Witch Race's Fury

Chapter 27: The Witch Race's Fury

The darkness was as thick and viscous as unmelting oil.

When Taiyi awoke, the first sensation wasn't pain, but heaviness. His body felt as if it had been cast in stone, every inch of flesh, every bone filled with lead, too heavy to lift. His eyelids were crusted with ice shards and dried blood, stuck together. It took considerable effort to tear open a sliver of vision.

The world before him was a blurry, dim darkness.

He was still in that narrow, scorching, sulfur-scented branch of the earth vein. His body was curled up, wedged into a recess in the rock wall. Behind him was rough, searing stone, pressing against his wounds, yet bringing a faint, weak sting that reminded him he was alive.

His left arm was completely useless, hanging limply at his side. The bones inside were shattered into dust, and the slightest movement sent a bone-piercing pain—not in his arm, but in his mind, deep within his soul. His right arm could still move, but every motion came with a grating, sluggish friction, like rusted gears being forced to turn.

Pain.

From the inside out, from top to bottom, not a single part of him was free from pain. But this pain was different from the all-consuming agony of near-death; it was deeper, more prolonged, a sour ache seeping from his marrow. His meridians were hollow, his magic power completely depleted, with only a few "embers" of vastly different natures flowing sluggishly, clashing—the faint warmth of residual True Sun Fire, the residual ferocity of Blood Fiend Power, the muddiness of invading earth vein malevolent energy, and the bone-chilling cold of Xuan Ming's ice law, like maggots clinging to his bones.

These forces clashed slowly within his damaged meridians and organs, tearing at each other, annihilating one another. Each tiny confrontation brought a new wave of pain, yet it also seemed to be, in the most savage way, preventing him from completely collapsing.

He wasn't dead.

A guttural sound escaped Taiyi's throat. He tried to spit, but only coughed up bloody foam mixed with fragments of black and red internal organs. His mouth was filled with the taste of blood, sulfur, and earth.

The medicinal effect of the Witch Blood Powder had likely worn off. The warm current that simulated Witch Race blood energy and masked his aura had long since vanished. But he could feel that the suffocating, icy rain law scan belonging to Xuan Ming outside seemed... further away? Or perhaps, hazier?

No, Xuan Ming hadn't given up.

It was the branch vein he was in. Its location was too deep, its structure too complex, and the ancient earth vein malevolent energy and chaotic turbid energy that permeated the surroundings, so dense they were almost tangible, formed a natural, thick layer of "energy sludge." This substance offered little defense against physical attacks, but it had a powerful interfering, distorting, and weakening effect on probes that relied on "order" and "clarity," such as divine sense scans and law perception.

It was like trying to find a specific grain of sand in a basin of muddy water; the muddier the water, the harder it was to find.

No matter how exquisite and vast Xuan Ming's Law of Rain was, it would take immense mental effort and time to penetrate this thick, chaotic "energy sludge" and pinpoint his extremely faint aura. She clearly hadn't done so immediately—perhaps she had returned to Pangu Hall to report first, or perhaps she was expanding her search area.

In any case, he had bought himself a sliver of breathing room.

But the danger was far from over. The chaotic internal conflict was slowly but continuously draining his already depleted life force. If he didn't guide and control it, he would eventually collapse from within, turning into a wisp of chaotic energy in the depths of this earth vein.

What should he do?

Taiyi laboriously turned his dazed, aching head, surveying his surroundings. The branch vein was narrow, barely accommodating a curled-up person. Both ends disappeared into dense darkness and rolling turbid energy, their destinations unknown. There was no obvious exit, nor any safe space.

He had to deal with the mess inside his body immediately.

His consciousness sank into his sea of consciousness.

The Chaos Bell remained dormant in the deepest part, its luster dim, like a piece of dust-covered rough stone, useless for now.

In his dantian, the three lotuses (golden-red, dark red, and charcoal black) still swayed precariously, their magic power depleted, the origin of the True Sun Fire as faint as a candle in the wind.

Only the imprint of the Heaven-Opening Axe, remained searingly branded in the depths of his consciousness, exuding an unyielding, overbearing "will."

The Heaven-Opening Axe imprint...

Taiyi's dazed gaze sharpened slightly. He recalled what he had felt from that imprint in his moment of desperation—not just the instinct to "chop" or the will to "clash."

More core was the supreme commanding will that forcibly "opened up" absolute chaos, forcing opposing forces (pure and turbid) to coexist and form a new order!

The chaotic forces clashing within him now, weren't they like a miniature, collapsing "small chaos"?

The residual flames of True Sun Fire (yang, pure, orderly), the residual malevolent energy of the earth vein and Blood Fiend Power (yin, turbid, chaotic), the residual ice of Xuan Ming (extreme yin, orderly cold)...

They clashed and annihilated each other because they lacked a powerful "will" to forcibly delineate boundaries, establish balance, and force them into a state of "coexistence," even if it was twisted and painful.

Just like after the Heaven-Opening Axe split chaos, that supreme will forcibly "pressed" the pure and turbid energies into their respective positions, forming the initial order.

Could he... imitate this?

Use the imprint in his sea of consciousness itself, or at least the sliver of "opening and commanding" artistic conception he had comprehended, to guide and sort out the chaotic forces within his body?

This thought was extremely dangerous. The will of the Heaven-Opening Axe imprint was on too high a level. A slight misstep, if the conflict wasn't guided properly, could instead "chop" his fragile soul and body along with the "chaos."

But not trying was also death. If he let these forces continue their savage collision, he wouldn't last long.

He had to gamble.

Taiyi gripped the searing rock beneath him tightly with his usable right hand, his fingertips turning white from the strain. He closed his eyes, no longer looking at the surrounding darkness, concentrating all his remaining, faint willpower, like the finest thread, to cautiously "touch" that searing axe imprint.

Not to activate it, not to resonate with it.

But to "request observation," to try and make his consciousness frequency infinitely close to the aspect of "commanding conflict" and "establishing order" within that "opening will."

First attempt, failure. His consciousness felt like it had slammed into an invisible iron wall, sending a sharp pain through his sea of consciousness.

Second attempt, failure. The imprint remained unmoved, only its searing heat reminding him of his insignificance and presumption.

Third, fourth attempt...

Just as Taiyi's consciousness was on the verge of complete dissipation, about to be consumed by sharp pain and weakness, perhaps because his will to survive was pure and intense enough, or perhaps because the conflict of the forces within him had reached a critical point of near collapse, the axe imprint actually... fluctuated, ever so slightly.

It wasn't a tremor, but a more intrinsic "ripple," as if the surface of water had been rippled by a gentle breeze.

An indescribable "feeling" was transmitted back along that ripple.

Not a specific method, not a route for power to flow.

It was a... perspective.

A feeling as if standing at the dawn of creation, overlooking the separation of pure and turbid, the initial establishment of yin and yang, and everything being forced into its rightful place and duty under the supreme will... a macroscopic feeling!

From this "perspective," the chaotic forces clashing within him were no longer an indistinguishable tangle.

The remnants of the True Sun Fire were a blazing yet weak core, like embers about to be extinguished. It needed protection and restraint, lest it die out completely or burn him uncontrollably.

The Earth Vein Fiend Qi and residual Blood Fiend Power were violent, turbid "impurities," full of destructive potential, but also containing a raw, primal "strength." They couldn't be left unchecked, nor could they be simply expelled; they needed to be guided in their ferocity, transformed into some kind of "pressure" or "support."

The lingering Xuan Ming Ice was an icy, stubborn "alien force," like ice shards embedded in flesh and bone, constantly releasing cold, eroding vitality. It needed to be isolated, slowly worn away, or... used to "cool" certain overly agitated parts.

How to do it?

The "perspective" from the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint offered no answer, but it granted Taiyi an unprecedented "perceptual precision" and "intuitive control."

He no longer tried to forcefully suppress or channel any single force with his meager magic—that was impossible.

Instead, he began to use his residual consciousness, like the most agile fingers, to perform extremely subtle "guidance" and "interference" at the "interfaces" and "weak points" where the forces clashed.

When the True Sun Fire remnants were about to be completely submerged by the Fiend Qi, he used his consciousness to "pluck" a wisp of the cold aura from the lingering ice, like bringing a light rain to the edge of the flames. This both suppressed the fire's rapid decay and disrupted the Fiend Qi's corrosive rhythm.

When the Earth Vein Fiend Qi became too violent, attempting to break through the already fragile meridian walls, he guided a trace of the True Sun Fire's warmth and the Blood Fiend's violent "intent" to create a small, fleeting "counter-vortex" at key nodes, allowing the rampaging Fiend Qi to consume some of its own energy internally.

There was no method, no system, purely relying on the intuition granted by that "Creation Perspective," walking a tightrope, dancing on the tip of a knife. Each subtle guidance consumed his already depleted spiritual energy, bringing more intense pain to his soul.

But the effect... there was one.

The purely destructive conflict between the forces began to show extremely subtle "changes." Although they still clashed and consumed each other, the way they clashed was no longer so chaotic, and the speed of consumption seemed... slightly slower?

More importantly, through this forced, painful "guidance" and "interference," Taiyi's "perception" and "control" over his own power, especially his understanding of "conflict" and "balance," was slowly growing in a cruel yet efficient manner.

Like a piece of raw iron, repeatedly hammered and quenched, it was painful, but it removed impurities and became more resilient.

The wounds on his body did not worsen. His broken bones maintained a fragile stability under the savage embrace of the chaotic energy. His magic had not recovered, but the speed at which his life force was draining seemed to have been barely contained.

He was still alive. And, in an unprecedented way, he was "digesting" the "gift" brought by this near-death escape—not just the insights from the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint, but also the "resilience" his body was forced to develop in adapting to the conflict of multiple alien forces.

And just as Taiyi curled up in the depths of the earth veins, struggling to sort himself out on the edge of life and death, deepening his understanding—

On the peak of Buzhou Mountain, outside Pangu Hall.

The atmosphere was as oppressive as the dead silence before a storm.

Twelve towering figures, exuding terrifying auras, stood on the plaza. Their forms varied, but all carried an undisguised anger and... a trace of imperceptible shock.

Di Jiang, the Space Ancestral Witch, shaped like a yellow sack, red as cinnabar fire, with six legs and four wings, amorphous and faceless. He had no eyes, but all the Ancestral Witches could feel an oppressive rage, like an erupting volcano, emanating from him, causing the surrounding space to warp and hum.

His "gaze" (or rather, his perception) was fixed on the tightly shut stone door of Pangu Hall, on those eight glaring characters deeply embedded in the stone wall—

"Eastern Emperor Taiyi, visited here."

Each character was like a red-hot branding iron, searing the hearts of all the Ancestral Witches, searing the dignity of the Witch Race that had been passed down for eternity!

"East—Emperor—Taiyi!"

Di Jiang's voice seemed to be squeezed from the deepest abyss, with a grating echo like metal friction, each syllable shaking the plaza floor.

"Good... good a Demon Emperor! Good a feathered beast!" His voice suddenly rose, like thousands of thunderclaps exploding in heavy clouds, "How dare he set foot in Father God's遗殿! How dare... defile this sacred site with such a filthy body! To leave such... such arrogant words!!"

The last few words were almost a roar, and invisible spatial ripples spread out, shaking dust from distant stone pillars.

All the Ancestral Witches had solemn expressions, their eyes burning with rage. Pangu Hall was the source of their bloodline, the absolute spiritual sanctuary. Such desecration was no different from throwing their faces and beliefs on the ground and trampling them!

Di Jiang abruptly turned to Xuan Ming, the Ancestral Witch of Fire, who had just returned from the earth veins, still exuding residual rain fiend cold. An invisible pressure enveloped her like a mountain:

"Xuan Ming! You were the first to arrive! Where is that scoundrel?! Did you capture and kill him, extract his soul and refine his spirit, to offer to Father God?!"

Xuan Ming's face was as cold as ten-thousand-year-old profound ice. Tiny ice crystals condensed on her deep blue coarse robe, remaining unmoved under Di Jiang's pressure. She slowly shook her head, her voice calm but with a decisive chill. "I failed. He fled into the depths of the earth veins, his tracks hidden."

"He escaped?!" Before Di Jiang could speak again, Zhu Rong, the Ancestral Witch of Fire, who was burning with fierce flames and had a beast's head and human body, stepped forward. The black stone slab beneath his feet instantly turned red-hot and softened, emitting a sizzling sound. "Xuan Ming! You are the Ancestral Witch of Rain, in charge of laws, capable of sealing a thousand miles! To deal with a severely injured and dying Grand Unity Golden Immortal, and yet let him slip from under your nose?!"

The doubt and dissatisfaction in his words were undisguised.

Xuan Ming's icy gaze turned to Zhu Rong. The surrounding air temperature plummeted. The ground between them instantly became half scorched and smoking, half frozen white.

"Zhu Rong," Xuan Ming's voice was colder than her gaze, "if you think this matter is easy, why don't you go into the earth veins yourself? See if that 'severely injured and dying' Eastern Emperor Taiyi is as easy to handle as you imagine."

"You!" Zhu Rong's flames surged, and waves of scorching heat roiled.

"Enough!" Di Jiang interrupted sharply, his spatial power forcefully separating their clashing auras. Although he was also furious, as the leader, he still retained a sliver of reason. "Xuan Ming, explain in detail! How did he escape? What was unusual about it?"

Xuan Ming withdrew her gaze from Zhu Rong, looked at Di Jiang, and after a moment of contemplation, began to speak. "Firstly, his perception and response to my Law of Rain were unusual. It wasn't a direct confrontation, but rather... he seemed to be able to sense the slight 'stagnation' and 'gaps' in the flow of my laws, and used subtle force to amplify them, creating brief openings to maneuver and escape."

"Sensing gaps in the laws?" Houtu, the Earth Ancestral Witch, with a human body and snake tail, seven hands behind her back, two hands in front, holding a Teng Snake, spoke softly, her gentle voice carrying a hint of inquiry. "At the Grand Unity realm, one has some understanding of laws, but to be able to so precisely capture and utilize the subtle points of an Ancestral Witch-level law's operation... unheard of."

"Ridiculous!" On the other side, Gonggong, the Water Ancestral Witch, with a python's head and human body, standing on two black dragons, wearing black scales, let out a dull scoff. His scarlet eyes were full of disdain. "Xuan Ming, could it be that you've been in the northern lands too long, neglected your cultivation, and your control over laws has slipped, allowing a severely injured little bug to exploit a loophole, and now you're here making up some obscure excuse?"

These words were quite cutting. The brows of several Ancestral Witches furrowed, but most did not speak out in rebuttal, as they clearly had similar doubts. After all, for a Grand Unity Golden Immortal (even if it was the Eastern Emperor Taiyi) to achieve this was truly beyond reason.

Xuan Ming's expression grew colder. Fine ice crystals and snowflakes materialized out of thin air around her, falling. "Gonggong, whether I did my best is not for you to judge. If you don't believe what I perceived, you can go to the depths of the earth veins to find him and verify. I'm afraid..." she paused, her voice chilling, "you won't even be able to find his shadow, and will instead suffer a setback."

"Insolence!" Black water surged around Gonggong, and fiendish energy rose.

"Silence!" Di Jiang roared again, his powerful spatial fluctuations suppressing their agitated energies. His mind was in turmoil, rage and shame intertwined. Although he found the details Xuan Ming described astonishing, he cared more about the outcome. "Continue! What else was strange?"

Xuan Ming took a deep breath, suppressing her inner coldness, and continued. "Secondly, and most baffling to me. When I last pinpointed his hiding place, intending to unleash a torrent of laws to crush him completely, the residual Earth Fire power in that earth vein cavity actually resonated with some... unusually violent and ancient 'will' within him, actively clashing with my Law of Ice, creating significant law turbulence and rock collapses. He then used this interval to escape into deeper layers and disappear."

"Earth Fire resonance? Unusual will?" This time, even Ru Shou (the Metal Ancestral Witch), who had been silent, with a human face and tiger body, clad in golden scales, and a snake in his left ear, showed surprise.

"Hahahaha!" Zhu Rong, however, seemed to have heard the greatest joke. He threw his head back and laughed loudly, his voice shaking the wilderness. "Sister Xuan Ming! I think you've either had your brain rattled by the Chaos Bell's chime, or you've gone mad in the northern frozen lakes! Residual Earth Fire? What can that little bit do? And an unusual will? That Eastern Emperor Taiyi is just a bird hatched from the Sun Star, what 'ancient will' could he possibly have? Is he so scared that he's talking nonsense to save face?"

"Zhu Rong! You!" Xuan Ming's eyes shot out icy light, and the temperature around her dropped to the edge of absolute zero, the air seeming to freeze and shatter!

"Enough!" Di Jiang's furious roar was like a thunderclap, forcefully quelling the impending conflict. He also found the latter part of Xuan Ming's statement unbelievable, even suspecting it was an excuse after her failure. But at this moment, the overwhelming rage over the desecration of Pangu Hall occupied most of his mind.

"No matter what tricks Eastern Emperor Taiyi used, or whatever strange methods he employed!" Di Jiang's voice was decisive, filled with an undeniable resolve. "To desecrate Father God's sacred hall is to make an enemy of our bloodline, an enemy of the entire Witch Race! This debt will be paid in blood!"

He surveyed the Ancestral Witches, enunciating each word as he issued his command:

"Heed my order! All tribes of the Witch Race shall be on full alert starting today, entering a state of wartime! The matter of Pangu Hall is to be temporarily sealed, strictly forbidden from spreading outside, lest it shake the morale of our troops and give the Demon Race an opportunity!"

"However!" His tone shifted, his killing intent chilling. "Internally, I want you to spare no expense in searching for Eastern Emperor Taiyi's whereabouts! Xuan Ming, this task remains primarily yours. Mobilize all the forces you can, and dig deep into the earth veins! I want him alive or dead! The other tribes shall assist her, and simultaneously, keep a close watch on the Demon Race's Heavenly Court, guarding against any opportunistic trouble!"

"Big Brother," Houtu suddenly spoke again, her voice still gentle, yet carrying a quiet strength. "While some of what Sister Xuan Ming said is difficult to comprehend, Eastern Emperor Taiyi's ability to infiltrate the sacred hall, leave a message, and escape this time is indeed remarkable. The methods he used might... not be the usual tactics of the Demon Race that we know. Should we, in addition to the pursuit, also pay some attention to exploring its origins?"

Di Jiang "looked" at Houtu, falling silent for a moment. He knew Houtu's nature was steady and her thoughts thorough; her words must have a deeper meaning. But at this moment, he was consumed by rage, only wanting to find the defiler and tear him to shreds as quickly as possible.

"Sister Houtu's words are not without merit," Di Jiang forced down his impatience. "During the pursuit, if any anomalies are found, we must indeed pay attention. But the priority now is still to find him! Disperse!"

With that, he flapped his four wings, his figure merging into space and disappearing. He was clearly eager to enter Pangu Hall to examine the specific situation.

The other Ancestral Witches also departed. Before Zhu Rong left, he cast a mocking and disbelieving glance at Xuan Ming, snorted, and vanished in a blaze of fire. Gonggong also had a grim expression, swept a glance at Xuan Ming, and disappeared into the black water.

Only Houtu, before leaving, paused almost imperceptibly as she passed by Xuan Ming.

A wisp of divine sense, extremely subtle yet carrying the profound and gentle power of earth, quietly entered Xuan Ming's ear:

"Sister, the 'abnormal will' you sensed... does its nature bear a faint resemblance to certain... ancient echoes slumbering within the source of our bloodline, within Father God's hall?"

Xuan Ming's icy body suddenly trembled, and she whipped her head around to look at Houtu.

Houtu, however, had already regained her usual calm and grace. She merely nodded slightly at Xuan Ming, her eyes holding a hint of deep meaning and a reminder, before turning and slowly sinking into the earth beneath her feet, disappearing.

On the empty plaza, the cold wind howled, leaving Xuan Ming alone.

She raised her head, looking towards the heavy, vast body of Buzhou Mountain. Her icy gaze seemed to pierce through the endless rock layers, seeking the figure hidden deep within the chaotic earth veins, the figure that made her feel, for the first time, that things were slipping out of her control.

"Eastern Emperor Taiyi..." she murmured, her voice still filled with killing intent, but for the first time, mixed with an indescribable sense of inquiry and gravity.

"What exactly happened to you...?"

The cold wind howled, kicking up dust, scattering her whisper over the majestic mountain peak.

Meanwhile, deep within the earth veins, in a narrow, scorching hot fork, Taiyi was completely unaware of the storm he had caused and the undercurrents within the Ancestral Witches. He had his eyes tightly shut, his entire consciousness immersed in the clumsy and dangerous "guidance" of the chaotic forces within his body. Relying on the precious "macro perspective" and "control intuition" imprinted by the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint, he struggled on the brink of life and death, painfully and profoundly digesting the "harvest" from this mad adventure.

Healing, comprehending, growing stronger...

And then, at some point, he would have to face the lingering, icy killing intent once more.