Witch Clan Netherworld, Secretly Learning the Great Heavenly God-Demon Array

Lu Chen had been squatting around Buzhou Mountain for half a month.

During the day, he studied the River Diagram and Luo Book. At night, he sneaked into the various Witch Clan tribes to "borrow" a few things—mainly remnants of Ancestral Witch Essence Blood, imprints of Witch Clan Battle Runes, and Witch Artifact fragments scattered across battlefields that had yet to be collected.

Those things were trash to others, but treasures to him.

Because he was attempting something: reverse-engineering the Great Heavenly God-Demon Array.

"I understand the Great Formation of the Stars now, but if I want to completely keep both the Witch and Demon sides in check, I need to understand the Great Heavenly God-Demon Array too." Lu Chen squatted in a cave, a beast hide spread before him and covered in densely packed Witch Clan Battle Runes.

Hun Yuanzi floated beside him, dizzy from looking at it. "Master, this thing is even more complicated than the Great Formation of the Stars... Twelve Ancestral Witch laws intertwine, and it must also draw upon the Primordial Origin left behind by Pangu. This isn't something a Quasi-Saint can deduce at all."

"That's why I need a little 'cheat code.'" Lu Chen grinned and pulled a small bottle from the Qiankun Diagram.

Inside the bottle were three drops of dark golden blood—remnants of essence blood he had "picked up" from Ancestral Witch corpses when blood-sacrificing the God-Slaying Spear. Though diluted, they still carried the aura of the Ancestral Witches.

He carefully poured out a drop and placed it in the center of the beast hide.

Bzzzt—

The battle runes on the hide instantly came alive!

Streams of blood energy rose, vaguely outlining the phantoms of twelve towering Ancestral Witches!

Though indistinct, that savage, primordial aura of Sky-Opening and Earth-Splitting made the entire cave tremble!

"It worked!" Lu Chen's eyes lit up. "It's only the surface, but it's enough to see how the formation operates."

He stared at the beast hide for three days and three nights.

Finally, at dawn on the fourth day, he abruptly rose to his feet. "Found it!"

Hun Yuanzi leaned closer. "What?"

"The fatal flaw of the Great Heavenly God-Demon Array!" Lu Chen pointed to the central point where the twelve streams of blood energy converged. "Look here—the laws of the Twelve Ancestral Witches merge here to form the Pangu True Body. But there's a problem: every Ancestral Witch's law must be exactly equal in strength! Even the slightest difference will cause the fusion to fail!"

The more he spoke, the more excited he became. "For example, Zhu Rong and Gonggong were severely wounded in their previous battle, so they're weaker than the other Ancestral Witches. That means the current Great Heavenly God-Demon Array can maintain the Pangu True Body for half an hour at most! Beyond that, the laws will lose balance, and the true body will collapse on its own!"

Hun Yuanzi suddenly understood. "So as long as we can stall them on the battlefield for half an hour..."

"No need to stall." Lu Chen sneered. "I can make it collapse ahead of time."

He took out two items from the Qiankun Diagram: a strand of Zhu Rong's hair—"borrowed" during his last visit to the Zhu Rong Tribe—and a drop of Gonggong's sweat, casually collected while Gonggong was bathing.

"With these, I can refine Law Interference Talismans. When the battle begins, I'll secretly stick them onto Zhu Rong and Gonggong, weakening the fluctuations of their laws by another thirty percent! Then the Great Heavenly God-Demon Array won't even last a quarter of an hour!"

Hun Yuanzi sucked in a breath. "Master, that move of yours... is far too sinister."

"Sinister?" Lu Chen put away the beast hide and essence blood. "It's called tactics."

He was about to continue his research when his thoughts suddenly stirred, and he turned toward the cave entrance.

A faint yet exceptionally pure aura of the Reincarnation Cycle drifted up from deep beneath Buzhou Mountain.

"This is... the aura of the Netherworld?" Lu Chen raised a brow. "Isn't Houtu's transformation into the Reincarnation Cycle still several hundred years away? Why did it happen early?"

He and Hun Yuanzi exchanged a glance, then simultaneously concealed themselves and made their way toward the source of the aura.

Thirty thousand zhang beneath Buzhou Mountain.

This place should have been filled with blazing molten earth, yet it was now shrouded in a gray haze.

Within the mist, six phantom passageways could vaguely be seen. From their depths came the wails and prayers of countless dead souls.

A nascent Reincarnation Cycle!

At the center of the phantom Six Paths of Reincarnation, Ancestral Witch Houtu sat cross-legged, an aura of compassion and sorrow radiating from her body.

Her eyes were closed, her hands formed seals, and she was gradually merging her Ancestral Witch Essence Blood and Primordial Spirit into this newly born small world.

She was transforming into the Reincarnation Cycle ahead of time!

"That's not right..." Lu Chen frowned. "In the original story, Houtu only transformed into the Reincarnation Cycle after seeing the devastation wrought upon all living beings by the Witch-Demon War and feeling compassion in her heart. The war has only just begun. Why is she already..."

Before he could finish, Houtu suddenly opened her eyes and looked directly toward where Lu Chen was hiding.

"Little Friend Lu Chen, since you are here, why hide?"

Lu Chen's heart skipped a beat—he was using both the Chaos Brick and the Morning Bell to conceal himself. Even a Saint would not discover him without careful investigation. How had Houtu...

He revealed himself despite his reluctance. "This junior had no intention of disturbing the Ancestral Witch's cultivation."

"It is no matter." Houtu's expression was calm, even carrying a trace of exhaustion. "You arrived at the right time. I have a matter to entrust to you."

Lu Chen froze. "Please speak, Ancestral Witch."

Houtu raised her hand, and an earthen-yellow pearl appeared in her palm. Within it were densely packed True Spirit marks, numbering as many as a million.

"These are the True Spirits of innocent beings I have gathered from throughout the Primordial World over the years, most of them common people who died in the conflict between the Witch and Demon Clans." Her voice was low. "I am about to transform myself into the Reincarnation Cycle, establish the Netherworld, and guide the dead. But the Reincarnation Cycle has only just formed and remains unstable. I must devote myself fully to it and cannot protect these True Spirits."

She handed the pearl to Lu Chen. "Little friend, please safeguard them for me for now. Once the Netherworld stabilizes, send them into the Reincarnation Cycle so they may be reborn."

Lu Chen accepted the pearl. It felt heavy in his hand, as though he were holding up an entire world.

Looking at Houtu's hands, which were gradually becoming transparent, he suddenly understood something. "Ancestral Witch... did you transform into the Reincarnation Cycle early because you saw the coming great calamity?"

Houtu was silent for a moment before sighing softly. "I inherited Father God Pangu's Law of Earth and am intimately connected to the land of the Primordial World. Some days ago, I sensed a mournful cry from deep beneath the earth—it was the Primordial Origin weeping. If the Witch-Demon War continues unchecked, Buzhou Mountain will collapse, the heavens will split, and the Primordial World will face a world-ending disaster."

She raised her head, her gaze seeming to pierce through the earth's crust and glimpse the future. "By transforming myself into the Reincarnation Cycle and making up for what the Heavenly Dao of the Primordial World lacks, perhaps... I can ease this calamity."

Lu Chen was deeply shaken.

This was true compassion, utterly different from the hypocrisy of Jieyin and Zhunti, who constantly spoke of "Save All Sentient Beings" while actually seeking personal gain.

"This junior will not fail your trust." He solemnly put away the pearl.

Houtu revealed a gratified smile. "Thank you. In return, I may grant you one request."

"Please teach me the complete formation diagram of the Great Heavenly God-Demon Array." Lu Chen did not hesitate.

Houtu paused, then smiled. "So you really were planning this. Very well. Rather than let this formation be lost in the future, I might as well pass it on to you."

She raised a hand and touched Lu Chen's forehead.

A streak of earthen-yellow light entered him, and the complete formation diagram of the Great Heavenly God-Demon Array instantly appeared in Lu Chen's mind!

It included not only the method of merging the twelve Ancestral Witch laws, but even a trace of the true meaning of the Law of Strength left behind when Pangu opened the heavens!

"This is..." Lu Chen was stunned.

"This is Father God's final gift to the Witch Clan." Houtu's figure began to fade. "Unfortunately, the Witch Clan knows only brute strength and does not understand enlightenment. You possess the Strength Demon God Inheritance, so perhaps you can comprehend something from it."

She gave Lu Chen one final look. "Little friend, the future of the Primordial World... I leave it to you."

As her words fell, Ancestral Witch Houtu completely transformed into countless points of light and merged into the phantom Six Paths of Reincarnation.

BOOM—!!!

The entire Primordial World shook!

Above the Nine Heavens, immeasurable merit descended like a golden waterfall and poured into the Netherworld!

The Six Paths of Reincarnation solidified completely, and the Netherworld was officially born!

A mournful, compassionate voice echoed in the hearts of all living beings:

"I am Houtu. Today, I transform myself into the Reincarnation Cycle and complete the Heavenly Dao of the Primordial World. From this day forth, the souls of all beings shall have a place to return to. Reincarnation shall be orderly, and life and death shall follow their course."

All beings in the Primordial World—whether Witch, Demon, human, or god—felt it in their hearts and knelt toward Buzhou Mountain.

"Lady Houtu is compassionate!"

At the Witch Clan ancestral grounds on Buzhou Mountain, the remaining eleven Ancestral Witches sensed Houtu's aura vanish and let out grief-stricken roars.

"Little sister—!!!"

Meanwhile, Lu Chen stood at the edge of the Netherworld, looking at the pearl sealing a million True Spirits in his hand, then at the complete Great Heavenly God-Demon Array diagram in his mind. His emotions were complicated.

At the cost of never being reborn, Houtu had brought forth the Reincarnation Cycle. She had also allowed the Witch Clan to receive immeasurable merit ahead of time—though most of that merit belonged to the Netherworld, it had greatly stabilized the Witch Clan's fortune as well.

"No wonder the Witch Clan was still able to preserve a trace of its bloodline in the original story..." Lu Chen murmured. "So they were protected by this merit."

He put away the pearl and turned to leave the Netherworld.

This was not the time for sentiment.

With the complete formation diagram of the Great Heavenly God-Demon Array, the backdoor to the Great Formation of the Stars, and those two tampered-with vicious weapons...

The outcome of the Witch-Demon Decisive Battle was already in his grasp.

"It's time to prepare the final 'gifts.'"

Lu Chen used Brick Escape to return to the outskirts of Buzhou Mountain and began frantically refining Law Interference Talismans and Yin-Yang Disruption Seals.

He would make this decisive battle unfold according to the script he had written.

Meanwhile, at the Demon Clan Heavenly Court.

Di Jun and Taiyi also sensed Houtu's transformation into the Reincarnation Cycle, their expressions turning grim.

"Houtu is extending the Witch Clan's life." Taiyi gritted his teeth. "With the merit of the Reincarnation Cycle, the Witch Clan's fortune can hold on for at least another thousand years!"

"It does not matter." Di Jun clenched the Witch-Slaying Saber. "As long as we crush the Witch Clan's main force in the decisive battle, even merit will not save them."

He looked at the jet-black long saber in his hand. The violent aura within the blade grew increasingly intense, but its power was indeed astonishing.

"The Witch-Slaying Saber is complete, and the Witch-Slaying Sword should be ready soon as well." Di Jun sneered. "The next battle will be the day the Witch Clan is exterminated!"

Killing intent surged in the brothers' eyes.

But they did not know that a fatal trap had long since been buried within the saber and sword.

Nor did they know that Old Sixth, squatting on Buzhou Mountain and gnawing on a roasted beast leg, had already prepared a "surprise" for their decisive battle.

Three months remained until the final Witch-Demon Decisive Battle.

The undercurrents of the Primordial World were about to become raging waves that would destroy everything.