“What about the old bull?” Seven-Face asked.
“If these flames keep burning, that old ox will be reduced to ashes before long.”
“Kill,” Xu Zimo replied simply, without retreating.
“No matter how strong the fire, don’t forget, this is the North Sea. Open that door and draw the seawater in. I don’t believe it can evaporate an entire ocean.”
Paimon and Seven-Face both nodded.
That was indeed a sound plan. Water counters fire, and the North Sea was vast beyond measure.
“I’ll open the gate. You two hold it off,” Paimon said.
When they had entered, the great door had only been opened a crack. Now, with flames blocking the way, the sea beyond could not flow in.
Paimon took a step forward, demonic energy surging from his hands as he gripped the two doors and tried to pull them apart.
The consciousness seemed to sense what he was doing and charged at him.
“Seven-Lotus Seal!” Seven-Face shouted, stepping between them.
The lotus in his hand bloomed, releasing a vast sigil that encircled the consciousness.
He formed hundreds of hand seals in the blink of an eye, each merging into the lotus.
“I can trap it for a moment,” he said.
He waved his hands again, his own divine aura flaring as his True Fate manifested.
It was a demonic lotus, each of its seven petals representing a different meaning.
“Damn it,” he cursed, “this world is suppressing every Primal Dao. We’re being restricted.”
“He’s using the power of Primordial Edicts,” Paimon grunted, still forcing the door open.
The so-called Ancient Gods must have all been beings of the Infinite Dao Realm.
Under the pressure of Primordial Edicts, even Saint Sovereigns were bound, unable to use their full strength.
Primordial Edicts were the greatest power in existence.
Without them, there could be no order.
From a single city to the entire world, rules and edicts governed everything.
Great and small, visible and unseen, they hung over all creation like invisible blades, ensuring the world’s balance.
Without edicts, humanity’s ugliness would overflow, and the world would decay into chaos.
That was why the Heavenly Dao’s edicts reigned over all life. No matter the Nomological Truth or Primal Dao, all must bow before them.
None of them had ever seen a true Ancient God before, but they could imagine the power.
Even this fragment of consciousness was enough to make them tremble.
“Demonic Lotus Blooms, Devours All Laws!”
Seven-Face fused himself with the lotus, forcing his way through the suppression of the world’s rules, imprisoning the consciousness once more.
Xu Zimo prepared to summon his God World, but Paimon stopped him.
“My lord, your True Fate is your foundation. You cannot risk it.”
Demonic energy swirled around Paimon as he split his being in two, body and soul.
His physical form kept pushing the door, which now stood half-open but still not enough.
The flames here could incinerate anything; strength alone would not win. They needed overwhelming force.
“Three Thousand Demon Slaughter!”
Paimon’s spirit-body roared.
A thunderclap tore through the void as his hands reached for sun, moon, and stars. Dark clouds of demonic energy covered the heavens, and his spirit merged within them.
The storm of black clouds seemed to awaken, three thousand shards of consciousness formed within, descending like meteors of magic.
Each one crashed down upon the Ancient God’s consciousness.
The meteors tore through its body, yet it would not die.
It roared in rage, channeling the fire to shatter the lotus seal.
Paimon’s spirit fell from the sky, pressing both hands upon the lotus and pouring in torrents of demonic power.
“Demon Shakya Purgatory!” he bellowed.
His spirit pulsed with demonic energy, rising endlessly into the sky.
Below, a reflection of hell itself took shape, ghostly soldiers marching, rivers of blood, the cries of the damned echoing across the world.
It was a realm of agony and madness.
The infernal illusion wrapped itself around the demonic lotus, forming an isolated domain of torment.
At the gate, Paimon’s physical body continued its work. The massive door was now more than halfway open.
The Ancient God’s consciousness, enraged, began to resist even more violently.
From within, it hammered against the hellish prison and lotus alike, while from without, flames surged to consume everything.
Xu Zimo raised Shadow Tyrant, eyes narrowing as the Primordial Chaos Bead flew out from his True Fate God World.
Primordial Chaos was the origin of heaven and earth, the purest, most primal force of all.
Under Xu Zimo’s control, the bead drifted toward the consciousness, absorbing streams of his energy as it went.
The bead pierced through all illusory flames, releasing waves of raw chaotic mist.
“Imprison,” Xu Zimo commanded.
The Primordial Chaos Bead unleashed a ray of ancient brilliance, freezing everything, space, time, even the Primordial Edicts themselves.
The stronger the bead’s power, the greater the strain on Xu Zimo.
But there was no time to hold back.
The consciousness had already broken free from the lotus and shattered the Demon Shakya Purgatory, yet before chaos itself, it faltered.
The remnant was locked in place.
At last, the great door connecting to the North Sea was completely opened by Paimon.
“My lord, stop! You can’t take much more!” Paimon shouted.
“Draw the North Sea inside! Don’t worry about me,” Xu Zimo said through gritted teeth.
His spirit energy was nearly depleted. The Primordial Chaos Bead drained him like a bottomless abyss.
His blood boiled in reverse; veins bulged, and his skin flushed crimson.
Paimon stepped out of the inferno and into the North Sea.
Raising his arms, he stirred the world itself.
Storms raged, and waves towered to the heavens as he summoned the sea’s vast might.
Endless waters roared toward the realm of fire.
Tidal waves poured in, clashing against the inferno in a cataclysm of steam and flame.
Paimon gave a cold snort, lifting his hands higher.
The entire North Sea responded, an infinite ocean surrounding the fiery world completely.
Xu Zimo’s eyes gleamed with determination. The Primordial Chaos Bead’s suppression intensified further.
He could not allow the consciousness to escape.
If it left the North Sea, none of them would be able to stop it.
He had not felt such exhaustion in a long time, his power drained, his body screaming.
“My lord, stop!” Seven-Face urged.
“I once heard of the previous Infernal Lord,” Xu Zimo said, smiling faintly, “how he sent his people away and faced the entire world alone. I am not him, but I have my own resolve. If I can’t endure even this much hardship, how can I ever stand against the Heavenly Dao itself in the future? Draw the North Sea. Kill it!”