Ancestral Vein Changbai Mountain, First Meeting with Xuanming

Along the way, Guiyuan kept collecting the corpses of ferocious beasts, refining them into pills and forging them into his treasures.

Every bit of accumulated foundation was a gain, but Guiyuan also discovered just how detestable these ferocious beasts truly were.

Damn it. Because the Sha Qi was too dense, every spiritual root and treasure he found was either damaged or contaminated.

At the very least, they were useless—even the Great Dao within had been corroded by the Chaos Great Dao, making it pointless to try and comprehend their principles.

"Eh, they'll make decent sacrifices for self-detonation later."

Guiyuan thought it over and decided to keep them, not refining them into his Thirty-Three Fiendish Treasures.

Several hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.

Guiyuan finally arrived at the edge of the Ancestral Vein of Changbai Mountain.

He lifted his gaze and felt his heart tremble.

What a magnificent Primordial Ancestral Vein!

The mountain range stretched endlessly, spanning who knows how many billions of miles—majestic, vast, deeply rooted, faintly connected to the fate of the entire Northern Continent.

Peaks rose like swords, stabbing into the grayish sky, and one could vaguely see the former glory of countless mountains paying homage, with spiritual energy surging like tides.

In its prime, it must have been a top-tier paradise in the Primordial World, capable of nurturing countless divine beings.

But now, all that remained were broken walls and ruins, a scene of utter devastation.

Thick, ink-black Sha Qi coiled around the mountain like living things, hissing audibly.

The rocks were scorched black, spiritual activity had vanished, and only endless silence and decay permeated the air.

The heart of the Ancestral Vein that once nourished the Northern Lands had become a foul source spewing Sha Qi.

"Such a waste." Guiyuan sighed inwardly.

But the next moment, his expression turned sharp.

Deep within the surging Sha Qi.

A vast, ferocious, chaotic pressure pulsed slowly like a slumbering giant beast.

Though sluggish, as if bearing severe injuries, its level far surpassed Taiyi!

"The Taowu King... is still here." Guiyuan's eyes flickered as his mind raced. A severely injured Daluo ferocious beast—temptation and danger coexisted.

Just as he weighed whether to risk an exploration, a sudden change occurred!

The void rippled faintly in the distance, and a figure appeared without warning.

Guiyuan reacted swiftly. With a thought, the Great Concealment Technique instantly enveloped him, hiding his aura, karma, and presence, merging him with the surrounding Sha Qi.

He focused his gaze and saw that the newcomer was a strikingly beautiful woman.

She was tall, with skin like snow and a cold, peerlessly stunning face, exuding an unapproachable, icy aura.

What astonished Guiyuan most was that the Chaos Sha Qi permeating the area—enough to corrode a Taiyi's foundation—behaved meekly around her like a lamb.

Not only did it fail to harm her, but it also retreated as if a subject before its sovereign!

"How strange! Who is this?"

A warning bell rang in Guiyuan's heart. Anyone who could ignore the Sha Qi here was no ordinary being.

After appearing, the woman showed no hesitation. Her icy gaze pierced straight into the depths of Changbai Mountain.

The next moment, she stepped forward, her form like lightning, and charged directly into the surging Sha Qi, heading straight for the Taowu King's lair!

"Roar—!"

A roar filled with rage and agony instantly shook heaven and earth, causing the entire Changbai Mountain to tremble violently.

Terrifying battle fluctuations erupted, churning the Sha Qi like boiling water!

Guiyuan strained his eyes, piercing through layers of obstruction, and saw two colossal figures locked in a brutal fight atop the mountain!

No divine light, no law clashes—only the most primal, savage, and awe-inspiring physical combat!

Claws and fangs tore, flesh and blood flew, each collision producing a deafening metallic clang, and space itself cracked under the sheer force!

One of them was the Taowu King, similar in form to the Taowu he had encountered before, but hundreds of times larger, radiating overwhelming ferocity.

A massive, pitch-black hole gaped in its chest, oozing dark blood—clearly an old, severe wound that hampered its movements.

The other giant beast fighting it had a human face and a beast's body, with two snakes hanging from its ears, exuding an icy, bone-chilling aura of laws governing rain and wind. Its vast, surging blood energy was in no way inferior to the wounded Taowu King!

"This is..."

Guiyuan's pupils contracted as a name surfaced in his mind.

"The Xuanming True Body! So the Twelve Ancestral Witches have already emerged!"

He understood now. No wonder the woman was unafraid of the Sha Qi.

The Ancestral Witches were born from Pangu's essence blood, innately mastering laws, cultivating only their physical bodies, not their Primordial Spirits.

This Xuanming Ancestral Witch must govern laws like ice, rain, and Sha Qi. The Chaos Sha here, while not exactly nourishment for her, would still find it difficult to corrode her.

As thoughts raced, the battle atop the mountain peak reached a fever pitch.

The Xuanming Ancestral Witch roared, her fists pounding like giant war drums, ice-sha energy condensing on her claws as she hammered again and again at the Taowu King's wounds.

The Taowu King howled in agony, its ferocity fully unleashed; its sharp claws swept wide, its long tail lashed like a sky-shattering whip, counterattacking wildly.

Xuanming's fists were like ice, her claws steeped in sha energy, every strike aimed at the gruesome bloody hole in the Taowu's chest.

The Taowu roared repeatedly, its aura weakening, seemingly on the verge of defeat.

Just then—

"ROAR—!"

A piercing, mournful howl—not from the Taowu King, but erupting simultaneously from all across Changbai Mountain!

The next moment, Guiyuan's pupils contracted.

Between the mountain ridges, one by one, the lurking Taowu ferocious beasts had their bodies burst open without warning!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Like blood-colored fireworks, they bloomed grimly across the wilderness.

Clusters of pure, ultimate blood essence and chaotic sha energy, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, surged madly into the Taowu King's shattered body!

Its aura instantly skyrocketed!

The once-waning pressure shot into the heavens, causing the laws of heaven and earth to wail in lament. A sliver of power unique to the Daluo level was forcibly awakened within it!

"Not good!" Xuanming's icy face changed color for the first time.

The Taowu's blood-red eyes locked onto her, and its massive claw swung out fiercely.

This claw, wrapped in chaotic sha, struck into the obscure river of time!

The attack was no longer confined to the present; from the three temporal dimensions of past, present, and future, it simultaneously ground toward Xuanming!

The sha energy around Xuanming violently trembled, and her true body emitted cracking sounds of unbearable strain.

She tried to resist, but the grinding force from the time dimension was both formless and omnipresent.

"Crack—"

Xuanming's true body suddenly split, blood spraying like a waterfall. She let out a muffled groan, her aura instantly wilting, and was sent flying by the Taowu's massive claw that followed!

"Now!"

Guiyuan, who had been hiding in the shadows all along, had a sharp gleam burst from his eyes.

"Great Spacetime Technique!"

His form flickered, as if ignoring spatial distance, and in an instant he appeared on Xuanming's trajectory, catching her in one arm.

In his grasp, her body felt heavy—sha energy and injuries intertwined; she was already at her last gasp.

The Taowu King, having landed its blow, grew even more ferocious, tearing through the void and lunging again!

Without hesitation, Guiyuan's 2,999 great daos instantly interwove, simultaneously manifesting the Eight Gods Return to the Ultimate.

"Primordial Heavenly Dao!"

His true body and the eight phantom avatars appeared together; nine streams of primordial energy stood like heavenly pillars spanning the sky, crashing fiercely into the charging Taowu!

"BOOM—!"

The thunderous roar shook the entire Changbai mountain range.

The Taowu's forward momentum abruptly stalled, forced back for a moment by this overwhelming power.

Seizing the opening, Guiyuan moved his mind again.

Within his true spirit, the Xuanyaun Controlling Water Flag drifted out, growing with the wind, instantly transforming into a sky-covering water curtain.

Within the water curtain, the image of an endless ocean evolved—waves surging, space inverted.

The Xuanyaun Reversal Array was complete!

The formation, like a massive water-blue cage, temporarily trapped the Taowu, which had just regained its footing.

"Go!"

Guiyuan wrapped his arm around the severely injured Xuanming and activated the Great Spacetime Technique again.

His form merged into the layered void, vanishing without a trace.

Almost the very next moment after they disappeared.

"ROAR—!"

Accompanied by a roar of ultimate fury, the Xuanyaun Reversal Array was forcibly torn apart, the water curtain exploding into a sky full of spiritual light.

The Taowu broke free from the formation, its sha energy overwhelming.

But the spot was already empty.

"ROAR!"

The Taowu King let out an even more terrifying roar, rolling waves of vast sha energy billowing forth, as if bellowing at the one who had just attacked!