Realizing he had been set up yet again, Tianlu immediately flared up.
He let out a cold laugh and muttered,
"Since you, you old bull-nosed daoist, have shown me no mercy, don't blame this Pixiu for showing you none either!"
He didn't waste a moment.
Tianlu rose to his feet. The golden fur covering his body stood on end, and the boundless magical power of the Late Daluo Golden Immortal Stage within him erupted with a roar.
He raised a forepaw. Profound strands of the Law of Fortune and the Law of Wealth swirled around his claws as he slashed viciously at the chaotic void before him.
In an instant, a dazzling golden screen appeared out of thin air in the gloomy Chaos, radiating auspicious light that illuminated the ages.
Countless threads crisscrossed the screen, clearly revealing the flow of fortune throughout the Primordial World, among its myriad living beings, and among the various Innate Divine Beings.
The Pangu Pure Qi representing the Three Pure Ones was as thick as a dragon.
The Solar Golden Crow Qi representing Di Jun and Tai Yi burned like fire.
And the boundless Turbid Qi representing the Twelve Ancestral Witches was as massive as a mountain.
Tianlu watched the shining threads of fortune and grinned mischievously.
Using his Innate Divine Ability to control the world's fortune and bestow blessings and prosperity, he plunged his claw into the screen without hesitation.
"Fall, all of you!"
Tianlu barked, and the magical power within him rapidly drained away.
He deliberately avoided the threads of fortune belonging to Nuwa, Fuxi, and Yang Hui, whom he had subdued.
Then Tianlu seized the fortune of every Innate Divine Being on the screen who had reached the Daluo Golden Immortal Stage and, following their karmic connections, forcibly drove it into the negative.
In an instant, the golden pillars of fortune that had blazed brightly on the screen dimmed, turning a gloomy gray-black that heralded misfortune.
As for the vast fortune he had extracted, Tianlu didn't keep it for himself. With a sweep of his great claw, he hurled it all into the void, leaving it to drift in limbo between the Primordial World and Chaos.
Once he was done, Tianlu dusted off his claws and looked at the scene on the screen with satisfaction.
With that single move, he had drained the foundation of fortune from the Primordial World's most powerful beings.
As for when that fortune would return to them, Tianlu had already planned it out. With the Law restrictions he had laid down, it would take at least one Yuanhui before they could slowly reclaim what was theirs.
"Hmph. You set up a maze for me, so I'll make sure not a single guest can reach the gates of your Purple Heaven Palace!"
Tianlu gave a couple of smug snorts, dismissed the golden screen, and continued leisurely riding the Cloud Treasure as he searched for the Purple Heaven Palace.
At that very moment,
the instant Tianlu finished manipulating their fortune, a sudden upheaval struck another region of Chaos.
The Three Pure Ones, Di Jun and Tai Yi, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, and the others had endured countless hardships before finally breaking through layer upon layer of chaotic mist.
At the end of their line of sight, a grand, ancient palace radiating boundless purple Qi had appeared, hazy but unmistakable. It was the Purple Heaven Palace they had yearned for day and night.
Delight showed on everyone's faces. They were just about to speed up and make one final push into the palace's barrier.
Once they entered the barrier, they would be free of Chaos's disturbances and safe from harm.
Yet the moment they stepped forward, an unseen malice suddenly descended upon them.
Their once-abundant protective fortune vanished without warning, transforming into the most extreme misfortune.
The chaotic currents that had been ravaging the area suddenly went berserk, as if provoked by something.
The vast chaotic gales became billions of black blades of wind, while chaotic thunder and fire coalesced into streaks of destructive thunder dragons. They swept toward the group of divine beings in a relentless barrage.
The calamity was more than a hundred times more powerful than before.
"Th-this... what's going on?!"
Yuqing Yuanshi was horrified.
"Something's wrong! Chaos is in upheaval! Defend yourselves, now!"
Laozi's expression turned grave. He frantically urged his magical power, and the Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Exquisite Pagoda blazed with light, holding back the gales crashing down like a tidal wave.
Di Jun and Tai Yi were directly swept away by a sudden chaotic undercurrent.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches relied on their formidable bodies to withstand the attack, yet the all-pervasive Chaotic Poison Fire still burned their flesh raw. They roared in fury.
Faced with this world-destroying calamity of Chaos, they couldn't take another step forward.
The rampant force held the divine beings fast, even blasting some of them far away to the other side of Chaos.
They could only watch as the Purple Heaven Palace, once just within reach, blurred amid the twisting chaotic currents and finally vanished from sight.
"No! Our opportunity is right there!"
Taiyi's eyes were bloodshot. He desperately tried to break through the obstacles and find the Purple Heaven Palace again, but an even more violent torrent of Chaotic Divine Lightning met him.
For a time, frustration filled everyone's hearts. They fought desperately to enter the Purple Heaven Palace's barrier, because only there would they be safe.
But the chaotic gales, thunder, and fire grew ever more violent, clinging to them and battering them so fiercely that they couldn't advance a single step. They could only retreat again and again.
By then, the Purple Heaven Palace had vanished completely from their senses.
With no other choice, everyone steeled themselves and summoned their Numinous Treasures with all their might, struggling to defend against the ceaseless calamities of Chaos as they fought for their lives on the brink of death.
The years drifted by. No one knew how much time passed amid the raging Chaos.
Inside the Purple Heaven Palace,
Hongjun, seated high atop the Cloud Bed above the ninth layer of clouds, slowly opened his deep, abyss-like eyes.
The time for his lecture had come. He prepared to see how many divine beings from the Primordial World had arrived at the Purple Heaven Palace.
But when his gaze swept across the vast hall below, his expression froze in utter disbelief.
The hall should have been packed to the rafters, filled with the Three Thousand Red Dust Guests of the Primordial World. Now it was so empty it made one's heart sink.
In the immense Purple Heaven Palace, only three people stood quietly at the center of the hall.
Nuwa, dignified and gentle, dressed in a robe of seven-colored clouds.
Fuxi, refined and scholarly, dressed in a black Daoist robe.
And Queen Mother of the West, Yang Hui, cool and aloof, with a proud, peerless beauty.
Just these three?
Hongjun's mouth twitched, his eyes full of disbelief.
Where were the Pangu Three Pure Ones?!
Where were Di Jun and Tai Yi?!
Where were the Twelve Ancestral Witches?!
And where were all the other Innate Divine Beings born in this era of the Primordial World?!
Where had they gone?!
Where were they?!
Hongjun couldn't understand it. The Three Pure Ones had been formed from Pangu's Primordial Spirit and inherited the legacy of the creation of Heaven and Earth. Their fortune was so profound that they should have been able to reach the Purple Heaven Palace with their eyes closed.
How could the Three Pure Ones, with their vast fortune, have failed to arrive, while Nuwa and the other two had reached it first?
Though Nuwa, Fuxi, and Yang Hui also had good fortune and ranked among the most fortunate beings in the Primordial World, they still couldn't compare with the Three Pure Ones' heaven-blessed advantages.
Before you continue