The spatial fluctuations grew stronger and stronger. At last, a blood-red space spanning over a thousand square meters appeared before Li Yi and the others.
Inside was a huge Blood Pool, with an enormous heart suspended above it. Waves of immense pressure radiated from the heart, while golden runes danced constantly around it.
"So it really is Pangu's Heart." Li Yi gazed at the enormous heart, overjoyed. "That explains why the Ancestor Witch Hall of later generations was so mysterious, and why even a Sage's Divine Sense couldn't penetrate it. Pangu's Heart must have been responsible."
Li Yi wasn't the only one astonished. Even the Main Body rarely showed such open curiosity.
Li Yi and the others entered the mysterious space and looked down at the Blood Pool. Though its blood couldn't compare to Essence Blood, it contained an immense amount of spiritual energy. Moreover, every drop seemed to possess a life of its own. Li Yi could easily guess how the Witch Clan had come into being.
Given another tens of thousands of years, those sentient drops of blood would take form and become members of the Witch Clan. A little guidance from someone nearby would only help them awaken sooner.
A glint of gold flashed in the Main Body's eyes as it stared intently at Pangu's Heart. At the same time, it began to reconstruct the structure of Pangu's body in its consciousness.
Rule Lines traced out Pangu's phantom form in its mind. This phantom was very different from before. It seemed to possess a life of its own, radiating an aura of absolute supremacy and unrivaled majesty.
Meanwhile, Li Yi sensed a trace of Daoist resonance in the heart. Delighted, he carefully extended his spiritual perception toward it.
"Rumble..." Li Yi felt dizzy, then shattered images came rushing into his sea of consciousness.
He felt as though he had returned to the time before Chaos: raging Gale Winds, divine lightning, terrifying Space Storms, scattered corpses of Chaos Demon Gods, and a blood-soaked sky...
Images connected to Pangu kept appearing in Li Yi's mind.
In that moment, he felt as though he was Pangu himself. A swing of his great axe opened a Space Rift tens of millions of zhang wide; one stomp shattered heaven and earth; one breath sent the winds and clouds surging backward...
Every gesture and movement contained the Dao and its principles.
Countless profound patterns imprinted themselves on Li Yi's mind. Even some of Pangu's insights into the Dao were passed on to him.
Time slowly passed, and both the Main Body and the clone underwent tremendous changes.
Golden light gradually shone from the Main Body's body, and faint Immortal Music drifted from it. Chains forged from Rules took shape, binding the Main Body tightly.
Gradually, countless mysterious golden runes appeared across the Main Body's body. They joined together to form tiny blades, which repeatedly sliced at the Rule Chains, as if trying to sever the restraints binding its body. Even a series of "Clang! Clang! Clang!" sounds rang out—an utterly bizarre sight.
Meanwhile, an ancient aura slowly spread from Li Yi, as if it had crossed boundless ages to reach him, impervious to the passage of time.
After an unknown length of time, Li Yi was the first to awaken. He glanced at the Main Body, still deep in its deductions, then left the space.
"I gained so much this time. I even obtained some of Pangu's cultivation insights." Li Yi slowly went over them again. "Alas, Pangu's understanding of reincarnation wasn't deep, so those insights can only serve as a reference."
Thinking of this, Li Yi couldn't help but laugh at himself. He was still too greedy. Pangu's insights were incredibly precious. He was the first great demon god of Chaos, after all—not that it was an empty title.
"With these insights, once my Reincarnation Sword Dao is perfected, comprehending the Rules will be much easier. Besides, the Main Body gained the most this time. It probably isn't far from reaching a hundred thousand zhang in true form!" The thought filled Li Yi with delight.
"Hmm, I can leave the Witch Clan's affairs to the Main Body for now." Li Yi considered it. "Since I'm already at Buzhou Mountain, I might as well look around. There's no shortage of Magic Treasures, but no one ever complains about having too many. I just hope my luck is decent!"
As soon as Li Yi stepped out of the space, he saw Dijiang and the others waiting for him.
Thinking of how later generations praised Houtu and Xuanming, Li Yi realized that with Pangu's Heart appearing earlier, he hadn't really paid much attention to them. He studied them closely now. As expected, they were beauties: one quiet and graceful, the other like a snow lotus atop an icy mountain.
Under Li Yi's gaze, Houtu and Xuanming were at a loss. A blush flickered across their faces, and both felt an unfamiliar stirring in their hearts.
Fortunately, Li Yi soon looked away, and the two gradually regained their composure.
Li Yi smiled. "The Main Body is studying Pangu's Heart and won't emerge anytime soon. I'm heading out to travel as well, so you don't need to stay in this cave."
At the news that they could go out, Dijiang and the other nine burly men grinned broadly. Zhurong nearly jumped with excitement. Even the usually quiet Houtu and the somewhat cold Xuanming had a glimmer of delight in their eyes.
After all, the Witch Clan couldn't cultivate the Dao, and they were far behind cultivators when it came to meditation. They could manage a day or two, but if it went on too long, they grew restless.
They'd been cooped up in this cave for so many days and had long since grown impatient. If they hadn't been awed by the Main Body's authority, they would have gone out and explored long ago.
Now that they'd been told they could leave, it felt as if invisible chains had been unlocked from their bodies. They were overjoyed.
After saying goodbye to Dijiang and the others, Li Yi wandered around Buzhou Mountain. Unfortunately, his luck wasn't great. A hundred and fifty years passed, and he found only a few Houtian Spiritual Treasures. He didn't catch so much as a glimpse of an Innate Spiritual Treasure.
"Whoever said Buzhou Mountain was full of treasures—I'd love to bury him alive!" Li Yi gritted his teeth. Still, unwilling to give up, he kept searching.
Another fifty years passed, and Li Yi had almost lost hope. "Sigh, looks like robbing people for their treasures is the way to go. Treasure hunting is just a crooked path!"
After such a long search without finding a single Innate Spiritual Treasure, Li Yi couldn't help missing his old life of killing people and taking their treasures.
"Huh? No way. Did I really stumble across one?" Just as Li Yi was about to give up, he suddenly found a place his spiritual perception couldn't probe.
There was no doubt this place was unusual. It had to be protected by some kind of Magic Treasure's warding formation.
"My luck really does hold up under scrutiny!" Li Yi was ecstatic, all his earlier frustration swept away.
Li Yi slowly examined the formation, but there was nothing he could do. He had always immersed himself in the Sword Dao, and his understanding of formations was shallow. He couldn't figure out how to break it.
Li Yi furrowed his brow. "Forget it. I'll just break it by force!"
With that, Li Yi pointed toward the formation. A crescent-shaped streak of gray light shot toward it. Bang! He hadn't expected the formation's defenses to be so strong. It rippled briefly, then returned to normal.
But Li Yi wasn't discouraged. He was even more excited, because the stronger the warding formation, the more precious the Magic Treasure inside tended to be.
Bang!
Bang!
After a tremendous effort, the entire warding formation finally collapsed. Twelve streaks of white light shot out from inside. The sentient Magic Treasures tried to flee.
"Haha, you think you can get away?" Li Yi swept out a beam of sword light and trapped all twelve streaks of white light at once.
"Hmm, how could these be the Sea-Calming Divine Beads? Weren't these Zhao Gongming's Magic Treasures in later generations?" Li Yi stared at the twelve transparent beads in his hand, momentarily unable to react.
"Forget it. There's no point dwelling on it if I can't figure it out." Li Yi was easygoing about it. "I've found some Magic Treasures. Next, I just need to make a few close friends and discuss the Dao with them."
After so many lonely years, Li Yi couldn't help wanting to make a few fellow cultivators.
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