V5C88: Flames of the North, Dust of the South

They did not have long before the next pair of Primordial Deities began their emergence, and this time the pair was not at all difficult to find.

One emerged to the west, on the other side of a lake separating the western and eastern portions of the Western Continent, and the other on the eastern side, near the Empire of the Dawn. The shockwave of one belonged to the primal element of water, as was only natural for something that appeared in the largest volume of water in the Western Continent.

The other was aligned with the element of metal, and the wave it had released was sharp and jagged, as if a thousand sharp blades were stabbed into the Ascendant’s skin the moment she felt it outside of the Kong Prison Realm.

It wasn’t harmful or particularly difficult to handle, but it was quite disconcerting. Perhaps the only positive that she was able to spot was the fact that both of the auras not only began on the edges of Yi City’s lands, but also that they did not choose to travel into her territory. The metal aura originated further away, over to the east, and the element of water stuck around the other part of the continent. Strictly speaking, it could likely make its way over to the main portion of the Western Continent easily enough, but the proclivities of the Primordial Deities meant that it very unlikely that they would move from their initial territories.

She did not want to let any part of Yi City be consumed and changed by those ancient things, but it was better than her own lands being scoured, so she only did the minimum she had to.

Her focus was instead placed upon the heat originating from the north, which did seem to slowly travel south. It was not making significant progress of any kind, but it was best to prevent the approach of a Primordial Deity while the opportunity was present. Soon, there would be more Primordial Deities out there, and she would need to deal with more of them while a bunch of other ancient entities sought to near Yi City and devour all of her work, as well as the work of countless others before her.

There was also another reason why she placed a great deal of attention on Primordial Inferno specifically, and that was its proximity to the location of the Kong Prison Realm’s primary anchor, Paragon. If it was attacked, there might be a great deal of trouble coming her way.

Hence, on the day after, when the path of Primordial Inferno could be confirmed, she stood in Paragon and looked to the Master of Yi City, who seemed to be looking directly at the ancient Primordial Deity despite the numerous sandy dunes in the way. As always, his aura was subdued and his movements were done almost exclusively through his movement method, with his behaviour in the Kong Prison Realm being a very odd exception to that rule that she had still not been able to figure out – not that she didn’t try, albeit subtly and quietly.

“Kong Shi Meng, you’re not able to do anything without my presence, right?” she said, knowing that he would hear her words regardless of how loudly she spoke, or where she directed her voice.

“I have limited power at the moment. I could assist with barriers and certain offensive projects.”

“How many more times can you utilise that power of yours? The one that let me damage the body of Primordial Nature?”

“… At most, I could afford to repeat it once, and even then I might need to limit the total output of energy. I had overestimated the quantity I was able to use without repercussions, and I hope that you will be able to make do with the little that remains. Considering the increase of your cultivation, it might be sufficient provided you face an enemy of a similar realm.”

“Well, thanks for that.”

“I am not responsible for my own limitations. There are certain things that I cannot handle with my power.”

“Uh-huh,” Wei Yi nodded, as she did understand that was unlikely to be false, but still didn’t like the limitations placed upon him, and her as a result.

The more aid she was able to get at a time like this, the better it would be, and it would take away some of the questionable decisions she needed to make about anything and everything so far. She did not like sacrificing lives, endangering the people of Yi City to protect others, even if they lived in the same great city, or doing that which might be termed morally questionable at best, but it was what she had to do in order to allow herself to ultimately succeed and have people that could even attempt to judge her.

Still, bothering him about it didn’t seem like it would accomplish much, whether it was the truth or not, so she simply let the silence linger for a brief while before moving on with the conversation, not that Kong Shi Meng seemed to mind.

“Before anything else pops up, I would like to, at the very least, get a grasp of Primordial Inferno’s abilities, current state, and territory. I know it will have claimed the lands and people of the nations and tribes north of Yi City, but I have never gotten closely acquainted with them, so that tells me unfortunately little.”

“I have… had some familiarity with them in the past, but it would be harder to imagine their current state, after Primordial Inferno affected their bodies and minds.”

“How does that work, by the way?”

“The power of a Primordial Deity can seep into anything, if given enough time and energy. Humans have the strongest mind and most stable psyche out of the common population of the world, and when that energy pervades them, that is wiped out and replaced by the raw power of the Primordial Deity. Be it fire, water, metal, energy, or even entropy, they can take the body and replace all of the loose planar energy with their own, replacing the mind with their own desires, and leaving a walking husk that is more powerful, but empty of most things that made that person who they were.”

“No way to counteract it, I’m guessing,” she asked, though she knew the answer well enough.

“Two things would need to happen. The first is that the foreign energy is completely removed, which is difficult when none – mostly none, depending on your own abilities – are able to use or command it, and when that energy is partly parasitic in nature, meaning that it is able to linger and then grow back if a particle is not collected,” Kong Shi Meng explained, “The second matter is that the mind and body need to be restored to a state vaguely resembling themselves prior to the influencing. Restoring the body can be done with minimal skill, so long as one has medicinal items or a physique, but it is more difficult to handle the mind.”

Wei Yi sighed, “Yeah, I am familiar with that. Even if you think that you know what you’re doing, something comes along and ends up going wrong. Sometimes, it is in your favour, and in others, it isn’t quite as good…”

She had her number of incidents with the mind and its changes, so she knew that even when it was simply scattered, not outright devoured by malignant energy, it couldn’t be dismissed as easily as one may wish to. After all, the human mind was incredibly complex, to the extent that neither the greatest cultivators of the Planar Continents nor the brightest minds of the otherworldly demons were able to fully grasp it all, while the various methods of mind control were really closer to shortcuts.

With enough power, one could alter whatever they wished, more or less. One didn’t need to understand how a mind worked if they could create thoughts and desires at a whim with at technique.

“That is one way to put it, I am sure.”

“So, when dealing with anyone whose mind has been completely destroyed, I might as well treat them as being entirely lost. Makes things simpler for me, not that I like it… The lands, judging from the current state of Primordial Nature’s emergence point, seem to not be under the same constraint, right? How so?”

“Aside from the complexity of human minds in comparison to the earth?”

“Strictly speaking, there are plenty of factors regarding the natural world that are also highly complex. Each object is composed of numerous small particles, all of which could be different and unique in many ways, and although the earth is not restored perfectly, it still recovers.”

“There is a significant difference. The earth is able to take numerous forms and do whatever it may, and all shall acknowledge it as the earth regardless. For instance, the land of the Chu District is nothing akin to what it was before, but it is vibrant and lush, so the people of the Chu District will likely accept it,” Kong Shi Meng said, glancing towards her before looking back out into the sands.

A wave of heat reached them from the sands, partly natural and carried by the winds, and partly produced by the breath of the Primordial Deity.

“Imagine someone took you, removed a vital memory, and returned you to the world. Nothing is different other than that, but none would claim that you are fine. That vital memory might be key to a certain part of your personality, and with it gone, or perhaps even just altered, you might end up as something entirely different,” Kong Shi Meng stated, “Perhaps there is a concept you are attached to, or a person you care for, or something you have affinity for, and that could vanish or change entirely. Would you be satisfied with that?”

“Do the heavens support this?”

His brows lowered just a little, marking a clear frown, “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, you might have come into contact with whatever will exists behind the heavens. Do they support the Primordial Deities, and their influence and destruction of mankind? In fact, did they support the rise of the Great Leeches, as well as their endless siphoning of this world’s development?”

“… I do not know.”

“Do you think that it is fine if they do support such things? In general, what is your stance on the heavens?”

“…” his frown grew just a little more, “… They may be restricted just the same.”

“By what? The azure lights of the otherworldly demons?”

“The- ah, I understand. There are certain limitations that may be difficult to see, so, although I have never managed to converse with the heavens, it is difficult to see them negatively.”

Wei Yi didn’t deign to comment on something like that. She had her stance, and, so long as Kong Shi Meng did the things that he told her he would do, then she wouldn’t be able to benefit much from his opinion. Furthermore, with the amount that he constantly refused to say, whether for good reason or not, she knew that pressuring him to answer in any greater detail would likely be impossible, no matter what she wanted.

That didn’t mean that she wasn’t dissatisfied, and also slightly curious as to whether this was consistent with his stance prior to the million year disappearance. It wasn’t impossible that he changed his mind to some extent, but the change couldn’t have been too significant.

It could have offered her some additional hints as to the true identity of this man, whatever it was.

“Well then, let us… hm?” she and Kong Shi Meng both turned to the south, frowning when they felt a wave of energy building there.

It wasn’t the emergence of any Primordial Deities yet, but it was clearly nearing such a thing.

“Isn’t it usually a bit more spaced out? It’s been a while since both Primordial Ocean and Primordial Metal emerged, but yet a whole day, like before,” the Ascendant said, turning to the more knowledgeable Master of Yi City – at least, he was more knowledgeable in the matters that were more significant at this moment in time.

“The level of the world is rising. Planar energy density will soon break through a particular barrier, and the eighth realm will become accessible to more than just one or two.”

“That accelerates the emergence of the Primordial Deities?”

“Not sufficiently to make a notable difference. There are only a few more left, and a few may tarry a little longer,” the Master of Yi City said, “In particular, there are Primordial Yin and Primordial Yang that are most likely to have a delayed emergence, as their own nature is… strange. It is difficult to describe in a manner that would make any sense, but perhaps out of all of the Primordial Deities, the pair of yin and yang are the most poorly aligned with the elements of the Planar Continents.”

“Not Primordial Invader?”

“People from other worlds are rather common here, but the particularities of Primordial Yin and Yang are not so.”

“What is odd about them?”

“I… Truth be told, I cannot understand it myself. When they emerge from the space that they occupy when not out in the Planar Continents, then you shall have the opportunity to witness it yourself, and perhaps understand it.”

“Although I would much rather know just what is so odd about them, I’ll ignore it for now… When will they emerge? The current pair, nor Primordial Yin and Yang.”

“Two, up to three hours before that.”

The Ascendant sighed, but there wasn’t much that could be done when facing the Primordial Deities. As the most dangerous of natural calamities in the world, she had to deal with them when they came. Unfortunately, there was no possibility of delaying them without greater degrees of effort or, at the very least, preparation than she could have possibly had while she still lacked the power to end them normally.

Primordial Inferno was still the first – technically, second – entity that she wished to attack, as she had been preparing for it, but she would need to prevent the actions of the other two first.

Going to the two right away wouldn’t allow her to take on either of the Primordial Deities before they emerge, so she remained in her current position for a while longer, splitting her attention between the three most relevant threats until there was something to be actively done. Naturally, she asked Yi Shi Ming to tell the relevant people at the districts most likely to be affected to get away from the dangerous locations and to prepare either temporary residences for the people that would be affected, or just move the buildings outright.

She was relatively sure of where one of the entities would be found, for the increasingly earthy aura was obviously going to appear at the Bao District, but the other one seemed closer to the enigmatic Huang District, which she did still attempt to warn.

They did not respond, but by the time she was sure of that she narrowed down the emergence location to be roughly between the Huang District and the small nation to the west, calling itself the Blood Clan.

Since they didn’t care to speak with her, then she wouldn’t go out of her way to protect them for now, especially since the oddities of the Huang District had not been explored even by the spies that she had attempted to send there with Great Dark’s aid. Some never managed to get into the district, others were never heard from once they did, and others yet were interrupted on some part of the journey there and ended up not arriving at the Huang District.

On the other hand, Great Dark’s spies managed to get to Lan, Fu, Xin, Ling and Ze Districts, not that most of those efforts led to any significant improvements to her attempts to kill the Primordial Deities. She now had the majority of those lands close to her due to the Yi City Web, and some under her control, and only the Huang and Ling Districts were still partly obscured.

The Ling District, the district of spirits and ghosts, was certainly interesting, and she would like to visit it in the future and learn from their studies, but that could wait. So far as she knew, perhaps only Primordial Mind – the manifestation of mental energy in the form of a Primordial Deity – would be vulnerable to the methods of the Ling District, and even then the Xin District’s means were the most familiar to her, and thus the ones that she would choose to employ. The rest were not alike to the spirits that the Ling District wished to rear and tame, and that they apparently have had some successes in doing.

Perhaps if she needed additional forces, she could call upon some of the spirits they had control over, but it seemed simpler to use her Replica Abyssal Eye techniques.

Anyway, with the primary unresolved threat remaining being Primordial Earth, she came to the Bao District’s lands once the emergence neared. Some people moved, others couldn’t, but either way the threat was understood and being prepared for, in whatever manners people were capable of.

A few thought they might fight the emerging Primordial Deity on their own, which was not a wise idea in the slightest, and Wei Yi made sure to inform them of that as clearly as possible. Those that didn’t listen, she persuaded by throwing the weakest of her techniques vaguely in their direction, and that usually did the trick. The Patriarch and the various guardians were smart enough to understand that they wouldn’t have a chance against the Primordial Deity, so the only ones that were close to Wei Yi’s realm weren’t involved, and the rest couldn’t withstand a careless release of energy near them, not to mention proper offensive techniques.

Then, another hour progressed, and the Primordial Deity’s emergence began. The wave of earth-type energy erupted, a cocoon of grey dust formed, and it rapidly spread throughout the gems of the Bao District. Each one of them suddenly lost its vibrance and wondrous shade, and in that moment it was confirmed that the unusual gem-based disciplines of the Bao District’s million year-long studies would be utterly useless.

As expected, their source was Primordial Earth, but what she had not expected – although, considering its fragment emerging when she had come to visit – was that the passive energy of the Primordial Deity would be collected by it once it emerged.

She may not have expected it, but she had prepared for it, among other things.

“Uh, Ascendant… I know that with the things I have said before, this might seem like I am simply trying to flee, but… my primary methods were these gems, and all of them are…”

“Just go away, Patriarch. It would be best for you to watch over the people and make sure that nobody gets any dumb ideas. Also, you could attempt supporting the barrier that will be formed soon, as I don’t think anyone has yet had the time to stand around and support it with more than the world’s energy alone.”

“Would that be of much help? I have plenty of planar energy to spare right now, so I will contribute everything that I have – save for my cultivation, of course. I can study techniques later, after all.”

“Yeah, do that. Now, let me focus on this, and only come over if Primordial Inferno or something of the sort decides to attack one of our districts or fortresses. Everything else can be ignored, although I certainly wouldn’t want to ignore it. Get it?”

“Understood, Ascendant!” the Bao Patriarch stated eagerly.

The way he ran off was also eager, and far less presentable, but it was done quickly enough for her to not care. Watching the cocoon of grey dust and countless other elements and powers encased within it – though, just as Primordial Nature seemed to embody the Branch of Fitness, Primordial Earth appeared to encompass the Branch of Dust, or something of the sort – she was unwilling to focus on anything other than Kong Shi Meng’s eventual appearance by her side, which was the only reassuring thing in this current moment.

With his aid, a hopeless battle could be turned to one with a chance of success, and… well, the more she thought about it, the more she hated it.

It wasn’t that he was willing to aid her, obviously. Assistance of all kinds was appreciated, although it was often not necessary and largely unhelpful in the long run, but it was the fact that it wasn’t merely an option, but a requirement. She hated that powerlessness that reared its head when Primordial Nature emerged, and the fact that defeating it wasn’t enough to remove it was frustrating.

To a certain extent, it was the same as with the heavens, or the Great Leeches, at least if it was imagined that all of their intentions were purely good. Even if they were the most capable when it came to dealing with some threat, she hated the fact that she couldn’t step in and do it herself without knowingly throwing away her life in vain. She wanted to be able to do something – anything – and even if she couldn’t, it would be fantastic if there was someone else like her that could. If there was someone sane, who prioritised the freedom of people over some absurd notions of unnecessary balance or the demands of an unseen, unknown entity, then she wouldn’t mind them being able to do what she could not.

Kong Shi Meng could have been that exact person, but spending time with him, or someone that she thought to be him, wasn’t all too encouraging.

‘It isn’t even the earlier comments about the heavens. I can forgive an uncertain reaction to a complex issue, since I also don’t know all the details, but that does not mean I like any of it,’ Wei Yi thought, a drop of sweat falling from her brow.

From the outside, she seemed to be doing little, but she was actually employing the greatest quantity of her own energy since her fights with Primordial Nature and the Great Leeches before it.

Soon, more time passed, and the energy streaming towards the centre of the dome of dust surged outward for just a moment, signalling the appearance of a form within the middle. Unlike Primordial Nature, there weren’t stream of foes going towards her, nor any other parts of Yi City, but this was likely due to the differences in their Dao and overall nature. Nature was plentiful and active, whereas the earth generally lay still, and dust moved only loosely, in clouds when moved by the wind.

The world that she had seen when trapped in the Primordial Deity’s illusion was clearly not a perfect indicator of the kinds of abilities that it would showcase, though it could still be used as guidance. Upon its emergence, Primordial Earth could always employ various methods to manifest further forces to oppose her and the rest of Yi City’s people, but the creation of troops for itself was not a natural aspect of itself. This was helpful to learn, since she had not been able to observe Primordial Inferno’s emergence, but was able to see plenty of flame-wrought entities within its territory over the dunes of the north.

“Where is that mortal thing? I recall it’s annoying head. I wish to smash it!” a lumbering, slow voice, spoken so slowly that one might assume the speaker had less than zero energy to spare, echoed throughout the lands, though it was clearly not human.

Primordial Earth finally became visible, and it – Yi Shi Ming had referred to the various Primordial Deities with genders, but seeing as they were not human or even remotely close to ordinary living things with sexual dimorphism and that sort of thing, she wasn’t sure it was a good idea to apply such notions to them – wasn’t quite the same as the Fashionable Gentleman that had appeared before.

That figure had been rather tall, thin, and wore something akin to a suit of the otherworldly demons. The entity before her was none of those things, though it could still be described as humanoid due to possessing two legs, two arms, and a head, alongside a vertical body and bearing. If one was to be a little more precise, it was a towering hulk with enormous limbs and a body with a large belly, as if it belonged to a greatly obese man. It was only the size of the rest of it that allowed it to look somewhat reasonable in this regard.

Its figure was made of stone and hardened earth, with just a glimpse of glowing red through numerous smaller cracks within its body. Most of these were found near the belly, although that was presumably due to its size.

Of course, the substitute for a face was just as disturbing and inhuman as that of the Fashionable Gentleman, and Primordial Nature, with Primordial Inferno and the others likely having very similar features. The jagged teeth-like arrangements were made of hardened stone, one eye glistened with a gemstone while another was simply a hole through which grey dust poured out into the world.

“Looking for someone?” the Ascendant called out, just loud enough for it to hear.

Primordial Earth turned instantly, presumably looking at her with its eye substitutes, and produced a growl akin to the sound of a hundred rocks rubbing against one another.

“Ah, mortal thing. I promised that you would learn of your errors… Come, be devoured by me and join this earth. It has lingered for long without sustenance, and it is time for it to be fed by the mortal things of this world.”

“No.”

Without further warning, it suddenly leapt at her, moving slower now, more befitting of its enormous size. Earth-type energy gathered in vast quantities, much of it pouring out of it, and more emerging form the clouds of dust that had not yet been devoured by it, and in that moment, as a rupture appeared upon the Ascendant’s skin and celestial blood leaked onto her skin, she forced all of the energy that she had released to stall.

That was all, and yet, out of all the grey dust that gathered, much of it was her own. Thus, Primordial Earth was stopped by it, and whatever lay inside it was clearly affected.

“Is this enough?”

“It is. I shall seal him,” Kong Shi Meng said, bidding the world to assemble the barrier.