Dijiang's eyes flickered as the void shifted and changed. After a moment, he gave a cold laugh. "Forget it. We'll spare their lives for now."
His gaze remained fixed on the three figures on the Sun Star. Two of them had weak auras, but the figure in the middle was difficult to see through.
Dijiang paid it no mind. The Three Crows shared the same origin, just like the Ancestral Witches. Their strengths couldn't be too far apart.
Even if one was stronger, it couldn't be by much.
Just as Houtu had said, their attack on the Three Pure Ones had been a struggle over inheritance, and they had a justifiable reason for it.
But if they attacked the Three Crows again, they might put all the great powers on guard and drive them to unite against the Witch Clan. That would be more loss than gain.
"Let's go back!"
Dijiang withdrew his gaze and said with a smile. The other Ancestral Witches nodded, voicing no objections.
It had only been a spur-of-the-moment decision, after all. Whether they acted or not made no difference.
"They're finally gone."
On the Sun Star, Di Jun and Tai Yi saw the Twelve Ancestral Witches depart one after another and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
The atmosphere had been so tense, hanging by a thread. They could have started fighting at any moment.
Only those who had felt the pressure of the Twelve Ancestral Witches firsthand could understand how terrifying it was.
"I'm going into seclusion. I won't come out until I reach the peak of the Daluo Golden Immortal realm."
Di Jun had taken a heavy blow. Not only was his brother stronger than him, he couldn't even beat an Ancestral Witch.
He found that hard to accept.
"Count me in."
Tai Yi said little. He was no longer as lively as before, clearly feeling the pressure too.
Ling Xiao laughed wryly. After being provoked by the Twelve Ancestral Witches, Di Jun and Tai Yi had found their fighting spirit.
They must have truly felt the danger.
That was more like it.
Staying on the Sun Star and cultivating diligently was better than anything else.
"I should get back to cultivating, too."
Ling Xiao returned beneath the Fusang Wood. Here, he could draw closer to the Law of Yang. And deep within the Sun Star, cultivating the Law of Fire would also bring great benefits.
His insights into these two laws had now brought his cultivation to the late Daluo Golden Immortal stage.
If his insights into the Law of Space and the Law of Earth caught up with those two, his cultivation might not rise much, but his combat strength would increase greatly.
Ling Xiao's eyes flickered as scene after scene flashed by. They were images of the battle between the Twelve Ancestral Witches and the Three Pure Ones.
He relived them again and again, experiencing the profound power of the laws.
At the same time, he divided his attention, comprehending the three thousand laws within the Chaos Bead.
Comprehending laws was a slow process. Unless one entered a state of sudden enlightenment, one could spend tens of millions of years without gaining anything.
In the blink of an eye,
three thousand years had passed.
Over those three thousand years, the friction between the Witch Clan and the Ten Thousand Races had grown fiercer. The scattered Ten Thousand Races had gradually learned to be clever.
If they couldn't win, they moved elsewhere, or struck once and then changed locations.
But the Primordial World was simply too vast, boundless and without end. No matter how much the Witch Clan stamped and fumed, there was nothing they could do.
The Ten Thousand Races couldn't beat the Witch Clan, but they could still run.
The Sun Star.
Ling Xiao also emerged from seclusion. The instant he opened his eyes, arcs of lightning flashed. A single thread tore through the void.
Creation and destruction, life and death ceaselessly turning.
"The Law of Thunder..."
Ling Xiao murmured. The smile on his face gradually grew brighter.
During those three thousand years, he had comprehended the Law of Thunder.
As one of the most violent forces in the world, the Law of Thunder could greatly increase his destructive power.
"Go."
Ling Xiao raised a hand and pointed. A stream of pure energy shot out and landed on the ground before him. Thunder surged and raged, gradually taking human form—an exact copy of him.
"One Breath Manifests Three Crows!"
Ling Xiao pointed again and again. The source powers of fire and earth flew out, taking the forms of Di Jun and Tai Yi.
This was the cloning technique rewarded by the system: One Breath Becomes Three Pure Ones. Now that it belonged to him, he naturally had to rename it One Breath Manifests Three Crows.
This technique differed somewhat from the one Laozi used in the original story. Laozi's One Breath Becomes Three Pure Ones was mostly a trick to confuse his opponents; the clones didn't possess his actual combat strength.
Otherwise, during the Investiture of the Gods, Laozi could have smashed the Immortal-Slaughtering Formation all by himself.
The system-rewarded One Breath Becomes Three Pure Ones created clones that could wield up to ninety percent of the original's strength for a limited time.
It was a truly heaven-defying divine skill.
Ling Xiao pointed and recalled the clones. Otherwise, if Di Jun and Tai Yi saw them, they might think he had done something to them.
For example, perhaps Laozi had cultivated One Breath Becomes Three Pure Ones by stealing the essence of Yuanshi and Tongtian.
As the eldest of the Three Pure Ones, Laozi had taken form first. It would have been easy to tamper with things while Yuanshi and Tongtian had yet to take form.
The difference was that he had been the last of the Three Crows to take form.
"Hm?"
Just then, Ling Xiao sensed something and suddenly looked west.
The heavens and earth there had changed color. Winds rose and clouds gathered as boundless fortune stirred, as if some force were drawing it away.
At the same time,
in the western part of the Primordial World,
at the Western Ancestral Vein, on Mount Sumeru,
Jieyin and Zhun Ti were comparing their understanding of the Dao. They had fully absorbed the Dao Ancestor's teachings and gained new insights of their own.
Together, they contemplated the mysteries of heaven and earth, grasped the secrets of fate, and deduced the hidden workings of all things.
Now, they had truly caught a glimpse of Heaven's secrets: bind their own fortune to that of the West, and they would gain boundless merit and immense fortune.
"Junior Brother, if we make a grand vow and shoulder the fortune of the West, many benefits will come to us."
A smile strained across Jieyin's sorrowful face, looking especially awkward. He shared with Zhun Ti what he had in mind and how they might make it work.
"This great Karma can't be easy to bear, can it?" Zhun Ti asked, hesitating.
Jieyin gently shook his head. "At this point, no one but us has the right to do it."
"Think of what happened to us in the East, Junior Brother. Strength is what matters most!"
At those words, Zhun Ti froze for a moment and unconsciously raised a hand to touch his cheek.
The memory of Ling Xiao knocking out his teeth was still vivid, as if it had happened only yesterday.
"Senior Brother! Let's do it!"
Zhun Ti gritted his teeth and nodded firmly.
He wanted to grow stronger and win back his dignity. Otherwise, it would hinder his cultivation in the future.
"Good!"
Jieyin nodded, and the brothers discussed their plan.
Auspicious light rose above their heads, illuminating all of Mount Sumeru. Its brilliance grew stronger by the moment.
The next instant,
a dignified, gentle voice, vast and auspicious, rang throughout the world.
"From this day forth, all living beings of the West may join my sect and receive its protection. All who are destined to do so shall be taught. Call upon my name, and your faith shall lend you strength!"
The lingering echo spread across the western reaches of the Primordial World, its voice filled with compassion.
A figure with the eternal blue heavens above his head manifested in the void. His expression was compassionate and sorrowful. It was none other than Daoist Jieyin.
Jieyin and Zhun Ti lightly tapped their foreheads. Three flowers bloomed above their heads, filling the air with a rich fragrance. Subtle, profound waves swept out from Mount Sumeru, spreading among the beings of the West.
When the words fell,
a brilliant, dazzling vortex appeared in the heavens. Strands of Merit Golden Light descended as unprecedented energies of creation and fortune gathered at Mount Sumeru. Jieyin and Zhun Ti immediately felt boundless fortune settle upon them.
Their cultivation began to rise as well.
They had already been late-stage Daluo Golden Immortals, and now they were advancing toward perfection.
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