Inside Wuzhuang Temple.
Zhenyuanzi and Hong Yun both wore expressions of astonishment.
The signs in heaven and earth accompanying the Witch Clan's birth had naturally caught their attention. As Great Luo Golden Immortals and Great Supernatural Beings who had transcended the River of Fate, they both possessed the ability to divine the future. They had each gleaned a little about the Witch Clan and were just as astonished as the other Primordial World beings.
"Dao Brother Supreme Yang, what is the origin of the Witch Clan? They've only just appeared, yet heaven and earth have responded, producing such extraordinary signs?"
After the Dao Demon War, Zhenyuanzi had learned that East King Duke possessed tremendous divine abilities and extraordinary knowledge, so he asked him for an explanation.
"The Witch Clan came from the blood essence of Great God Pangu, so they can be considered Descendants of Pangu. The Witches excel at body cultivation but have no primordial spirits. The Twelve Ancestral Witches can control laws through their Body Cultivation Divine Ability alone; they're incredibly powerful. From the moment they appeared, they already had the combat strength of Great Luo Golden Immortals like us, who cultivate the primordial spirit. They're truly extraordinary."
When East King Duke explained that the Witches had no primordial spirits, Zhenyuanzi and Hong Yun lost interest in them. After all, cultivating the primordial spirit was the mainstream path of cultivation in the Primordial World. In the eyes of most Primordial World cultivators, the Witch Clan's focus on body cultivation was an inferior path.
East King Duke said no more. He naturally wouldn't reveal the Heavenly Secrets and tell them that the Witch Clan would be one of the protagonists of the next tribulation.
After staying at Wuzhuang Temple on Longevity Mountain for a thousand years, Zhenyuanzi and Ancestor Hong Yun had both reached the Mid-stage Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm. After their trip to the West, Zhenyuanzi had even brushed against the threshold of the Late-stage Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm. The three discussed the Dao once more, each gaining something from it, before East King Duke took his leave and returned to his own Daoist abode.
He headed east toward the Eastern Sea. Compared to the West, the eastern lands had slowly regained their spiritual beauty after the tribulation ended. The heavens and earth were clear, Dao Rhyme had begun to emerge, and the path of seeking immortality and the Dao had become much more accessible to living beings. It seemed the world had returned entirely to how it had been before the great tribulation.
But some things had changed.
Luohu had perished, becoming the Inner Demon Dao under the Heavenly Dao, a trial for the beings of the Primordial World. All who had yet to escape the River of Fate had to overcome an Inner Demon tribulation whenever they attempted a breakthrough to a major realm. In a way, the Demon Ancestor had found another means of enduring in the world.
For now, however, the Inner Demon tribulation only affected low-level cultivators. It had no impact on Great Luo Golden Immortals or those above them.
He had been away from his Daoist abode on Mount Fang Island for tens of thousands of years. For a Da Luo Cultivator like East King Duke, that was nothing more than the time needed for one period of Secluded Cultivation. Still, returning made him feel as if a lifetime had passed.
He drifted down to the ground. A graceful figure stood at the entrance to the Supreme Yang Dao Palace.
"You're back!"
Her smile bloomed like a hundred flowers. The moment he saw Queen Mother of the West, East King Duke found himself briefly lost in thought.
"I'm back. Sorry for the trouble, Tai Zhen."
Their eyes met, and it seemed they could never part again. Their fate had been written in the stars. Though they had spent little time together, both East King Duke and Queen Mother of the West already regarded the other as their Dao companion. They simply had yet to say it aloud.
"There's no need to thank me. Besides, Mount Fang Island is full of spiritual beauty and benefits my cultivation. I like staying here."
"Then stay here for good."
East King Duke's gentle words brought a blush to the face of the Innate Goddess Queen Mother of the West. Then she nodded firmly. "All right!"
One word said everything.
"You've made great progress too, Tai Zhen. Congratulations."
East King Duke could tell at a glance that Queen Mother of the West had reached the Mid-stage Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm. Her Supreme Yin Immortal Power was abundant, reflecting his Supreme Yang Immortal Power. Standing together, their auras could already connect.
Clearly, she had refined the Osmanthus Tree's source.
After they had talked for a long while, they summoned their disciples to assess their progress in cultivation.
The disciples entered and paid their respects. East King Duke nodded to himself when he saw them. His two disciples, Xuan Yang and Qing Ling, and the two attendants, Jin Ling and Yin Ling, had all been diligent, and each had made progress in cultivation.
As the foremost disciple, Xuan Yang had reached the peak of the Grand Unity Mysterious Immortal realm. He only needed one period of Secluded Cultivation to be certain of attaining the Golden Immortal realm within ten thousand years. Qing Ling, his Named Disciple, had also made solid progress as a Grand Unity Mysterious Immortal and had reached the mid-stage. Given her origins, she had clearly worked hard.
The two attendants had also broken through. Both were now late-stage True Immortals, which was no small achievement.
After giving them some guidance on cultivation, East King Duke prepared to dismiss the disciples.
"Master, this disciple has a request."
Xuan Yang spoke respectfully.
"What is it?"
"Over the past hundred years, I've been diligent in my cultivation, but my magical power hasn't advanced at all. It seems there's an obstacle in my state of mind. I humbly request permission to leave the island and undergo trials, so I can perfect my Dao Heart."
Hearing Xuan Yang's words, East King Duke understood perfectly. The disciple's predicament was likely caused by the barrier of the Inner Demon that Luohu had left upon cultivators, preventing him from breaking through easily. It was a trial for the beings of the Primordial World, but not necessarily a bad thing. So East King Duke didn't explain and simply nodded.
"Granted. Any disciple of my Supreme Yang Lineage who breaks through to the Grand Unity Mysterious Immortal realm may leave and undergo trials, seeking their own opportunities and tempering their Dao Hearts."
"We'll obey your decree, Master!"
Xuan Yang and Qing Ling both looked delighted. Clearly, they planned to travel together.
East King Duke even gave each of them a Supreme Yang talisman seal. Though he had made them casually, each could withstand a full-power attack from a Grand Unity Golden Immortal without breaking.
The two disciples had mastered the Supreme Yang Sword Array and each possessed an Innate Spiritual Treasure. With the talisman seals to protect them as well, they should face little danger, so he felt at ease letting them leave.
After the disciples withdrew, Queen Mother of the West also returned to the Dao Palace for Secluded Cultivation. East King Duke sat cross-legged on the Cloud Bed and brought out the Twelfth-grade Innate Yin-Yang Dao Lotus. Within the lotus platform, the two points of spiritual light he had obtained from Yin-Yang Ancestor still radiated profound Yin Yang Qi.
They were the Law Seeds of the Yin-Yang Law, formed from the remnant souls of Chaos Demon Gods that remained in Yin-Yang Ancestor's primordial spirit. East King Duke's plan, laid over hundreds of thousands of years, had been for this very thing.
The Yin-Yang Law was one of the supreme laws of the Great Dao, capable of standing against the laws of time, space, and power. Yin-Yang Ancestor had received very little of the Chaos Yin-Yang Demon God's legacy. Thus, though he bore the name Yin-Yang, he had not followed the Dao of Yin-Yang, but instead practiced a lesser law beneath the Chaos Two Forms.
Still, he had been reincarnated from the remnant soul of the Chaos Yin-Yang Demon God. His primordial spirit must have carried some relics of the Demon God that even he himself could not investigate. Drawing on the legends he remembered from his previous life, East King Duke had long harbored suspicions. That was why he had made all those plans.
As expected, he had been right. Only when Yin-Yang Ancestor's primordial spirit dispersed had the Yin-Yang Law Seed been able to escape. It had sought a new host to possess, so it could reincarnate and give rise to another Primordial World Innate Demon God.
But East King Duke had been prepared. He had deliberately lured it with his Yin-Yang Dao Lotus. Their origins resonated, and the Law Seed had willingly thrown itself into his embrace, allowing him to seize it.
Though the Law Seed had no consciousness, once captured, it still instinctively tried to escape. But East King Duke had gone to great lengths to obtain it; he clearly wouldn't let it slip away easily.
Feeling the surging power of the Yin-Yang Law, he couldn't help smiling with satisfaction.
Now that he had obtained the Law Seed, East King Duke naturally intended to use it. Usually, one would refine it and make its power one's own, but he had a different idea.
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