Never forget why you started

A thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.

After a thousand years, Xu Tong finally crossed that threshold and successfully reached the primordial Daluo Golden Immortal realm.

He then withdrew from the Chaos Bead.

Feeling the power within his body, Xu Tong's eyes flashed with delight.

"Heaven never fails those who persevere. I've finally proven my Dao."

Only those who truly walked the path of Prove Dao by Force knew how difficult it was.

Even with the help of the force Great Dao seed and the insights into the laws provided by the world tree, Xu Tong had still spent a full thousand years.

Only after comprehending the evolution of all three thousand worlds did Xu Tong finally cross that threshold and become a primordial Daluo Golden Immortal.

In terms of the Primordial World's cultivation realms, that was the level of a Sage.

Yet Xu Tong's combat strength surpassed that of a Sage by far.

With the force Great Dao as his foundation, coupled with magical power as vast and unfathomable as an abyss, Xu Tong was unquestionably the strongest person beneath Hongjun.

Of course, he had actually been that before. He was simply stronger now.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun was already beyond the ranks of Sages.

To be precise, he was in an entirely different realm.

The realm of Dao integration was only a hair below the Great Dao itself.

Still, breaking through allowed Xu Tong to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Now that I've become a primordial Daluo Golden Immortal, Hongjun won't find it so easy to deal with me."

"Judging by the time, the Third Sermon is drawing near. After the three sermons, the Witch Clan and the Demon Tribe will soon leave the stage of history, and the Sages will emerge throughout heaven and earth."

"I wonder what expression Hongjun will have when he discovers I've already become a primordial Daluo Golden Immortal?"

Xu Tong suddenly began looking forward to it.

"Ding! The host has successfully broken through to the primordial Daluo Golden Immortal realm, with combat strength on par with a Sage. Will you leave seclusion now? Please make your choice."

"Option one: leave seclusion and display your strength. Reward: the Four Immortal-Slaying Swords."

"Option two: continue secluded cultivation and reveal your aura. Reward: the Qiankun Cauldron."

"Option three: refuse to leave seclusion. Lying low to the very end is the true path. Reward: twelve Divine Refining Pills."

Xu Tong froze for a moment. He had barely emerged from seclusion, and a task had already appeared.

This time, he did not make his choice immediately.

"Now that I've reached the primordial Daluo Golden Immortal realm, I can at least protect myself. Should I keep cultivating in seclusion or go out?"

Xu Tong hesitated.

But that hesitation quickly vanished.

"Fuck that! I can't forget why I started just because I've achieved a little success!"

"So what if I'm a primordial Daluo Golden Immortal? It's not as though I'm invincible in the Primordial World!"

"That scheming old bastard Hongjun is in the Dao integration realm now, a whole major realm above a primordial Daluo Golden Immortal. Even though I proved my Dao by force, I'm still no match for him."

"Besides, he has the Jade Disc of Creation, a chaos supreme treasure. If I go out, I'll die without even a place to be buried."

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll keep cultivating!"

"System, I choose option three!"

As soon as Xu Tong spoke, the system responded.

"Ding! The host has made his choice. Reward: twelve Divine Refining Pills!"

A jade bottle containing pills appeared before Xu Tong.

Looking at the twelve pills, Xu Tong took a sniff. His primordial spirit immediately stirred, as though it were about to be born anew.

Xu Tong's eyes lit up.

"Since when was the system so generous? It actually gave me something this good!"

Xu Tong had never heard of Divine Refining Pills before and had no idea what they actually did.

But judging by the system's usual habits, these Divine Refining Pills were probably worth far less than the Qiankun Cauldron or the Four Immortal-Slaying Swords.

After all, one of those two was a supreme treasure of slaughter that could only be overcome by four Sages working together.

The other was a treasure that could turn acquired things into innate ones. Whoever possessed the Qiankun Cauldron could produce an endless stream of Innate Spiritual Treasures.

Xu Tong coveted both treasures, but coveting them did him no good.

No matter how wonderful a treasure was, he had to stay alive to claim it.

He had assumed the Divine Refining Pills were merely a token reward to fob him off. Yet after that sniff, Xu Tong discovered they could nourish a person's primordial spirit, and might even allow one to form.

If these appeared in the Primordial World, countless people would fight over them. Xu Tong, however, had no such intention.

Looking at the Divine Refining Pills in his hand, Xu Tong put them away.

"Unfortunately, I was born from Pangu's primordial spirit, so my own primordial spirit is already powerful. These are no use to me. Oh well, they're still good things. I'll keep them for now. They might come in handy someday."

"I need to keep cultivating and strive to take another step forward as soon as possible."

After becoming a primordial Daluo Golden Immortal, Xu Tong sensed that there was still a higher realm for him to pursue.

That was the limitless primordial Daluo Golden Immortal realm.

Its corresponding realm should be Dao integration.

As for anything higher, Xu Tong had yet to learn about it.

His Dao had not reached that level yet.

Perhaps when he got there, he would truly have no reason to fear Hongjun.

"For the sake of a good life in the future, I have to keep lying low!"

Xu Tong gave himself a word of encouragement, then resumed cultivating in seclusion.

Not long after Xu Tong entered seclusion, however, a major event shook the Primordial World.

The Witch Clan and the Demon Tribe went to all-out war.

The war swept across the entire Primordial World.

In the end, neither side had found Hong Yun's primordial violet qi or Xu Tong's strand of primordial violet qi.

During that time, Di Jun had even set his sights on Nuwa, but she was no easy target.

Not only was her elder brother Fuxi a Quasi-Sage, but Nuwa herself was also a Sage's disciple. She was nothing like the obscure Hong Yun.

Left with no other choice, Di Jun could only abandon that idea for the time being.

Once the two sides began their all-out war, however, Di Jun discovered something he could hardly believe.

In a head-on confrontation, the Demon Tribe's forces could not withstand the Witch Clan. It could even be called a one-sided rout.

The members of the Witch Clan had such formidable bodies that they were outright immune to many attacks.

As soon as battle began, the Demon Tribe collapsed along the entire front.

Within just a few years, the Demon Tribe was driven into a desperate corner.

When the Twelve Ancestral Witches learned of this, they were smug with satisfaction.

Inside Pangu Hall, the Twelve Ancestral Witches gathered, delight written on every face.

"Hahaha! Those demons are scared out of their wits whenever they face our Witch Clan now. Eldest Brother, I say we should wipe out the Demon Tribe in one stroke. Then our Witch Clan will reign supreme over heaven and earth. With that title, won't the fortune of heaven and earth be ours for the taking? What could even a Sage do to us?"

Gonggong spoke with soaring confidence.

Dijiang said nothing throughout, but in truth, he was deeply tempted.

The Witch Clan did not cultivate primordial spirits and could not become Sages, leaving them with no path forward. But if they became the overlords of heaven and earth and were blessed with vast fortune, the might of their clan would likewise allow them to stand alongside Sages.

At that point, even the Dao Ancestor would be powerless against them.

And all of this seemed to be within easy reach.

At last, Dijiang made up his mind.

"Pass down my command: wage all-out war! Exterminate the Demon Tribe!"

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