North Sea Demon Race, Haotian Yaochi

Eastern Emperor Taiyi naturally would not let slip the chance to kill Eastern Duke—if this man were not eliminated, the Demon Race would suffer endlessly from his machinations.

So he drove the Eastern Emperor Bell with all his might, directly crushing Eastern Duke to death. The Immortal Court, once a blazing glory across the Primordial Wilderness, was annihilated!

The calamitous aura over the Primordial Wilderness grew ever heavier, though Eastern Emperor Taiyi himself could not sense it. A faint smile crept onto his face.

Then he bowed toward the direction of Chaos and declared loudly, "Sages above, since Eastern Duke assumed the role of Leader of Male Immortals, he proved unfit for the task, using the Sages' banner to commit evil across the Primordial Wilderness, drawing resentment from all. Taiyi could not bear to see the Sages' prestige tarnished by him, so today I struck against the Immortal Court. I beg the Sages' forgiveness!"

A long silence followed. From Chaos, there was no response at all.

Only then did Eastern Emperor Taiyi, surrounded by his attendants, leave the East Sea's Penglai Island. The immortals of Penglai were all taken away by him as well.

With the Immortal Court's power absorbed, the Demon Race recovered some of its vitality. Eastern Emperor Taiyi did not return to the Sun Star this time but flew toward Buzhou Mountain.

It turned out that after the Witch-Demon War, Fuxi and Di Jun had used the Hetu Luoshu to deduce the existence of a mysterious space on Buzhou Mountain. The Demon Race joined forces to break it open, discovering a blessed immortal land, where they established the Heavenly Court. This made up for their previous limitation of only being able to dwell on the Sun Star.

Now, after the Demon Race set up the Heavenly Court atop Buzhou Mountain, they formed a power balance with the Witch Clan. But the Witch Clan had also been recovering their strength. Under the influence of the Primordial Wilderness's calamitous aura, the Blood Pool in Pangu Temple continuously birthed new Witches. The Ancestral Witches also discovered that adding their own blood to the Blood Pool sped up the creation of new Witches. Thus, the Witch Clan's activities across the Primordial Wilderness dwindled.

Compared to the Witch Clan, Di Jun and the others turned their gaze toward another force: the North Sea Demon Race.

In the North Sea Land, Kunpeng held sway. Leveraging the North Sea's unique icy cold, he kept the Witch Clan at bay and gathered a group of demons. This greatly displeased the increasingly powerful Heavenly Court Demon Race. To fight the Witch Clan, they needed to unite all demon forces. The Heavenly Court Demons had been on the front lines against the Witch Clan, while the North Sea Demons hid in a corner, developing in secret—how was that acceptable?

Di Jun and the others quickly devised a plan to attack the North Sea Demon Race. But fate had other plans. Just as Di Jun and his group prepared to move, Kunpeng announced to the Heavenly Dao, established the Demon Script, and received a vast amount of Heavenly Dao merit. His reputation among the demons soared. If Di Jun and the others struck Kunpeng now, it would surely spark internal strife among the demons, even splitting them apart. So they had to shelve the plan and wait for another opportunity.

As they waited, the time for the Third Lecture at Purple Cloud Palace arrived. All the great powers of the Primordial Wilderness set aside their affairs and headed for Chaos. Styx was no exception.

This trip to Purple Cloud Palace filled Styx with anticipation. Based on the previous two lectures, he expected another stroke of fortune this time. Moreover, the conferral of Sage positions and the distribution of treasures after the lecture were the main events. Styx now possessed two Connate Supreme Treasures for offense—No Sword and the God Slaying Spear—and felt he needed a defensive Connate Supreme Treasure. That would greatly enhance his safety in the Primordial Wilderness.

It wasn't that the Karma Fire Red Lotus and the Northern Mysterious Yuan Controlling Water Flag were insufficient; they were merely Top Grade Innate Spiritual Treasures. When he eventually attained the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal of the Origin, such treasures would no longer suffice. If he could merge the Karma Fire Red Lotus with the other three lotus platforms' origins, or combine the other four innate flags with the Northern Mysterious Yuan Controlling Water Flag to form the Innate Five Directions Flags, that might provide him with greater aid.

And this wasn't impossible for Styx. Regarding lotus platforms, he already had the Karma Fire Red Lotus and the World-Ending Black Lotus; he only needed the Creation Green Lotus and the Merit Golden Lotus to complete the set. As for the Innate Five Directions Flags, he was far short, possessing only the Northern Mysterious Yuan Controlling Water Flag. Several of the remaining lotus platforms and innate flags were in Hongjun's hands, later bestowed upon others.

For instance, the Twelfth Grade Merit Golden Lotus was given to Jie Yin, later becoming the treasure that suppressed the Western Sect's fortune, until the Mosquito Taoist bit off three grades, turning it into the Ninth Grade Merit Golden Lotus. The West Plain Color Cloud Boundary Flag was granted to Western Queen Mother after the First Lecture. The East Azure Lotus Precious Color Flag, the South Leaving Earth Flame Light Flag, and the Central Wu Ji Apricot Yellow Flag were obtained by Zhun Ti, Laozi, and Yuanshi respectively at the Treasure Distribution Rock.

None of these were easy marks, but if Styx wanted to gather the Innate Five Directions Flags, it wasn't entirely impossible. What if he managed to collect all these treasures at the Treasure Distribution Rock? Though unlikely, dreaming cost nothing.

However, before Styx could reach Purple Cloud Palace, he was stopped not far from the Blood Sea.

Two children, delicate as carved jade.

Great God Styx had seen them before, back at the Purple Cloud Palace.

Without a doubt, these two were the future lords of the Heavenly Court after the Witch-Demon Calamity—Haotian God and Golden Mother of Yaochi.

The pair blocked Styx's path, speaking timidly: "Greetings, Great God Styx."

Styx knew their intentions were not good, but he held his patience and asked, "What business do the two of you have here?"

These two were Hongjun's attendants, nominally of the same generation as the future sages.

Though Styx was not one to fear mere attendants, there was no need to make enemies of everyone.

The Haotian of now lacked the imperial might of the future ruler of the Primordial Wilderness; before Styx, he seemed like a child afraid of an adult.

He spoke timidly: "Great God, our master has bid us invite you to Jade Capital Mountain."

Styx did not think Hongjun summoning him to Jade Capital Mountain now would be anything good.

Jade Capital Mountain was Hongjun's Daoist Temple before he attained sagehood; after his enlightenment, it vanished from the Primordial Wilderness.

Styx had long suspected that Laozi and the others' earlier ambush was orchestrated by Hongjun.

Now, summoning him to Jade Capital Mountain before the sermon—wasn't this simply to prevent him from attending the lecture at the Purple Cloud Palace?

Every time Styx listened to the Dao at the Purple Cloud Palace, he received no small fortune.

He did not know whether the Heavenly Dao's bestowal of fortune required him to be at the Purple Cloud Palace.

But there was no need to probe this matter thoroughly; after all, only the final sermon remained.

His gaze shifted slightly, still carrying a smile, yet it made Haotian before him shiver with a chill.

Styx said: "Not this time. Please trouble the two of you to inform the sage that if there is anything, he may tell Styx at the Purple Cloud Palace."

With that, Styx prepared to fly away from this place and head toward Chaos.

But Haotian stepped forward and cast out an object.

"Great God, forgive us. The sage instructed that if you refused to comply, we would have no choice but to resort to force."

Haotian and Yaochi were both Quasi-Sages now, but far from Styx's match.

Styx had not taken Haotian's words to heart, but then he saw the object Haotian had thrown emit a shocking force of suppression.