Primordial Era: The Witch Clan's Dog-Headed Strategist

After Hongjun fled, the prehistoric world remained silent for several months.

It was a kind of calm, tinged with a sense of disorientation, that followed a great battle.

Between heaven and earth, it was as if an invisible hand had gently brushed away the dust that had accumulated over countless eras.

On this day, Pan Xuan used the Great Luo Heaven as his council hall and summoned the Twelve Ancestral Witches and the Three Pure Ones to discuss an important matter.

The hall was filled with sages, and the air was thick with the aura of Dao. Pan Xuan stood at the head of the hall, surveyed the crowd, and slowly began to speak:

"With Hongjun gone, there is no longer that will to cause trouble in the Heavenly Dao."

However, within the Heavenly Dao Space today, this abnormal state is still suppressed and controlled by the twelve Ancestral Witches and the Three Pure Ones, the law deities.

The Way of Heaven should be the Way of Heaven for all living beings, the Way of Heaven with its rules.

It should not be controlled by anyone, nor should it be tainted by any will.

Upon hearing this, the hall fell silent for a moment.

Houtu Niangniang seemed to be deep in thought:

"You mean... to withdraw the deities of law from the Heavenly Dao space?"

"Not bad." Pan Xuan nodded.

"When Hongjun was alive, the Heavenly Way was controlled by his personal will. He commanded all living beings and manipulated power. That was 'selfishness'."

Now that he has left, if we still hold onto the Heavenly Way, how are we any different from Hongjun back then?

We established the divine way, built the underworld, and opened the human way, not to become a second master of the heavenly way, but to let the heavenly way return to its original state.

Utterly impartial, selfless, devoid of emotion or selfish desires, operating solely according to the rules.

The Ancestral Witch Emperor Jiang clapped his hands and laughed: "Good! What a wonderful 'perfect fairness'!"

Our Wu tribe has always been straightforward and hates those who engage in roundabout schemes.

If that's what the Heavenly Way looks like, then that's the Heavenly Way we all desire!

Zhu Jiuyin pondered, "But if we withdraw from the Law Gods, then within the Heavenly Dao, there will be no one left to restrain us..."

What if another force like Hongjun were to seize the opportunity to invade?

Pan Xuan said, "Therefore, after we withdraw, what we need to do is establish a 'heavenly rule'."

The Way of Heaven operates solely according to its rules, and no individual will is permitted to override them.

Once this rule is established, it is engraved into the origin of the Heavenly Way and will remain unchanged for all eternity.

Anyone who attempts to usurp the Heavenly Dao will be an enemy of the entire primordial world, an enemy of all of us, and of all the gods.

Upon hearing this, all the saints felt a chill run down their spines, but then felt relieved.

What Pan Xuan said was exactly what they were thinking.

The root of Hongjun's calamity lay in the fact that the Heavenly Way was usurped by one person.

Now that they have joined forces to overthrow him, how could they possibly repeat the same mistake?

Thus, an unprecedented ceremony was set forth.

On this day, the Twelve Ancestral Witches and the Three Pure Ones appeared together in the Heavenly Dao Space.

In that vast space, the twelve deities of law and the Dharma bodies of the Three Pure Ones once formed the true body of Pangu, suppressing Hongjun's will at its core.

Now that Hongjun has departed, these deities of the laws stand silently here, like guardians who have completed their mission.

Pan Xuan stood in the center of the space, his robes fluttering in the wind. He formed a hand seal and proclaimed loudly, "Deities of Law, return to your places!"

As soon as the words fell, the twelve Law Gods all trembled.

A radiant light flowed around him, then transformed into twelve streams of light, like weary birds returning to their nests, and entered the bodies of the twelve Ancestral Witches respectively.

The Dharma bodies of the Three Pure Ones also converged and returned to the body of the Three Pure Ones Taoist.

The true form of Pangu, which was once used to suppress Hongjun, had gradually dissipated after Hongjun left, and now it has completely disappeared without a trace.

The Heavenly Dao Space suddenly became vast and empty.

At that very moment, it seemed as if something within the Heavenly Dao had been loosened.

The original source of the Heavenly Dao, which was originally suppressed, distorted, and defiled.

Having lost all constraints of will, it began to operate on its own. That operation was so pure, so vast, so unstoppable.

The sun and moon rise and set in their respective order, the stars follow their orbits, the seasons cycle and repeat, cause and effect each follow their own path, and life and death each return to their proper place.

All the rules of heaven and earth seemed to be illuminated at this moment, and at the same time returned to a clarity that had never existed before.

Pan Xuan stood in the Heavenly Dao space, gazing at the self-operating Heavenly Dao, and suddenly felt a long-lost peace from the bottom of his heart.

He closed his eyes, as if he could hear the torrent of rules rushing in his ears.

There was no favoritism, no hatred, no scheming, and no selfishness.

It is simply the most impartial mirror, reflecting the cause and effect and karmic retribution of all things in heaven and earth, rewarding good and punishing evil without the slightest error.

"Heaven's way is perfectly just."

Pan Xuan murmured softly, "This is the true nature of the Heavenly Dao."

He opened his eyes and looked out at the vast, ancient land. There, sunlight shone, all things grew, and all living beings lived in their proper places.

He knew that from this moment on, the primordial world finally had a truly just and just Heavenly Dao that belonged to all living beings.

"Hongjun, do you think that once you leave, the primordial world will descend into chaos?"

Pan Xuan smiled slightly, his voice seemingly able to pierce through the endless chaos.

"But you're wrong. Only after you left did the Way of Heaven truly come alive."

Having reclaimed their divine powers, the twelve Ancestral Witches all felt a sense of lightness throughout their bodies.

These deities of the laws are part of their primordial spirit, and were originally formed to suppress Hongjun and create the true form of Pangu.

Each of the twelve sent a wisp of their original divine essence into the Heavenly Dao Space, where it operated ceaselessly day and night for countless years.

Now that the deity has returned to its rightful place and merged with its original form, the missing piece has finally been completed.

The primordial spirits of the twelve ancestral witches also underwent a transformative change during this process of contraction and expansion.

Di Jiang stood outside the palace, when suddenly his whole body trembled, and a vast aura surged out from his body.

He closed his eyes for a long time, and when he opened them again, there was a hint of disbelief in them: "My primordial spirit... has become as powerful as my physical body!"

Upon hearing this, the other Ancestral Witches were all shaken and began to look inward.

Sure enough, the primordial spirit, which had once lagged far behind the physical body and needed to be barely maintained by relying on the divine system and martial arts phenomena, was now back in existence.

Now it has caught up, achieving a perfect balance with that extremely savage physical body.

It turns out that the Twelve Ancestral Witches were born with unparalleled physical bodies, transformed from the essence and blood of Pangu, and their physical strength was enough to shake heaven and earth.

However, the primordial spirit is an inherent weakness of the Wu clan.

The Wu tribe has no primordial spirit and can only roam freely with their physical bodies, yet they are constrained in every way by the laws and principles of Tao.

Later, Pan Xuan used the Heavenly Enlightenment Light as the Primordial God of Houtu, and deduced the martial arts of using extraordinary phenomena to replace the Primordial God, thus freeing the Wu tribe from the shackles of their innate nature.

Even so, the primordial spirit is ultimately acquired later in life, and it is always slightly inferior to the innate physical body.

This time, the deity of law returned to his position, like a prodigal son returning home after years of fighting abroad, merging seamlessly with his original spirit.

Those strands of divine laws were originally from the same source as the Twelve Ancestral Witches.

Upon returning, he brought back the boundless insights he had accumulated from studying the workings of the Heavenly Dao day and night in the Heavenly Dao Space.

Such insights are far greater than those gained through thousands of years of seclusion.

In an instant, the Daoist aura surrounding the twelve Ancestral Witches almost solidified into a tangible form.

As Houtu Niangniang sensed the unprecedented feeling of fulfillment within her body, a glimmer of tears appeared in her eyes:

"The physical body and the primordial spirit are finally in harmony. From this day forward, we, the Wu clan, can truly say that we have made up for the deficiencies of our innate nature."

Pan Xuan stood aside, watching this scene, and felt greatly gratified.

He pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "Since all of you fellow Daoists have achieved perfect primordial spirits..."

"Then it's time to deduce the highest realm of martial arts."

"The Realm of Refining the Dao!" the twelve Ancestral Witches exclaimed in unison, their eyes gleaming with intense light.