The Chaos Pearl Exerts Its Power, Fragments of Pangu's Memory

Among the Twelve Ancestral Witches, Di Jiang carried the Space Law bloodline, Qiang Liang the Lightning Law bloodline, Xi Zi the Electricity Law bloodline, and the other nine Ancestral Witches each differed as well.

What set Xuanyuan and Tongtian apart from the Twelve Ancestral Witches was—

The latter's bloodline was fixed from birth, while they could choose the most suitable Great Dao Law from the Three Thousand Great Dao Law imprints and inscribe it into their own flesh and blood.

Of course, this process was not without difficulty; one had to have some comprehension of the corresponding Law to succeed in inscribing it.

For Xuanyuan as he was now, his comprehension of both Lightning and Yin-Yang Laws was sufficient, yet he was not keen on choosing either as the foundation of his Law bloodline.

"Hum!"

Just then, within Xuanyuan's Xuanyuan Nascent Soul, the Chaos Pearl—its surface engraved with endless Chaos Runes, with mountains, rivers, sun, moon, and the flow of time and space faintly visible within—suddenly trembled like thunder.

Ripples spread across the Misty Gray pearl's surface, and countless strands of Chaos Current transformed into chains, yanking his consciousness into a vortex of time and space.

In a daze, a vision of the Beginning of Chaos unfolded before Xuanyuan's eyes:

Great God Pangu, treading the Great Dao of Strength, wielded the Sky-Opening Axe. From the Axe Blade, immeasurable mysterious light burst forth, cleaving down toward a towering ancient tree standing in the chaos!

That tree was crystalline and translucent throughout, yet within its hollow branches flowed a strange divine radiance of Space.

In an instant, the void Shattered into billions of crystalline dust motes. Chaos Currents swept everywhere, but amid the azure light splashing from the ancient tree, a beam of mysterious light carrying the Space Law pierced through the Eternal River and plunged straight into Xuanyuan's brow!

"This is... a fragment of the memory of Pangu Opening Heaven!?"

In the Pangu Marrow Pool, Xuanyuan's eyes snapped open. On the surface of the Chaos Pearl, the shadow of a Willow Branch appeared, resonating with the Yin-Yang Lightning World within.

Then, a surge of insight into the Great Dao Law flowed through his spiritual platform.

Xuanyuan vaguely realized that the Chaos Pearl was helping him choose the most suitable Law bloodline for himself.

Though his deepest comprehension still lay in Lightning and Yin-Yang, in the long run—possessing the Chaos Pearl, a Chaos Supreme Treasure—his future path was to open up a true world, one no weaker than the Primordial World.

And Space was undoubtedly the foundation of worlds, the foundation of existence from nothing!

Among the Three Thousand Great Daos, Time was supreme, Space was king; Fate did not emerge, and Causality was called sovereign.

Yet in the information Xuanyuan had gleaned from the Chaos Pearl, there was another, more complete saying:

Space is the Weave of Ten Thousand Realms, Time is the Eternal River;

Causality is the Chains of Destiny, Yin-Yang is the Origin of Taiji;

The Five Elements are the Pillars of Heaven and Earth, Life and Death are the Hub of Reincarnation;

Lightning is the Incarnation of Heavenly Might, Creation is the Source of Vitality;

Destruction is the Flame of the End, Fortune is the Trajectory of Heavenly Numbers.

Whichever saying one took, the importance of Space was beyond doubt.

"But then, this will inevitably lead to a Dao Struggle with Yang Mei."

Xuanyuan sighed inwardly.

Old Ancestor Yang Mei was what remained after the Space Demon God fell. Though he was killed by Luohu in the Demon Dao Struggle, he was not completely dead. Now he had likely fled into the chaos, and might at any time rely on his foundation as a Great Dao Demon God to become a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal of the Origin.

Among the Three Thousand Great Daos, only one could stand at the peak for each Dao. That peak corresponded not to the Zenith Heaven realm, nor the Heavenly Dao realm, but to the Dao Level.

Given Old Ancestor Yang Mei's origins and Xuanyuan's aspirations, there would inevitably be a Dao Struggle over the Space Great Dao.

What was more, on the path of the Great Dao of Chaos—the Return of Ten Thousand Daos to One—anyone who sought to reach the peak of the Dao would have a Dao Struggle with Xuanyuan.

With the Chaos Pearl in his possession, the karmic entanglement of seizing the Hollow Willow's Great Dao Law imprint to forge his Law bloodline could be concealed, but the Dao Struggle could not be avoided.

Still, Xuanyuan did not regret it, nor did he fear it.

The path of cultivation was, after all, a struggle; if one did not advance, one fell back.

With that thought, Xuanyuan dispelled his Distracting Thoughts and focused on inscribing the Law imprint, refining the essence of the Pangu Marrow Pool, and pushing his fleshly cultivation talent ever closer to that of the Twelve Ancestral Witches.

Time flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, another three thousand years passed.

And while Xuanyuan and Tongtian were in Secluded Cultivation within this secret realm, on Kunlun Mountain, a treasure was about to emerge.

The Four Symbols Divine Tree had taken root at the Northern Foothills of Buzhou Mountain. Now that its time to emerge had come, the Innate Restriction shrouding it dispersed, revealing a stretch of time and space.

This Four Symbols Divine Tree, having been conceived and nurtured by absorbing the Four Symbols of Heaven-Opening aura, branched into four limbs. The four limbs bore four colors—azure, white, red, and black—and radiated a divine light of four-colored Laws, beautiful and ever-circling.

One branch took the form of a dragon, roaring skyward, colored azure;

One branch took the form of a tiger, charging down the mountain, colored white;

One branch took the form of a bird, wings shaking the nine heavens, colored red;

One branch took the form of a turtle, four limbs bracing the sky, colored black.

At the same time, these four branches—Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise—corresponded to the Four Seasons Cycle, making it a naturally born Treasure for Proving the Dao:

When the Azure Dragon branch sprouted in spring, the Primordial World's Revival began;

When the Vermilion Bird branch bloomed in summer, Heaven and Earth's Fiery Aura surged;

When the White Tiger branch shed leaves in autumn, All Trees Wither, Revealing Slaughter;

When the Black Tortoise branch lay dormant in winter, Four Seas Frozen, Revealing Suppression.

Now, although the Four Symbols Divine Tree was a Top-grade Innate Spiritual Root, it did not bear fruit. Instead, it nurtured Innate Spiritual Treasures. First, it had nurtured the Azure Dragon Whip, which commanded all lightning, governed the world's thunder laws, and contained the Lightning Law and Lightning Punishment Aura.

It was obtained by the Azure Dragon, who happened to pass by Kunlun Mountain, and renamed the Thunder Dragon Whip.

This Azure Dragon came from the Dragon Race, which had retreated to the Four Seas. He was one of the few remaining Great Divine Powers in the declining Dragon Race, and had also obtained a strand of innate Azure Dragon Qi from the era of the Fierce Beast Calamity. This was the fundamental reason he had emerged unscathed from the Dragon-Phoenix Calamity.

However, for every gain, there is a loss, as fate would have it.

Having received the fortune of the Innate Divine Beast Azure Dragon and obtained the Azure Dragon Whip, he was destined to become the Azure Dragon Mengzhang Divine Lord in the future, and would also sever his ties with the Dragon Race.

The Azure Dragon obtained the Azure Dragon Whip but was still unsatisfied, coveting the other three unborn treasures. Yet after waiting for a long time and receiving feedback from the Four Symbols Divine Tree, he had no choice but to leave.

This was because he was only fated to have the Azure Dragon Whip; the other three treasures would not emerge for him.

Moreover, with his cultivation, he could not shake the Four Symbols Divine Tree rooted in Buzhou Mountain. If he forced the issue, he would suffer punishment from Pangu's Residual Might and Chaos Residual Qi.

The Azure Dragon departed, but two burly figures caught up from the foot of Buzhou Mountain.

One had the body of a beast and the face of a man, riding two dragons, with Southern Bright Leaving Fire burning all over his body, capable of burning the sky and boiling the seas, wielding the Nine Heavens Divine Fire, its temperature surpassing the sun;

The other had the face of a man and the body of a snake, also riding two dragons.

They were none other than the Fire Ancestral Witch Zhurong and the Water Ancestral Witch Gonggong, ranked third among the Twelve Ancestral Witches.

"Hahaha, Old Fourth, what a stroke of fortune! Last time, Old Fifth and Old Eighth got their opportunities, and now it's our turn."

Zhurong fixed his gaze on the Vermilion Bird Banner, still in the process of gestation, while Gonggong set his sights on the Black Tortoise Seal, also gestating.

Among the Twelve Ancestral Witches, the two had the most conflicts, yet in truth, their bond was the closest.

"Buzz!"

At the tip of the southern branch, nine petals burning with Southern Bright Leaving Fire suddenly closed together. With a flash of divine light, they transformed into a crimson treasure banner embroidered with the Vermilion Bird's divine pattern.

The banner fluttered without wind, and within the flame patterns, the trajectories of the Starry Sky Array manifested—this was the Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Vermilion Bird Banner!

At the same time, cracks in the tortoise shell at the base of the northern branch oozed milky white Spiritual Liquid, which finally coalesced with the tortoise-shaped branches supporting the heavens into a pitch-black seal engraved with Rivers, Lakes, and Seas. As water ripples flowed across its surface, the might of the Four Seas' water veins faintly appeared.

The Vermilion Bird Banner commanded Myriad Fires, controlling the warmth and cold of the world, containing the Fire Law and Leaving Fire Aura;

The Black Tortoise Seal commanded Myriad Waters, controlling the Source of Life, containing the Water Law and Kui Water Aura.

The two treasures flew toward Gonggong and Zhurong respectively, proactively acknowledging them as masters.

Although Gonggong and Zhurong possessed powerful physical bodies with the potential to attain sainthood through the flesh, able to withstand innate spiritual treasures head-on, they lacked a Primordial Spirit and could not refine the treasures' restrictions or use them in battle.

But the Vermilion Bird Banner and Black Tortoise Seal were exceptions. They proactively acknowledged their masters, imprinting the Ancestral Witches' True Spirit Imprints, allowing the two to wield them.

"There's still one treasure yet to emerge, but we can't let it go to waste. How about we guard it here and wait for Old Six to come?"

Gonggong said in a grave tone.

Old Six was the Wind Ancestral Witch Tianwu, who happened to be a perfect match for the last treasure, the White Tiger Token, which commanded all winds.

Perhaps he was fated to have it.

"That makes sense. Good treasures shouldn't go to outsiders. Let's..."

"Hey! There are two fellows over there. How about we drive them away? These treasures should only be enjoyed by us Ancestral Witches!"

Zhurong was about to nod when he was suddenly drawn to the Xuanqing and Shangqing auras in the distance.

"Let's go see who it is. If we can beat them, we drive them away. If not, we'll call our siblings to come and drive them away together!"

Gonggong's bronze-bell-like eyes flashed with a dense Fierce Ominous Aura.