Dijiang pondered for a moment, then handed the Purple-Gold Red Gourd, which had originally been meant for Laozi, to Zhu Jiuyin.
"Second Brother, this purple-gold gourd contains a world within it. It can take in people and objects. Keep it."
He then handed the violet-red Nine-Nine Soul-Scattering Gourd, which had originally been meant for Hong Yun, to Zhu Rong.
"Zhu Rong, this violet-red gourd contains Flame Origin. It suits you best."
He gave the violet-white Immortal-Slaying Flying Blade Gourd to Ru Shou.
He gave the violet-green Demon-Summoning Gourd to Tian Wu.
He gave the violet-yellow Water-Fire Gourd to She Bishi.
He gave the violet-green gourd to Jumang.
As for the final violet-black Primal Chaos Gourd, Dijiang kept it for himself.
"This Gourd Vine and Nine Heavens Resting Soil are good things too. They cannot be wasted."
With a wave of his hand, Dijiang uprooted the withered Gourd Vine and the Nine Heavens Resting Soil beneath it, storing them in his spatial realm.
This Gourd Vine would be the crucial item for Nuwa's future creation of humanity. Naturally, he had to keep it firmly in his own hands.
"Let's go. Back to Pangu Hall."
Dijiang led the eleven Ancestor Witches, laden with their gains, back to Pangu Hall.
Kunlun Mountain, Three Pure Ones Hall.
Bang!
Yuanshi Tianzun slammed his palm onto the jade table, making the spiritual energy in the hall churn violently.
"They have gone too far! They have truly gone too far!"
Yuanshi Tianzun's face was livid, his eyes filled with humiliation and fury. "Those twelve brutes refuse to listen to reason. They are only half a step stronger than us in cultivation, yet they dared humiliate us, the Pangu Orthodox Lineage, like uncivilized savages. Elder Brother, I cannot swallow this insult!"
Laozi sat cross-legged upon a meditation cushion. Though his expression remained calm, a shadow flickered deep in his eyes.
"Second Brother, calm yourself."
Laozi spoke slowly. "Those twelve are not only highly cultivated, but also united as one. Twelve beings above the Great Firmament Realm joining forces—looking across the Primordial World today, other than the Dao Ancestor, who could stand against them?"
"Are we simply letting this go?" Tongtian frowned deeply. Though he disliked Yuanshi's arrogance, having their opportunity snatched away before their eyes naturally left him displeased as well.
"Of course we cannot let it go."
A sharp gleam flashed through Laozi's eyes. "The Dao Ancestor once said that Violet Firmament Palace would reopen in thirty thousand years to teach the Dao of the Quasi-Saint. As long as we break through to the Quasi-Saint realm at the next sermon, it will not be too late to settle the score with them then!"
"Elder Brother is right!" Yuanshi Tianzun gritted his teeth. "Once I break through to the Quasi-Saint realm, I will make that barbarian Zhu Rong pay the price!"
Wuzhuang Temple.
Hong Yun sat beneath the Ginseng Fruit Tree, holding a Ginseng Fruit in his hand and eating with great relish, as though the grievance he had suffered on Mount Buzhou had never happened.
"Old friend Hong Yun, your heart is far too broad, isn't it?"
Watching Hong Yun's carefree manner, Zhen Yuanzi could not help sighing. "That was an opportunity involving a Supreme-Grade Innate Spirit Treasure. Those barbarians simply stole it away, and you do not find it a pity?"
"It is a pity, but opportunities cannot be forced."
Hong Yun swallowed the fruit flesh in his mouth and smiled freely. "Besides, the strength of those twelve fellow Daoists is unfathomable. If a fight truly broke out, even the two of us together would not be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth. Being able to keep our lives was already an immense stroke of luck."
Though Zhen Yuanzi still felt indignant after hearing this, he knew Hong Yun was speaking the truth and could only shake his head helplessly.
Sun Star, Sun God Palace.
Di Jun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi sat facing each other, both wearing grim expressions.
"Big Brother, where exactly did those twelve come from? They did not even put the Three Pure Ones in their eyes!" Taiyi held the Chaos Bell, his eyes full of resentment.
"No matter where they came from, we will settle this debt sooner or later!"
Ambition gleamed in Di Jun's eyes. "Taiyi, we must increase our strength as quickly as possible. Continue gathering fellow Daoists who share our aspirations and build a supreme hegemony. When that day comes, even those twelve barbarians will have to submit beneath our feet!"
"Good! Let's enter seclusion at once!" Taiyi nodded heavily.
Phoenix Perch Mountain.
Nuwa sat inside her cave abode, her delicate brows slightly furrowed as an inexplicable sense of emptiness lingered in her heart.
"Little Sister, what is wrong?" Fuxi asked with concern when he saw this.
"Brother, for some reason, I keep feeling that the Gourd Vine on Mount Buzhou has an immense karmic connection with me." Nuwa sighed. "Now that the twelve of them have taken the Gourd Vine away, I cannot help feeling as though I have lost something important."
"Opportunities are decreed by Heaven. Since you missed it, the time must not have come yet." Fuxi comforted her. "Little Sister, do not overthink it. Cultivate in peace and prepare for the next sermon at Violet Firmament Palace."
Nuwa nodded, but the trace of loss in her heart remained impossible to calm for a long time.
Mount Buzhou, Pangu Hall.
After the Twelve Ancestral Witches returned to the hall, each took the gourd they had received and entered seclusion to refine it.
Though these seven gourds were embryos of Supreme-Grade Innate Spirit Treasures, the innate restrictions within them were exceedingly complex. They required vast amounts of time and effort to refine and inscribe before they could be completely transformed into magical treasures suited to their respective laws.
Dijiang held the violet-black Primal Chaos Gourd and sent his divine sense into it.
He discovered that the Primal Chaos Gourd actually contained an incomparably vast Primal Chaos space within it, one that constantly formed and perished.
"This gourd was practically made for me."
Dijiang rejoiced inwardly.
He already controlled the Space Law. For him, the Primal Chaos Gourd required hardly any modification at all. Once he refined the innate restrictions within it, it would be able to unleash terrifying power.
In merely a hundred years, Dijiang completely refined the Primal Chaos Gourd.
With a thought, the Primal Chaos Gourd transformed into a streak of violet-black light and entered his glabella, where it quietly nourished itself beside the Space Dao Fruit.
"By my reckoning, it is time to give another sermon."
Dijiang rose to his feet. With a flash, he appeared above the Spirit-Gathering Formation at the foot of Mount Buzhou.
"Greetings, Lord Ancestor Witch!"
Upon seeing Dijiang appear, the tens of billions of living beings below fell to their knees in unison, their voices shaking the heavens.
Dijiang nodded slightly, sat down cross-legged, and began explaining the basic mysteries of the Space Dao.
The thousand-year sermon passed in the blink of an eye.
"This sermon ends here."
Dijiang stopped speaking and was just about to rise and leave.
"Lord Ancestor Witch, please wait!"
At that moment, a somewhat youthful yet incomparably resolute voice came from a corner at the very edge of the crowd.
Following the sound, Dijiang saw that the mud monkey which had caught his attention years ago was now kneeling on the ground and looking at him with utter sincerity.
Though the mud monkey still looked like a monkey, the aura around it had undergone an earth-shaking transformation.
In merely several thousand years, it had actually cultivated to the Golden Immortal realm!
What surprised Dijiang even more was that an exceedingly faint yet incomparably pure fluctuation of the Space Law seemed to linger around the mud monkey's body!
Before you continue