Mount Buzhou, East Kunlun.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches' auras spread across the heavens and earth, pressing down on the Three Pure Ones. All of Mount Buzhou was shrouded in boundless terror.
Winds rose and clouds surged, the heavens and earth changed color, and the spiritual energy of the world rampaged without cease. Across the endless void, divine patterns rippled into view.
This region was like the end of the world. Twelve auras shot into the sky, igniting countless stars before they burst apart.
At that moment, many great powers who had been sleeping or cultivating in seclusion were roused. Sensing the Twelve Ancestral Witches' eruption, they all turned their gazes toward Mount Buzhou.
"Are the Twelve Ancestral Witches going to lift Mount Buzhou and carry it away?"
"Are they about to fight? Who angered them?"
Meanwhile.
The North Sea.
Yingzhao, Guiche, Jiuying, and other great powers were chatting with Kunpeng. After all their tireless efforts, Kunpeng was just about ready to agree to step forward.
They were currently in the bargaining stage.
If they played their cards right, they would soon reach an agreement. If not, they might have to spend more time persuading him, or there might still be some sticking point they hadn't worked out.
Kunpeng was an old fox. He knew that stepping forward to unite the Ten Thousand Races would bring benefits, but it also carried enormous risks.
He was still weighing his options.
"Brother Kunpeng, don't worry. As long as we can unite the Ten Thousand Races, the Witch Clan won't be a threat. There's no need to fret. I refuse to believe the Twelve Ancestral Witches can come knocking at our door."
Guiche held up his nine bird heads and cackled.
Yingzhao, Jiuying, and the others nodded along. They had dealt with the Witch Clan for so many years, yet they had never seen the Twelve Ancestral Witches all mobilize together.
They must have stayed behind to guard the Witch Clan, afraid someone might sneak attack them.
So, when the Witch Clan and the Ten Thousand Races fought, most of the burden would fall on the underlings. The leaders wouldn't easily take the field.
The few of them took turns talking, cajoling Kunpeng into agreeing. Once he took that final step, he would get over the hurdle in his heart, and the rest would be easy.
Kunpeng listened and thought they had a point. Besides, with the speed of his Kunpeng form, even if he couldn't win, he could still run.
He'd be perfectly safe.
He set down his wine cup and rose to his feet, a surge of heroic fervor welling up inside him.
That's it, that's it. This was exactly the feeling.
Yingzhao, Guiche, and the other demons also set down their cups and stood with him, waiting for Kunpeng to make his declaration.
Just then, Kunpeng's expression stiffened. He suddenly looked toward the void, sensing an aura that was subtle, yet terrifying.
Though separated by endless time and space, he could still sense the aura unleashed by the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
"What are those twelve lunatics doing? They actually all mobilized together?"
Kunpeng was horrified inside, but kept his expression composed.
"No! This is still too dangerous."
"This isn't the time to step forward and unite the Ten Thousand Races!"
He quickly made up his mind, the scales tipping decisively to one side.
To step forward and unite the Ten Thousand Races now would be like sticking his head up above the crowd. If the Twelve Ancestral Witches came knocking, he wouldn't be able to escape even with twelve wings.
And so, beneath the expectant and encouraging gazes of Yingzhao, Guiche, and the others, Kunpeng swept his arm.
"See them out!"
"Huh?"
They were stunned, looking completely bewildered. What was Kunpeng doing?
He'd been brimming with heroic spirit just a moment ago. How had he suddenly decided to see them out?
Before long.
Yingzhao, Guiche, and the others understood.
They, too, gradually sensed the aura unleashed by the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
"That old fox Kunpeng got cold feet."
Elsewhere on Mount Buzhou, Nuwa and Fuxi were equally baffled.
The exchange between the Ancestral Witches and the Three Pure Ones rang crystal clear in their ears.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches had made such a fuss over Baize?
They had thought Baize had gone to find the Three Pure Ones!
Little did they know that Baize had only just left them not long ago!
"Could the Twelve Ancestral Witches come after us too?" Fuxi asked worriedly. Even without facing them directly, he could still feel their vast, savage aura. He doubted he could beat even one Ancestral Witch.
Let alone all twelve.
"Don't worry." Nuwa smiled faintly, her expression unchanged. "The Twelve Ancestral Witches are probably after the Three Pure Ones. Baize is just an excuse."
"There's probably a warning in this for us too. What about our promise to Baize...?" Fuxi said.
"Since we promised, we shouldn't go back on our word. But I never said we had to do it now." A crafty glint flashed in Nuwa's phoenix eyes.
Fuxi paused, then understood what his younger sister meant.
At that moment.
A fight had become unavoidable.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches unleashed their vast auras, locking onto Laozi, Yuanshi, and Tongtian.
A bone-chilling killing intent shook the heavens and earth.
The Three Pure Ones knew there was no longer any way to avoid it. They exchanged a glance, brought out their magic treasures, and summoned the Three Pure Ones Immortal Light to protect themselves.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches had made it plain: they meant to put the Three Pure Ones to death.
If they still didn't dare fight back, wouldn't they have any shame?
With all eyes upon them, they had to find the courage to fight, even if they couldn't win. Otherwise, they would be unworthy of the title Pangu Orthodox Lineage.
In an instant, the Three Pure Ones attacked together.
The magic treasures they unleashed shattered the void and shook down the Star River. A rain of stars fell all around Mount Buzhou.
At their level, a full-force attack could shatter a great thousand world and annihilate the myriad heavens and cosmos.
The power in their every gesture was like the opening of heaven.
If Mount Buzhou hadn't been formed from Pangu's Spine, it would have been reduced to dust in an instant.
"A mere trick! Watch me break it!"
Qiangliang let out a long cry. Thunder burst from his mouth, like a Star River pouring down from the heavens. With a thought, he could summon a tribulation of world-ending thunder.
Terrifying lightning surged from the Ancestral Witch's divine body. Thunder dragons roared, swallowing the magic treasures above the Three Pure Ones in an instant.
"Slash!" Tongtian's black hair whipped about as he wielded the Green Duckweed Sword, unleashing a sword beam that seemed to cleave heaven and earth in two.
Endless divine light and ten thousand sword qi converged into a single strike. The power of the laws surged, its edge peerless and deadly.
The sword beam swept horizontally toward the Twelve Ancestral Witches, aiming to cut them in half.
"Nothing special!" Zhu Jiuyin barked. Blazing laws shone in his divine eyes.
Time danced; time flowed backward. Even the rain of stars falling over Mount Buzhou reversed course and shot back upward, as if the entire world had turned upside down.
The peerlessly sharp sword beam retreated too, turning back to slash at the Three Pure Ones.
"My swordsmanship has never turned against me!"
Tongtian pointed his sword forward. The Sword Law stirred the Celestial Sphere and churned the Star River, forming what seemed to be a formation as it descended upon Zhu Jiuyin.
"Seal!"
Dijiang lifted a hand and spoke a curt command. The power of space twisted the void, splitting this region of the world away from the rest.
The Three Pure Ones' expressions changed. In the blink of an eye, Dijiang had pulled them out of Mount Buzhou and cast them into the endless void.
Astral winds howled; time flowed on.
And that wasn't all. With that one move, Dijiang had sealed them away in an isolated space, like a great thousand world.
As it perished and crumbled, as time wore on until the end of the world, they would unknowingly perish along with it.
Laozi, Yuanshi, and Tongtian exchanged a glance. The aura of the Three Pure Ones rose above their heads.
They were about to use their innate divine ability!