Bai Ze’s face twitched when he saw what Taiyi did to the Chaos Bell. It might benefit the Heavenly Court in the short-term by letting others think that they have a relationship with the Three Purities, but this would sow enmity with them.
Disregarding the Titan Tribe, the Three Purities might attack Heavenly Court in the future. Although Bai Ze didn't think the two would ally with each other, an additional enemy might be the straw that broke the camel's back.
He wanted to split Taiyi's head open and see exactly what the Eastern Emperor was thinking.
Bai Ze hid his dissatisfaction and glanced at his enemy, Jumang, the Titan of Wood, and the army of giants. He wasn't Fuxi and couldn't face off against a titan alone.
Furthermore, Jumang had transformed into a giant tree, even taller than Houtu. Green particles drifted down from its branches and leaves, healing any injuries the giants incurred while draining the vitality of any demons they touched.
Bai Ze and the rest of the demon sages directed the Celestial Army against the giant army. Like before, more demons died for every giant killed, but most of them were weak demons in the Earth or Sky Immortal Realm. Given enough time, they could recuperate their loss.
He adopted the cruel tactic of using cannon fodder to drain the attention and energy of the giants and used the stronger Golden Immortals and above to deal with the killing blow. With his tactical prowess, the giants started to fall even with Jumang's aid.
Jumang was just one titan, how could he heal a whole army? If he did, then Heavenly Court might as well just give up then and there.
Of course, Bai Ze was cautious. He kept the demons needed to form the Starry Sky War Array in the safest location or in reserve.
Di Jiang had noticed, but he was helpless. Members of the Titan Tribe were not suited to battlefield tactics. They could work together, but they weren’t suited for large tactical formations. They preferred to use brute force and charge forward like berserkers.
So, he needed to raise morale, and the best method was to kill the enemies' leaders.
Di Jiang glared at Di Jun. With the Celestial River Diagram in hand, he was too difficult to kill in a short amount of time, even with Jiuyin's aid. Otherwise, he would already be dead.
His eyes turned towards the other battlefield. Taiyi's momentum was too strong. Even against five titans, he still had the upper hand. As for Nuwa, she also continued to battle stably. She didn't aim for a quick victory just to delay time and increase Heavenly Court's advantage. Bai Ze was too far, so that only left one target.
Di Jiang and Jiuyin shared a look.
When Di Jun unleashed his next attack, Jiuyin slipped in front of Di Jiang. He activated his temporal abilities to the max, and the starlight slowed to a crawl. Not just the starlight but Di Jun as well. However, Di Jun had experienced this technique once and had already shielded himself.
Unfortunately, the titans’ target wasn't him. Di Jiang merged with space, and when he reappeared, he was already behind Fuxi.
Fuxi couldn't react in time. If Di Jiang's fist landed, he definitely would die or be fatally injured at best. He gritted his teeth and slapped the Fuxi Qin, and to Di Jiang's surprise, Fuxi switched places with his Corpse.
Although he was surprised, Di Jiang still brought his fist down, destroying the Corpse.
Fuxi coughed a mouthful of blood as his face paled. His aura weakened and hovered between the Quasi-Saint Realm and Great Firmament Realm.
Di Jiang and Shebisi pincered Fuxi, intending to kill him. Fuxi defended, but it was obvious that he would die within five breaths. Still, five breaths were long enough for Nuwa to suck Fuxi into her Mountain and River Diorama.
She gritted her teeth as Houtu took this chance to land an attack on her, but she also used the force to widen the distance between the two. Di Jun and Taiyi appeared next to her, and the twelve titans also regrouped.
"How is Daoist Fuxi?" Di Jun asked.
Nuwa had an ugly expression on her face, and she shook her head. "He won't be able to fight, and it remains unknown whether or not he can stay in the Quasi-Saint Realm."
Di Jun showed a saddened expression. He retrieved a jade bottle and handed it to Nuwa. "In here contains Threelight Divinewater. Give it to Daoist Fuxi."
Nuwa inspected the jade bottle and saw that it contained over a hundred drops of Threelight Divinewater, shocking her. This was probably all the Threelight Divinewater in the entire Heavenly Court. All the previous resentment she held from Fuxi's injuries turned into gratitude.
Di Jun pretended not to notice the change in her emotions and stared at the twelve titans on the other side. The blood of the two parties had long stained Buzhou Mountain red with blood. Even compared to the last time, it was only greater and not weaker.
"Form the Starry Sky War Array!" Di Jun ordered.
As the demons formed the Starry Sky War Array, Di Jiang hesitated. He saw the engravings on Taiyi's Chaos Bell and couldn't help but suspect the Three Purities. Although they agreed to put the past matters behind them, it was only a verbal agreement.
What if they conspired with Heavenly Court to exterminate the titans?
Then, a lunar star floated out of South Heaven Gate; it was Xihe. Di Jun had already suspected that the Titan Tribe might make trouble again, so he had already taught Xihe the Starry Sky War Array, and now, it was put into use.
Di Jun took the place of the Purple Majesty Star, Taiyi the Supreme Yang Star, and Xihe the Supreme Yin Star. With the three core stars of the Starry Sky War Array, the pressure it exuded magnified.
No longer did it waver with instability. In fact, even compared to when Taiyi used it against Violet Manor, its strength had vastly increased. That was partly due to the fact that the array had been formed at the peak of Buzhou Mountain, the location closest to the Starry Sky.
Di Jiang no longer hesitated. "Form the Pangu Genesis Formation!"
Di Jun made preparations, but so did Di Jiang. When the Heavenly Court announced Di Jun's marriage, Di Jiang had already started to urge Yuanshi to finish the formation flags. Now, each of the twelve titans held a formation flag infused with their blood.
The twelve formations flags were dubbed the Titanomachy Formation Flags by Yuanshi and were the joint creation of him and Tongtian.
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The twelve titans floated in the air, encased in a blood-red light. Organs, muscle, and skin materialized one after the other, forming a muscled man wearing a loincloth and sporting untamed hair.
The false Pangu opened his eyes. An enormous pressure spread out, causing the giants and weaker demons to prostrate themselves. He raised his hand above his head and said, "Come!"
Unlike the previous time, the Pangu Genesis Formation didn't try to summon the Three Purities to compensate for its deficiencies but to regain his weapon.
In Kunlun Mountain, both Laozi and Yuanshi frowned when they felt the resonance from the Taiji Diagram and Pangu Banner. They snorted and suppressed the resonance. Within the Starry Sky War Array, Taiyi did the same.
Still, an illusionary ax appeared in the false Pangu's hand even if the fake couldn't summon the three Heaven Opening Treasures. Although it was an illusion, it still emitted the aura of a top-grade cardinal spiritual treasure.
The Pangu Genesis Formation brought down the illusionary Heaven Opening Ax. Heaven and earth seemed to have returned to chaos, and the illusionary ax cleaved it in half, separating it once more.
Pangu Heaven Opening First Art - Chaos Splitter
Not even the Starry Sky War Array could block the ax cleave. Despite reaching at least three whole levels higher than when it was first unleashed, the false Pangu's cleave heavily injured all the demons within in an instant.
It was not that the overall power of the Pangu Genesis Formation rose, but the twelve titans' control of the formation had reached near-perfection. Inside the formation, Di Jiang sighed in relief when nothing went awry. It seemed that the Three Purities hadn’t sabotaged the Titanomachy Formation Flags.
The Pangu Genesis Formation raised the ax above its head again, gathering power to unleash the second ax strike.
Di Jun felt the terror of all the demons within the Starry Sky War Array. It reached the point that the array began to collapse in on itself from fear itself. The only one to not show any fear was Taiyi.
As the controller of the Starry Sky War Array, the Heavenly Emperor forcibly stabilized the array from collapsing in on itself. "Attack! Do you think you'll survive if the array breaks? It'll only make our deaths faster!"
Under Di Jun's words, the demons switched to a do-or-die mentality and furiously attacked the Pangu Genesis Formation. Di Jun unleashed the Ancient Annihilation Constellation, and a colossus composed of stars formed with Di Jun's face appeared.
The Chaos Bell appeared in the star colossus's hand as he walked towards the Pangu Genesis Formation that was still gathering power.
"Bai Ze, what are you doing? Attack!" Di Jun shouted at the frozen demons as he smashed the Chaos Bell on the false Pangu, the bell ringing as it struck.
However, the Pangu Genesis Formation didn't even take half a step back. It didn't even appear injured and continued to gather power for the second strike.
While the Ancient Annihilation Constellation attacked the Pangu Genesis Formation, Bai Ze commanded the demons to attack the giants. The equilibrium brought by Jumang's contribution was lost instantly as the demons started to overwhelm the giants. The only exception was the mighty giants near the peak of the Great Firmament Realm, such as Kuafu, Chiyou, and Houyi.
Still, they were the exceptions as more and more giants perished under the demons' assault.
"Die, Di Jun!" Di Jiang's voice echoed from the false Pangu as it brought its ax down a second time.
Pangu Heaven Opening Second Art - Open Heaven
The ax cleaved through the Ancient Annihilation Constellation, destroying it. When it finished its arc, the Starry Star War Array scattered, and all the demons within crashed into the ground. Over thirty percent died instantly.
Di Jun glared hatefully at Di Jiang's face on the Pangu Genesis Formation. Di Jiang didn't bother to unleash the third of the Pangu Heaven Opening Art and just brought it down.
Before he could, coercion that affected even the Pangu Genesis Formation descended. Accompanying it was the mysterious song that lifted the spirit of anyone who heard it, a melody of golden lotuses, phoenix cries, and dragon roars.
Hongjun had descended.
"From henceforth, the Demon Clan shall rule the skies, and the Titan Tribe shall rule the land. For ten eons, neither side shall war with the other. This is my, Hongjun's, decree!"
Hongjun's words spread throughout the Great Desolation. All the demons and giants kneeled in reverence. Di Jun and the other demons cried out in ecstasy. Was Hongjun secretly supporting them?
"Hongjun, we respect you as the Dao Ancestor, but don't think you can order us as you like!" Di Jiang and the other titans roared from within the Pangu Genesis Formation.
As long as they killed Di Jun and the other demon emperors—especially Nuwa, who was fated to become a Saint of Heaven—no one would be able to stop the Titan Tribe's supremacy.
"I'll give you one move. If you can injure me even the slightest bit, you can do as you like." Hongjun said.
After a second of hesitation, Di Jiang agreed. He originally had confidence in facing off against Hongjun with the Pangu Genesis Formation, but now that he faced the Dao Ancestor in person, his arrogance withered.
In addition, Di Jun's efforts weren't in vain. He sensed that the Pangu Genesis Formation wouldn't last much longer. The false Pangu raised its ax once more and prepared to unleash the third ax art.
Pangu Heaven Opening Third Art - Dividing Earth
All of Buzhou Mountain shook under the might of the ax strike. Every living being in the vicinity felt their spirit and flesh splitting, even the giants who only possessed truesouls.
In the face of this horrifying strike, Hongjun remained unfazed. He reached out with his hands and lightly tapped the ax head. Cracks splintered through the illusionary metal, and the weapon shattered a moment later.
The Pangu Genesis Formation followed suit as all the twelve titans crashed to the ground, much like the demons. Hongjun's figure turned translucent as he started to disappear. "Remember my decree. Demons shall remain in the sky, and the Titan tribe shall remain on the land. For ten eons, war is forbidden!"
With an ashen face, Di Jiang led the giants back to their headquarters while Di Jun led the demons back to the Thirty-Three Heavens.
Back in Pangu Temple, the twelve titans sat together again. They didn't need much time to heal this time since the Titanomachy Formation Flag bore most of the burden.
"Hongjun's power exceeded my imagination. I don't think we can defeat him even if all of us possessed peak Quasi-Saint strength," Di Jiang said, frowning.
Anger and stubbornness colored the other titans' faces, but they stayed silent. Even their trump card, the Pangu Genesis Formation, seemed flimsy in the face of the Dao Ancestor's horrifying power.
"We should consider how to deal with Hongjun after we defeat Heavenly Court," Jiuyin said. "Our biggest enemy is the demons. Everything else can be considered later."
Di Jiang nodded. "Jiuyin is right. What we need to fix right now is to restore the Titanomachy Formation Flags. If possible, we need to strengthen them as much as possible."
Each of the twelve titans took out a flag. Every single one had a slight rip on them. Their expression darkened. The only ones who could help them were Yuanshi and Tongtian, but asking them would require them to fork over more blood essence.
"Luckily, we already settled our grievances," Di Jiang said. "We shouldn't need to pay a higher price to restore and strengthen them."
"Once we all reach the Peak Quasi-Saint Realm in power, I want to see how those beasts can resist us," Zhurong said, and for once, Gonggong didn't counter him.
"What I'm worried about is that Nuwa will become a Saint of Heaven during these ten eons," Houtu said, causing all the titans to frown again.
"Hongjun said that the foundation for sainthood is the Grandmist Violet Qi. As long as we grab it, we can try to decipher it and allow one of us to become a Saint," Di Jiang said.
"But who can we take? If we make attempts on the Grandmist Violet Qis in the Three Purities' hand, it'll be hard to say if they won't join Heavenly Court in dealing with us," Rushou said.
"Before we worry about them retaliating, we have to consider Hongjun's response," Shebisi said. "We can't discount him taking action to save Nuwa."
"There is one person we can deal with," Xuanming said. "Unlike the Three Purities, Nuwa, Jieyin, and Zhunti, he isn't Hongjun's disciple either."
All the titans shared a look, and a look of understanding dawned on their faces.
"Redcloud Ancestor."