The moment Ancestral Witch Dijiang finished speaking, something abnormal happened at Phoenix Perch Mountain.
Brilliant rays of light erupted from the entire mountain range, shooting straight into the firmament!
It was like a signal, with the ruler guiding the situation. At that moment, aside from the divine birds already circling and dancing in the sky, countless more strange birds surged out of the mountains, joining the soaring ranks.
If someone possessed a profound cultivation realm and could see through the sea of void worlds to perceive the great secrets of space, they would discover that these divine birds and strange birds that appeared later were not merely living and active on the Primordial World's land, or occupying the Phoenix Perch Mountain Range. Many more had been lying dormant and concealed within minor dimensional worlds.
Of course, although those places were called minor worlds... in truth, they were not small at all.
They had all been opened up by Great Divine Ability Users from the ancient Dragon-Phoenix Epoch. Chaos had been cleaved apart, the elements of earth, water, fire, and wind refined, and three thousand great worlds shaped!
The mountains and rivers in each world stretched vast and boundless, broader and more magnificent than the entire Phoenix Perch Mountain Range... Countless worlds served as places for the Feathered Clan to multiply—and train their troops!
Even a starving Phoenix was still larger than a common chicken.
Moreover, the Phoenix Lineage had not yet completely withered and gone extinct!
Although their dream of ruling the heavens and earth had shattered to pieces, and they could not compare with the Witch Clan or Demon Clan in the slightest, they had withdrawn from the stage of the era and no longer had the strength to play the lead.
Still, they retained the power to protect themselves—a great army, once utterly loyal to and devoted to the Phoenix Clan. After suffering heavy losses and retreating during the world-destroying calamity unleashed by Rahu, it had withdrawn to the Phoenix Perch Mountain Range, where it stood guard over the Phoenix Ancestor.
At this moment, they reappeared, soaring together through the sky.
Their numbers were terrifying—endless and boundless!
The Feathered Clan army's auras merged together... trillions upon trillions of True Immortals, and hundreds of thousands or even millions of Taiyi experts. The Witch Clan's ceremonial army, witnessing this scene, grew solemn and felt an immense pressure.
"Listening to the years and illuminating history... Back then, when the Phoenix Ancestor went on procession, the escort was vast beyond measure." Dijiang sighed lightly. He paid no attention to the display put on by Phoenix Perch Mountain—before the administrator, no matter how many lifeforms below the Great Luo realm came, they could be formatted clean in the blink of an eye.
The Ancestral Witch still had the leisure to sigh and speak of an ancient epoch. "People often speak of the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix... But when the Phoenix Ancestor set out, how could there have been merely a hundred birds?"
"Even a hundred trillion trillion would have been far from enough!"
"At its peak, the Feathered Clan's nine armies ruled half of the Primordial World. Sadly, now they can only display one army of defeated remnants. The scene of countless divine birds blotting out the sky and darkening the sun, moon, and stars of the Primordial World is no more... That had truly been a sight that covered the heavens and obscured the earth!"
The corner of Feng Xi's eye twitched. He wanted to say: Forget nine armies—even now, this is already covering the heavens and obscuring the earth!
The heavens and earth... were in darkness!
The divine birds were piled together, too numerous and too dense, pouring forth without end... Their numbers were thousands or tens of thousands of times greater than before, causing the dreamlike, hazy sea of colored light that had appeared under the sunlight to grow dim and vanish.
Covering the heavens and obscuring the earth... it truly was covering the heavens and obscuring the earth!
But soon, a new source of light was born.
Which of those countless divine birds did not possess cultivation?
Even the weakest could absorb the essences of the sun and moon and refine an innate divine ability. The strongest were Taiyi divine birds, whose wingbeats could cause endless, minute worlds to rise and perish, and shake the sea of void worlds!
At this moment, the feathers on their bodies began radiating light, illuminating all directions.
The countless divine birds were like countless stars and suns, blooming with radiance together!
However, after the dazzling brilliance of that instant, the feather-light—some faint as starlight, others radiant as the sun—underwent a new change.
They interwove and overlapped, until at last... they fused!
The various wondrous lights did not form a colored sea of light as before. Under some subtle and mysterious control, all their colors ultimately faded—or perhaps underwent the utmost sublimation—and were smelted into a pure, flawless color: white!
Pure-white radiance, far brighter than the sun, spread across and illuminated the heavens and earth. In a daze, Feng Xi saw a Phoenix standing in a world of nothingness, spreading its wings... as if embracing the entire world.
That scene seemed to be merely an illusion of his. In the blink of an eye, it vanished.
And disappearing along with it were the countless divine birds that had covered the heavens and obscured the earth.
Indeed, not even a single divine bird could be seen now... There was only white light, nothing but pure-white light.
It was as if those divine birds had completely melted into the light, becoming one with the dust and light.
Existing with the light and walking alongside the Dao!
The light shone, flowed, and condensed.
The reason for saying this was that at the end of Feng Xi's vision, the white light evolved and naturally split into seven colors, shaping something—
An endless cluster of palaces!
It was as if it intended to recreate the wonders of the ancient epoch and forge the grandeur of the Phoenix power at its peak... Millions upon millions of magnificent halls rose high into the firmament, jointly surrounding a supreme palace!
It seemed to be a hall where the gods deliberated, where supreme divine beings gathered to discuss the universe's grand trends and decide the rise and fall of an epoch with a single thought.
"Myriad Gods..."
Feng Xi's ears were sharp, and he heard something.
He could not help turning his head, only to see Great Witch Yi apparently somewhat dazed and melancholy. That was why he had murmured those words.
Noticing Feng Xi's gaze, Great Witch Yi looked at him and smiled faintly, as if his behavior just now had never happened.
Feng Xi felt rather baffled. He scratched his head and stopped thinking about it.
Because he no longer had the leisure to think about such things.
The towering and magnificent palace complex moved and arranged itself of its own accord. Facing the Witch Clan's ceremonial procession, it revealed a broad, boundless, majestic avenue, which naturally extended all the way to their feet.
That avenue was like a heavenly road.
It stretched from the distant horizon to the feet of the Witch Clan delegation, inviting them to set foot upon it.
At the end of the heavenly road, two imposing figures stood quietly waiting, gazing toward this place.
"What a grand welcoming ceremony... Or is it a show of strength?" Ancestral Witch Dijiang rose from his carriage. His eyes flashed as he looked toward the end of the heavenly road and chuckled softly. "Fuxi and Nuwa, these two fellow Daoists, have certainly put enough 'thought' and 'passion' into welcoming our arrival."
"The Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, and the myriad gods coming to pay their respects... Recreating a fragment of the ancient epoch's grandeur and inviting us to advance along a road formed from countless members of the Feathered Clan."
"Countless True Immortals, and hundreds of thousands or tens of millions of Taiyi experts... With such a display, any ignorant or weak-minded lifeform who came here would probably go weak in the knees, unable to take even a single step."
The two emperors of the Demon Clan had shown the Ancestral Witches plenty of respect for their visit.
Using a heavyweight army to put on a show and receive a Witch Clan delegation numbering only a few hundred thousand... Who could say their etiquette was lacking?
If not for limitations of time, conditions, and other factors, they might even have borrowed the Chaos Bell and struck it eighty-one times here. Then they could have borrowed the Tai Ji Diagram and unfolded a Golden Bridge to serve as the heavenly road.
Look!
The Demon Clan's Xi Emperor and Wa Emperor were being so serious and solemn about receiving the Ancestral Witches!
They had practically brought out their entire foundation, almost wishing to cut out their own sincere hearts so that the Ancestral Witches could feel the enthusiasm of these siblings.
Of course.
Fuxi and Nuwa's extraordinarily warm welcome was genuine. But if the Witch Clan lost face here, if some ignorant fool became frightened, trembling and numb in the hands and feet, his expression changing in terror and his performance turning disgraceful, only to be laughed at by the Innate Divine Beings and Grand Unity Supremes watching closely...
And if certain unnamed demon gods then spread the story, with all kinds of images and rumors flying everywhere about how weak and pathetic the Witch Clan was...
That could not be blamed on them, right?
They had meant well but done harm. Fuxi and Nuwa would be helpless too!
"Nuwa is powerful, but she is not particularly skilled in strategy and schemes. So this should not have been her plan." Dijiang furrowed his brows. "If not her, then it must have been the work of Great Sage Fuxi."
"Mm... He wants to subdue the enemy without fighting?" he mused. "As expected of the Xi Emperor. His schemes are profound—he has brought us such a soft nail."
"Majestic and upright on the surface, yet hiding a sharp edge within... Impressive! Impressive!"
He clapped his hands in praise, delighted to find an equal opponent and a worthy general. It was one of life's great joys. "Fortunately, I am not inferior either... I anticipated this move long ago and made a few small preparations."
Dijiang suddenly laughed. "It is rare for the Xi Emperor and Wa Emperor to welcome us with such a formation. Then our Witch Clan warriors must naturally display their best spirit and show it to them!"
"Beat the drums!"
"Strengthen our army's might!"
A large war drum was immediately raised.
A Great Witch personally took up the drumsticks and struck a drumbeat that shook the universe.
"Boom!"
The drumbeat sounded like thunder, as if divine thunder had exploded when Heaven and Earth were created.
Under the drumbeat's support, every soldier in the Witch Clan's ceremonial guard had their blood racing... Their spirit and will were raised by some mysterious power. Their already resolute and radiant souls became even more indestructible.
A trace of battle intent hung in their hearts. Accompanied by the drumbeat's rhythm, they stepped onto the heavenly road!
The heavenly road seemed smooth, but in truth concealed immense danger.
This was not to say that someone had ambushed it with deadly traps and weapons, intending to launch a secret attack—
The Witch Clan's visit was being watched constantly by the Great Luo experts present. There were at least eight or nine hundred of them.
Even if the Demon Clan's experts hoped for this delegation to encounter disaster and die to the last, they would not brazenly use despicable means to launch a secret attack during such a welcoming ceremony at Phoenix Perch Mountain.
Not to mention whether they could succeed... Even if they did, such conduct, exposed to the Great Divine Ability Users who wished they could observe this place through magnifying glasses, would mean the Demon Clan could abandon its reputation forever.
A clan that needed secret attacks to defeat its enemies—a power like that—would have no future!
The Demon Clan's higher-ups all kept a scale in their hearts. Ruining their reputation for negligible gains was a trade no one was willing to make.
However, although the heavenly road held no hidden ambushes, it was still not easy to traverse.
Because in essence, it had been condensed from a terrifying army... Their wills had merged into one here!
Even without actively attacking, the might of the will naturally present upon it was enough to crush a Golden Immortal's soul and leave Taiyi experts terrified, displaying all kinds of ugly states.
However, Ancestral Witch Dijiang was a master strategist. He had long anticipated this possibility and brought a war drum in advance. When struck, it could unleash the thunderous sound of creation!
This kind of war formation drum specifically shattered all mysterious spiritual arts and divine abilities.
The drumbeat could hold open the vast, boundless pressure of will. It could also stir the soldiers' blood, causing their spirits to become highly unified, flawless, steady, and unmoving.
At this moment, with every step taken by the hundreds of thousands of Witch Clan soldiers, a fierce, iron-blooded aura rose from their bodies.
Their spirits and wills burned and manifested, reflecting across the heavens and earth and within the hearts of all.
This era was the era of the Witch Clan, the age of the Demon Clan!
How could an army of the Phoenix Clan, remnants of the old era, make them bow their heads or retreat?!
With weapons clashing and war steeds galloping, their aura swallowed the mountains, rivers, universe, and sky!
The Witch Clan had never feared a challenge!
Whether the road ahead was a mountain of blades or a sea of flames... so long as it was where their hearts pointed, so long as it was where their Great Vow lay, then even if they cast aside their broken bodies, they would carve out a path!
Hundreds of thousands of Witch soldiers stood ablaze with battle intent. The Great Witches commanding them had eyes as bright as snow. The Ancestral Witch seated in the carriage straightened his body.
A soaring, razor-sharp will that could cut through every obstacle and open a new era gathered into a sharp edge and slashed toward the heavenly road!
"Vmmm!"
The heavenly road trembled faintly. Two wills were clashing in the void.
In the end, the heavenly road returned to stability, and the pressure vanished.
The Great Witch beating the war drum lowered his drumsticks.
All the pressure and phenomena disappeared completely.
The road that followed was peaceful and steady, without the slightest disturbance.
Feng Xi silently watched everything.
He knew... The Witch Clan's power and will, from the highest ranks to the lowest, had already earned the recognition of Phoenix Perch Mountain's master, who was now listening to their voices and thoughts.
Their positions could be hostile.
But their respect for power was shared!
A weak nation had no diplomacy. Only by displaying sufficient will and power, allowing both sides to stand on the same level, could there be fair and equal communication and cooperation.
The road was smooth and peaceful all the way.
After crossing an immensely long distance, the Witch Clan delegation arrived at the end of the heavenly road.
This place was extraordinary. The scenery condensed from white light overlapped with real objects... There truly was a vast and magnificent palace complex here, along with a supreme main hall surrounded and protected by countless stars.
After they set foot here, the heavenly road broke apart. The white light scattered and reverted into countless Feathered Clan members whose horrifying forms made people tremble, as they flew and circled in all directions.
Some withdrew into the Phoenix Perch Mountain Range. Others vanished once more into the minor worlds.
Some even evolved their forms into human Dao bodies, descended, and began receiving the Witch Clan's ceremonial procession, guiding them onward to rest elsewhere.
Only the Ancestral Witches and Great Witches could participate in the true conversation.
During this process, two tall and imposing divine beings approached side by side. One had a human body and dragon tail, while the other had a human body and snake tail.
One of them was Nuwa. The other was not difficult to guess—Fuxi!
Two Innate Divine Beings and emperors of the Demon Clan came to meet Dijiang and Houtu, the two Ancestral Witches... This was a historic meeting, destined to be engraved in the passage of time!
As the driver, Feng Xi had not yet taken the dragon carriage far and was fortunate enough to witness it.
As the Demon Clan and the Ancestral Witches drew close, after a brief exchange of polite greetings, the Xi Emperor spoke—and his words were earth-shattering.
Before you continue