The Three Ancestors had merely gone into seclusion; they had not fallen. They could also be said to have been imprisoned by the Heavenly Dao, repaying their karma to the Primordial World and atoning for their slaughter. The three had used their own power to benefit the Primordial World. Only after they had offset the Three Tribes' karmic sin could they regain their freedom.
However, this would take an incredibly long time—ten Yuan Hui, a hundred Yuan Hui, or perhaps even longer...
With the Three Innate Tribes withdrawn from the grand stage of the Primordial World, living beings would now flourish in abundance. The Innate Divine Demons of the Primordial World would enter the world one after another, heralding a magnificent Great Contention Era.
One extraordinary figure after another was about to step onto the stage of the Primordial World. The thought that he could write his own legend in such an age made East King Duke's blood stir with excitement.
Years of warfare had left the Primordial Great Land somewhat desolate. Though the world had become much clearer after the great battle ended, it would still take time to regain its former splendor.
He spent a hundred years refining the Southern Flame Light Banner gifted to him by Yuanfeng. With that, two of the Five Innate Banners were in East King Duke's hands. Queen Mother of the West also possessed the Western Plain Colored Cloud Boundary Banner, meaning they had three of the five. The remaining two might be worth scheming for.
The Five Innate Banners had been transformed from the leaves of the Chaos Green Lotus and each belonged to one of the five elements. It was hard to say what wonders might come of gathering them all.
But obtaining the remaining two would not be easy. The Northern Xuan Yuan Water Control Banner should be with Ancestor Minghe. As for the Eastern Azure Lotus Treasure Banner, legend had it that it would later belong to Saint Jieyin of the Western Sect, though it was unclear whether he had obtained it from Hongjun.
Fortunately, there was no need to rush. He could make plans slowly.
Next would come the struggle between Hongjun and Luohu over the Honghuang Orthodoxy—a struggle for the supreme Saint Position, and to become the first Saint in the Primordial World since the creation of heaven and earth.
East King Duke had tried to divine the outcome earlier, but the Heavenly Secrets had seemed chaotic and filled with killing intent. If he had not cut off his spiritual connection in time, he would have suffered a backlash.
Though he could not divine the outcome, he knew the Great Contention would take place in the West, on Mount Sumeru. He had a plan and needed to wait near the battlefield for the right moment, so he set out at once.
Ten thousand years after the war between the Three Innate Tribes and the Demon Tribe ended, Calamity Qi still lingered between heaven and earth, and living beings remained in hiding. The Primordial World was slowly recovering, while another great battle was brewing.
The Demon Tribe had been wiped out, yet demonic energy still surged on Mount Sumeru, no weaker than before.
Luohu had sat in meditation in the void within Demon Luo Palace for tens of thousands of years. On this day, space atop Mount Sumeru suddenly rippled, and a figure appeared.
A black lotus supported him as he sat in the void. His aura was restrained, making his depth impossible to fathom.
"Hongjun, you've finally come!"
Luohu's voice was calm, yet seemed to carry a power that pierced the soul.
Before his words had even faded, Hongjun suddenly appeared in his sight, still in the form of an old man in hemp robes.
Luohu had sat alone on Mount Sumeru for tens of thousands of years for the sake of settling things with Hongjun once and for all. Now, the two stood a hundred miles apart: one atop a black lotus, the other upon a white lotus. They were opposed not only in their doctrines; the World-Ending Black Lotus and the World-Purifying White Lotus made even their spirit treasures natural counters to each other.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time!"
As Luohu spoke, black lotuses appeared all around him, like a demonic sun hanging in the sky, its light shining across the wilderness.
"Luohu, you let demons run rampant and commit murder, bringing devastation to living beings and calamity upon the world. I have come to slay you, set things right, and restore justice to the Primordial World!"
At Hongjun's shout, the mountains and rivers echoed, and heaven and earth answered. The might of the Daoist Sect was righteous and magnificent.
Luohu had now withdrawn the spell concealing his appearance. Though he was the Demon Tribe's ruler, he was not fierce or hideous. Rather, he had a dignified bearing. Though his presence differed from Hongjun's, his entire being seemed to accord with the Heavenly Dao.
"Both Dao and Demon arose in accordance with fate. The Honghuang Orthodoxy has yet to be decided. What foundation are you setting right, and what source are you purifying? There's no need for more pointless talk. We'll settle this with a fight!"
As he finished speaking, Luohu's aura reached its peak, overwhelming the eight directions. He stepped forward, black lotuses following in his wake. Raising one hand, he conjured a gigantic demonic blade and brought it crashing down toward Hongjun.
"Boundless Demonic Blade!"
This was Luohu's Devil Dao divine ability. The blade swept up waves of demonic energy, its killing intent shrouding ten thousand miles and threatening to annihilate all things. In an instant, it reached the top of Hongjun's head.
With this, the battle over whether Dao or Demon was the true orthodoxy formally began.
Hongjun remained calm, his own boundless aura already gathering.
"Clang!"
The demonic blade shattered. Half a gigantic Jade Disc appeared above Hongjun's head, casting down a mysterious, dim radiance without so much as a tremor.
"The Innate Supreme Treasure, the Jade Plate of Creation."
Luohu recognized the treasure. It was a fragment of a Chaos Supreme Treasure, containing the laws of the Three Thousand Great Daos. Its power was not only suited to divination; its defensive might was no weaker than that of any other supreme treasure.
Hongjun had been blessed by fate and possessed countless spirit treasures; Luohu had expected as much. When his first strike failed, he was not the least bit discouraged. Without pausing, he formed several hand seals, and several black spears wreathed in Malevolent Qi appeared before him, hurtling toward his opponent.
"Wooo! Wooo! Wooo!"
The spear shadows streaked like rainbows, nearly cleaving open the void. Countless demons clung to the shafts, wailing as if they could devour heaven and earth.
The power of the laws appeared around Hongjun. Though he was already in a state where All Laws were Invulnerable, the demons' assault still stirred his Spiritual Power, and his hemp robes snapped in the wind.
His expression tightened, and a gigantic banner appeared in his grasp.
The Pangu Banner was another Innate Supreme Treasure, peerless in offense.
He swung it with both hands, and streams of Chaos Sword Qi shot forth. Their sharp sword intent shattered the demons one by one.
Several million miles from Mount Sumeru, inside a formation, East King Duke stood atop the Twelfth-grade Innate Yin-Yang Dao Lotus, formed hand seals, and used his Spiritual Eye Divine Ability to watch the battle between the two strongest fighters in the Primordial World.
Back then, after leaving the battlefield of the Three Tribes and returning to the West, he had found Zhenyuanzi and given him a few instructions before coming here. He had been waiting for this very battle between Hongjun and Luohu.
He had waited several thousand years. Now, the battle had begun.
The Spiritual Eye Divine Ability he had comprehended from the Supreme Yang Dao Scripture was profound, but it was still not enough to let him witness the battle between the strongest beings in the Primordial World from afar. He could only make out the general situation.
Even so, the might emanating from the battlefield filled East King Duke with dread. Both fighters were Quasi-Saint Peak powerhouses on the verge of proving the Dao, and their divine abilities and magic arts were far beyond those of ordinary Quasi-Saints.
East King Duke was a proud man, a Heaven-Blessed Genius who sought to defy fate and tread the arduous path of Proving Dao via Laws. Arrogant as he was, he had never even taken the likes of the Three Pure Ones seriously.
Even so, faced with the might of Hongjun and Luohu, he knew he was utterly outmatched. When he had faced Luohu before, he might still have been confident he could escape from him. But now that his own combat strength had grown, he had somehow lost all confidence.
The battle between Hongjun and Luohu continued, but East King Duke was troubled by a question. He had schemed in the West for more than just protecting its ley lines and earning merit; he had also come for this battle.
According to the legends of his previous life, Hongjun had summoned four Fellow Daoists to join forces against Luohu. Yet now, East King Duke saw only Hongjun. His brows furrowed. What he sought concerned his Dao Path, but it did not involve either of the two protagonists. Instead, it depended on another legendary participant in the final battle between Dao and Demon: Yin-Yang Ancestor.
If Yin-Yang Ancestor failed to appear, then East King Duke's plans of several hundred thousand years might come to naught.
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