The Demon Tribe's Heavenly Court.
The moment Di Jun sensed that Hong Yun had fallen, he sent his men to investigate the whereabouts of the primordial violet qi.
His subordinates soon reported their findings.
Hong Yun's primordial violet qi was still nowhere to be found.
"Your Majesty, there is something decidedly suspicious about Hong Yun's death."
Bai Ze spoke from below the dais.
Di Jun said nothing.
Even without Bai Ze's reminder, he had already guessed as much.
Hong Yun's death had been far too inexplicable.
There was no way no one had secretly plotted against him.
But if someone had, who was it?
Unable to locate the primordial violet qi, Di Jun simply changed his approach.
"Pass down my decree. Investigate the cause of Hong Yun's death. If you discover who killed him, bring that person before me. I will question him myself!"
"Yes! We obey your decree!"
The Demon Gods and Demon Saints in the hall answered in unison.
Kunpeng, who was also present as the Demon Tribe's Demon Master, felt his heart jolt.
He silently went over whether he had left any telltale traces.
Only after assuring himself that no one besides Zhunti, Jieyin, and Zhen Yuanzi should know did Kunpeng breathe a slight sigh of relief.
Zhen Yuanzi had already entered seclusion and no longer appeared in public.
Zhunti and Jieyin shared his interests, so naturally, they would never reveal what had happened.
That meant he should be safe.
He certainly did not want Di Jun to uncover his involvement. If that happened, he feared he would die without even a place to bury his bones.
After all, wanting to obtain the primordial violet qi could be taken as proof that Kunpeng harbored disloyal ambitions.
The Demon Tribe would never allow a second emperor to exist.
Meanwhile, nothing that happened across the Primordial World escaped Hongjun's eyes.
Upon learning of Hong Yun's death, Hongjun merely raised his eyelids slightly. He did not utter so much as a word.
Hong Yun's death was of no consequence.
Still, the incident did remind him of something.
"The time is nearly upon us. By my reckoning, the conflict between the Witch Clan and the Demon Tribe should be advancing another step."
Having said that, Hongjun fell silent.
Across the Primordial World, Hong Yun's death alarmed everyone.
Two strands of primordial violet qi had suddenly become available between heaven and earth, yet both were nowhere to be found. The temptation was immense.
The conflict between the Witch Clan and the Demon Tribe grew ever fiercer.
At first, the two sides had engaged only in minor skirmishes. Now those clashes had escalated into large-scale battles.
Their losses were devastating.
At times, the two tribes even forgot all about the primordial violet qi.
Their war became solely about wiping out the other side.
The Primordial World was ravaged, scarred as far as the eye could see.
On Kunlun Mountain, Xu Tong held the Chaos Bead inside his Dao Field. "I've finally finished refining the first layer of restrictions."
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Xu Tong murmured to himself.
"As expected of a chaos supreme treasure."
"Just one layer of restrictions forced me to use every ounce of my power. Even after becoming a primordial Daluo golden immortal, I probably still won't be able to fully master the Chaos Bead."
"Fortunately, this single layer is enough for the Chaos Bead to recognize me as its master."
"With the Chaos Bead, I can begin working toward my breakthrough to primordial Daluo golden immortal."
"The Chaos Bead has always been said to contain a world of chaos. I never had the chance to see it before, but now I can finally take a look."
Suppressing his excitement, Xu Tong stilled his mind and immersed his consciousness fully in the Chaos Bead.
In an instant, his divine sense entered the Chaos Bead.
When he opened his eyes again, a realm of chaos lay before him. Yet that was far from the only thing that astonished him.
The very moment he entered the Chaos Bead, Xu Tong discovered a towering tree standing within its world.
"This... this is the World Tree!"
Xu Tong froze where he stood. It took him a long while to recover.
Previously, he had tossed the World Tree Sprout awarded by the system into the Chaos Bead.
He had not expected much to come of it. After all, it was only a sprout from the World Tree. What could it possibly do?
Yet he had never imagined that the sprout would grow into a World Tree.
Though it was still only a seedling, this was already an immense stroke of fortune.
Gleaming golden bubbles hung from its branches like fruit.
Xu Tong peered closely at those bubbles and discovered that each was a world whose evolution was not yet complete.
There were exactly three thousand bubbles.
They corresponded perfectly to the three thousand great worlds.
"How strange. There shouldn't be any laws within the Chaos Bead. How did the World Tree Sprout grow?"
Suddenly, something occurred to Xu Tong, and he slapped his forehead.
After probing his surroundings once more, Xu Tong burst out laughing.
"Haha! So that's it! I truly never expected this. Ah, what a fool I've been."
When he first entered the Chaos Bead's world, Xu Tong had been stunned by the World Tree. Now that he had recovered and investigated again, he discovered that, at some unknown point, the embryonic forms of the three thousand Great Dao laws had already emerged within this world.
What had given rise to those laws was none other than the seed of the law of strength.
As the foremost of the three thousand Great Daos, the law of strength naturally possessed its own marvelous properties. It was not merely a matter of overwhelming power.
What truly placed it above the rest was its ability to evolve into any of the laws of the three thousand Great Daos.
The World Tree Sprout, the seed of the Force Great Dao, and the Chaos Bead-a world of chaos that had never been opened up-had together fulfilled precisely the conditions needed for a world to form.
In other words, Xu Tong now possessed a complete world of chaos.
Though this world was still very weak, given enough time, it would inevitably grow into a world as powerful as the Primordial World outside.
No, it would be even stronger than the Primordial World, because he still had the World Tree as his trump card.
Three thousand great worlds meant that Xu Tong would eventually be able to observe the evolution of heaven and earth three thousand times. The benefits to a cultivator were self-evident.
The more Xu Tong thought about it, the more excited he became.
"Haha, wonderful! This is simply wonderful! If I hadn't remained in seclusion all this time, I would never have come by such an opportunity!"
His delight only strengthened his earlier resolve.
Remaining in seclusion and keeping out of the Primordial World's wretched affairs had been absolutely the right decision.
Now that the path he followed held an even brighter future, Xu Tong felt an unprecedented sense of exhilaration.
He was no longer uncertain about his breakthrough to primordial Daluo golden immortal.
He sat cross-legged, like a giant at the first opening of heaven and earth. The Dao resonance surrounding him merged with the three thousand laws within the Chaos Bead, and he began to ceaselessly deduce their mysteries.
The World Tree seemed to be affected as well, swaying as though it had emotions of its own.
The laws, the World Tree, and Xu Tong-the three existed in perfect harmony.
Within that harmony, Xu Tong's cultivation began to rise steadily. Before long, he surpassed the peak of quasi-sage and advanced toward a new realm.
The outside world knew nothing of any of this.
Throughout the Primordial World, the beings of the Witch Clan and the Demon Tribe continued their relentless fighting.
Meanwhile, all those who possessed primordial violet qi desperately sought to comprehend where their own opportunities lay.
Most of their cultivation remained stalled at the early quasi-sage stage.
In the blink of an eye, the thousand-year mark was almost upon them.
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