The Far Northern Lands lay blanketed in ice and snow year-round, its environment unimaginably harsh.
Not only was spiritual energy sparse here, but terrifying arctic storms often ravaged the land. Ordinary living beings simply could not survive in such a place.
Even the Kirinkind entrenched in the Northern and Central Continents disdained to claim it.
Yet precisely because of this, it had become a refuge for many weak living beings fleeing the flames of war between the three clans.
Within a hidden ice valley.
Several hundred living beings of all shapes and forms huddled together, trembling.
Among them were plant spirits that had yet to fully take human form, low-cultivation beasts, and even several birds with broken feathers.
"Patriarch, how much longer do we have to hide here?"
A creature covered in white fur and resembling an ape asked the elder at the front in a trembling voice.
The elder was a ten-thousand-year snow ginseng that had taken form. His cultivation had barely reached the early Golden Immortal stage, making him the strongest among this group.
The elder sighed, his eyes filled with despair. "Hide? Where can we hide? The three clans are fighting outside until heaven and earth are torn asunder. Rogue Cultivators like us will be cannon fodder the moment we step outside. This ice valley may be bitterly cold, but at least it can preserve our lives."
"But... but it's far too cold here. If this continues, everyone will freeze to death."
Just as the living beings sank into despair, ripples suddenly spread through the void above the ice valley.
"Who is it?!"
The elder's face changed drastically. He hastily brought out a walking stick and shielded the other living beings behind him.
Three figures slowly stepped out of the void.
The young man in the lead wore green robes and possessed handsome features. There was not the slightest fluctuation of magical power around him, yet he gave off an unfathomable feeling, as deep as an abyss and vast as the sea.
At his sides stood two peerlessly beautiful women. The woman in black merely swept her gaze over them, and the arctic storm around them—cold enough to freeze a Golden Immortal to death—instantly subsided.
"A... a great expert!"
The elder's legs went weak, and he dropped straight to his knees.
Though he could not see through the cultivation of these three, the pressure emanating from the depths of his soul was countless times more terrifying than the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal he had once glimpsed from afar!
"I did not know Senior was descending upon us. I beg Senior's forgiveness!"
The several hundred living beings behind the elder also fell to their knees in unison, trembling like sifted chaff.
Dijiang looked at these pitiable living beings, and a trace of compassion flickered in his eyes.
This was the state of the Primordial World's lowest ranks. Beneath the crushing force of the tribulation, even survival had become a distant hope.
"Rise."
Dijiang's voice was gentle, yet it carried an undeniable force as it lifted the living beings to their feet.
"I am Dijiang, of Pangu Orthodox Lineage, an Ancestral Witch."
"Seeing the living beings of the Primordial World suffer such devastation, I have come here specifically to provide you with a place of shelter. Are you willing to follow me to Mount Buzhou?"
"Mount Buzhou?!"
The elder abruptly raised his head, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Mount Buzhou was formed from Great God Pangu's spine. It was the most sacred place in the Primordial World!
Yet Pangu's pressure there was immense. Ordinary living beings could not even approach it, much less survive there.
"Senior... are you saying this is true? Can we truly go to Mount Buzhou?" the elder asked, his voice trembling.
"Since Big Brother has said so, it is naturally true."
Houtu stepped forward. A gentle smile rested on her peerlessly beautiful face as a strand of pure Earth Origin spread outward, instantly dispersing the chill within the living beings' bodies.
"Though Mount Buzhou bears immense pressure, we have ways to let you settle down and make a living there. So long as you do not provoke trouble, no one will dare touch even a hair on your heads."
Feeling the heavy yet warm aura radiating from Houtu, the elder no longer harbored any doubts. Tears streamed down his aged face in excitement.
"Thank you, Seniors, for this great kindness! We are willing to follow you unto death!"
Dijiang nodded and swept his sleeve. Space Law flowed, and he directly collected the several hundred living beings.
Dijiang had been born with mastery over Space Law. To him, a method like Cosmos in the Sleeve was child's play; with the slightest contemplation, he could comprehend it.
"Let's go. To the next place."
Over the following several thousand years, Dijiang and the other two traveled through every corner of the Northern Continent.
With their powerful divine sense and Space Law, they could always precisely locate those Rogue Cultivators and weak living beings hidden away in the shadows, struggling bitterly to survive.
So long as the other party was not wicked by nature and had not been wholly blinded by Tribulation Aura, Dijiang would extend an olive branch to them.
When faced with the choice between life and death, the overwhelming majority of living beings chose to follow without hesitation.
Of course, some harbored doubts, while others had already been eroded by Tribulation Aura and become violent and bloodthirsty. Dijiang did not force such beings; he simply turned and left.
At the same time, the Ancestral Witches in the other three directions were doing the same.
Relying on Time Law, Zhu Jiuyin could always foresee danger in advance. He led Zhu Rong and Tian Wu to rescue great numbers of marginalized living beings in the Western Continent, following Dijiang's instructions and never venturing deep into the Western Continent.
Meanwhile, Gonggong's group gathered many birds and beasts from the edges of the Southern Continent, those driven out by the Phoenix Clan for refusing to join the war.
Qiang Liang and the others were even more straightforward and brutal. Whenever they encountered Rogue Cultivators oppressed by the Dragon Clan in the Eastern Continent, they directly beat the Dragon Clan away, then packed up the Rogue Cultivators and took them with them.
Ten thousand years later.
At the foot of Mount Buzhou, the land that had once been desolate and lonely had now become extraordinarily lively.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches returned one after another and released all the living beings they had gathered.
A rough count revealed that there were several million of them!
Though these living beings generally did not possess high cultivation, with most ranging from Celestial Immortal to Golden Immortal, they made up for it with their countless varieties and their fervent gratitude and reverence toward the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
"Big Brother, everyone has been brought back. How should we settle them now?"
Zhu Rong looked at the densely packed living beings below and scratched his head.
Mount Buzhou's Pangu pressure was no joke. Without protection, these living beings' Primordial Spirits would collapse under the pressure before long.
Dijiang stood in midair, gazing down below as a sharp glint flashed through his eyes.
"Set up the formation."
His hands rapidly formed seals. Within his sea of consciousness, the Creation Jade Disk spun round and round, spilling down ten thousand rays of light.
"Use Mount Buzhou as the formation's core. Draw upon the qi of Mount Buzhou's earth veins and establish a Spirit-Gathering Formation!"
At Dijiang's command, the other eleven Ancestral Witches understood at once and flew toward eleven positions surrounding Mount Buzhou.
"Rumble!"
The auras of Dijiang and the others surged into the heavens, producing a fierce resonance with Mount Buzhou's earth veins.
An enormous formation spanning hundreds of millions of li slowly took shape.
Not only did this formation block Mount Buzhou's terrifying Pangu pressure outside, it also frantically gathered the spiritual energy drifting between heaven and earth, creating a blessed grotto-heaven of dense spiritual energy within the formation.
"From this day onward, you may settle here and cultivate in peace."
Dijiang's voice rang beside the ears of several million living beings, like the voice of heaven itself.
"We thank the Ancestral Witches for your great grace!"
Several million living beings knelt in worship together, their voices shaking the nine heavens.
At the instant they bowed, an invisible force of destiny rose from their bodies, converging into a river that coiled above Mount Buzhou before finally merging into the bodies of the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
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