“A three-pronged attack?”

The old man looked across the dark horizon with fierce nostalgia.

When was the last time he had seen them this size? Was it during the 48th Primordial Era? It was comparable to the Armoured Titans in size and no doubt more powerful.

Crackle!

Red arcs of lightning snaked between the blackened clouds that blotted out the sky. Compared to the cute thundercloud before, the current thundercloud stretched out into the universe, blotting out the sun in size. No rain stormed from these clouds since these weren’t normal thunderclouds; they were tribulation thunderclouds meant to punish those who strayed from the accepted cultivation path. Instead of rain, a gunpowder-like pressure enveloped the old man and threatened to crush him into oblivion.

“You want him gone that badly, huh?”

The first prong of the attack: Keeping the old man from interfering in the tribulation.

Another crack of thunder responded to the old man’s provocation, but he cared little for it. Smoke escaped the old man’s lips as the wooden pipe left his mouth and hand. It slowly floated above his head as it grew countless times in size, completely covering the old man like an oversized umbrella.

“I’ve waited dozens of eras for another peach tree to grow, and you think a little bit of tribulation lightning will make me budge? You should know better, old friend.”

A bolt of crimson lightning arced toward the old man with an unholy vengeance. But strangely, the bolt redirected to the wooden pipe like it was drawn to a lightning rod. With a disgraceful sizzle, the crimson lightning bolt that could wipe out continents was used as a lighter for the wooden pipe.

“My will doesn’t extinguish. My heart is eternal. As long as I live, this peach tree will not perish!”

The gigantic peach tree behind the old man flourished leaves from its branches, lifting the old man into the air against the clouds. With an emboldened tone, the old man proclaimed his intentions.

“If I, Grandmaster Life, decide a planet will live, then even The Heavens can’t destroy it!”

Suddenly, the old man, Grandmaster Life, blinked, and his irises turned ethereal. Instead of their natural peachy-pink colour, his eyes contained the galaxy within them, revealing the sight of a giant planet headed on a collision course for a comparably little world: Earth.

The second prong of the attack: destroy the planet and all of its endemic life.

Sigh.

“You think too little of me, old friend. A little bit of lightning won’t be enough to stop me.”

If Grandmaster Life hadn’t traced the strings of Karma back here, he wouldn’t have even deigned to look at the simple, little planet that was practically devoid of Qi. And yet, one little peach tree sapling had changed its fate forever. In turn, the people residing on it would prematurely enter a new stage of life that wasn’t destined for millenniums.

The thunderclouds let loose a chorus of blinding lightning bolts that deafened the stars’ brightness, but the wooden pipe only let out more smoke as the tribulation lightning was effortlessly extinguished. It couldn’t even touch the hem of Grandmaster Life’s robes.

Grandmaster Life let loose a laugh from the depth of his belly, and a devilish grin took over his face. With bright eyes, his hands clawed the air.

In the depths of space, overlooking the sight of two planets headed to collide, a pair of phantom hands the size of planets latched onto the two planets with a tight grip. However, it couldn’t entirely stop the invisible force pulling the planets together.

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Primordial Secret Art – First Stage: Grip the Universe.

Cough!

Grandmaster Life spit out a bit of blood at the expense of using his strength, but the look in his eyes only grew more resolved. His voice cackled against the peals of thunder that protested against his every action.

“You thought using his origin planet would stop me? Watch how I shatter its destiny and build it anew!”

Slowly, Grandmaster Life circled his arms, and out in space, the momentum of the planets shifted as they began to orbit one another. In the vastness of space, the vague image of yin and yang appeared, and at the center between the two planets, a spark of creation began to form.

Primordial Secret Art – Second Stage: Rotation of Yin and Yang

THUNDER!

The thundercloud halted their cascade of many smaller thunderbolts, and above Grandmaster Life, a thunderbolt the size of the moon swelled into being. Slowly, it dropped, and with a horrendous crash, the thick, darkened thunderbolt battled against the wooden pipe.

Crack!

The empowered thunderbolt left a gash along the pipe’s wooden grains. But the wooden pipe held, and no life-threatening harm came to the old man. A near-endless amount of smoke poured out from the wooden pipe, obscuring him from any further empowered attacks.

Cough. Cough.

Blood poured from Grandmaster Life’s back, a result of the lightning energies that managed to hit him and invade his body.

The leaves from the gigantic peach tree holding Grandmaster Life aloft quickly wrapped around him and encompassed the wound on his back. Within seconds, the leaves crumpled and faded into ash, leaving behind perfectly recovered skin.

The look in Grandmaster Life’s eyes never deviated, and with a focused clarity, he watched as his masterpiece slowly emerged. A spark of creation was nearly fully formed at the point between the two planets. In only a few more moments, that spark of creation would rapidly develop, and Grandmaster Life would have pulled off this era’s most prolific event.

Thunder!

The thunderclouds let out a frustrated crackle of thunder as they rained down thunderbolts everywhere in the obscuring smoke. But Grandmaster Life shifted locations with the grace of a fluttering leaf and avoided most strikes. The ones that did hit were quickly repelled by the wooden smoking pipe or healed by the peach tree leaves.

Crackle…

Resolved to make at least one of its attacks leave a lasting mark, the thunderclouds slowed their momentum, gathering their remaining strength for one deadly, deciding bolt. Hidden to Grandmaster Life as he focused on balancing planetary yin and yang, a colourless lightning bolt stretched out into the void above the spark of creation.

In the cosmos, the two planets swirled around each other as the image of yin and yang grew stronger. The inner yang was the colossal planet headed for Earth, and the inner yin was the Earth itself. Finally, the resolutive moment came, and Grandmaster Life let out another mocking laugh at the thunderclouds.

“Watch carefully, old friend. This is how far I go for him!”

Primordial Secret Art – Stage Three: Planetary Fusion

Grandmaster Life’s hands slowly swirled closer together before suddenly expanding out and then in with a grand clap. The swirling planets were nearly touching in the universe when they suddenly slammed together with the spark of creation at the center.

“FUSE!” Grandmaster Life proclaimed, and in response, the thunderclouds rumbled above him.

Thunder!

At the exact point where the two worlds collided with the spark of creation, the colourless lightning bolt slammed into the fusion, causing a flash of light echoing into the universe. Planets in faraway galaxies could witness the blinding flash, but only a few powerful beings would ever sense what caused it. Even fewer would sense the indomitable will that briefly flashed from a galaxy far, far away.

Grandmaster Life closed his eyes against the harsh light, and a fierce wind rippled his clothes from the aftershock of the fusion. As soon as both passed, he released his held breath and reopened his peachy-pink eyes. Within his sight was a newly formed planet that looked like Earth but was countless times bigger. Within it was the fused essence of two planets.

The planet that was previously only capable of having regular people could now produce cultivators that reached into the stars.

“This is how far I go.”

Thunder…

Grandmaster Life let loose a beaming smile as he watched the thunderclouds in the area gradually dissipate. He would have to deal with the last of the three-pronged attack later, but for now, he had done it. He had managed to fuse the two planets and keep that boy alive in the process.

“She would be amazed if she could see it.” Grandmaster Life’s thoughts drifted to his dead lover as he reached out his hand.

The smoking pipe above his head slowly shrunk as it landed in Grandmaster Life’s hand. With a slow movement, he placed it on his lips, and the leaves keeping him aloft slowly fluttered him back to the ground. Grandmaster Life resumed his seat on the fallen peach tree stump as the leaves returned to the gigantic peach tree behind him.

Puff, puff.

Grandmaster let out a puff of smoke and watched as it materialized into the image of a young man unconscious on the ground.

“The rest is up to you, Louie.”

Chuckle.

“If you die now, I might have to destroy this entire section of the universe to get rid of my anger.”