Journeying the Primordial World: The First War Between Wu and Yao

"Disciple Ming Xin pays respects to both masters." Ming Xin bowed with reverence.

Amitabha and Zhunti Buddha Mother's gazes fell upon Ming Xin, both slightly moved.

They could sense that Ming Xin at this moment was even more unfathomable than when he established his vein—a state of perfectly containing boundless power within, like a chaotic volcano poised to erupt at any moment.

"Beloved disciple, have you emerged from seclusion with your cultivation complete?" Zhunti Buddha Mother asked with concern.

Ming Xin shook his head and spoke directly: "To answer Master, the Great Dao is infinite; talk of completion is meaningless. I have merely made some progress, barely sufficient for now. Your disciple sensed the heavenly mechanism—the war between Witch and Demon is about to begin. This is the grand trend of the Primordial World, and also an opportunity. Your disciple wishes to go observe, perhaps to seize a thread of advantage for our Western lands."

Daoist Jieyin, upon hearing this, pondered for a moment before saying: "The Witch and Demon factions are mighty, Sha Qi surges to the heavens. Within a Tribulation, danger is extraordinary. Though your Dao Cultivation has greatly advanced, you must still act cautiously and prioritize preserving yourself."

"Masters, rest assured. Your disciple knows his limits." Ming Xin nodded. "Though the Tribulation is perilous, it is also a path of tempering. Your disciple's three veins—Slaying Karma, Mortal World, and Cause and Effect—precisely need such a slaughter calamity to be verified and grow."

The Two Sages of the West knew his mind was set, and with Ming Xin's current strength beyond their easy sway, they ceased their dissuasion.

Zhunti Buddha Mother said: "Since that is so, disciple, go. If you need aid, communicate through intent, and your master and I will arrive in an instant."

"Thank you, both masters!" Ming Xin bowed again. "Your disciple takes his leave now."

With that, he turned and stepped out of the great hall. His form transformed into a streak of light—formless yet carrying the Dao rhymes of Judgment, Mortal World, and Cause and Effect—tearing through the void. He sped straight toward Buzhou Mountain, where the forces of Witch and Demon converged and Sha Qi was thickest!

The prelude to the first Witch-Demon War of the Primordial World was about to unfold. And Ming Xin, this special existence walking the Half-step Primordial Unity path, having accumulated boundless power, would officially step into this surging torrent. Amid the slaughter calamity, he would practice his own Dao and seek that thread of Transcendence!

After bidding farewell to the Two Sages of the West, Ming Xin did not head directly to the impending Witch-Demon battlefield. Instead, following his own heart, like a true ascetic and observer, he measured the increasingly restless Primordial World step by step.

He restrained his awe-inspiring Half-step Primordial Unity aura, appearing as an ordinary wandering cultivator. His blue robe was plain, his steps unhurried, his gaze calm as it swept over mountains, rivers, tribes, and cities.

Along the way, whenever he encountered heretical paths wreaking havoc—refining demonic arts with living souls, occupying mountains as kings, bullying the weak—Ming Xin never hesitated to act. Often, he would merely point a finger or fix his gaze.

There was no earth-shattering commotion, only a sword intent of Slaughter imbued with Judgment, or a wisp of Mortal World reincarnation qi that stirred their own karma. Those who committed great evils would, in an instant, have their forms and spirits annihilated, or fall into endless illusions spun from their own sins until their souls scattered.

"Killing to protect life, slaying karma, not slaying people," he murmured, his heart without ripple, only a maintenance of order and justice.

Passing by some blessed spiritual lands, sensing gatherings of beings seeking the Dao, he would occasionally pause. At a mountain peak or a riverbank, he would sit casually and begin to preach. What he taught was not the profound Dao of Sages, but basic principles of goodness, methods of cultivation, and caution regarding Cause and Effect, drawn from his own insights into the Mortal World and karma.

When he preached, there were no golden lotuses springing from the earth, but a spring breeze and gentle rain, moistening all silently. Listeners often felt something stir in their hearts, their minds clearing, gaining more understanding of their path, and their good thoughts growing. After speaking, he would drift away, leaving no name, only some Dao rhymes and opportunities for those fated to find them.

In this cycle of walking, observing, acting, and preaching, Ming Xin witnessed countless beings' joys and sorrows, the interweaving of good and evil. He saw ultimate evil and witnessed pure good; he saw the inescapability of karmic retribution and the mockery of fate's caprice.

One day, he came to the bank of a great river. He saw a weak water creature, to save land beings trapped by a mountain flood, exhaust its own origin, nearly perishing in form and spirit. On the other side, a powerful cultivator, to refine a furnace of elixirs, wantonly slaughtered a mountain's worth of life, taking their essence, blood, and souls.

Good and evil, life and death, played out so clearly and yet so entangled on this Primordial World. Ming Xin stood long, gazing at the ceaselessly flowing river, as if seeing the tides of good and evil, the cycle of life and death.

Suddenly, inspiration struck. The system in his sea of consciousness blazed with light, and the Dao rhymes of his Past Self and Future Self resonated. He understood.

Good and evil were not absolute opposites but interdependent, forming the two extremes of beings' nature and actions. Acting on good brought blessings and fortune; indulging in evil invited karmic backlash. Life and death were the two outcomes ultimately directed by these actions, part of heaven and earth's cycle.

"The extreme of good can benefit all beings, bringing forth life force; the extreme of evil can poison all things, bringing deathly stillness. Yet, when things reach their extreme, they reverse—within supreme good may hide falsehood, within ultimate evil may dwell truth... Life and death turn, good and evil give birth to each other..."

A new Law comprehension surged into his heart—not any of the Great Daos he had focused on before, but something more fundamental, concerning beings' nature and state of existence—the Law of Good and Evil!

Relying on his deep foundation and the system's aid, his understanding of this newborn Law soared. In a short time, he mastered three layers! Though only a glimpse of the door, he could already initially invoke the Power of Good and Evil, influencing beings' nature and fortune. Moreover, based on this, combined with his understanding of life and death, reincarnation, and judgment, he naturally comprehended a divine ability—

The Seal of Good and Evil Life and Death!

With one seal, he could invoke the target's own good and evil karma. The good would be blessed with life force and fortune; the evil would trigger death calamity and karmic fire! It was a profound divine ability that struck at the origin, judging life and death!

Ming Xin slowly raised his hand. In his palm, two streams of qi—one black, one white—slowly revolved, flickering between birth and extinction, containing the heart-stopping Power of Good and Evil Birth and Death.

He nodded slightly, integrating this newly acquired divine ability and law into his own system, then continued onward.

None knew how much longer passed, but the Sha Qi in the surrounding heavens and earth grew thicker, and the air began to carry a rusty, iron-like scent of blood. Faint sounds of battle cries and the thunderous clash of divine abilities drifted from the distant horizon.

Ming Xin knew—the place he had been waiting for had arrived.

He quickened his pace, covering a thousand li in a single step, and soon arrived at a vast, boundless plain. Or rather, this had once been a plain, but now it had transformed into a Flesh Mill!

Gazing into the distance, at the edge of the sky, two endless "torrents" were colliding with earth-shattering force!

On one side, demonic aura soared to the heavens, banners fluttered in the wind, and countless cultivators of the Demon Race rode demonic winds, driving their artifacts, forming a strict battle formation.

The power of the Myriad Stars Array faintly empowered them, led by none other than Di Jun, Tai Yi, and numerous Demon Saints—their momentum domineering beyond compare!

On the other side, Sha Qi filled the wilds, blood and Qi surged like dragons, and countless warriors of the Witch Clan manifested the true forms of the Ancestral Witches or the dharma bodies of the Great Witches. They cultivated no Primordial Spirit, relying solely on their incomparably fierce physical bodies and innate divine abilities.

Like moving mountains, they roared as they charged, led by the Twelve Ancestral Witches themselves—their battle intent tearing the sky asunder!

The moment these two torrents collided, heaven and earth lost their color, the sun and moon dimmed!

Light from divine abilities burst like fireworks, ceaselessly exploding, tearing the earth apart and evaporating rivers!

Severed limbs and broken arms rained down like a storm; blood gathered into streams, only to be instantly vaporized by terrifying energy!

Roars, screams, the clash of weapons, the crunch of shattering bones... all wove together into a merciless Symphony of Death!

Hundreds of millions of living beings slaughtered each other here. Every moment, countless lives faded away. Sha Qi, resentment, and death energy surged skyward, staining the heavens a dark red!

Ming Xin stood atop a solitary peak at the edge of the battlefield. His green robe rustled loudly in the raging storm of energy.

He calmly watched this war—the grandest and most brutal since the opening of the Primordial World—his gaze deep and profound.

Here was calamity, but also his opportunity. His sword of Slaying Karma, his path of the Mortal World, his web of Cause and Effect, and even the newly comprehended good, evil, life, and death...

All of these needed to be finally verified and elevated amidst this endless Slaughter and destruction.

He had arrived.