The System's Secret

Hongjun returned to Yujing Mountain with Taotie. Taotie collapsed onto the ground, his eyes vacant, having completely given up struggling.

Hongjun fell silent for a moment, then reached out and pressed his hand against Taotie's crown.

Taotie's entire body shook. He tried to resist, only to find that his body would not obey him at all. An irresistible force surged into his sea of consciousness and began rifling through his memories.

Scenes flashed before Hongjun's eyes. He saw Taotie's life before his death, as well as information about the Primordial World.

During the Dao-Demon War, he found Five Elements and Daoist Yin Yang on an unnamed island and joined forces with them to kill Luo Hou.

At the Purple Heaven Palace's lecture, Hongjun sat high upon the cloud platform, conferred the saintly positions, and took control of the Primordial World.

The Witch-Demon Calamity, the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, the Journey to the West Calamity—one Tribulation after another, all manipulated by him, erupted in succession.

He saw himself merge with the Heavenly Dao, becoming emotionless and desireless from then on, yet no longer himself.

Hongjun withdrew his hand and remained silent for a long while.

"Interesting... My plan to join forces with others against Luo Hou actually matched up," he slowly said, his voice carrying a trace of complicated emotion.

"Is this the Primordial World's original future?"

He lowered his head to look at his palm, then glanced at Taotie sprawled on the ground, his gaze profound.

"I just didn't expect it to be Five Elements and Yin-Yang."

"As for me becoming the Dao Ancestor afterward, conferring the Six Sages, and ruling the Primordial World... it does sound rather good. Unfortunately, that was the original future."

A smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

"Now, I serve under Dao Venerable Shichen. Even if the Fate Demon God came in person, he would not dare tamper with my thread of fate so easily."

Fate could determine whether you would pick up money when you went out today, and how much you would pick up. Karma, meanwhile, determined within fate why you came to pick up that money in the first place.

But now, his thread of fate was already covered by Shichen's vast River of Time. Forget the Fate Demon God—even if the Great Dao acted in person, it would have to ask whether Shichen agreed before altering his fate.

Hongjun's gaze fell upon Taotie's dantian.

"As for that thing inside you..."

"It involves too much. Better leave it to Dao Venerable Shichen."

With a wave of his hand, immortal light enveloped Taotie. Using the laws of the Dao of Space within the Pseudo-Creation Jade Disk, Hongjun carried Taotie toward Chaos.

Meanwhile, within the Time Domain, Shichen looked helplessly at Pangu before him.

"Why have you become like that monkey? You come looking to fight me at the slightest provocation." Shichen rubbed his temples, his tone full of helplessness.

Pangu sat opposite him and said with complete confidence.

"Who else am I supposed to look for when you're the only one in all of Chaos who can trade blows with me?"

"That Fate fellow couldn't even withstand three strikes of my axe last time. It was far too unsatisfying. As for Yang Mei, don't even mention him. The moment he heard I wanted to fight him, he banished himself into Infinite Space to hide."

Shichen: "..."

He was silent for a long time before forcing out several words through clenched teeth. "So because you can't find anyone else to fight, you came to torment me?"

"What else was I supposed to do?" Pangu looked as though it were only natural.

Shichen took a deep breath and told himself not to stoop to the level of this brute.

Just then, Hongjun's voice came from beyond the Domain of Dao.

"Dao Venerable Shichen, Hongjun requests an audience."

As though he had found a savior, Shichen hurriedly raised his hand and opened a gate in the domain's grand formation.

Hongjun then entered while carrying Taotie. Upon seeing the two of them, he cupped his hands in salute.

"Dao Venerable Shichen, Dao Venerable Pangu."

Pangu waved a hand in return. His gaze fell on Taotie, and he examined him curiously for a few moments.

"This is that outsider anomaly?"

"Indeed." Hongjun nodded, then briefly explained Taotie's situation.

Taotie's formerly numb eyes suddenly widened the instant he heard the names Shichen and Pangu.

He raised his head and looked at the two figures before him.

Shichen? Pangu?

Shouldn't Shichen have died when the heavens were opened? Shouldn't Pangu have transformed into all things after opening the heavens? How could both of them be alive? And standing together?!

Taotie felt as though his entire worldview were collapsing. He had read so many Primordial World novels before transmigrating, yet everything was completely different!

Shichen ignored Taotie's devastated expression. He walked up to him, lowered his head for a glance, and then pointed a finger.

A flash of azure light passed, and a ball of light flew out from Taotie's dantian. It was completely transparent, with what seemed like countless streams of data flickering within it.

Shichen caught the ball of light and examined it for a moment.

"This is the system?"

The instant his words fell, the ball of light trembled violently. Then, a voice carrying obvious flattery emerged from within.

"G-greetings, Dao Venerable Shichen!"

Shichen raised a brow slightly. "Hm? Dao Venerable? You know me?"

"I do! I do!" The system's voice was hurried and ingratiating, as though afraid of speaking too slowly.

"The moment I saw you, I understood. You are the sole master who controls the River of Time in the main world. Throughout the Myriad Heavens and Ten Thousand Worlds, all gaze up at your mighty figure. At every moment, they chant your venerable title, wishing only for you to cast down a single glance..."

It continued speaking without pause, its tone utterly devout.

Hongjun and Pangu both wore rather strange expressions upon hearing this.

Pangu scratched his head, leaned close to Shichen's ear, and whispered, "Shichen, isn't this guy just flattering you because he's afraid you'll crush him to death?"

Shichen could not be bothered with this fool. His gaze remained fixed on the system.

"Interesting. The Myriad Heavens and Ten Thousand Worlds... give me a reason to spare you."

The system hurriedly said, "Great—"

"Stop rambling. Get to the point." Shichen interrupted him.

The system choked up, then quickly said, "I have coordinate anchors for several other worlds! Also, I can have hosts complete missions to obtain origin energy and feed it back to the Chaos World!"

Having said that, it hurriedly transmitted the coordinates of several worlds over, afraid that Shichen would not believe it.

After sensing them, a smile appeared on Shichen's lips.

He had previously promised the Great Dao that he would find a new source of origin energy for the Chaos World, yet he had never found a lead. He had not expected one to come knocking on his door.

"Very good. Are there many systems like you?"

The system hesitated for a moment. But when it saw Pangu baring his teeth at it from the side, it hurriedly spoke.

"Many. We were all created by the God of Systems. We seek hosts in different worlds, then plunder the origin energy of those worlds and feed it back to him."

He glanced at Taotie on the ground and said to Hongjun.

"Hongjun, create a space and place him inside. Let this system issue missions there specifically, feeding origin energy back to Chaos."

Hongjun's eyes lit up. He immediately cupped his hands and said, "Hongjun understands."

He picked up Taotie and turned to leave the Time Domain.

Pangu watched Hongjun's departing figure and rubbed his hands together.

"Shichen, do we have something to do now?"

Shichen nodded, his gaze turning toward the depths of Chaos.

"Just in time—the Hall of Gods has been repaired. Summon the three thousand Demon Gods and discuss the matter."