Ten years.
In the eyes of the cultivators of the Primordial World, it was not even the blink of an eye.
Mu Chen diligently cultivated in seclusion within his sea of clouds.
The Primordial World, however, was bustling with activity.
At that moment.
At the foot of Mount Sumeru in the west.
The great cultivators of the Primordial World had gathered, a sea of blood surged skyward, and their imposing presence was staggering.
Hongjun brought forth the Jade Disc of Creation.
Luohu brought forth the God-Slaying Spear and the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.
Eighty million demon warriors fought the living beings of the Primordial World.
The battle shattered heaven and earth, its brutality far surpassing that of the war between the dragons and phoenixes.
As time passed, the demons led by Luohu fell into a disadvantage.
At the critical moment, Luohu thrust the God-Slaying Spear at Hongjun's true body, regardless of the cost.
But Hongjun dodged it.
Then, working with the other three Sages, Hongjun seized an opening to capture the Four Swords of Immortal Slaying, breaking the all-conquering Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.
In the end, Luohu could resist no longer and died beneath Hongjun's Jade Disc of Creation as it unleashed its full power.
Before Luohu died.
His face filled with unwillingness, he threw back his head and roared at the sky.
"I, Luohu, swear once more: demons and the Dao shall never coexist."
"Henceforth, throughout heaven and earth, as demons wax, the Dao shall wane; as demons wane, the Dao shall wax!"
At this, heaven and earth responded, and the Demonic Dao formally ascended to become one of the Great Daos of the Primordial World.
And Hongjun, having risked his life to slay Luohu, received the favor of the Heavenly Dao, thereby gaining the opportunity to become the Primordial World's first Heavenly Dao Sage!
All in all.
Luohu had wantonly slaughtered the living beings of the Primordial World, seeking to attain the Great Dao of a Sage through killing, and the dragon, phoenix, and qilin races had withered away completely.
Luohu's actions had even incurred the Heavenly Dao's displeasure, bringing about a collective counterattack by the living beings of the Primordial World, led by Hongjun.
This was how the First Dragon-Han Tribulation came about.
Mu Chen opened his eyes after cultivating in seclusion.
Sensing the change in the presence of the Primordial World's Heavenly Dao, he felt reassured.
The great battle should be over.
Even here, he could vaguely hear Luohu's unwilling roars before his death.
Mu Chen could understand that very well.
But there was no helping it.
Who could change the fact that Hongjun was the Heavenly Dao's protagonist at this time?
Even with the God-Slaying Spear and the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, you would still lose in the end.
At this thought, Mu Chen.
Understood one principle all the more clearly.
Don't court death!
Even Luohu had ended up in such a miserable state after opposing the protagonist, let alone a mere Mystic Immortal like him.
"Back to seclusion, back to seclusion!"
"Only eighty thousand years until I can get Pangu's Essence Blood."
"Lying low and developing is the way to go."
Mu Chen silently recited these words and closed his eyes again.
Tens of thousands of years quietly passed in the Primordial World.
With the end of the First Dragon-Han Tribulation.
Peace returned to heaven and earth.
The living beings of the Primordial World also multiplied and flourished at a terrifying rate, while countless extraordinary innate gods and fiends awakened.
Among them were the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches had been formed from twelve drops of Pangu's Essence Blood.
They were born with powerful bodies and exceptionally strong innate divine abilities.
For a time, the name of the Twelve Ancestral Witches awed the Primordial World, unrivaled in its renown.
Close on their heels was the Demon Race.
Led by Eastern Emperor Taiyi and Di Jun.
Mu Chen secretly stole a few glances.
He discovered that, owing to their immense numbers, the Demon Race at this time multiplied and expanded faster than the Witch Race in the Primordial World, and thus was actually stronger.
One mountain could not hold two tigers.
Inevitably, friction and the desire to fight slowly began to arise between the two great races.
The first signs of the Great Witch-Demon Catastrophe were already faintly visible.
Amid all this, only the place beneath a certain sea of clouds in the far southern sky remained as quiet as ever.
Mu Chen was cultivating in seclusion.
As time passed.
A voice rang out.
"Congratulations, host, on fishing for one hundred thousand years. You have obtained one drop of Pangu's Essence Blood, which can be fused after you choose a racial body!"
As the voice faded.
A drop of essence blood containing terrifying pressure appeared in Mu Chen's palm.
At the sight, Mu Chen opened his eyes, excitement and joy showing in his gaze.
One hundred thousand years!
It had finally come!
With this, his physical body could probably rival those of the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
What he needed to do next was quietly wait for Nuwa to create the human race, then choose a human identity.
Just as he was thinking this.
Radiant clouds suddenly appeared throughout heaven and earth, and the four seas shook ceaselessly.
Countless living beings fell to their knees and prostrated themselves, trembling.
Sensing this disturbance, Mu Chen murmured quietly.
"He's finally become a Sage...?"
An ancient, majestic voice rang out between heaven and earth.
"I am Hongjun. I have now attained the Dao and become a Sage of heaven and earth, and I wish to impart the Dao to all living beings."
"All those with a destined affinity may ascend to the Violet Firmament Palace beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens and hear me impart the Dao in three thousand years!"