Luo Hou was driven back again and again by Hongjun and Yangmei's combined assault.
The inexplicable disappearance of the God-Slaying Spear had cost him a powerful weapon and, worse, thrown his mind into turmoil.
The protective demonic light around the Twelve-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus wavered under the chaos currents of the Pangu Banner and the spatial slashes of the Hollow Willow Branch. Cracks spread across it, alarming to behold.
"Damn it! You really think I have no backup plan?"
A trace of frenzied resolve flashed in Luo Hou's eyes. He stopped hesitating and roared at the system in his sea of consciousness, "System! Use the Primordial Golden Immortal Experience Card!"
"Primordial Golden Immortal Experience Card in use..."
In an instant, a terrifying aura beyond description, surpassing everything the Prehistoric World currently knew, burst from Luo Hou!
This wasn't a simple surge in magical power. It was a leap in the level of his existence and his mastery of the Great Dao!
"BOOM—!"
Invisible ripples spread out from Luo Hou.
The attacks Hongjun and Yangmei had unleashed with all their might—whether chaos currents or spatial slashes—silently vanished like melting snow before they could come within thirty feet of him.
In the void of the Heavenly Dao, Zhang Hao abruptly sat up, his gaze piercing endless space to lock onto the West.
"Primordial Realm power... an experience card? This system is certainly willing to spend big."
On the battlefield, Luo Hou slowly rose. The battered Twelve-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus beneath his feet repaired itself, its eerie light growing brighter.
He casually raised a hand and pointed at Ancestor Yang Mei from afar.
There was no earth-shattering commotion, no dazzling divine light.
The laws of the Great Dao of Space around Ancestor Yang Mei instantly froze. His renowned ability to travel through space, almost as natural as breathing, was completely locked down.
A power of "erasure" from a higher level took hold of him. His form began to blur, turning transparent.
"Is this... the Primordial Dao?!"
Yangmei paled in horror and burned his origin without hesitation.
The Hollow Willow Branch burst with its final, brilliant radiance, barely tearing a narrow rift to Chaos through the absolute confinement.
"Friend Hongjun, take care!" Before his words had even faded, he had turned into a streak of light and fled into the depths of Chaos, his presence vanishing in an instant.
"Friend Yangmei!" Hongjun cried out in grief, but he too had fallen into a desperate situation.
Luo Hou turned his gaze toward him, cold and indifferent, as if looking down on an ant.
"Hongjun, you're next." Luo Hou's voice was terrifyingly calm. He joined his fingers like a sword and lightly slashed toward Hongjun.
A thin black crack appeared in the Myriad Heavens Auspicious Cloud above Hongjun's head.
This top-tier defensive treasure let out a strained wail, its radiance rapidly dimming.
The crack spread downward. Hongjun's Dao body began to disintegrate, while the Jade Disc of Creation shook violently, its dao rhythm thrown into chaos.
Bitterness and despair appeared on Hongjun's face.
Below the Primordial Realm, all were ants!
He could feel everything he was—his cultivation, his Dao Fruit, even his very existence—slowly being erased by that single slash.
Just as Hongjun's consciousness was about to sink into eternal darkness, and the savage smile on Luo Hou's face was about to fully bloom—
Time stopped.
The raging energy, the shattered space, the triumphant expression on Luo Hou's face, the last glimmer in Hongjun's eyes... Everything froze, like a bizarre painting.
Only Zhang Hao, in the void of the Heavenly Dao, slowly rose to his feet.
The general course of the Prehistoric World couldn't be changed. At least, the main "storyline" before Investiture of the Gods, as he understood it, couldn't be forcibly derailed right before his eyes.
If someone changed a minor detail or two, Zhang Hao could turn a blind eye and let it pass.
But changing the general course of the Prehistoric World was tantamount to rebelling against him, wasn't it?
If Hongjun died now, who would spread the Dao later? Who would teach the Sages of the myriad heavens?
Was he supposed to personally step in as the Heavenly Dao and teach a bunch of scheming Transmigrators how to cultivate, step by step?
What's more, Luo Hou clearly intended to refine the Prehistoric World. That was an attack on his very roots!
With a thought from Zhang Hao, the entire Prehistoric World shook!
He directly brought most of its power down upon Luo Hou.
Luo Hou felt the entire Prehistoric World rejecting him. Even though his strength had now reached the Hun Yuan Grand Unity Golden Immortal level, pain showed on his face.
"System, what's going on?"
Luo Hou hurriedly questioned his system.
"...Host, we'd better prepare for the end."
Luo Hou's system was completely stunned. Wasn't the Heavenly Dao of the Prehistoric World incomplete? How could it lock onto both him and its host?
Hongjun was lying on the ground right now. There was no way he could have achieved Dao Integration!
"Damn you, Heavenly Dao! My fate is mine to command, not Heaven's! Even if I die, I won't let you, Hongjun, get off easy!"
Luo Hou immediately made a Great Dao oath:
"Great Dao above, I am Luo Hou. I sense that the Heavenly Dao of the Prehistoric World is incomplete. I now willingly transform into the Devil Dao of the Prehistoric World!"
"From this day on, whenever a cultivator of the Prehistoric World advances, they must undergo the trial of demonic heart refinement. From now on, as the Dao waxes, the Devil Dao wanes; as the Devil Dao waxes, the Dao wanes! Let the Devil Dao be established!"
As Luo Hou spoke, a gigantic eye suddenly appeared above the Prehistoric World, radiating an immense, righteous, and impartial aura.
"Approved!"
A Dao Sound rang out, and all the cultivators in the Prehistoric World felt a new constraint take shape within their Primordial Spirits.
Then the Great Dao swept Luo Hou away. His body transformed into an invisible Great Dao and merged with the Prehistoric World.
Zhang Hao didn't stop him. He couldn't have stopped him, either.
He didn't think Luo Hou's choice was a bad thing.
If the cultivators of the Prehistoric World couldn't even overcome the trial of "Dao Heart Demon Planting," then they simply weren't destined to attain the Great Dao.
Zhang Hao reached out with his bare hand and grabbed Luo Hou's system, pulling it into the void of the Heavenly Dao.
Luo Hou was gone, but his system remained.
"How is this possible? The Heavenly Dao was transmigrated into, too?" The system saw the figure in the void of the Heavenly Dao and was utterly dumbfounded.
Wasn't the Heavenly Dao of the Prehistoric World supposed to be formless and incorporeal?
Had the Heavenly Dao gained sentience?
Zhang Hao yawned and didn't bother to explain.
He could hardly be called a Transmigrator.
As it happened, he had been the one to come up with the idea for this Prehistoric World.
Zhang Hao gave a gentle squeeze, and the system burst apart. Its abundant source energy flowed into the Prehistoric World, repairing the land shattered by the Dao-Devil War.
Watching the changes in the West, Hongjun understood that the Heavenly Dao had intervened.
He quickly stopped pretending to be dead, stood up, and cupped his hands toward the void of the Heavenly Dao. "Thank you for intervening, Heavenly Dao!"
Zhang Hao looked over Hongjun and found this future Dao Ancestor satisfactory enough.
At least he'd dared to stand against Luo Hou.
Because of the Transmigrators, the Prehistoric World already had quite a few powerful figures.
Yet every one of them just sat back and watched.
"Hongjun, tell me: why did you stop Luo Hou? Wouldn't it have benefited you more to refine the Prehistoric World together with him?"
Zhang Hao's voice sounded in Hongjun's mind, and his heart trembled.
The Heavenly Dao had truly awakened?
He let out a long sigh, a compassionate expression appearing on his face.
"I saw that all living beings lacked freedom."
Zhang Hao sighed when he heard that.
So, you really couldn't trust the stories about the Prehistoric World. Hongjun was actually a pretty decent fellow.
I'd misjudged him all this time!
After answering Zhang Hao's question, Hongjun saw that Zhang Hao didn't respond and assumed the Heavenly Dao was no longer paying attention to what was happening here.
He went to the place where the Yin-Yang Ancestor and Ancestor Five Elements had fallen. Tears naturally welled in his eyes.
"How could you two be gone? Sigh..."
Only after making sure no one was around did Hongjun collect the treasures and remnants of the source energy left behind by the fallen Yin-Yang Ancestor and Ancestor Five Elements.
"Ahem..."
"The Taiji Diagram and the Five Innate Banners can be my keepsakes from you two!"
Then Hongjun burst into tears.
"Almost forgot. I should take Luo Hou's Four Swords of Zhu Xian, too."
Zhang Hao: ...