Pangu Hall, the Wu Clan's Scheme

Before long, Xuan Yin met Zhurong. The Fire Ancestral Witch had taken the form of an Innate Dao Body and was playing an Immortal Qin outside Pangu Hall, using the Wonderful Sounds of Heaven and Earth to unfold the mysteries of the Great Dao of Fire.

Most beings who cultivated the Great Dao of Fire tended to be hot-tempered or domineering, due to the influence of the Great Dao of Fire.

Xuan Yin simply could not connect the handsome man playing the qin before him with the Fiery Ancestral Witch who had chased Demon Emperor Jun around and beaten him up tens of thousands of years ago.

Tianwu's incarnation smiled. "Besides the Great Dao of Fire, what my Sixth Brother excels at most is the Way of Music, which can soothe one's Dao heart!"

"Across the entire Primordial World, only Fu Xi can be mentioned in the same breath as him in this field!"

"He even personally refined three Ancient Qins. The one he is playing now is the Phoenix Arrival Qin, refined from Yaoshan Divine Wood!"

Xuan Yin immediately nodded.

As Tianwu's incarnation introduced him, Yan Lin also sent him a voice transmission, saying that Zhurong had once used Wood of Yaoshan to make three Immortal Qins, named Phoenix Arrival, Phoenix Arrival, and Luan Arrival respectively. Because these three Immortal Qins had long remained by Zhurong's side, they had developed faint traces of Spiritual Intelligence.

Zhurong treasured them greatly as well.

Soon after, Tianwu's true body emerged from Pangu Hall, and his incarnation transformed into a drop of essence blood that merged into his true body.

"Young Friend, Second Brother has been waiting for you for a long time!"

Tianwu patted Xuan Yin on the shoulder, appearing exceedingly warm and welcoming. Yet Xuan Yin's gaze could not help but settle upon Pangu Hall.

Pangu Hall emanated an ancient, boundless aura of Chaos. The patterns upon it were Chaos Divine Script evolved from the Laws of the Great Dao. With just one glance, Xuan Yin could not resist becoming engrossed in them.

"Wind, metal, wood, water, fire, earth, thunder, lightning, time, space..."

Most of this Chaos Divine Script was related to the Great Daos governed by the Twelve Ancestral Witches, while some of it was likely connected to certain Great Witches of the Wu Clan.

"Let's go!"

Tianwu reminded him, "Once you have met Second Brother, you may comprehend this Chaos Divine Script as you please!"

"Alright!"

Xuan Yin quickly nodded. On the Wu Clan's territory, he still needed to be somewhat careful.

Before long, Xuan Yin met Zhu Jiuyin, the Time Ancestral Witch. Besides him, Xuan Ming and Houtu were also in Pangu Hall.

"Greetings, Ancestral Witches!"

Just as Xuan Yin was about to bow, Zhu Jiuyin stopped him. "Our Wu Clan does not bother with such empty formalities. I had Tianwu invite you from Mount Kunlun this time because I want you, Young Friend, to become a member of our Wu Clan!"

"Huh?"

Xuan Yin froze, then shook his head. "Thank you for your favor, Ancestral Witch, but I am a member of the Human Race created by Empress Nuwa!"

"Besides, I am merely a True Immortal. What virtues or abilities do I possess to catch an Ancestral Witch's eye?"

Before coming here, he had considered why Zhu Jiuyin had sought him out, but he had never expected the other party to immediately ask him to become a member of the Wu Clan.

Was this right?

Zhu Jiuyin's expression did not change as he said calmly, "This is no difficult matter. Our Wu Clan has methods to help you alter your bloodline!"

Upon hearing this, Xuan Yin neither agreed nor refused. Instead, he asked directly, "Is there something about me that the Ancestral Witches value?"

"I do not know either!"

Zhu Jiuyin shook his head. "It is only that the records of Pangu Hall contain no trace of your existence in the previous twenty cycles of Samsara!"

"Generally speaking, the people capable of driving the Primordial World's timeline forward in each cycle of Samsara are always those same people. In the previous Chaos epochs, perhaps Wangshu's karma existed, but no one ever discovered it!"

"Much less delivered that karma into the hands of us Twelve Ancestral Witches!"

Xuan Yin's heart shook violently. He wanted to contact Xuan Shuang and Yan Lin, only to discover that he could no longer sense the Water-Fire Gourd!

The two had once told him that only a few Sages knew of Epoch Reincarnation, and only those few Sages could retain their memories through the cycles.

But now...

How did the Wu Clan know?

Seeing Xuan Yin's somewhat panicked expression, Zhu Jiuyin immediately explained, "Without the Wu Clan's bloodline, only those who have been invited can enter Pangu Hall through their consciousness! Those two fellow Daoists were not among those we invited, so naturally you cannot contact them!"

Xuan Yin was greatly shocked. At first, he had been following Tianwu, but at some unknown moment, his consciousness had separated from his physical body?

And he had not noticed in the slightest!

Still, he could tell that Zhu Jiuyin meant him no harm, so he immediately asked, "How did the Ancestral Witch learn of Epoch Reincarnation?"

Zhu Jiuyin shook his head. "I do not have memories of the previous epochs, but Pangu Hall clearly records everything about the Wu Clan, including the endings of the Wu Clan's downfall in the previous twenty cycles of Samsara!"

"Though all twenty cycles ended with the Wu Clan's decline, several of them differed from the previous experiences!"

"Therefore, I guessed that the Twelve Ancestral Witches of the previous epochs had struggled against it, just as we have!"

With a wave of his hand, Xuan Yin's consciousness was placed within a sea of Chaos, where scenes from previous epochs gradually manifested around him.

The most unusual was the seventeenth cycle of Samsara. All the Ancestral Witches helped Houtu evolve Samsara, allowing the Earthly Dao to successfully emerge. Yet although this act allowed the Wu Clan to continue, other forces of the Primordial True Realm soon afterward extended their reach into the Underworld.

Nether Patriarch evolved four levels of Blood Lake Hell, Nuwa evolved nine levels of Nine Nether Hell, the Two Sages of the West joined forces to evolve eighteen levels of Mount Tai Hell, Taishang Laojun evolved twenty-four levels of Fengdu Hell, Primordial Heavenly Venerate joined Nüqing to evolve thirty-six levels of Nüqing Hell, and so on.

Though the Earthly Dao had emerged, its Earthly Dao Authority was incomplete. Houtu could only be considered an incomplete Sage and was utterly unable to contend with the Heavenly Dao Sages.

The Wu Clan still could not escape its fate of decline.

Then came the Immeasurable Kalpa, and the eighteenth cycle of Samsara began. The Twelve Ancestral Witches of that cycle learned from the previous cycle's lesson and joined forces with Nether and Zhen Yuanzi, attempting to complete the Earthly Dao Authority.

Yet because the Western Earth Veins were missing, the plan to complete the Earthly Dao still failed!

The Twelve Ancestral Witches of the nineteenth and twentieth cycles of Samsara also made every effort to try, but they still could not fully complete the Earthly Dao.

They could not even create a complete Earthly Dao Sage, and thus the Samsara evolved by Houtu ultimately could not escape being carved up by others.

This was the twenty-first cycle of Samsara!

"Besides manifesting in Samsara and the Netherworld, the Earthly Dao Authority also depends crucially on the Nether Blood Sea occupied by Nether and the Great Dao of Earth Immortals governed by Zhen Yuanzi. But one most important piece is still missing!"

"That is the Earthly Origin Dao Fruit evolved when First Kirin occupied the Primordial Land!"

"We Twelve Ancestral Witches emerged from Pangu Hall only after the War of the Three Tribes. Even if we wished to seek the Earthly Origin Dao Fruit, we had no opportunity!"

"But now, in This epoch, there is a variable like you. By a stroke of fate, you formed a connection with First Kirin's Earthly Origin Dao Fruit... Perhaps this is the Wu Clan's sliver of hope!"

Zhu Jiuyin's eyes burned as he looked at Xuan Yin as though he were a peerless treasure. This was also why he had sought out Xuan Yin.

"The Earthly Origin Dao Fruit?"

Xuan Yin had not expected First Kirin's Earthly Origin Dao Fruit to be related to the completion of the Earthly Dao. Yet now, it belonged to the Heavenly Dao!

Unless he had enough merit, it might be possible to exchange for the Earthly Origin Dao Fruit.

But this was no simple matter!

Suddenly, Xuan Yin thought of Zhen Yuanzi, Xuanyuan, and Huan Shu Niu. They, too, had formed a connection with First Kirin's Earthly Origin Dao Fruit.

Could the Twelve Ancestral Witches, or the Earthly Dao will, be plotting something behind this?

Unfortunately...

No one had that much merit!