The fight between Red Lotus, Genesis Lotus, Giant Sun and Reputation Gu became more intense.
Neither side had an advantage as Giant Sun held back Genesis Lotus, and Reputation Gu tried her best to block Red Lotus.
Since Giant Sun was relatively able to hold his own against Genesis Lotus, he instructed Hei Lou Lan to help Reputation Gu.
Hei Lou Lan obliged but she could not rush to the front and had to provide support from the back, which was not her forte.
"Damnit! I'm just a burden in this battle." She begrudgingly grits her teeth: "No! I can't think that way, there must be a way for me to impact the battle and help Lord Giant Sun, besides this is a great learning opportunity."
The Supreme King Totem had many abilities, allowing Hei Lou Lan to overcome Strength Path's weakness of distance.
"This Supreme King Totem is truly amazing," Reputation Gu thought to herself, almost losing focus on the battle, causing a Killer Move to get dangerously close.
Even though it was 2 against 1, Red Lotus was not having a hard time, while he couldn't breakthrough, he wasn't being pushed back.
"Hmph! Reputation Gu may be able to copy and use my powers, but due to the disparity in Dao Marks, they aren't even close to the same strength, but she is able to see through the weakness in my Moves and disrupt them!"
As the fighting was growing more intense,
In a room full of art and sculptors, at a table in the centre, two people were playing Chess:
"Hehe, it seems like you've made a blunder." A cold and brutal man, whose entire body emanated cold killing intent, except his eyes which held a radiant indifference to all things.
It was Heaven in Spectral Soul's body!
"Have I?" Star Constellation chuckled to herself as he moved another piece.
The two hands moved calm and elegantly across the board, creating an almost artistic dance.
"Your two Venerables, one of whom is a pseudo-Dao Emperor, are being held back by a half-pseudo, at best, a Rank 9 Gu, and a Rank 8!" Heaven emphasized that point as he slammed a piece, capturing one of Star Constellation's Knights.
Star Constellation countered the attack, with her own offence: "Let's not forget that the only reason they can hold out so long is that Fang Yuan possess Rank 9 Heavenly Essence Treasure Imperial Lotus, likely since quite some time."
!!!
Indeed, Star Constellation had deduced from how Reputation Gu could wantonly use so much Immortal Essence, and yet, not only not slow down but increase her attacks.
Heaven did not say anything to retort: "Still, you promised me that you would be worthwhile allies but from what I could see, you lot would be nothing bun hindrances."
Star Constellation smirked: "Wait and see."
The battlefield was getting more tumultuous by the minute,
Reputation Gu had a grim look on her face, "Shit! I've burned through about half of the Immortal Essence master gave me, copying a Dao Emperor's Killer Move is way more taxing than a normal Venerable!"
But she thought about it: "If I'm running low, then all the more so for Red Lotus, Giant Sun and Genesis Lotus!"
Indeed, the 3 Venerables looked grimly at their stash of Immortal Essence,
"Damnit," Red Lotus was the one with the most worry, "I've spent too much Immortal Essence to maintain and enact all my plans that I'm about to run dry."
"What about you Genesis?"
Genesis replied: "I'm in a better situation, luckily I stockpiled a ton of Immortal Essence during my lifetime."
But even he grimaced at the surprisingly huge cost of this battle.
Giant Sun felt his wallet burn as well: "Even with Unified Essence Yi Qi Zi, I can't afford to waste Immortal Essence."
Thus, all 3 Venerables seemed to make a tacit agreement to limit their usage of Immortal Essence.
Seeing this Reputation Gu decided to play along.
The battles were more draining than before due to the use of Dao Killer Moves!
The true destructive power of a Dao Killer Move did not just lie in the fact that they were the perfect blend of a Compound Killer Move, but also in the fact that they would be amplified by the surrounding Dao Marks in the air unless already refined.
Because it resonates with the Dao, which is a unity of Heaven and Earth, it allows the Killer Move to be boosted by unrefined Dao Marks, on top of their own Refined Dao Marks!
This means a Venerable can show the might of multiple Venerables without having to achieve Supreme Grandmaster in all their paths.
The more Paths one can add into their Dao, the stronger.
But not all Daos can incorporate more Paths, take the Dao of Elements, for example, it can only hold the Path of Light, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Gold and Darkness.
Whereas a Path like the Path of Creation can hold all the Dao of Elements plus, Space Path, Time Path, Qi Path, etc…
This is what separates the Path tier list. How many Paths can be incorporated into one Dao, is the benchmark.
Though that isn't to say that quality should be neglected, the Dao of Spacetime is among the top in terms of Daos, yet it only possesses two.
But just as the 4 had come to a mini stalemate, the Void Sphere cracked and shattered,
Standing in its remains was a tall handsome man, with long black hair, pure white robes and pitch-black eyes that seemingly held the abyss.
It was Fang Yuan.
Oh?" Fang Yuan surveyed the battlefield: "Pseudo-Dao Emperor? Interesting."
"Fang Yuan!" Red Lotus knew that if Fang Yuan came out, it meant that Paradise Earth had failed: "Die for the world!"
Dao Killer Move ------------ Unlimited Void
The world around Fang Yuan began to lose its colour, then its sound, touch and all sensation were gone. Only thought remained.
But before Red Lotus got a chance to gloat:
"That all you got?" Space crack and tore apart as Fang Yuan stepped forth!
The backlash caused Red Lotus to fall to the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood:
"I-impossible! You can't have broken through unless… you've already become a Dao Emperor!"
Elemental energy radiated from Fang Yuan, forming a glorious rainbow.
You see during Fang Yuan's time absorbing Primordial Domain, there was an abundance of Elemental Path True Meaning, due to their popularity and widespread.
Thus, Fang Yuan decided to merge them all into one.
Achieving his second Supreme Grandmaster in the Dao of Elements!
"I can't take Supreme Grandmaster in Time Path due to Red Lotus," Fang Yuan noticed that there was quite a big gap between him and Red Lotus, "Not to mention, what kind of trap he may have had in the event I took Time Path."
And he was right!
Since Red Lotus was moving toward the Dao of Spacetime, he effectively could overrule Fang Yuan's Time Path completely!
This was part of the reason why Red Lotus gave Fang Yuan so much Time Path attainment, it was a trap!
"The Dao of Elements is not considered an extremely high Dao, nor is it a low Dao, it is somewhere below the Dao of Karma." Yet Fang Yuan chose this Dao, not for its strength but its potential:
"While it's true that this Dao cannot be advanced further, it is the crucial foundation I require," the Elemental energy of Fire, Gold, Wind, Earth, and Water formed a complex Pentagram, with Dark and Light orbiting within.
The Dao of Elements represents stability through Harmony.
It is balanced, as all things should be, representing a fundamental Heavenly Principle.
"Step 1 of achieving Immortality complete now then." Fang Yuan turned to Red Lotus and Genesis Lotus: "Let's even the score."
Dao Killer Move ---------- Upsetting The Balance Ruins The World
Instantly, Genesis Lotus began trembling, coughing up a mouthful of blood:
"*Cough* my Painting World!" Genesis Lotus was in terrible shape, but his Painting World was in worse condition!
Natural disasters were occurring everywhere as the Elements were thrown into haywire, causing instability in the Painting World.
Compounded with the Negative Karma pervading the world, Genesis Lotus's Painting World was on the brink of extinction!
"Stop!!!" Red Lotus used his Time Path methods to slow down the damage done to Genesis Lotus, but it also slowed Genesis Lotus down.
"How did he achieve the Dao Emperor realm so fast? Sure, one can obtain the Supreme Grandmaster attainment required through Primordial Domain, but he just obtained that so how did he acquire a Dao Fruit fast? Unless…he knew about Dao Emperors beforehand and was only waiting for the Supreme Grandmaster attainment!"
Fang Yuan had long ago known of the Dao Emperor realm, due to Reputation Gu, he already had plans for what Dao he would pursue, and planned accordingly, seizing the opportunity in the River of Time to ascend to the Dao Emperor realm nearly fully.
Nearly.
"Red Lotus calm down," a voice entered his head.
"Primordial?" Red Lotus looked around: "Quick only you can stop him!"
But Primordial only released a sigh: "I cannot. As part of the rules of the Heavenly Dao, I cannot interfere directly with anyone below the Dao Emperor rank."
"What!?" Red Lotus cried out: "But he's already a Dao Emperor?"
Primordial shook his head: "No he is above a Pseudo-Dao Emperor but below a True Dao Emperor, he's a Quasi-Dao Emperor."
!!!
"This…" Red Lotus was flummoxed; he did not know such a thing existed: "What's the difference?"
"The difference is that he has not bathed his Dao Fruit in Chaos, allowing it to fully bloom and separate that piece of Dao from the Heavenly Dao and into himself."
Red Lotus had his jaws open: "Wouldn't that mean he's unbeatable under the Heavens?"
"It is difficult to say," Primordial stroked his beard: "Because once one reaches the level of a Venerable, strength is already hard to quantify and measure, much more so at the level of Dao Emperors."
"But if you, Genesis and Star Constellation achieve the Pseudo-Dao Emperor realm, you can contend with him, even outside Heavenly Court."
"And besides, don't you still have that in reserve."
Red Lotus knew what Primordial was talking about:
"Don't worry so much Red Lotus, I don't blame you for letting loose this Demon, another one was bound to come eventually, but with his presence, we may be able to finally have a cooperative relationship with Heaven."
"Oh? This piece of news was of interest to Red Lotus: "Did he agree?"
Primordial nodded: "After seeing Fang Yuan, he wore a grim look and worked out a more comprehensive plan with Star Constellation. They should be here to pick you guys up in 3..2..1.."
Just then,
A hole was shattered through Space, the bloodcurdling aura burst forth, causing every head to turn.
It was Heaven, but he was letting loose the savage and bloodthirsty aura of Spectral Soul Demon Venerable.