Right before dawn, the flickering of stars in the dark sky gradually grew dimmer and dimmer. In the east, a glimmer of light emerged above the sea. As the brightness reached the coastline, the sun suddenly jumped above the horizon and blanketed the sea and the land with its brilliant, golden rays.
Slowly but surely, the chill of the night was pierced by the sunlight. Somewhere, the sound of barking and chittering erupted and quickly spread from one house to another. Men, wearing crude shirts and carrying hoes on their shoulder, pushed doors open, ready to start a new day of work. They were greeted by similarly dressed women, who looked after the children and various and household chores.
"Run and you'll break your legs!" A woman lectured her naughty son: "Didn't you listen to what your dad said - there's war, famine and plague everywhere! People fled to hide on our mountain, be careful or they'll eat you!"
Obviously, the children did not understand what "plague" or "war" meant. They blinked a few times, and hugged the big dog that stood in the doorway. They just wanted to ride it as a children's game. However, the usually docile dog suddenly paced away from the children, staring wide-eyed and barking wildly up to the sky.
For a split second, all the animals in this small mountain village let out a loud noise up into the sky, half-terrified and half-awed, as if they had seen a monster.
"Help! Save me!" - yelped a loud voice. A blood-soaked man whose arm was ripped off in half rushed around frantically, terror painted in his face, and yelled: “Where is the elder?!"
Instantly, screams and cries exploded into a chaos. A white-bearded, elderly man propped himself on crutches and slowly paced in front of the terrified crowd, sighing heavily.
"Elder!" The man ran to the old man, crumbled to his knees and wept: "Dead! Under the mountain! Monsters! Some are dead, some are alive! Outside the village!"
Just as he was howling in madness, the whole earth suddenly rumbled. Everyone turned their heads to see a long, horned beast that hurriedly rushed westwards.
The elder sighed and looked up. The sky was clear, but he knew that the power that targeted them wasn't dispersed yet. Instead, it was growing more serious.
"God's will." - were the only words the elder uttered, then closed his eyes in silence.
Thousand miles away, in the Kunlun mountains.
The surface world was already bright, but the Kunlun mountains were still asleep. Blanketed by a dusky forest that stretched for a thousand miles, mountain ranges refused to wake up.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling roar bellowed on the horizon, and the whole world instantly changed. One half was basking under a bright and beautiful sunlight, while the other was smothered under black clouds and torrential rain. However, before the heavy rain could fall, it was swept by a roaring hurricane and turned into a storm of hail and snow that smashed into the mountain slopes.
The skies were showering rain that turned into hail and snow on its way down, and in the blink of an eye, the entire world changed. In the bone-chilling wind, the myriad of mountain ravines awoke from their slumber with a deep, majestic roar.
This sound split the curtain of rain and snow and sparked waves of resounding echo that boomed thousands of miles away. But this sound also scattered across the world. Almost imperceptibly to humans, darkness flocked together into a black pile that rushed towards the Kunlun mountains.
Instantly, rain and snow grew in intensity and the gale grew in force and surged over the increasingly dense blackness. The weather twisted and the Kunlun mountains seemed as if caught in two giant hands. For a while, a giant palm seemed to close and the entire Kunlun mountains disappeared into grey ash, completely wiped out.
Among the torrents of rain and blizzard of snow, a huge dragon suddenly appeared in mid-air. It moved around in the wind, avoiding sharp ice shards and falling boulders, and opened his big maw to swallow the rain and snow. However, a brightly colored bird hurriedly glided by the dragon’s side and pulled it back into the mountains.
"Don't mess around!” The bird reverted into human form. His body was slim, but his voice was filled with unflinching resolve: "Do not sow chaos around.”
The moment the dragon landed it also turned into a human form - eight feet tall, sturdy, broad-shouldered and muscular. His face was just like that of an ordinary human, but his two eyes were not side by side. Rather, they were placed vertically, one above the other.
"The human world is already in chaos.” – Faintly said a man standing beside them. His long hair was fluttering in the wind, but his grey clothes could not conceal innate vigor. He sighed: "What we can do is limited.”
"Dragon Ying, you didn’t say such things before!” The slender man exclaimed hurriedly, and quickly said to the other: “Zhu Yin, do you remember?”
Zhu Yin didn’t reply, but just narrowed his eyes, looking into the rain, snow and thick fog that filled the sky.
Dragon Ying replied: "Feng Huang, we both thought it was an accident, but now it seems it was fate.”
Saying that, Dragon Ying raised his left hand and stretched it out. In a flash, the black fog in the sky started to shake gently. However, the trembling soon subsided and the thick darkness gained momentum. In rage, it bellowed out rain, ice and snow, and ominously crept towards them.
Feng Huang’s eyes suddenly opened wide and pierced the dark for. He raged out: “Cowards! Don’t you dare show your true selves?!”
Feng Huang had no choice but to stare helplessly as the black mist was ripped open in several places. Beams of light swept through and within the darkness he noticed a few familiar figures. They flashed past, and the sound of rainfall suddenly rose into a thunderous echo that clamored in the mountains. If you listened carefully, you could make out a mixed cacophony of weeping, begging for mercy, curses, shrieks and groans… It was more than simple noises, it was a mix of deep, touching emotions that stirred up everything that was cruel, passionate, manic, impulsive, bloodthirsty…
All the sounds and impulsive emotions tore at one another and poured out of the black fog. They distressed the Zhu Yin, and even Dragon Ying’s looks grew gloomy. None of them moved, but they looked at Feng Huang, hesitant to say a word.
The gale was whistling a mournful shrill, and Feng Huang was standing on the central rock with fists clenched so tightly that fingertips almost punctured his palms. If only Luan hadn’t gone on that day… While he was pondering, an ape-like beast with four ears suddenly rushed out of the black fog, followed by another one, an owl-shaped creature with a human face and four eyes. They milled around in a bizarre, terrible way.
The two beasts were known to the three men. One was Changyou, who caused disastrous deluge. The other was Yong, who brought devastating draught that turned the world barren. But Feng Huang recalled that they didn’t behave weirdly when they escaped from the Yin-Yang cave in the Demon mountain, so why would they submit to such cruel madness now?
Feng Huang quickly focused his mind and looked again only to see thick black fog twisting around the two beasts’ bodies. Any branch or flower they brushed became corrupted and produced a putrid stench that was unbearable even from dozens of meters away.
The three men’s expressions changed. Finally, they knew the black fog was not a ghost nor a demon, but all painful emotions of humanity condensed into despair! They saw grief, hatred, helplessness and pain that circled around Changyou and panic, struggle, hatred and anxiety wrapped around Yong. They caused floods and drought and captured the negative emotions of their victims!
Surprised, Feng Huang alarmed Dragon Ying: “Although they can trigger disasters, they have never been affected by human emotions!”
However, there was no time to think about it, as both black clouds were fluttering in front of their eyes. Feng Huang’s words became a long hiss, as his raised arms turned into wings. His chest and belly were those of a scarlet bird, as he moved forward, crashing into Changyou.
"Chi Bi, be careful.”
Dragon Ying shouted and swept up red light with his palms. With this red light, many rare animals leaped from behind the three friends, pouncing against the enemies that stirred within the black mist.
Suddenly, a brilliant radiance flashed above the earth, and roaring, hissing and neighing beasts began to tear at each other. Their blood and fur were blown in the wing when their shouts carried over the mountains.
Feng Huang had already changed into a bird, and hovered across the sky, slashing and tearing furiously. He slowed down to assess the situation, but all he could see were layers upon layers of black fog. Within, beasts were frantically lashing at and biting one another. Whether creatures of good or evil, none could escape the fray. They all fought in merciless melee, fell to the ground, and died.
Above, Zhu Yin was still floating in the air and belching out smoke, but several of his scales were already broken, and dark dragon blood trickled out of his wounds. Dragon Ying was punching and kicking in his human form, and it seemed that darkness would not close on to him, but his movements were growing slow. And yet... And yet, all those friends he’d been drinking and carousing with for thousands of years who fought in this battle and died or suffered injuries. He was powerless to change anything about it.
Where was the human world among this disturbing blood fest? Where were the Kunlun mountains?!
If only this had not happened, if only they could have more time to search their own destiny… Pity they had no more “ifs” available to them. Could this really be the ultimate calamity that neither humans nor beasts could escape? Would the human world and magic creature be destined for extinction?
The multi-colored bird gave out a sorrowful lament, close to tears. Shaking away from the black mist, Feng Huang muttered to himself, finally steeling his determination.
“You try to exhaust the spirit and blood of my race… Come and fight me again!” Feng Huang hissed loudly and flew towards the tallest tree on the Kunlun peak. He grasped the thick branches in his claws, twisted his neck, and opened up his maw, ready to spit out his final life essence.
Alarmed, Dragon Ying gasped: “No! Don’t do this!”
But it was already too late. All they saw was a red mist of scarlet blood that flew from his mouth and rushed against the black fog. Instantly, the colorful feathers that covered Feng Huang faded in color. Zhu Yin also sensed that Feng Huang spirit was released, and fell back to the ground. Suddenly, they heard a loud bang and the air shivered, as if some power was about to blast a hole in the sky.
No sooner did the thunder roared that Feng Huang felt pain in his stomach, so scalding that he almost fell down from the tree. Luckily, Dragon Ying arrived by his side, his hands launching a cyclone to gently catch him.
None of the beasts had seen the thunder coming. Feng Huang couldn’t do anything about the strange scorching feeling in his stomach, so he just flew up into the sky with Dragon Ying and Zhu Yin.
The black mist was no more, and there was nothing but thick black clouds that covered the sky. The clouds were flashing with lightning that could undoubtedly crack a stone boulder in two.
The clouds were growing darker, and the lightnings grew more intense and dazzling. Slowly, a golden whip was wrung in the black ink skies. When it cracked, sparks flew in all directions. It seemed as if some god was wielding and controlling it.
Dragon Ying gave a quick gaze and muttered to himself: “Is it… Tian Lei?”
His voice fell when the thundering golden whip cracked and moved eastward in a shower of golden sparks. Its power resembled that of Pangu’s giant hatchet that split the world from chaos, or Gong Gong’s rage that knocked the Buzhou mountain over.
All the living things in the world fell silent, and even the beasts that had fought so viciously were lying prostrate on the ground, trembling with cold. The beasts were staring as the thunder whip tore a hole between the sky and the earth, and in the next moment, a loud resounding sound boomed up above as the sky in the east turned burning red.
The moment the Tian Lei fell, however, the entire black cloud dissipated. Even the black mist that twisted around the Kunlun mountains was scattered in the wind, disappearing completely.
Dragon Ying exhaled, but still gazed into flame burning in the distance. Puzzled, he asked: "How could Tian Lei fall over there?”
Zhu Yin couldn’t care less. He turned around and looked at Feng Huang. It turned out he had only passed out, but was still breathing. He was still alive. He calmly said: "I don't know, and I don’t care.”
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