As everyone knew, the Witch Clan could not attain Sagehood.
Because the Twelve Ancestral Wu had been born from Pangu's blood essence, their Great Dao had already been fixed. They primarily cultivated the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art and had no primordial spirits.
Thus, they could not sever the Three Corpses or anchor their Dao Fruits.
The Three Pure Ones, meanwhile, had been born from Pangu's primordial spirit, naturally possessing a primordial spirit foundation for the Dao.
Although Primordial Purple Qi was needed to attain the Dao and become a Heavenly Dao Sage, even if the Witch Clan obtained Primordial Purple Qi, various constraints clearly prevented them from becoming Heavenly Dao Sages.
Moreover, the Heavenly Dao originally had no consciousness; it was Hongjun influencing it from the sidelines.
He had created six administrators who acted on Heaven's behalf.
In other words, six Sages.
As for the seventh strand of Primordial Purple Qi he had tossed out, it was nothing more than fishing bait.
He wanted to stir things up.
Whether it was the Dragon-Han Great Calamity or the conflict between the Witch and Demon Clans, weren't they all, in essence, about stirring things up?
One could say that whoever Hongjun wanted to become a Sage could become a Sage.
And the Three Pure Ones, Zhunti, Jieyin, and Nüwa.
Were merely those he had selected.
The most suitable candidates for Sagehood!
The Witch Clan?
The Witch Clan still had to fight the Demon Clan to the death. How could he possibly let a Sage emerge from the Witch Clan?
What if a Sage really did emerge? The formation jointly deployed by the Twelve Ancestral Wu could already summon Pangu's phantom.
If a Witch Clan Sage really emerged and then summoned Pangu's actual consciousness, what would he do?
Hongjun: Do you think I'd still survive?
Hongjun and Pangu had indeed been good friends, but the problem now was that all three thousand fiendgods had fallen.
Only Hongjun remained, and he had been constantly stirring things up in the Primordial World, wanting to seize Pangu's Dao Fruit, transcend the Primordial World, and become an existence surpassing Pangu.
If Pangu truly came back to life, his first axe stroke would cut Hongjun down without hesitation.
If Pangu, the strongest under heaven, had died, taking the second strongest with him would be perfectly normal, right?
Thus, the moment Houtu attained Sagehood, Hongjun wanted to intervene and stop her.
"How could the Witch Clan possibly attain Sagehood?"
But when he saw that Houtu's method of attaining Sagehood was to transform her body into reincarnation.
He immediately abandoned the idea of stopping her.
"The six Sages have yet to attain Sagehood, and the Twelve Ancestral Wu's Twelve Heavenly Gods and Fiends Great Formation is truly impossible to counter. If Houtu attains Sagehood and is trapped within reincarnation, the Twelve Heavenly Gods and Fiends Great Formation will collapse without an attack."
"It seems the conflict between the Witch and Demon Clans can end as well."
Hongjun quickly thought it through. After all, Houtu was not taking the path of a Heavenly Dao Sage, but transforming her body into reincarnation. Although she possessed a Sage's strength, she would not be as free as a Heavenly Dao Sage.
She would be trapped within reincarnation, unable to leave.
And without Houtu, they naturally could not deploy the complete Twelve Heavenly Gods and Fiends Great Formation, leaving them powerless to oppose the Demon Clan.
This suited his interests.
Moreover, Houtu had indeed received vast, sky-filling merit that was in no way inferior to Nüwa's.
There was no need for him to take the risk of stopping her.
But soon, Hongjun, who had merged with the Dao of the Primordial World, noticed something wrong.
"Houtu has already attained Sagehood. Why is she still deploying the Twelve Heavenly Gods and Fiends Great Formation?"
Hongjun frowned in puzzlement.
"Primordial Purple Qi? Wasn't that strand of Purple Qi snatched away by Kunpeng?"
"Why has it appeared on Houtu?"
Soon, Hongjun's expression changed drastically.
Having merged with the Dao of the Primordial World, he could be considered half the Heavenly Dao. After all, he had not yet fully succeeded.
But influencing the Heavenly Dao was naturally a simple matter for him.
Those six Sage positions were his handiwork.
Yet where there had originally been six Sage positions.
A seventh person had suddenly forced her way in.
Neither Hongjun nor the Heavenly Dao wanted this.
Six Sages maintained the balance.
The appearance of a seventh would break it.
"Attaining the Dao as an Earthly Dao Saint is acceptable, but trying to become a Heavenly Dao Sage? Utter wishful thinking."
Hongjun shook his head. "Houtu has no primordial spirit, yet she wants to attain Sagehood? Utter wishful thinking."
The next moment, the remnant image of Pangu summoned by the Twelve Heavenly Gods and Fiends Great Formation carried the Primordial Purple Qi before the Heavenly Dao.
It wanted to claim a position.
Heavenly Dao: ...
Hongjun: ...
What the hell did you send up here?
At that moment, intermingled with Primordial Purple Qi, Pangu's remnant image held a massive axe and unleashed the Great Dao of Strength.
Both the Heavenly Dao and Hongjun were scared pissless.
The former had seen its father; the latter had sensed a threat.
The Twelve Heavenly Gods and Fiends Great Formation formed by the Twelve Ancestral Wu could threaten Sages, but it could not threaten him.
The problem, however, was that this was Pangu.
Hongjun understood that Pangu was thoroughly dead.
But at his level, just thinking about himself, he had left behind countless contingencies.
Now look at Pangu. His realm was even higher than Hongjun's, and the entire Primordial World had been created by him.
What if he disturbed one of Pangu's contingencies and it took him down?
This was also why Hongjun, despite clearly being the foremost existence in the entire Primordial World and almost able to do whatever he wanted.
Had never acted directly, instead resorting to schemes.
Karma only needed to be discussed with the weak.
As far as Hongjun was concerned, he feared only Pangu.
The great war between the Witch and Demon Clans, the battle between Gonggong and Zhurong, Houtu becoming an Earthly Dao Saint and being trapped in the Underworld, and the Three Pure Ones Sages splitting apart.
Every one of these was his attempt to put a complete end to any prospect of Pangu's revival.
He acknowledged Pangu's greatness, but it was precisely because of that greatness.
That he was afraid-afraid that Pangu would be great enough to wipe out all the fiendgods and everything capable of threatening the Primordial World, himself included.
Naturally, that included him as well.
Thus, at this moment, the sight of Pangu's remnant image truly gave him a terrible fright.
"Hong~jun~"
An incomparably majestic voice even rang out from within this phantom of Pangu!
Boom!
Without the slightest hesitation, Hongjun directly abandoned tens of thousands of years of planning, gave up merging with the Dao, fled far from the Primordial World, and concealed himself within chaos.
To repeat, he was not afraid.
He was merely worried that, if Pangu had awakened even a tiny sliver of consciousness and saw him, what if he took him down?
He could not gamble on that.
And upon seeing its father, the Heavenly Dao did not hesitate either. It acknowledged Pangu's position, which was to say, Houtu's attainment of Heavenly Dao Sagehood.
Of course, not cultivating a primordial spirit was a serious flaw. Fortunately, Houtu did not need one. With the Underworld, her combat strength naturally stood at the level of a Sage.
After all, "Sage" was merely a name.
One could attain Sagehood by Severing the Three Corpses.
Those who cultivated the Dao to Hunyuan Daluo also possessed a Sage's strength.
There were many ways to reach the pinnacle of combat strength. Severing the Three Corpses was merely a system Hongjun himself had created.
"Congratulations, Sage Houtu!"
The Twelve Ancestral Wu discovered that Houtu had changed completely. Although she had attained Sagehood just now, they had not actually sensed much of a change in her strength.
After all, an Earthly Dao Saint only possessed strength comparable to a Sage's while within the Underworld.
But now, even outside the Underworld, she could control it remotely, commanding it to unleash a Sage's might.
Houtu nodded slightly, her expression appearing perfectly composed.
Yet inwardly, she still could not suppress her excitement.
Calm down, calm down, Houtu. You're a Sage now, not an ordinary Ancestral Witch anymore.
Sages severed the Three Corpses, cutting away their emotions to conform to the Heavenly Dao.
But she had not. Even after attaining Sagehood, she was still Houtu.
She looked at those former "elder brothers" of hers. At this moment, every one of them stood obediently at attention, their attitude toward her filled with reverence.
The moment I became a Sage, all their attitudes changed.
Houtu felt somewhat wistful, but she had not forgotten the second matter.
"Today, I attained the Dao of reincarnation, named the Netherworld Underworld. Its Lord of Reincarnation shall be Xu You!"
Twelve Ancestral Wu: ?
Nüwa: ?
Three Pure Ones: ?
Zhunti, Jieyin: ?