He steadied himself. Not only was he not angry, but a fierce battle lust blazed in his eyes as he laughed wildly.
"Hahaha! Good! You've got some guts! Most cultivators I've met are cowards who only dare to play with their magical treasures from a distance. It's rare to find someone like you who dares to take my punch head-on!"
The blood energy around him and his Wood Law surged once more, his aura even stronger than before. He grinned, baring his stark white teeth.
"If you can last a few rounds against me, I'll spare your life today!"
Before his words had even faded, he had already turned into a green blur and charged again, his fists raining down like a violent storm. Every blow contained terrifying force capable of tearing apart mountains and stirring the Spiritual Mechanism.
Watching the burly man charge at him again, Donghua could only marvel. So this was the Witch Clan? The Great Dao made simple: the strong were revered.
He put those thoughts aside, steadied his mind and breath, and met the attack with a palm strike that seemed slow but was actually swift, a clear light flowing around him.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Fists and palms clashed with muffled, thunderous blasts, and the escaping shockwaves tore deep ravines into the surrounding earth.
"Exhilarating! Tell me your name. So long as you don't become an enemy of my Witch Clan, you'll be a friend to my tribe!"
"This poor Daoist is Donghua. May I ask which Ancestor Witch stands before me?"
"Then listen well! I am a true descendant of Pangu Father God, one of the Twelve Ancestor Witches—the Wood Ancestral Witch, Jumang!"
His gaze burned brightly, his battle lust rising like flames. An ancient pressure ten times stronger than before radiated from him.
"Donghua, you're strong. You're worthy of seeing me reveal my Ancestor Witch True Body and fight you with all my strength!"
With that, Jumang threw his head back and roared. The sound waves shattered clouds stretching across hundreds of millions of miles. Blood energy and baleful aura surged skyward around him, forming a crimson pillar that reached from heaven to earth!
His flesh swelled, and the Laws roared!
In an instant, his burly form expanded wildly, transforming into a Divine Body ten thousand zhang tall!
His face remained that of the same wild and unrestrained man, but his body had become that of a bird, covered in verdant feathers that glinted with a metallic chill. His wings spread, blotting out the sky and sun; with a gentle flap, they stirred up the Nine Heavens Gang Wind, tearing through the void!
This was the true form of Jumang, the Wood Ancestral Witch!
This true form was not a Dharma Image like the one Donghua had used before. It was Jumang's most primitive, most essential form—the supreme manifestation of Pangu's blood essence combined with the Miasma of the Earth in the Primordial Wilderness!
Jumang stood between heaven and earth, surrounded by tangible chains of the Wood Law. Two Primordial Azure Dragons coiled and roared beneath his feet, radiating a vast aura that made all things flourish—and all things wither.
An overwhelming sense of pure power surged toward them. It seemed that a single punch from him could knock the stars from the sky, while a single stomp could make the earth sink!
"Donghua, it's your glory to fall beneath my true form!"
Jumang's roar was like a thunderclap from primordial times, shaking the Laws of the Primordial Wilderness.
He merely raised an enormous arm, as if Buzhou Mountain were toppling, clenched it into a fist, and punched toward Donghua.
"Boom!"
Space seemed to freeze at that moment, then let out a shrill wail, as fragile as Lapis Lazuli under unbearable strain.
Where the fist passed, the air did not simply explode. Instead, a visible vacuum ripple formed, distorting everything in its path!
The instant Donghua's body met the fist, the brilliant Lesser Yang Qi around him dimmed sharply, like a candle flickering in the wind.
Donghua felt as though he had been struck head-on by a surging torrent of ancient star fragments. The force was savage, pure, and irresistible, instantly crushing the defenses around him.
The next moment, his body turned into a falling meteor and flew backward beyond his control.
He flew hundreds of millions of miles, cutting through the sea of clouds and tearing across the sky. A long, shattered trail lingered behind him, and the Laws of Heaven and Earth could not mend it for a long while.
"So... this is the true strength of an Ancestor Witch!"
"Azure Emperor Longevity Body."
In an instant, a strange phenomenon appeared!
Lesser Yang Qi flowed around Donghua. In the void behind him, a hazy yet awe-inspiring Azure Emperor Phantom suddenly emerged, wearing a crown and wielding the power of spring.
The phantom instantly merged with his body.
"Hum!"
An immense, boundless force of growth erupted from every aperture in his body.
The flesh torn apart by the Ancestor Witch's fist intent rapidly healed under the nourishment of this supremely pure essence, the recovery visible to the naked eye.
"The Ancestor Witch True Body, with the Laws at its side—truly lives up to its reputation. But this alone won't be enough!"
A flicker of surprise passed through Jumang's enormous azure eyes.
His punch had seemed ordinary, but it contained his comprehension of the Wood Law. Anyone it struck would be affected by Wither and Flourish, making recovery difficult.
Yet Donghua had recovered in an instant. What was more, the Supernatural Ability he had used seemed to touch upon the highest mysteries of the Way of growth, bearing a remarkable resemblance to Jumang's authority over wood!
"Good! Since you've endured a punch from my true form, you've earned the right to witness the true mysteries of my Wood Law!"
His voice roared like countless trees. His ten-thousand-zhang true form stood immovable, but he suddenly spread both arms, as if embracing all of heaven and earth.
In an instant, an invisible Law Domain burst open around him, stretching across ten thousand miles of void.
With a single thought, all withered and flourished; life and death revolved.
"Donghua, since you've shown me the flourishing of life, I'll show you the other side of the Wood Law—the deathly stillness of withering."
"All Things Return to Origin!"
At his command, a Gray White Death Domain rapidly expanded from Jumang.
A constant sizzling sound rang out all around them.
The endless forest, stretching across hundreds of millions of miles, lost all color the instant the Gray White Death Domain swept over it. Every blade of grass and every tree turned from emerald green to withered yellow.
Donghua felt the abundant life essence and magical power within him being drawn out, thread by thread, through his immortal light, and pulled toward Jumang beyond his control.
This was not destruction, but plunder. Within Jumang's Law Domain, all energy—especially vitality—was forcibly made to return to Jumang, the sovereign of wood.
Donghua's form slowed briefly, like a lone tree amid an endless sea of forests, as the surrounding Laws forcibly drew out and assimilated the vitality around him.
Donghua paid no further attention to the omnipresent force draining him. He slowly raised his right hand and spread his fingers, as if trying to grasp the life force slipping away.
Lesser Yang First Light, all things flourish.
"Ancestor Witch Jumang uses his Supernatural Ability to seize the vitality of all living things, yet he does not know that everything beneath heaven and earth yearns to live!"
Azure Emperor Holds Spring!
In Donghua's eyes, it was as if two rising suns were hidden within them, warm yet majestic.
A tiny, flawless point of pure white light appeared at Donghua's fingertip.
The light was not dazzling, but it carried an aura that instinctively drew all things toward it, making them yearn for it. It was the first spark of life, the source from which hope began.
Then, that first light suddenly blossomed!
"Rustle, rustle!"
In a daze, a vast and towering Azure Emperor Dharma Image appeared out of thin air behind Donghua.
The image was not corporeal, but formed from the most fundamental Way of Lesser Yang. Its features were indistinct, yet it bore the supreme majesty of nurturing all things and commanding the birth of spring.
In an instant, boundless Lesser Yang Qi surged from within him and from the hands of the Azure Emperor Dharma Image.
Boundless Lesser Yang Qi surged from the void. It was no longer a raging torrent, but a warm, gentle light of life that shone over all things.
"Thou makest all life wither; I declare all things shall live!"
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