Zhunti: This Object Is Fated with Me! Xuanzheng: No, You're More Fated with My Construction Site!

At the southwestern corner of Buzhou Mountain, fiendish qi shot into the heavens.

A bottomless rift tore the earth apart. Ink-black Chaos Fiendish Qi, the golden light of World-Opening Merit, and the dense aura of the Origin of the Great Earth intertwined, forming an aura that was contradictory yet lethally alluring.

At the edge of this "chaos," two figures emerged from the void. They were Jieyin and Zhunti, who had hurried over from Mount Sumeru.

"Senior Brother!" Zhunti's perpetually suffering face was now lit by fervent greed. He stared fixedly at the rift, his voice trembling.

"Did you see it?! The fiendish qi of a Chaos Demon God coexists with the source of World-Opening Merit! This... isn't this an opportunity tailor-made for us?!"

If that fiendish qi could be converted, it would bring Sky-High Merit! If that source could be absorbed, the leylines of the barren West could be saved!

Jieyin's face twitched, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he struggled to remain composed. "Junior Brother, this is the Witches' territory. Look at them—they clearly dug up a hot potato. We should wait and see. Perhaps..."

"What are we waiting for?!" Zhunti flung his hand away. "Senior Brother! Such a heaven-sent object perfectly accords with the heavenly principle that the fated shall possess it! Look at those barbarians fumbling about—this is Heaven giving the West its chance for Great Prosperity! This object is fated with the West!"

Before his words had even faded, Zhunti had turned into a streak of golden light and flown toward the rift. He shouted with compassionate sorrow, "Fellow Daoists of the Witches, do not panic! I have come to lend you a hand and subdue this fiend!"

Jieyin sighed inwardly and had no choice but to follow. His junior brother's understanding of "fate" had always been so proactive and aggressive.

"Impudent! Who dares trespass into the forbidden grounds of my Witch tribe?!" Tianwu bellowed, sweeping up boundless gale-force winds to block the two like a divine wall.

"You misunderstand, Fellow Daoist!" Zhunti hurriedly waved his hands, his expression holy. "My senior brother and I sensed monstrous fiendishness here, with merit buried beneath the dust. Unable to bear seeing living beings suffer, we came specifically to help!"

At that moment, Dijiang and Zhujiuyin also "happened" to arrive. With a "grave" expression, Dijiang said in a low voice, "Fellow Daoists, this is an internal matter of the Witch tribe. There is no need to trouble yourselves."

"Fellow Daoist Dijiang, that is not right!" Zhunti pointed at the rift in anguish. "If such a fiendish object erupts, it will surely ravage the primordial world! Though I am untalented, I am willing to use the West's secret arts to convert it, resolve its fiendishness, and do my part for the primordial world!"

"Oh?" A clear voice with a hint of "innocence" rang out. Xuanzheng looked at him with a smile. "So what you mean is, you want this treasure?"

Zhunti's expression did not change. "Not so. I mean that this object is fated with the West and should be converted by the West."

"Hahahaha!" Zhurong's laughter shook the earth and mountains. "What a fine 'fate'! Looks to me like you want to rob us outright!"

"Zhurong, do not be rude!" Gonggong "chimed in" from the side, though he sounded more like he was adding fuel to the flames. "They are Leaders of the Western Teachings. How could they rob anyone? They call it 'conversion,' understand? They use magic to 'convert' your things over here, then 'transform' them into their own!"

"Pfft!" Even Houtu could not help covering her mouth as she laughed softly.

Jieyin's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, while Zhunti's complexion shifted between green and white.

Xuanzheng waved his hand, stopping the others' mockery, while maintaining his "kind" smile.

"Since Fellow Daoist is so compassionate, the Witch tribe is not unreasonable. However, our clansmen risked their lives to dig out this fiendish object, and dozens of warriors were even 'seriously injured.' If you want to 'convert' it with a word, you must at least give us an explanation, no?"

The [Karma Scale] silently appeared in his left hand, its beam swaying slightly.

Zhunti's heart skipped a beat. He forcefully suppressed his greed and pondered for a moment. "Fellow Daoist Xuanzheng speaks reasonably. If my senior brother and I can convert this object, we are willing to split the merit with the Witch tribe forty-sixty. We take four, and you take six. For the injured warriors, the West is willing to provide one hundred Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs."

"Forty-sixty? One hundred elixirs?" The smile on Xuanzheng's face suddenly vanished. He sneered, his voice quiet but crystal clear to everyone present. "Fellow Daoist Zhunti, are you trying to fob off beggars?"

His tone abruptly turned sharp. "The price of dozens of Witch lives! The risk of shaking Buzhou Mountain's very foundation! Is that all it is worth in your eyes? Are you insulting the Witch tribe, or insulting yourself?!"

Zhunti's face flushed red from being choked by those words. For a moment, he could not find a reply.

"Since you two are so sincere, the Witch tribe cannot fail to appreciate your kindness."

Xuanzheng abruptly changed his tone, and that "pure-hearted" smile returned to his face. Yet in Zhunti's eyes, it was more terrifying than a demon's.

With a flash of light from his right hand, the [Script Mirror] projected a glittering golden virtual contract.

"How about this? Sign this [Primordial Humanitarian Aid and Post-Disaster Reconstruction Labor Agreement], and this fiendish object, along with everything inside it, will all be yours. What do you say?"

Zhunti and Jieyin leaned closer to read it. It stated: Party A (Aid Recipient): Witch tribe. Party B (Aid Provider): Jieyin, Zhunti. Party B must provide unpaid service to Party A's 'Sky-Supporting Reinforcement Engineering Project Department of Buzhou Mountain' for one hundred thousand years, or provide three Innate Spiritual Treasures of equivalent value as compensation for Party A's excavation of the fiendish object and assumption of enormous risks.

"What?!" Zhunti shrieked, nearly falling off his cloud. He pointed at Xuanzheng, trembling with rage. "One hundred thousand years of hard labor?! Three Innate Spiritual Treasures?! You... this is not an agreement at all! It is extortion! Robbery!"

Jieyin's face had also turned livid, too furious to speak.

"You are mistaken, you two." Xuanzheng leisurely shook the [Karma Scale] in his hand. "This is an enormous karmic debt, clearly priced and fair to all. Either you leave now and have nothing more to do with this matter, or you sign this agreement."

He paused, his smile becoming incomparably radiant as he bared a mouthful of white teeth.

"Of course, you may also try... taking this 'fated object' from the hands of our Twelve Ancestral Witches."

The instant his words fell!

Boom—!

The space around Dijiang instantly congealed like iron! Beneath Zhujiuyin's feet, the phantom of the River of Time appeared, slowing even Zhunti and Jieyin's thoughts! Zhurong's Southern Bright Lihuo and Gonggong's Nine Heavens Weak Water wove into a deadly net! Houtu invoked the gravity of the earth, making them feel as though hundreds of millions of divine mountains weighed upon them!

Thirteen towering Ancestral Witch auras became thirteen pillars supporting the sky, forming an unshakable prison of laws that locked the two firmly in place!

That terrifying pressure made both Zhunti and Jieyin's expressions change. Their blood and qi churned, and their Dao hearts shook violently!

Only then did they realize in horror that they had not come to pick up a bargain. They were like two rabbits that had crashed headfirst into a trap meticulously laid by thirteen prehistoric ferocious beasts!