A figure, as ordinary as dust, stood before the Wa Huang Palace and sighed, "Junior Sister Nuwa, we are both Sages. Why must you stir up karma in the mortal realm?"
Nuwa's phoenix eyes gleamed, and she boomed, "Senior Brother, do not make me lose my composure. Otherwise, I myself do not know what I might do."
Laozi paused, then said helplessly, "But the destiny of the Witch and Demon tribes was meant to be this way. It should be allowed to take its natural course."
"Heh~" Nuwa sneered, "Should it be allowed to take its natural course, or should it be sacrificed to further the prosperity of your Daoist sect through the mutual destruction of the Witch and Demon tribes?"
Nuwa flicked her long sleeves, and two bloodthirsty daggers appeared. "Today, I shall use my blade against you, the so-called Great Lord of the Profound Gate. To avoid being disrespectful to our master, I, Nuwa, hereby declare that I withdraw from Hongjun's tutelage and am no longer a fellow disciple of you Three Pure Ones."
Laozi was stunned. "Junior Sister Nuwa, must it come to this?"
Nuwa coldly asked, "Great Pure One, will you yield or not?"
Laozi remained impassive, his feet rooted to the spot.
Nuwa attacked instantly, her blade, honed to the extreme of the Dao, slicing through the Primordial Chaos and the four cardinal directions. Without the slightest hesitation, time was cleaved, and space was shattered. The two blood blades slashed towards Laozi.
Laozi's heart grew vigilant. He raised a finger above his head, and immeasurable Profound Yellow Merit instantly bloomed. A majestic pagoda, thirty-three heavens high, corresponding to heaven and earth, formed from Profound Yellow and imbued with merit, the first Postnatal Treasure of Merit, the Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Exquisite Pagoda!
The peerless blade struck the Exquisite Pagoda, unleashing endless Profound Yellow, and the solid golden light of merit blocked the terrifying blood blades.
Laozi smiled, "Fellow Daoist Nuwa, with me here today, you cannot go to the Primordial World."
A cold glint flashed in Nuwa's eyes. She no longer pressed her attack but looked down at her flawless jade fingers. Raising her Crimson Sleeve twin blades, she said, "The Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Exquisite Treasure Pagoda, impervious to all laws, difficult to ensnare with karma, stands in an invincible position? Unfortunately, Great Pure One, this is the Primordial Chaos, not the Primordial World. However strong the Exquisite Pagoda is, can it contend with the Primordial Chaos?"
Laozi raised an eyebrow. "Fellow Daoist Nuwa, please do try!"
"Who has time to slowly test with you here?" Nuwa flipped her hand, retracted her Crimson Sleeve blades, "I will shatter it with a single strike!"
"Cauldron come!"
Nuwa beckoned, and the Qiankun Cauldron, which had suppressed the demon realm, flew up and fell into Nuwa's palm.
Nuwa's form instantly transformed into trillions of trillions of immensity, surpassing the entire Primordial World. Even the true form of an Ancestral Witch would be like an ant looking at the sky before her.
She stood in the Primordial Chaos, her palms cupping the universe. Wind, earth, water, and fire rotated around her. Time and epochs cycled above her head. Beneath her feet lay the void where the four cardinal directions of the Primordial Chaos perished. The Qiankun Cauldron before her absorbed the power of the endless four directions, time and epochs, cosmic space, and everything else.
Laozi's clouded eyes revealed shock. He saw Nuwa returning everything to its origin.
All conditioned phenomena revert to unconditioned phenomena. All manifested worlds return to emptiness.
Nuwa used the Qiankun Cauldron to create a "Void"!
The Void, the beginning of heaven and earth.
The Void, the beginning of Primordial Chaos.
A "Void" manifested before Nuwa. It was "Primordial Chaos"!
Nuwa's eyes held supreme divine might as she looked at the diminutive Exquisite Pagoda. She slowly pushed forward the Void with both palms, very slowly, yet none could escape.
Nuwa said indifferently, "Primordial Chaos, explode!"
A cold light flashed in Laozi's heart. As a Sage, he felt a palpitation!
"Rumble..."
The entire Primordial Chaos trembled. Endless wind, earth, water, and fire raged. Endless time and space, epochs, and dimensions ceaselessly inverted and collapsed. Everything returned to chaos. All Dao and laws became nothingness.
The Exquisite Pagoda let out a mournful cry and vanished dishearteningly.
The Taiji Diagram appeared beneath Laozi's feet, forming a golden bridge that carried him like a tiny boat tossed in violent waves, lifted and dropped by wave after wave, swept away and pulled back, constantly tormented by the chaos.
Laozi had never been so disheveled, not before becoming a Sage, and this was the first time since becoming a Sage. It was the first time in his life.
Originally, if Laozi had exerted his full strength, he would not have fallen into a disadvantage so quickly.
But he had trusted too much in the defensive power of the Profound Yellow Exquisite Pagoda.
He had misjudged Nuwa, who, despite mastering the Great Dao of Creation, lacked powerful killing techniques. He had never imagined Nuwa could create a "Primordial Chaos" and detonate it. Even Sages would find it difficult to withstand its edge.
Nuwa did not disengage immediately, as the Great Pure One was merely in a state of disarray. If she withdrew, the Great Pure One would immediately pursue, and she would lose her chance to attack.
The only way forward was to press the advantage, capitalizing on the Great Pure One's loss of initiative, to relentlessly pursue and put him at a disadvantage, thereby gaining an opportunity to intervene in the Primordial World.
Kunlun. Yuanshi declared with certainty, "Fellow Daoist! You have lost!"
Qing Ling shook his head. "Fellow Daoist, you have lost!"
Yuanshi was startled. "Fellow Daoist, are you jesting?"
Qing Ling's eyes remained utterly still. He merely placed a stone. With a single stone, connecting generations, forming a cross, linking the four directions, the wind and clouds reversed, and the universe turned upside down!
At the summit of Jianmu, the dozen or so Great Luo beings besieging the Illusionary Annihilation Twin Forms Formation had already despaired. Without the power of the star formation, the Ancestral Witches would soon control Jianmu, leaving them with only the fate of annihilation!
However, this great formation had its eye set by a Sage's talisman. Although they were Primordial Great Luo beings, cunning and experienced, they had to break the formation first to annihilate a few mere Golden Immortals and Taiyi cultivators, along with two Sage disciples who had just entered the Great Luo realm.
At that moment, a lazy voice was heard, "Move aside, you are truly useless!"
The Great Luo beings heard this and looked back, only to see a hundred-zhang green python, barely at the Taiyi cultivation level.
Zhi, a newly ascended Great Luo from Xishan, saw this and shouted, "Not retreating yet? What is there for you..."
Before his words could finish, the great python slithered through the void and reached the vicinity of the Twin Forms Life and Death Illusionary Annihilation Array. Its body, long and distant, coiled around the array, including the ten Chan Jiao Golden Immortals within it.
Then, the emerald green on the great python's body began to shed, and streaks of golden light appeared. An immortal aura emanated from it. In the blink of an eye, the great python transformed into a pure golden python. Each of its scales was like a golden weapon, each scale bearing the imprint of years of refinement.
The golden python let out a sky-shattering roar. It slammed its head down, forcefully breaking the array's maximum limit.
"Boom~"
The Twin Forms Life and Death Array was destroyed!
However, the Sage's talisman remained undamaged.
But the array was broken.
The Great Luo beings stared in disbelief. Only Ke gasped in shock, exclaiming incredulously, "Could it be that you are our clan's first ancestor, Patriarch Taigeng!?"
The golden python flicked its giant tail, shattering the congratulatory cloud and golden lamp. The stars of the heavens once again shone brightly. It said leisurely, "Things have long changed."
At this moment, Patriarch Tai Li, far away in the Primordial Chaos, felt a shock in his heart and looked towards the Primordial World in disbelief. "He has actually returned? Or was he never dead?"
In another Primordial Chaos, within an ancient realm, atop a giant immortal coffin, sat an immortal body. It spoke in a hoarse voice, in the ancient language of fierce beasts, "Taigeng, no. It seems you and I have met the same fate!"
As the starry sky reappeared above Jianmu, the four guardian envoys rejoiced and each took out a precious talisman. With blood, they issued a decree, shouting, "Stars of the Heavens, obey my command, relocate!"
Four precious talismans flew into the sky, and four beams of starlight descended from the twenty-eighth heaven. The immense power of the stars enveloped the Ancestral Witches, who were filled with shock and rage. The five Ancestral Witches, including Jumang, were all teleported out of the Eastern Desolate Land.
If they wanted to reach Jianmu again, they would have to bear the pressure of Jianmu once more and traverse the path anew!
The six Ancestral Witches were furious. They re-entered the Eastern Desolate Land, faster and more urgently than the first time. The six great Ancestral Witches advanced together, using their powerful physical strength without reservation, charging towards Jianmu.
However, the four guardian envoys produced another precious talisman, calmly watching the Ancestral Witches struggling to advance, their bodies weary, showing no fear!
Kunlun. Yuanshi's expression changed. "I truly underestimated you, Fellow Daoist, and never expected such a piece that should have long died!"
"But the victory or defeat here no longer affects the overall situation."
Qing Ling let out a light laugh. "Fellow Daoist, you are truly jesting. In this vast game of chess, which part do you think you control? Everything before this was merely four words."
"What?"
"Feigning weakness!"
Qing Ling placed another stone. Spanning the northwest, all the black stones surrounded suddenly found themselves in a reversed offensive and defensive position!
In the northwest of the Primordial World, a golden light descended from beyond the heavens, enveloping the Great Annihilation Realm of Dijiang.
With a flash of golden light, Qing Xuan, trapped within, along with the Great Annihilation Realm, vanished into nothingness.
"Who is hiding? Come out!" Dijiang roared in anger. His six wings spread out, and spatial storms raged for millions of miles around him.
A figure stepped out of the void. His pupils were devoid of emotion. Even with a handsome face, he could only evoke fear.
"You! Impossible!" Dijiang exclaimed, "Weren't you in Kunlun? How could you..."
The emotionless being from the Primordial Chaos said, "I was indeed in Kunlun, but I am also before you."
The being from the Primordial Chaos emerged, stepping into the Primordial World for the first time.
Before this, no one in the heavens and earth knew of its existence, except itself.
Even heaven and earth had not perceived it, and Sages had not explored the boundless Primordial Chaos. Therefore, before this, the being from the Primordial Chaos was a most secret trump card!
The being from the Primordial Chaos swept its sleeve, and the Primordial Golden Dou enveloped Dijiang. The terrifying Primordial Qi suppressed Dijiang's body. He was already heavily injured and his strength was diminished. He had also been locked in a stalemate with Qing Xuan for a long time, leaving him with less than half of his combat power.
Dijiang quickly manifested his Ancestral Witch true form, flapping his six wings, attempting to escape the golden light's range.
The being from the Primordial Chaos said indifferently, "Since I have come, you shall remain!"
The Primordial Golden Dou shone brightly. The world power of the being from the Primordial Chaos countered Dijiang's Dao of Space. After struggling for a long time, Dijiang was finally absorbed into the Primordial Golden Dou.
Then, with an expressionless face, he looked at Qing Xuan and said, "This time, you should make your decision, shouldn't you?"
Qing Xuan sighed. "Fine, I shall do as you wish."
The emotionless being from the Primordial Chaos said, "This is what you should have done. As the future self, having severed karma, you should return. You have wandered for too long; it is time to go back."
Qing Xuan sighed, no longer speaking. He extended a palm, at the center of which was the blood from the Demon Summoning Banner. He drew a line across it, erasing the primal spirit's connection.
The blood fell to the ground. The Demon Summoning Banner sensed it. Qianyan Demon God perished in the northwest!
Qing Xuan exuded boundless emergent light and walked towards the being from the Primordial Chaos.
Just then, another light flew out from the ground. It was a nine-layered ancient pagoda.
The spirit within the pagoda spoke, "Fellow Daoist Qing Xuan, long time no see!"