Across the vast Netherworld, a long river of dark silver light coiled throughout the sky. The agonizing cries of what must’ve been quintillions of true souls belonging to devils throughout history echoed from within. Their ethereal arms outstretched, begging for the Reincarnation Pagoda to return them to the real world.

 

The system deployed by Luohu and Mara was as such. Ordinary, when a cultivator advanced to the Golden Immortal realm, they absorb their true souls and gain full ownership of themselves, thereby breaking through together to a higher planet of existence. Devil cultivators was much the same.

 

But due to having cultivated devil scriptures, the moment they begin creating their Dao, they unknowingly draw from Luohu’s Dao. Luohu’s Dao served as the foundation instead of their own delusions. Luohu’s Dao is what they would grow form, their own Dao being an extension of the Devil Ancestor.

 

In their moment of death, their Dao will continue to exist even without a Dao fruit. In the same way, their true souls are arrested along with their Dao. Their destruction is prevented and they’re shoved into a pseudo river of time created by Mara.

 

Essentially a massive catalogue of everyone who’s ever cultivated the Devilish Dao. Flowing in and out of the Great Wilderness and the Netherworld. Anchored by the Reincarnation Pagoda, sustaining itself by the yin qi of the Netherworld.

 

From the moment Mara lost his grip, that river became erratic. Like a membrane about to burst due to it’s components violently convulsing. Now that same river was being pulled towards the heart of the Netherworld.

 

Hundun sat crossed legged in the air watching patiently for the transformation to occur. Da Hai was unwilling to let him anywhere near the ritual, but that was to be expected. However, as a Limitless Supreme Chaos Immortal, Hundun gleamed much just by observing.

 

“Houtu sacrificed to become the Reincarnation Disc, is that true death though. Would she end up like Mara, a treasure spirit?” He pondered aloud. As he did so, he wasn’t idle either. Hundun had acted in a similar way to Jieyin, only on a much larger scale.

 

The devils side was losing badly due to the chain of events leading up to Luohu’s besiegement and Mara’s downfall. Their moral was all but crushed leaving many individuals desperately trying to flee. Unfortunately, too many were caught up by the immortal cultivators who wished to kill them.

 

Out of everyone present, Jieyin, Hundun, and Haotian were the only ones trying to limit casualties. Others have just accepted them as a necessity.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Cold and hot at the same time?”

 

“Praise be the heavens! The disc is becoming real!”

 

The Reincarnation Disc roared suddenly. It sounded young, it sounded old, it sounded masculine, and it sounded feminine. The outline of a face and a gaping mouth emerged a the centre of the disc. A band of ethereal light stretched out like a frog’s elongated tongue.

 

“NO! Stay away from my devils!” An old voice cried out. It was a heavily injured old devil who’d been fighting in the background against several of the Demonic Grand Sages. Hou Pi who’d dogmatically followed Luohu into the Netherworld.

 

“Children of the west, we must advance!” He cried desperately. “If that river is destroyed, eternity is lost to all devils.”

 

His words brought about confusion in the lower ranks, and doubt int he higher ranks. The still living Devil Great Emperors like the Orca Patriarch all eventually figured out the flaws of their cultivation system. Some pondered if destroying the river could enable them to advance freely.   

 

The Reincarnation Disc on the other hand, did not care for what living beings wanted. Houtu’s sacrifice had been complete and the disc’s true power was now showing. It easily pulled the entire convulsing pseudo river of time into it’s mouth.

 

Many were shocked at how fast this had taken place. Wasn’t it too simple? The reality was, if Mara could fight wrestle the river back then he would’ve. But even the Reincarnation Pagoda could not do anything but watch helplessly.

 

“It’s no use, my reincarnation system isn’t even a complete one in the first place. It’ll lean too much into ghosts existences. That disc will collapse in on itself,” he rationalized. “Don’t you realize Moon Star Lord? Your allies’ ritual will fail.”

 

Wangshu scoffed, “Why don’t you stop resisting and die?”

 

Seeing the Reincarnation Disc devouring the river, Yuanshi smirked. ‘This’ll be a masterpiece.’ In the real world, he commanded the others aloud.

 

“Minghe, draw the Blood Sea in. Yanluo, anchor the power of the Netherworld in. Nuwa, prepare those dolls of yours.”

 

The Jade Pure One started chanting a spell. He was once one third of the Nascent Soul of Pangu. He was a celestial being that was both an innate god and a heaven in and of himself. His inner cosmos was a colourless void, his Primordial Beginnings Dao fruit was like the primordial state before heaven split from earth. From that origin, anything could be created, as long as he puts his mind to it.

 

Out of the Three Pure Ones, Yuanshi was the most skilled in refining treasures. He created a conceptual path similar to the river of devil souls. But this one focused on the celestial, using concepts from innate lifeforms such as himself.

 

“The system of the devils are evil ghosts, but reincarnation must feature innate life.”

 

He opened up the Reincarnation Disc in time for a winding trail of Blood Sea water to pour in.

 

Minghe waved his hands alongside Yuanshi, he began drawing out the very essence that birthed him. Unlike thousands of years ago, the blood god had no fear of dying. He did not need to destroy the Blood Sea in order for the ritual to come to fruition.

 

Like Yuanshi, Minghe studied death and rebirth. He began to understand Primordial Beasts more and more, and he understood how they were both living beings as well as mindless machines of hate. The Blood Sea was giving rise to their existence through countless wondering souls drawn to it. Now Minghe will get rid of all those souls and divert them into the Reincarnation Disc.

 

Along with water containing essence from the Blood Sea, Minghe will create another path for reincarnation just like Yuanshi. “Innate life is right, it’s about time I clear the Primordial Beast infestation.”

 

Yuanshi and Minghe merged their efforts to form two rivers that entered the Reincarnation disc. Alongside the river of ghost devils, they cycled through like koi fishes swimming in a pond.

 

Yanluo brought about immense streams of yin qi. He poured them into the Reincarnation Disc. It too began cycling alongside the three rivers becoming a path of its own.

 

Yanluo, self proclaimed Emperor Fengdu utilized a similar principle to Mara and his ghost devils. Though they may not be living beings, creatures that will be born in the Netherworld are a form of existence.

 

Like this, two thirds of the Reincarnation Disc was filled. The light cloaking its surface began breaking away revealing engraved images. The lowest areas featured a hellish prison, alongside it was a greyed out hollow world of pale ghosts. Reigning above them were innate lifeforms born out of the energies of heaven and earth.

 

“Copy cats,” a crumbling Mara spat. “Naraka, Preta, Asura, Deva. What a joke.”

 

But the ritual was not done as Nuwa floated towards the surface of the Reincarnation Disc. Her oldest mud puppet floated right behind her, its charred head expressed no thought at what was about to come.

 

“Go on,” Nuwa said. She held out a ball containing her own understanding towards living beings. She gave it to the mud puppet. “A hundred and twenty nine thousand five hundred and ninety nine of your brothers and sisters sit within. Them and all the records of innate creature clans, well I suppose it’s the Demon Clan now.”

 

Despite supposedly possessing no will, the charred mud puppet nodded. It jumped in willingly, almost shaking in giddy.

 

A stream of light containing Fuxi traveled unopposed to Nuwa’s side. He looked at the project in amazement. “Those puppets and your Dao. Did you have any inkling this was what will happen?”

 

“None,” Nuwa shook her head. “Everything was happenstance. But everything has a way of working out for the better.”

 

Unseen by the two, Da Hai watched the single mud puppet travel through the Reincarnation Disc. knowledge of his inherited human memories surfaced.

 

“No,” he shook his head. “I’m not one of them. I never was.”

 

He felt absolutely nothing. His expectations, his focus remained fully on Luohu. Now that the Reincarnation Disc was fully set to complete itself, he fully walked away. After all, he could barely contain his own excitement.

 

On the surface of the Reincarnation Disc, an enormous amount of qi flourished. It’s spiritual power continued to rise, causing the Netherworld to tremble. Even the drained Blood Sea descended into a furious maelstrom.

 

A pale Minghe sighed in relief having felt his connection with the Blood Sea still in tact.

 

“You okay?” Nuwa called out after taking notice.

 

“I feel like someone who’s just burned seven eights of my existence. I will not be doing anything for a long time,” Minghe said. A look of regret flashed through his eyes when he said so. Abi, Yunatu, and the 12 Petals Red Lotus had long been retrieved and stored inside his body. But at his current condition, he could not do anything if any of his contemporaries tried to rob him.

 

“We made an oath to work together. No one will harm you under my watch else I am not the Jade Pure One,” Yuanshi said. Unlike the ill looking Minghe, Yuanshi appeared extremely prideful.

 

This was because the energy cloak had fully broken apart. The Reincarnation Disc surfaced in its full glory. The formerly blank areas were now filled with forestry where countless species of animals roamed about.

 

What was more intriguing were a new type of lifeform. These resembled the Dao bodies that cultivators assembled to better connect with the Dao. Two arms, two legs, hairs in various places, nude in all their glory.

 

At the center of the disc, the featureless head morphed into a more demonic form. It now sported three massive eyes above a gaping maw filled with sharp teeth. It was then that the face of the Reincarnation Disc opened its mouth again.

 

“Watch brother, I can’t wait to see them whole,” Nuwa said.

 

“Those mud creations, they were the final piece of this ritual? I understand postnatal lifeforms being tied into it, it’s a natural process. But why an additional path?” Fuxi couldn’t help but ask.

 

“Balance brother, its all to balance each other out. The heavens have two paths, the Netherworld have two, the sum total of postnatal lifeforms as a single path wasn’t enough. A new path with its identity was needed.

 

“Senior Da Hai explained to me a while back. In every Chaos World, at some point a species possessing natural Dao bodies will emerge. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. So we figured that since the Primitive World lacked one, and we needed a sixth piece to fully balance out the other five paths.”

 

Nuwa shrugged whimsically. A figure had grabbed the edge of the Reincarnation Disc’s mouth, a smooth human hand. A nude man walked out in what she’d normally consider someone’s Dao body, but in this instance she knew that this was his true form. The same charred mud puppet looked brand new and was no longer made of mud.

 

His shape was moulded by Nuwa’s own hands, a doll made who’d been enchanted and had fought in countless battles. But now, he was truly a living being just like his creator.

 

The man met Nuwa’s own gaze with a strong one. He instantly knew who this was, his inherent memories as an innate lifeform kicking in. Cupping his hand, the yet to be named nude man bowed first to Nuwa.

 

“Hello there child,” Nuwa said with a wide grin. Wheras Fuxi, Yuanshi, Minghe and the others saw a curiosity, Nuwa saw something greater.

 

“Hello crea…” the man stopped to consider his words. Nuwa raised her eyebrow at the odd silence. She wondered what could be going on in his head.

 

Soon, more and more nude men and women followed through to stand by him. All of them were innate beings, the first generation of a new species. All of them possessed varying cultivation levels. Only the first man stood at the realm of True Immortal Immortal. However, his physical body was exponentially greater than that.

 

“This one greets you, Mother Nuwa,” the first man said instead. Nuwa’s eyes widened in shock at this declaration of motherhood. There seemed to be a resonance between heaven and earth as he said so.

 

“Greetings, Mother Nuwa!” The people behind him mimicked the first man’s actions.

 

Standing across from Fuxi’s wielded out gaze, Nuwa shook her head in resignation. She didn’t truly mind, she was their creator after all. She turned around from Fuxi to give a glance across the entire Netherworld battlefield.

 

“Today I declare the creation of a new race. I dub mine creation the Human Race, the final path of reincarnation as the Human Path.”

 

“Thank you mother Nuwa! We are humanity.”

 

“And you my child,” Nuwa held the face of the first human who stepped through. She saw him as the remnant of her first batch of mud puppets, one that was charred. Within him she saw a great potential to control fire. “You deserve a name. I’ve been thinking of one for so long now.”

 

“Whatever Mother Nuwa decides is best.”

 

Nuwa grinned, “Welcome to life Suiren.”

 

The Reincarnation Disc roared in triumph. All six of its sections exploded in power, drawing primordial qi from across the Netherworld in. After the ritual was completed, the disc began spinning as well. It was a new chaos spiritual treasure, the first one born in the Primitive World.

 

Da Hai widened his eyes at the name spoken, he truly had no idea.

 

“Unacceptable!” Hou Pi shouted from across the battlefield. He raised his fist and smashed Grand Sage Zhu Jian in the head to throw him off. Then the hairy ape devil reached for the center of the Netherworld. “How dare you, how dare you innate filth. How dare you take away our hope?”

 

Da Hai scoffed at what he was seeing. “Hou Pi, how sad it is for you to fall to Luohu’s delusions.”

 

“What do you understand? Your kind have only ever destroyed mine. Only Ancestor Luohu protects!”

 

Hou Pi turned his body into a massive giant. He made to smash the Reincarnation Disc to pieces. In his head, he only thought of salvation for the Devilish Dao. In his mind, the Devilish Dao and innate creatures were synonymous.

 

“ROAR!”

 

Hou Pi in a desperate attempt burned his own Nascent Soul for foul, more then that he burned his own existence. He brushed passed past several high ranking demons, divinities, and dragons.

 

Nuwa and Fuxi exploded into action by assuming their true forms. Minghe stayed back with the Reincarnation Disc and Yanluo, but Yuanshi drew the Three Treasures Jade Ruyi jumped into battle.

 

After studying in the Netherworld for so many years, Yuanshi’s Dao realm had also became truth making him a Primal Zenith Chaos Immortal. He, Nuwa, and Fuxi pushed the massive Hou Pi back from his charge.

 

“Innate filth!” He roared. But before he could act again, a flag pole smashed into his abdomen. His bones caved after the metal dug through his flesh. “GAH!”

 

Da Hai had an unsympathetic look as he attacked. His single strike crated a wave of power that extended pass Hou Pi’s body. That wave smashed into devil lines, killing billions of them in a single slash.

 

Only Hundun, who teleported towards the blast and met it with his own palm, was it fully stopped. As they watched Hundun’s back, the surviving devils felt truly grateful for his involvement.

 

But Hou Pi was not so lucky. Da Hai’s palm grabbed the ape’s head, his fingers transformed into serpents who bit down on the devil’s shoulders. Da Hai himself had grown to a giant matching Hou Pi’s height, his hair flowed down his back and transformed into hissing serpent heads.

 

Hou Pi glared at Da Hai hatefully. In the sea god’s grasp, he couldn’t move. “I should’ve known you’ll want to finish the job.”

 

“You blamed me, and by extension all innate gods for your traumatic past. I don’t begrudge you for that. The reincarnated godfiends of the first generation cared for nothing but cultivation. But do you hear the hypocrisy? You willingly joined under someone from the very same group.”

 

“LIES! Luohu is the only one who helped innate creatures. Without him, we’d all be dead.”

 

Da Hai shook his head. He could not believe how much of a fanatic this man had become. He could practically see the chain of events that occurred.

 

Hou Pi was rescued, and found a saviour in the form of Luohu. This convinced him that Luohu was the saviour, and since then he’d only been looking for confirmation bias through other innate creatures who naively believed Luohu had their best interest at heart. Reject all outside opinions, only accept that conclusion.

 

Da Hai pitied Hou Pi. He was like a cult member, utterly convinced in what he thought was the truth. Yet that pity was not enough for Da Hai to spare his life.

 

Hou Pi was a Primal Zenith Chao Immortal of substantial power. Da Hai didn’t originally kill him as that’ll risk a healthy ghost devil. But that would no longer be the case.

 

Da Hai’s snakes tightened their grip. The godfiend twirled the Xuanyuan Water Control Flag and raised it high into the air. This top grade treasure smashed down with full force. The moment it touched Hou Pi’s head, universes full of seawater condensed into its shaft and smashed together through the ape’s skull.

 

One of the oldest devils alive perished just like that.

 

But what’s worse. This entire time, Luohu didn’t even pay attention to Hou Pi.

 

…

 

As one devil died, another confrontation was reaching it’s finale. The Reincarnation Pagoda had stopped glowing. It’s doors hung loosely like a decrepit husk of its former self.

 

Wangshu’s body gradually let go of the chaos spiritual treasure. But inside, her incarnation and Mara were still facing each other.

 

Motes of light broke off from the cracked body of the deva turned demon king. Mara sighed sadly at how everything turned out.

 

“Deva, Asura, manushya, tiryagyoni, preta, naraka. A world away and they appeared too.”

 

“You speak of the Fourteen Realm’s version of perpetual reincarnation,” Wangshu said. “It is excruciatingly similar, but that’s because its a perfectly balanced system.”

 

The Reincarnation Disc in the distance had already stretched out its arms all across the world. It’s function in controlling the movement of souls were even greater than the Reincarnation Pagoda. When comparing the two treasures, it’s clear the disc was superior.

 

“You are mistaken.” Da Hai’s voice was heard by both. “Those names belong to another Chaos World. This is the Primitive World’s reincarnation cycle.”

 

The Reincarnation Disc looked like it was grinning. It’s paths each served a different direction for a deceased person to go in. Each decided by their accumulated karma.

 

The Heavenly God path stood at the highest point. Those sorted here became celestial life forms at birth. That was to say innate lifeforms formed by heaven and earth. Second order celestial beings who’s not bound by the Five Elements, they could be anywhere between Heavenly Immortal realm and True Immortal realm.

 

The second was the Earthly God path. Those sorted here were also innate lifeforms. But they fell below the Immortal Tribulation, being born within the mortal realms of cultivation. Nevertheless, they would also be deific creatures compared to an ordinary mortal.

 

Third and fourth were together the mortal paths of cultivation, Human and Animal path. The Animal path included all decedents of innate creature clans while the Human path was exclusive to humanity.

 

As for the final paths, they belonged to the realm of death. The Ghostly path, purely spiritual beings who could not return to the state of living. Yet they also exist as a form of life. Unlike the others, their destinies are yet to be decided.

 

The Hell path was not like the others. It was exclusively a prison, a domain of punishment designed to be penance for those with great karmic sin. Over time, denizens of path would wash away their karmic sins and reenter perpetual reincarnation.

 

“I’m…sorry…brother Luohu…Despite…your best efforts…I…could…not…”

 

Mara’s form crumbled away fully before he could finish his speech. Motes of light dissipated signifying the end of a truly ancient being.

 

“NO!” Luohu’s cries could be heard even outside the Immortal Extermination Formation. Despite the pressure offered by the Four Symbols Formation, Luohu was shifting his own to slide out from underneath.

 

Nuwa, Fuxi, followed by Suiren flew into the air beside Da Hai. They were curious to the next course of action. For all intents and purposes, they’d won. The logical next move would be to clean up all the devils.

 

As for Da Hai, he grinned maniacally in Luohu’s direction. After every important action has been completed. Da Hai felt he could finally give his all to complete his wish. The demise of Luohu. He didn’t even answer the sibling innate gods before heading towards the Immortal Extermination Formation.

 

Within said formation, Zulong laughed joyfully. He was injured, blood leaked from gaps in his scales. The Heavenly Cloud Gathering Sword in his claw was constantly being used to beat back enemy sword light. But he felt fully confident for the first time in a long time.

 

“Come join the fun master. We’ll kill this fucker together!

 

“Hm?”

 

Even within the formation, Zulong’s senses picked up a signal. A very distinct power heading towards the Netherworld. He grew angry as a result.

 

“Jiang Koilong, after all this time, now you show your face?” The Dragon Sovereign thought back to when he commanded all his troops to march for the Netherworld. But one of the greatest dragons of all time, Jiang Koilong never arrived. “You better have an appropriate explanation for this tardiness.”