"Little Gourd Vine, what do you plan to do with that drop of Pangu Marrow? I can sense that if you merge it into your body, it will surely bring you a tremendous opportunity."
"Not only could it help you break through to the Great Luo realm, it would also let you truly undergo Form Transformation as your true self. You wouldn't need to walk the world through an incarnation anymore."
Nuwa was right. This was Pangu's Marrow. Compared to it, what were an Innate Spiritual Root or a Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir? They were no more than dust.
So to Qing Xuan, this was a naked temptation—and the kind he couldn't refuse.
Qing Xuan looked at the Pangu Marrow in his hand, then finally shook his head at Nuwa. "You saw it just now. Pangu's Twelve Thoracic Vertebrae should contain twelve drops of Pangu Marrow."
"Pangu left them for the Twelve Ancestral Witches, to help them condense their Nascent Souls. Sadly, the Twelve Ancestral Witches were so attached to Merit that they missed an enormous opportunity."
"Even the Sanqing abandoned the cradle Pangu had prepared for them early, out of greed for Merit."
"That was why Pangu called them fools who had abandoned what mattered for what was trivial—unfilial children who only saw what was in front of them and couldn't look to the future."
"The result was that the Twelve Ancestral Witches ended up as they are now, cultivating only their Physical Bodies and not their Nascent Souls. As for the Sanqing, what they lost was the Three Treasures of World Creation, which came from the Pangu Axe."
"But Pangu also said that the Great Dao would give them another chance to reclaim their opportunity. Whether they could seize it would depend on their own fortunes."
"If I used this drop of Pangu Marrow, it would be tantamount to cutting off one of the Ancestral Witches' chance to gain a Nascent Soul."
"But all it would save me is time. After all, reaching the Great Luo realm or undergoing Form Transformation as my true self would both be a matter of steady cultivation for me."
Nuwa nodded. "Even faced with such a great temptation, you managed to resist, Little Gourd Vine. I'm genuinely impressed."
"Besides, even if you took this Pangu Marrow, you wouldn't incur Karma with the Twelve Ancestral Witches. If you're still willing to give it up under those circumstances, that's not greatness—it's stupidity."
Hearing Nuwa call him stupid with a perfectly straight face, Qing Xuan pretended to get angry and tickled her. Before long, the two of them were playfully running around on Buzhou Mountain.
Just then, a woman in a yellow robe arrived in the area where Qing Xuan and Nuwa were.
"I clearly sensed it. Why did it suddenly disappear again? It seems this lone Remnant Soul of mine still isn't enough."
As the Yellow-Clad Woman stood there dejectedly, she spotted Nuwa and Qing Xuan playing around. When she saw Nuwa in particular, a glint of gold appeared in her eyes.
"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, I never expected to run into you here. Come, come! Let's fight again and see if you've improved lately."
Hearing someone call her, Nuwa looked over. Her face immediately took on a helpless expression, and she couldn't help muttering to herself.
"How can I run into her here, too? That crazy girl always wants to fight as soon as she sees me. I really have no idea what goes on in her head."
Qing Xuan had also spotted the Yellow-Clad Woman and had already more or less guessed who she was. Even so, he asked Nuwa, "Who is she? Do you know each other? You don't seem to like her very much."
Nuwa nodded, then shook her head. "She's Houtu, the Earth Ancestral Witch among the Twelve Ancestral Witches."
"It's not that I dislike her. It's just that she loves fighting too much. I spent a full two hundred years fighting her."
Once he had confirmed her identity, Qing Xuan couldn't help looking at the drop of Pangu Marrow in his hand, thinking to himself:
So I've taken Houtu's opportunity. I wonder whether she would have gotten this drop of Pangu Marrow if I weren't here.
But according to the original Primordial World Trajectory, Houtu never obtained a complete Nascent Soul. In the end, she formed the Six Paths of Reincarnation, and only condensed a Nascent Soul with the help of Heavenly Dao Merit—but she lost her Ancestral Witch True Body.
That shows that even without me, she couldn't have obtained this drop of Pangu Marrow. In fact, because of me, she gained this opportunity. Does that mean she already owes me a debt of Karma?
While Qing Xuan pondered to himself, Houtu had already approached them. But instead of looking at him, she turned directly to Nuwa.
Nuwa could see the fighting spirit in Houtu's eyes. She immediately shook her head at her. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not fighting you again."
When she heard that Nuwa didn't want to fight her again, a look of disappointment appeared in Houtu's eyes. Still, she didn't insist.
Qing Xuan let out a helpless sigh. "The Twelve Ancestral Witches really are all fighters. Even the most levelheaded one, Ancestral Witch Houtu, is no exception."
That made Houtu look over at Qing Xuan. Remembering how he had just been playing around with Nuwa, she asked Nuwa, "Fellow Daoist Nuwa, when you came to the Ancestral Witch Hall last time to ask for Three Lights Divine Water and Nine Heavens Breathing Soil, was it for this fellow Daoist?"
Nuwa nodded. "That's right. He's the Little Gourd Vine I told you about. He's successfully undergone Form Transformation now."
Nuwa wouldn't tell Houtu that Qing Xuan's true body was still at Phoenix Perch Mountain and that the one here was merely an Outer Incarnation. After all, that was Qing Xuan's biggest secret.
By now, Houtu had turned her gaze back to Qing Xuan. She looked him up and down, then said something that made his scalp tingle.
"Fellow Daoist Nuwa spent two hundred years with me for your sake. Now that you've finally undergone Form Transformation, you can take her place. How about we have a fight?"
Qing Xuan was practically covered in black lines. He was just about to refuse, but then he realized this was a good opportunity. So he smiled at Houtu and said:
"I don't mind fighting you. The thing is, I don't like fighting for no reason. How about we put something on the line?"
Houtu nodded without the slightest hesitation and said, "Don't you need Nine Heavens Breathing Soil? I know where you can find more."
"If you beat me, I'll take you to find it. But if you lose, what are you going to give me?"
Qing Xuan slowly opened his palm. The glistening drop of Pangu Marrow appeared before Houtu.
"If I lose, I'll give it to you. Would that satisfy you, Ancestral Witch Houtu?"
When Houtu saw the Pangu Marrow in Qing Xuan's hand, the sensation that had just vanished returned to her mind.
Now that she knew the opportunity she had sensed was in the hands of the person before her, she nodded without hesitation.
At the same time, she assumed a fighting stance, and Earth Law began to gather in her hands.
But Qing Xuan raised a hand to signal for a pause. "Ancestral Witch Houtu, don't rush. My cultivation is only at the Taiyi Golden Immortal level. If I fight you relying on my Physical Body alone, I won't stand a chance."