The Twelve Ancestor Witches were staying at Qianyuan Mountain, so Xuanyuan naturally had to make proper preparations.
He had set aside a separate cultivation ground for them inside Qianyuan Palace.
As for himself, he was lounging on his Enlightenment Chair outside Qianyuan Palace, as usual.
At ease and carefree!
Cultivate?
Only a fool would bother.
Wasn't it much better to lie back in comfort?
Besides, Qianyuan Mountain was rich in Innate Spiritual Qi, and had treasures like the Enlightenment Chair, a Supreme Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure suited to comprehending the Dao and cultivating, as well as all kinds of top-tier resources.
Even without cultivating, his strength was rapidly increasing every moment.
When he had returned from Zixiao Palace, Xuanyuan had been at the late Daluo Golden Immortal stage. Nearly a thousand years had passed since then. Though he still hadn't reached the peak of the Daluo Golden Immortal stage,
he wasn't far off.
By Xuanyuan's estimate, he would break through in another one or two hundred years.
As for Taiqing Laozi, who was reputed to be the strongest beneath Hongjun, Xuanyuan could only laugh at the claim.
Just an empty reputation!
The strongest beneath the Saints?
His own strength was already several leagues beyond Laozi's.
Besides, once Six-Eared Macaque, Kong Xuan, and the other two broke through to the Daluo Golden Immortal stage and completed the system's task, he would receive the system's reward of ten thousand years' worth of cultivation.
Even if he couldn't break through straight to the Primordial Golden Immortal stage, he was sure to reach the Daluo Golden Immortal stage's peak.
Xuanyuan wasn't in the least bit worried.
For now, what mattered most to him was the cultivation of Six-Eared Macaque, Kong Xuan, and the other two.
Time flew by, and another seven hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.
One day, Xuanyuan abruptly opened his eyes from his slumber. Two golden beams flashed and vanished, and the aura around him surged dramatically.
A smile appeared on Xuanyuan's face.
It had been sixteen hundred years since he returned to Qianyuan Mountain.
"I've finally broken through to the peak of the Daluo Golden Immortal stage!"
Xuanyuan murmured, looking toward Qianyuan Palace. His smile widened.
"Not bad. Six-Eared Macaque, Kong Xuan, and the other two have all reached the peak of the Taiyi Golden Immortal stage. There are still about fourteen hundred years left for them to break through to the Daluo Golden Immortal stage. They should manage it without any trouble!"
Xuanyuan was quite pleased with the four of them.
Ever since arriving at Qianyuan Mountain, they had been cultivating diligently inside Qianyuan Palace without stopping for a moment.
Now that he was sure they could break through to the Daluo Golden Immortal stage before the system's deadline, Xuanyuan turned his attention to the Witch Clan.
Jiu Feng had long since broken through to the Daluo Golden Immortal stage and comprehended the Law of Ice.
Xuanyuan chuckled. No wonder Ancestor Witch Xuanming had taken a liking to Jiu Feng and made her the sole inheritor of Witchcraft. Both of them had comprehended the Law of Ice, sharing the same lineage.
Xing Tian still hadn't broken through; he remained at the peak of the Taiyi Golden Immortal stage. Six-Eared Macaque and the other three had caught up with him.
Of course, that was only how things appeared on the surface.
Though they were all at the peak of the Taiyi Golden Immortal stage, even if Six-Eared Macaque and the other three joined forces, they still wouldn't be enough to take on Xing Tian alone.
After all, given Xing Tian's current physical strength, no one at the same level could break through his defenses, even with a Spiritual Treasure.
That was the Witch Clan's strength.
In battles between those of the same stage, few could defeat the Witch Clan.
"Let's see how Dijiang and the others are doing."
Xuanyuan looked toward Dijiang and the rest, smiling.
"Not bad. They've all reached the late Daluo Golden Immortal stage. If they activate the Twelve Capital Celestial Evil Array, no one in the Primordial World beneath Hongjun can stand against them!"
I wonder how the Primordial World is doing now.
Concerned for the Witch Clan's tribes, Xuanyuan took out the Heaven Mirror and surveyed the world. He found the Witch Clan's tribes thriving.
The cultivation of great witches like Kuafu, Hou Yi, and Xiang Liu hadn't advanced as quickly as Jiu Feng's and Xing Tian's, but they weren't far behind. They had all reached the peak of the Taiyi Golden Immortal stage.
After all, Xuanyuan had long ago passed the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Origin Technique on to every great witch in the Witch Clan and provided them with plenty of top-tier resources.
The only real difference was that they didn't have access to Innate Spiritual Qi as rich as that on Qianyuan Mountain.
Cultivation knew no years. Another thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.
Xuanyuan opened his eyes again, lit a Huazi, and leisurely smoked it.
Only after he'd finished the Huazi did he turn his gaze toward Qianyuan Palace.
His brows furrowed.
"Things don't seem to be going as I expected!"
A thousand years had passed, but of Six-Eared Macaque, Kong Xuan, the Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird, and Sihuxiang, only Six-Eared Macaque had broken through to the Daluo Golden Immortal stage. The other three were still at the peak of the Taiyi Golden Immortal stage.
Kong Xuan and the Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird were descendants of Yuanfeng, while Sihuxiang was a descendant of the Primordial Qilin.
By rights, their talents and origins should have been stronger than Six-Eared Macaque's.
After all, though Six-Eared Macaque was the reincarnation of the Chaos Demon Ape, he possessed only a quarter of the Chaos Demon Ape's origin and had been innately incomplete.
"Why is this happening?"
Xuanyuan couldn't make sense of it.
There were less than four hundred years left. If the three of them couldn't break through to the Daluo Golden Immortal stage, he wouldn't be able to complete the system's task.
Xuanyuan didn't care about the ten thousand years' worth of cultivation or the one billion Great Dao Merit. What he cared about most was the system's final reward: allowing any one Innate Spiritual Treasure to advance into a Chaos Spiritual Treasure.
It was crucial to his plans, and he couldn't afford to let anything go wrong.
Xuanyuan's expression grew grave. Rarely, he began to take things seriously as he carefully examined Kong Xuan, the Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird, and Sihuxiang.
He immediately noticed something amiss.
Wisps of red light, invisible to the naked eye, coiled around the three of them like silkworm cocoons, tightly encasing them and keeping them from breaking through.
Red karmic sin!
It was red karmic sin!
Xuanyuan frowned.
He clearly remembered examining the three of them before taking them as disciples at Pangu Temple. Everything had seemed normal then.
"Where exactly did things go wrong?"
Xuanyuan racked his brain again and again, but came up empty.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
Kong Xuan, the Great Peng, Sihuxiang!
Yuanfeng, the Primordial Qilin!
The Phoenix Clan, the Qilin Clan!
The Dragon-Han Tribulation!
So that was the cause.
The Phoenix Clan and the Qilin Clan had been protagonists of the Dragon-Han Tribulation, bringing great calamity upon the Primordial World.
Though the tribulation had long since ended, the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans had incurred Heaven's censure and been burdened with karmic sin, making their path of cultivation extremely difficult.
Moreover, they would always be a level below the mainstream powerhouses of the Primordial World.
That was manageable while they were weak. But whenever a member of one of the three clans tried to break through to the highest level of power in the Primordial World, the karmic sin they bore would stop them.
Xuanyuan remembered that when he'd first met them near the edge of the Outer Heavens, Kong Xuan, the Great Peng, and Sihuxiang had only been at the Golden Immortal stage.
He hadn't given it much thought back then. Now it was clear that their talent wasn't the problem; the red karmic sin was to blame.
Once he understood the cause, Xuanyuan felt relieved.
Being burdened with karmic sin was like suffering Heaven's wrath. Even figures as mighty as Sanqing, Jieyin, and Zhunti could only stare helplessly, powerless to do anything before attaining Sainthood.
But for Xuanyuan, it wasn't an insurmountable problem.
He had at least two ways to help Kong Xuan, the Great Peng, and Sihuxiang rid themselves of the karmic sin they bore.
Before you continue