The Dao-Demon Conflict Ends, A Brief Calm

"Hoo..."

Zhou Ming exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, his gaze falling on the twelve enormous blood cocoons within the hall.

The consciousness of the Twelve Ancestor Witches had awakened one after another, and under his guidance and the assistance of the Dao Origin Divine Pearl, they had begun instinctively circulating the Nine Revolutions Sha Quenching Art.

This was a good sign.

But Zhou Ming knew that relying solely on the Blood Pool Essence within Pangu Hall and the art's automatic circulation to refine the Sha Qi was still far too slow.

Though the Sha Qi within Pangu Hall was dense, it was ultimately finite.

As the Ancestor Witches' consciousness awakened, their instinctive craving for energy grew daily, and the speed at which they refined Sha Qi accelerated.

"I can't just depend on this meager stock in Pangu Hall..." Zhou Ming stroked his chin, lost in thought.

"Outside, the Dragon-Phoenix-Qilin Calamity has just ended. The boundless Sha Qi and resentment from the three clans' struggle for supremacy haven't fully dissipated yet. If I calculate the time, the Dao-Demon Conflict is probably about to begin."

"This Sha Qi is lethal poison to other living beings, but to me, to the Witch Clan, it's a divine elixir."

A bold idea rose in his heart. Go outside and collect Sha Qi!

Use the Dao Origin Divine Pearl to gather the Sha Qi, bring it back to Pangu Hall, and supply it as "nourishment" for the Twelve Ancestor Witches to refine.

This wouldn't just greatly speed up their cultivation—it might even...

"Clearing up the Primordial Chaos's Sha Qi, quelling the aftermath of the Calamity, maybe I can even scrape together some Karma?"

Karma—that stuff was hard currency in the Primordial Chaos, with endless wondrous uses!

Though dangerous, it was worth a try!

The Primordial Chaos had just weathered a great war, and the mighty were few. As long as he kept his range near the foot of Buzhou Mountain and acted cautiously, it should be manageable.

Having made his decision, Zhou Ming didn't act immediately.

First, he checked the state of the Twelve Ancestor Witches, ensuring the Nine Revolutions Sha Quenching Art was running steadily and the protective imprint left by the Dao Origin Divine Pearl remained firm as ever.

Then, he adjusted his own condition to its peak, urged the Dao Origin Divine Pearl to shield his entire body, and only then cautiously stepped beyond the bounds of Pangu Hall.

The moment he set foot outside Pangu Hall's protective barrier, a wave of blood stench and Sha Qi so thick it nearly turned solid slammed into his face!

Even though the Dragon-Phoenix-Qilin Calamity had already ended and the three clans had sworn to withdraw from the stage, the Sha Qi and Karma produced by the fall of billions of living beings still permeated the heavens and earth of the Primordial Chaos.

He didn't venture deep into the Primordial Chaos's heartland, only moving around the foot of Buzhou Mountain, near the area of Pangu Hall.

Zhou Ming activated the Dao Origin Divine Pearl and began slowly absorbing the free-floating Sha Qi nearby.

This Sha Qi was impure, violent, and saturated with negative emotions like slaughter, hatred, and unwillingness.

The Dao Origin Divine Pearl trembled lightly, drawing in this chaotic Sha Qi, using the power of laws to slowly grind away the negative will within, refining it into relatively pure energy.

The process wasn't fast, but it was effective.

Zhou Ming didn't dare to be greedy. Each time, he collected only a moderate amount of Sha Qi before immediately returning to Pangu Hall.

He carefully guided the energy refined by the Dao Origin Divine Pearl toward the twelve blood cocoons, assisting them in circulating the Nine Revolutions Sha Quenching Art.

With the supplement of external Sha Qi energy, the speed at which the Twelve Ancestor Witches refined Sha Qi noticeably increased!

The life force within the blood cocoons grew more active as well.

Zhou Ming could even sense, in the vague consciousness transmitted by Dijiang and the others, a bit more joy and dependence.

"It's working!" Zhou Ming's heart leaped with joy, and his drive grew stronger.

And so, Zhou Ming began a life shuttling between two points: Pangu Hall and the foot of Buzhou Mountain.

He worked hard at cultivation, raising his own realm, while regularly going out to collect Sha Qi to "feed" his twelve younger siblings.

As Zhou Ming absorbed and refined this Sha Qi, Karma descended from the heavens and earth, merging into his Primordial Spirit and the Dao Origin Divine Pearl.

"So this is Karma?"

Though it wasn't much, small gains added up—it was still a good thing.

Time in the Primordial Chaos was unmarked; cultivation knew no years.

Zhou Ming could no longer remember how many times he had repeated this round trip.

All he knew was that the Twelve Ancestor Witches' condition was improving steadily, and the day of their Transformation seemed not far off.

As for himself, his accumulation at the Mid-stage Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm grew deeper by the day.

One day, while Zhou Ming was cultivating inside Pangu Hall, a tremor suddenly spread across the entire Primordial Chaos.

The aura of heaven and earth grew oppressive and violent once more, even more suffocating than during the Dragon-Phoenix-Qilin Calamity!

"The Dao-Demon Conflict... has begun!" Zhou Ming's expression turned grave.

Hongjun versus Luohu! The ultimate battle to decide the future orthodoxy of the Primordial Chaos!

Though he had anticipated it, now that this war—destined to shape the Primordial Chaos's landscape—had truly arrived, Zhou Ming still felt immense pressure.

He had no intention of going to watch the spectacle.

At that level of combat, with his current cultivation, even watching from a distance could get him killed by the shockwaves.

"Stay low! Keep staying low!"

Zhou Ming took a deep breath, forcing himself to rein in his focus and continue in seclusion.

As long as the fighting outside didn't reach Pangu Hall, it had nothing to do with him for now.

Raising his strength was the true path!

That day, Zhou Ming was guiding the Dao Origin Divine Pearl to help the last few Ancestral Witches, whose consciousness had formed later, refine their Sha Qi.

Suddenly, a voice resounded across the Primordial World!

"By the Great Dao above, I, Luohu, swear this oath: I shall transform into the Demonic Path. Henceforth, for every foot the Dao rises, the Demon rises ten; when the Dao waxes, the Demon wanes, and when the Demon waxes, the Dao wanes. Let the Demonic Path be established!"

Then.

Boom—!!!

An earth-shattering roar came from the distant Western lands!

The entire Primordial World shuddered violently!

In the far Western sky, a colossal pillar of black demonic qi, thick enough to pierce heaven and earth, erupted like the final roar of a dying beast!

Immediately after, a cataclysmic wave of energy swept madly across the entire Western continent!

Mountains shattered, the earth collapsed, and countless living beings turned to ash in an instant!

The Western spiritual veins, under this terrifying self-destruction, were forcibly snapped by eight or nine parts out of ten!

"Luohu!!!" A voice, icy and furious, thundered across the Primordial World!

It was Hongjun!

"Hongjun! You want to attain the Dao? Even if I perish, body and Dao extinguished, I will never let you have your way! Hahaha!" Luohu's mad and venomous laughter echoed between heaven and earth.

To stop Hongjun—or rather, to spite him—

The Devil Ancestor Luohu had not hesitated to self-destruct, destroying the very foundation of the Western Primordial World!!

Now the West was utterly ruined! It would likely take countless kalpas to recover even a shred of its vitality.

This cataclysmic final battle between Dao and Demon ended with Luohu's defeat and self-destruction, and Hongjun's pyrrhic victory.

The price paid was the depletion of the Western spiritual veins, and the near-total annihilation of almost all top-tier Quasi-Saint powerhouses in the Primordial World—save for Hongjun and Yang Mei—who fell in this great Dao-Demon calamity!

Though Hongjun emerged victorious, the Western Ancestral Vein was destroyed, and his own reserves were heavily drained.

He confiscated the Four Swords of Zhu Xian and their formation diagram, suppressed the rampaging demonic qi in the West, then returned to Yujing Mountain to enter secluded cultivation, preparing to break through to the final Hunyuan Realm.

Having weathered the successive tribulations of the Dragon-Han and Dao-Demon Calamities, the entire Primordial World's high-end combat power entered an unprecedented vacuum.

The calamitous Sha Qi that filled heaven and earth, with Luohu's death and Hongjun's suppression, finally began to slowly dissipate.

Though the West had become barren and ruined, the rest of the Primordial World unexpectedly welcomed a brief and precious period of peace.

Inside Pangu Hall, Zhou Ming sensed the gradually calming aura outside, yet felt no relaxation in his heart.

He knew this was only the calm before the storm.

The Dao Ancestor Hongjun was about to attain the Dao; Zixiao Palace would open its lectures, and the Primordial World would usher in a new era.

And the Witch Clan and Demon Race—these two new overlords inheriting the Primordial World's destiny—were about to step onto the stage of history.

"To change the Witch Clan's fate, I must become stronger," Zhou Ming murmured to himself, his gaze once again falling upon the twelve Blood Cocoons.