I am submissive in Journey to the West, I strike hard at the gods

"Hongjun!"

Jiang Wang let out a low shout, his voice echoing within the spatial passage, carrying a chilling killing intent.

The owner of that withered hand was none other than Dao Ancestor Hongjun.

Although the clone was fast, it was still half a step too slow. Seeing that the Investiture of the Gods was about to be taken away by Hongjun, a ruthless glint flashed in Jiang Wang's eyes, and his hands instantly formed a hand seal.

"Time, stand still!"

hum!
Centered on the Conferred God Platform, the spatial passage within a radius of ten thousand miles suddenly froze, and even the turbulent currents stopped flowing, as if the entire world had been put on pause.

The clone's hand, Hongjun's hand, and the golden light on the Investiture of the Gods were all frozen in this moment.

But in the next instant, Hongjun's withered hand slowly moved, and although the movement was slow, it continued to move forward even though time had stopped.

"it's useless."

Hongjun's aged voice echoed in the void, tinged with mockery, "Your time-manipulation ability is merely borrowed power acquired later in life. How can it possibly trap someone who has attained the Dao?"

Jiang Wang gritted his teeth and changed his hand seals again.

"Time, contract!"

boom!
The flow of time within a radius of ten thousand miles was suddenly compressed ten thousand times, with one breath equivalent to ten thousand years in the outside world! The clone's hand speed instantly increased ten million times, and it looked like it was about to seize the Investiture of the Gods first!

But Hongjun's hand remained unhurried, as if those ten thousand years were but a fleeting moment to him.

"Little tricks."

Hongjun's voice was indifferent.

Veins bulged on Jiang Wang's forehead as he instantly unleashed his third divine power.

"Space, confinement!"

Click!
Countless silver spatial chains appeared out of thin air, tightly binding Hongjun's hand. Destructive spatial fluctuations flowed across the chains, causing even saints to temporarily avoid their sharp edge.

But the moment the chains wrapped around Hongjun's palm, they melted and vanished like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun.

"You have only just begun to understand the principles of space."

Hongjun's voice remained calm, but it carried a hint of impatience.

Jiang Wang's eyes flashed with blood-red light, unleashing his fourth divine power—a desperate gamble!
"Space, teleport!"

Rumble!
A bottomless spatial vortex suddenly appeared below the Conferred God Platform, with chaotic energy surging within it, devouring everything.

The Investiture of the Gods was pulled in and plunged violently into the vortex!
At the same time, Jiang Wang took a sudden step forward, his figure blurring instantly, transforming into a streak of light that rushed straight towards the Investiture of the Gods!
Hongjun finally changed color.

"You dare!"

He clenched his withered hand, shattering the void, and all the laws of nature condensed into a gigantic hand that covered the sky, descending upon Jiang Wang!
But at this moment, Jiang Wang revealed a smile that was almost maniacal.

"Old man, so what if you've attained the Dao? Today, I'm determined to take this Investiture of the Gods!"

The spatial vortex erupted with a roar, and the Investiture of the Gods transformed into a golden light, instantly being swept into the depths of the vortex.

Jiang Wang's true form vanished completely just before the giant palm struck!

"Jiang Wang!!!"

Hongjun's roar shook the entire spatial passage violently, causing countless void cracks to explode and chaotic energy to surge wildly!

The next instant, Jiang Wang appeared on the shore of the East Sea in the human realm. In his palm, a golden list slowly emerged, which was the Investiture of the Gods!

He looked down at the list in his hand, a cold smile curving his lips.

"From this day forward, the Investiture of the Gods belongs to me."

Just then, a system notification sounded.

"Ding! Detected that the host has seized the Investiture of the Gods, triggering the super hidden quest 'Defying Fate'!"

"Mission Rewards: 1 Innate Treasure Upgrade Card (can upgrade any Innate Treasure to a Chaos Spirit Treasure), 1 Super Experience Point Lottery Chance!"

Jiang Wang's pupils suddenly contracted.

Chaos Spiritual Treasure!

That is an existence of a higher level than the innate supreme treasure, and there are only a handful of such treasures known in the entire prehistoric world!
He took a deep breath, suppressing his overwhelming joy, and quickly examined the upgrade card in his hand, which had a chaotic color.

"The Book of Curses... you're the one."

The Book of Curses is one of his strongest trump cards. If it can be upgraded to a Chaos Treasure, its power will be terrifying beyond imagination!

"use!"

"Ding! The Innate Treasure Upgrade Card has been successfully used. The Book of Curses has begun to evolve... Estimated evolution time: 72 hours."

Jiang Wang nodded slightly and absorbed the Book of Curses into his body to nurture it.

Just then, a furious roar that shook the heavens and the earth suddenly came from the sky.

"Jiang Wang!! Hand over the Investiture of the Gods!!!"

boom! !

A terrifying pressure swept across the entire human realm, tearing the sky apart. An aged figure stepped through the air, none other than Dao Ancestor Hongjun!
At this moment, Hongjun's hair and beard stood on end, and the rage in his eyes almost burned the void!

Jiang Wang looked up, his gaze calmly meeting Hongjun's, but a mocking smile appeared on his lips.

"Old man, you're too late."

Hongjun stared intently at Jiang Wang, his voice low and terrifying: "Hand over the Investiture of the Gods, and I may spare your life."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wang laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Spare my life? Hongjun, do you really think you can still control everything?"

His laughter ceased, and his gaze suddenly turned icy: "The Investiture of the Gods is already in my hands. If you dare to make a move, I will simply escape into the chaos, and from then on, the world will be vast and I will be free from all constraints."

So what if you destroy the primordial world? So what if humanity is wiped out? What does it have to do with me, Jiang Wang?

Hongjun's pupils suddenly contracted.

Jiang Wang's words were like a knife, precisely piercing his greatest concern.

He aligned himself with the Dao of Heaven in order to maintain the balance of the primordial world and to ensure the continuation of the Dao of Heaven.

If Jiang Wang really takes the Investiture of the Gods and escapes into the chaos, then the Investiture of the Gods calamity that he painstakingly planned for countless eons will become a complete joke!
When that time comes, the Heavenly Dao will be damaged, and Hongjun will surely suffer the most terrifying backlash!

Hongjun remained silent for a moment, then slowly exhaled, his voice returning to its usual indifference, yet carrying a chilling edge.

"Good...very good...Jiang Wang, you've won this round."

"But remember this: as long as the Investiture of the Gods is in your hands, I will never let you go!"

"We'll see."

After saying that, Hongjun's figure flashed and disappeared completely at the end of the sky.

Jiang Wang stared in the direction Hongjun had left, and after a long while, he chuckled softly.

"Old man... what's the rush? The show has only just begun."

Three days later, at Shouyang Mountain.

The mountaintop was shrouded in mist, and eight imposing figures sat cross-legged on a cloud platform; they were none other than the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of the human race.

Jiang Wang arrived riding on clouds, his robes fluttering, standing with his hands behind his back.

"Your Majesties, Jiang Wang has something to discuss with you."

Suirenshi opened his eyes, glanced at him with a complicated look, and asked in a somewhat distant voice, "What is it, Emperor Jiang?"

Jiang Wang sensed that something was wrong, but he didn't point it out. Instead, he went straight to the point: "The Four Saints are about to break through to the sixth level of Sainthood, and Hongjun has gone completely mad."

Within a thousand years, a great calamity will surely strike the primordial world. Jiang Wang has a plan to deploy the Twelve Heavenly Gods and Demons Formation to hold off even a sage.

Youchao sighed and slowly shook his head: "Emperor Jiang has probably forgotten that this formation requires the bloodline of the Ancestral Witch Houtu as a guide, and the essence blood of the Twelve Ancestral Witches to set up the formation."

However, since the death of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, this formation has been lost, and no one in the world has been able to set it up again.

Jiang Wang frowned slightly: "Is there really no way?"

Fuxi raised his head, his gaze profound: "There is a way... but we need to find the ancestral witch's lineage, and someone needs to be willing to offer their own blood as a sacrifice... but..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was already clear.

Jiang Wang remained silent.

After a long while, he suddenly laughed, but the laugh was somewhat bitter.

"That's all."

He finally understood that the change in the attitude of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors was not because of the formation, but because of what he said to Hongjun: "What does it matter to me if the human race is destroyed?"

That one sentence was like an invisible wall, standing between him and the supreme Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of the human race.

He cupped his hands in greeting, his voice calm, yet carrying a hint of weariness that was hard to conceal.

"I apologize for disturbing you, Jiang Wang. I'll take my leave now."

After saying that, he turned and stepped into the air, his clothes fluttering in the wind, his figure gradually disappearing into the depths of the sea of ​​clouds.

On the cloud platform, Suirenshi watched Jiang Wang's departing figure for a long time before letting out a soft sigh.

"He is ultimately... not human."

The wind blows across Shouyang Mountain, swirling up countless fallen leaves that drift into the distance.

At the summit of Shouyang Mountain, the wind and snow had just stopped. Jiang Wang, dressed in a black robe, stood on the edge of the cliff, his hands behind his back, gazing into the distance.

The million-strong human army below the mountain was fully prepared, their banners fluttering and their killing intent soaring to the sky, yet no one dared to utter a sound to disturb him.

He did not immediately return to the Hidden Realm as everyone expected, but instead looked up towards the Netherworld, a deep and unfathomable light flashing in his eyes.

"It's time to go and see the underworld too."

With a light tap of his foot, his figure transformed into an extremely thin ink line, vanishing into the horizon in an instant, leaving not even a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation.

The million-strong army behind them only saw a blur before their eyes, and when they looked again, the figure that they both revered and feared was nowhere to be seen.

The underworld, at the Bridge of Helplessness.

The once wailing and howling sea of ​​blood in the underworld is now eerily quiet.

The blood waves surged, yet dared not cross the boundary of the sea of ​​blood even half a step.

In the distance, the city of Fengdu bears the inscription: "A Netherworld Territory, Under Human Rule."

The eight large characters, written in blood-red strokes, carried an extremely sharp sword intent. They were written by Jiang Wang himself, and any ghost that saw them would tremble in fear.

On the Bridge of Helplessness, countless ghosts lined up in a long queue, drinking Meng Po's soup one by one, and entering the cycle of reincarnation.

The old woman by the bridge, dressed in coarse gray-white clothes with an indistinct face, was slowly ladling soup, her movements simple and repetitive, as if they had never changed in thousands of years.

Jiang Wang stepped across the bridge, his steps extremely light, yet each step seemed to strike the bridge surface with an invisible heavy hammer, causing the entire Naihe Bridge to tremble slightly.

The ghosts in line all turned their heads, but none of them dared to utter a sound.

Meng Po raised her eyes, her turbid gaze piercing through her veil and landing on Jiang Wang's face, causing her to pause in scooping soup.

"Jiang Wang."

Her voice was hoarse, carrying a hint of ancient weariness, "What are you doing here?"

Jiang Wang stopped three zhang away from her, standing with his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the slowly rotating Six Paths of Reincarnation Disc behind her.

The Wheel of Reincarnation was a hundred feet in diameter, with six beams of light faintly flowing around it. A very thin golden chain hung down from the void, tightly wrapped around the center of the Wheel of Reincarnation, suppressing it firmly.

On the chains, forty-nine Heavenly Dao runes were faintly visible.

"Let's make a deal."

Jiang Wang's voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable certainty: "Give me the Twelve Capital Heavenly Gods and Demons Formation, and I will help you break the chains of the Heavenly Dao and allow the Earthly Dao to be fully revived."

Meng Po's hand trembled, and a few drops of soup in the ladle splashed out, landing on the Bridge of Helplessness, instantly corroding it and producing wisps of black smoke.

She slowly put down the soup spoon, looked up at Jiang Wang, and for the first time, her voice carried genuine emotion: "How do you know... who I am?"

Jiang Wang smiled slightly, his gaze piercing through her blurred face, seeing that pale yet exquisitely beautiful face, and the almost fading vermilion witch mark between her brows.

"Goddess Houtu, back then you transformed yourself into reincarnation to repair the earth's channels and save the people of the prehistoric world from fire and water. This was an unparalleled merit."

pity……"

His tone was indifferent, yet every word was like a knife: "Heaven is ruthless. It used you to end the war between the Lich King and the Witch Clan, weakening their fortune. And in the name of 'balance,' it has imprisoned you here forever, unable to move."

Have you ever complained?

Meng Po, no, Hou Tu's body trembled slightly. Beneath her gray sleeves, her cracked hands gripped the soup spoon tightly, her knuckles turning white.

She remained silent for a long time before whispering, "What's the point of resentment? What's the point of not resenting? The Witch Clan has declined, and of the Twelve Ancestral Witches, only I remain, barely clinging to life... If I escape, the Heavenly Dao will be enraged, and the primordial world will once again suffer the calamity of that year."

I... can't gamble anymore.

Jiang Wang took a step forward, his voice suddenly softening, yet carrying a strange allure: "So, you're willing to let the Witch Clan be completely wiped out? You're willing to watch your brothers and sisters who fought alongside you back then not even have the chance to be reincarnated and rebuild their lives, their souls forever imprisoned in the sea of ​​blood, never to be reborn?"

Houtu suddenly raised her head, a flash of blood-red light in her eyes, and the remaining pressure of the Twelve Heavenly Gods and Demons instantly erupted, causing ghosts to wail and wolves to howl within a hundred miles, and a sea of ​​blood to surge.

Jiang Wang remained motionless, simply watching her quietly.

After a long while, the bloodlust in Houtu's eyes slowly faded, and her voice carried a hint of self-mockery: "You even know this... That's right, you can even steal the Book of Humans, what else can't you do?"

She took a deep breath, as if using all her strength, "If you can truly break the Heavenly Dao's suppression and revive the Earthly Dao... what's wrong with me giving you the Heavenly Divine Fiend?"

Jiang Wang smiled, and a scroll of array diagrams glowing with a dark, blood-red light slid out from his sleeve. It was the fragment of the Book of Man that he had taken from Yama, the King of Hell, years ago.

He flicked his finger, and the fragment floated in front of Houtu: "First, see my sincerity."

Houtu took the fragment, probed it with her divine sense, and after a moment, her body trembled violently, and an expression of disbelief appeared in her eyes: "You can even read the Book of Humans..."

"trade."

Jiang Wang only said two words.

Houtu remained silent for the duration of an incense stick burning, and even the ghosts on the Bridge of Helplessness dared not utter a sound.

Finally, she raised her hand, and a sliver of blood-red light flew out from between her brows, transforming into an ancient, almost shattered animal hide. It was covered with densely packed cinnabar-drawn witch runes, which was the complete array diagram of the Twelve Capital Heavenly Gods and Demons Array.

"take it."

Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, “If you can do what you say… I, Houtu, will owe you a huge favor.”

Jiang Wang took the array diagram, gently stroking it with his fingertips, feeling the world-destroying, insane aura within it, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes.

He turned and walked toward the Wheel of Reincarnation, his voice carrying from afar: "Wait for my message."

Houtu watched his retreating figure and murmured, "If you had been born in ancient times... my Wu tribe would not be in this predicament."

Jiang Wang stepped into the Six Paths of Reincarnation and was instantly engulfed by six-colored light.

The golden chains on the Wheel of Reincarnation clicked.

With a soft sound, a crack quietly appeared.

At the same time, in Xiniuhezhou, on Wanshou Mountain, at Wuzhuang Temple.

A crimson cloud drifted in from the horizon and landed in front of the Wuzhuang Temple gate, transforming into an old man in a red robe. His hair and beard were all red, and his face was kind, yet he carried an undeniable weariness. (End of Chapter)