Tongtian's strike had clearly been launched in fury, its power far surpassing usual!
However, just as the divine lightning was about to strike Qin Xuan.
"Spatial Transfer!"
Dijiang, who had been watching this side all along, shouted coldly as the law of space activated.
Light and shadow flashed across the field, and Qin Xuan and Yuanshi, whose neck he had been gripping, instantly switched positions.
The overwhelmingly powerful Shangqing Divine Lightning struck Yuanshi squarely on the crown of his head.
Pfft...
As the lightning faded, Yuanshi's scalp was charred black and smoking. He spat out another mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with incredulous bewilderment and... a trace of despair.
Tongtian: "..."
He looked at his own hand, then at the miserable Yuanshi. His gaze turned awkward as he scratched his head sheepishly.
Qin Xuan, meanwhile, lifted Yuanshi by the collar as though carrying a chick, pulled him close, and asked in an icy voice:
"Now tell me, who is Pangu's Orthodoxy?"
Yuanshi's entire body was wracked with pain. His mana was sealed, leaving him unable to move, while he felt the many gazes fixed upon him.
Especially Tongtian's awkward, evasive gaze. Boundless humiliation and fury surged through Yuanshi's heart, but what he feared even more was the undisguised killing intent in Qin Xuan's eyes.
Under the onslaught of humiliation, rage, fear, and countless other emotions, Yuanshi's vision went black. Even his Dao heart seemed to crack, and he fainted stiffly on the spot.
At that moment, unnoticed by anyone, a faint wisp of black qi silently slipped into Yuanshi's glabella.
Qin Xuan looked at Yuanshi, whose eyes were shut as though he had lost consciousness, and a cold sneer curled across his lips. He did not care whether Yuanshi had truly fainted or was merely pretending.
He raised his hand.
Another resounding slap came down.
That slap made everyone present shudder.
Too brutal...
Qin Xuan's ruthlessness filled them with dread!
Kunpeng, Jieyin, and Zhunti in the distance were especially pale, as if they had returned to Zixiao Palace and relived the terror of being dominated by that violent aura.
The unconscious Yuanshi was directly slapped awake by that sudden blow.
He struggled to open his eyes, only to meet Qin Xuan's icy gaze.
Seeing Qin Xuan raise his arm again, Yuanshi's entire body trembled violently. His remaining pride and dignity completely crumbled before the fear of death.
The plea nearly burst from his lips as he rasped:
"It's... it's the Ancestral Witches... the Ancestral Witches are..."
He was truly afraid!
Who was he?
He had been formed from Pangu's primordial spirit. How noble were his origins!
He could not die here. Absolutely not!
The title of Pangu's Orthodoxy, the fortune that came with it—none of it seemed important anymore compared to staying alive.
The instant the words "the Ancestral Witches are" left his mouth, Yuanshi vaguely sensed that something innate, a foundation sustaining his very existence.
Seemed to have partially snapped. An invisible force of fortune was rapidly draining from his body.
Taiqing and Tongtian beside him sensed it at the same time, as if they had lost something important.
In contrast, Qin Xuan and the Twelve Ancestral Witches simultaneously felt their connection to this Primordial Chaos World grow closer.
Immediately afterward, a profound piece of information appeared directly within the minds of Qin Xuan and the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
Qin Xuan swept it with his divine sense, surprise appearing on his face.
It was shockingly the top-tier killing formation of the Primordial World that should only have emerged on the eve of the war between the witches and demons—the Thirteen Heavenly Gods and Demons Formation!
He had never expected that forcing Yuanshi to acknowledge the Ancestral Witches as the orthodox lineage would cause this supreme formation, which condensed baleful qi, to emerge ahead of time...
Feeling the additional share of Pangu's fortune that had appeared within him out of nowhere, Qin Xuan's lips unconsciously curved upward.
In truth, he had never intended to kill Yuanshi.
Yuanshi had ultimately been formed from Pangu's primordial spirit and carried Merits of Creation. The karmic consequences involved were too immense. Not even Hongjun would dare touch them lightly, let alone Qin Xuan.
During the later Investiture of the Gods War, even after the Three Pure Ones had become Saints using the Merits of Creation within them, Hongjun still did not dare kill them. He could only use the Saintfall Pill to confine them.
If Qin Xuan truly killed Yuanshi, the monstrous karmic consequences would not only destroy him, but might even implicate his elder brothers and sisters.
Of course, his purpose in acting had never been to kill anyone.
Other than genuinely wanting to smash Yuanshi's foul mouth, he also wanted to seize the Pangu fortune of the Three Pure Ones.
The Three Pure Ones shared the same origin and had not yet gone their separate ways. Their fortunes were linked, so Yuanshi's words represented the Three Pure Ones to a certain extent.
That was why Qin Xuan had forced him, before so many mighty beings, to personally acknowledge that the Ancestral Witches were Pangu's Orthodoxy.
Qin Xuan held the badly beaten, barely alive Yuanshi in his grasp. His gaze was indifferent, and his voice held no emotion:
"Listen carefully. From today onward, we Thirteenth Ancestral Witches are Pangu's Orthodoxy!"
"If you dare use that title to deceive others again, then my thirteen brothers will personally pay Kunlun Mountain a visit!"
Yuanshi nodded with difficulty, his eyes concealing irrepressible humiliation and resentment.
He roared madly in his heart: Today's humiliation will be repaid a hundredfold someday! I will make Qin Xuan beg for death yet be unable to die!
Qin Xuan naturally sensed that hatred, but merely curled his lip disdainfully. He casually tossed Yuanshi at Taiqing's feet like discarded trash.
"Alright, the important matter has been settled." Qin Xuan clapped his hands and looked toward the Three Pure Ones. "Now, it is time to discuss compensation. You impersonated Pangu's Orthodoxy, came to the resting place of our Father God, and tried to seize the treasure discovered by us brothers. How should this debt be settled?"
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The moment those words were spoken, the entire scene fell silent.
Everyone exchanged looks, their eyes full of shock.
No...
He had already beaten them up.
He had already taken their title.
And he still wanted compensation...
For a moment, everyone looked at Qin Xuan with reverence and fear.
This man... was too ruthless. He absolutely could not be provoked!
Supported by Taiqing, Yuanshi trembled with rage. His face was livid, his knuckles white from clenching his fists, as he hissed:
"Why?"
"Today, my two brothers and I were simply inferior in skill. We admit defeat."
"You have already beaten us. What right do you have to demand compensation?"
Qin Xuan slowly walked over, folded his arms, and looked down at him from above. A faintly mocking curve formed at the corner of his lips:
"Right?"
"My words are right!"
After a pause, Qin Xuan continued:
"You disturbed Father God's rest. By all reason, you should have been killed on the spot. But I have always been kind-hearted and unwilling to create excessive slaughter."
As he spoke, Qin Xuan swung his arm up again, his expression cold.
"Now tell me, do you want to die or compensate me?"
The corners of everyone's eyes twitched at those words.
Kind-hearted...
Did he want to take a look at Yuanshi beside Taiqing, whose face was deformed and whose teeth were scattered all over the ground?
Seeing Qin Xuan raise his hand again, the last trace of defiance in Yuanshi's heart was instantly crushed by terror. Horrified beyond measure, he hurriedly said:
"We'll compensate you! We'll compensate you!"
"I... I wonder what you want?"
He truly did not dare say anything else to provoke Qin Xuan. All he wanted was for this fiend to let him go as quickly as possible.
Qin Xuan slightly raised his eyelids, his gaze sweeping indifferently over Yuanshi as he said calmly:
"The Three Treasures Jade Ruyi. Hand it over."
The instant those words were spoken, Yuanshi's expression froze. His hand suddenly clenched around the warm jade ruyi, and his eyes instantly filled with blood.
What kind of joke was this?!
This was the only top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure he could present with any pride.
Not long ago, he had even flaunted this treasure before these Ancestral Witches. And now he was supposed to hand it over willingly?!
That felt worse than killing him.
He wanted Yuanshi to hand over the Three Treasures Jade Ruyi?
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
Seeing Yuanshi's flushed face and ragged breathing.
Tongtian could not bear it any longer. He took out the Qingping Sword and offered it to Qin Xuan.
"Fellow cultivator, my Qingping Sword is also a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure. How about using this sword in place of my second brother's Jade Ruyi?"
As soon as Tongtian stepped forward, a glint flashed in Qin Xuan's eyes. This was a perfect opportunity to stir up trouble!
He deliberately drew out his tone and said teasingly:
"No way? No way?"
"Yuanshi, one of the mighty Three Pure Ones, cannot bear to part with his own treasure, so he is actually making his younger brother take the blame?"
As he spoke, Qin Xuan truly stretched out his hand at a leisurely pace, pretending to accept the Qingping Sword.
Zhurong, who had been eagerly watching the spectacle nearby, rolled his eyes and immediately shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Come look, everyone! A younger brother is helping his elder brother repay his debt!"
"What a moving display of brotherly affection!"
At Zhurong's shout, the gazes of the onlookers instantly nailed themselves to Yuanshi's face, their contempt utterly undisguised.
Yuanshi felt as if his face were burning, as though he had been viciously slapped countless times!
How could he still care about any treasure now? He was about to lose every shred of face he had!
He abruptly pulled out the Three Treasures Jade Ruyi and stuffed it into Qin Xuan's hand.
Then he turned and glared at Tongtian with bloodshot eyes, gritting his teeth as he growled:
"Who asked you to meddle?"
At that moment, Yuanshi felt a monstrous baleful aura rush straight to his head. His insides burned as his soul trembled!
Thinking that today's events would soon spread throughout the entire Primordial World, he could practically see countless beings pointing at him behind his back and mocking him...
In an instant, an utterly insane thought began to grow uncontrollably within his heart:
If... if this Primordial World were destroyed, then could everything that happened today be treated as though it had never happened?
He did not notice that the instant this resentful, maddened thought arose.
A wisp of dark and profound demonic qi, nearly tangible, had silently condensed into a seed deep within his sea of consciousness...
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