Time flowed on, and years meant little in the Primordial World. Ever since Mount Buzhou had been completely sealed off by the innate array, which shrouded millions of miles and shimmered with Five-Colored Divine Light, a veil of mystery had descended over it in the hearts of countless Primordial World creatures.
At first, many cultivators came from far and wide, hoping to investigate. Yet even the mighty found themselves unwilling to give up, returning again and again.
They gazed from afar at the towering, yet unreachable, sacred mountain, sensing the surging innate spiritual energy within and the faint rhythms of the Great Dao that drifted out. Their hearts itched like they were being scratched by a hundred claws. That was Mount Buzhou! The supreme sacred land where Heaven and Earth had been created!
Yet no matter what divine abilities they used or what Magic Treasures they brought forth, the moment they touched the five-colored light barrier, they were either gently but firmly pushed away or provoked the array's backlash. The Five Elements Power turned, erasing their attacks without a trace—and sometimes even reflecting them back, leaving the attackers battered and humiliated.
After countless attempts and considerable losses, most creatures despairingly realized that the way was blocked. With nothing but regret and speculation, they departed in frustration, regarding Mount Buzhou as a legendary place that could be seen but never reached.
Among them were also clever, resourceful individuals who knew how to read the situation. They realized that the array had not formed naturally but had an owner, and that its creator's cultivation and mastery of formations were unfathomable.
So they tidied their robes, prepared gifts, and respectfully bowed outside the array. They loudly announced their names, explained that they admired the mountain master's bearing and had come to pay a visit, and asked for an audience.
Their voices carried into the array. Seated in the Pangu Divine Hall, Di Jiang merely raised his eyelids lazily, sweeping his divine sense across the figures outside, some possessing immortal bearing, others bizarre in appearance.
"An exotic beast from Skyfire Cave? An Innate Being who attained the Dao on Western Mountain? A Dragon Clan member from the East Sea?... All nobodies. Some of them aren't even Golden Immortals. They think they're worthy of meeting me?"
Di Jiang curled his lip, wholly uninterested.
He was Pangu's True Lineage, bore the Space-Time Law, and held supreme treasures in his hands. Naturally, his standards were high. In his view, only great diviners on the level of the Three Pure Ones of Mount Kunlun, Minghe of the Blood Sea, Jieyin and Zhunti of Mount Sumeru, or Kunpeng of the North Sea were worth seeing.
Perhaps his curiosity about famous figures in the Primordial World would be enough to make him consider granting them an audience. As for everyone else? They could go cool their heels somewhere else and stop disturbing his cultivation.
So no matter how respectfully those outside the array behaved or how earnest their words were, Mount Buzhou remained silent, offering no response. In time, even those who had tried to pay a polite visit lost hope. Realizing the mountain master had no interest in making friends, they could only leave.
Of course, the Primordial World was vast, and it was never short of brutes who thought too highly of themselves and refused to believe the warnings, or fools blinded by greed. There were always some who relied on their powerful magic (at least Golden Immortal level), strange divine abilities, or powerful backing to try and force their way through the array.
Some brought out their life-bound spirit treasures, transforming them into towering peaks thousands of miles tall and hurling them at the barrier. Others revealed their true forms and charged it with brute force. Still others tried to discover the array's patterns and weak points, hoping to sneak in unseen...
Di Jiang showed no mercy to these brazen intruders. He didn't even need to appear in person. With a single thought, the Innate Five Elements Great Array revealed its ferocious side.
If they attacked head-on, the Five Elements reversed. In an instant, Geng Metal sword qi tore through the sky, Southern Bright Leaving Fire scorched the heavens and boiled the seas, Gui Water Yin Thunder exploded soundlessly, Wu Earth divine mountains descended from nowhere to crush them, and Yi Wood's verdant qi coiled around them and devoured them...
The intruders often had no idea what was happening before the power of the Five Elements' rotation annihilated both their bodies and spirits, leaving not a trace behind.
If they tried to sneak in by some clever trick, space would twist and fold in an instant. The intruders would find themselves trapped in a boundless maze, unable to tell up from down or left from right, with east, west, north, and south turned upside down. Eventually, their magic power would run dry, and they would be trapped until they died—or Di Jiang would casually toss them through a spatial rift into some remote corner of the Primordial World, leaving their fate to chance.
After repeated attempts, every cultivator who tried to force their way in, whether alone or in a small group, vanished from the Primordial World without return. Outside Mount Buzhou, the bones of Golden Immortals gradually became a silent warning.
Such thunderous methods, ruthless and decisive, finally made every creature in the Primordial World realize the truth: Mount Buzhou had an owner! And he was a reclusive mighty being of unfathomable strength, with a temper that didn't seem particularly pleasant!
Word spread that an unparalleled mighty being had taken up residence in Mount Buzhou, that the array was beyond heaven's reach, and that no one should trespass. The news quickly circulated among the Primordial World's most powerful figures.
All the great powers, whether the Three Pure Ones, Nuwa and Fuxi, Di Jun and Taiyi, or Zhenyuanzi, Hong Yun, Minghe, Kunpeng, and East Prince Gong, heard about it to one degree or another. They grew deeply interested in the mysterious master of Mount Buzhou, but also felt profound apprehension.
To make a place at the heart of the Primordial World like Mount Buzhou his private sanctuary, and to set up an array capable of easily annihilating even Golden Immortals—his strength was likely already at the very pinnacle of the Primordial World.
Thus, Mount Buzhou and its never-before-seen master became a new legend in the Primordial World: a revered and forbidden presence that no one dared approach lightly.
Di Jiang was happy to enjoy the peace. Within the absolutely secure confines of Mount Buzhou, he continued his cultivation and plans, silently accumulating strength enough to change the future balance of power.
No one knew how much time passed. Within Pangu Divine Hall, time and space seemed to freeze completely, then suddenly expanded with a boom, as if the universe had just begun! An enigmatic, unified aura that transcended the Golden Immortal level erupted from Di Jiang, who had been in seclusion for so long, flooding the entire hall!
Primordial Origin Golden Immortal! He had reached the realm naturally, without the slightest impediment. With the solid foundation he had gained by devouring the origins of the Eleven Ancestral Witches, his Pangu's True Lineage origins, the aid of numerous supreme treasures, and his profound comprehension of the Space-Time Law and other laws, Di Jiang had finally taken this crucial step. He had formally joined the ranks of the Primordial World's top mighty beings, becoming one of the very few Primordial Origin Golden Immortals known to the world!
Feeling the vast magic power within him, so different from before and seemingly able to resonate with the laws of Heaven and Earth on a deeper level, Di Jiang was in an excellent mood. A delighted smile tugged at his lips.
"Primordial Origin Golden Immortal! I finally made it! In this era before the Saints appear, I finally have enough power to protect myself. I can loosen up a little now."
His improved strength also made him want to do more. According to the legends from his previous life, the Witch Clan's greatest trump card wasn't simply how powerful any one Ancestral Witch was, but the fearsome Twelve-Du Tian Gods and Demons Great Formation that shook the Primordial World!
"Using the Pangu blood of the Twelve Ancestral Witches as its core, it gathers the boundless baleful qi of Heaven and Earth to manifest the true body of Father God Pangu. Even as a mere phantom, it wields the power to create Heaven and Earth! In the original course of fate, thanks to this formation, the Ancestral Witches could run rampant for a time even in the age of the Saints, standing against Saints head-on!"
A feverish light flashed in Di Jiang's eyes. In theory, he bore the complete bloodline and the potential of all Twelve Ancestral Witches. He also had no shortage of Pangu's blood. Didn't that mean he could set up the Great Formation of the Myriad Heavens all by himself?
Once the thought arose, it grew like wild grass. If he succeeded, it would become a terrifying trump card in his hands, one that surpassed even an Innate Supreme Treasure!
Di Jiang calmed himself and carefully worked out the formation's key elements. Pangu's blood was its core, and he had that. But the other crucial ingredient—baleful qi from Heaven and Earth—made him furrow his brow slightly.
"Baleful qi—especially vast, dense quantities of it. Where in the Primordial World is there the most right now?"
Di Jiang's divine sense stirred, connecting with the information of Heaven and Earth, and he understood at once.
The Dragon-Han Calamity had ended only recently. Though the Calamity Qi had dissipated, the immense baleful qi left behind by the destruction and slaughter of the great war had not completely faded.
And the Western Land had suffered the most! According to the rumors, at the end of the Dao-Devil War, the Demon Ancestor Luohu had self-detonated, nearly destroying the Western spiritual veins and turning the region into a barren land where baleful qi and deathly qi gathered.
"It seems I have no choice but to leave Mount Buzhou and make a trip to the West." If he wanted to test this ultimate killing formation, a journey to the West was essential.
Di Jiang had always been cautious. With a thought, he first strengthened the Innate Five Elements Great Array enveloping Mount Buzhou, ensuring that no one could break in while he was away. At the same time, he left an illusion of the Chaos Bell and a strand of divine sense at the core of Pangu Divine Hall to serve as a final defense and warning system. He took the Primordial Sky Measuring Ruler with him.
The home security was taken care of. Now it was time to head out and gather experimental materials!
Once everything was ready, Di Jiang's figure flickered. Without causing the slightest ripple in space, he silently appeared outside Mount Buzhou, at the edge of the five-colored light barrier. He glanced back at the home he had tended for countless eons, then turned and stepped forward.
Space folded and stretched beneath his feet like obedient silk. He neither rode a beam of light nor tore through space to make a long-distance leap. Instead, he strolled through the layers and veins of space. After all, he wanted to take a good look at the magnificent land Pangu had left behind!
Though his feet touched the ground, Di Jiang moved at an incredible speed, heading leisurely toward the Western Land, where baleful qi soared into the sky.
Since transforming into his current form, this was the first time he had truly left Mount Buzhou and entered the vast Primordial World. His destination was the West, now devoid of life and regarded as a barren wasteland.
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