Di Jiang felt as if he'd just enjoyed a thoroughly satisfying all-you-can-eat buffet. The experience had left him feeling a little guilty, but the vast power surging through him, threatening to burst his body apart, quickly swept that minor guilt into the heavens.
"Burp—"
A wave of energy carrying the auras of various laws—time, metal, wood, water, fire, earth, weather, thunder, lightning, wind, and rain—unconsciously spilled from the giant egg he had re-formed, making Pangu Divine Hall hum.
"Awesome! So this is what power feels like?" Inside the egg, Di Jiang rubbed his hands excitedly (if eggs had hands). "Now it's time to check out the Novice Gift Pack!"
With a thought, the system space opened. There was no blinding golden light as he'd imagined. Instead, five small, exquisite flags of different colors and five multicolored beads, spinning gently and brimming with pure Five Elements origins, floated quietly before him.
Novice Gift Pack: Innate Five Directions Banner (Central Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner, Eastern Azure Lotus Treasure Color Banner, Southern Earth-Leaving Flame Light Banner, Western Plain Color Cloud Realm Banner, Northern Xuanyuan Water Control Banner), Innate Five Elements Spirit Pearls (metal, wood, water, fire, earth).
System Note: Collect all five flags and five pearls to form the complete Five Elements Great Array. It creates a world of its own, reverses the Five Elements, and boasts unrivaled defense, trapping and killing as one. In theory, it can trap a Sage. (Note: Sages have very thick skin. How long they remain trapped depends on the host's magical power and how shameless the other party is.)
"Holy crap!!!"
Di Jiang's eggshell glowed a little brighter with excitement. "The Innate Five Directions Banner! The Five Elements Spirit Pearls! Th-this gift pack is way too generous! Aren't the Five Directional Flags scattered across the Primordial World, in the hands of various big shots? And the Five Elements Spirit Pearls seem to be in different places too... System, are you a burglar?! And a top-tier burglar who only goes after the toughest targets!"
He could already picture his future: emerging from his eggshell—no, his divine body—with five flags unfurled and five pearls orbiting him, then setting up the array. No matter how many troops or Golden Immortals came at him, once they entered, he'd make them sing "I Surrender." It could even trap a Sage, if only in theory. This was the ultimate version of "I'll draw a circle and curse you" in the Primordial World!
Meanwhile, at Jade Capital Mountain.
Having just endured a bitter battle, Daoist Hongjun had finally defeated the Demon Ancestor Luohu by the skin of his teeth, thanks to a fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation and numerous schemes. He had just returned to his abode and sat cross-legged, regulating his breathing as he prepared for the great age soon to come and sorted through the spoils of the battle.
As was his habit, he swept his divine sense over several treasured sites he had secretly marked, intending to visit them when the time was right...
"Hmm???"
Hongjun abruptly opened his eyes, a trace of uncertainty flashing through them.
"Why have the auras of those opportunities I sensed vanished completely? As if they had never existed? How strange! Even the heavenly secrets are a muddle!"
He frantically calculated with his fingers, but the heavenly secrets felt like muddy water, stirred until nothing could be made out. His brows furrowed, and he sensed that something had slipped beyond his control.
"Forget it. The time isn't right. I'll focus on my cultivation!"
Deep in the Blood Sea, where filth and murderous energy gathered.
A huge blood cocoon pulsed slowly. Inside lay Ancestor Minghe, who had yet to take form. His dim consciousness instinctively sensed that a spiritual treasure in the Blood Sea, one that resonated with his origin, had suddenly lost its karmic thread—as if something had erased it from existence!
The blood cocoon shuddered violently, radiating a mixture of anger and bewilderment. But there was nothing he could do. He didn't even know what a spiritual treasure was!
High above, in the Nine Heavens, the Primordial World Heavenly Dao stirred with an almost imperceptible ripple.
Several important Innate Spiritual Treasures, which were supposed to play their part in the established course of fate, had vanished without a trace, severing their karmic links. The Heavenly Dao, having just weathered the Dao-Devil War and still refining its own laws, felt a hint of confusion and discomfort.
An invisible force of investigation began sweeping across the Primordial World, trying to find the source of the disturbance. In the end, however, it stopped short, circling outside the divine hall, where Pangu's pressure was thickest.
Di Jiang, inside the egg, knew nothing about this. Even if he had, he would only have been happier. After admiring the five flags and five pearls to his heart's content, he suddenly remembered the most important prize.
"System, system! What about my Chaos Bell? Hurry up and bring it out so I can take a look! It's Eastern Emperor Taiyi's signature treasure, but from now on, it's mine!"
Di Jiang could hardly wait to experience the might of "when the bell tolls, your parents' efforts were all for naught."
For once, however, the system didn't respond immediately. After a brief silence, it finally replied with a hint of "electrical interference" and the sound of someone panting from exertion (if a system could pant):
"Ding! H-host... please remain calm! The Chaos Bell... is currently out for delivery!"
Faintly, the background carried the sound of violent collisions and a deep, resonant hum of some law)... Damn! This lousy bell is stubborn! This system is currently engaged in friendly negotiations with... with the local 'logistics administrator'! We're disputing ownership of the package! Don't worry... when it comes to snatching things... ahem, I mean, delivery services, this system is a professional! It'll be... it'll be... handled soon!
Di Jiang: "???"
He could almost see an invisible system battling a firewall—or perhaps antivirus software—called the Heavenly Dao across the network of Primordial World laws, fighting over the Chaos Bell as if it were a "data packet," with code flying everywhere...
An invisible bead of cold sweat trickled down Di Jiang's eggshell. "System, are you sure you're just a choice system, and not some 'Primordial SF Express' or 'Multiverse Express and Robbery Co.'? If you do this, won't you completely make enemies of Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao?"
Ding! Please rest assured, host! This system strictly abides by the Transmigrator Welfare Guarantee Regulations. All operations are carried out within loopholes permitted by the rules... ahem, within the framework! Current top priority—to snatch the Chaos Bell for the host! Please wait patiently inside your egg and look forward to the delivery!
Di Jiang: "..."
Well, it seemed he'd have to rely on this rather unreliable system to "negotiate" the Chaos Bell into its hands before he hatched. Curled up inside the egg, he felt the surging power within him and hugged the Five Directional Flags and Five Elements Spirit Pearls, feeling both eager and a little apprehensive!
"Ever since I arrived, the Primordial World seems to have gone completely haywire, huh?"
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