The Water-Fire Annihilation Formation

Emerging from the spatial vortex, Ji Ning was greeted by the boundless Chaosflows before him. He had traveled through the Chaos alone once before, though that had only been a trip to the nearby borders of the Three Realms.

“Fuxi is currently in the Chaos, studying and contemplating many grand formations,” said Subhuti. “Of the Three Sovereigns of Mankind, Shennong and Fuxi spend most of their time in the Chaos. Only Suiren resides permanently in the Blazing Flame Major World.”

As he spoke, he led Ning forward at a breathtaking speed.

Space twisted and time blurred.

“That is…” Because of their incredible velocity, the surrounding Chaosflows blurred into indistinct streaks, but Ning suddenly caught sight of a raging sea of flame in the distance ahead.

“We’re here.” Subhuti’s voice rang out, and their speed dropped abruptly.

Soon, his master brought Ji Ning close to the towering inferno. The flames blazed fiercely, like an ocean, stretching so far that the naked eye could not see their end.

“Water?” Ning noticed, startled, that above the sea of flame, churning black waves were faintly visible. Only upon closer inspection could he discern that they were an endless expanse of black water… Below was an infinite ocean of fire, above an infinite sea of black water, the two merging as one. Where the fire and water met, the space itself seemed to be caught in a state of annihilation.

“Fuxi,” Subhuti called out.

Hiss!

A passageway split open through the sea of flame before them, with the fire on either side utterly unable to intrude.

“Come, let’s go in.” Subhuti said.

Ji Ning followed his master, flying through the passage.

“Is this a grand formation set by the Human Sovereign?” Ning couldn’t help but ask. “What kind of fire is this? I can’t identify it.”

The most famous flames in the Three Realms were the Nine Great True Fires.

“This is the ‘Inextinguishable Flame,’ realized by the Human Sovereign, Suirenshi,” Subhuti explained. “It is a flame that surpasses the Nine Great True Fires. As for the black waves above, they are the ‘Supreme Yin Essence,’ taken from the deepest essence of the Grand Yin Star. Suirenshi was able to help gather such a vast quantity of the Inextinguishable Flame, but Fuxi had to procure the Supreme Yin Essence himself, so there is comparatively less of it. This formation is still being pondered by Fuxi; it has not yet reached perfection.”

Ji Ning was awestruck.

The Inextinguishable Flame? The Supreme Yin Essence?

Most cultivators of lesser strength, or those who were still relatively weak, were unaware that there existed flames far more powerful than the Nine Great True Fires. Now, he knew.

‘Grand Sun True Fire,’ for example, was merely the most common, endless fire covering the Grand Sun Star. But ‘Grand Sun Golden Flame’ was the fire at the very core of the Grand Sun Star, its power far more terrifying. Even if a True God Daofather were to face the Grand Sun Golden Flame, they would have to be extremely cautious. A single careless mistake could see them burned alive.

Grand Sun Golden Flame was a naturally occurring phenomenon.

As for the Elder God ‘Zhurong,’ he had created the ‘Zhurong Divine Fire,’ another existence surpassing the Nine Great True Fires. Unfortunately, Elder God Zhurong had long since perished.

The Human Sovereign, Suirenshi, had created the ‘Inextinguishable Flame,’ also an existence surpassing the Nine Great True Fires.

Within the Three Realms, there were also the Nine Great True Waters. Those that surpassed them included the ‘Supreme Yin Essence’ of the Grand Yin Star and the ‘Gonggong Divine Water’ of the Elder God Gonggong, but Elder God Gonggong had also died long ago.

During the primordial era, the Ten Elder Gods fought and killed one another in their struggle for supremacy over the world, and several had already died.

Pangu was, in truth, a World God, but the gods and Fiendgods of that primordial age had no knowledge of ‘World Gods’ as a concept. Because Pangu was so powerful, he was set apart from the other Ten Elder Gods and worshipped as ‘God Pangu,’ an existence that transcended all Immortals, Buddhas, gods, and Fiendgods.

Pangu died from exhaustion after cleaving Heaven and Earth apart.

Lady Nuwa had entered the Chaos and never returned.

Elder God Fuxi had reincarnated into the human race, becoming the Human Sovereign, Fuxi.

Several Elder Gods had died in the primordial struggle for supremacy.

During the primordial war of annihilation, their battle against the Seamless Gate and the Lord of All Demons had claimed the lives of several more Elder Gods.

Human Sovereign Fuxi had to painstakingly gather the ‘Supreme Yin Essence’ himself. Fortunately, he had mastered both the ‘Yin’ and ‘Yang’ Heavenly Daos, which allowed him to manipulate the ultima-yin Supreme Yin Essence. Even so, his achievements in water were clearly not as high as Suirenshi’s achievements in fire.

“Fuxi has devoted his heart to formations,” Subhuti said with a sigh. “If he had spent his time studying water instead, given his mastery of both Yin and Yang Heavenly Daos, he likely would have already created a supreme water that surpassed the Nine Great True Waters.”

“In his past life, he was an Elder God who excelled in the Heavenly Dao of Destruction. In this life, as a Human Sovereign, he is consumed by formations,” Ji Ning remarked, filled with curiosity about Fuxi.

Regardless of whether it was his past life or his present one, Fuxi stood at the very peak of the Three Realms.

…

Whoosh.

After passing through the fiery passage, Ji Ning saw a plot of land, several hundred meters across, suspended in the Chaos. On this patch of earth sat a tall, robed man with his legs crossed. His robe was covered in all manner of diagrams: Taiji diagrams, Eight Trigrams diagrams, Star diagrams… countless runes swirled around him. Fuxi was scrutinizing these runes, occasionally modifying one or rearranging them.

“Hold on. Wait a moment,” Subhuti said.

“Alright,” Ning nodded.

After about the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, Fuxi finally came to a stop. The surrounding runes vanished completely.

Fuxi looked at Subhuti and Ji Ning with a smile. “Subhuti, what brings you here with your precious disciple? Hmm, come, have a seat.”

With a wave of his hand, two prayer mats appeared before him, along with two low tables bearing wine and snacks.

Subhuti led Ji Ning to sit down.

“It’s good news,” Subhuti said, handing Fuxi a scroll that Ji Ning had given him. “Take a look.”

“Oh?”

Fuxi took the scroll and immediately began to probe it with his divine will. The moment he did, he became completely engrossed.

“Don’t mind him; this is just how Fuxi is. We’ll wait here patiently,” Subhuti said. “Come, try this wine. Fuxi used the principles of formations to brew it himself. You won’t find it anywhere else.”

Ji Ning picked up his cup and took a sip.

An unprecedented sensation of ease and comfort flooded his entire body, as if even his soul had been relaxed.

“Truly excellent wine,” Ning exclaimed.

“No one else could make it,” Subhuti said.

The master and disciple began to drink leisurely. Though the flagon seemed small, it contained enough immortal wine to fill a vast lake. As they drank contentedly, over a full day passed before Human Sovereign Fuxi finally withdrew his divine will from the bamboo scroll.

“Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.” Fuxi could not help himself, uttering three words of praise.

“What do you think?” Subhuti looked at him. “The ‘Lang Talismans’ are quite something, aren’t they?”

“The Dao talismans recorded in these ‘Lang Talismans’ are each more miraculous than the last. It took me three hours to thoroughly comprehend them all,” Fuxi said with a smile. “As long as the materials are prepared, we can indeed forge quite a few Dao talismans of considerable power. Adding these talismans to our Nuwa Alliance’s arsenal will give us an extra boost. Though the boost may be small, accumulated gains like this can affect the overall situation.”

When Ji Ning heard ‘small boost,’ he understood that the Nuwa Alliance’s foundation was still very deep. There were many things that, even now, he was not privy to.

Just as the Seamless Gate had some formidable tricks up its sleeve, so too did the Nuwa Alliance.

“At this point, there are very few methods that can increase the overall strength of our Nuwa Alliance,” Fuxi said with a shake of his head and a sigh. “These ‘Lang Talismans’ are one of them. But for me, personally, the most helpful item was that ‘Heaven-Earth Reversal Single-Heart Formation.’ I spent most of my time comprehending it.”

“What? The Heaven-Earth Reversal Single-Heart Formation? It was that helpful to you?” Subhuti asked, puzzled. “That formation requires eighteen cultivators who must be completely of one heart and mind. How was it so useful to you?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Fuxi shook his head.

“Though this formation is quite good, the formations I have created possess even more earth-shattering power. Of course, I would not waste time setting up this ‘Heaven-Earth Reversal Single-Heart Formation’,” Fuxi explained. “However… the profound mysteries contained within this formation, the method of its arrangement, are completely and utterly different from those of our Three Realms. Its most amazing aspect is the ‘Heaven-Earth Reversal’ principle. For all these years, I have been working on my ‘Water-Fire Annihilation Formation,’ trying to find a way to perfectly merge these two opposing energies of fire and water. This ‘Heaven-Earth Reversal’ technique has given me new insights. Although the Heaven-Earth Reversal Single-Heart Formation itself is not a particularly powerful formation, the being who created it is likely far more advanced in the art of formations than I am.”

Fuxi sighed.

At Fuxi’s level, when he looked at a formation, he studied how it was created, dissecting its very essence. It was clear that Fuxi had absorbed what he needed from this one.

This ‘Heaven-Earth Reversal Single-Heart Formation’ was, in truth, a formation created by a major power of the Chaos specifically for the ‘Eighteen Fiendgod Avatars (Tang Wu)’. But Fuxi’s assumption that the creator was superior to him was mistaken. That major power had realized his formation insights in a completely different environment, leading to a very different set of principles than Fuxi’s. This difference was what so profoundly inspired Fuxi. In terms of true achievement in the art of formations, the two were on roughly the same level.

“It can help you perfect your ‘Water-Fire Annihilation Formation’?” Subhuti asked, delighted.

The Inextinguishable Flame and the Supreme Yin Essence, when used separately, were already terrifyingly powerful.

If they could be perfectly combined…

The result would be astonishing. It would be a tremendous boon for the final battle, increasing their side’s chances of victory.

“It is helpful,” Fuxi nodded. “But to perfect it absolutely… that is far from done. I still need to study this ‘Heaven-Earth Reversal Single-Heart Formation’ more carefully. Hmm, all seven techniques here are quite impressive. They are clearly not from our Three Realms’ lineage; they must be from the Chaos alien races. You brought your disciple here… did Ji Ning find these seven techniques?”

“Yes,” Subhuti nodded.

Fuxi looked at Ji Ning and said, with deep feeling, “All people have selfish hearts. The small-minded are selfish for themselves, while the great-minded are selfish for their family, their clan, their nation, their species, and even their own world. You are merely a True God or True Immortal now, yet you have brought out these precious seven techniques. This is truly rare and commendable.”

Hearing this, Ji Ning felt a pang of shame.

He had offered the seven techniques for his master and for his own camp, but he had kept the stone stele hidden. He had not told a second person about it, partly out of fear of the Seamless Gate’s intelligence network, but also partly to keep a backup path for himself. After all, this Tribulation of the Three Realms was upon them. He might die at any moment. He himself was not afraid of death, but if he died, who would protect his daughter?

“Your ‘Lang Talismans’ will benefit the entire Nuwa Alliance, and the ‘Heaven-Earth Reversal Single-Heart Formation’ was a great help to me,” Fuxi said. “I cannot accept such a gift from you for nothing. Hmm…”

He paused, deep in thought.