Inside the Pangu Temple, the Ancestral Witches let out exasperated, frantic roars. Under the relentless roasting of the golden divine flames, they felt as if they were trapped inside a cosmic furnace.
Sizzle...
They resisted fiercely, pouring out their vast Law power to reinforce the temple walls. The entire firmament seemed to be on fire. The Pangu Temple looked like a second golden sun hanging before Mount Buzhou, its radiant heat melting any Wu warriors who were caught too close.
Under the interlacing of such terrifying magic, the Divine Might (神威) was immeasurable—a power that could slay gods and annihilate all living things. Ling Xiao held the Pangu Temple aloft, clashing with its weight as his divine energy illuminated the universe.
Rumble!
The heavens collapsed and the earth split; ghosts wept and gods howled. Ancestral Witch blood began to leak from the temple, making a sharp "tsst-tsst" sound as it hit the divine fire. The entire Wu Clan ancestral land was in a state of total upheaval, saturated with the aura of a Great Destruction.
The world was stunned. Every great power watching the scene was turned to stone by the sight. It was too absurd, too shocking. A single person had stormed the Witches' home and was now physically wrestling with the Pangu Temple. He was single-handedly dismantling the entire Wu Clan.
It looked so effortless that for a moment, some observers felt a delusional sense of, "Maybe I could do that too." But they knew the truth. They really couldn't. The reality was that a single Ancestral Witch could sweep across half the Great Desolation without breaking a sweat. Ling Xiao's overwhelming power simply made the Witches look as fragile as children.
"A pack of useless trash! These Ancestral Witches are so incompetent they can't even seriously wound Ling Xiao!"
Hiding in a secret corner, Zhunti began to curse, his usually peaceful and sage-like demeanor completely shattered. He was too disappointed. In his mind, the ideal scenario was for the Twelve Ancestral Witches and Ling Xiao to inflict mutual destruction—ideally, for all of them to die together. Instead, the Witches were being one-sidedly thrashed.
Could you at least land one solid hit on him?
Apparently, they couldn't.
If Zhunti was furious, Jieyin looked even worse. He was deeply questioning how he had ever lost to the Witches in the first place. Were they fighting me with everything they had, only to go easy on Ling Xiao? Of course, he knew the answer was simply that he had underestimated Ling Xiao's true combat potential.
"Hmph! Regardless, this is good. We can reclaim Mount Sumeru without lifting a finger," Jieyin said, shifting his perspective. He suddenly found the result quite acceptable. With the Wu Clan beaten into this pathetic state, they would have no capacity to guard Mount Sumeru. It would be a miracle if they didn't lose Mount Buzhou next.
"That is true, but Ling Xiao's strength makes me uneasy," Zhunti said solemnly. He used to think the Witches were their primary rivals, but now he saw that Ling Xiao was the true mountain to climb.
"It matters not. We are the Dao Ancestor's Disciples (Disciple). Even Ling Xiao would have to think twice before trying to kill us. There is a fundamental difference between him and those barbarians; the Witches act without thinking, but I believe Ling Xiao has a sense of propriety," Jieyin said with a smile, looking like a man with a plan.
Zhunti's worry eased slightly. It was as his Senior Brother said. The Witches were brainless; they never considered the consequences. Who else would spend their days stealing other people's homes for no reason?
"Let's go. Let's take back our Mount Sumeru!"
Jieyin stood up, the divine light above his head shining brilliantly. He spoke with great spirit, acting as if he were about to snatch the mountain from the Witches' jaws, when in reality, Mount Sumeru was currently only guarded by a few Wu Clan underlings. Regardless, he made his declaration sound world-shaking and his Aura (Aura) feel like a rainbow.
"Good!" Zhunti nodded heavily, looking like a hero marching toward a thousand enemies. Then, they quietly crept out of their hiding spot, terrified that someone might actually see them.
While the world watched, the sun-blotting Pangu Temple was forcibly driven into the deep void by Ling Xiao. Along the way, it dyed a massive Star Domain (Star Domain) red with blood. Some experts even saw gargantuan severed limbs falling from the temple, drifting through the infinite star-sea. Though the temple was indestructible and acted as a "turtle shell" for the Witches, they were still in a wretched state.
Ling Xiao departed from the Wu Clan land and headed toward the Southern Honghuang. Around him, the Great Dao Laws interlaced like millions of silver silk threads, radiating a supreme Aura. Wherever he passed, all things fell silent until he vanished from sight.
The observers looked at the ruined remains of the Wu ancestral land and sighed. The Wu Clan, who usually delighted in destroying the homes of others, likely never dreamed they would see this day.
"Let's head back. I told you Fellow Daoist Ling Xiao could handle it."
On the clouds above the eastern Great Desolation, Hongyun and Zhenyuanzi stood side-by-side. They had intended to help, but they couldn't find a single opening to join the fight from beginning to end.
"If you knew that, you should have told me earlier—I wouldn't have come! We were useless anyway!" Zhenyuanzi said irritably, flicking his sleeves and turning to leave. It was too demoralizing; he had come to repay the favor of borrowing the soil, only to find that Ling Xiao didn't even have enough enemies to go around.
"Hehe, isn't this a good thing?" Hongyun followed behind, their silhouettes fading into the distance.
South Bright Volcano (Nanming Volcano), also known as the Undying Volcano, was the extreme south of the Great Desolation. It reached ten million miles into the sky, a continuous chain of peaks where celestial fires burned eternally. The central main peak was shrouded in endless flames year-round, occasionally releasing a soul-chilling Aura.
Now, a figure suddenly appeared above the volcano. The field of energy was boundless, with Laws of Order surging and thousands of rays of auspicious light descending. Ling Xiao gazed at the vast, eternal volcano, a trace of mystery in his eyes.
Legend had it that this was the Nirvana site of Yuan Feng. Whether she had truly perished remained unknown.
"The final spark missing from my Law of Fire... is right here," Ling Xiao whispered. He looked down into the depths, feeling the mysterious vibrations of the ancient mountain. There was a faint, hidden pulse—very powerful, though still far inferior to his own.
Finally, Ling Xiao took a step down and entered the South Bright Volcano, bringing the Great Dao Laws and a sky full of wonders with him. The living beings of the South were stunned, trying to see what he was doing, but their eyes were nearly blinded by the light.
As the Honghuang World settled into the aftermath of the war, a strange ripple suddenly emanated from the ancient, eternal palace deep within the infinite Chaos. It was long and haunting, reaching across the cosmos.
Inside Zixiao Palace, within a mysterious pocket of space, the silhouette of an old man in Daoist robes shifted from phantom to reality. He radiated a mysterious Dao-resonance; a single look from him could encompass ten thousand changes.
"The Merging with the Dao is stalled at the final step... the Heavenly Secret has changed..."
Hongjun spoke plainly, a trace of an unusual expression crossing his eyes.