Hongjun Won't Allow Fighting? Then We'll Pluck the Demon Clan into a Protected Endangered Species!

Xuanzheng nearly burst out laughing.

Old Man Hongjun, did you think you had placed a shackle on my Witch Clan?

No!

You personally delivered a million-year... protection period to me!

You were afraid I wouldn't play big enough, so you personally pointed out a new way to play!

Inside Pangu Hall.

The atmosphere was so oppressive it seemed ready to drip water.

Zhurong's eyes were bloodshot as he threw back his head and roared,

"Old bastard! How dare you favor those feathered beasts so shamelessly!"

"This is too much!"

The towering black water swirling around Gonggong had turned the deepest shade of netherworld darkness. The killing intent within it made the surrounding space begin to freeze.

Dijiang, Zhujiuyin, Houtu...

The Twelve Ancestral Witches all wore faces as dark as water. The aura that had just surged from their sky-high merit had now entirely transformed into world-destroying fury!

All of Buzhou Mountain, which had just been a sea of jubilation, was instantly shrouded in utterly suppressed rage and killing intent!

"Big Brother! We can't let this go! I'll lead people to smash down the gates of that damned Zixiao Palace right now!"

Zhurong smashed the divine metal stone table before him into dust with one punch. His violent flames burned even the fragments into nothingness.

Dijiang's face was livid, and the space around him twisted violently.

Just as the Ancestral Witches' fury soared to the heavens and they were nearly about to charge beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens as a group.

"Oh my, my, brothers and sister, what's going on here? Why is everyone so fired up? Anyone who didn't know better would think someone stole Brother Zhurong's roast meat."

Xuanzheng strolled in leisurely, his signature "honest" smile hanging on his face, utterly out of place amid the hall's drawn-bow tension.

"Thirteenth Brother!" Zhurong suddenly turned his head. His bell-sized eyes were bloodshot as he roared at him, "You can still laugh? That old thing has already put chains around our necks! He wants our Witch Clan to be turtles hiding in our shells for a million years!"

"Turtles hiding in our shells?"

Xuanzheng blinked his "innocent" large eyes, and his smile grew even brighter.

"Brother Zhurong, what are you talking about?"

"Lord Hongjun is clearly taking pity on how hard we've worked repairing mountains, recognizing our great toil and service. He specially issued a decree approving an entire million-year... paid! Vacation! For our Witch Clan!"

One sentence.

The entire Pangu Hall fell silent enough to hear a needle drop.

Every Ancestral Witch, Dijiang included, stared fixedly at Xuanzheng as though looking at a madman.

A paid vacation?

What kind of fucking thought process was that?!

Dijiang's brows twisted into a knot as he shouted in a low voice, "Thirteenth Brother! Don't spout nonsense! With this shackle in place, our Witch Clan Destiny is constrained and every chance for battle is lost. What's there to celebrate?!"

"A chance for battle?"

Xuanzheng walked to the center of the hall and spread his hands extravagantly.

"Big Brother, my dear Big Brother! What era is this? Why are you still thinking about fighting and killing?"

"Who are we? Pangu Orthodox! Guardians of the Primordial World! A Heavenly Dao Certified super construction team!"

He cleared his throat, and a holy radiance of compassion for all living things instantly appeared on his face.

"The Dao Ancestor's actions have given us the perfect opportunity to show all the Primordial World the great ideal of our Witch Clan's 'peaceful rise'!"

"Since Old Man Hongjun won't let us fight a 'hot war'!"

Xuanzheng's voice abruptly rose, madness and excitement flashing in his eyes!

"Then we'll fight him in a... 'cold war' unlike anything he has ever heard of or seen!"

"A cold war?" Houtu's lovely brows furrowed slightly.

Xuanzheng snapped his fingers, his voice filled with bewitching power!

"That's right! We'll boil frogs in warm water!"

In a flash, he rushed before Zhurong, heavily patting his arm as hard as divine iron. He lowered his voice, yet every word rumbled like thunder:

"Brother Zhurong! The Dao Ancestor said we can't go wipe out the Demon Clan, but he never said we can't set up a 'Solar Thermal Energy Recycling and Global Warming Prevention Demonstration Project' beside the Solar Star, did he?"

Then he turned to Gonggong, his smile as sly as a fox.

"Brother Gonggong! The Dao Ancestor also never stipulated that we can't expand our business to the Four Seas, help those old loaches upgrade the 'Dragon Palace Undersea City Water Supply and Drainage System,' and incidentally sell them several thousand million tons of [Pangu Divine Concrete], right?"

"And culture!"

Xuanzheng opened his arms as though embracing the entire Primordial World.

"We can make up stories! Call it <The Daily Life of the Infrastructure Maniacs, Pangu Descendants>! Find ten thousand Witches with the loudest voices to tell stories throughout the Primordial World every day! Tell everyone how our Witch Clan works tirelessly on construction, while those feathered beasts of the Demon Clan idle around and fight among themselves all day!"

"Let every little demon grow up listening to our stories! Make them believe joining the Witch Clan Construction Team is the only way out in demon life!"

The Ancestral Witches were dumbfounded, utterly bewildered.

What demonstration project, what drainage system, what construction team...

Each term was stranger than the last, yet put together, they seemed to open the door to a New World!

Dijiang stared hard at this Thirteenth Brother, whose mind was far too quick to resemble a Witch Clan member. Though he did not fully understand, he had grasped the very core of it!

"You mean... we don't fight them, but use other methods to... play them to death?"

"Big Brother is wise!"

Xuanzheng slapped his thigh and praised loudly.

"Within a million years, we'll use technology! Engineering! Culture! Economics! To turn the entire Demon Clan into a useless race that can't survive without our Witch Clan infrastructure!"

"By then, forget the final battle. I'm afraid those two unlucky bastards, Di Jun and Taiyi, will be crying and begging us to acquire their shabby Heavenly Court!"

Dijiang fell silent.

After a long while.

He heavily slammed a palm against the armrest of the Pangu throne beside him, producing an enormous metallic crash!

"Good!"

"I don't understand this 'cold war'! But I believe you!"

Dijiang swept his gaze over the Witches, his voice decisive and carrying unquestionable authority.

"From today onward, we establish the [Witch Clan Million-Year Peaceful Development and Myriad Worlds Infrastructure Corporation]!"

"Xuanzheng will serve as its first... CEO!"

"We'll do whatever he says!"

Just then!

The interface of the Primordial World Bug Fixing Manual in Xuanzheng's mind suddenly refreshed!

A line of unprecedented text, flashing with intertwined crimson and golden light, exploded into view!

[ Ding! A new Destiny Script Level BUG strongly linked to the 'Heavenly Dao Shackle' has been detected! ]

[BUG Name: Solar Star Energy Core Imbalance (Hongjun's Blind Spot)!]

[BUG Description: Due to the Heavenly Dao forcibly imposing balance, the Solar Star's core has suffered a yin-yang imbalance, causing its yang fire to remain excessively intense. If this state continues, there is a high probability of triggering the calamity of 'Golden Crow Burns the Heavens.' At that point, ten suns will hang in the sky, and the Primordial World will become a purgatory! This BUG is the true core of the future Witch-Demon Calamity!]

[Repair Plan being deduced... Optimal solution locked!]

[Repair Rewards: Massive Heavenly Dao Merit, [Pangu's Eye · Yang Pupil (Fragment)], law-level item [Destiny Hook Lock] forging blueprint, Demon Clan Heavenly Court Destiny (30%, may be legally stolen through 'engineering collateral')!]

A raging storm instantly surged through Xuanzheng's heart!

Just when he was sleepy, someone brought him a pillow—and it was a Pangu relic studded with diamonds and jade!

Hongjun! No matter how carefully you calculated, you never could have imagined that the shackle you used to bind me would become the key I used to pry apart your script!

The smile on his face instantly vanished, replaced by unprecedented grief and compassion for all living beings.

"Brothers and sister..."

Xuanzheng's voice carried a perfectly measured tremble, as though he were suffering an immense backlash from divining the heavenly secrets.

"I... I just had a sudden inspiration and used my Pangu Bloodline to deduce the heavenly secrets. I discovered a... catastrophic calamity capable of destroying the Primordial World!"

The hearts of all the Ancestral Witches instantly leapt into their throats!

Xuanzheng pointed toward the sky with apparent anguish, his eyes filled with the resolve of if I do not descend into hell, who will?

"Those feathered beasts of the Demon Clan have committed an enormous disaster!"

"There is a major problem inside their own nest, the Solar Star! Its yang fire is too intense and could explode at any moment!"

"Once it explodes, forget the Demon Clan—even the entire Primordial World will be finished along with them!"

"What?!" Zhurong was the first to leap up, excited flames blazing in his eyes. "The Solar Star is going to explode? How intense must the fire up there be?!"

Gonggong gave a cold chuckle from the side. "It would be better if it exploded! Perfect timing to pour some water on those birdmen and cool them down!"

"No!"

Xuanzheng interrupted them with a face full of "righteous conviction," his voice powerful and resounding!

"Our Witch Clan is Pangu Orthodox! Protecting the harmony and stability of the Primordial World is our unshirkable duty!"

"We cannot stand by and watch living beings suffer!"

His gaze swept over every Ancestral Witch. Raising his arm, he shouted in a tone almost like a proclamation:

"I propose that we immediately launch—the [Solar Star Ecological Balance and Sustainable Development Assistance Project]!"

"To the outside world, we'll call it the 'Solar Cooling Plan'!"

"Not only will we go put out the sun's 'fire,' we'll also help them install an entire set of our Witch Clan's latest [Fully Automated Intelligent Temperature-Control Merit Grand Array], free of charge!"

"Let all races of the Primordial World open their eyes and see!"

"While the Dao Ancestor uses shackles to maintain peace, who is truly the guardian of this world, devoting everything to it... without asking for anything in return!"