The world was drowning in gold. From the peaks of Yujing Mountain, the Sanqing brothers watched as the horizon toward the East Sea ignited with thousands of auspicious colors. It wasn't just a treasure; it was a fundamental shift in the atmosphere. The air felt heavy, unrefined, and thick with the scent of the primal void.
"The Aura of Chaos," Laozi whispered, his eyes wide. "This makes the birth of the Gourd Vine look like a gutter-fire. This is a fragment of the Beginning."
"Then we take it," Yuanshi said, his hand already resting on the Pangu Banner. His voice was cold and decisive. Armed with the shards of Pangu's Axe, he felt as though he could cleave the world in two and sew it back together according to his own will. "The Witches are children playing with dirt. The Yao are beasts in robes. None shall stand before us."
They vanished, turning into three streaks of transcendent light that tore through the clouds.
In the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, the Yao Race was a hive of activity. Kunpeng, his aura sharpened by the Primordial Violet Qi, stood at the center of the war council.
"The heavens are offering a gift to the Yao!" he shouted, his voice booming with a newfound, grating arrogance. "If we seize these Chaos fragments, we will have the capital to bury the Witches once and for all!"
Nuwa watched him from her throne, her expression unreadable. Kunpeng was acting more like a Sect Leader than a subordinate every day. She didn't rebuke him; the timing was too critical. "Do as he says," she commanded. "Assign the guards. The rest of us march for the sea."
Deep within the Pangu Temple, the Ancestral Witches were making their own cold calculations.
"Even if we cannot wield the trinkets inside," Candle Nine Nethers mused, "we cannot allow the Yao to grow fat on Chaos Qi. We move in two waves: one to pin the Yao at their borders, and the other to reclaim Father God's fragments."
"Let's go!" Qiang Liang roared, his voice like thunder. The earth shook as the Witches mobilized, a tide of pure, unadulterated Evil Qi that smothered the greenery in its path.
On the Western Mount Sumeru, Jieyin and Zhunti shared a smile that was entirely too wide.
"Brother, look at those golden lotuses," Zhunti chuckled, pointing at the distant phenomena. "They reflect the light of your own Golden Lotus so perfectly. It is almost as if the Heavens are shouting that this treasure is predestined for our West."
"It would be a sin to ignore the call of fate," Jieyin agreed solemnly. They rose into the air, two golden streaks heading east to claim what they had already "ordained" as their own.
High above the drama, on the Sun Star, the System's bells rang in Ling Xiao's mind.
[Detected the emergence of Three Immortals Island. Please make a choice.]
[Option 1: Go immediately to compete. Reward: Chaos Green Lotus Seed.]
[Option 2: Stay steady. Reward: Twenty-Four Sea-Fixing Pearls.]
Ling Xiao stood at the balcony of his hall, looking down at the world. He had spent aeons hiding, waiting, and watching. But the Saint had merged with the Dao. The era of direct suppression was over.
"I choose Option 1."
He wasn't going to risk his main body—not yet. He pointed a finger, and a ripple of pure energy twisted into form. One Qi Transforming into Three Crows.
A clone, identical to himself in every detail, stepped out from the light. It held a portion of his strength, but in this era of Quasi-Saints, even a fraction of Ling Xiao was a mountain that could not be climbed. The clone would be his sword; his main body would remain the master of the fortress.
He sent a mental pulse into the deep core of the star.
Minutes later, Di Jun and Tai Yi emerged, blinking in the sudden light. They looked out at the golden horizon and felt a primal pull toward the East.
"Third Brother!" Di Jun shouted. "The world is screaming for us! Treasures are calling out to the blood of the Sun!"
"I know," Ling Xiao's clone said, his voice a perfect resonance of the original. "Three islands formed from Chaos. Penglai, Yingzhou, and Fangzhang. They were smashed into reality by a stroke of fate."
"Then we go!" Tai Yi said, the Chaos Bell already vibrating against his spirit. He looked at Ling Xiao's clone and paused. "Wait... Third Brother? You're actually... coming out?"
It was a shock. Their brother was a man who wouldn't leave his room if the world were on fire. To see him standing ready to travel was like seeing the moon fall from the sky.
Ling Xiao's clone gave a small, enigmatic smile.
"The sun has been hidden for too long," he said. "It's time for the Great Desolation to see exactly what kind of fire we carry."