Carefree Path of Dreams

“The Black Bird has been baptised in flames and will now rise from the ashes?”
The Marquis of Western Zhou looked at the tortoise shell in his hand and muttered. Suddenly, he felt sick to his stomach and nearly fell into a swoon.
“Father!”
Young Master Wu held onto the Marquis immediately and steadied him.
“We still have the army. We have not failed completely!”
“You are right!”
The Marquis looked around them.
“What is the current strength of our army?”
“The Shang army had swept in too rapidly and many of us did not manage to escape in time. We have around 20000 men left!”
Most of the casualties of this onslaught were Western Zhou soldiers, the iron pillar of the anti-Shang coalition army. More than half of them had perished in Prince Pan’s counterattack, which pained Young Master Wu greatly.
“20000…is enough!”
The Marquis gritted his teeth.
“Bring out the incense burner. I will summon our protector beast and call on it to destroy Shangyi!”
“Yes, Father!”
In fact, the incense burner was only an excuse.
The Purple Phoenix had witnessed the Western Zhou defeat and could no longer hold back anymore. It rushed out of the clouds and flew towards the Shang territories.
The Purple Phoenix was a large bird with bright and beautiful feathers. With a flap of its wings, a section of the Shangyi city walls collapsed.
“The Phoenix called over Qi Mountain. Western Zhou is the rightful successor of the heavenly mandate!”
Young Master Wu and the other soldiers looked on bright-eyed.
The Phoenix seemed like it was not satisfied with the damage it was causing and screeched. This drew in a powerful wind that rushed towards and threatened to swallow up the citizens of Shangyi.
Behind the Phoenix was a motley crew of demonic creatures. They were steering floodwater towards Shangyi in an attempt to drown the city.
“Ancient One, you dare Attack the mortals?!”
Fang Yuan had been waiting for this.
“You are a demon but yet you dare to intervene in the affairs of humans and their civilisations. You must be tired of living!”
“Swoosh!”
With a wave of his hand, four rays of sword light representing the classical elements of earth, fire, air and water stretched between heaven and earth. They formed the boundaries of an enclosure that had the Phoenix trapped within.
The Chaos Sword Array!
After focusing on his training for a time, Fang Yuan had finally completed his cultivation in the 4th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage. His skills were now comparable to the 7th Tier Illusionary Divine higher beings from before! He had regained his peak level of cultivation!
Fang Yuan now displayed his alarming prowess as a higher being.
The soldiers from both camps of Shang and Zhou were stunned. They saw a looming giant, who looked like he had just emerged from the wilderness, using the Chaos Sword Array to snare the Phoenix.
“It’s you!”
The Five Elements Phoenix let out a pained shriek. It sounded devastated.
“You just won’t let me off!”
The Phoenix knew that this was a matter of life and death. It shook its tail feathers which led to an explosion of colourful light that formed a wheel of light. It was an artistic conception of the Five Elements Cycle and managed to fend off the first wave of attack by the sword array.
“He is at his full strength!”
The Ancient One was finding it difficult to express the burgeoning despair in his heart.
“This world was supposed to increase the intensity of its rejection and suppression after that watershed incident…”
Although the Ancient World had once been a place suited for the development of dream masters, it was the work of the Ancient One. After the destruction of the Xia Dynasty, dream masters would no longer receive preferential treatment but would be handled in a harsher manner.
The Purple Phoenix body of the Ancient One had been planted during the battle between the Xia and the witch race. Not even his closest disciples knew of it. This was similar to how the Leader of the Hidden Dragon Guards had left aside the physical forms of Xiang Liu and Wu Zhiqi for future utilisation.
The Ancient One had taken a gamble by giving his body to this world and fusing his destiny with that of the future line of kings in the Ancient World. In this way, he had managed to recover his powers of a True Divine spiritual knight at a great cost.
Even though the Ancient One had been a Sage among the dream masters, he had no idea how Fang Yuan had managed to regain his full strength.
“You don’t have to know that. All you have to do is to die compliantly!”
Fang Yuan let out a booming laugh. In his giant physical form, he manipulated the sword array and caused a huge disturbance.
“Chaos Sword Array, reactivate the powers of the earth, fire, air and water!”
“Whoosh!”
Lights of the yellow, red, green and blue colours combined into a chaotic green mist that spread towards the Purple Phoenix.
The defensive capabilities of the Five Elements Cycle failed in the face of this chaotic power and the Ancient One had no choice but to beat a hasty retreat.
“Hmph…you deserve to die for choosing the evil side!”
Fang Yuan would not let the Ancient One off, must less the demons trailing in his wake.
“Kaboom!”
The green mist descended upon the demons.
“Whoosh!”
Many of the demons turned to dust instantaneously upon contact with the mist.
Some of these demons barely escaped the battlefield with their lives by disappearing into puffs of smoke.
“Retreat!”
The Marquis and Prince Pan looked at the penta-coloured circle in the skies as well as the chaotic sea beneath it and moved far away.
It would be folly to go anywhere near these phenomena.
They never would have thought that such a combination of beautiful colours could possess such terrifying powers!
“Is this the power of divine beasts and Sages?”
Prince Pan stared at the sight with his mouth agape. He suddenly turned to Ge Nie.
“I’ve made my decision. If the Shang Dynasty makes it through this crisis, I will build temples dedicated to your master all over the world! He will be worshipped forever!”
Prince Pan now regarded Fang Yuan as an ancient god.
In truth, Fang Yuan’s strength was not that far off from that of ancient gods.
At the same time, the War God Chi materialised on the other side of the battlefield.
“The affairs of mortals are self-determined. The heavenly will merely exerts a subtle influence. The more beings at my level interfere in mortal affairs, the greater the chance they have of incurring divine retribution!”
The War God Chi muttered as his gaze pierced through the heavens and allowed him to see the goddess Nuwa standing passively in the heavenly palace.
“Even the goddess Nuwa is remaining inactive despite seeing the rout of the Western Zhou army. You were too careless, Ancient One, and now you will be played like a fool…”
Still, Chi was aware that the Ancient One had no choice but to act in the way he did, for his fate was tied to that of Western Zhou.
“Hehe…to think that such a fate would befall you one day!”
Chi smirked as he witnessed the suffering of the Ancient One.
Although he was a new incarnation of the War God, he had inherited Chi’s mark and possessed all of Chi’s memories and feelings.
Chi had no friendly feelings towards the Ancient One, who had defeated him before and sabotaged the course of nature as dictated by the heavenly will.
“However…did Nuwa manage to see through him as well?”
The War God Chi gazed at the battlefield and smiled coldly.
“This is a battle between the two aliens. Let them fight it out…besides, the Ancient One has based his powers on the Five Elements and obviously covets Nuwa’s status…it would be a surprise if Nuwa did not already expect this!”
The Ancient One was still a True Divine spiritual knight. It would be very difficult for him to reattain his cultivation level at the Sage state.
He was once a Sage and knew how difficult it was to achieve that feat.
The only plan with a high chance of success was to for the Ancient One to make his move on Nuwa, whose powers were based on the five elements.
They might be on the same side but Nuwa would be happy to see the Ancient One become weakened.
The scariest thing was the other outsider Fang Yuan.
He seemed to have a good understanding of how things worked in this world. He had acted with impunity under the constraints of the heavenly will and exercised the right amount of restraint when displaying his power.
‘However, you will be helpless in the end. Nuwa will stand on the side of Western Zhou.’
The War God Chi looked at Fang Yuan worriedly.
“Earth, fire, air and water. The four swords, combine! Chaos…go!”
Fang Yuan did not hold back on the battlefield.
The four rays of sword light converged into one and unleashed the power of chaos. The ground gave way and formed a black hole that swallowed up everything.
“Smash!”
The Five Elements light wheel was unable to withstand the power of this attack and broke into pieces. Fang Yuan extended a giant hand and held the Purple Phoenix by the neck while his other giant hand grabbed onto the Phoenix’s wings. Fang Yuan pulled hard with his might!
“Rip!”
The Purple Phoenix, supposedly an auspicious creature to the people of the world, was split into two.
The mortals felt their blood run cold as they witnessed the gruesome sight. Even Ge Nie and Hei Zhong found it to be too cruel.
“Chirp! Chirp!”
A clear shriek rang out suddenly.
The torn remains of the Purple Phoenix exploded into colourful lights and gave rise to a perfectly whole Purple Phoenix.
“Fang Yuan…you can’t kill me!”
The Ancient One had not only made his secret preparations in this world, but he had also taken on the incarnation of the Purple Phoenix and intertwined his destiny with that of Western Zhou. Thus, he had gained the support of the fates.
There were many limitations, but at least it was not all in vain.
At the very least, Nuwa had no way of dealing with him. Until the Western Zhou state had been destroyed, his true aura would never be compromised no matter how many times he fell and he would always be revived.
“Success or failure, it is all up to fate! The Western Zhou state is destined to receive the heavenly mandate! They will become the future overlords of heaven and earth!”
Fang Yuan bellowed in reply.
“However, the heavenly mandate isn’t set in stone…just how many times do you think the energy of Western Zhou’s fate can protect you?”
The Ancient One immediately turned pale upon hearing Fang Yuan’s words.
“Prince Pan, if you are not going to attack now and wipe out your enemies, then when?”
Prince Pan heard a voice speak into his ear. He issued an order to his troops at once.
“Destroy the despicable men of Western Zhou!”
“Attack!”
The 50000-strong army, led by Lian and Er, charged in the direction of Western Zhou. The time had come for them to avenge their losses!
Upon clashing with the Shang army, the Western Zhou army suffered defeat after defeat.
It was now apparent from the circumstances of mortal conflicts that the heavenly will could undergo changes.
The Ancient One was taking it especially hard!
The Western Zhou army was falling back. At the same time, the Five Elements Purple Phoenix was becoming weaker and its tail feathers fell off one by one. The aura surrounding its body was dimming. Fang Yuan did not even have to lift a finger.
“No…”
The Ancient One let out an anguished scream.
“I’d spent so much time and effort to divine that Western Zhou would triumph and rule the world. Did I get it wrong?…No! Fang Yuan, you are ruthless!”
“Bang!”
Before the Ancient One had finished speaking, Fang Yuan threw a punch at him. The Purple Phoenix exploded.
This time, the colourful lights struggled to no avail. Only a remnant of the Phoenix’s true aura was absorbed by the shaky heavenly pillar of Western Zhou.
“My true opponent approaches!”
Fang Yuan had an imposing look on his face.
The divine retribution for his attempt to reverse the heavenly will had been unleashed!