The Devil Ancestor and the Dao Ancestor
The Purple Heaven Palace was Hongjun's Daoist temple, not a Sage's. After all, he had yet to become a Sage or move into Chaos; he was still within the Primordial World.
Hongjun's expression was grim. Looking in the direction of Buzhou Mountain, he muttered to himself.
"Pangu, it seems you really aren't completely dead. You showed up now to ruin my plans. Did you discover something?"
There was no clear answer to that question, so Hongjun turned and scolded the Heavenly Dao, which was shaped like a golden ball.
"I did so much, and wasn't it all so you could be perfected as soon as possible? But look at you! Hmph! The moment Pangu showed up, you ran off after him. Why did you even bother coming back?"
The Heavenly Dao said nothing, merely circling the Creation Jade Disc. Hongjun waved a hand and put the disc away.
You want it? Well, you can't have it!
When Xiang Dong controlled the light screen to appear and the purifying light of the Twelve-Rank World-Cleansing White Lotus dispersed the Tribulation Qi and Devil Qi, Hongjun knew something was wrong. An unexpected variable had appeared in his plans.
For his plans to proceed smoothly, variables naturally had to be eliminated. But Hongjun was always cautious in his actions, so before making a move, he calculated Xiang Dong's identity and origins.
Then he saw a flower wearing a sleazy grin and a brilliantly shining mass of light that made his eyes ache.
It might not have been out in the open, but it certainly wasn't concealed in the slightest.
Yet Hongjun felt things weren't that simple. With the aid of Heavenly Dao Power, he vaguely sensed that something lay hidden beneath that unconcealed surface, concealed there on Buzhou Mountain.
But Buzhou Mountain was a forbidden zone to the Heavenly Dao, and it had no access privileges. Pangu Hall was an offline private stronghold.
It was just then that Pangu's phantom came to back Xiang Dong up and lend him support. Although it was only a phantom of Pangu, Hongjun wisely chose to lurk without showing himself.
Hongjun had no idea how Pangu's phantom had appeared or why it was helping the light screen.
He knew even less about who had created and controlled the light screen, so he continued lurking and never said a word.
After all, if he made a move now, wouldn't he be laying his cards on the table and telling everyone he was involved?
As a result, things grew even more uncontrollable. What was this about the Heavenly Dao going to help too? No, Pangu was the landlord here! What was the Heavenly Dao doing helping him play a joker bomb? Weren't they on the same side?
The Heavenly Dao paid Hongjun no attention at all, seemingly afraid that Pangu might misunderstand.
With the Heavenly Dao helping to play a joker bomb, Ancestral Dragon, Primordial Phoenix, and Primordial Qilin, who should have fought to the last moment before slitting their own throats and returning to heaven, had all survived.
Not only that, their vows had given them the legitimate right to manage the waterways, Earth Veins, and regulation of Yin-Yang.
Those management rights were not to be underestimated. Although possessing them only made the three equivalent to general managers of a company, still working like oxen and horses for someone else,
they were the kind who held shares. They had a say and voting rights, and could at least look forward to the future.
But that wasn't what Hongjun wanted. The Dao integration he sought was total: everything under his control, rather than having to hand out power and hold an awards ceremony at the end of the year to give dividends to those shareholding workhorses.
Then what would be the point of integrating with the Dao? Wouldn't he have integrated with it for nothing?
What broke Hongjun the most was what Pangu's phantom had done at the end. He had not only withdrawn some of the merit from opening heaven, but also taken back a status.
In a perfected Primordial World, the Three Daos ran in parallel. One gave birth to two, two gave birth to three, and three gave birth to all things. Only then would the world thrive without end.
Thus, each of the Three Daos had its own reviver, spokesperson, or rather, agent.
During the time Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao had taken a liking to each other, he had also figured these things out. So he knew that Pangu had long ago appointed the Heavenly Dao's agent: Yuanshi Tianzun.
But Yuanshi Tianzun had yet to take form and be born, let alone become a Sage. So as long as Hongjun became a Sage first and integrated with the Heavenly Dao, one step ahead would mean every step ahead.
But now Yuanshi Tianzun's status as agent was gone, taken back by Pangu.
"So, the Heavenly Dao's agent now is that fellow hiding on Buzhou Mountain, is that right?"
The Heavenly Dao gave a definite answer: yes. As for who exactly it was, even it didn't know for the time being. It would have to see the person to find out.
"Since you're hiding, stay hidden. You'd best never show yourself."
Xiang Dong didn't know that Hongjun had indeed come to hold a grudge against him, though not because of the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
With control of the Heavenly Dao at stake, there was no way this feud could be settled peacefully. To a certain extent, it really was a fight to the death, which was quite in line with Xiang Dong's expectations. It was just unclear what he would think if he found out.
Devil Ancestor Luohou was another who, like Hongjun, had set his sights on Xiang Dong.
"Bang!"
Luohou smashed the stone table before him with a palm and sneered repeatedly.
"Good! Well played, Pangu! You actually had another trick up your sleeve. But don't think this can stop me. What I intend to do, even if you truly came back to life, you couldn't stop."
Though he said that, his plans had been thrown into disarray, and he still had to revise and adjust them.
His original plan had been to use the combined influence of Devil Qi and Tribulation Qi to make the three races destroy one another amid hatred and madness.
Then the three races' Essence Blood, resentment, and remnant souls would all become resources for him to refine the Zhuxian Sword Formation, helping him attain supremacy in the Demon Dao and even take control of the Heavenly Dao.
But now Xiang Dong's momentary inability to bear it had thrown his entire plan into disarray. The Longhan Primordial Tribulation, which should have ended with heads broken and blood flowing, had instead drawn to an early close in such dramatic fashion.
Neither he nor Hongjun had anticipated this. Xiang Dong's action had not only preserved the three races' vitality for the Primordial World, but also made the situation in the coming conflict over the Demon Dao increasingly difficult to read.
The Zhuxian Sword Formation that Devil Ancestor Luohou had prepared, as well as his plan to detonate the western land's Spirit Veins, had both nearly been ruined by this turn of events.
"The Zhuxian Sword Formation is still manageable. Most of it has already been refined. There are so many living beings in the Primordial World that, by secretly stirring up conflict among a few races, I can always finish collecting what I need."
It would merely take more time, and he wasn't particularly short of that. Besides, he was the ancestor of the Demon Dao. He didn't need to handle such a small matter personally; he only had to set some KPIs for his subordinates. The greatest trouble was his biggest fallback, which he had prepared in advance: detonating the western Spirit Veins.
"Now that Primordial Qilin guards the land's Spirit Veins and Primordial Phoenix guards the balance of Yin-Yang, detonating the western Spirit Veins is impossible."
With Primordial Qilin guarding the land's Spirit Veins, detonating them would inevitably alert it. Primordial Qilin might not succeed in stopping him, but with Primordial Phoenix regulating the balance of Yin-Yang as well, the resulting explosion would not be very powerful, and the causal Karmic Force it generated would not be enough to drag Hongjun down.
"So be it. It was only a worst-case contingency anyway. I can do without it. I, the Devil Ancestor, have no fear of a rabble like you."