Rovi had long since accounted for accidents, and by now, he was used to them.
By now, although he still sought death and had no intention of letting go of even the slightest chance to take his seat upon the Throne, more often than not, he was using the immeasurably powerful ability he would gain after death as his backing, allowing himself to carry out what he thought and wanted.
Because he was fearless, he could act as his heart pleased.
Refusing to use his full strength and fighting with a human body were likewise born from this "willfulness."
At the end of the day, Rovi still hoped to be recorded by this land as a "Huaxia person," not as some foreign Machine God.
But no matter how he thought about it, he never could have imagined that he would be worshiped directly as "Taiyi."
Even if what had been stated clearly was "Taiyi," not "Donghuang Taiyi."
The names of gods had never been casual. Even the difference of a single stroke was still enormous.
Yet the change in that instant still stunned him. The power converted from the faith that gathered to him in an instant caused the strength he had scattered earlier to return once more, and even more fiercely than before.
Because he had been regarded as Taiyi, "Taiyi gave birth to water, and water in turn nourished Taiyi."
This step was that returning nourishment. It was also the manifestation of the principle Rovi governed as Water Official Great Emperor—the circulation of water qi through heaven, earth, and man, the three realms.
And so, the situation that should have ended in mutual destruction suddenly reversed. The burning "sun" swelled in an instant and tore apart the surrounding darkness. Sword-light swept out, and the uncanny sun's tentacles shattered in response. The old ghost of the Six Heavens let out wave after wave of wails. Its pitch-black body was pierced by light, and its eerie form was scorched with great swaths of pale marks.
Indescribable whispers, mixed with chaos and malice, were also mingled with unavoidable fear.
It was afraid.
Afraid of the person before it—or rather, afraid of the faith of those countless people.
With both at primordial rank, the boost "Taiyi" granted Rovi was limited, but the attribute it gave him was extremely strong. With the purity of all people and the pure light of "Taiyi," he could better restrain all chaos and inversion.
Because it was the source of order, the beginning of Taiyi giving birth to water and transforming into all things.
The light in the sky completely overwhelmed the chaos.
The fires of the people were still drifting upward.
Though they could be blocked, the battle had already turned.
Rovi raised his sword—and swung it toward the "demon" before him.
A fine drizzle fell from the sky. Radiance spread into layers of rainbow light, and rosy clouds scattered. Within a sword-flash that vanished as soon as it appeared, the pitch-black uncanny sun was completely engulfed and disappeared.
As though annihilated, and even more, as though entirely absorbed by that bright, dazzling morning sun.
"I see..."
"You burned yourself, exhausted your own power, emptied yourself out, and in that instant, took in the faith of the people..."
"Then used an attribute advantage and compatibility to overwhelm the old ghost of the Six Heavens..."
In Tanggu, Tamamo-no-Mae smiled, her crimson lips curving upward, yet she could not hide the seriousness in it. "Was that your calculation?"
She looked toward the figure descending again from the sky. His broad robe and wide sleeves still drifted without cease, and the sword he bore showed rainbow light.
Rovi landed with both feet on the ground.
The old ghost of the Six Heavens had been cut down beneath his sword.
Faced with Tamamo-no-Mae's words, Rovi merely raised an eyebrow. He wanted to say it was not, but in a sense, she was not entirely wrong either.
After all, he had indeed emptied himself.
And he had indeed used that to take in the faith of the people, gaining in that instant the power to restrain the old ghost of the Six Heavens.
So the original clash between equals had instantly turned into a completely overwhelming victory.
So he had won without a scratch.
From that angle...
Rovi possessed great courage, great compassion, and even great wisdom!
"However, after that battle, you must have exhausted a tremendous amount of power, yes?" Atop the broken dome of the palace reduced to ruined walls, Tamamo-no-Mae rose leisurely. Behind her, nine fluffy tails swept through the dust where the sunlight fell.
She looked at Rovi, unable to tell what sort of mood she was in. Regret that he had not died? Or perhaps a vague, inexplicable sense of relief?
The complexity was hard to hide, but there was only one thing that was certain. "Do not forget. You and I are still opponents."
Her pale hand stirred the air, and faintly, invisible curses could be seen forming at her fingertips.
She could see that Rovi's current body had been greatly depleted. Even with relative attribute advantage, even with compatibility restraining his foe, the old ghost of the Six Heavens was still the "reverse side" left behind by Donghuang Taiyi. To completely overwhelm it in an instant had still cost Rovi a tremendous amount of power.
The faith he had obtained was once again nearly exhausted. Though the power he had consumed earlier was gradually being replenished, clearly, it was still not enough.
Not enough against a fox of the same scale, the same rank.
"What? Do you want to fight me?" Rovi smiled.
"I would not dare exchange blows with an Emperor-Lord." Tamamo-no-Mae laughed softly, her chest swaying endlessly with the sound. She sat gracefully atop the dome, her crossed legs half-seen and half-hidden. "I merely wish to borrow the power of these mountains and rivers here... to invite the Emperor-Lord into my trap."
Tamamo-no-Mae swept her sleeve, and radiant flowing curse-script spread out in an instant, linking with this place, with Tanggu of the past, into a single whole.
"You are Taiyi. Though you are not Donghuang Taiyi, you are still the successor who continues Donghuang Taiyi's existence."
"As Taiyi, the new god, your relationship with Donghuang Taiyi is ultimately one of direct succession. And this place is Tanggu, the place where Donghuang once dwelled."
"Here lies Taiyi's 'lifeline.'"
The curse-script drew forth the "lifeline" of Taiyi of old. As it circled, it transformed into invisible shackles that bound themselves toward Rovi like a square cage.
Tamamo-no-Mae was still Tamamo-no-Mae. She was a Beast of "desire," and even more, a Beast of cunning.
Rovi becoming Taiyi had surprised her, but after only a moment of hesitation, she had already thought of her next move.
"I will not hurt you. Nor will I do anything to you." In the next second, fragrant wind struck him head-on, and soft fingers lifted Rovi's chin. The bewitching fox drew close in an instant, her crimson lips brushing lightly over Rovi's neck, her full chest gliding soundlessly past him. "I only want you~"
Because from Rovi, she had seen the shadows of the ancestral gods of the Divine Land.
Even with their struggle over Authority, at this moment, Tamamo-no-Mae no longer wanted to put Rovi to death.
She wanted him.
Exactly as that meant—
First bind him, then seize his body, then steal his heart.
The ancestral gods of old had looked down on her. Though her true body had yet to fall, Mei Xi, Su Daji, Bao Si... all of them had once been ignored by the immortals and gods.
They were not her, but they shared the same origin.
Tamamo-no-Mae was unwilling to accept that. The reason she had fused with her nine tails, the reason she wanted to steal the sun Authority of the Divine Land, was without question because of this unwillingness in her heart.
Revenge, she did not dare seek.
But she would become one of them. She too would take a place among the immortals and gods.
And then, from within, she would dismantle the strength of the immortals and gods.
And now, Rovi had become her first target. Invisible restraints bound him. Standing upon the Divine Land, Taiyi's Authority had already drawn in and restrained the powers of Donghua Dijun, Fusang Great Emperor, and Water Official Great Emperor.
Taiyi stood above; Donghua stood below.
He was still Donghua Dijun, but Taiyi's rank was higher, and it was now believed in by an entire nation and recognized by heaven and earth.
And so, as "Taiyi," it was only natural that Rovi's power would be restrained.
The power belonging to himself had not completely recovered, and Tamamo-no-Mae's binding had been prepared in advance and was already in place.
This was not her true body, but when it came to arts and curses, one did not need the true body present to wield their full strength.
"Come. Stand together with me." Tamamo-no-Mae raised the corners of her mouth, slowly bringing those crimson lips closer to Rovi's chin, closer to his lips.
Her hand caressed him, the firm curves of her body brushing against him.
Rovi lowered his eyes and looked at the bewitching, alluring Tamamo-no-Mae before him. He could not deny her temptation to him as a human, nor could he deny the heat that instinctively arose in his body.
Human desire swelled in this moment, but he merely smiled. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear..." Instinctive vigilance rose in her heart, and the curse runes circling around them lit up in an instant. She had not forgotten that before, it had also been after these words that this projection of hers had been directly shattered by lightning.
Yet the expected thunder and lightning never came. Tamamo-no-Mae only heard a series of click-clack sounds.
Like wheels turning, colliding and grinding against one another.
But that sound did not come from the sky.
It came from before her, from the place pressed beneath the fullness of her chest, from the place her hand was gently stroking... from within Rovi's body—gears turned. The furnace core erupted with a roar!
Rovi's body swelled in an instant!
"What..." Exploding smoke and dust swallowed the surroundings at once. The curses binding the area instantly cracked and shattered. Tamamo-no-Mae only had time to utter two words before that phantom was crushed again.
With a thunderous crash, Tanggu shook. Countless jagged boulders collapsed and fell. Tamamo-no-Mae's figure appeared above Tanggu, standing on the stone wall at the edge of the valley, her face filled with horror. "What is that!?"
Within the billowing smoke and dust, an enormous figure abruptly appeared.
Its whole body was cast in steel, its "muscles" formed from metal plating. The lines spreading across it flowed with scorching "blood." Steel plates were embedded in its chest, and at its center, a fire-seed "heart" bright as a blazing sun beat without cease.
Between its limbs, gears turned. Its head, as though masked and helmeted in steel, hung low, casting down eyes interwoven with gold and red.
Something she had never seen before. A form she had never seen before.
Tamamo-no-Mae was stunned. More than that, she could sense from it a scale surpassing her own true body!
Even if it surpassed her by only a single thread.
After reaching primordial, taking even a single step further was harder than ascending to heaven, but if one could advance, the change was world-shaking. It meant overwhelming victory!
And faced with Tamamo-no-Mae's horror, Rovi, now manifesting the body of a Machine God, hesitated for a moment before answering, "This is..."
"HEAVEN-AND-EARTH MANIFESTATION!"
"Who do you think you're fooling!?" Tamamo-no-Mae bared her teeth. "I have seen plenty of Heaven-and-Earth Manifestations, and I have never seen one like yours!"
Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation was one of the "great divine abilities" of Huaxia cultivators, a power only divine immortals could use.
It used the divine authority one held together with the trait of planetary Elemental immortals—the ability to draw upon the planet's source energy and freely alter one's form—to unite the god that represented the nature of heaven and earth with the immortal that represented the source.
It manifested a material "natural" form, allowing one's power to receive a tremendous boost.
But generally speaking, one would transform into something naturally existing, such as a giant or a mountain beast.
"There has never been a steel monster like you in nature!"
Tamamo-no-Mae could not help retorting.
Rovi's machine body emitted a deep, humming voice. "THAT DOES NOT MATTER."
"IF I SAY IT IS HEAVEN-AND-EARTH MANIFESTATION, THEN IT IS."
"IF YOU DISAGREE—THEN HIT ME."
She could not. She could not beat him.
Tamamo-no-Mae raised her cloud-sleeve to hide her face, suppressing the displeasure and twitching on her expression.
She truly could not defeat Rovi in this form.
There were still differences between primordial beings. In Tamamo-no-Mae's impression, those who could match this form were likely only the ancestral gods of Huaxia, the supreme figures of the various pantheons such as the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
As for her, she was not qualified.
But not being qualified was one thing. She was, after all, still standing on the same level. It was not as if she did not even have a chance to exchange blows.
Foxes had always been renowned throughout the world for their cunning.
And she would not abandon her original goal. Because as she gazed at the enormous thing before her, the fox became even more excited.
Because it was tremendously powerful, and tremendously... beautiful.
It was a rather special sort of beauty, a mechanical beauty that had yet to appear in the Divine Land.
"I now know your trump card." Tamamo-no-Mae swayed her body. "You and I will meet again."
"I will not give up on obtaining you, Donghua Dijun, Taiyi the new god."
After one last meeting of gazes, Tamamo-no-Mae vanished.
Her phantom dispersed, and the consciousness projected here departed at the same time. Rovi did not stop her. At the same level, even with a gap between them, each had different specialties. Tamamo-no-Mae excelled at arts and concealment, and he could not see through them.
However...
"THERE IS ONE THING YOU GUESSED WRONG." The steel faceplate of Rovi's Machine God form flickered inexplicably... almost as if revealing a smile.
"I DID NOT BURN MY POWER AND EMPTY MYSELF TO RECEIVE THE 'TAIYI' FAITH OF CHU'S THOUSAND-LI PEOPLE."
"BUT TO ABSORB... THE CHAOS OF THE OLD GHOST OF THE SIX HEAVENS!"
Single-mindedly seeking death? That was only one part of it. Rovi's objective, and the way out he had prepared for himself, were far from limited to that!
Within his consciousness, chaos erupted and bloomed in an instant.
The colossal Machine God vanished faintly, and in its place appeared a vast, twisted shadow similar to the old ghost of the Six Heavens from before—a "Great Old One."
The Old Gods were different from the gods of Huaxia.
The Old Ones dwelled beyond the starry sky.
All who met their gaze would inevitably have a shadow of chaos left in their hearts.
...
In a certain palace located on a different-dimensional plane, Tamamo-no-Mae's true body opened her eyes upon a throne.
"Interesting..." She swayed her tail and revealed an even more fascinated, bewitching smile. Her hand traced through the air as she imagined herself touching Rovi's body...
The fox's face was full of excitement, as though she had already seen the image of herself conquering that Donghua Dijun...
'YOU CONQUERED NOTHING.'
"?"
What voice was that?
Tamamo-no-Mae abruptly sat upright. Her nine tails went taut, and her golden eyes swept over her surroundings.
"Who is there...? Show yourself!"
'I'M YOUR DAD.'
"???"
'GO ASK YOUR MOTHER. A STINKING FOX THAT NEVER BATHES IS ONLY FIT FOR DAYDREAMING, HUH?'
The fox flew into a rage.
The primordial aura that surged out in an instant tore everything in the palace apart. Dust and smoke billowed, yet there was not the slightest sign of a person.
And at that moment, Tamamo-no-Mae abruptly realized...
That voice seemed to be coming from herself.
From inside her mind.
This was the chaos-whisper of the old ghost of the Six Heavens, one of the madness-inducing manifestations of a "Great Old One."
But why...
Why was it all curses and insults?
Why?
What the hell was this—!?
'STUPID FOX, DUMB FOX... EVEN YOUR OTHER BODIES CAN FIND LOVERS, BUT YOU'RE JUST AN OLD FOX NO ONE WANTS TO MARRY?!!'
"M-Mikon! Mikooon! Stop, stop cursing me!" The nine-tailed fox hugged her head and crouched defensively, but no matter what she did, she could not suppress the voice flowing through her mind.
Different Old Gods naturally had different whispers.
Perhaps even Rovi himself had never expected... that after the chaos sprouted, the whispers he manifested would take this form.
This was just... way too ridiculous.
Back in Tanggu, Rovi's expression was a sight to behold.
---
T/N: bro became an old god?
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