For several weeks after meeting up with his disciple, Da Hai agreed to follow his decision on the war efforts. Zulong had suggested they retreat to a safer location, one where the presence of devils had largely been eradicated. After all, he'd only ever pushed this close to Mt Sumeru to spit in the devil's ancestral sacred grounds.

As they moved along, dozens upon dozens of smaller armies joined up with them for safety. The current scale of fighting had brought on an unimaginable amount of pressure. The Devilish Dao were fighting like caged animals, lashing out at the ones who wanted to annihilate them.

Along the way, Yi Fei'e and a whole host of avians that had found their way to her army met up with Zulong and Da Hai. The disciples of Yingzhou had all gathered except for one individual. The dragon king Yinglong was still missing and had not reported back on his progress.

The winged dragon had taken it upon himself to move further into devil controlled lands in order to find further information about the devil's formation and the resurrecting devils tied to it. Even before Da Hai had found Zulong, Yinglong had been MIA for quite a while.

It proved vexing for everyone when even Yi Fei'e hadn't heard much news outside of those who found their way to her.

…

Dreaming.

They were dreaming.

All of them were merely specs of a greater whole. A supreme existence that neared total contemplation in what it meant to be the origin of all things.

Arising from nothing comes one. From one comes two. Two forms three. Three begetting all things.

Working towards the ultimate goal in reverse order, they were cultivated for this sole purpose. All of them had to contribute.

It didn't matter wether they were the weakest of mortals or the strongest of Primal Zenith Chaos Immortals. Their individuality no longer belonged to them for they were merely one faceless ball of insight among many.

They were nothing anymore. Their forms lost, their minds absorbed, their souls bargained away long ago. Now they sleep in eternal rest.

"YOU ARE NEEDED!"

"FIGHT FOR YOUR FOUNDER'S SAKE!"

"RISE FROM YOUR GRAVES!"

"ELIMINATE ALL THREATS!"

"USE WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY!"

"JUST GET THEM OUT OF YOUR HOMELAND!"

The sinking consciousness opened its senses once more. Very briefly, it was still lost in who they were. But just as quickly as that feeling came, it went and the true identity was regained.

From a whirling cloud of wind generated from the deepest corners of the Primitive World's underbelly. A hand grabbed hold of wet dirt as a whole faceless body formed out of it. In several minutes worth of time, a human figure manifested with a roar.

His presence within the world brought on changes to his surroundings. All living creatures within a thousand kilometres around him screamed as their deepest darkest secrets invaded their minds. The weak willed were forcefully taken over, and their personalities changed. The strong willed were locked in eternal struggle.

"What has happened to me!"

A soft feminine voice said. The humanoid ghost devil's faceless features turned towards the familiar voice. Then an elderly man's appearance plastered itself on the faceless devil. "This is not the West Continent," he said.

"Empress Intoxicating Dream, calm yourself," he said dismissively. "We have a mission to accomplish."

"Calm myself? Fellow daoist Rippling Reflections do you hear yourself. Look at what has been done to me?" The woman whose body appeared transparent and gaunt screamed at him. The glint of madness was evident in her eye and the ground around her instantly withered away.

"It is to be expected," the elderly devil said. "We're devils after all. Consider this one of the assurances in case we ever faced death."

"Assurance? I don't feel my Dao anymore! I don't feel my flesh! I don't feel any connection to anything except that…that…hollow void."

Rippling Reflections chuckled at her hysterics. He turned away from her and at the thousands upon thousands of spawning devils.

'Hundun's control alone is not capable of this. So this means either Ancestor Luohu or his majesty Demon King Mara has returned to activity.'

"Put that grief to good use why don't you?" Rippling Reflections said. "We need to divert our enemy's attention away from the motherland. And what's even better, our killer's homes are relatively undefended."

The female devil's fierce gaze snapped to him

"The bitch who killed me." She straightened her back and manifested a green dress onto her body.

"That woman was the Dragon Sovereign's wife. I'd expect her to be at her husband's side fighting in the west," Rippling Reflections said. "Though with them both in the picture, getting vengeance would be impossible. Especially with your diminished strength."

Intoxicating Dream grimaced at the sad reality. Compared to her previous living self, if they were to fight the current her would be trounced.

"There should be easier targets. Ones that fulfils our mission as well. No one likes their seat of power reduced to rubble," she said grinning.

As more and more devils took form around them, Rippling Reflection's unrestrained aura induced so much madness to the living beings around their vicinity that no very few had even taken noticed of a millions strong army suddenly coming into being.

"Pillage and burn. Doesn't matter where. These cultivators will pay for burning our homeland!"

The mentality of these ghostly devils were such. A good many of them were even recently killed ones from the alliance cultivator's invasion. Their combined rage made them desire to return the favour a thousand fold.

Rippling Reflections didn't care where either. As much as chaos was achieved around the mountains and seas, he would be satisfied. At least until his next role is given.

Then the East Continent began burning.

…

"That's another million four hundred thousand immortals added to our ranks," A dragon elder said. "They brought me news as well. Plesiosaur ancestor has been killed and unfortunately, Colossal Shark is on his last legs too."

"You too huh? My Feiyi clan lost the last of our ancestor as well. None of the first generation left."

"Unbelievable, there should be a limit to how fast and how much they these ghosts can come back!"

The atmosphere within a giant war tent was depressing to say the least. Gathering together for protection again, Zulong met up with a significant portion of East Continent experts and avians. Many dragons and seafolk cultivators were already present by the time they arrived.

Within the centre of the tent, Da Hai hovered in a seated lotus position. His eyes were glazed over indicating a lack of attention to his surroundings. His full attention was instead on the manifested three dimension model in front of him.

Around him stood Zulong, Jiang Koilong, Leize, Chongming, and numerous other Primal Zenith experts. Wether it was discussing the current difficulties they faced, or at what Da Hai was projecting, there were many conversations going on.

Even Yi Fei'e and Cinnabar was present. The latter sported a new eyepatch but was otherwise healthy. The former held her sheathed sword to her chest ready to defend her master should enemy devils decide to test their luck.

As for Da Hai's actions, he was trying his best to analyze both the formation covering the West Continent as well as the reincarnation process the devils were using. Each and every particle of energy appearing in the air was his effort to experiment and calculate every single mechanism he thought of.

All the workings of souls of living beings, and the flow of karma within all existence aside, Da Hai had to acknowledge that whoever created this mechanism was a genius beyond comparison. He was never an expert on the topics of souls in the first place. Whatever knowledge he did have were things he gleamed from observing mortal creatures still trapped within perpetual reincarnation.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

In fact, Da Hai's rate of progress in analyzing was extremely poor. If one was to ask him what it was like, Da Hai would describe it as if he were looking at a complex mathematical equation, yet lacked the knowledge of what the symbols meant. His enlightenment into the Dao was hard carrying him to not be utterly clueless.

"Your excellency, any clues to how we can stop this?" A man from the East Continent asked. "Any way we can reverse the returning dead and send them back to the abyss?"

"Do not disrupt master, he will answer you when he has figured out," Zulong retorted.

The man he was speaking to grumbled. His frustration at Da Hai's silence was understandable and felt by many others.

"Zhujian Patriarch, what have I learned that I haven't already told the rest of you?" Da Hai said without taking his eyes off the model. "The only sure way is to remove anchor points that are powering this formation as many of you have independently long figured out."

"But we've already burned sixty percent of the West Continent. No sect, no matter how important had anything remotely similar! Just their own mountain defense formations," the East Continent cultivator said.

This member of the Zhujian Clan was not a first generation member. Despite being their patriarch, he was only three yuanhui old and already one of the foremost expert in the East Continent. As such, to a certain extent he saw himself equal to the likes of Zulong or Zufeng.

Zhujian were felines, leopards with one eye in the centre of their face. Their tails were extremely long that in their true forms, they had to carry them in their mouths.

Da Hai sighed bitterly. He moved a wisp from the model before him and pushed it through a circle. He repeated the motion many times and at some point split some of his qi to extract yin energy.

"Anything?" Zulong asked.

"This soon? No. Give me at least a thousand years of peace and quiet," Da Hai joked. "But honestly? I'd liken these devils to projections. Cheaply made puppets or something similar."

Till date, no ghost devil could be captured to be experimented on. They simply crumbled away and returned to the air they once were.

"So either we continue this scavenger hunt or directly assault Mt Sumeru," the zhujian from earlier said.

"Either you commit to this hunt or commit suicide," another figure in the crowd corrected.

"It's better than to run around without a clue to our destination!" Another said.

"Yeah, surely with all of us together we can muster up enough power to break that Immortal Extermination Formation."

Around and around, they talked in circles. Da Hai ignored most of them as useless prattle he'd heard hundreds of times already. Each new arrival was a repeat.

"Master, is it me? Or has the amount of devils coming back as ghosts been accelerating?" Zulong asked.

"Could just be a result of ramp up," Yi Fei'e spoke up. "It has been a little while."

"No Fei'e," Da Hai shook his head. "The rate of them resurrecting increased exponentially."

He didn't want to believe it but chances are, either Luohu or Mara had taken the helm of this operation. He said as such to a deafened crowd.

"Perhaps attacking Mt Sumeru…hm?" One East Continent cultivator was about to suggest when they all felt a disturbance. The edges of their divine sense picked up rapid movement headed their way.

Da Hai stood up unceremoniously and headed outside flanked by Zulong and Yi Fei'e. The people headed their way were energy signatures he'd recognized as very similar to Pangu. But since the twelve blood descendants of the creator god was within their current encampment, it only left one possible group.

Outside, Primal Origin and Great Principle experts had all sensed it. Great Unity and regular Golden Immortals were slower on the uptake but soon they saw with their eyes. This army consisting of an unquantifiable amount of immortals all stood up in shock.

A single ray of energy was fleeing towards them being chased by a monsoon of devils. There must've been millions of them for they reassembled fast moving clouds when they moved as one.

Rather than the fear individual immortal cultivators had faced previously though, as a united front they wondered why these devils would head towards them so blazingly. Surely they know that with all the top experts gathered here, even a hundred million devils will be destroyed.

"Lend aid! Please! My brother is injured and my sister is dying!"

It was Yuanshi who yelled for them. A top expert at the Primal Origin realm of power. He was so strong he could even spar with Primal Zenith experts on a good day. However, the current Yuanshi sported numerous injuries on his person.

On his back, he carried a frail looking old man who was an equally injured Taishang. In his arms he cradled an uncurious Tongtian.

Yuanshi's feet ran across a trail of primordial clouds. The Three Treasures Jade Ruyi was controlled mentally by him as well as the Qingping Sword to fight off his pursuers. Despite that, he'd been pelted by stray shots none stops for what seemed to be a long time.

"Finally some action!"

A tiny figure summersaulted into the pursuing devils throwing a sneer at Yuanshi along the way. Liu Er, bloodthirsty as he was, was faster then any others in attacking caring nothing for the little details.

The Primal Zenith experts near Da Hai wasted no time moving into action. Chief among them, much to the surprise of East Continent clan heads, was Zulong. He shouldn't care for someone who claims domains in the East Continent right?

However, many of them had forgotten one crucial detail. The Three Pure Ones were all part of a retinue led by his precious brother, Yinglong. The lack of the winged dragon's presence spooked him into action.

Numerous attacks flew into the sky, smashing into the cloud of ghost devils. There were thousands in the Primal Zenith realm among them and dozens unified to face these assaults at the same time.

Primal Origin immortals joined in soon after and a brawl started in the sky. Golden Immortals, Great Unity Golden Immortals, Heavenly Immortals etc.

The innate gods moved with various elemental powers performing wondrous manipulations of the environment. The massive Kun Peng swallowed numerous ghost devils only for them to dissipate in his mouth. Massive forests grew to strike at ghost devils turning them back into air curtesy of Zhen Yuanzi.

Dragons such as Jiang Koilong roared summoning bolts of lightning that cut down any that came in their way.

Minghe cut through dozens of his foes with his twin swords while grumbling. "No blood, no soul, nothing to kill. So useless," the god from the Blood Sea spat. He heard the sound of whirling tides and saw the rising figure of Da Hai.

In Da Hai's hand was the Heavenly Cloud Gathering Sword which only held loosely. But even then, the sheer sharpness of that sword brought a sense of longing in the innate go.

Da Hai raised an eyebrow at Minghe's gaze. In his opinion the little kid wasn't even being discrete. Zulong had already destroyed over half of the ghost devils and since there were no living devils among them, Da Hai took this time to observe the subtle changes between the environment and these devils.

Yuanshi had settled down on the ground where he was received by a few avians and dragons who specialized in medicine. He sighed in relief as he could finally rest. Tongtian and Taishang were carried away from him by other experts even as people fought above them.

Yet the innate god couldn't shake off the feeling someone was glaring at him. He raised his head, noticing the titanic body of Zulong. Immediately, he understood the why.

Zulong unleashed an earth shattering roar. His true form pushed out with his claws unleashing his martial art 'Nine Claws Killing' in multiple directions. Numerous ghost devils dissipated under the pressure of such a blow.

Even so, dozens of Primal Zenith ghost devils crawled along his serpentine body and chipped away at his scales. They discarded any sense of the fear of death extremely quickly. Zulong shook his body with irritant rage.

"You filthy hands are unworthy of touching my disciple," Da Hai said. Waves of water washed away these devils before condensing into a water star. Within the confines of Da Hai's water prison, a sort of connection was lost and these Primal Zenith devils returned to natural air.

"Hm."

About three hours later, the fighting was dying down as the last of these devils were purged. In the aftermath, the land was so beset by yin attribute air that the ground began frosting over. With Da Hai's presence, no one perished to these devils, only injured.

However, understanding that ghost devils will keep coming back, they didn't lose any soldiers either.

Zulong, Yi Fei'e and Da Hai both descended towards a sitting Yuanshi. Zulong shrunk back down to his Dao body and immediately stepped in front of Yuanshi.

"You!" Zulong gripped the hem of Yuanshi's robe. "Where is my brother? Why was he not with you? Were you not part of his group?"

"I…" Yuanshi broke their eye contact with a guilty look. All signs of his arrogance was seemingly gone.

"Speak up!"

Yi Fei'e and Da Hai glanced at Zulong. The latter pulled out a jade talisman and waved it in front of his disciple. "Yinglong is fortunately still alive. But you Yuanshi."

Da Hai glared as Zulong dropped Yuanshi to the ground. "The fact that you are here running means you abandoned my disciple right?"

"Yes, I had no choice"

THOOM!

Everyone present jumped up in fright. A long gash into the earth stretching on for millions of kilometres appeared in an instant. Wether this was from Zulong or Da Hai, this was unknown.

"No choice?" Zulong spat. "Did you abandoned my brother to the enemy? Why I outa."

Zulong was so enraged by the implication that he'd forgotten to even use the royal 'we'.

"Tell us where they are then," Da Hai questioned. Despite seemingly appearing calm, he was anything but on the inside. The jade talisman connected to Yinglong's life force was an artifact he put in place on all his disciples. It only told their living status but anything else.

Yuanshi only looked more guilty being scrutinized by these two titans. "We were moving to strike a solitary devil base. Lord Yinglong had…"

"Oi! Perfect timing. Been meaning to talk to you," Liu Er yelled as he landed nearby. The monkey began making his way towards Da Hai but was blocked by Yi Fei'e and Cinnabar Phoenix.

"The hell do you two want?" He spat.

Liu Er tried to barge his way pass Yi Fei'e but found her to be as strong as steel. "Grr, you think just because you're Da Hai's side piece you can stop me?"

Yi Fei'e immediately drew her sword at the insult but Liu Er only kept talking. He called out to Da Hai and Zulong despite everyone else clearly making an effort to stay a good distance away.

"Twelve years! I have twelve years of mandatory education. Don't you think I…"

"SHUSH!"

Liu Er flew back when an invisible force smashed all his teeth out. He rocketed away from Yi Fei'e for thousands of kilometres.

"Keep talking," Da Hai said to Yuanshi after lowing his hand.

"We were attacked by devils. At first it wasn't many but they kept increasing in number. Every hundred we put down ten thousand took their place. We were able to resist but…"

Yuanshi glanced at the direction of his brother and sister with a deep look of guilt. "Then he showed up. He was beyond anything any of us have dealt with. Hundun's power was unbelievable."

"Hundun." Da Hai chuckled a dark laugh.

"What happened next? Even if a Limitless Supreme Chaos Immortal showed up, Yinglong is still capable of fleeing the scene. Especially when everyone with him were top Primal Zenith and Primal Origin experts."

Yuanshi took a glance again at Tongtian and Taishang's direction. They were being treated by the magic of several experts. Da Hai followed his look and his suspicion rose.

"We were able to flee from him. Hundun didn't give us too much pressure. Lord Yinglong wanted to direct our team eastward," Yuanshi admitted. "I…"

"Finish your report," Da Hai said darkly while Zulong's nostrils flared up in anger.

"I suggested we turn around. I thought that if Hundun showed up to guard, then it must mean that place was important. So it was imperative for us to destroy it. I forced the mission back around. They payed the price." Yuanshi looked guiltily at Taishang and Tongtian.

Zulong wasted no time choke slamming Yuanshi. He lifted him by his throat had a deep desire to kill him. Da Hai tapped his eldest disciples hand forcing him to release the innate god.

"You left Yinglong to fend for himself?"

"My brother and sister, they were too injured to go on. Everyone else with us were being cut down one by one. I had to seek help. They are my family, I had no choice," Yuanshi said on his knees. "I ran for days, weeks? I didn't stop until I found you all. It's, it's all my fault."

This was a stark contrast to the prideful deity from before. So much so that cultivators observing his admittance thought he was some sort of shapeshifting devil.

"You," Zulong was both enraged and panicked. He and Da Hai gave each other an understanding look. "Which way did you run from?"

Yuanshi looked up weakly. He waved his hand and projected the image of a crude line. It displayed how he ran and could be applied to the direction he came from.

"Men! We move out immediately. Koilong, Ao Fanhao, Ao Quanshe, get over here! Sharp Tooth Patriarch, Electro Starfish, get your best trackers!"

"Your majesty, your majesty!"

A hurried voice interrupted Zulong. He whirled around with a force so great, it knocked the coming turtle general on his rear.

The turtle was waving a commutalisman of the latest model and appeared very frazzled.

"A thousand apologies your majesty, this one deserves death," he kowtowed immediately. "But I have urgent message." He waved the device in front of Zulong with a frightened look.

"East Sea Dragon Palace! It's been besieged!"

"What?"

If before Zulong was only panicked, now he was outright scared out of his mind.

"Turn back and…wait but…"

Yinglong was stuck on a life death situation on one end, but on the other hand his home where his wife and children are was besieged. He couldn't even fathom how the latter could happen, weren't devils being localized to the west?

"What?"

"How can this be?"

Suddenly, hundreds of clan heads from the east, south, north, and the seas received news from their subordinates. Zulong's home wasn't the only one, news arrived by various different means, all telling a similar tale.

Devils were sighted, ghostly devils who appeared to attack the home bases of these cultivators. Their cities, their houses, their territories. They were all being assaulted.

Da Hai gasped as the realization dawned on him. Ghost devils were being resurrected outside the West Continent.

"We must hurry home at once!"

"Dear heavens, they're in danger!"

Numerous immortal patriarchs and matriarchs realized the gravity of the situation. They all looked to be seconds away from rushing out.

"I…I…" Zulong looked eastward and westward. He growled and peeled his eyes away from the west.

"You all! Calm down!" Da Hai roared.

"Your excellency, with all due respect we cannot linger here anymore. My moutain is being besieged!" The Zhujian patriarch from earlier said. Not just him, but many others held the same opinion.

As if uncaring for their unity, Zhujian and numerous East Continent experts turned tail and headed for the eastern border. They ordered their men to defend their own homes and to abandon the offensive. It was pure chaos.

"CEASE!" Da Hai roared with power this time. The sky darkened and everyone felt pressured as a storm manifested overhead. The godfiend looked downright furious by the devil's actions.

"You all, you need to protect your homes? Alright. Leave half your troops here for the offensive. We can use that place the Phoenix Sovereign set up as a proper base," he said in a hurry. Truthfully he preferred someone else do this but with all the chaos his hands were tied.

"Yi Fei'e, can you look for Yinglong?" He asked. The moth nodded and headed to mount her phoenix."

"That's right junior sister, oh thank you junior sister!" Zulong said gratefully. "We can leave at once."

"Wait Zulong!" Da Hai said. "You're too important for command to just retreat. You should remain here and continue the offensive, pressure the devils. This is surely an attempt to lure you away."

"But Yu'er and my sons!"

"I will go," Da Hai said. "I'm faster then you. I can also return here in comparatively little time."

Zulong nodded, he closed his eyes and took a few breaths of air to calm down. "Alright master, please save my family. I'll make these fiends pay for their audacity!"

Yi Fei'e and Cinnabar were communicating with legions of dragons, seafolk, and even many avians. They set out soon on an expedition to retrieve Yinglong. Zulong and the bulk of the remaining forces to both manage them and further push on.

Da Hai meanwhile streaked across the sky alone in a blast of water. He trusted Zulong to remain strong for he knew the dragon at his peak can fight even someone on his level without serious danger.