The Heart of a Madman

Among Subhuti’s disciples, Silvermoon God was the most ferocious madman of all during the war against the Seamless Gate.

Ji Ning hadn’t understood at first. Only later did he learn that Silvermoon had once had a Dao-companion. During the Primordial Dawn War, his Dao-companion had died. Silvermoon had lost his soul. Later, when the Lord of All Demons brought the remnants of the Seamless Gate back to the Three Realms and Nüwa’s camp could do nothing to stop him, they were forced to coexist peacefully, allowing the Seamless Gate to dwell within the Three Realms.

But Silvermoon God acted. He began a maddened slaughter, cutting down members of the Seamless Gate. He killed even Celestial Immortals. Nearly twenty Empyrean Gods and True Immortals died by his hand! In his frenzy, he mistakenly killed many weaklings. He was utterly maddened with slaughter, enraging the True Gods and Daofathers of the Seamless Gate. At that time, the Seamless Gate wished to settle peacefully in the Three Realms. For Silvermoon’s sake as Subhuti’s disciple, they did not kill him but instead negotiated with the great powers of Nüwa’s camp.

Ultimately, under his master’s stern command, Silvermoon returned to Mount Innerheart and quietly guarded the Divine Immortal Palace.

His maddened slaughter had brought him the torment of karmic hellfire.

Yet he laughed and talked as if nothing were wrong, living each day at ease in the Divine Immortal Palace. Who knew that the rage and hatred in his heart had never faded for a single instant? Now that the great calamity was approaching, seeing that Ji Ning was similarly maddened, he had been willing to fight alongside him. But then Ji Ning had suddenly stopped. Silvermoon naturally went out alone. He did not blame Ji Ning. He understood—if he himself were in Ji Ning’s position, fighting for his Dao-companion, he would have made the same choice.

“Mm.” Subhuti nodded. “Who else?”

“I will go.”

“I’m going as well.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve fought.”

One senior brother or sister after another spoke up. Of the disciples present, only Ji Ning and Red Snow God had not spoken. Ji Ning hesitated, then said, “Master, let me go. This Realm War is different from the past.”

“There’s no need for you to go.” Subhuti shook his head. “At this level of warfare, your presence or absence changes little.”

Ji Ning was startled.

Yes.

His master was right. A formation of just two or three hundred Empyrean Gods and True Immortals could rival a true Daofather. His own Rahu Formation was probably slightly weaker than that. And this time, their side was fielding two or three thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals. With some ancient formations, even an ordinary Daofather would lose his life if he stepped inside. Whether Ji Ning went or not truly changed little.

At this level of warfare, victory depended more on collective strength.

“And you, Red Snow?” Subhuti looked at Red Snow God. Red Snow had once followed Daoist Threelives and was renowned for his ferocity in battle.

“I won’t go,” Red Snow said, shaking his head. “This disciple has recently gained some insights and is at a critical juncture.”

“Oh?” Subhuti’s eyes lit up. He didn’t think Red Snow was lying.

Ji Ning, however, was not surprised. Ever since he had given Red Snow that bottle of Chaos Nectar, allowing him to cultivate the second layer of the 18 Fiendgod Pangu Art, Red Snow had inexplicably entered seclusion. This time, Ji Ning had only sent him a sound transmission because Subhuti had summoned him; he wouldn’t have disturbed Red Snow otherwise.

“In that case, train well. If you can break through to become a Daofather before the final battle, that would be excellent.” Subhuti smiled. He also knew that Ji Ning had given Red Snow God a bottle of Chaos Nectar. Ji Ning had mentioned it to him beforehand. To a Daofather, a single bottle of Chaos Nectar was far too little.

For a True God or Daofather, at least a hundred bottles were needed to train the second layer of the 18 Fiendgod Pangu Art.

A single bottle? It was only useful for Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.

Two days later, Subhuti led his disciples to the ‘Zhuolu Major World’ in the ‘Yellow Emperor’s Realm’. Zhuolu Major World was the major world where Xuanyuan, the Yellow Emperor, resided.

Inside the imperial palace of Zhuolu Major World.

Subhuti and Xuanyuan both sat down. Ji Ning and the other disciples stood to one side. Ji Ning carefully observed this legendary figure who had once defeated Shennong to seize control of the world—the Yellow Emperor, Xuanyuan. In appearance, Xuanyuan was a perfect example of masculine beauty. His gaze made one feel as warm as a spring breeze, effortlessly inspiring goodwill.

One must understand that Xuanyuan had only been a top-tier Daofather at the time. Although Shennong had no heart for commanding armies, he was still on the same level as the leaders of the Daoist and Buddhist schools. The fact that the war had been won showed just how brilliant Xuanyuan’s generalship was.

Looking across the Three Realms, when it came to commanding armies, Xuanyuan was likely the best.

“All my disciples will join the battle except for Ji Ning,” Subhuti said with a smile.

“Ah.” Xuanyuan was overjoyed. He quickly said, “That’s wonderful. I’ve been troubled by this very matter. The more powerful the formation, the higher the demands on its core. According to the rules, the three great clan-protecting formations left behind by Nüwa before she departed should ideally be commanded by Daofathers. But now Daofathers cannot intervene, so Empyrean Gods and True Immortals must command them. The stronger the Empyrean God or True Immortal, the better. I was worried about not having enough powerful Empyrean Gods and True Immortals. Subhuti, you’ve truly sent aid in my hour of need.”

“This war is different from the past. The previous Realm Wars were small-scale. This time, the scale is far greater,” Subhuti said solemnly. “After this Realm War, wave after wave of large-scale battles will follow. Your Yellow Emperor’s Realm is leading the charge. We must fight brilliantly and inflict heavy damage on the Seamless Gate.”

“Mm.” Xuanyuan nodded. “One step ahead, every step ahead. This battle is indeed crucial.”

A thousand-mile dike collapses because of an ant hole!

This war was a pivotal one. If they lost, the battles ahead would be far more difficult.

Time flowed on.

In addition to the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals Subhuti had brought, other great powers of the Three Realms also sent groups of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals to reinforce them. Many even came on their own. Within a single month, the number of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals gathered in Zhuolu Major World had reached 2,800. Each of them had learned basic techniques for a few powerful formations.

The nine most outstanding Empyrean Gods and True Immortals—such as Golden Crow and Fengxiao—who were both among the top in the Three Realms and utterly loyal, were able to learn the core techniques of some ancient formations.

RUMBLE~

Suddenly, one day, the entire Zhuolu Major World trembled. Ji Ning walked out of his dwelling and looked into the distance. Candlelight burned in his eyes, allowing him to clearly see that the sky millions of kilometers away had split open. A city radiating endless bloody light flew out from the rift in the sky. Its aura swept across the entire Zhuolu Major World.

The city was ten thousand kilometers in size. It slowly descended and then hovered in midair.

Above the city, surges of bloody light soared into the heavens.

“It’s Daofather Demonhand.” Subhuti, Xuanyuan, and Suiren stood side by side, looking into the distance. Subhuti frowned.

“Demonhand has come, and as a Venerate at that.” Suiren frowned as well. Suiren was only an avatar here; Subhuti and Xuanyuan were both true bodies.

The Lord of All Demons was the most mysterious and elusive figure of the Seamless Gate, someone even Nüwa could do nothing about.

Master Stonerule was someone Nüwa’s camp was unwilling to make an enemy of, a master of countless techniques.

Daofather Demonhand was the most ‘maddened’ of the Seamless Gate. Her strength was utterly astonishing. Her madness… during the Primordial Dawn War, she had fought alone against Nüwa for a long time. She had once madly battled the two leaders of the Daoist and Buddhist schools single-handedly before being heavily wounded by the Three Purities’ Extermination Immortal Sword Formation.

She was a madwoman. When she fought, she didn’t even care about her own life.

But no one dared deny her strength. Even in the Primordial Dawn War, only Nüwa and the Lord of the Heartlord could be said to be definitely stronger than her.

“It seems the Seamless Gate truly wants to win this war,” Subhuti said. “They’ve sent Daofather Demonhand to take command.”

“We want to win, and so do they,” Xuanyuan said. “In the end, victory will be decided on the battlefield.”

“Are we almost ready?” Suiren asked.

“Mm.” Xuanyuan nodded.

In Zhuolu Major World, tension hung in the air.

Two cities—one surrounded by bloody light, the other by golden light—both hovered in the sky, separated by hundreds of thousands of kilometers, facing each other from afar.

Within the cities, armies were assembling. War could break out at any moment.

“This war will be the largest before the final decisive battle for the struggle over fortune,” Silvermoon God said to Ji Ning as they both stood on the city wall, gazing at the distant, bloody-light-shrouded Seamless City. “Our side has nearly three thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals now. In the later Realms of top-tier Daofathers, there are usually only a few hundred, maybe nearly a thousand.”

“So many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, and an endless sea of Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals.” Ji Ning sighed softly.

He felt some regret.

Regret that he couldn’t join the battle.

Bear with it.

After all, even if he did join, with a war of this scale, his presence or absence would make little difference. He just didn’t know… how long those two clones of his in the Moon Underwater Abyss would have to stay.

PS: The mobile game “Desolate Era” is really hard. That ‘Ancient Fiendgod’ in the Yujue Wasteland… I just can’t kill it. Sigh. Is Tomato just too weak?

Game download link: [link]. Only the Android version is available for download.

Every day after thinking about the novel, Tomato spends an hour or two relaxing by playing the game, killing the novel’s bosses. It feels pretty good.