What did this mean?
Generally speaking, three thousand bolts of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning were enough to annihilate a Sage or a Hunyuan Realm expert. In theory, ten thousand bolts could kill any living being below the Fourth Heaven of the Origin.
And if the number of bolts of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning rose from ten thousand to a hundred thousand, even an existence at the peak of the Ninth Heaven of the Origin couldn't guarantee they would survive.
So at that moment, when a hundred thousand bolts of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning appeared in the Primordial World, every living being who sensed their power felt a shudder and fear that spread throughout their bodies from the depths of their true spirits.
This was the instinctive response of living beings to a force that surpassed the limits of their understanding.
Boom!
When the hundred thousand bolts of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning slammed into the protective barrier spontaneously formed by Pangu Hall, this Chaos Spiritual Treasure—whose power couldn't even reach one ten-thousandth of its peak—finally reached its limit.
Crack!
Before their eyes, web-like cracks suddenly spread across the translucent barrier. It looked as if it were about to shatter completely.
At that very moment, Pangu, who was in seclusion countless years in the past, sensed something.
"How dare you!"
His brow furrowed slightly. Pangu extended his index finger and gave the empty air a light flick.
Whoosh!
In an instant, a terrifying, formidable force pierced through endless space, time, and cause and effect. Even the threads of fate snapped beneath this strike, which finally landed directly on the Eye of the Heavenly Dao, originally suspended high above the ninth heaven.
Drip.
At that moment, several drops of purple-gold blood slowly fell from the Eye of the Heavenly Dao. The hundred thousand bolts of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning, which had been surging forward as if they would pierce the last of Pangu Hall's defenses in the next instant, vanished as well.
This was Pangu, the Child of the Great Dao. This was the terror of the Law of Strength.
Where strength reached, all space, time, cause and effect, and even fate were but illusions. In the end, strength rewrote everything, and then my will decided the final outcome.
Terrifying. That was how terrifying it was.
This was the first time the Heavenly Dao had been injured since its birth.
But for the first time, the Heavenly Dao felt an instinctive emotion: fear.
The Heavenly Dao was emotionless, but it possessed the instincts of every intelligent being.
Suppressing and striking down any individual or faction that might surpass the Heavenly Dao was an instinct.
Fear and the will to survive were instincts too.
Only now did the Heavenly Dao realize that it, the nominal supreme power of the Primordial World, was nothing much after all.
"What... what kind of power is this? It scattered a hundred thousand bolts of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning with such ease, and even wounded the Heavenly Dao. Terrifying. Simply terrifying!" Jie Yin murmured.
"No, there's no mistaking it. This is Father God's aura. Father God has saved the Witch Race and warned the Heavenly Dao from beyond immeasurable time and space!" Tongtian's eyes widened. As one of the Pangu Three Pure Ones, he could never mistake this power.
"Could Father God be returning? And what fate awaits me, Yuanshi, an innate divine being formed from Pangu's Primordial Spirit?" Yuanshi was genuinely frightened at that moment, so shaken he could barely collect himself.
"To wound the Heavenly Dao... throughout the Primordial World, only that man could wield such power, couldn't he? Pangu, Pangu, your strength truly exceeds the limits of what the living beings of the Primordial World can imagine!" Di Jun looked at Tai Yi and sighed.
In truth, after their brief shock and astonishment, most of the powerful figures had already guessed who this force belonged to.
They then felt heartfelt admiration for Pangu's might—for being able to sever cause and effect and fate across immeasurable time and space, and strike the Heavenly Dao directly.
"Hahaha! Father God is supreme, Father God is above all! With Father God protecting us, what can the Heavenly Dao do to us?"
At that moment, thunderous cheers erupted throughout the Ancestral Land of the Witch Race.
For the billions of members of the Witch Race, Pangu's intervention meant that their steadfast faith had been worthwhile. It also meant that Pangu had seen everything they had done.
Zhu Jiuyin let out a heavy breath.
Heaven knew how worried he had been when the Heavenly Dao unleashed a hundred thousand bolts of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning against the barrier.
A hundred thousand bolts of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning—that was a strike capable of erasing the entire Witch Race in an instant!
The Heavenly Dao was afraid, the powerful figures understood, the Witch Race rejoiced, but Hongjun was stunned.
"This... there's no mistaking it. I could never be wrong. Even after hundreds of billions of years, I still remember. This is Pangu's aura."
"Could Pangu still be alive?" Another suspicion stirred in Hongjun's heart.
"No, that's not right. Pangu never died in the first place. How could an existence at the half-step Great Dao Realm die? He simply lives forever in the chaotic era before the world was created."
"Right. I can't frighten myself. If Pangu could truly interfere with the course of the Primordial World today, he would have been reborn or appeared long ago, instead of merely wounding the Heavenly Dao with a ray of divine light."
"So some force must have prevented Pangu from returning—or perhaps Pangu himself doesn't wish to return in this age?"
Hongjun was, after all, Hongjun. At this most critical moment, faced with Pangu's power manifesting in the Primordial World and shaking the Heavenly Dao, he regained his composure and reason as quickly as anyone could.
Beneath Pangu's terrifying might, he glimpsed the constraint that kept Pangu from acting freely.
He didn't know where this constraining force came from, but he knew that Pangu wouldn't return before the Immeasurable Tribulation.
Hongjun was relieved.
Still, Hongjun knew that this attack against the Witch Race had failed completely.
Pangu had already issued a warning. If they continued to target the Witch Race and tried to break through Pangu Hall's defenses, they would be refusing to recognize a kindness.
Hongjun knew all too well that if Pangu wanted to annihilate the Heavenly Dao, that last strike would have been enough.
Although Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao had yet to merge, they shared the same intentions.
After Hongjun transmitted his analysis to the Heavenly Dao, it finally overcame its instinctive fear. But it no longer wished to remain there.
"I leave all of this to you. Handle it as you see fit."
Then, with a flash of mystic light, the Heavenly Dao returned to Chaos Heaven.
The Heavenly Dao had left, so responsibility for handling the aftermath naturally fell to Hongjun.
When Hongjun looked down at Zhu Jiuyin again, he met the gaze Zhu Jiuyin turned toward him.
Hongjun had expected Zhu Jiuyin to be triumphant and arrogant, perhaps even defiant.
But to his surprise, Zhu Jiuyin's eyes held nothing but utter calm and indifference.
For the first time, Hongjun began to truly regard this Time Ancestral Witch of the Witch Race.
To Hongjun, a temporary defeat meant little. From the chaotic era to the present, he had endured countless failures and devastating blows.
But Hongjun knew all too well that an opponent's character mattered most.
After all, both Beast Emperor Shenni and Devil Ancestor Luohou had fallen at the height of their power and pride.
But now, Zhu Jiuyin's calm and indifference made Hongjun feel as if he were looking at another version of himself, still growing.
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