V4C6: The Ancients

Her declaration went unchallenged and unquestioned while they watched the worm pass through the desert, travelling away from them in a vague zig-zagging manner. It rose out of the sand and then sank back inside, getting further and further away each time. The worm’s actions did kick up a whole lot more sand to flood the sandstorm, but that hardly made the great entity any less terrifying.

For a while, all of them unconsciously circulated energy within their bodies as to prepare a combat technique with which to strike at it, save for Aimi Miyu who had no idea how to do such a thing.

Wei Yi and Great Dark realised their actions quickly, but the least fortunate amongst the small group of observers had to suddenly restrain their energy as to not harm themselves. With the other cultivators around them, this was accomplished easily, but it still showed them just how much such a sight affected them. With the distance that had still been maintained between it and the fortress walls even when they were closest together, it was impossible to determine the worm’s realm, appearance or sheer physical might, but the aura that it created was certainly overwhelming.

Once the rumbling of the creature’s movement finally died down, they were able to consider other matters.

“What did you mean by the Great Worm? The one from the northern phrase? It is… real?” Wei Yi asked, turning to the one that exclaimed it. During her stay in the Chao District, she had been able to overhear exclamations mentioning the Great Worm, and figured that it might be based on some entity from the past that had caused sufficient fear or reverence for it, but she certainly didn’t expect it to be something living now and roaming around the desert.

“I… I hadn’t been aware, but… it is considered to be both a physical thing, and a spiritual one. Some believe the ancient entity to be powerful, but it is the spiritual one that is able to bestow curses, hence the ‘curse of the Great Worm’, ‘cursed by the Great Worm’…” Luo Lia Kun explained.

“So, the Great Worm is an ancient sandworm that is THAT large?” she asked, taking the silent shrug as a response, “Well… Fuck. I don’t know exactly what that was, nor what the Great Worm is, but that thing did not appear to be interested in eating Paragon just yet, so we can at the very least assume that we will be safe until it returns – if it returns at all… Seriously, that thing was absolutely enormous…”

Miyu, who was not as shocked as the rest of them, smirked at the statement, but an unamused glance from Wei Yi stopped her right away.

“This is rather… unexpected. As it turns out, Paragon may not necessarily be the safest place, but it should bring about quite a few opportunities,” Wei Yi posited before leaning down to whisper in the otherworldly demon’s ear, “And just so that you remember, this isn’t a game. That thing could eat you as easily as a person could pluck a drying stalk of grass, so while I do appreciate the way in which you were able to remain unphased, I would advise you to keep that in mind.”

“Eh… but… I was just believing this to be funny…”

“I appreciate all humour of that kind – if you did mean it that way – but this is a warning of your own good. Imagine, for instance, if you were out in the sands, and that thing was coming straight for you. If you think of it as some illusion, some trick of the light, you will die very quickly.”

“R-Right…” Miyu looked out into the sandstorm wall and suddenly had a trace of fear within her eyes, an expression of concern appearing upon her cute face.

Seeing that the point was made, Wei Yi straightened her back and returned her attention to the group, but their interest, Great Dark’s in particular, was already on the Antanorden woman, and so she had little choice but to explain.

“This is one of the otherworldly demons that I had mentioned, Aimi Miyu. Besides being a bit silly about certain things – don’t pout, you have to understand that I’m right or else I will be seriously concerned about your mental state – she has the otherworldly gift of being able to identify and recognise anything, but only with the information that she possesses. So long as she has the accurate knowledge, she will be able to recognise anything, and so I’ve been making her read every book I could,” she said, patting her on the head when she wouldn’t stop looking glum.

Due to whatever magic her patting seemed to contain, for it had proven to work many times, it also calmed the recipient this time, nearly causing her to purr before she stopped.

Meanwhile, Great Dark looked at her inquisitively as he thought about certain matters for a while, and a hint of doubt clearly appeared on his face. The reason for it was rather obvious, as it was naturally something that Wei Yi had considered in the past, as was confirmed the moment that he voiced it.

“You say accurate information, but is this something based on her own perception, or something else?” he asked, “If it is the former… no information will ever be reliable, as it will be just as accurate as the assessment of any other… Requiring something of the sort will put us all at risk, especially if she will just assume any knowledge to be true… even if it contradicts previous information…”

“Well, that much is easily verifiable, isn’t it? Miyu, I will admit that I had lied to you once again and made sure that nobody would be able to tell you otherwise.”

“…Eh?”

She did not meet the Antanorden woman’s gaze and partly covered her face, the shame seeming to outright radiate from her, “In truth, while the first three cultivation realms of planar cultivation were just as I had described to them. You accumulate planar energy, form it into a pool, condense an anchor, reaching the state you are currently in. However, the next realm is not the Active Core realm, but instead the Radiant Crystal realm, wherein the anchor is refined into a crystalline form, becoming an Endless Monolith, looking just like… well, just like this.”

Turning around, she reached out and pointed to the roof of one of the lower buildings, setting down her Monolith atop it. For a moment, everyone was astounded once again, even though most of them had seen the perfected state of an anchor in the past during either her breakthrough or within the Kong Prison Realm, but Miyu only seemed to be confused at this declaration.

“Are you sure about that? It’s still telling me that you are in the Active Core realm… Oh, I get it!”

“I’m glad that you do, and I hope that everyone else understands the outcome of this experiment,” Wei Yi said, turning to Great Dark, “Judging by this, she was intending to be convinced, but the otherworldly gift did not change what it displayed. It could be that she wished to confirm it via the interface first, but if that is the case, then we needn’t be worried about her easily getting misled. Would you disagree?”

“I suppose that I could not… In that case, would you say that her skill might… be of use in identifying the Great Worm, if that is what it is?”

“Not quite. Miyu, feel free to share how your ability works.”

She had looked at her, as if to be sure that it was what she wanted, then reluctantly said, “I need to be able to observe whatever I’d need to identify, and currently, the big sandworm thing isn’t anywhere in sight…”

“Ah. Nonetheless, if the Great Worm is discovered in the future, and Miyu studies everything about it intently, including every minor guess and assertion… we might be able to confirm whether or not that entity is something truly dangerous? Could be beneficial.”

“It could, but before then, I think that we must have a discussion about certain ancient entities, so, Min Lian, if you could request Zhi Qiu Ya and Mo Zhouquan to make their way over to the primary keep, as we could call it, that’d be great,” Wei Yi said, waiting for the assassin to affirm her understanding before continuing, “If the Great Worm, or something that appears to resemble it, is able to exist, then I would say that it cannot be the only entity of its kind. We have already found traces of the primordial deities, and since this thing is so close to us, it could harm us, but so could the deities. This must not happen, and so we must prepare.”

“I’d agree. If the living plague and the seed of corruption alike are caused by primordial deities, then there could be countless other such plagues out there that would put us all at risk, and we must be prepared to handle them,” Luo Lia Kun agreed, although her gaze was still focused at the distance, where the Great Worm first appeared.

“Indeed, that is the best course of action… not that I can imagine that we would be able to do much against the eighth realm…”

“Do you think we can do much against Them?” Wei Yi interrupted him, speaking sternly, “At the moment, we cannot defeat the first generation, simple as that. However, if we just stop right here and now, give up, and throw down our weapons, this world as a whole shall suffer. I know you were just mentioning it offhandedly, but this is very important to remember for us all. Also, any one of those things may have the identities of deities, but they are hardly all-powerful. Remember that.”

He nodded, “The primordial deities had been felled once before, I suppose…”

“Yes. Come on, let us get to the discussion as quickly as possible. The other two are already there, so we’re the ones delaying.”

Amidst the newly repaired structures of the Ping District, empty as they were these days, stood two figures in black robes, one male and another female. They had the same black hair and eyes, and looked at the same spot on one of the structures that had not been touched yet.

There, they could see the marks left behind by an immensely powerful slash, as well as the burns from some kind of immense flame, combined with footprints on the ground that seemed to have appeared far after they were left behind due some immense force contained within them. It was as if a seed of power was planted into the ground, then burst some time after and shattered the sturdy stone into broken fragments and pieces that were no different from dust due to their sheer fineness and fragmented state.

“Different techniques.”

“Doesn’t matter. The natural agitating force was affected, and the rest of the city might relax for a little while.”

“Destination was north-bound, judging by the prints. Creating a rumour might be necessary to force the filth to swarm towards the Rebel,” the male offered, the dense aura of uncertain mirages plainly visible around him.

“Bai, Chao or Ju?”

“The Chao District would be optimal if they thought to find his legacy.”

“All mention of that was purged. Only the prisoners might still be aware of it, and none of them should be able to escape while it still stands.”

Both of them suddenly turned to the side, where they saw another figure with pale skin, white hair and red eyes approach, covering herself from the sun with an ornate umbrella. Her face contained the hints of both a smirk and scowl, and seemed to fluctuate between the two with an uncertain regularity. The same aura covered her as the two in black.

“I see that more trouble has occurred around here. The Ping District has not contributed well to Testament’s goals.”

“Bai Fu, your comments are unnecessary,” Ping Fu chided.

“As are most of your actions, it seems. The Rebel has been confirmed to have ended the lives of Luo Zhong and Luo Wu, and yet they were able to pass through your lands unharmed. Luo Fu has reported that she is very unhappy with the need to remain at home for so much longer just to raise another child.”

“Our happiness is of no relevance to Testament,” the female in black replied, “Our families must endure, and both of us have done what was needed to make it happen.”

“Indeed, we have, but I will not need to labour once more to replace the dead. Will you?”

Ping Chao barked, “Enough. As you are here, you must assist in the persuasion of the right individuals. The Rebels tracks belong to a worshipper of a primordial deity, seeking to raise that deity from the dead. Ending it is their priority.”

“What deity? There are so many to choose from.”

“Primordial Cosmos. They know little of it, and will be terrified by the prospect. It should rouse enough interest in cutting the Rebel’s life short.”

“The woman that had been accompanying you to Paragon, what happened to her?” Luo Lia Kun asked, sitting down at the stone table to find that the chairs beneath them were surprisingly comfortable for things made entirely of stone.

“We had a somewhat rough journey and were exhausted. She is currently resting in one of the bedrooms of this place, waiting for the ache to pass.”

“The… Oh… You two did it also?”

“While I wish to criticize the speed with which you rushed to that assumption despite me saying nothing suggestive whatsoever, not so far as I noticed, I also cannot say that it was not the case. There were some certain circumstances that forced it,” Wei Yi admitted, coughing as she changed the subject, “So, Zhi Qiu Ya, how has your time in the Kong Prison Realm been?”

“It… actually, for such a name, it has been really relaxing,” the wolven woman, her animal features now completely hidden save for her white, dense hair and yellow eyes, replied with a subtle blush, “I hadn’t expected the place to be quite like this.”

“I wouldn’t have expected anyone to, given the same reason,” she said, turning to the other recent resident of the prison realm, “And you, Mo Zhouquan? Faring well so far? Also, now that we have left and gone back up to here, how go the whispers? Have they returned, or is that not something that we need to be concerned about for the moment? I’d hate to lock you in there, or even forcefully isolate you in another area of the realm, if they manage to breach whatever barrier the fortress has.”

Since the last time that she had spoken with her, Mo Zhouquan had regained some of her former cheerful attitude, except it did not seem to be going quite as overboard or lewd as it had previously been, much to Wei Yi’s pleasure. As someone who did technically own quite the number of brothels, and who had slept with quite a few people by now, she had no objects to lewdness at all, but just as with anything in life, there was a certain limit one could reach before it would just be too much to handle regularly.

“So far, I am only hearing them faintly, and with the thinking time that I have had, I have reconsidered some of my previous actions, nor do I wish to listen to them as intently. That being said, the void they have left is still rather uncomfortable… Other than that, I have been doing just fine, even with Long Huang residing in close proximity to me.”

“Not a fan of her either?”

“Honestly, it has become the dynamic of a strange friendship more so than regular dislike or even hatred, although she can still be rather annoying,” she replied.

“I see. Still, that’s good enough for me, and that is also enough random chatter. Let us move on to the primary topic of discussion, which is the matter of ancient entities, primordial deities, and whatever else may live on within this world,” Wei Yi said, standing up for effect, “They are not entities that act in our interests the vast majority of the time, and, as such, we must be prepared for an attack from them. It could be now, in a week, a year, or in a century, but it is likely no matter what we do.”

“Even if we were to be on their side?” Mo Zhouquan asked, “I mean, I am technically a worshiper.”

“Even then. Remember, Primordial Corruption is hardly the only primordial deity, and we cannot even be sure if she is still alive. If not, then there is no chance for her to be able to protect you, even if she wanted to.”

“Actually, what is the whole list of deities? I know of only a few, given where I grew up, and they might not be accurate either,” Zhi Qiu Ya asked.

A quick shared look between the others immediately confirmed that they also knew little about these ancient entities, for while there were plenty of records of war against the primordial deities, there were far less records of their exact natures, abilities or even names. The fact that it was hardly necessary knowledge, combined with the interference of the Greats, was likely to blame for this, but just understanding the cause would hardly correct the issue. Instead, Wei Yi contacted the person that would be able to teach them.

Out of nowhere, Yi Shi Ming’s figure suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the table to Wei Yi, putting her at the end of the long table while the Ascendant was at the front. Her posture in the chair was calm, but it seemed as if she had been sitting there the whole time, much to the slight panic of certain members of the current discussion.

They weren’t concerned about having someone like this on their side, but while her existing and known ability to observe the people of Paragon and the Kong Prison Realm was vague, the power that seemed to permit her to reside wherever she wished without a single person observing her appeared to be far more real and worrying. They could be anywhere and doing anything and Yi Shi Ming would be able to observe them from any point and any location, without them having a single clue about it, even if she was to be standing right over them as they slept.

Their worried looks made it more than obvious enough for her to mention, “I was not here from the beginning. I had come to tell you of the Primordial Deities, for I am perhaps the most knowledgeable in the fortress on the topic of those entities.”

“Since I wouldn’t want to be caught off guard by another appearance of an entity like the Great Worm, I’d like you to get straight to it.”

“Of course. The first five Primordial Deities should be well known to most of you: Primordial Inferno, Primordial Earth, Primordial Metal, Primordial Ocean and Primordial Nature. They were prominent in the battles between the deities and Kong Shi Meng, and they are thus reasonably well known to me. As one might expect, those five are all heavily influenced by the natures of the elements that they represent, those being fire, earth, metal, water and wood.

“Primordial Inferno represents flame, and her behaviours is as one might expect of a flickering flame. To expect consistency from her is difficult in all but one aspect – sheer fierceness. If she attacks, all will be scorched and obliterated. If she defends, not a single particle of air will get through. Dealing with her is dangerous, but some humans had found it to be possible to ally themselves with her, so long as they were able to act in accordance with her many whims without needing to fully submit their minds and bodies to her,” Yi Shi Ming explained, Wei Yi choosing to assist her with a vague feminine image made of flame-type energy, “Actually, that was not far off from her appearance, save for her being gigantic, and her form shifting almost every time one might blink.

“Primordial Earth is different, almost opposite. He is stagnant, slow and lumbering in every way, with a huge, static body and a reliance on pure physical might that is nigh unsurpassed by anything that I had ever witnessed. He was fortunately slow enough to anger for my son to have had a battle on his body with one of the other primordial deities, but when he acted, he was extremely fierce.”

“Before you go on, could I ask whether their genders are of any relevance, perhaps aligning their element more with yin or yang, or if they simply looked male or female?” Wei Yi questioned.

“There is a yin and yang relevance, but it does not mean that the element they represent is necessary yin or yang. In a way, the Primordial Deities are not the manifestation of the elements, but a tumour made of them upon the world. They are a form of the elements, but they must not define them – if that is what you were curious about, Wei Yi,” she replied, providing her with a soft, momentary smile, “May I continue?”

“Sure. That being said, I would be interested in studying them eventually.”

“You may do so if they have not awakened, or if we successfully defeat them at some point in the future. Kong Shi Meng had also studied this, but I do not believe that he had been particularly successful, as unfortunate as that was.”

She looked to the other people in the meeting, found that they were listening to her attentively, and so the mother of the Master of Yi City proceeded.

“Primordial Metal is akin to a suit of armour, and will often act in accordance with that. Its bound followers and summoned entities will be guarded, and it will often take attacks to inflict greater harm upon its enemies. By the way, I am not mistakenly saying ‘it’ in this case. Primordial Metal does not have a single distinguishing characteristic that might make one assume it to be male, female, draconic or anything else. It is humanoid, but that is the only thing known.”

“He won’t be the only one like that…” Wei Yi muttered, without attracting any attention.

Her contribution was noticed by Yi Shi Ming, who was likely aware of her exact current circumstances, so she did not say a thing and continued, “Primordial Ocean is also a woman, but she is calm and slow in her actions, like Primordial Earth, but she is more alike to regular people in the speed of her actions, but her attacks and defences are nearly as powerful. We had the fewest encounters with her, but I can confirm that she looked much like what Wei Yi is depicting… save for the size of her chest. I can see your fondness for such things being large in moderation, but it is even larger than that.”

“Really? I went on the large side for this one,” she admitted, increasing the size of the model’s breasts, “Is this enough? I’m not going any further than that no matter what you say or do, so that will be it.”

“It is close enough. Just make the fluid that creates it significantly denser and it will be a sufficiently accurate representation of the entity that we had fought long ago. Now, I shall move on to the last one of the five primary elemental primordial deities, Primordial Nature. I have heard, then and now, some mentions of the kindness of nature to those that live alongside it, but Primordial Nature is not that at all.”

Zhi Qiu Ya frowned, “The living plague is related to it, correct?”

“The energy seems to be partly shared with it, yes, so you might have an idea of the way in which it behaves. Primordial Nature is brutal, decisive, deadly. If you do not succeed in defeating him or one of his servants and summoned or bound entities, then you will perish, or he would do his best to make certain that this was the case.”

“On Orbis, is there not a phrase like ‘mother nature’?”

“I am… somewhat familiar with that, I think,” Aimi Miyu said, residing deep in thought for a little while before exclaiming, “Ah, right, I remember! Yes, that is said on Orbis!”

“… Why did it take you so long, exactly? One would think that you would have a good idea of what your world’s culture had been getting up to, but whatever…” Wei Yi looked back to Yi Shi Ming, “I am guessing that this Primordial Nature deity is embodying the natural law of the survival of the fittest?”

“Indeed, that is what it appears to be. I, myself, am not the most familiar with the natural laws, nor anything to do with the primordial deities themselves, which I do regret with the hindsight that I now possess. Nevertheless, the five Primordial Deities of the primary elements are as I had described them, and save for those that naturally change constantly nonetheless, all of them should remain the same now as they had been all that time ago.”

Mo Zhouquan said, “However, they are not the only ones, are they?”

“Of course not. We knew of twelve primordial deities, but I had been exposed less to most of them. You already know of Primordial Corruption, but we know little of her exact identity besides that she corrupts all she comes across, turning them into perversions of their natural forms. Her preferred state to transform things into is tentacles and horrific entities, but so-called succubi-”

“Eh? Where?” Miyu suddenly leapt to her feet, her eyes opened wide in alert as she wildly looked around the room.

“She’s talking about the past, not the present. Sit down and calm down.”

“Ahem, as I was saying, certain entities that had received the moniker of succubi, amongst other things, were rumoured to exist, but it is uncertain whether any of those tales were true, or if she had corrupted the very tales that spoke about her.”

“Primordial Corruption could do such a thing?”

“They did wield certain kinds of powers that went beyond mere cultivation, or so it seemed. That is the reason that they were called Primordial Deities, and not just not powerful entities. Besides those six, the others were Primordial Yin and Primordial Yang, whose appearances and focuses you might be able to imagine, Primordial Blood, which I had not personally seen, an entity by the name of Entropy, who was supposedly one of the most terrifying Primordial Deities that my son had contended with, Primordial Energy, some manifestation of planar energy, and, finally, Primordial Cosmos.”

Wei Yi’s eyebrow rose, “That’s an interesting one. What does it get up to? Does it help the world see the stars, or is it something significantly more vicious?”

“Actually… Primordial Cosmos had never been killed. It just vanished.”