Chapter 49

This prompted many Witch Clan disciples to follow suit. Though their training was far from orthodox and even somewhat distorted, it truly raised the overall strength of the Witch Clan by a considerable margin.

"At last, I've gathered them all."

Tai Cang had no time to concern himself with anything else. He walked straight to the vessel filled with Earth Essence, a faint smile curling his lips as he prepared to condense the Supreme Earth Flower.

With the Ancestral Witches absent, there was no need to rush the refinement of the Bloodline Pills.

"Who's there?!"

Suddenly, Tai Cang frowned and turned toward the hall entrance. "Since you're here, why not come in for a talk?"

Footsteps drew closer. A figure hesitated briefly at the doorway before finally stepping inside with resolve.

The hall doors closed, and Great Witch Hou Hao appeared before Tai Cang. He cupped his hands and said, "Brother Tai Cang, we meet again."

"I came this time to ask for one thing. I wonder if you might grant it?"

Hou Hao!

It was actually him!

A sharp glint flashed through Tai Cang's eyes. He had not expected the person who had come seeking him in secret to be Hou Hao.

When they had first met, this man had seemed quite honest and utterly loyal to the Twelve Ancestral Witches. Yet he had now come to him behind their backs, clearly with less-than-simple intentions.

"What is it?"

Tai Cang did not agree immediately. He gave Hou Hao an indifferent glance and casually put away the vessel containing the Earth Essence. Before he knew whether Hou Hao was friend or foe, he could not trust him lightly, especially when the condensation of the Supreme Earth Flower was involved.

"Bloodline Pills."

Hou Hao licked his lips and spoke bluntly. "The number of Bloodline Pills you refined should be greater than the amount you handed over to the Ancestral Witches. That much could be inferred from Xing Tian announcing his secluded cultivation."

"I hope you can save a few for me. I'm willing to pay any price."

Bloodline Pills?

So that was it!

This man was no longer satisfied with his current position.

Tai Cang chuckled softly, instantly seeing through Hou Hao's intentions. However, unlike his equal exchange with Xing Tian, Hou Hao possessed nothing that Tai Cang needed.

"I refuse."

He answered decisively, "You have nothing worth trading for."

"Besides, do you think the Ancestral Witches do not know that I refined extra Bloodline Pills? Yet they will not fall out with me over it, because the Witch Clan needs me. It is merely an exchange of interests between us."

"Great Witch Hou Hao, if there is nothing else, please leave. If Hou Yi returns, I'm afraid you will have difficulty explaining yourself."

Hou Hao's expression changed drastically at those words.

He knew that obtaining Bloodline Pills from Tai Cang was no longer possible.

Yet the unwillingness in his heart spread like wildfire.

As a top-tier Great Witch, his status had remained stagnant even as powerful figures of his generation rose one after another. Hou Yi, Xing Tian, Da Yi, Chi You, Kuafu, and the others all surpassed him greatly in both strength and reputation.

Without breaking the shackles of his bloodline, and without Bloodline Pills, he would have almost no chance of making another breakthrough.

"Tai Cang!"

Hou Hao gritted his teeth, his voice trembling. "Is there truly no room for negotiation?"

"None."

Tai Cang's gaze was cold. "You and I have no friendship. We can only discuss benefits."

"When you possess the capital for a trade, you may come find me at any time. I have no shortage of Bloodline Pills."

He had not entirely closed the door, yet he had already crushed Hou Hao's hopes.

Tai Cang studied Hou Hao with interest, wanting to see what price this man would be willing to pay for Bloodline Pills.

As long as Hou Hao could produce terms that satisfied him, this deal was not impossible. After all, Bloodline Pills were of little use to Tai Cang now.

Hou Hao clenched his teeth fiercely and solemnly cupped his hands toward Tai Cang. "In that case, I will come find you another day."

With that, he turned to leave.

"Wait!"

With a flick of Tai Cang's sleeve, a communication jade talisman flew toward Hou Hao. "If you obtain something that can move me, crush this talisman. You will have only one chance—if it does not catch my eye, our connection ends there."

"Understood!"

Hou Hao swiftly tucked the jade talisman into his robes and rushed out of the hall without looking back.

Tai Cang did not take this little incident to heart.

After Hou Hao left, he waved his hand and set up a spatial barrier. Then he sat cross-legged and took out the vessel filled with Earth Essence.

With a low shout, the instant the seal opened, vast Earth Essence erupted forth. Tai Cang formed seals with both hands, his magic power transforming into threads that drew the essence into his body as the cultivation method for the Supreme Earth Flower began to circulate.

The hall returned to silence.

As time passed, more and more Earth Essence surged into his sea of consciousness. The phantom of the nine-petal Earth Flower gradually transformed—ten petals, eleven petals, until it reached the complete twelve petals!

Boom—

The instant the twelve-petal Earth Flower took shape, all the remaining essence was devoured. An unusual fruit quietly condensed at its center, continuously drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth as it solidified. Though its use was unknown for now, it gave off a heart-palpitating aura.

The task was complete.

Feeling his magic power increase a hundredfold, Tai Cang put away the Earth Flower with satisfaction. He then took out the blood essence of the Twelve Ancestral Witches. His gaze swept across the mountain-like pile of heavenly treasures, and the Three-legged Cauldron crashed down onto the floor as the refinement of Bloodline Pills began once more.

Several months passed in the blink of an eye.

"The pills are complete!"

After casting the final hand seal, Tai Cang skillfully sealed the pills into jade bottles. His own portion still lay quietly within the cauldron.

"Fellow Daoist Tai Cang!"

Chi You's urgent shout shattered the silence. The Great Witch hurried inside, cold sweat beading on his forehead. "Come with me and save an Ancestral Witch!"

"An Ancestral Witch is injured?"

Tai Cang's pupils contracted. With a wave of his hand, he put away the pill cauldron and the barrier, then flashed to Chi You's side. "Which Ancestral Witch is in trouble?"

Stormy waves rose in his heart—the Supreme Earth Flower had only just been condensed, and the Ancestral Witches had already returned in defeat?

"Talk as we go!" Chi You grabbed Tai Cang and rushed outside. "The other Ancestral Witches are unharmed. Only Ancestral Witch Houtu has been critically wounded and is on the verge of death!"

"Pan Wang is insidious and cunning. After separating the Ancestral Witches, he defeated them one by one. But Dijiang and the others were too powerful, so Pan Wang ambushed Ancestral Witch Houtu, leaving her unconscious even now."

"Based on what you told Hou Yi before, the Ancestral Witches believe Houtu may have been poisoned by Gu. Otherwise, with Ancestral Witch Cangming's control over the Law of Poison, it would be impossible for him to be unable to treat her."

In recent years, the Primordial World had been in constant turmoil. Pan Wang had not only attacked the Witch Clan, but also the Demon Race. Many great powers of the Primordial World had fallen victim to his poison.

"Attacking both the Witch Clan and Demon Race!"

"Bringing disaster upon the great powers of the Primordial World."

Tai Cang revealed a shocked expression, unable to understand Pan Wang's actions. Logically, since Pan Wang had chosen to scheme in secret, he should have had a meticulous plan. Why had he suddenly become so high-profile?

What puzzled him even more was why the Ancestral Witches had sought help from him, a mere Grand Unity Golden Immortal, when Houtu had been afflicted by Gu poison.

"Great Witch Chi You, I..." Tai Cang had just begun to ask when a shout interrupted him.

"Tai Cang, you've finally come!"

In the blink of an eye, the two had arrived outside Pangu Hall. Zhurong and the other Ancestral Witches, who had been waiting for a long time, hurried forward. "Little Friend Tai Cang, come inside quickly."

Without allowing him to say anything, they brought Tai Cang into the hall and directly to the side of the enormous Pangu Blood Pool. Numerous Ancestral Witches and top-tier Great Witches had gathered there, pouring innate turbid qi into the pool with all their strength.

Ancestral Witch Houtu's body in the pool was covered in strange purple patterns. Though they were being suppressed by the turbid qi, they continued to erode her body.

Gu poison! Tai Cang's heart jolted.

Houtu's condition was even more severe than he had imagined. Countless tiny Gu insects were gnawing away at the Ancestral Witch's body.

"Little Friend Tai Cang," Dijiang said, "please use your divine sense to inspect Houtu's condition."

Everyone present looked at him expectantly.

"Understood." Tai Cang immediately grasped their meaning. The Ancestral Witches needed to rely on his divine sense to determine the source of the Gu poison.

The moment his divine sense reached Houtu's body, Tai Cang's expression changed drastically—the densely packed Gu insects could actually devour even an Ancestral Witch's flesh and blood!

The innate turbid qi seemed to be suppressing the Gu insects from outside, but they had in fact already silently infiltrated Houtu's body. Worse still, not only was the innate turbid qi unable to restrain them, it instead stimulated their ferocity, making them increasingly violent.

"Incredible!"

Pan Wang had truly developed Gu insects specifically meant to target the Ancestral Witches.

Tai Cang abruptly opened his eyes and shouted urgently, "Stop at once! Do not send any more innate turbid qi into Ancestral Witch Houtu. It will only worsen her condition!"

"What?!"

Dijiang and the other Ancestral Witches were horrified, and their movements came to an abrupt halt. They stared at Tai Cang in disbelief. "Fellow Daoist Tai Cang, is that true?"

"Has little sister Houtu's injury worsened?"

"What exactly did you discover, Fellow Daoist?"

The Ancestral Witches and Great Witches present all looked anxious. Houtu was one of the Twelve Ancestral Witches. If anything happened to her, the Witch Clan would not only lose a powerful general, but the foundation of the Twelve Heavenly Gods and Demons Array would also be shaken—this was the Witch Clan's greatest means of standing against the Saints.

"Everyone, listen."

Tai Cang did not dare delay and said bluntly, "Not only are these Gu insects unafraid of innate turbid qi, they are instead strengthened by it. The Gu insects within Ancestral Witch Houtu are now running rampant and have invaded her internal organs, limbs, and bones. If they are not removed quickly, even an Ancestral Witch's body may not be enough to save her life."

The entire hall was shocked by his words.

Dijiang flew into a rage and rose abruptly. "Pan Wang, you old bastard! I swear I will take your life!"

"Chi You, escort Fellow Daoist Tai Cang out. We need to discuss our countermeasures."

"Yes!"

Though Chi You was full of doubts, he still accepted respectfully. "Brother Tai Cang, please come with me."

Tai Cang hesitated briefly, then cupped his hands toward Dijiang. "Ancestral Witch Dijiang, I shall take my leave." As he spoke, he took out the jade bottle containing Bloodline Pills and tossed it to Dijiang. "Until we meet again."

After leaving Pangu Hall, Tai Cang rode a cloud directly toward the East Sea. The ancestral land of the human race was there, and he intended to spread martial arts among them and use the power of all living beings to perfect the Supreme Human Flower.

After Tai Cang departed, Zhu Jiuyin and the other Ancestral Witches asked in confusion, "Big Brother, why did you let him leave? Could it be that you already have a way to save her?"

"Kill Pan Wang!"

A cold gleam flashed through Dijiang's eyes. "Since the Gu insects were refined by Pan Wang, killing his true body will naturally undo the Gu poison. That old demon has enraged the cultivators of the Primordial World through cultivating the Myriad Poisons Gu Technique. Now is the perfect chance to join forces and eliminate him."

Tai Cang knew nothing of any of this.

After leaving the Witch Clan, he rode his cloud to the East Sea and successfully found the human race. However, their condition was far beyond his expectations.

Among a range of hills, Tai Cang personally witnessed a human child carrying a demon beast weighing a hundred thousand jin as he strode forward.

A Heavenly Immortal-level demon beast was besieged by several sturdy human men and ultimately became food.

Even some Cang Immortal-level demon beasts were forced to flee under the encirclement of human experts.

Yet the methods used by the human experts he saw varied widely. Some resembled martial arts, some resembled the Witch Clan's methods, and some resembled those of cultivators. Still, they had only learned the barest surface of each, like trying to draw a tiger by copying a cat.

I must have found a fake human race.

Since when did the human race become this formidable?

Standing atop a mountain peak, Tai Cang watched a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth kill a Cang Immortal-level demon beast alone, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

This was the true high-end human race of the Primordial World.

Even though most people could not cultivate immortality, the human race had already displayed might comparable to a lesser Witch Clan through their powerful bodies and seamless cooperation.

More importantly, the human race was more rational and united, and they possessed primordial spirits. This was an advantage the Witch Clan could never match.

The present East Sea had practically become a paradise for the human race. Without powerful demon beasts harassing them, if they were given a few more yuanhui of time, the human race might truly replace the Witch Clan and Demon Race and rule the Primordial World.

"How am I supposed to collect Human Essence?"

"There's simply no way to begin."

Tai Cang frowned deeply, his expression dark.

He had originally thought that, with his foreknowledge and understanding of later generations, he could help the human race develop faster and thereby obtain Human Essence to perfect the Supreme Human Flower.

Yet now, the human race's strength far exceeded his expectations. Every one of them was exceptionally fierce.

"Fellow Daoist Tai Cang!"