Primordial Era: The Three Senior Brothers of the Taiqing Clan

Chen Qing continued, "When Pangu created the world, he transformed into all things. But before he became a Daoist, he did one thing: he divided an existence that could not be completely destroyed into several pieces and suppressed them in different places with different seals."

I saw a very blurry image of this when I was merging with the Pangu Dao Foundation.

The scene was too fragmented; I only saw a few scattered pieces—a dark abyss, purple chaos, and a dungeon covered in black metal.

At the time, I didn't understand what those fragments were, but now I think I do.

He raised his head and looked into Tongtian's eyes. "The Ruins of Guixu are pressing down on its main body, and the underground of the Demon God Realm is pressing down on a part of it. That dark gold giant gate itself is a spatial seal that divides the void, separating the Ruins of Guixu from the Primordial World."

Pangu used three sets of seals to lock up 'Devouring'. The three seals were independent yet interconnected; if one seal failed, the other two would also be affected.

Tongtian gasped. He recalled the underground breathing he had heard while lying on the back mountain of the Demon God Palace, the scene of those demon soldiers digging mechanically, and the Demon Lord's determination to pour all his forces into that deep pit.

If the Demon Lord is indeed helping the "Devouring" clone escape, then once that seal is loosened, the main body on the Ruins side will also awaken.

The golden light barrier that Chen Qing had tried his best to close became a futile effort—he tried his best to plug one loophole, but watched helplessly as another loophole was opened.

"I have to go to the Demon Realm again," Tongtian said, standing up. "I must ask the Demon Lord face to face—does he even know what he's digging for? If he doesn't, that's fine. But if he knows and still continues digging, then he has truly betrayed us."

Chen Qing raised her hand to stop him: "You've only been back for a day, and your injuries haven't fully healed. Besides, the restrictions in the Demon God Realm will only be tighter than last time. If you go again, you might not be able to escape unscathed."

"What should we do then? I can't just sit here and wait."

"Wait for me." Chen Qing stood up, supporting himself on the edge of the bed. His legs were slightly weak, but he quickly regained his balance.

"Give me three days. After three days, my spiritual energy will have recovered to 30%, and my Pangu Dao Foundation will have been able to rebuild some power. I'll go with you then."

Tongtian looked at his pale face, opened his mouth as if to object, but in the end only uttered one word: "Fine."

For the next three days, Zixiao Palace was bustling with activity.

Every morning, Lao Tzu would go to the Dark Gold Gate to inspect the seal, and upon returning, he would trace the subtle changes in the seal's patterns on a huge parchment scroll.

He was extremely focused while drawing, and his pen moved across the parchment scroll with almost no excess ink. He had been drawing that picture for three whole days. The golden patterns on the picture were dense and intricate, like the trajectory of some ancient and precise celestial body.

Yuanshi and Nuwa joined forces to add an extra layer of perception array patterns to the primordial Heavenly Dao network.

The function of that array pattern is not defense, but monitoring—once any abnormality occurs in the direction of Guixu, the array pattern will simultaneously project a warning signal into the divine senses of the seven saints, without any delay even if there are several layers of void between them.

Tongtian practiced his swordsmanship on an open space on Penglai Island. His Four Zhuxian Swords had been corroded by the black tide of Guixu, leaving some minor gaps. These days, he sat among the four swords every day, using his sword intent to nurture and polish them again and again, making the light on the swords sharpen again from dimness.

On the third day of practicing the sword formation, the four swords rang out in unison, their sword energy like a rainbow, carving out crisscrossing ravines across the entire open space.

Jieyin and Zhunti extended the purification barrier that covered Zixiao Palace to the entire Penglai Island. Golden Sanskrit characters flowed on every rock and the trunk of every ancient tree on the island, as if the entire island was covered with an invisible armor.

They coordinated perfectly when they did this; one chanted incantations, and the other drew talismans. They didn't even need to communicate verbally; their actions were as if one person were doing two things at the same time.

Nuwa was repairing the Mountain and River Map. The mountain range on the map that had been cracked by the giant eye's aura had been mostly healed, but Nuwa was not satisfied with that.

She separated a wisp of her primordial spirit and infused it into the mountains and rivers in the picture, making the life force of that miniature world even more active and vigorous than before. The plants in the picture grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even the translucent shadows of fish flashed by in the stream.

On the morning of the fourth day, Chen Qing opened his eyes from his meditation.

Deep within the dantian, a faint but steady golden flame reignited in the embers of Pangu's Dao Foundation.

His spiritual energy had recovered to about 30%, and nearly half of the cracks in his meridians had healed. He no longer felt any significant sluggishness in his movements.

He moved his shoulders, his bones making a crisp cracking sound, and he felt even lighter than before he lost consciousness.

He pushed open the door to the secret chamber and saw Tongtian leaning against the corridor, holding four swords, waiting for him.

The two exchanged a glance, said nothing more, and walked out at the same time.

As they passed the main hall of Zixiao Palace, Laozi came out, holding the sheepskin scroll with the seal pattern in his hand. He handed it to Chen Qing: "Take this with you. If there's a problem with the seal, you can at least repair it by following the pattern."

When you forcibly closed the light barrier at the Ruins of Return, some of the patterns weren't aligned correctly. It was two curves off compared to the original Pangu version. I'll mark the correct way to draw it later; please take note of it.

Chen Qing took the sheepskin scroll and solemnly put it into his pocket.

Yuanshi walked over from the other side and threw something to Tongtian.

Tongtian reached out and caught it, then looked down and saw that it was the Pure World White Lotus.

When Tongtian returned from the Demon God Realm last time, he left in a hurry and took the Pure World White Lotus with him back to the Primordial World. Now, Yuanshi has handed it over again, obviously asking Tongtian to take it with him once more.

"You can go, but don't force it." Yuanshi looked into Tongtian's eyes. "Come back after you've found out the truth. If the Demon Lord has already gone too far, you alone can't stop the entire Demon God Realm. Retreat, come back and call for reinforcements."

Tongtian held the Pure World White Lotus in his palm, weighed it in his hand, and grinned, "I know, I know, you're all like old women." He turned to Chen Qing, "Shall we go?"

Chen Qing nodded. The two walked out of Zixiao Palace side by side, passed through Penglai Island shrouded in spiritual mist, and leaped off the cliff at the edge of the island. Their figures transformed into two streaks of light and shot towards the edge of the primordial world.

As they traversed the chaotic void, Tongtian suddenly spoke: "That child named Xuanya, I abandoned him in the secret passage behind the Demon God Palace last time. If he's still alive..."

"Bring him back," Chen Qing said. "The fact that he managed to evade capture and survive until today proves he's capable. Such a person is doomed to die sooner or later in the Demon God Realm; it's better to bring him back to the Primordial World."

Tongtian grunted in response and fell silent. Two streaks of light flashed through the chaos, like two shooting stars approaching each other, hurtling towards the same direction in the boundless depths of the void.

The entrance barrier to the Demon God Realm remains closed.

Tongtian led Chen Qing around to the vicinity of the rift he had found last time. The Qiankun Cauldron slowly rotated above their heads, suppressing their aura to an extremely low and faint level, making them appear like two specks of dust floating in the void.

Tongtian pointed to a barely perceptible, minute crease: "It's here. The black-robed man made the seam for me here last time; I've remembered the location."

Chen Qing probed the fold with his divine sense for a moment, then stretched out his finger and gently traced the edge of the fold.

A wisp of extremely pure chaotic power gathered at his fingertips—the aura that had been re-accumulated by Pangu's Dao Foundation and attached to the surface of his physical body—that wisp of chaotic power resonated with the barrier. As if using the same key to open the same door, a crack slowly appeared on the barrier, barely wide enough for one person to pass through.

The two of them went inside, one after the other.

The sky over the Demon God Realm was even more gloomy than when Tongtian last came.

The dark purple sky hung low, and the air was filled with a strong smell of sulfur and rust. The wind stung my face with a burning sensation.

On the distant horizon, several thick, black columns of smoke rose straight into the sky, spreading out at the top into a murky, dark cloud.

Tongtian, relying on his memory, led Chen Qing through the deserted city, bypassed the many restrictions on the front of the Demon God Palace by following the secret passage they had taken before, and emerged from the pile of rocks on the back mountain.

Everything on the back mountain was not much different from when Tongtian left: the dark red rocks, the scorched thorns, and the increasingly strong underground scent in the air.

But Tongtian immediately sensed something was wrong.

He walked quickly to the rock wall where he had previously listened to the underground breathing sounds, squatted down, and pressed his ear close to the ground.

The knocking sound from underground was still there, but the rhythm had changed—it had become a knock every two and a half breaths instead of the previous steady three breaths, and the frequency had obviously increased.

The enormous breathing sound that accompanied the knocking became deeper and more powerful than before. Each time it was struck, a visible stream of black air seeped up from the crack in the rock and was dispersed into the air by the wind.

"They've dug even deeper." Tongtian's face darkened.

Chen Qing also squatted down, placed her palms on the ground, and closed her eyes.

His divine sense seeped downwards along the cracks in the rock strata, passing through the soil, through the gravel, and through layer after layer of sealed remnants, finally touching a vast and chaotic wave of will in the deepest depths.

The fluctuations were blurry yet intense, like a ferocious beast that had been imprisoned for millions of years smelling the scent of its iron cage being pried open, pacing back and forth inside, restless, excited, and hungry.

Chen Qing withdrew his hand, opened his eyes, and his gaze became serious: "The thing sealed below is much smaller than the main body of the Ruins of Return, but its aura is of the same origin. The Demon Lord is indeed digging out a fragment of 'Devouring'."

Just as the two were about to continue approaching the Demon God Palace, they suddenly heard extremely faint footsteps coming from the secret passage behind them.

Tongtian suddenly turned around, and the Zhuxian Sword silently unsheathed itself in his palm, its tip aimed at the shadow of the secret passage's exit. But the next second he sheathed the sword, because emerging from the shadow was a thin, pale boy, covered in dust, clutching a magic crystal in his arms.

Black crow.

The child had lost a lot of weight, and the dust on his face was so thick that it almost covered his original features. His black robe was tattered and dirty, as if he had been rolling around in a garbage dump for days and nights.

The moment he saw Tongtian, his eyes reddened, but he bit his lip to hold back his tears, only managing a hoarse cry: "You...you really came back."

Tongtian walked over and, without saying a word, picked the child up from the ground.

Xuan Ya was so thin he was skin and bones, as light as a clump of withered grass. Tongtian looked him up and down, making sure he had no other injuries besides hunger and filth, before letting out a sigh of relief: "You didn't leave?"

"Where can I go?" Xuan Ya sniffed. "The Demon God Realm is full of the Demon Lord's people. I wouldn't survive three days if I went out alone."

Xuan Ya looked at Chen Qing and Tong Tian: "You're going to find the Demon Lord? I know how to get in. These past few days, I've sneaked to the side of the Demon God Palace under the cover of night to observe it several times. There's a side gate on the back mountain; when the guards change shifts, there's a gap of about ten breaths, enough time to slip in through."

Tongtian and Chen Qing exchanged a glance. This child was unusually shrewd for a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy. In such a desperate situation, he had managed to figure out the guarding patterns of the Demon God Palace in just a few days of hiding.

Chen Qing looked down at Xuan Ya and suddenly asked, "Would you like to come back to the Primordial World with me?"

Xuan Ya paused, a complex mix of emotions flashing across his eyes—shock, hesitation, anticipation, wariness—before settling into a remarkably clear-headed calm: "If I go with you, will I survive?"

"Yes," Chen Qing said.

Xuan Ya nodded vigorously, asking no further questions. He took out the magic crystal Chen Qing had given him last time—the stone had been carefully stored close to his body, without a single crack—and stuffed it back into Chen Qing's hand: "Here, take this back. I'm going with you; I don't need it."

Chen Qing didn't refuse. He took back the magic crystal and patted Xuan Ya on the shoulder: "Lead the way."

Xuan Ya turned and disappeared into the depths of the secret passage, leading the two through a maze of twists and turns, emerging from an extremely hidden side cave, and directly into a shadowy area on the side of the Demon God Palace.

He pointed to a narrow door about twenty feet away, covered with black magic patterns. Two tall stone guardians stood on either side of the door, each holding a giant axe, like two silent iron towers.

"The stone sculpture contains a puppet soul, capable of sensing the presence of living beings. However, every now and then, there's a short gap in their perception, about a dozen breaths. When this gap occurs, the magical runes on the door dim for a moment," Xuan Ya said in a low voice, his eyes nervously fixed on the door. "I tried once last time, but I didn't dare go in. But I calculated the time; in a few more breaths, it should be..."

Before he could finish speaking, the demonic runes on the door dimmed for a moment, and the eerie light in the eyes of the two stone statues also went out at the same time.

"Now!" Xuan Ya hissed.

Tongtian's figure flashed out like a ghost, carrying Xuanya in one hand and placing the other on Chen Qing's shoulder. The three of them sped away in the darkness. The moment they passed through the narrow door, the demonic patterns on the door lit up again, and the eerie light in the stone sculpture's eyes also revived, as if nothing had happened.

Behind the door was a narrow passageway, with dark red crystals of varying sizes embedded in the walls on both sides, emitting a faint, blood-red glow.

At the end of the passageway was a huge bronze door, on which was cast a relief—a human figure kneeling in front of a huge disc, offering something upwards in his hands.

The human figure's face was blurry, but Chen Qing stared at the relief for a moment and suddenly felt a vague sense of familiarity with the kneeling figure.

"The Demon Lord is inside," Xuan Ya said, pointing to the bronze door. "I saw him go in from afar last time."

Tongtian stepped forward, placed his palm on the bronze door, and pushed it slightly. The bronze door made a dull thud and slowly opened inward.

Inside the door was an extremely spacious underground hall with a dome so high it was almost invisible. The walls were inlaid with dark red crystals, casting the entire hall in a dark, blood-red halo.

In the very center of the main hall stood a figure dressed in a black robe. The figure had his back to the bronze door and was looking down at a huge stone platform in front of him. On the platform lay an ancient animal hide, on which was drawn an extremely complex array diagram with some kind of luminous liquid.

The Demon Lord slowly turned around.

His face was different from the black-robed man Tongtian had seen in Zixiao Palace last time—his cheeks were thinner, his cheekbones were high, and there was a dark ring around his eyes, like a mortal who had not closed his eyes for several days.

But his eyes remained sharp, sweeping over Tongtian and Chen Qing before finally settling on Chen Qing, where they lingered for a long time.

"You've arrived," the Demon Lord's voice was calm. "Sooner than I expected."

Chen Qing stood inside the bronze door, facing the Demon Lord across the entire hall: "You're digging up the seal underground. Do you know what's down there?"

The Demon Lord remained silent. He was silent for a long time, so long that Tongtian almost thought he was about to make a move.

But the Demon Lord simply slowly put away the rolled-up animal skin, neatly rolled it up, put it in his sleeve, then raised his head, looked into Chen Qing's eyes, and said a sentence.

Those words made Chen Qing freeze on the spot.

The Demon Lord said, "I know what's down there. Because I was the one who sealed it inside."