Look in My Eyes

Inside Pangu Hall, silence was the eternal theme.

Di Jiang was still recuperating and had not taken half a step outside Pangu Hall. His younger brothers and sisters had yet to be born, after all, and as their eldest brother, he bore the responsibility of protecting them. Naturally, he could not leave Pangu Hall at all.

No one knew how much time had passed before a ripple broke the silence.

The ripple came neither from the blood pool nor from any sound, but from time itself. It was a ripple in time.

Zhu Jiuyin was about to be born.

Before he was fully born, the flow of time within Pangu Hall fluctuated, centered on his flesh cocoon.

At times it sped forward like lightning; at others it slowed to the pace of glue, or stopped altogether. The changes in the flow of time could be seen in the surging waves of the blood pool.

The fluctuations did not last long. After a crack appeared in the flesh cocoon, a figure with a human face and a dragon's body, scarlet from head to toe, stood before Di Jiang.

He skipped the process of emerging from the flesh cocoon altogether and went straight to the result: taking form, being born, and coming ashore.

"Father God Pangu above, I, Zhu Jiuyin, am born today."

The Ancestral Witch of Time, Zhu Jiuyin, had been born.

After announcing his birth, he too shed his true Ancestral Witch form and assumed an Innate Dao Body, becoming a man in scarlet robes with an ancient, imposing face.

"Greetings, eldest brother!"

"Second brother, congratulations on your birth."

Delighted to see his second brother born, Di Jiang immediately went forward to welcome him. He first gave Zhu Jiuyin a punch, then wrapped him in a great big bear hug.

Unlike Di Jiang's rough, heroic, husky-like personality, Zhu Jiuyin was deeper and more reserved, more mature and steady, and possessed more of an eldest brother's imposing presence.

His realm was the same as Di Jiang's: both his physical body and his Principle cultivation had reached the Great Unity Golden Immortal realm. Only his Primordial Spirit had barely reached the Early-stage Golden Immortal realm under the protection of the Nine-Grade Lotus Throne.

There was no helping it. The eldest and second eldest had been born first, and salvaging their Primordial Spirits to this extent had been difficult enough.

After a brief exchange between the brothers, Zhu Jiuyin's gaze settled on the smallest flesh cocoon at the center of the blood pool.

Pangu's Will had likewise left a message in his Primordial Spirit, and after hearing what Di Jiang had to say, Zhu Jiuyin's eyes filled with guilt.

As the Ancestral Witch of Time, he wielded the Time Principle and could "see" more, so he understood the weight of that sacrifice all the better.

Without this little brother, their siblings' Primordial Spirits would have been completely eroded by the endless Sha Qi and Turbid Qi, eventually merging entirely with their physical bodies.

That would indeed have strengthened their physical bodies, but without their Primordial Spirits, they would ultimately have been incomplete.

It was precisely that small flaw that would have kept the Twelve Ancestral Witches, who wielded twelve Principles, from ever fully mastering their complete Principles.

The progress bar could reach 99%, or perhaps 99.99%, 99.99999% at most, but it could never reach a true 100%.

"So the reason our Primordial Spirits were spared from the Sha Qi's erosion was that little brother shouldered the purification of this blood pool all by himself."

Zhu Jiuyin murmured to himself. For their sake, little brother had almost been unable to be born.

This debt of gratitude weighed as heavily as Mount Buzhou.

Just then, the other flesh cocoons in the blood pool also began to tremble slightly.

Though they had yet to finish gestating and could not be born, as the purification accelerated and drew closer to completion, the Primordial Spirits of the remaining ten Ancestral Witches had been preserved, and their consciousnesses gradually awakened.

Through their bloodline connection and the senses of their Primordial Spirits, they were now "seeing" and "hearing" everything taking place.

Thoughts intertwined and echoed through Pangu Hall, becoming the most resolute promises.

"Little brother..."

"We have to repay little brother..."

"Give him... the best..."

Zhu Jiuyin looked at the little flesh cocoon, a flash of resolve in his eyes. He too had made up his mind. Taking a deep breath, he punched himself hard in the chest.

"Pff!"

A drop of heart's blood, likewise containing the essence of the Space Principle, was forced out.

"Little brother, this is all your second brother can give you."

Zhu Jiuyin flicked his finger, and the heart's blood containing the essence of time became a streak of light that entered Xiang Dong's flesh cocoon.

After light, creation, and space, a fourth Principle imprint began to slowly take shape in Xiang Dong's Primordial Spirit.

But the sleeping Xiang Dong knew nothing of it.

If he had known that he had merely taken a nap and been forcibly stuffed with the essences of two supreme Principles, with another ten probably waiting for him afterward, he would likely have broken down on the spot and fallen to his knees before the Twelve Ancestral Witches.

"Brothers, can I call you brothers, all right? I helped you without asking for anything in return! You don't need to repay me at all."

"The best way to repay me is to do nothing at all, or kill me. Helping kill me would be fine too! Don't make me any stronger."

"I couldn't die to begin with. With more than ten more Principles bolstering me, how am I supposed to die?"

"Look in my eyes, tell me why?"

Unfortunately, his silent cries were destined to go unheard.

The ten Ancestral Witches in the blood pool who had yet to finish gestating and could not be born also wanted to follow their two elder brothers' example.

But their gestation was not yet complete. If they forcibly drew out their heart's blood now, they would only damage their foundations and might even fail to take form.

So, soothed by Di Jiang and Zhu Jiuyin, they could only silently gather their strength and strive to be born sooner, so they could repay little brother.

"Once we are born, we will surely repay him with our essences!"

"That's right. And little brother is too weak. When he is born, we, as his elder brothers, should naturally keep him safe."

"That's right. Whoever becomes little brother's enemy will be the enemy of us Twelve Ancestral Witches."

"Fourth brother, you got it wrong just now. There are thirteen Ancestral Witches."

Xuanming corrected him, and Zhurong realized, once reminded, that there were indeed thirteen of them.

"Oh, there really are thirteen Ancestral Witches. How strange. Why do I keep remembering twelve?"

"Your Primordial Spirit was probably affected by the innate Sha Qi, and your mind isn't quite sound. The message Father God left in our Primordial Spirits was clear: the twelve of us plus little brother makes thirteen, all right."

"Gonggong, why do I feel like you're insulting me?"

Zhurong felt there was something not quite right about what Gonggong had said. He had the distinct feeling Gonggong was insulting him, but he had no proof.

It looked as though Gonggong and Zhurong had been at odds since they were in the womb, already trading barbs before they were even born.

"All right, stop bickering. We should hurry up and cultivate so we can take form and be born sooner. That way, we can help little brother sooner too."

"Right, little brother is still waiting for us."

"Little brother, wait for us!"

"Wait until we're born!"

Thought after thought echoed like a vow, finally becoming the purest blessings and protection. They lingered around Xiang Dong's little flesh cocoon, forming an invisible protective barrier.

The Twelve Ancestral Witches, twelve demon gods—wasn't this another kind of supreme demon king's protection?

But if Xiang Dong knew, he certainly would not be happy in the slightest. He would only worry. He did not want this kind of brotherly affection; it was far too heavy.