Primordial Era: Refusing Hongjun's path to sainthood, I attained the Dao of Hunyuan.

Chapter 180 Investiture of the Gods

Yuanshi Tianzun looked at his disciples and saw that, in addition to Yun Zhongzi, Antarctic Immortal and Lingbao Grand Master had also perished.

With the addition of Guang Chengzi, Chi Jingzi, Yu Ding Zhenren, and Dao Xing Tianzun, nearly half of the Twelve Golden Immortals are gone.

Overall, however, the casualty ratio is still acceptable. After all, the Tongtian Sect Leader had even lost a major sect.

A thought flashed through his mind, and Yuanshi Tianzun said, "Today all disciples have completed their tribulations. You may return to your caves and continue cultivating your lives. Those who have not completed their tribulations will also have divine positions on the Investiture of the Gods, which is better than falling into the cycle of reincarnation."

He also mentioned that he would soon establish a Daoist temple outside the Thirty-Three Heavens and move the Jade Void Palace of Kunlun Mountain into the Chaos.

Seeing that he intended to leave, Jiang Ziya quickly stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Master, I am traveling east, and there are still many passes ahead. I do not know what the outcome will be. Please give me your guidance."

Yuanshi Tianzun laughed and said, "No need to think too much. The great calamity has passed, and what remains are only minor tribulations. With the assistance of Yang Jian, Nezha, and others, you can travel east smoothly. If there are any further changes, you can seek help from your fellow disciples."

Jiang Ziya quickly thanked him. Yuanshi Tianzun nodded and also left.

Afterwards, Ziya led his army on an eastern expedition, and as expected, the journey was smooth. Even if there were minor obstacles, they were quickly overcome, and thus the entire Shang dynasty was brought under his control.

King Di Xin of the Shang Dynasty set himself on fire atop the Zhaixing Tower. The Western Zhou Dynasty then seized power and enjoyed eight hundred years of rule.

At that time, Jiang Ziya was ordered to confer titles upon the gods, but this conferment of titles was different from the previous ones.

The original Investiture of the Gods consisted of 365 righteous gods, divided into eight parts: the upper four parts are Thunder, Fire, Plague, and Fighting, and the lower four parts are the stars and constellations, the Three Mountains and Five Peaks, the gods of rain and clouds, and the gods of good and evil.

However, the current situation in the world is different. Although Haotian is the supreme ruler of the Three Realms, his power is even more usable than before.

Putting aside everything else, not a single star in the celestial sphere is under his control. The primordial land is governed by the mountain gods, land gods, and city gods appointed by Zhen Yuanzi, and the Netherworld is guarded by the ten Yama avatars of Xuanhuang.

Despite being the supreme ruler of the Three Realms, Haotian's power was actually pitifully small. Therefore, although there were 365 righteous gods in this Investiture of the Gods, they were only divided into six departments: Thunder, Water, Fire, Plague, Fighting, and Good and Evil.

On the day of the Investiture of the Gods, all the saints and Xuanhuang also came. Xuanhuang flicked his sleeve, and several more people appeared in the arena. They were the people he had taken away from the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation that day, namely Yunxiao, Qiongxiao, Bixiao, Zhao Gongming, and Jinling Shengmu.

The five appeared and greeted the Tongtian Sect Leader. They quickly paid their respects, and the Tongtian Sect Leader helped them up, saying, "It will be tough for you for a while, but you still have physical bodies. Even if you make the list, you can still continue your cultivation. In the future, when I establish another great sect, you will still be my disciples of the Jie Sect."

The five quickly bowed to the Tongtian Sect Leader again. The Tongtian Sect Leader sighed, also feeling helpless.

At this moment, on the Investiture Platform, Jiang Ziya, holding the God-Slaying Whip, began to confer titles upon the gods: "The Supreme Primordial Heavenly Venerable, the Lord of the Great Chaos, decrees: Alas, the paths of immortals and mortals are vast, and without cultivating one's roots and practicing diligently, how can one traverse them? The paths of gods and ghosts are distinct, and cannot be coveted by flattery and wickedness..."

The gods appointed by Jiang Ziya were not much different, but unlike Bo Yikao, who could directly obtain the title of the Great Emperor of the North Pole and the Central Heaven for free, that was no longer possible.

In particular, the heads of the six departments of righteous gods, such as the Nine Heavens Responding to the Origin of Thunder and Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of the Thunder Department, were no longer appointed by Wen Zhong as before, but were replaced by the Golden Spirit Holy Mother.

In fact, the positions of these six righteous gods were divided between the Chan and Jie sects. This was because several of the disciples of the Tongtian Sect Master had been made gods through physical means, while the Yuanshi Tianzun had secretly arranged for three of his own disciples to be appointed.

They are Huanglong Zhenren, Taiyi Zhenren, and Qingxu Daode Zhenjun, respectively.

The Jie Sect controlled the three categories of Thunder, Plague, and Fire, while the remaining three categories of Water, Fighting, and Good and Evil were given to the Chan Sect and controlled by Huanglong Zhenren, Taiyi Zhenren, and Qingxu Daode Zhenjun respectively.

As for the Golden Immortals who also made the list: Guang Chengzi, Chi Jingzi, Yu Ding Zhenren, Dao Xing Tianzun, and Lingbao Dafashi.

After all, having lost their physical bodies and primordial spirits, leaving only their true spirits, their strength has been greatly reduced. Even though the Primordial Heavenly Venerable has always favored a few people, especially Guang Chengzi, it is impossible for him to use them as a facade now.

This conferment of titles upon gods, however, brought hardship to Haotian. He had originally thought that this conferment of titles would greatly strengthen his power.

In the end, however, he found himself even more powerless. Haotian was on the verge of tears. Perhaps the only good news was that the saints would soon leave the Three Realms and could no longer cause trouble there.

Only then might I be able to slowly fight back some of my power.

However, compared to all of this, from then on, Haotian became more and more convinced that only by becoming stronger could he regain power.

Otherwise, even if I manage to regain some power while the saints are away, I will still lose it all when they return.

With strength comes power. This became Haotian's most profound maxim.

From then on, Haotian allowed the disciples of the two sects to fight each other in the Heavenly Court, while he himself calmed down and devoted himself to cultivation.

After some time, outside the Thirty-Three Heavens, the saints began to establish their own temples one after another. Therefore, the area outside the Thirty-Three Heavens was quite turbulent during this period.

Earth, water, fire, and wind surged chaotically. Xuanhuang also hung his Dao-attaining treasure, the bamboo staff, outside Xuanhuang Heaven. The bamboo staff emitted bursts of light, covering Xuanhuang Heaven, but no matter how the earth, water, fire, and wind surged, they could not affect Xuanhuang Heaven.

After a period of turmoil, the saints established their respective dojos in this chaos. Laozi opened up the Great Crimson Heaven, Yuanshi Tianzun opened up the Pure Subtle Heaven, and Tongtian Jiaozhu opened up the Yu Yu Heaven.

Zhen Yuanzi then opened up the Jiyuan Heaven beside the Xuanhuang Heaven of Xuanhuang. The two Western Saints also jointly opened up the Great Western Heaven, also known as the Sacred Realm of Ultimate Bliss.

With all the saints gone from the Three Realms, a rare moment of peace descended upon them. Although the primordial land was divided into four continents, thanks to the personal efforts of Dao Ancestor Hongjun to manage the earth's veins, life there was not much different from before.

Soon, the Taiqing Sage Laozi was the first to be summoned by the Dao Ancestor Hongjun. He also borrowed the Chaos Bell from Kong Xuan, and gave it to Laozi along with the Taiji Diagram and Pangu Banner that had been confiscated earlier. Laozi was then sent to the edge of the universe to create chaos.

Thus, all the great powers witnessed such a magnificent scene, which was a rare sight. The Supreme Saint transformed into a giant, his upper body robe was blown apart, the Chaos Bell was on his head, the Taiji Diagram was under his feet, and the Pangu Banner was in his hand. He was diligently cultivating the chaos.

Thus, the chaotic energy shattered and was transformed into innate spiritual energy, which not only filled the heavens and earth, but also gradually expanded the space of the primordial universe, much faster than the natural growth rate of the universe in the past.

All the powerful beings, or rather all cultivators, whoever possessed even a slight level of cultivation, could sense that the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, contrary to usual, was showing signs of recovery.

This change delighted many cultivators, and even the powerful figures from all sides couldn't help but sigh that these saints had finally done something worthwhile.

On this day, outside the Thirty-Three Heavens, in the Xuanhuang Heaven, Kong Xuan also received Xuanhuang's instructions and left the Xuanhuang Heaven, heading towards the Primordial Land.

In the blink of an eye, more than seven hundred years have passed since the Western Zhou Dynasty succeeded the Shang Dynasty. The Western Zhou Dynasty, the land where the human race lived, was located in the southern continent of Jambudvipa.

(End of this chapter)