Tai Yi shook the ancient bell gently. A deep "boom" echoed through the firmament, stirring up the surrounding chaotic qi. Many low-grade spiritual treasures on the cliff wall were slightly shifted by the sound waves.
He weighed the ancient bell in his hand with satisfaction, turning to Di Jun. "Elder brother, with this treasure's help, we will have a greater chance of unifying the demon clans of the Eastern Wasteland and training our armies in the future."
Di Jun nodded. The River Diagram and Luo Shu rotated slowly in his palm, and the star runes intertwined with Tai Yi's Sun True Fire, forming a brilliant light domain. "Once we return to the Sun Star, we will use the power of the celestial stars to organize the demon clans of the Eastern Wasteland. First, we will integrate major clans like the Golden Crow, Heavenly Wolf, and Fox Clan, then seek an audience with Fellow Daoist Nüwa to discuss protecting all beings in the Primordial World."
The two exchanged a glance. The starry Dao rhythm around Di Jun and the Sun True Fire around Tai Yi complemented each other, fully displaying the momentum of demon clan overlords. The surrounding cultivators did not dare to meet their eyes.
Nüwa stood at the front of the crowd, watching Di Jun and Tai Yi's figures, a thoughtful look flashing in her eyes. She had already taken the Map of Mountains and Rivers from the cliff wall. When unfolded, the map revealed a miniature of the Primordial World's mountains, rivers, plants, and creatures—all vivid and lifelike. Every pattern on the map contained the power of creation.
She stroked the Eastern Sea basin on the map, her fingertips gliding gently.
Fuxi stood beside Nüwa, holding an Eight Trigrams Mirror. As the mirror's light flickered, countless runes flowed across its surface. He was deducing the karma that would follow Di Jun and Tai Yi's treasure seizure. Fuxi frowned slightly but said nothing, only putting away the Eight Trigrams Mirror gently and standing beside Nüwa, a hint of imperceptible worry hidden in his eyes.
Jieyin and Zhunti also took action. Jieyin, wearing a tattered earth-yellow Taoist robe, rotated his prayer beads slowly. He chanted obscure scriptures under his breath, and each bead on the rosary glowed with golden light, transforming into twelve golden threads that wrapped around a Twelve-Rank Lotus Throne.
The lotus throne was pulled gently by the golden threads, floating toward Jieyin. When it landed in his hands, the Buddha light on the petals suddenly surged, instantly purifying the chaotic turbid energy around him. Even the holes in his Taoist robe seemed to be nourished by the Buddha light, glowing with a faint spiritual aura.
Zhunti held his bodhi branch, his gaze fixed on a small bodhi sapling in the corner of the cliff wall.
The sapling was only a chi tall, with slender branches, yet it exuded pure Western Dao rhythm. Its leaves glowed with a faint emerald green spiritual light. This was a seedling of the Innate Bodhi Tree. If planted in the Western spiritual veins, it would grow into the Bodhi Sacred Tree that supported Western Buddhism in the future, providing additional Dao rhythm blessings when converting all beings.
He carefully pulled the sapling from the cliff wall, wrapping it in his own wood-element spiritual energy to avoid damaging it in the slightest. "Senior brother, with this lotus throne and bodhi sapling, the West will have a foundation in the future." Zhunti leaned close to Jieyin, his voice lowered but unable to conceal his excitement. "When we return, we will first establish a dojo on Lingshan Mountain, then gradually purify the demonic energy in the West."
Jieyin nodded, his prayer beads rotating faster. "But the Western spiritual veins are thin. To support the growth of the lotus throne and bodhi sapling, we need to find more innate spiritual objects. Although we gained something from this trip to Treasure Distribution Cliff, we must still proceed with caution."
Hongyun moved slowly through the crowd, his gaze sweeping over the spiritual treasures on the cliff wall. While everyone else had already started seizing the treasures they coveted, Hongyun stood motionless. He looked at Di Jun and Tai Yi, bowing with a smile. "Congratulations to both fellow Daoists on your extraordinary strength and obtaining such supreme treasures as the River Diagram and Luo Shu and the Chaos Bell."
Di Jun nodded slightly in response.
In his eyes, although Hongyun was kind, he lacked the bearing of an overlord. Even with Hongmeng Purple Qi, he would never achieve great things—superficial politeness was enough. Tai Yi only glanced at him indifferently, not even speaking. In his eyes, only those with strong strength were worthy of association. A "good old man" like Hongyun was not worth his attention at all.
Ao Xuan stood at the edge of the cliff, watching everything.
His dragon pupils narrowed slightly as he thought to himself: Di Jun and Tai Yi seizing the River Diagram and Luo Shu and the Chaos Bell was clearly paving the way for the establishment of the demon clan's Heavenly Court. The Three Pure Ones taking the Zhu Xian Sword Formation Diagram, Pangu Banner, and Tai Chi Cauldron laid the foundation for the future division of the Chan and Jie Religions. Although what Jieyin and Zhunti obtained seemed ordinary, they perfectly matched the needs of Western Buddhism.
And all of this was unfolding according to the Primordial World's trajectory he remembered. Ao Xuan let out a silent breath. Despite his actions in the Eastern Sea, the overall trend of the Primordial World remained unchanged. The curtain of the Witch-Demon Hegemony was likely to rise quietly from today.
This was good. Knowing the future direction gave him an extra layer of confidence.
He closed his eyes, circulating the water fortune and wood-element laws in his body. Two strands of spiritual light overflowed from his brows, spreading slowly along the Dao rhythm of Treasure Distribution Cliff.
Soon, two auras highly compatible with his origin entered his perception: one from the bottom of the cliff wall, warm and vast—a pure manifestation of water fortune power; the other from the left side of the cliff top, carrying the Azure Dragon Dao rhythm of the Four Symbols, full of majesty.
Ao Xuan opened his eyes, his figure transforming into a cyan-gold stream of light and shooting out.
He first flew toward the bottom of the cliff wall, where a fist-sized spiritual pearl floated. The pearl was crystal clear and pale blue, with delicate water patterns flowing across its surface—it was the Innate Spiritual Treasure, the "Water Spirit Pearl." This pearl contained pure water fortune power, several times richer than the spiritual energy of the Eastern Sea's spiritual eye.
He reached out and took the pearl. As soon as it touched his hand, a surge of vast water fortune power poured into his body, resonating strongly with the Nine-Bend River Diagram in his dantian. The patterns on the River Diagram lit up instantly, as if communicating with the Water Spirit Pearl.
Ao Xuan was overjoyed. With this pearl's help, he would be able to channel more powerful water fortune power when setting up the Azure Dragon Water-Suppressing Formation in the future, greatly enhancing the formation's power.
Next, he flew toward the left side of the cliff top, where a cyan banner hung. The banner was about a zhang wide, embroidered with the Four Symbols patterns—the afterimages of Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise arranged in order. However, among the patterns, all four afterimages were present but dim and lifeless.
This was the Innate Spiritual Treasure, the "Four Symbols Banner." The dim afterimages were due to the lack of gathered Four Symbols origins. Even so, the banner still exuded the majesty of suppressing the four directions and stabilizing fortune. If he could refine this banner, he would be able to use it as the core when condensing the Four Symbols power in the future, greatly enhancing the power of the Four Symbols Formation.
Just as Ao Xuan was about to touch the Four Symbols Banner, a wisp of black demonic energy suddenly attacked from the chaotic qi. The demonic energy condensed into a sharp claw, carrying a sinister aura that corroded the soul, aiming directly for the Four Symbols Banner in front of him.
"Cowardly wretch, dare to steal this king's treasure!"
Ao Xuan's eyes turned cold. The Azure Dragon Reverse Scale Sword in his body unsheathed automatically. The cyan-gold sword light tore through the chaos, moving so fast that it left a afterimage, colliding with the black claw with a loud crash. With a "sizzle," the demonic claw was instantly shattered by the sword light, and a massive demonized beast emerged from the chaos.
The beast resembled a jackal, covered in black scales, with scarlet light flickering in its eye sockets—it was a Demon Flame Jackal, a chaotic beast corrupted by Luo Hu's demonic flames.
Seeing its sneak attack fail, the Demon Flame Jackal spat out a stream of black demonic flames toward Ao Xuan's face.
But Ao Xuan did not dodge or evade. The Water Spirit Pearl in his hand suddenly lit up, and a pale blue water curtain formed instantly, blocking the demonic flames firmly. The flames hit the water curtain with a "sizzle" sound, but failed to break through even a fraction of it. The water fortune power of the Water Spirit Pearl inherently restrained demonic energy, and with the blessing of the merit golden light in Ao Xuan's body, the demonic flames could not approach him at all.
Immediately after, the Azure Dragon Reverse Scale Sword struck again. The cyan-gold sword light, carrying the aura of Pangu's sky-opening merit, instantly split the Demon Flame Jackal in two. As soon as the black demonic energy dispersed, it was completely purified by the water fortune power of the Water Spirit Pearl, leaving no trace behind.
The crowd watched from the side, witnessing the entire process of Ao Xuan killing the demon and seizing the treasure.
A look of satisfaction flashed in Tongtian's eyes. He spoke slowly: "Fellow Daoist Ao Xuan is resolute in killing—you suit my taste. Feel free to visit my Golden Turtle Island if you have the chance."
Upon hearing this, Ao Xuan quickly bowed in greeting. "Thank you for the invitation, Fellow Daoist Tongtian. I will definitely visit another day."
This was one of the future Three Sages. Even though he attained Sagehood through Hongmeng Purple Qi, he was still a Sage.
Di Jun and Tai Yi also glanced at Ao Xuan a few more times. Tai Yi was inherently resolute in killing, and seeing Ao Xuan's decisive actions, he felt a slight favorable impression toward him.
By this time, more than eighty to ninety percent of the treasures on Treasure Distribution Cliff had been taken. The remaining ones were mostly low-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures, seized by the rogue cultivators who arrived later. Occasional small-scale conflicts broke out, but no top powerhouses took action again.
When there were no more treasures left on Treasure Distribution Cliff, the cultivators dispersed one after another.
Di Jun and Tai Yi, carrying the River Diagram and Luo Shu and the Chaos Bell, transformed into two streams of scorching sun light and flew toward the Eastern Wasteland. They needed to return to the Sun Star as soon as possible to begin unifying the demon clan forces.
The Three Pure Ones walked side by side, with the Supreme Old Lord in the middle, occasionally whispering to Yuanshi and Tongtian. Nüwa and Fuxi flew toward the Southern Region, and the Eight Trigrams Mirror in Fuxi's hand kept flickering. It was said that Nüwa's elder brother was unparalleled in his ability to deduce the future. Jieyin and Zhunti, carrying the lotus throne and bodhi sapling, flew slowly toward the West, their figures gradually disappearing into the chaotic qi.
White Ape Yuan Hao and White Tiger Cang Lie flew to Ao Xuan's side, both looking excited—apparently, they had also gained a lot. Ao Xuan asked if they had seen the Vermilion Bird or Black Tortoise, but both shook their heads.
He had originally thought that he would meet the other two divine beasts at Zixiao Palace, but unexpectedly, they had not come.
Logically, listening to the Dao at Zixiao Palace was an unparalleled opportunity. Unless they were absolutely unable to leave, they would surely have come.
Ao Xuan decided that he needed to speed up his search for the Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird.
After politely bidding farewell to everyone, Hongyun carried his large red gourd and walked slowly toward the central Primordial World, completely unaware of the several pairs of eyes following him from behind.