"Once you reach Great Luo, with the past, present, and future all within your sight, you'll discover that the Primordial World is even more vast and magnificent."
"The River of Time flows slowly. Every instant that the Primordial World advances, parallel spacetime is opened and created within the void, evolving into projections of universes... It is illusory, yet also real!"
"Dreamlike and hazy, with infinite heavens... This is the true face of the Primordial World!"
Ancestral Witch Dijiang spoke in a leisurely murmur, stirring Feng Xi's emotions until he could no longer remain calm.
What a magnificent world!
Of course.
The greater it was, the more brutal the living beings active upon its stage would be.
Feng Xi thought of the ruthless figures in legend who had shouted about destroying the world and reestablishing the earth, water, fire, and wind. For example—
Rahu Mo Ancestor.
Lingbao Tianzun.
He silently wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Fortunately, their journeys of world destruction had been stopped...
Justice had defeated evil.
Reason had defeated madness.
But aside from those, what other grand events could shake the entire Primordial World?
The Witch-Demon War, the Star Array of the Heavens battling the Four Symbols!
Gong Gong's furious roar, ramming into and breaking the Pillar of Heaven!
The passionate performances of peak experts could make even the Primordial World—a supreme universe containing infinite heavens—face the danger of collapse!
So...
Just how powerful did they have to become?
Feng Xi yearned for it, yet at the same time felt somewhat puzzled. Without a standard for comparison, it was difficult to measure any of this.
Who could he provoke?
Who could he not provoke?
How could he travel outside without knowing where he stood?
After thinking it over, he earnestly asked Dijiang, "The Primordial World is so vast and magnificent, yet Rahu Mo Ancestor in the previous era possessed the power to destroy the world... How high was his realm?"
"The records within the Witch Clan clearly state that Great Luo is the ultimate achievement of the Great Dao."
"But I once heard some unofficial rumors of uncertain reliability—that above Great Luo, there are also the realms of Quasi-Saints and Saints."
"Something called Primordial Violet Qi, something called the Six Saints of the Heavenly Dao... I don't know whether they're true."
"Is Great Luo truly the ultimate?"
"And then there are the Orthodox Xuanmen and the Heterodox Paths... What determines the superiority or inferiority of the orthodox and heterodox paths?"
Feng Xi had many questions.
And perhaps only a peak expert of the Primordial World, such as an Ancestral Witch, could clearly answer them.
"Great Luo is the ultimate of the Great Dao. That is beyond doubt." Dijiang spoke slowly. "Rahu was actually merely a Great Luo."
"Even Pangu was only a Great Luo!"
"The limit of cultivation is Great Luo. That is the end."
"Great Luo is the end, but there are countless paths leading to that end. How vast is the Primordial World? The Innate Divine Beings it has nurtured alone number in the thousands, let alone the outstanding heroes and prodigies produced through the accumulation of time. With extraordinary talent and wisdom, each is a pioneer who opens a path and forges a bridge leading to eternity."
"However, affected by the environment, region, opportunities, and other factors, the systems opened under different cultivation philosophies naturally differ greatly. Even the divisions of realms vary widely. That is why some people started the so-called disputes between orthodox and heterodox paths." Dijiang smiled faintly. "In truth, they are merely disputes stirred up by people who failed to see the essence of cultivation."
"To create a reasonable and self-consistent cultivation system, one can never do so from nothing... It must suit the place and the time."
"After all, the resources that assist cultivation must be collected from the surroundings."
"If the system you create does not fit the environment... the path will be extremely difficult to walk."
Feng Xi listened and nodded repeatedly.
It was like living in an age of declining cultivation, only to be handed a technique that consumed enormous resources—thousand-year-old ginseng and ten-thousand-year-old lingzhi at every turn, with ten-million-year-old jade marrow being better in greater quantities... Yet if there were no spiritual medicines outside, what could you possibly cultivate?
Only by walking the path of unlocking the human body's potential and emphasizing the excavation of the mind's domain could one hope to achieve anything great.
Cultivation still had to follow basic principles!
Taking Heaven and Earth as one's teacher and opening a path would inevitably be influenced by the surrounding conditions.
"You have a solid foundation in cultivation knowledge. You should still remember the arrangement of the Five Directions and Five Elements, yes?" Dijiang asked.
"Of course." Feng Xi replied, "The east governs wood, the west governs metal, the south governs fire, the north governs water, and the center governs earth."
"In the eastern lands, wood vital energy is at its strongest; in the western lands, metal vital energy is at its strongest..."
"Good that you remember." Dijiang nodded. "But merely remembering is not enough. You must also apply what you learn."
"I'll use the differences between the east and west to explain a thing or two." He continued, "The eastern territories of the Primordial World are mostly dominated by Qi Refiners. They accumulate magic power, study divine abilities, and temper their Primordial Spirits... Among them, the techniques designed by the three Daoist Tianzun of Kunlun Mountain are the most ingenious and have faintly become the mainstream in that region."
"Why?"
"Because wood is strongest in the east of the Primordial World."
"When wood is dominant, vitality is strongest. There are more immortal herbs and spiritual medicines, so cultivators naturally focus on this aspect."
"They gather spiritual medicines, refine pills, swallow them to train their qi, and accumulate vast magic power. Of the four major domains—body, qi, spirit, and mind—cultivation of qi is especially prominent."
Feng Xi fell into thought.
"And the west?" Dijiang smiled. "I roughly know what you think. You believe the west is barren and sparsely populated... Right?"
Feng Xi said awkwardly, "I heard that Rahu Mo Ancestor ran rampant in the previous era and self-detonated before his death, destroying much of the western region's flowers and plants and leaving it utterly impoverished... Is there something wrong with that?"
"Rahu self-detonated..." Dijiang was speechless, his expression turning strange, as though he had recalled something amusing. "It is true that the western lands are sparsely populated, but it is not because of Rahu."
"It is because the essence of that land leans toward metal!"
"Metal is austere and killing by nature, and it restrains wood."
"Thus, although it is not to the point where not a single blade of grass grows, its vegetation is indeed much sparser than in the east... Consequently, it can support fewer living beings."
"From the perspective of many low-level eastern cultivators, the western lands are indeed desolate and barren."
"But do you know?" Dijiang said meaningfully. "The Dao Lineage sects of the west, such as the Buddhist Sect founded by Jieyin and Zhunti... every one of them is rolling in wealth."
"Let's set aside their teachings about the Seven Treasures."
"Just look at those Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats. Golden Bodies are everywhere. Those Golden Bodies even have countless arms, each holding various Magic Treasures, as if they wished to arm themselves to the teeth!"
"Tell me, is a Buddhist Sect like that poor?"
Feng Xi was at a loss for words.
Who would dare call them poor when they could produce the resources to equip someone with dozens or even hundreds of Magic Treasures?
Setting aside Innate Spiritual Treasures—special existences that could never be used to arm low-level cultivators—the Buddhist Sect was clearly extremely wealthy in other respects.
Feng Xi pondered Dijiang's words, refreshing his understanding and viewing the matter from an objective standpoint.
Suddenly, he understood. "I see. The west governs metal, so there are mines underground!"
"Their output of spiritual medicines is low, but their output of Immortal Gold and Divine Iron is high!"
"That's how they can equip so many Magic Treasures—just as pill refinement is prevalent in the eastern lands."
"Exactly." Ancestral Witch Dijiang approved of Feng Xi's answer. "The east has medicine, and the west has ore."
"Relying on the flourishing vitality of wood, the east opened the path of refining qi. In the west, most mainstream cultivation systems took advantage of the convenience of metal, explored the nature of metals, and emphasized tempering the physical body, pursuing a body as tough as gold and iron!"
"Even those who follow the path of qi will eventually refine a Dharma Body Golden Form... The word 'gold' explains everything."
The east had medicine, and the west had ore!
For immortal herbs and spiritual medicines, one should go east; for divine iron and immortal gold to forge Magic Treasures, the west was the best destination.
Likewise, under the influence of this overall environment, the low-level cultivators on both sides naturally walked different paths.
Of course, if a cultivator who refined qi and tempered the Primordial Spirit went to the west, he would inevitably complain about the scarcity of plants... But if one's specialty did not suit the place, how could the western lands be blamed?
It was like going out onto the ocean and complaining, "Why doesn't grass grow on the sea?"
Not a blade of grass grows—so poor, so poor!
The aquatic monsters and living beings in the sea—such as the Dragon Clan—would probably look over with an expression of concern for the mentally challenged.
Had they never heard that the Dragon Palace was filled with treasures?
Every region of the Primordial World had its own defining characteristics.
The people of a region were shaped by its soil and water; every landscape gave rise to its own path.
There was no strongest path, and no such thing as true orthodoxy or unorthodoxy. There was only whether it was suitable or unsuitable.
"Of course, if you insist on calling one path orthodox... then you have to see whose fists are largest." Dijiang said, "Whoever has the largest fists—his path is orthodox!"
"Who could refuse? Who would dare refuse!"
You refuse?
Then fight me one-on-one!
I'll hammer your head clean off!
The corner of Feng Xi's mouth twitched. He did not know what to say.
"Disputes over orthodoxy are really nothing special..."
"As for the so-called Primordial Violet Qi..." Ancestral Witch Dijiang shook his head. "You little fellows always come up with such strange ideas."
"You want to sneak into Zixiao Palace and claim a seat on one of its meditation cushions... Little do you know, the waters there run deep enough to drown countless people."
"The titles Quasi-Saint and Saint contain another mystery. They are part of the arrangement of an invincible expert."
"They are related to authority over Heaven and Earth, not to strength or realm."
"However, greater authority does make it easier to improve one's Dao attainment and become a stronger Great Luo." Dijiang glanced at Feng Xi. "You must understand that Great Luo experts are not all the same. The difference in strength may be like Heaven and Earth—some Great Luo are called Pangu, while others are nothing more than stray cats and dogs, completely unworthy of mention."
"That is why some Great Luo can create the heavens and destroy the world, while others—such as the Three Thousand Demon Gods of the Chaos—could only be slaughtered one-sidedly, without anyone even caring about their names."
"Like now, when one stray cat or dog is using his own life to verify this principle."
Ancestral Witch Dijiang's tone remained calm.
"???"
"!!!"
Feng Xi froze at first, unable to process it.
Then his expression changed drastically—he understood the meaning of that final sentence.
Enemies had launched an attack!
The instant that thought flashed through his mind, a sudden change occurred.
"Wuu!"
A strange wind howled. The dimensions of the void trembled, and the ceremonial procession accompanying the Ancestral Witch was suddenly attacked.
"Roar!!"
"Shriek!"
"Chirp!"
Countless vicious birds and demon beasts formed a vast, unbroken army. They charged out from the cracks that had opened in the void, killing their way toward this place!
Without a doubt, this was an elite army of monsters and spirits. They had been lying in ambush here, waiting for a long time!
Some vicious birds and demon beasts were as small as dust, moving stealthily with the intent of killing the soldiers who had formed the array. Others were as enormous as mountains and rivers, stirring the void with every movement and spitting out innate divine abilities such as raging winds and blazing flames. Through wondrous coordination and the command of an array, their power multiplied several times or even tenfold. In an instant, they were about to drown this place and destroy the Ancestral Witch's procession.
The strength of these monsters and spirits varied greatly. The weak possessed no more than True Immortal-level cultivation, while the powerful had even reached the Taiyi level... As they moved, each seemed like a real universe crashing forward, burning everything it possessed and displaying the splendor of a universe's birth in an instant and its final elegy at the moment of destruction!
The soldiers charged to their deaths like a suicide squad, launching a desperate assault at any cost!
It was easy to imagine that if they succeeded, and members of the Witch Clan's force died and were sacrificed so soon after the diplomatic visit began, what a tremendous blow it would deal to the morale of the entire Witch Clan and to the diplomatic actions that followed!
The Witch Clan could neither tolerate nor accept this. They had to achieve a complete victory.
"Form up in the north and command Xuanwu!"
At this moment, a Great Witch protecting Houtu's procession issued a cold order. A battle flag rose high, and one hundred thousand elite Lesser Witches instantly shifted formation. Their blood-forged baleful aura surged into the sky, resonating with the Xuanwu Seven Lodges among the Zhou Heavenly Stars and commanding the laws of the northern land. They manifested winter's extreme cold, and in an instant, an incomparably enormous phantom of Xuanwu took shape, shrouding the area and forcibly withstanding all the divine attacks!
Countless birds, beasts, monsters, and spirits charged forward, only to be struck by a boundless, powerful, sinisterly cold force. Their bodies exploded, their flesh turning into ice fragments that flew in every direction.
And this was not the end.
"Form up in the east and command the Azure Dragon!"
"Form up in the south and command the Vermilion Bird!"
"Form up in the west and command the White Tiger!"
Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Xuanwu... the Four Symbols Battle Array swept through the eight directions!
Starlight shone and scattered, while spring, summer, autumn, and winter cycled in turn. The mysteries of time and space unfolded within it. This was one of the killing arrays created by the Ancestral Witches for the Witch Clan.
The moment the battle array began operating, it had already achieved results. Forty thousand Golden Immortals formed the array, and even though countless monster and spirit troops charged in, they were all crushed into powder!
Even Taiyi-level monsters and spirits became trapped within the array and could not escape... Those four battle flags were no ordinary objects. Once combined into an array, they became even more ferocious and terrifying!
The Great Witch experts did not even need to act. The monsters and spirits were refined to death alive, their skin stripped and bones dismantled through a fully automatic process. Their Dao Fruits and Primordial Spirits were extracted onto the battle flags, while their flesh, bones, and Blood Qi were refined into pure Vital Energy and distributed among every Witch Clan soldier, increasing their cultivation.
The Great Dao of Slaughter that allowed them to level up by killing monsters meant that the Witch Clan's iron army only grew stronger the more it fought!
"Kill!"
Weapons flashed with cold light as they slew countless invaders, using their bones to display the might of the Witch Clan!
Some monsters and spirits became frightened and wanted to flee. A demon bird suddenly flapped its wings, tearing through layer after layer of void as it attempted to escape within.
But it was useless.
The army commanded by the Great Witch Yi communicated through the auras of one hundred thousand elite members of the Witch Clan, linking them into a single whole and forming an enormous phantom of a divine bow!
Sunlight, moonlight, starlight... countless rays of light were gathered and transformed into arrows of light, which were nocked on the bowstring.
Then—
Fire!
Before you continue