend.

"This presence. Mara?"

Hundun teleported to the outskirts of Sumeru where a crater had formed along the mountain's surface. A badly damaged figure dragged himself out of the crater and had to crawl his way up.

"Hah, hah, hah! Cursed horse," Mara snarled each step of the way.

"Senior brother Mara. You've returned," Hundun greeted. "Quick, the situation has become extremely dire."

Mara flipped his head towards Hundun giving him clear sight of the demon king's face. It was excruciatingly grotesque, burnt skin and puss covered half his face while the other was a charred skull. Even as he walked, burnt flesh fell off of his torn clothing. Luckily, no trace of the fire which assaulted him remained.

Nothing reassembling the former glorious Demon King of the Sixth Heaven remained. What did remain however, was the aura that rivaled Limitless Supreme Chaos Immortals currently taking part in this tribulation. Even if he resembled a walking corpse, he was not to be underestimated.

"Hundun! Why has the Allheaven Sensation Cyclic formation been activated? Why do i sense the prototype reincarnation wheel spinning?" Mara demanded of his colleague.

"Come now Mara, you can guess the reason. We had no choice."

Hundun waved his arms around in a grandiose manner. "You know, it has been very stressful keeping everything stable with no support. But since you're back, you can operate the reincarnation process can't you?"

"The whole system isn't ready!" Mara screamed. "It can only return ghostly visages of devils incorporated into senior brother. It should not have been used so wantonly!"

"In dire situations, we do what we must. Analyze the situation for a little hit." Hundun sounded like he wanted to clap the demon king over the head. Despite his misgivings, Mara had no choice but to agree with the faceless godfiend.

Mara grumbled as Hundun revealed the master controls previously held within Mt Sumeru. Mara observed his creation with slight distaste. Nevertheless, he snatched it from Hundun's grasp.

"We need soldiers? Fine. Let me handle the process. But you're still in prime condition. Kill those sovereigns who dared to stand against Luohu!"

…

Just as Mara was speaking of the dragon, Zulong was watching the burning remains of one of the Devilish Dao's oldest monuments. He was flanked by Chenghuang who had rejoined him from the West Sea.

The proud hall in which numerous archaic devils trained in was now ash. Scores of Primal Origin and Primal Zenith dragons worked together to break all the enchantments in place in order to destroy it permanently. At the same time, they took time to piss on the remains.

Zulong turned away from the sight with satisfaction. The battle had not been easy even with his presence. Hence he allowed his men to release their anger for the death of their comrades.

Unlike the smaller forces which branched from his own for their own objectives, Zulong's invading army pierced deep into devil territory. Even with the onslaught of millions, even billions ghostly devils, he pushed through.

"Losses below Golden Immortal?" Zulong asked.

"Deaths? Many. Forty eight thousand total."

"Golden and Great Unity Golden Immortals?"

"Five thousand."

"Chaos Immortals?"

"A hundred and seventy nine."

If there was one thing the dragon personally found irking, it was that they couldn't replenish their losses. Already, they had fought three battles since the deceased returned, and each time they've met familiar faces.

Each person they lost was a detriment that couldn't be replaced quickly as cultivators, especially high leveled experts took a long time to train. Each person the devils lost will eventually return. Even if they were a shell of their former selves, they'd still be an extra body.

"The losses of second order celestial beings are lower then I thought. I saw Jiang Koilong suffer a grievous blow earlier. I expected his side to collapse," Zulong inquired.

"Innate gods. Strong. Slaughtered hundred thousands."

Zulong nodded understandingly. Like his master suggested, Liu Er was a soldier on the front lines. Say what you will about his personality but he was effective with a capital 'E'.

Even in the frenzy of battle, he'd found a sort of enlightenment. His strength continued to rise with each battle whereas others had to rest.

Zulong casted a look towards a side of his resting army and saw Liu Er leaning on a ruined wall speaking with a red robed man sharpening his sword. 'That's the blood god Minghe if I remember correctly.'

A swish of wind in the air signaled Jiang Koilong's arrival.

"Should you not be resting?" Zulong raised the concern.

"Your majesty, it was only a light injury. I can still perform at my peak," the first ascendent dragon replied. He followed Zulong's earlier gaze towards the distant Liu Er and allowed himself a grin.

"That youngster, I owe him one. Him barreling into the enemy distracted my assailants long enough for me to escape. These third generation innate gods may be young but their power is undeniable."

Jiang Koilong couldn't say he knew what the big problem was with the six eared macaque. Sure his personality was a bit on the arrogant side, but wasn't all juniors who'd managed to rapidly reach the Chaos Immortal realm?

Liu Er was both brave and talented in the art of combat. Already, his strength had risen back to a level where he could compete with Primal Origin Chaos Immortals and even survive blows from Primal Zenith experts.

Not even some other innate gods like Leizhu the bird headed thunder patriarch, Red Cloud Hongyun, nor relaxed earth immortal Zheng Yuanzi had the same level of improvement. Jiang Koilong felt that he'd truly be an asset to the four seas.

After the tribulation, he felt he owed the monkey one for saving his life. Hence he felt a responsibility to speak with Zulong about potential rewards for Liu Er.

"You can feel indebted, but don't let it get in the way of your rationale. Be cautious around that monkey."

"Yes your majesty."

It was a good time to rest up for a little while hence they made idle chatter. As they were talking, Zulong perked up with delight. His divine sense had picked up Da Hai's presence entering his field of visibility.

Over on Liu Er's side, he'd also noticed Zulong briefly glimpse his direction. Not many dragons nor innate creatures hung around his area. But he felt more comfortable in a fellow god of slaughter in Minghe.

'Minghe might be a pathetic dumbass who didn't amount to anything in the myths. But can't say he isn't good at killing. Just like me.'

"Don't you find it insulting eh?" He began a conversation with Minghe. Against the scraping of welt stone against metal, he began a similar tirade as Yuanshi unknowingly.

"We're innate gods, powerful Chaos Immortals. We should be leading our own forces and conquer more lands. Instead we're stuck as attack dogs of incompetent commanders," Liu Er spat. With what he knew of Minghe's personality from reading internet novels, he felt safe to rant to him.

"Fucking hell, that Koilong guy gut his ass kicked. I thought he was supposed to be strong? Just a few devils and he gets knocked down? Pathetic."

"I am able to draw blood. I am satisfied."

"And don't get me started on Zhen Yuanzi's pacivipty. That guy just stayed in the back praying the whole damn time. Letting a lady like Houtu do all the work? How much weaker could he get? Guess the rest of the witches did fought well, but that's to be expected from idiot meat heads."

Minghe slowly turned an annoyed glare at Liu Er. He couldn't believe how much the monkey loved the sound of his own voice. Did a small isolated clearing really make him feel safe to start insulting so many powerful experts.

"What do you think Minghe?"

"We all seek the Dao in our own way," the innate god from the Blood Sea said. "I draw my sword to spill blood. You do…what you enjoy doing."

He picked up the freshly sharpened Abi and hurried to walk away. Secretly, he vowed to never find himself alone with this monkey.

"Hey where are you going? Thought we were friends?"

"We are not friends."

Liu Er pressed his lips. Despite the retreating Minghe, his attention turned to the newly arriving mass of water carrying an eight headed Da Hai.

'He's right, there are no such thing as friends in the Primitive World. There are the strong and the weak, the used or users. I bet even the dragons are his tools. He's really a good lier."