The Ancestral Witches had not established a clan, but under the leadership of Kuafu and Da Yi, two of the strongest Great Witches, the other Great Witches and Lesser Witches had flourished across the Primordial World Earth. To outsiders, they called themselves the Witch Ancestor Tribe.
When an Innate Spiritual Treasure appeared, the witches could not be bothered to join the scramble. But if they found a spiritual root or fruit that could strengthen them, they had no reason to let it go. They had numbers on their side.
Great Witches and Lesser Witches alike refined their bodies with earthly fiend tainted qi. Compared with cultivating the primordial spirit and condensing magical power, body refinement demanded far more resources.
The Primordial World was rich, but the Central Land and Eastern Land had too many powerful cultivators. Kuafu and Da Yi were no weaker than ordinary cultivators of that caliber, but the other Great Witches and Lesser Witches could not say the same.
So after looking around, Kuafu and Da Yi decided to try their luck in the Western Land.
The Western Land was barren, certainly, but that also meant few powerful cultivators lived there. There would be no competition.
Besides, Luohu's detonation of the Western Spiritual Veins had thinned the spiritual energy, but it had also sent earthly fiend tainted qi surging up from deep within the earth veins.
Ordinary powerful cultivators avoided it at all costs: it could break down their primordial spirits and corrode their treasures. For Kuafu and the others, though, it was the finest nourishment!
They could also straighten out the earth veins and accumulate merit!
The West was where the Witch Ancestor Tribe was destined to thrive!
In fact, if nothing unexpected had happened, Kuafu and Da Yi would have been right. They could have used the Western Land's unique conditions to strengthen the Witch Ancestor Tribe.
But while the Western Land had few powerful cultivators, it did have some.
Though the Western Land had fallen into decline, its last reserves of spiritual energy and fortune had given rise to two powerful cultivators: the fellow disciples Zhun Ti and Jie Yin.
Daoist Zhun Ti's true form was the Bodhi Tree, one of the Ten Great Spiritual Roots. Daoist Jie Yin had taken form from qi of light.
Perhaps because the West was so barren, neither of them had a Companion Treasure. Daoist Zhun Ti had, however, taken a branch from his Bodhi Tree form and combined it with seven treasures, including gold, silver, lapis lazuli, giant clam shell, red pearls, and agate, to refine his Treasure for Proving the Dao—the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree.
Daoist Jie Yin was still gathering Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures to refine a Treasure for Proving the Dao of his own, which he intended to call the Jie Yin Treasure Banner.
Compared with the powerful cultivators of the Eastern Land, Jie Yin and Zhun Ti had it hard.
Even an obscure cultivator with a short life ahead of him like Daoist Shanhe had been born alongside a High-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Earth Spirit Pearl. The two fellow disciples had nothing. They had to start from scratch.
Treasures such as the Blessing Divine Pestle, Six Roots Pure Bamboo, and Azure Lotus Treasure Color Banner had not yet fallen into their hands.
That hardship was why Daoist Jie Yin had brought Daoist Zhun Ti across the Western Land in search of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, divine iron immortal gold, and anything else they could find. That was how they ran into Kuafu's group.
True to his habit of never letting anything valuable pass him by—and declaring every living being fated to meet him—Daoist Zhun Ti secretly captured a Lesser Witch. After studying him, he was overjoyed.
He discovered that the people of the so-called Witch Ancestor Tribe had no primordial spirits, only powerful bodies. They were ideal material for refining into protectors!
"The West is barren and has no treasures, but the heavens have shown it mercy after all. This Witch Ancestor Tribe is destined to have a connection with us!"
The sallow, thin Daoist Zhun Ti laughed heartily.
In later years, the Western Teachings—and the Buddhist Sect during the Journey to the West Calamity—would become especially adept at converting powerful cultivators and refining Dharma-Protecting Vajras.
As for conversion, that needed little explanation. Once the Interception Sect collapsed, the Western Teachings feasted.
As for refining Dharma-Protecting Vajras...
Among the Buddhist Sect's protectors were eight vajra dragon kings, each refined from the corpse of a powerful member of the Dragon Race. One of them, the Hexiuji Dragon King, was also known as the Nine-Headed Dragon King. That single vajra had consumed the corpses of nine Five-Clawed Golden Dragons!
"You're right, Junior Brother. Kuafu and Da Yi are both Grand Unity Golden Immortals, and neither is weak. If we refine them into Dharma-Protecting Vajras, we'll have another means of protecting ourselves when we travel the Primordial World."
"Let's capture those two first, then subdue the entire Witch Ancestor Tribe."
Daoist Jie Yin pressed his palms together, his face full of sorrow.
As the fellow disciples spoke, their primordial spirits locked onto Kuafu and Da Yi, who were running flat out across the Primordial World Earth hundreds of millions of li away.
"Big Brother, we can't outrun them! Jiu Feng and Xing Tian have taken the others east. Let's fight these two bastards!"
Da Yi rode the earthly fiend tainted qi, his eyes bloodred and his body seething with killing intent.
The witches did not cultivate their primordial spirits. Though they could draw on the power in their bloodlines, they were stronger on the ground. Even if they could command wind, rain, thunder, and lightning to take to the air, they could not match the speed of Jie Yin and Zhun Ti, who cultivated their primordial spirits.
"There's nowhere left to run. Then we fight!"
Kuafu had been holding back his anger for long enough.
What Great Witch was not born to fight heaven and earth? If he had not needed to cover the retreat of his brothers and sisters in the Witch Ancestor Tribe, would he have fled in such a sorry state?
At worst, he would die!
And if he died, those two bastards would pay for it!
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The two elite Great Witches, each as strong as a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, stopped running and charged straight at Jie Yin and Zhun Ti. The force of their bodies shook the void and scattered every cloud in the sky.
"Come on!"
Seeing that they had stopped fleeing, Jie Yin and Zhun Ti were delighted.
As the four Grand Unity Golden Immortals clashed in pairs, Xuanyuan unleashed his full strength for the first time atop Longevity Mountain.
Rumble!
Cloud and mist exploded above Longevity Mountain's peak. Earthly fiend tainted qi whirled around Xuanyuan in an ink-black vortex as his Ancestral Shaman True Form, 129,600 zhang tall, burst through the clouds.
His eyes were like stars, his mouth like the Blood Sea, and every pore in his body breathed vast quantities of earthly fiend tainted qi.
Ancestral Witches cultivated their bodies by drawing in earthly fiend tainted qi. Bigger meant better. Bigger meant stronger. On the Primordial World Earth, there was no upper limit to the Ancestral Shaman True Form.
Previously, neither Tongtian nor Qiang Liang and Xi Zi had pushed an Ancestral Shaman True Form to its limit.
But now, at 129,600 zhang, Xuanyuan had revealed the complete true form of an Ancestral Witch at the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm. Once he reached the Primordial Golden Immortal realm, he could grow larger still!
"Grow!"
At Xuanyuan's command, the Qiankun Bow hummed and expanded to the size of a mountain. The Zhentian Arrow carried the rumble of the earth veins, while ancient Wu Earth Runes and Ji Earth Runes along its shaft flared with a dim light.
There were twelve Zhentian Arrows. They had been nurtured in Pangu Hall alongside the Twelve Ancestral Witches, so naturally there was a connection between them.
Each of the twelve Zhentian Arrows held a different law.
The one Xuanyuan had drawn was the arrow corresponding to Houtu, the Ancestral Witch of Earth.
Rumble—
Veins rose like coiling dragons along his massive arm as brute physical strength slowly pulled the bowstring back.
As Xuanyuan exerted himself, the whole of Longevity Mountain suddenly sank a hundred zhang. The earth veins for tens of millions of li around heaved like dragons turning beneath the ground. Countless ocher rays shot up from below, climbed along Xuanyuan's feet, and gathered at the Zhentian Arrow's tip into a sharp point of earthen law.
"This..."
Zhen Yuanzi's expression changed. He hurriedly activated the Earth Book to steady Longevity Mountain, but inwardly he was stunned.
Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan is this powerful? Let me see who was unlucky enough to offend him.
With that thought, Zhen Yuanzi began calculating on his fingers.
"Fourth Brother has made his move. I won't need to."
Tongtian thought for a moment, then put away the Purple Lightning Hammer and Fishing Drum.
When he had spoken with the Twelve Ancestral Witches, they had reached an understanding: while traveling the Primordial World Earth, they should avoid becoming entangled with the Great Witches and Lesser Witches who operated openly unless necessary.
One side in the open and one in the shadows—that was the wiser course.
"Get lost!"
The instant the bowstring reached full draw, the void tore like rotten cloth. Xuanyuan's roar shattered the heavens.
Crack, crack...
The Zhentian Arrow flew from the string. Driven by both the Law of Space Great Dao and the Law of the Great Dao of Earth, it became a meteor trailing an earthen tail of flame millions of li long. Space shattered inch by inch in its wake. Clouds, birds, and even spiritual energy along its path were crushed to dust.
"You two are destined to have a connection with the West. The sea of suffering is boundless; turn back, and the shore is at hand."
Daoist Zhun Ti sent Da Yi, now forty-eight thousand zhang tall, stumbling with a single blow and spoke with a faint smile.
They might both be Mid Stage Zenith Heaven Golden Immortals, but even within the same stage, some were stronger than others.
Elsewhere, Kuafu swung his staff and roared again and again, but Daoist Jie Yin had him pinned down. Defeat was already in sight.
"Hmm!? This is bad!"
Daoist Zhun Ti suddenly looked up. An arrow's shriek thundered through the air, and the eastern sky turned ocher under the Law of the Great Dao of Earth.
"Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree, go!"
"Sixteen-Foot Golden Body!"
Daoist Zhun Ti's pupils contracted. The Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree flew from his hand and became a barrier woven from seven streams of light. At the same time, he unleashed the Sixteen-Foot Golden Body.
Before you continue