The Last Oriole

"Space, Shift!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Four Swords of Immortal Execution, originally scattered around Luo Hou with their radiance dimmed, vanished into thin air right under Hongjun's nose. The next instant, they appeared directly within that warped spatial rift!

"Who goes there?!"

Hongjun's expression changed drastically, his ageless composure finally shattered.

He swung the Pangu Banner fiercely, sending a strand of Chaos Sword Qi that tore through the primal chaos roaring toward the spatial rift.

Riiip—

The spatial rift was forcibly torn open. Dijiang stepped out, casually playing with the Heaven-and-Earth Cauldron in his hand. The Four Swords of Immortal Execution floated behind him, and a mocking sneer hung at the corner of his lips.

"Fellow Daoist Hongjun, you can't keep all the merit of vanquishing demons and defending the Dao for yourself."

Dijiang looked at Hongjun's livid face and spoke blandly.

"You are?"

Sensing the Primordial Golden Immortal auras emanating from Dijiang and the others, Hongjun's face turned first green, then white. He had never expected that he would become the clam and snipe, with Dijiang and the others waiting behind as the oriole.

Hongjun searched through every ancient relic still alive in the Primordial World within his mind, yet found no one who matched them.

Dijiang had no intention of announcing his name before a fight. Let Hongjun guess.

Then he headed toward the Taiji Diagram.

"You insolent whelp, how dare you!"

Seeing Dijiang reach for the Taiji Diagram, Hongjun, who had always kept his emotions hidden, finally broke.

It would have been one thing to lose the Five-Elements Pagoda and the Heaven-and-Earth Cauldron, but the Taiji Diagram was an Innate Supreme Treasure formed from the back of the Heaven-Opening Axe. It absolutely could not be lost!

With an angry roar, Hongjun poured the full force of his Peak Primordial Golden Immortal power into the Pangu Banner without holding anything back.

Boom!

The Pangu Banner swelled in the wind. With a fierce shake, it unleashed a terrifying strand of Chaos Sword Qi capable of tearing apart primal chaos, crossing the distance of space to cleave straight at Dijiang's face.

This strike carried Hongjun's true fury. He swore to kill this unforeseen variable who had appeared from nowhere in a single blow!

Yet in the face of this heaven-destroying, earth-shattering attack, Dijiang did not even raise an eyelid. Even his hand reaching toward the Taiji Diagram did not pause in the slightest.

"My elder brother is taking a treasure. Are you worthy of stopping him?"

At Dijiang's side, Zhu Jiuyin stepped forward.

As his eyes opened and closed, the great sun fell in his left eye while the bright moon rose in his right. A phantom of the vast River of Time instantly descended over Hongjun and that strand of Chaos Sword Qi.

"Time, Freeze!"

Buzzz—!

Under the Time Law, that incomparably violent Chaos Sword Qi actually paused in midair for an extremely brief instant.

Even Hongjun's charging body seemed to have fallen into a swamp, stiffening for a moment.

For a mighty being like Hongjun, this stagnation lasted less than one-thousandth of an instant. A clear gleam flashed from the Jade Disc of Creation above his head, and he forcibly broke free from the Time Law's restraints.

But when masters clashed, one-thousandth of an instant was already enough to decide everything.

Whoosh!

Dijiang's palm passed through the void without obstruction and seized the Taiji Diagram, which emanated twin currents of yin and yang, tightly in his hand. Then he casually tossed it into his spatial dimension.

Rumble!

Only then did that strand of Chaos Sword Qi come crashing down, but it merely split apart the spatial afterimage Dijiang had left behind.

"Time Law?! Space Law?!"

Hongjun steadied himself and stared fixedly at Dijiang and Zhu Jiuyin. Then he swept his gaze over the ten figures behind them, each likewise emitting the aura of a Primordial Golden Immortal and wreathed in a different Great Dao Law. At last, unconcealable shock surfaced in the depths of his eyes.

Twelve Primordial Golden Immortals!

And every one of them controlled a complete Great Dao Law!

When had such a terrifying force silently emerged within the Primordial World?!

"Ha! Hahahahaha!"

Just as Hongjun was filled with doubt and uncertainty, Luo Hou, critically wounded and on the verge of death amid the ruins below, suddenly burst into mad laughter.

"Hongjun, you old dog! You schemed your whole life and used the lives of three old friends to fill the formation. You thought you could swallow this heaven-sent opportunity alone, yet in the end, you merely made a wedding dress for someone else!"

Luo Hou coughed up black blood as he stared at Hongjun's humiliated appearance with venomous delight.

"What are you laughing at? Do you think you can still live today?" Hongjun's face was ashen as he looked coldly at Luo Hou.

"Live? My origin has shattered. Naturally, I cannot live."

The smile on Luo Hou's face abruptly vanished, replaced by utter madness and resolve.

"But even if I die, I will never let you, hypocrite, have an easy time!"

"Heaven's Way above!"

Luo Hou suddenly straightened his body, burning the last trace of his demonic origin. His shrill voice spread across the entire Primordial World.

"I am Luo Hou, Devil Ancestor! Though I am defeated today, the demonic path shall not perish! I am willing to transform my body into an extraterritorial heavenly demon. From this day onward, when the Dao declines, demons shall flourish; when the Dao rises one foot, demons shall rise ten! All living beings of the Primordial World who possess the seven emotions and six desires shall suffer the tribulations of heavenly demons!"

"Western Continent earth veins, explode for me!!!"

Boom—!!!

With Luo Hou's final madness, his ruined body exploded with a thunderous blast.

At the same time, the earth veins of the entire Western Continent, already crazily drained by the Sword Formation of Immortal Execution and now ignited by Luo Hou, completely lost their balance and erupted in a cataclysmic explosion!

Endless earth, water, fire, and wind spewed forth. Spirit veins shattered inch by inch. The Western Continent, once a land of blessed grotto-heavens, was utterly transformed into barren, scorched earth at this moment.

"Luo Hou! You've gone mad!"

Hongjun's expression changed drastically.

The Western Continent's earth veins had been destroyed—this was boundless karmic sin!

Although Luo Hou had detonated them, Hongjun had been the direct force driving Luo Hou to death. When Heaven's Way settled the reckoning, he would have to bear at least half of this karmic burden!

If he did not swiftly act to suppress the earth veins, forget attaining the Dao and becoming a Saint—this immense karmic burden could directly destroy the foundation of his Dao!

Hongjun no longer had the leisure to seize treasures, nor could he spare thought for investigating Dijiang and the others' origins. He hurriedly summoned the Jade Disc of Creation and the Pangu Banner, exerting every ounce of his strength to suppress the rampaging earth veins and the ravaging storm of destruction.

"A fine opportunity."

Dijiang stood in the void, watching the flustered Hongjun with a cold smile curling across his lips.

His gaze flashed like lightning, instantly locking onto two ownerless objects bobbing amid the destructive storm after Luo Hou's self-destruction: a black spear whose Killing Intent soared to the heavens, and a Twelfth-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus with dim radiance.

The God-Slaying Spear!

The Twelfth-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus!

"Hand them over!"

Dijiang showed no courtesy. The Space Law transformed into two invisible giant hands that reached directly into the heart of the storm, forcibly drawing the two demonic supreme treasures over and storing them away.

Thus, the Four Swords of Immortal Execution, the Heaven-and-Earth Cauldron, the Taiji Diagram, the God-Slaying Spear, and the Twelfth-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus all fell into Dijiang's hands alone.

He had become the final oriole in the Dao-Demon War—and its greatest victor.

"Fellow Daoist Hongjun, I'll leave this mess in the Western Continent to you. We have other important matters to attend to, so we shall not keep you company. Until we meet again!"

Dijiang laughed loudly, his voice echoing across the chaotic skies of the Western Continent.

Then, with a sweep of his sleeve, silver Space Law enveloped all Twelve Ancestral Witches.