Dao Ancestor

Within Taiqing Palace on Kunlun Mountain.

The Mystic Mirror conjured by Taiqing Laozi clearly reflected the suffocating scene atop Buzhou Mountain.

Pangu's Phantom stood between heaven and earth, Chaos Qi spreading out as its pressure bore down upon the Great Desolation.

Heavenly Emperor Dijun's chest had caved in. Golden blood gushed wildly from his mouth, and his aura was faint as he fell like a kite with its string cut.

Eastern Emperor Taiyi burned his origin to withstand Pangu's second punch. The Chaos Bell wailed, Mysterious Yellow Qi scattered, blood seeped from his seven orifices, and he swayed on the verge of collapse.

The Demon Clan's two great pillars had actually been driven to the brink of ruin by just two punches from Pangu's Phantom!

All living beings of the Great Desolation were struck speechless, with only fear spreading through their hearts.

Before the Mystic Mirror, Dao Xuan's mind shook violently. The phantom of the Twelve-petal Pure World White Lotus deep within his primordial spirit swayed madly, while the Myriad Treasures Nine Dragon Seal buzzed as though it were about to burst from his body!

Primordial Heavenly Venerate's face was as dark as water, and the gleam in his eyes flickered uncertainly.

Sect Master Tongtian's clenched fists trembled faintly. Not a trace of his former battle-hungry excitement remained; there was only deep wariness and gravity.

Taiqing Laozi's gaze was as profound as an abyss. Even his usually placid face was shrouded in an unprecedented solemnity.

Pangu's Phantom's indifferent Chaos eyes locked onto the falling Dijun and the barely enduring Taiyi.

That enormous hand which held up chaos slowly rose again and clenched into a fist!

The third punch!

If this punch landed, Dijun and Taiyi would surely have both body and soul destroyed, falling completely!

The Demon Clan's Heavenly Court would collapse in an instant!

"Husband—!"

"Your Majesty—!"

Two shrill, resolute cries and one clear, urgent shout rang out at the same time!

Two figures as bright as the moon and one as gentle as the wind rose into the sky without hesitation!

They were the Moon Goddesses Xihe and Changxi, along with Fuxi!

Moonlight blazed around Xihe, transforming into an icy moon of ultimate coldness that blocked the way before Dijun!

Changxi fused her Sun-Moon Dual Wheels together, unleashing an unprecedentedly dazzling radiance that formed a protective barrier around Taiyi!

Fuxi's long hair whipped wildly. The Fuxi Qin hovered above his head, its broken strings humming as his magic power expanded madly without restraint, evolving heaven and earth, wind and thunder, water and fire, mountains and marshes in an attempt to slow that Heaven and Earth Creation punch!

"Don't!" Taiyi cried, his eyes splitting with rage as he tried to stop them.

"Xihe! Changxi! Fellow Daoist Fuxi!" The surviving Demon Clan mighty figures below cried out in grief.

Yet before Pangu's Phantom's third punch, which contained World-Opening Power and disregarded all things—

Their resistance was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!

Boom—!!!

Before the punch even arrived, its terrifying pressure descended first!

Crack!

The Fuxi Qin's final strings all snapped! The formation diagram was like fragile glass, instantly covered in cracks before exploding apart!

Pfft!

Fuxi was struck as if by a massive blow. He vomited blood wildly, the Dao aura around him collapsing as his breath instantly weakened. He fell from the sky, his life or death unknown!

Then!

That icy moon, beneath the pressure of the fist, melted and scattered soundlessly like ice and snow cast into blazing flames!

Xihe gave a muffled groan. Her moon-white palace robes shattered inch by inch, revealing skin pale as paper. She spat blood laced with ice crystals, the light in her eyes rapidly dimming as she drifted helplessly down like a moon butterfly with broken wings!

Changxi's Sun-Moon Dual Wheels barrier lasted only an instant!

The dual wheels wailed, their radiance extinguishing completely as cracks appeared across their bodies!

Changxi's delicate body shook violently. Her pale golden palace robes were torn apart by the raging force, and golden-red Divine Blood scattered across the sky. Her aura was feeble as she followed in Xihe's footsteps!

Three punches!

Three punches from Pangu's Phantom!

Dijun was heavily wounded!

Taiyi was crippled!

Xihe, Changxi, and Fuxi—the three supreme combatants—had protected Dijun and Taiyi, only to suffer severe injuries from the third punch's residual force and completely lose their ability to fight!

At this point, every top combatant of the Demon Clan's Heavenly Court had been defeated, exposed like lambs awaiting slaughter beneath Pangu's Phantom's indifferent Chaos eyes!

One more strike was all it would take to reduce the Demon Clan's upper ranks to ashes!

The Great Desolation World fell into utter silence.

Fear was no longer enough to describe what all living beings felt. It was complete despair and coldness.

Before the Kunlun Mystic Mirror, Dao Xuan's breathing nearly stopped.

Sect Master Tongtian abruptly rose to his feet, then sank back down in dejection, his eyes filled with complicated emotions.

Primordial Heavenly Venerate's lips moved slightly, but in the end, it became an almost inaudible sigh.

Taiqing Laozi slowly opened his closed eyes. His gaze pierced through the Mystic Mirror as though he were waiting for something.

Pangu's Phantom's enormous hand rose once more.

This time, its target was Dijun, Taiyi, Xihe, and Changxi below, who had lost all ability to resist!

The end was at hand!

At that critical instant, when all living beings held their breath and heaven and earth grieved together—

Clang—!

A clear, lingering bell toll, as though it had existed since Chaos Primordial and yet echoed from the end of future time and space, resounded through the entire Great Desolation World without warning!

This bell toll was not as tyrannical or majestic as the Chaos Bell, yet it was vaster, loftier, and more unfathomable!

It seemed to contain the ultimate truths of heaven and earth and the laws of the cosmos!

Wherever the bell toll passed, the boundless pressure brought by Pangu's Phantom, the Chaos Fiend Qi blanketing heaven and earth, and the aura of destruction filling the universe were smoothed away, fixed in place, and erased in an instant, like snow splashed with boiling soup!

Pangu's Phantom's enormous hand, which was about to fall, was forcibly frozen in midair by an invisible force that was vast and irresistible!

The entire Great Desolation's time and space seemed to have had its pause button pressed at that moment!

"Hmm?"

For the first time, clear ripples appeared in Pangu's Phantom's indifferent Chaos eyes.

It slowly raised its head and looked toward the depths of the boundless, lofty heavens.

All living beings, regardless of cultivation or location, instinctively and uncontrollably looked toward the source of that bell toll.

Above the Nine Heavens, Purple Qi Comes from the East for thirty thousand li!

Thousands of streaks of auspicious radiance descended, while myriad beams of auspicious light surged forth!

Within the Misty Purple Qi, the phantom of an ancient, vast palace seemed to appear and disappear, as though it bore the Origin of the Great Dao.

It was the Purple Cloud Palace!

The palace gates opened soundlessly.

A figure slowly stepped out from within the purple qi and auspicious light.

He wore an exceedingly plain purple Daoist robe that fluttered without wind.

Upon his head rested a Nine Heavens Cloud-Piercing Crown, while his features were ancient and simple, as though he had endured the vicissitudes of countless calamities.

Three long strands of beard hung from beneath his chin to his chest, adding further immortal bearing to his Daoist presence.

In his left hand, he held a Dragon Head Staff, neither gold nor jade, ancient and vigorous. Its dragon head lifted proudly, seeming to possess the might to suppress all heavens and the universe.

In his right hand, he carried a Pure Water Alms Bowl. Clear ripples moved within it; it appeared ordinary, yet it seemed to contain supreme power capable of cleansing all filth in the world and calming all karmic entanglements.

He was the Great Desolation's first Saint, the Dao Ancestor of the Mystic Gate—Hongjun!

Dao Ancestor Hongjun stood in the air, with no earthshaking aura emanating from him.

He merely stood there quietly, yet he seemed to have become the center of the entire Great Desolation World.

The sun, moon, and stars dimmed before him, while mountains and rivers bowed their heads.

Great Dao Laws flowed and submitted around him!

"Hongjun!"

From Pangu's Phantom's mouth came a muffled voice like a Chaos thunderclap, carrying a trace of defiance and arrogance born from the depths of its bloodline.

"This is a karmic grudge between Pangu's true lineage and the Demon Clan! Do you intend to interfere?"

Its voice rolled across the Great Desolation.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun's gaze was calm as he looked at the Pangu's Phantom that stood between heaven and earth. His voice was not loud, yet every living being heard it clearly, like the Great Dao's Resonant Voice:

"Pangu opened heaven, transforming his body into all things and blessing the Great Desolation. Yet the Heavenly Dao has its own order in its workings. The Demon Clan should not perish in this tribulation."

"Should not perish?" Pangu's Phantom let out an earthshaking roar as Chaos Qi churned. "Countless of my people have died or been injured. If this vengeance is not repaid, how can I be worthy of Father God's bloodline? Hongjun, do not meddle in others' affairs! Withdraw at once!"

Dao Ancestor Hongjun's expression did not change. He said lightly, "The conflict between the Witches and Demon Clan is the manifestation of a great tribulation of heaven and earth. Each side has its karma, and each has suffered losses.

"Yet beneath the Heavenly Dao, a thread of life remains. The Demon Clan's fate is not yet exhausted; they should not be exterminated by you today."

"Hmph!" Pangu's Phantom's rage intensified. "The Heavenly Dao? I am the Great Dao of Strength! My will is heaven's will! Hongjun, you are merely one who has merged with the Dao. How dare you obstruct me?"

Dao Ancestor Hongjun shook his head slightly. "Pangu has passed, but the Great Dao endures. You have gathered this body through Father God's legacy. Though it possesses his strength, it does not possess his spirit, much less his Dao.

"To forcefully use it will only deplete your origin. It will bring no good end to the Witch Clan either."

Pangu's Phantom fell silent for a moment, its Chaos eyes fixed firmly on Hongjun. After a long while, its muffled voice rang out again:

"Hongjun! Since you insist on stopping me, do you dare to gamble in battle with me?"

"If you win, I will follow your words and spare these Demon Clan ants today!"

"If you lose, withdraw at once and do not meddle in this matter again!"

As soon as those words fell, the Great Desolation sank into silence once more!

A battle wager?

A battle wager between Pangu's Phantom and Dao Ancestor Hongjun?

Who would win? Who would lose?

All living beings of the Great Desolation, including the Three Pure Ones and Dao Xuan before the Kunlun Mystic Mirror, felt their hearts leap into their throats!

This would be the most supreme confrontation since Heaven and Earth Creation!

Would it be Pangu's ultimate strength in phantom form, or the Saint who had merged with the Dao of heaven and earth?

Hearing this, Dao Ancestor Hongjun showed neither sorrow nor joy. He merely slowly nodded.

"Very well."

That single phrase, "very well," was like a boulder dropped into a tranquil lake, stirring towering waves in the hearts of every mighty figure in the Great Desolation!

The Dao Ancestor had accepted the challenge!

Seeing Hongjun agree, Pangu's Phantom spoke no further.

The enormous hand frozen in midair suddenly retracted!

Its entire majestic body that stood between heaven and earth erupted with Chaos Qi even more terrifying and purer than before!

It seemed intent on returning this world to primordial chaos!

"Hongjun! Take my punch!"

Pangu's Phantom roared. Its enormous fist, condensed with the World-Opening Power of Heaven and Earth Creation, no longer targeted the Demon Clan. Instead, it tore apart time and space, carrying terrifying might capable of shattering All Heavens and Myriad Worlds and recreating Earth Water Fire Wind as it thundered toward Dao Ancestor Hongjun above the Nine Heavens!

This punch was more condensed, purer, and more terrifying than the three punches that had heavily wounded Dijun and Taiyi!

The punch was unleashed!

Chaos split apart! Laws collapsed! Even the river of time and space seemed severed by this punch!

Every living being of the Great Desolation felt a suffocating dread as though the end of the world had arrived!

The Kunlun Mystic Mirror shook violently. Had Laozi not maintained it with all his strength, it would have shattered long ago!

Sect Master Tongtian held his breath.

Primordial Heavenly Venerate's pupils contracted.

Dao Xuan felt as though his primordial spirit would be torn apart by the intent of that punch!

Facing this punch capable of reopening chaos.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun's expression remained calm.

He did not evade.

Nor did he use the Dragon Head Staff in his left hand or the Pure Water Alms Bowl in his right.

He merely raised his right hand slowly toward that world-opening fist that shattered time and space as it came at him.

He pressed two fingers together like a sword.

He lightly pointed at that fist force capable of destroying heaven and earth.

Then he softly uttered two words:

"Be still."

Buzz—!

Words Follow Law!

The Great Dao's Resonant Voice!

An invisible, formless, yet supreme force instantly spread outward!

That world-opening fist force capable of crushing All Heavens and Myriad Worlds!

That violent, rampaging torrent of Chaos Qi!

Those fragments of torn time and space!

Everything!

Under Dao Ancestor Hongjun's finger and that single command—

Was like a mosquito trapped in amber!

In an instant!

It solidified!

It froze in place!

It halted in the void less than a hundred zhang before Dao Ancestor Hongjun!

Time stopped flowing!

Space turned into solid ice!

That world-destroying power was forcibly frozen and sealed!

Pangu's Phantom's enormous body seemed bound by invisible shackles, its movements becoming incomparably sluggish!

The first move!

Dao Ancestor Hongjun used only one finger and one word!

Yet he had halted Pangu's Phantom's supreme strike! He had frozen space and time!

The Great Desolation fell deathly silent!

Every living being who witnessed this scene went blank!

What realm was this?

What divine ability was this?

Pangu's power, the ultimate force itself, was actually so... powerless before a Saint?

For the first time, incredulous shock appeared in Pangu's Phantom's chaotic eyes!

It struggled with all its strength. The frozen space and time groaned under the unbearable strain, cracks spreading one after another, yet it could never break free completely!

Dao Ancestor Hongjun watched the struggling Pangu's Phantom with a calm gaze and spoke again:

"Disperse."

Another single word.

Light and casual.

Yet it contained the supreme authority of Words Follow Law, commanding the Great Dao!

As the word "disperse" left his lips.

That terrifying fist force, frozen in place and containing World-Opening Power!

Those congealed currents of Chaos Qi!

Those shattered fragments of space and time!

Were like ice and snow cast beneath a blazing sun!

Silently!

They melted!

They collapsed!

They scattered!

They turned into the most primordial Chaos Qi and returned to heaven and earth!

As though they had never existed!

The second move!

Dao Ancestor Hongjun uttered another word!

And Pangu's Phantom's supreme attack vanished into thin air!

The restraints around Pangu's Phantom suddenly loosened, but its enormous body swayed violently, its aura fluctuating fiercely. Clearly, the forced dissolution of that punch had inflicted a massive backlash upon its phantom body as well!

"Impossible!" Pangu's Phantom let out an unwilling roar as Chaos Qi surged wildly, trying to gather power once more!

Dao Ancestor Hongjun shook his head slightly.

He said nothing more.

He merely raised his right hand for the third time toward Pangu's Phantom, which stood between heaven and earth with an unstable aura.

This time, his fingers were no longer held together like a sword.

Instead, he spread all five fingers and lightly pressed them down through the air toward Pangu's Phantom.

There was no earth-shaking spectacle.

No dazzling radiance.

There was only an invisible, intangible majestic power that seemed to embody the will of heaven and earth throughout the Entire Great Desolation, descending with a thunderous force!

This power embraced all things, bore all things, and governed all things!

It was not destruction, but... assimilation! A return!

Before this power, Pangu's Phantom's body, forcibly condensed from the Essence Blood of the Twelve Ancestral Witches, baleful qi, and will, was like a sandcastle meeting the tide!

It dissolved inch by inch!

It shattered strand by strand!

That towering, majestic figure became illusory and transparent at a visible pace!

"Roar—!!!"

Pangu's Phantom released one final roar filled with unwillingness and disbelief. Its enormous body completely collapsed, turning once more into twelve dim, drained figures of the Ancestral Witches, falling from the high heavens!

The Twelve Capital Gods and Fiends Formation—broken!

The third move!

Dao Ancestor Hongjun merely made a pressing gesture with his palm!

Yet he completely defeated the phantom of the Pangu True Body that had made the Great Desolation tremble!

Three moves!

Only three moves!

Casual and effortless!

Dao Ancestor Hongjun, the foremost Saint of the Great Desolation, had defeated the Twelve Ancestral Witches, who had formed the Pangu True Body, with an utterly indisputable and overwhelming bearing!

The Entire Great Desolation sank into an unprecedented, deathlike silence!

Kunlun Mountain, Eight Sceneries Palace.

Before the water mirror, one could hear a pin drop.

Sect Master Tongtian stood with his mouth open, his eyes filled with unparalleled shock and reverence.

Primordial Heavenly Venerate wore a complicated expression—relief, reverence, and a trace of indescribable enlightenment.

Laozi slowly closed his eyes and murmured. Though his voice was soft, it rang in Dao Xuan's heart like a great bell:

"Below the Saint, all are ants... Only today do I know these words are true."

Dao Xuan's mind shook violently. Looking at the ordinary figure in violet Daoist robes, holding an alms bowl and a staff within the water mirror, he felt a chill rise from the depths of his soul and instantly spread through every limb and bone!

A Saint!

This was the power of a Saint who had Merged with the Dao!

He regarded Pangu's Phantom as nothing!

Words Follow Law, one palm governing heaven and earth!

What late-stage Quasi-Saint? What world-opening supreme treasure? Before a true Saint, all were empty illusions!

At this moment, the eight words "below the Saint, all are ants" were branded deeply into the hearts and minds of every great power in the Great Desolation!

There was no longer the slightest doubt!

Dao Ancestor Hongjun stood Nine Heavens Above, his gaze sweeping over the land below.

On one side were Dijun, Taiyi, Xihe, Changxi, Fuxi, and the remaining upper ranks of the Demon Clan, severely wounded and near death, their combat strength lost.

On the other side were the Twelve Ancestral Witches and the surviving Witch Clan warriors, likewise greatly depleted of essence blood, their auras weak and powerless to fight further.

Both sides had suffered grievous casualties and enormous losses.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun slowly spoke, his voice calm but carrying unquestionable heavenly majesty, echoing through every corner of the Great Desolation:

"The conflict between the Witch and Demon Races carries heavy karmic burden, damaging the foundation of the Great Desolation. Living beings lie in ruin, and heaven and earth grieve alike."

"From this day onward."

"The Witch Clan shall govern the earth, rule the lands of the Great Desolation, regulate the earth veins, and nourish all things."

"The Demon Clan shall govern the heavens, rule the Stars of the Heavens, harmonize yin and yang, and set the four seasons in motion."

"The two races shall each remain in their proper place and fulfill their proper duties."

"Thirty thousand years!"

Dao Ancestor Hongjun's voice suddenly became vast and mighty, like a decree from the Heavenly Dao:

"Within thirty thousand years, the Witch and Demon Races shall not raise weapons against one another again! They shall not wage war again! Those who defy this decree shall suffer Heavenly Punishment, their bodies and souls utterly destroyed!"

"Rumble—!"

As the Dao Ancestor's words fell, thunder rumbled faintly Nine Heavens Above, as if the Heavenly Dao were witnessing and engraving this supreme decree!

The surviving warriors of the Witch and Demon Races, whether demons or witches, could not help but prostrate themselves beneath this Heavenly Dao Pressure.

Though Dijiang and the other Twelve Ancestral Witches were unwilling and filled with irrepressible rage, beneath Dao Ancestor Hongjun's indifferent, merciless gaze, and before the invincible might of the Saint they had just personally witnessed, they could only force all their fury and unwillingness deep into their hearts.

They knew that with the Dao Ancestor present and his decree issued, today's battle had already ended.

Any further defiance would mean the destruction of body and soul, the complete eradication of the Witch Clan!

Though Dijun and Taiyi were gravely wounded and unconscious, the remaining upper ranks of the Demon Clan, including demon commanders such as Bai Ze, felt bitterness in their hearts but could only bow and accept the decree.

Being able to preserve their lives and the foundation of the Demon Clan was already the Dao Ancestor's mercy.

Seeing that neither side had any further objection, Dao Ancestor Hongjun gave one final look at Buzhou Mountain's Heavenly Pillar, scarred and covered in cracks. A nearly imperceptible ripple flashed through his eyes.

Then, the purple qi receded and the auspicious light faded.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun's figure, along with the phantom of the Purple Cloud Palace, silently vanished from the Nine Heavens Above.

As though he had never appeared.

All that remained was the decree of a "thirty-thousand-year truce," like shackles of the Heavenly Dao, weighing heavily upon the Witch and Demon Races and every great power of the Great Desolation.

At Buzhou Mountain's summit, blood and fire had yet to fade, while corpses littered the ground.

Led by their respective leaders—or acting leaders—the warriors of the Witch and Demon Races silently began gathering the bodies of their comrades, tending their wounds, and slowly withdrawing with endless hatred and exhaustion.

A brutal war that had lasted three thousand years and nearly shattered the foundations of the Great Desolation had finally come to an end.

Kunlun Mountain, Taiqing Palace.

The water mirror slowly dissipated.

The palace was silent.

After a long while.

Primordial Heavenly Venerate finally spoke slowly, his tone complicated. "The Heavenly Dao is impartial, yet also merciless. Thirty thousand years... are both shackles and a chance to catch one's breath. But this blood-deep enmity..."

Sect Master Tongtian unusually did not argue. He merely sighed. "Only today have we truly witnessed a Saint's might. Our... road is still long."

Laozi closed his eyes once more, his aura returning to ethereal tranquility, as though the scene that had shaken the Great Desolation had never occurred.

"The great calamity has temporarily subsided, but it has not ended. Thirty thousand years will pass in the blink of an eye. Cultivate quietly. Comprehend the Dao."

Dao Xuan took a deep breath and suppressed the towering waves in his heart.

He had personally witnessed Pangu's Phantom's supreme might and, even more so, Dao Ancestor Hongjun's Saintly power that crushed all things.

His desire for power and his yearning for a higher realm had never been so intense.