The great wilderness was vast and boundless, cached with countless secrets that not even the mighty creators had fully identified.

The Mu nation was to the east of the great wilderness, and the Jin nation to its far west. There were five hundred million kilometers between the two. Tang Valley was at the foot of Sky Mountain, both of which were in the west.

Rushou and Dijiang were traveling side by side as the two were on friendly terms, which was why Rushou had asked Dijiang to come with him to pressure Goumang together.

“Who would’ve thought old man Goumang would give in so easily? I’d thought he would ask that Lie Shan to fight the two of us together.” Rushou was in an exceedingly good mood and looked merrily at his friend.

“With the Bell of Chaos in hand, even Leize has to give way before me if he’d come.” Dijiang smirked proudly. “What a pity that I need the bell to be able to fight him though, even at my current strength.”

“True… he’s part of the first batch of connate demon gods that formed in the great wilderness. They’re too strong!”

Deep reservations flashed through both Dijiang and Rushou’s eyes when they thought of Leize. The demon god was very strong and extraordinarily tyrannical in his dealings. He killed at the drop of a hat whenever he was displeased, and was in fact, more out of control than man of the hour Lie Shan.

“However—” Dijiang’s grin widened. “If I could obtain Taiyi’s true feather and refine it into myself, I’ll be able to undo the final restriction in the Bell of Chaos and fully make it mine. I’ll be able to kill Leize with a single blow then!”

“Eh?!” Expression freezing, Rushou played it off. “Surely you jest, fellow daoist.”

“I’m not joking!” The grin on Dijiang’s face took a sinister bent. “There’s a final restriction in the Bell of Chaos that prevents me from fully refining it. But if I obtain Taiyi’s true feather and change my constitution to be the same as his, I think I’ll be able to truly make the bell mine.

“Rushou, you and I will still be fellow daoists if you give me the feather. If not… you’ll be a dead daoist.”

Joviality sliding off his face, Dijiang looked coldly at Rushou.

Humm.

The golden Bell of Chaos suddenly appeared over Dijiang’s head and sealed off an area three thousand kilometers across. Rushou registered the developments with an ugly expression; he hadn’t expected Dijiang to scheme after the Taiyi true feather!

The two demon gods had been evenly matched before, but now that Dijiang possessed the bell, he was overwhelmingly stronger than Rushou.

“It seems that you’re not willing to hand it over… in that case, my fellow daoist will have to be a dead daoist! I’ll send you on your way!” Not giving Rushou a chance to respond, Dijiang abruptly shifted into his true form of a four-winged, six-footed crimson bird and concentrated the power of the bell onto his body.

“Die!!” Dijiang’s claw came down on Rushou’s head with inevitable might. Bolstered by the power of the Bell of Chaos, he ripped through the very fabric of the great wilderness. There was nothing that could be done to withstand or avoid it.

“Go!” Rushou pointed forward and shot out a thin beam of golden radiance. It pierced through the curtain of light created by the bell and contained Bai Zhaoju within it.

“My disciple, you will enter Goldflare Mountain upon your return and cultivate until you’ve reached the chaos realm! You will be the ruler of the Jin nation afterward!” Rushou’s voice echoed in Bai Zhaoju’s mind.

“Master!!” screamed Bai Zhaoju in panic. He could clearly see that Rushou was standing in front of Dijiang with arms outstretched, using his physical body to bear the brunt of the bell’s power so it wouldn’t hit his disciple!

The streak of light that was Rushou’s greatest treasure carried Bai Zhaoju out of danger and shot furiously in the direction of the Jin nation.

“Lie Shan! Save my master!” Something suddenly occurred to Bai Zhaoju and he yelled with renewed hope.

“Lie Shan?” Following through with his devastating blow to Rushou, Dijiang’s expression shifted. “So you’re here alright.”

Whoosh.

An enormous illusory Sal Tree of Life and Death appeared in the sky, enveloping the premises as hellfire blazed to life. Rearbow in hand, Lu Yun appeared and speared Dijiang with a cold glare.

A huge hole had opened in Rushou’s chest from the sudden attack and his great dao had been shattered. His life was hanging by a thread.

“Don’t worry, you won’t die. I can save you.” Lu Yun nodded gently at Rushou.

“Don’t.” The demon god shook his head. “The doomsday of demon gods is upon us, and only with my death will the Jin nation be spared from it. I thought I would die in the hands of the realm monsters, but to think it’d be because of Dijiang instead!”

“What about Bai Zhaoju?” Lu Yun wanted to clear up the lingering doubts in the air.

“Bai Zhaoju is my disciple, so of course I had to protect him. I allowed word to circulate that I would be using him as a cauldron for a replica, so that the other demon gods wouldn’t dare do anything to him,” Rushou sighed.

How inhumanely cruel must one be to refine their own disciple, to use him as a cauldron and strip everything from him? It was precisely this ruthlessness and cold-blooded regard of Bai Zhaoju as a tool that had saved the budding White Emperor. Otherwise, he never would’ve returned safely from the stars after he obtained the Taiyi true feather.

Anyone who thought of making a move on him had to consider the very real possibility of retaliation for coveting one of Rushou’s possessions. Dijiang had had designs on Bai Zhaoju as well, but hadn’t dared to do anything out of reservation of Rushou’s wrath.

It wasn’t until he obtained the Bell of Chaos that he dared show his true face to Rushou, but he, too, had been surprised that Rushou had covered Bai Zhaoju’s escape at the cost of his own life!

“What a thing to ask of you. Go in peace, I will take good care of the Jin nation and Bai Zhaoju.” Lu Yun nodded.

Rushou’s lips quirked upwards and his eyes slowly drifted shut, his soul scattering on the wind.

“Bai Zhaoju is my friend. I naturally have to take revenge for you killing his master.” Lu Yun stowed Rushou’s corpse safely away. “The little fox is one of my closest confidantes. You killed her once and took her treasure. I must also take revenge for that. So this time, there will be no quarter for you.”

“Hahahaha!!” Dijiang roared with laughter from the human’s declarations. “Lie Shan, you really are too full of yourself. Do you think you’ll be able to defeat me just because you defeated a crippled Asura?”

“Some things are only known when tested!” Lu Yun lifted Rearbow to a ready position, turning it into a streak of black light that settled on his body. Hellfire jumped with increasing ferocity in the air, poised to set the very air aflame.

……

“I… I see… so I thought wrongly of him.” In the Mu nation, sorrow flashed through Goumang’s face when he saw Rushou die. “Bai Zhaoju believed him, but as his long-time fellow daoist, I… I chose not to…”

……

The Mu nation of wood to the east, Jin nation of metal to the west, Huo nation of fire to the south, and Shui nation of water to the north—these nations stood in the cardinal directions of the great wilderness and were its four pillars.

Mu ruler Goumang, Jin ruler Rushou, Huo ruler Zhurong, and Shui ruler Gonggong were among the greatest masters in the land. Rushou’s death shook the great wilderness, and the Jin nation started trembling at the precise moment of its ruler’s demise.

Abject sorrow wrapped around the country and rays of blinding brilliance shone out from the mysterious Goldflare Mountain at the heart of the nation, enveloping the kingdom.

No one had thought that Rushou would die at the hands of Dijiang. They were both residents of the west and had supported each other against other demon gods when they’d first taken form.