At this moment, it wasn't only the Three Pure Ones who looked at the Witch Race with a strange glint in their eyes. Even Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao regarded them differently.
Hongjun's previous incarnation had been a Chaos Earthworm. He couldn't be considered a Chaos Demon God, but he was certainly a Chaos Being.
When Pangu had opened the heavens and split the earth, the Three Thousand Chaos Demon Gods had either perished or scattered. The Chaos Beings, whose strength was far beneath that of the Chaos Demon Gods, had fared no better.
In truth, Hongjun and Pangu had a karmic connection.
Judging by the ending of the Primordial World's myths, neither the Ancestral Witches nor the Three Pure Ones—and not even the Innate Demon Gods—had gained much in the end.
After all, every Innate Demon God nurtured by the Primordial World had some connection, however tenuous, to Pangu.
In Hongjun's eyes, perhaps this was another form of "the children paying for their father's debts."
So, from Hongjun's perspective, he had always resented the Ancestral Witches, who revered only Pangu and not the Heavenly Dao, despite being of the Orthodox Pangu Lineage. And now, the Ancestral Witches might even be able to summon Pangu back to the Primordial World from Chaos...
How could he possibly allow that?
Hongjun knew full well that if Pangu returned, he, Hongjun, would likely be the first to die.
Perhaps only Hongjun himself knew how much he had done behind the scenes.
The Heavenly Dao was no different.
The Heavenly Dao was heartless, but that didn't mean it lacked intelligence.
You could think of the Heavenly Dao as an enhanced version of the world's consciousness.
So if Pangu were reborn now, could the Heavenly Dao, the current ruler of the Primordial World, continue to control it?
Even Zhu Jiuyin himself didn't know this: before the Ancestral Witches had demonstrated the ability to summon Pangu's True Form, Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao had merely targeted and suppressed them to keep the Primordial World in balance, while also harboring the desire to gradually bring the Witch Race under their control.
But the instant Pangu's True Form appeared, the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun swiftly reached a decision in their hearts: the Ancestral Witches could not be allowed to live.
It was only natural. The Three Pure Ones had come from the same source and could be called brothers, yet in the end, they had turned against each other for the sake of fortune. Now, what stood before the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun was control of the entire Primordial World.
Beyond the immense stakes, the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun also faced a crisis that threatened their very lives at the hands of Pangu. This only deepened their wariness of the Ancestral Witches—and their urge to kill them.
The Heavenly Dao, Hongjun, the Three Pure Ones, and the Primordial World's many Innate Demon Gods had all developed murderous intent toward the Ancestral Witches. Meanwhile, the Twelve Ancestral Witches began guiding Pangu's True Form to unleash its most powerful attack against Hongjun.
Hongjun gave the attack a cursory glance, then smiled with ease.
"Only the might of a Second-Heaven Saint. I'm a Third-Heaven Saint now. What can it do to me?"
"Enough. The longer this goes on, the more can go wrong. If they truly summon Pangu's will, it'll all be over."
As he thought this, Hongjun slowly raised a hand, intending to slap Pangu's True Form before him apart.
Suddenly, Mount Buzhou quivered. At once, the power of Pangu's True Form before Hongjun surged tenfold.
"This... This is impossible! This power is at least on the level of a Fifth-Heaven Saint!"
"This is bad. I can't block this strike!"
At the critical moment, the Heavenly Dao intervened.
As the Heavenly Dao exerted its power, a surge of Heavenly Dao power poured into Hongjun from a void beyond the perception of every onlooker.
In an instant, Hongjun's might soared thirtyfold. This was the limit of the Heavenly Dao power that the Heavenly Dao could grant him at that moment.
But it was more than enough. Hongjun could now unleash the terrifying power of a Sixth-Heaven Saint.
Thus, relying on the Heavenly Dao, Hongjun struck the most powerful blow of his life.
Of course, to everyone watching from the outside—whether the Ancestral Witches or the countless beings of the Primordial World—Hongjun merely gave a casual slap. With that, he cleanly shattered Pangu's True Form, whose sheer presence had suppressed the entire Primordial World and forced even Quasi-Sage-level experts to prostrate themselves on the ground.
His killing intent roused, Hongjun was preparing to launch a second attack and wipe out all Twelve Ancestral Witches once and for all.
But then he sensed a will so majestic and terrifying that even he could scarcely fathom it, a will beyond the Heavenly Dao's reach by countless billions of times, locking onto him.
Hongjun was, after all, a Chaos Being. He immediately understood: the Great Dao had locked onto him.
After a brief moment of thought, Hongjun understood completely.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches still bore the boundless Merit of Opening the Heavens left behind by Pangu.
The Merit of Opening the Heavens was not Heavenly Dao Merit. It was Great Dao Merit.
To attack a being bearing Great Dao Merit was to show utter contempt for the Great Dao.
At that moment, even the Heavenly Dao shrank back, let alone Hongjun.
Before the Great Dao, even the lofty Heavenly Dao was scarcely different from an ant.
By now, the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun both understood: so long as the Ancestral Witches' Merit of Opening the Heavens remained unspent, neither could attack them directly without suffering the Great Dao's punishment.
Hongjun was Hongjun. Though he was thoroughly fed up inside, he remained composed on the surface, every inch the "Dao Ancestor."
"For the next ten Yuanhui, the demons shall rule the heavens, and the witches shall rule the earth. The two races must not fight again!"
As soon as he spoke, Hongjun swept out a hand.
In an instant, he transported the countless members of the Witch Race, including the Ancestral Witches, beyond the borders of their Ancestral Land.
This display undoubtedly struck fear into every being in the Primordial World, Ancestral Witches included.
Only a fool couldn't see the implication: if Hongjun could transport countless members of the Witch Race beyond their Ancestral Land with a wave of his hand, didn't that mean he could also wipe out the entire Witch Race with a single slap?
The more you thought about it, the more terrifying it became!
Seeing this, Di Jun and Tai Yi shot Kunpeng a look.
Kunpeng's face fell. He couldn't help cursing inwardly, "You sons of bitches! Why am I always the one who has to do these humiliating things?!"
He could curse all he wanted, but he still had to do it.
It was like how Kunpeng hadn't actually wanted to join the Demon Race, yet he had still ended up in their camp.
Wasn't it because Di Jun and Tai Yi, two Quasi-Sage powerhouses, had come to the North Abyss with the Chaos Bell and the River Map and Luo Scroll, leaving him no choice but to join?
If Kunpeng could have foreseen the future, he would surely have said, "He who understands the times is a hero!"
Kunpeng suddenly dropped to his knees and burst into loud wails. "Dao Ancestor, you must stand up for our Demon Race and the countless beings of the Primordial World!"
"The Witch Race has always preyed on the beings of the Primordial World. Now they've brazenly started a war and attacked our Demon Court. If their madness isn't stopped, and our Demon Race is wiped out by the Witch Race, won't all the countless beings of the Primordial World end up on the Witch Race's dinner table, their mouths full of food?!"
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