Tongtian's face was twisted with rage. The Qingping Sword hummed in his hand as he pointed it at Zhurong. "Zhurong! My brothers and I found this treasure first. What gives you the right to seize it?"
Zhurong folded his arms, his face full of mockery. "The treasure has no owner. Since when has the Primordial World had a rule that whoever finds something first gets to keep it? We are Pangu's true heirs. The Witch Clan should inherit the Father God's legacy."
Yuanshi's expression darkened. He stepped forward and said coldly, "Insolence! A pack of brainless brutes dares claim to be Pangu's true heirs before us, the Three Pure Ones?"
The moment Zhurong heard him deny their claim, fury erupted through him. "You're courting death!"
Without another word, he raised his hand and unleashed a stream of Innate Li Fire. It became a roaring fire dragon and lunged at the Three Pure Ones. Beside him, Gonggong struck at the same time, sending dark-blue water arrows close behind it.
Laozi brought out the Taiji Diagram to shield the three of them. Yuanshi wielded the Three Treasures Jade Ruyi, and Tongtian swung the Qingping Sword as they joined forces to fight back.
All five were Daluo Golden Immortals. Brave as Zhurong and Gonggong were, there were only two of them. Against the combined assault of the Three Pure Ones, and without an advantage in treasures, they gradually lost ground.
Just as the battle reached a fever pitch, a surge of flame descended from the sky and forced the two sides apart.
"Why must everyone come to blows?"
Di Jun descended with Taiyi and landed between the two sides. He wore a genial smile.
Zhurong frowned at the sight of them. "Aren't you those two scruffy birds from the Sun Star? What, do you want to steal the treasure too?"
Anger stirred in Di Jun's heart, but he kept his genial smile in place.
He wanted to build a good relationship with the Witch Clan if he could and change the course of the Witch-Demon Calamity. He was about to explain,
but a cold glint flashed through Taiyi's eyes beside him. At that very moment, the system inside Taiyi issued a mission:
Ding! Seize the Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Linglong Pagoda! Reward: 200,000 years of cultivation and the supreme-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, Mystic Water Sword.
A cold smile touched Taiyi's lips.
He was a transmigrator with a system at his side. Why should he fear the mere Witch Clan? Now that the system had given him a mission, he was determined to have the pagoda.
"Brother, why waste words on them?" Taiyi stepped forward and reached straight for the pagoda. "The treasure belongs to whoever has the strength to take it!"
"Insolence!"
The Three Pure Ones and the two Ancestral Witches roared together. Forgetting their own quarrel, they all attacked Taiyi.
Di Jun was so furious his teeth ached, but he could only scramble into battle. Damn it! What's gotten into Taiyi? Could Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao be behind this, trying to force the Witch-Demon Calamity into motion?
"Fiery Sun True Flame!"
Di Jun's hands flew through seals, and the vision of Ten Suns Across the Sky appeared behind him. Countless streams of Sun True Fire surged out to intercept the Three Pure Ones and the Ancestral Witches. "Taiyi, hurry!"
Taiyi glanced back and brought out his companion Innate Supreme Treasure, the Chaos Bell.
At its first toll, an invisible sound wave spread outward and struck at the Three Pure Ones and the others alongside the Sun True Fire. They had no choice but to pull back and defend themselves.
At its second toll, the sound wave slammed into the innate formation surrounding the Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Linglong Pagoda. The formation shook violently, but did not break.
Taiyi frowned and was about to sound the bell a third time,
when, in the void, the Shichen Dao Body watched the melee below with keen interest. He lightly raised a hand and secretly nudged one corner of the innate formation with a thread of temporal power.
Interesting. Since your system has issued a mission, I'll give you a hand. That way, you can produce a few more opportunities for the Primordial World.
Below, a crack suddenly appeared without warning in the seemingly unbreakable innate formation.
Taiyi froze for an instant, but had no time to think. He snatched up the pagoda and fled without looking back, leaving only a few words drifting on the wind:
"Brother, I'm going on ahead!"
"You scruffy bird! You're courting death!"
Zhurong was beside himself with rage. The Law of Fire surged through his body, and a rain of flames filled the sky for hundreds of millions of miles. But Taiyi had used the Golden Crow Rainbow Transformation Art and vanished without a trace.
Zhurong could only roar at the heavens. With nowhere to vent his fury, he turned on Di Jun, who was still there.
"Your brother stole the treasure. You can stay and pay with your life!"
With that, his Innate Li Fire swelled once more and blasted toward Di Jun.
Di Jun's face darkened. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and fight, cursing Taiyi a thousand times over in his heart. For now, all he could do was try to escape.
Nearby, Tongtian moved to take advantage of the chaos and join the fight, but Laozi raised a hand to stop him.
"Eldest Brother?" Tongtian asked, puzzled.
Laozi shook his head slightly, his gaze calm. "Third Brother, the treasure has been taken. Fighting over it now will gain us nothing. What matters is finding other treasures and strengthening our cultivation before the sermon at the Purple Heaven Palace."
Yuanshi nodded. "Eldest Brother is right. A single treasure cannot compare with the opportunity to hear the Dao."
Tongtian was unwilling to let it go, but he knew what mattered most. He glared at the battlefield, put away the Qingping Sword, and left with Laozi and Yuanshi as three streaks of light.
Meanwhile, inside the Time Temple in the Chaos World,
Pangu stood before a vast curtain of water, his expression peculiar. "They're already talking about inheriting my legacy, and I'm not even dead. One was born from my blood essence, the other from my source Dao body, yet they're fighting over who my true heirs are."
He turned to Shichen, puzzled. "Shichen, why did your Dao Body help that anomaly?"
Shichen stood with his hands behind his back. "Didn't we let the anomalies invade in the first place so they would produce more opportunities? The more active they are, the richer the rewards their systems give them. All those resources will remain in the Primordial World."
Pangu scratched his head and considered it. "That does make sense."
His eyes suddenly lit up. "But now that you have a Dao Body in the Primordial World, I want to go have some fun too."
Shichen rolled his eyes at him. "Whether the Primordial World could withstand your arrival is another question. Even if you got in, what if you scared all the anomalies so badly they never showed themselves again?"
Pangu grinned. "They won't show themselves? Then I'll chop them all out with one swing of my axe!"
Shichen pressed a hand to his forehead, helpless.
Just then, the Law of Destruction in the Chaos World suddenly surged.
Every Demon God sensed the disturbance and emerged from their respective temples.
Shichen and Pangu exchanged a glance, rose together, and vanished from the Time Temple.
Before the Hall of Gods, the long-absent Destruction Demon God stumbled out of the void.
Three thousand Demon Gods converged from their temples. Even the Reincarnation Demon God, who usually did nothing but sleep, appeared among them for once, surprise on his face.
Shichen approached the Destruction Demon God, his brows knitted. "Destruction? What happened? You're at the ninth heaven of the Heavenly Dao realm. Who could have injured you?"
The Destruction Demon God looked up. His face was pale, but anger burned in his eyes.
"Shichen... there's something wrong with the world I went to..."
Before you continue