Fifty eras of sitting in solitude and tempering might have been no more than the blink of an eye to the great powers of the Primordial World. But for Di Jiang, this was a crucial period in which he fully mastered the soul-tempering chapter of the Sea of Blood God Refining Art and forged his Primordial Spirit until it was as solid as a rock, no longer fearing baleful energy!
When Di Jiang opened his eyes again, they held not only the profound depths of flowing time and space, but also a measure of composure and sharpness born of enduring countless trials.
Di Jiang turned his divine sense inward. His Primordial Spirit shone with pure light. The radiance that had once surged violently under the impact of baleful energy was now as steady as a rock, with even a faint layer of dark red baleful glow flowing across its surface. It was a sign that his Primordial Spirit had refined some of the baleful energy and made it his own!
"My Primordial Spirit's tempering is complete! The baleful energy can no longer shake me in the slightest!" A surge of pride rose in Di Jiang's heart. It was time to try forming the Great Formation of the Myriad Heavens again!
Di Jiang rose to his feet, his blood and qi surging. He had already summoned the will of the Pangu bloodline and was preparing to call forth that mighty figure who had opened the heavens and created the earth, right here on the shore of the Blood Sea!
But at that very moment—BOOM!!!
An indescribable, boundless pressure, as terrifying as the will of the entire Primordial World, swept in without warning from beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens! It did not target any one individual, but indiscriminately enveloped the entire Primordial World. All living things, regardless of their cultivation or location, trembled beneath this pressure, their hearts filled with awe!
The power of the Heavenly Dao was stirred. Purple qi streamed from the east, golden lotuses sprang from the earth, and celestial music drifted through the air! A distant, detached voice rang out, yet resounded clearly in the depths of every being's consciousness throughout the Primordial World:
"High above, I recline among the clouds; on my meditation cushion, I comprehend the Dao's truth. Beyond heaven and earth, beyond the primordial yellow, I shall take the honored seat of the teacher. The Profound Sect's foremost leader, from one qi, Hongjun is formed."
"I am Hongjun. Today, I attain the Dao and become a Sage. I shall expound the Great Dao at the Purple Heaven Palace beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens. All who are destined may come and listen!"
Hongjun had attained sainthood! The pressure of a Sage, mixed with the power of the Heavenly Dao, crashed down like billions of mountains descending at once! The first to bear its brunt were the great powers of the Primordial World who had reached a certain level of cultivation!
Di Jiang felt an utterly irresistible force pressing down on his body and Primordial Spirit, as if it meant to force him to the ground and make him submit to the one who had attained sainthood! His knees bent slightly against his will, and his Ancestral Witch True Body gave off a groan as if it could bear no more!
"Outrageous!"
Di Jiang roared inwardly, and an unparalleled pride and defiance rooted in his Pangu bloodline burst forth! I am of Pangu's True Lineage. Pangu is gone, but I will never kneel to anyone!
Ancestral Witch dignity and Pangu's pride made Di Jiang hold his ground with all his might. His blood and qi boiled, and the laws of time, space, and the Five Elements activated on their own, forming layers of warped barriers around him in an attempt to counter the omnipresent Sage's might.
But the gap in cultivation was simply too great. The saying "beneath a Sage, all are ants" was no exaggeration! His resistance was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. His body continued to bend, bit by bit, while the vast will of the Heavenly Dao left his Primordial Spirit dizzy and insignificant!
In his desperation, at this moment of life or death, a flash of inspiration struck Di Jiang! Only Pangu True Body could withstand this Sage's might!
"Now! Great Formation of the Myriad Heavens—FORM!"
Di Jiang held nothing back, no longer caring whether the formation was perfect or whether there might be risks! His Primordial Spirit was at its strongest after being tempered, and the will of Pangu stirred by the Sage's might was at its most intense!
Rumble! Di Jiang channeled the Pangu bloodline within him, fused from the origins of the Twelve Ancestral Witches, with all his might! At the same time, the boundless baleful energy accumulated in the Netherworld Blood Sea over countless eras seemed to find an outlet. In a frenzy unlike anything before, dark red torrents roared into Di Jiang's body!
This time, when the baleful energy entered him, his body remained as steady as a mountain! When it touched his Primordial Spirit, tempered through countless trials, its pure light blazed brighter. It still hurt, but he could bear it. The body-refining art guided and harmonized the baleful energy, bringing it into perfect resonance with his Pangu bloodline!
At the center of it all, boundless baleful energy and dazzling blood qi intertwined. Behind Di Jiang, the shadow of a giant beyond all words in its grandeur and majesty began to solidify, swiftly taking shape!
Its face was indistinct, but its outline, its aura, and the Daoist resonance embodying the ultimate power were unmistakably those of Pangu True Body!
Though it was only a hazy phantom, far from complete, the instant it appeared, an invincible will to open the heavens, create the earth, and stabilize the Primordial World burst forth!
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Beneath the phantom of Pangu True Body, the Sage's might and the power of the Heavenly Dao that had nearly crushed Di Jiang seemed to meet an invisible barrier. Their force was greatly weakened!
Di Jiang immediately felt his whole body grow lighter as the suffocating pressure abruptly vanished! He straightened his back and stood proudly above the Blood Sea, sheltered beneath the phantom of Pangu. He raised his head to the sky, his gaze piercing the endless void, and a surge of boldness welled up within him!
"Hahaha, I did it! In the Primordial World, strength is what matters!"
Boundless joy surged through Di Jiang. Not only had he successfully summoned the prototype of the Great Formation of the Myriad Heavens, but under the pressure of Hongjun's ascension, he had also relied on Pangu True Body to withstand the might of a Sage!
Pangu's aura, centered on the Blood Sea, spread with a thunderous force. Its transcendent essence even seemed to faintly surpass the Heavenly Dao!
Yet at that moment, the vast heavenly might of Hongjun's ascension blanketed the entire Primordial World. All things bowed their heads, and all living beings trembled. The Pangu True Body summoned by Di Jiang was only a newly formed prototype. With his cultivation as a Primordial Origin Golden Immortal, the will and power of Pangu he could draw upon were no more than a firefly compared to the bright moon that was Pangu himself.
Thus, the aura of Pangu that should have shaken the Primordial World was suppressed and enveloped the instant it emerged from the Netherworld Blood Sea by the omnipresent pressure of the Sage, which represented the existing order of the entire Primordial World. Like a stone thrown into the sea, it created ripples but no towering waves. Its influence was firmly confined to the Blood Sea and an extremely limited area around it.
The Three Pure Ones, who were resisting the Sage's might on Mount Kunlun, sensed something faintly. They vaguely noticed an ancient and noble aura flash and vanish in the west, seemingly the aura of Father God. But they were struggling to protect themselves, doing everything they could to withstand the Sage's might sweeping across heaven and earth. They had neither the time nor the strength to investigate the fleeting disturbance, and assumed it was either the Blood Sea's unusual nature or a trick of their own perception.
Meanwhile, deep in the Blood Sea, Minghe had just broken through to the late stage of the Golden Immortal realm thanks to Di Jiang's insights into the laws. Before he could consolidate his cultivation or savor the joy of his breakthrough, the Sage's might slammed him to the ground. His Primordial Spirit shook and his blood and qi roiled, leaving him in an even worse state than before his breakthrough!
"A Sage! So this is a Sage's might?" Minghe was horrified. Before this force, he felt even smaller than a wandering remnant soul in the Blood Sea. He desperately circulated his cultivation art. Abi Yuantu hummed within him, and the phantom of the Karma Fire Red Lotus shielded his body, yet he still could not fully resist the omnipresent pressure. His body trembled uncontrollably, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.
At this critical moment, he suddenly spotted Pangu True Body above the Blood Sea. Driven by instinct, Minghe threw all thoughts of pride aside, transformed into a streak of blood-red light, and poured every last ounce of strength into rushing toward Di Jiang—and the area sheltered by the phantom of Pangu True Body!
Minghe broke through wave after wave of blood and saw Di Jiang standing beneath the phantom of Pangu. Though his expression was grave, he seemed completely at ease. Minghe was deeply shaken. He didn't dare disturb him, and only struggled silently to move behind Di Jiang, into the shelter at the edge of Pangu's aura.
Sure enough, the moment he entered the area, the suffocating pressure of the Sage's might eased considerably! He could still feel its force, but it was no longer unbearable, nor could it make him kneel.
Minghe gasped for breath, looking at Di Jiang's back with gratitude and profound reverence. Di Jiang naturally sensed his arrival, but did not drive him away, silently allowing the fellow to take shelter.
At the same time, beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens, within Chaos, inside the newly built Purple Heaven Palace, Hongjun sat high upon his Cloud Bed. His eyes, which seemed to hold the endless mysteries of the Heavenly Dao, calmly watched the Primordial World. Naturally, he also saw the phantom of Pangu resisting his Sage's might on the shore of the Blood Sea, along with Di Jiang and Minghe beneath it.
His gaze rested on the phantom of Pangu for an instant. The stillness of his heart stirred with an almost imperceptible ripple.
"Pangu's descendants are indeed extraordinary. Though they have gained only his form and not his spirit, and their power is less than one ten-billionth of Pangu's true body, they can already borrow his power to resist the might of a Sage of the Heavenly Dao while only at the Primordial Origin Golden Immortal realm..."
Hongjun assessed him calmly. He had seen Di Jiang's potential, and the karma carried in his bloodline—a connection even the Heavenly Dao had reason to fear.
"Let it be."
Hongjun withdrew his gaze and paid no further attention. He was the first Sage of the Primordial World and the founder of the Profound Sect. With the task of teaching the Primordial World before him, he possessed his own dignity and perspective. Forcing a descendant of Pangu to kneel and submit was meaningless to him. It might even entangle him in excessive karma, making it a poor bargain.
The Primordial World was too deeply connected to Pangu. Even Hongjun was unwilling to disturb that karmic bond lightly.
Besides, "beneath a Sage, all are ants" was no empty saying. Though Di Jiang could use the formation to resist the pressure for now, he was ultimately borrowing power. In Hongjun's eyes, Di Jiang's own cultivation was no different in essence from that of the other great powers of the Primordial World. He posed no threat, yet was entangled in significant karma, so there was naturally no need to concern himself with him.
"Each has their own Destined Fate. Each follows their own path of cultivation."
Hongjun silently closed his eyes. The Daoist resonance around him gradually merged with the Purple Heaven Palace, with boundless Chaos, and with the newly born Heavenly Dao, as he continued his journey of enlightenment. At his slightest thought, the Sage's might that had swept across the Primordial World slowly receded like the tide, then finally vanished without a trace.
The Primordial World returned to peace. But all the great powers who had witnessed the event understood that a whole new era—the age of the Sages—had begun!
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