At the foot of Buzhou Mountain
Di Jun watched the force he had painstakingly assembled fall in waves beneath the Ancestral Witches' devastating attacks, and his heart burned with anxiety.
"Stop! We Demon Clan admit defeat this time!"
But no one paid any attention to Di Jun's words.
Instead, Di Jiang seized the opportunity to use a Space Fragment to break through Di Jun's defenses, slashing his arm.
"Di Jun, surely you are not naive enough to think that just because you beg for mercy, we have to spare you!"
Di Jiang's face was frosty. He showed no concern for the screams of the Demon Clan below and instead mocked Di Jun.
The price paid by the Witch Clan would surely be repaid a hundredfold by the Demon Clan!
By the time the Demon Clan army had nearly been slaughtered by the Ancestral Witches, three Demon Gods suddenly charged into the battlefield between Di Jiang and Di Jun.
"You?"
Di Jun seemed to sense something.
The three Demon Gods hurriedly said, "Demon Emperor, we will cover you. You, the Eastern Emperor, and the others must retreat at once! While there is life, there is hope!"
Di Jun knew in his heart that this was the best choice available.
If they all remained, the Demon Clan's final outcome could only be total annihilation!
"Three mere Great Luo Golden Immortals, yet you speak so boldly?"
Seeing the three block his path, Di Jiang did not regard them highly.
But just as he was about to attack again, their actions made him stop.
The three were going to self-destruct!
The power of three Great Luo Golden Immortals self-destructing together was no laughing matter!
It might not kill a Quasi-Sage, but it would certainly be enough to wound one.
If they were truly injured by the blast, the situation on the battlefield might change once more.
Di Jiang hurriedly shattered the space before him and used the spatial rift to teleport himself elsewhere!
Though the other Ancestral Witches were some distance from the center of the three Demon Gods' self-destruction, they also retreated slightly to avoid being caught in it.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Di Jun and Taiyi unleashed the Golden Crow Rainbow Transformation Technique, instantly leading the remnants of the Demon Clan beyond the heavens.
The Witch Clan did not pursue them.
It was not because they did not want to, but because the Witch Clan's own condition was hardly optimistic.
This conflict between the Witch and Demon Clans could be said to have left neither side victorious.
Other than their top-tier experts, both clans had been slaughtered until fewer than twenty percent of their original members remained!
Both sides had suffered grievous losses.
As their strength declined, the strength of others rose in relative terms.
For example, Eastern Duke, whom Hongjun had appointed as the Leader of Male Immortals.
Just as Di Jun and the others fled back to the Sun Star in disgrace.
Over the East Sea, Eastern Duke's voice resounded through the clouds.
"Heavenly Dao above! I, Eastern Duke, have received Sage Hongjun's decree as the Leader of Male Immortals beneath the heavens. Today, I establish the Immortal Court upon Penglai Island in the East Sea. Let the Heavenly Dao bear witness!"
The Heavenly Dao quickly responded with a thunderous roar.
Vast swathes of Merit Golden Clouds descended once more. Though the merit this time was less than when Di Jun had established the Demon Clan, it was still far from insignificant.
Di Jun gazed toward the East Sea, and the hatred in his eyes became even more apparent.
Of all times for Eastern Duke to establish the Immortal Court, he had chosen the moment Di Jun had been defeated by the Witch Clan. Was this not rubbing salt into his wounds?
One day!
He would make the Witch Clan and the Immortal Court pay!
Not to mention that Eastern Duke did not yet know Di Jun's thoughts; even if he did, he likely would not have cared.
Who was he?
He was the Leader of Male Immortals personally appointed by Sage Hongjun, recognized even by the Heavenly Dao!
Did Di Jun dare touch him? Just try it!
As the Witch and Demon Clans quieted down to recover their strength, the Immortal Court's activities throughout the Primordial Wilderness instead grew increasingly frequent.
Moreover, the title of Leader of Male Immortals appointed by a Sage was truly useful. Some were drawn by the abundant spiritual energy on Penglai Island, and quite a few directly joined the Immortal Court.
Before long, the Immortal Court grew into the greatest force beneath the Witch and Demon Clans.
In truth, the Immortal Court's mid- and low-level forces far surpassed those of the Witch and Demon Clans, but it lacked high-level experts.
For a great force like theirs, mid- and low-level combatants were sometimes not the key to the battlefield. High-level combatants were.
After all, a single Quasi-Sage could wipe out all those mid- and low-level combatants.
But Eastern Duke did not think that far ahead. He believed the Witch and Demon Clans had both gone into hiding because they feared his reputation, so he became increasingly high-profile throughout the Primordial Wilderness.
Such enormous commotion in the Primordial Wilderness naturally drew Styx's attention.
However, he had never left the Blood Sea.
For no other reason than that he was in secluded cultivation.
Even the emergence of a supreme immortal island like Penglai Island had not drawn him out of seclusion.
In fact, Styx had once set his sights on Penglai Island. After all, in the various Primordial Wilderness novels, the Three Immortal Islands formed from Chaos Fragments had always been home to all kinds of treasures.
But the whereabouts of the other two among the Three Immortal Islands, Fangzhang Island and Yingzhou Island, had always been subject to countless conflicting accounts in Primordial Wilderness novels.
Only Penglai Island had been clearly stated to have fallen into Eastern Duke's hands.
Styx had intended to get there before him and strip Penglai Island bare.
But then, a sudden flash of inspiration gave him some insight into the Creation Law, so he hurriedly entered seclusion.
Thinking it over afterward, leaving aside the other two islands among the Three Immortal Islands, Penglai Island at least probably truly held no valuable treasures.
If it really had, then Eastern Duke from the legends of his previous life would certainly have obtained them. How could he still have been so poor?
Therefore, Penglai Island likely had no other major benefit besides its abundant spiritual energy.
Thus, Styx ultimately chose to give up.
That said, after Styx had been in seclusion for so long, had he achieved anything?
Naturally, he had.
By now, Styx's Creation Law had reached forty-five percent. He needed only another five percent to achieve Grand Dao Golden Immortal through the Creation Law.
But!
The Destruction Law still showed no movement.
No matter how Styx comprehended it, the Destruction Law simply gave no response whatsoever!
Though Styx found it regrettable, there was nothing he could do.
When he emerged from seclusion, several hundred more years had passed.
There were now fewer than three thousand years left until the third lecture.
If Styx's guess was correct, the third lecture at Purple Cloud Palace should bring him another gift of fortune from the Heavenly Dao.
Moreover, the third lecture at Purple Cloud Palace was also the weightiest of the three lectures.
Not only would it expound the Sage's Path, but it would also involve three major events: the distribution of Primordial Purple Qi, Hongjun taking disciples, and the distribution of treasures.
Styx did not want to miss it.
He left the Blood Sea, intending to travel across the Primordial Continent and see whether he could obtain some fortuitous opportunity along the way.
However, not long after leaving the Blood Sea.
Styx discovered that someone was watching him.
The person watching him was no weakling, at least a Quasi-Sage.
He did not alert the other party, instead continuing toward the South Pole Land at the edge of the Primordial Wilderness.
Like Southern Blazing Volcano, the South Pole Land lay in the southern part of the Primordial Continent. It was remote and little known.
Southern Blazing Volcano was somewhat better, after all, as it was where the Phoenix Clan resided.
But the South Pole Land truly had no race living there.
Yet even after Styx came to such a remote place, he still sensed someone spying on him.
Styx confirmed that the other party was targeting him, so he stopped beating around the bush and came to a halt.
"Where have you come from, fellow Daoist? You have followed me for quite some time. Is there something you need?"
A figure stepped out from the void.
"Fellow Daoist Styx, it has been a long time."
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