Whoever held the Chaos Pearl could use the Chaos within it as a foundation to create a world of his own and become a Primordial Grand Unity Golden Immortal, free from the Heavenly Dao's constraints.
Chaos encompassed countless laws. The path Xuanyuan followed was therefore bound to differ from those of the other Three Pure Ones: he would fuse the myriad Daos through the Return of Ten Thousand Daos to One.
Once he succeeded, Postnatal Returns to Innate, Innate Returns to Chaos, and Chaos Returns to Primordial Chaos would follow. Even becoming a Primordial Grand Unity Golden Immortal would be only the beginning!
Chaos divided into Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang divided into the four manifestations. Thunder was the sound heard at the Beginning of Heaven and Earth. Understanding Yin and Yang and Thunder would undoubtedly help Xuanyuan comprehend the Great Dao of Chaos!
Leaving the four mighty cultivators to discuss the Dao on Buzhou Mountain, another group of mighty cultivators had also been born beneath it.
After Pangu Opens Heaven, Pangu exhausted his strength and fell. Pangu's Spine became Buzhou Mountain, the Heaven Pillar, while Pangu's Heart became Pangu Hall, deep within the Earth Veins beneath the mountain.
Pangu Hall was seamless and unmarked. Only the Twelve Ancestral Witches could sense the Gate of the Mysterious Female through their bloodlines and find their way in and out.
The hall was not only the Witch Race's place of origin and worship, but also the birthplace of the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
Inside lay a vast little world filled with myriad laws, an excellent place for laws to converge and combine. It offered cultivators of the immortal path immense help in comprehending those laws, and it also contained the Blood Pool, which brimmed with Power of Creation.
When the Blood Pool's unique aura mingled with the other auras in Pangu Hall, it could bring all manner of things and living beings into existence.
At that moment, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, led by the Space Ancestral Shaman Di Tian, were dripping their blood essence into the Blood Pool to nurture Great Witches.
Once there were Great Witches, Lesser Witches would follow, and eventually the entire Witch Race could be brought forth.
"Big Brother, my true spirit sensed something calling to me. There seems to be an opportunity outside."
A tiger-headed, human-bodied figure stopped dripping his blood essence, scratched his head, and looked at his elder brother in puzzlement.
The figure had iron-hard hooves, long, powerful arms, a red snake in his mouth, and green snakes gripped in both hands. Lightning coiled around him, radiating a domineering, destructive force. He was Qiang Liang, the fifth of the Twelve Ancestral Witches and the Ancestral Witch of Thunder.
"Big Brother, I feel it too. It's on Buzhou Mountain."
Then Xi Zi, the eighth-born and the Ancestral Witch of Lightning, spoke up as well.
Xi Zi had a human face and a bird's body. Green snakes hung from his ears, and he held red snakes in his hands.
Thunder and lightning were, in truth, part of the same Great Dao. They were its two sides, Yin and Yang, each with its own emphasis.
Qiang Liang commanded the Yang side of the Great Dao of Thunder: domineering, destructive, and explosive. That was why he was the Ancestral Witch of Thunder.
Xi Zi commanded its more Yin-aligned side: lurking, gathering, and eroding. That was why he was called the Ancestral Witch of Lightning.
But thunder and lightning were inseparable, two expressions of the same Great Dao. Qiang Liang and Xi Zi were therefore the closest of the Twelve Ancestral Witches, rarely seen apart.
When Qiang Liang sensed the opportunity calling to him, Xi Zi's true spirit was stirred as well.
Apart from Houtu, the Ancestral Witches did not cultivate primordial spirits. Their true spirits were not sheltered within primordial spirits, but fused directly with their bodies. Once they fell, they would be gone for good, with no chance to reincarnate through a primordial spirit.
For that very reason, true spirits were sometimes more perceptive than primordial spirits.
"If an opportunity awaits, go together. Should you run into trouble, call on us."
Di Jiang, the Space Ancestral Shaman, nodded.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches feared neither heaven nor earth. If an opportunity had appeared, they would simply go after it.
And if danger did arise, all twelve siblings could fight together. Each was a Grand Unity Golden Immortal. Even a Primordial Golden Immortal, a realm above them, would have to steer clear!
"With Fourth Brother's guidance, I've gained some insight into the Great Dao of Thunder myself. Thunder and lightning have their Yin and Yang aspects: lightning is Yin, and thunder is Yang..."
On Buzhou Mountain, Tongtian was explaining his understanding of Yin and Yang within thunder and lightning. Fuxi and Nuwa listened, smiling and clapping as they gained insights of their own.
"Hahaha! Well said!"
"You've grasped some of the truth behind thunder and lightning, Daoist. My brother and I acknowledge you."
Two booming voices came from below the mountain. The four mighty cultivators stopped their discussion and looked toward the sound.
"I'm Qiang Liang, the Ancestral Witch of Thunder, and this is Xi Zi, the Ancestral Witch of Lightning. Since your understanding of the Great Dao of Thunder is so impressive, how about sparring with us over it?"
Two figures rose through the air, riding currents of Earthly Fiend Tainted Qi.
They were Qiang Liang and Xi Zi, the Ancestral Witches of Thunder and Lightning, now in the form of Innate Dao Bodies.
An Innate Dao Body was human in form. When the Four Pure Ones took shape and entered the world, that was the form they had assumed.
This was because Pangu had created the Primordial World in human form. Within it, the human-shaped Innate Dao Body was most attuned to its laws.
Thus, besides the Four Pure Ones, most mighty cultivators, including Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun, had taken shape as Innate Dao Bodies.
"The two Ancestral Witches?"
Xuanyuan frowned. He knew their appearance was a consequence of his own actions.
The Ancestral Witches lived in Pangu Hall and should still have been propagating the Witch Race, not yet ready to emerge into the world. Likewise, the two Three-legged Golden Crows on the Sun Star had not yet left it to travel the Primordial World.
Pangu Hall, formed from Pangu's Heart, was innately cut off from karma. Unless the Twelve Ancestral Witches chose to establish the Witch Race and emerge, not even Hongjun could scheme against them.
Now that these two Ancestral Witches had come out, Hongjun in the Purple Cloud Palace had likely set his sights on them.
"Spar over the Great Dao of Thunder?"
"Hahaha! Gladly."
Tongtian laughed, eagerness for battle lighting his eyes.
He had been in the world for so long, yet he had always obeyed Yuanshi and Laozi and remained in seclusion at their cultivation ground. He had never fought anyone else.
"Good! That's the spirit!"
Qiang Liang and Xi Zi shouted their approval. Then they assumed their Ancestral Shaman True Forms—one tiger-headed and human-bodied, the other human-faced and bird-bodied—and wielded thunder and lightning as they sparred with Tongtian.
The Ancestral Witches cultivated their bodies rather than primordial spirits. Their powers over thunder and lightning were innate, etched into their blood and flesh. Every movement manifested the power of the Great Dao of Thunder.
This differed from Tongtian's Upper Clarity Divine Thunder and brought them closer to the Great Dao itself.
"Come on!"
Tongtian had only recently obtained his two Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures. But because they were naturally attuned to his Upper Clarity Qi, he had refined the first two restrictions within them during their discussion of the Dao. Now he could bring them into battle.
The two Ancestral Witches were different. They cultivated their bodies with tainted qi and had no primordial spirits, so they could neither Deduce Heavenly Secrets nor refine treasures. Their fists and feet were their weapons.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Tongtian held the Fishing Drum, which symbolized Yang thunder, in one hand and the Purple Lightning Hammer, which symbolized Yin lightning, in the other. Joining Yin and Yang, he fought both Ancestral Witches at once without giving ground.
As the three clashed, the Yin and Yang sides of the Great Dao of Thunder emerged ever more clearly and grew more complete.
Though Qiang Liang and Xi Zi both cultivated the Great Dao of Thunder, neither had mastered it in full. If they had, they would not be Grand Unity Golden Immortals; they could have directly Proved Hunyuan Dao Fruit.
The two Ancestral Witches and Tongtian, with the help of his treasures, all wielded the power of Thunder, but each wielded it differently. Only by exchanging what they knew could they absorb what they lacked and deepen their understanding of the Great Dao of Thunder.
Thunder encompassed both thunder and lightning, Yin and Yang as one.
Whether it was Great God Pangu's All Heavens Divine Thunder, the Heavenly Dao's Chaos Divine Thunder, or Tongtian's Upper Clarity Divine Thunder, each was called thunder. Yet none was purely thunder: each held Yin power and displayed aspects of lightning.
Thunder and lightning could not be separated.
As Fuxi and Nuwa watched the three fight, they contemplated the Yin and Yang within Thunder. Meanwhile, inside the Chaos Pearl within Xuanyuan's primordial spirit, a change began to unfold.
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