Condensing the Merit Golden Wheel

Hongjun said nothing, merely looking coldly at Zhunti and Jieyin.

Seeing their little ploy exposed, Zhunti and Jieyin honestly began to swear oaths.

After all, the Four Swords of Execution had already surrounded them, and the Green Duckweed Sword was pointed at them.

If they said one more wrong word, a sword might come slashing down.

At that moment, they felt that Hongjun had come to play favorites.

"Heavenly Dao above, I, Jieyin (Zhunti), henceforth shall not use any means or form to scheme against Tongtian or strike at him and his disciples. Should I violate this oath, may I suffer Heaven's punishment. May the Heavenly Dao bear witness."

"Heaven's punishment?"

As Lu Chen listened to their oaths, his gaze flickered.

Heaven's punishment could be as grave or as light as it pleased. Everything would be decided by Heaven.

As for the future...

Yet Lu Chen said nothing. He still could not sit at the table in this game.

For now, accumulating strength was what he needed to do.

But one day, he would sit at the chessboard as well and become a player moving the pieces. He swore it!

"Those two have already sworn their oaths. From this day onward, the enmity between you is erased."

"I obey, Master."

Tongtian cupped his hands toward Hongjun in salute.

His attitude was respectful, utterly lacking the arrogant defiance from before.

His mood was incomparably good. After all, Lu Chen had been stunned by his tactics in his heart just now.

"Only this once."

After saying this to Zhunti and Jieyin, Hongjun's figure slowly vanished.

"Sure enough, Hongjun claimed he would not interfere in the affairs of the Primordial World, but in truth, he was the biggest shit-stirrer of them all."

It seemed Tongtian had taken every advantage and received Hongjun's favor, but in truth... the ones who had truly benefited were the two from the West.

Had Hongjun not appeared, the two of them would already have become wandering ghosts in the wilderness.

Their bodies would have perished, their Dao extinguished.

Hongjun's appearance had saved their lives. He had even shown Tongtian immense leniency, fearing Tongtian would refuse to let the matter rest.

If Tongtian insisted, then Tongtian would instead be the one refusing to give face and acting without sense.

"Shall we continue, or return?"

Tongtian did not even glance at Jieyin and Zhunti. He landed beside Lu Chen and asked warmly.

"I want to continue."

After thinking it over, Lu Chen still chose to continue. After all, he was already in the West, and the Western lands were only so large. If others cleared them away first, the merit would belong to others.

He had originally intended to condense a Merit Golden Wheel. Now that it had not even taken shape, how could he possibly leave just like that?

"Good. Then your master will return first. These three sword talismans contain my full-force strike. Keep them for protection."

Tongtian took out three azure stone talismans and handed them to Lu Chen.

After speaking, Tongtian transformed into a streak of azure sword light and shot toward the east.

He had just slain the Dao corpses of Zhunti and Jieyin. His sword had been stained with the blood of Quasi-Saints, granting him new insights into the Sword Dao.

He felt that if he absorbed all those insights, his Sword Dao might advance another step.

Thus, he did not choose to follow Lu Chen. Besides, he felt Lu Chen carried many secrets. Remaining by Lu Chen's side would instead become an obstacle.

"Are you two not planning to return and heal your injuries?"

Once Tongtian left, Lu Chen looked toward Zhunti and Jieyin in midair and weighed the sword talismans in his hand.

"Hmph!"

Zhunti gave a cold snort, then turned and left with Jieyin.

Their condition could no longer be described as merely grievous injuries. They were already lamps running dry of oil.

Their Dao corpses had been slain. Even if they healed their wounds, their cultivation realms would still decline.

Had they obtained a method to dispel the demonic qi, they might barely have accepted it. Yet they had gained nothing at all and suffered injuries for nothing.

Seeing Zhunti and Jieyin leave as well, Lu Chen patted the little white tiger beside him.

The little white tiger's limbs were limp and weak.

Everything that had happened today had completely rewritten his tiger life.

First, he had witnessed a thoroughly exhilarating battle between Quasi-Saints, then he had met the greatest Dao Ancestor in the Primordial World.

His life had been worth it.

After resting for a while, the little white tiger recovered some strength and climbed up from the ground.

Lu Chen sat on the little white tiger's back and continued westward.

"Big Brother, are we just letting this grudge go?"

"This time, Tongtian did not merely strip us of our face. These are Dao injuries that will be difficult to recover from!"

Like a wounded beast, Zhunti growled in a low voice, hatred surfacing in his eyes.

"The oath to the Heavenly Dao has already been made. What else can we do? Besides, Tongtian came this time intending to kill us both. Had the Dao Ancestor not intervened, we would already have become souls beneath his sword."

A trace of helplessness appeared on Jieyin's face.

He was equally furious, but what could he do when his skills fell short of another's?

"First, recover from your injuries. As for the Dao corpses that were slain, we shall think of a way to see whether they can be reforged."

Alas... this time, they had tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to bait it.

"What lies ahead? Why is the demonic qi so dense?"

Lu Chen raised a brow as he looked into the distance.

In the distance, demonic qi coiled and condensed into black clouds, blanketing an area of tens of thousands of miles.

Merely looking at it made one's mind stir restlessly, birthing a suffocating sense of oppression in one's heart.

"Master, Sumeru Mountain lies ahead."

"As expected of the Devil Ancestor Luohou's Dao grounds. Even after all these years, there is still so much demonic qi."

"Master, are we going over there?"

"No. We'll take a detour."

Lu Chen shook his head.

"Ah!"

A trace of surprise flashed through the little white tiger's eyes. All along the way, Master had bulldozed straight through everything; this was the first time he had chosen to go around.

But when he remembered that this was Sumeru Mountain, the Dao grounds of Luohou, the demonic ancestor from the same era as Dao Ancestor Hongjun, the little white tiger did not hesitate at all and headed in another direction.

"It is not that I fear the demonic qi within. It is simply not the time."

Lu Chen saw through the little white tiger's doubts at a glance and spoke to explain.

Clearing Sumeru Mountain was not as simple as dispersing its demonic qi. More importantly, Luohou had detonated the entire earth vein of Sumeru Mountain back then.

If he wanted to obtain the merit from this place, merely dispelling the demonic qi would not be enough. He would also need to mend the shattered earth veins belowground. This was a massive undertaking, for Sumeru Mountain was the Ancestral Mountain of the West.

Yet even if Lu Chen could solve this problem, he would not solve it now. Once the mountain veins beneath Sumeru Mountain were restored, they would gradually have a chance to recover under the nourishment of spiritual qi. Though they could not return to their former state overnight, they would ultimately recover, and the earth veins of Sumeru Mountain would also drive the surrounding earth veins to recover bit by bit.

After the passage of long years, even if the West could not return to its peak and compare with the East, it would no longer be a barren land where not a blade of grass grew.

But he was clearing the earth veins and dispelling the demonic qi solely for merit. As for helping the West recover and prosper, he was not so selfless.

"Success is complete. It is time to leave."

Lu Chen looked at the radiant golden wheel behind his head, a smile appearing on his face. He glanced back at the Western land, where traces of life had begun to emerge, but there was not the slightest hint of reluctance in his eyes.

"I, Dijun, and Taiyi have discovered the Thirty-Six Heavens atop Buzhou Mountain. The Heavenly Court is established!"

A majestic voice spread throughout the entire Primordial World.

"The first battle between the Witch and Demon clans is about to begin..."