Witches Leave Ancestral Land, Primordial World Trembles; Calamity Arrives Ten Million Years Later

Hearing these words and seeing this scene, Zhu Jiuyin couldn't help letting a genuine smile touch the corners of his mouth.

Seeing how satisfied and delighted his people were, Zhu Jiuyin felt sincere happiness and contentment. As an Ancestral Witch, and the one who had led the Witch Race to this point, he was overjoyed.

In truth, Zhu Jiuyin had no idea that the other Ancestral Witches were already looking at him differently.

From that moment on, Dijiang made a resolution deep in his heart: From now on, I, Dijiang, will devote myself wholeheartedly to carrying out every decision my second brother makes.

In fact, it wasn't just Dijiang. The other Ancestral Witches had almost all reached the same resolution at the same time.

There was no helping it. The heartfelt recognition and reverence of billions of their people was, to any Ancestral Witch, second only to Pangu resurrecting and personally issuing a sacred decree.

The will of the people was the will of Heaven.

Though the Ancestral Witches didn't know this saying, they all understood that they should—and had to—give their people a better, happier life.

Otherwise, how could they call themselves Ancestral Witches? How could they face the billions who respected and followed them?

Zhu Jiuyin raised a hand, then pressed it down.

In less than a breath, the entire crowd fell silent.

Zhu Jiuyin continued, "You should all know, more or less, that opening up a Great Thousand World requires great wisdom and power. So now, I want every one of you to leave the Ancestral Land of the Witch Race, in case our actions as Ancestral Witches cause you unnecessary harm.

"Of course, I also want you to remember that our Witch Race isn't leaving our ancestral land to expand our territory. So this time, stay near the ancestral land. Don't go too far. Understood?"

"Understood!"

In truth, the billions of members of the Witch Race were the finest warriors the Primordial World had ever nurtured.

Even the most ordinary member of the Witch Race could take their fearlessness in the face of death and their unquestioning obedience to orders to the utmost.

So now, since Zhu Jiuyin had told them to leave their ancestral land for a while, they would do so without hesitation. And if he told them not to stray too far, they would obey without the slightest deviation.

"Your Majesty! This is bad—the Witch Race has left their ancestral land!"

Di Jun and Tai Yi were in seclusion. With Hongjun having given them special leeway, they had already begun to work out the principles and methods behind the Great Array of Origin Heluo and the Great Array of Heavenly Stars.

At this rate, the two supreme arrays would be completed in at most a hundred thousand years.

But at this critical juncture, Baize arrived outside the Sun Palace, his voice laced with urgency and alarm.

The moment Baize disturbed them, Di Jun and Tai Yi wanted to kill him.

It was as if you were working on one of the seven great mathematical problems, had just found the right approach, and then someone suddenly slapped you, completely wrecking your train of thought.

For an ordinary person, it would mean losing the chance to make a name for yourself, win countless honors and riches, and—years later, even after you were dead—be immortalized in a textbook.

If there were a knife beside you, wouldn't you want to kill someone?

No. Di Jun and Tai Yi were in a situation countless times worse.

A mathematical problem was just a jewel in the crown of human society. The crown was precious, but its value could still be estimated.

But what Di Jun and Tai Yi were studying was the very foundation of the future Demon Race. It concerned whether the entire Demon Race could survive the Witch Race's next major assault.

In human terms, it was like someone being beaten into an imbecile just as he was about to achieve controlled nuclear fusion.

Still, Di Jun and Tai Yi trusted Baize more than any other high-ranking member of the Demon Race.

When Di Jun and Tai Yi were away, Baize was effectively the steward of the entire Demon Race, someone capable of governing in their stead.

So the instant they regained their composure, they understood: unless something had happened that threatened the entire Demon Race's future, Baize wouldn't have barged in so recklessly.

Sure enough, the next moment, they heard some terrible news: the Witch Race had left their ancestral land.

Though Di Jun and Tai Yi were in seclusion, that didn't mean they knew nothing about the outside world.

They knew perfectly well that the entire Witch Race had been quietly staying within their ancestral land for thirty thousand years.

Just as their Demon Race had continued to advance during those thirty thousand years, and they were on the verge of completing the Great Array of Origin Heluo and the Great Array of Heavenly Stars, they suspected the Witch Race was making preparations of its own.

And now, just as they had yet to perfect the two arrays, the Witch Race had emerged from seclusion.

Did this mean that the Witch Race, after lying low for thirty thousand years, had gained the means to stand against Hongjun?

If they had, then the Demon Race would inevitably be next after Hongjun.

At that, Di Jun and Tai Yi were no longer angry. Compared to the future, survival in the present mattered more.

In truth, it wasn't only Di Jun and Tai Yi. As soon as the Witch Race made its move, every mighty being in the Primordial World—and even Hongjun, far away in the Purple Heaven Palace within the Inner Chaos—turned their attention toward the borders of the Ancestral Land of the Witch Race.

"What is the Witch Race up to now? We were lucky enough to have thirty thousand years of peace, and now they've left their ancestral land. The Primordial World is in for trouble again!"

Like Di Jun and Tai Yi, all the mighty beings of the Primordial World, Hongjun included, believed that the Witch Race must be planning something major.

A major undertaking was nothing to worry about in itself, but the Witch Race's major undertakings tended to stir up the entire Primordial World.

The impression that the Witch Race loved to stir up trouble, and was the greatest source of instability in the Primordial World, had taken deep root in everyone's hearts.

Of course, the Twelve Ancestral Witches could sense all those gazes and all that attention. They could even feel the disapproval, revulsion, and hostility behind them.

Zhurong and Gonggong were instantly enraged. "What the hell do these bastards mean by this?"

But before Zhurong and Gonggong could say another word, Zhu Jiuyin stopped them. "You two, first sense the level of Turbid Qi in the Primordial World as it stands now."

The moment they saw it was Zhu Jiuyin, Zhurong and Gonggong managed to restrain themselves. Then they followed his instruction and sensed the surrounding world.

They grinned. Wide, toothy grins.

As supreme Innate Demon Gods born from Pangu's blood essence merging with Turbid Qi, no one in the Primordial World understood Turbid Qi better than the Ancestral Witches.

So when Zhurong and Gonggong sensed it, they discovered that the Turbid Qi in the Primordial World had increased by thirty percent compared to thirty thousand years ago.

Thirty percent in thirty thousand years. In three hundred thousand years, it might be thirtyfold—or even a hundredfold.

By extension, after three million years, the Turbid Qi in the Primordial World might be hundreds or even thousands of times greater than it was now.

How could they put it...

They might as well wait to die. There was no hope.

By then, more than thirty percent of the Primordial World's land would have become a dead zone where spiritual energy had vanished, spiritual veins were severed, and Turbid Qi filled the skies—an environment where even Golden Immortals couldn't survive.

And if this continued for another ten million years, every living being in the Primordial World below the Golden Immortal realm would be wiped out.