In the eastern reaches of the Primordial World, the tides of the great battle had shifted. Laozi, Yuanshi, and Tongtian, realizing that a decisive victory was slipping through their fingers, had transitioned into a tactical withdrawal. They traded blows as they retreated, their movements fluid and practiced.
Behind them, the Twelve Ancestral Witches followed like a relentless storm. Murderous intent bled from their pores, their massive frames stepping through the jagged fractures of the Void Realm as they closed the gap.
"Sanqing! You can flee to the ends of the earth, but you will not escape us!" Di Jiang's roar shook the firmament. His blood was up, his killing intent surging. He had no intention of letting them go; he could feel the shift in their strength. If the Three Pure Ones weren't extinguished now, they would become a recurring nightmare in the eons to follow.
"You three shameless cowards! Do you have the spine to stand and face me?" Qiang Liang, the Ancestral Witch of Thunder, bellowed. His voice was a rolling tide of sound that swept across the mountains, flattening forests in its wake.
"You savages with your incomplete foundations," Yuanshi spat back, his voice dripping with aristocratic disdain. "In a fair, one-on-one duel, I would turn you into nothing more than drifting ash!"
Boom—
The pursuit tore away from the vicinity of Mount Buzhou. The earth groaned under the weight of their conflict as the Witches pressed the attack, determined to end the lineage of the Sanqing right then and there.
Shortly after the chaos cleared from the mountain range, two shadows—Bai Ze and Jiuying—slipped quietly into the peaks of Mount Buzhou.
"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, Fellow Daoist Fuxi... it has been too long."
Seeing the siblings, Bai Ze immediately cupped his hands, a warm, practiced smile spreading across his face.
"Fellow Daoist Bai Ze," Nuwa replied, her voice carrying a faint, knowing edge. "I assume you have come regarding the matters of the Ten Thousand Tribes? Surely you haven't traveled all this way just to discuss the Dao."
"Good news, truly!" Bai Ze said, choosing to skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point. "I have successfully persuaded Fellow Daoist Kunpeng. He has agreed to join our cause."
The silence that followed was heavy. Nuwa's brow furrowed, a mysterious, razor-thin smile playing on her lips. "Kunpeng? Fellow Daoist Bai Ze, your methods are truly impressive to have snared the Master of the North Sea."
She paused, her gaze sharpening. "However... if Kunpeng joins us, who is to lead? Him or me?"
Kunpeng was a man of cold schemes and ruthless ambition; he was not a creature designed for submission. Even if he pledged loyalty on the surface, his heart was a labyrinth of hidden calculations. Bai Ze had acted without her consent, bringing a rival into the inner circle without a single word of warning.
Nuwa did not look away. Her Phoenix eyes held a weight of absolute authority as she stared directly at Bai Ze, waiting for a response that would satisfy her.
"Naturally, you will lead, Fellow Daoist Nuwa," Bai Ze explained quickly, maintaining his smile. "I have already settled this point with Kunpeng himself."
In his mind, the matter was simple: the tribes needed protection, and Kunpeng brought raw, undeniable power. He hadn't considered the delicate ego of the North Sea Master or the political optics for Nuwa.
"Mhm. That is for the best, then." Nuwa's voice was flat, the subject closed for now.
During her time at Zixiao Palace, she had caught a glimpse of the shifting Heavenly Secrets. She saw Hongjun's desire for a 'Heavenly Court' to maintain order. In her mind, the integration of the Ten Thousand Tribes was merely a different facet of the same divine design. If the Saint placed such importance on 'order,' then whoever held the reins of the tribes held the keys to the future.
This might be a great Opportunity, she thought. Her irritation with Bai Ze's unilateral move began to dissolve, replaced by a cold, rising ambition. She suspected Kunpeng had sensed the same secret, which was the only reason a man like him would ever agree to such a thankless labor.
"Now that the Witches are occupied with the Sanqing, we have our opening," Bai Ze continued, his eyes glowing with the light of his own brilliance. As an Auspicious Beast, he was built to read the winds of fortune. Despite the chaos clouding the heavens, he felt that this was the moment to act.
"Fellow Daoist Bai Ze, I fear you are being too hasty," Fuxi interjected. His expression was solemn, his voice slow and heavy. "None of us have reached the Quasi-Saint stage. If the Ancestral Witches turn their eyes back to us before we are ready, we will be crushed."
Nuwa nodded; Fuxi had voiced her own initial concern.
"Sigh! What is there to fear?" Jiuying interrupted, waving a hand dismissively. "We aren't Quasi-Saints, yet we're still breathing, aren't we? Those Witches are just muscle-bound brutes. If you want to hide, they have no way of finding you."
"Hide?"
Nuwa and Fuxi looked at him with twin expressions of disbelief. Were they building a coalition of the Ten Thousand Tribes just to find a better cellar to crawl into? How would that be any different from the current state of the world?
"Cough!" Bai Ze nudged Jiuying sharply, silently cursing the man's lack of tact. At least he was marginally better than Ji Meng, but only just.
"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, Fellow Daoist Fuxi," Bai Ze asked, his tone turning serious. "How long until you are ready to Sever the Corpse?"
Nuwa paused, calculating the weight of her own progress. "A thousand years. At least."
Bai Ze nodded. "That is enough time. Within a thousand years, I will have the tribes mobilized and ready. By the time you make your breakthrough, the throne will be waiting for you."
He was confident in his own ability to handle the tedious logistics of empire-building.
"By the way," Nuwa said suddenly, her eyes flickering toward the sky. "Have you visited the Sun Star?"
"No," Bai Ze replied without a moment's hesitation. "Since I have asked you to lead, I saw no reason to contact the Three Crows."
Nuwa didn't reply immediately. She gazed up at the Sun Star, her thoughts drifting. She still didn't fully understand why Ling Xiao had sent Bai Ze to her in the first place.
"Fellow Daoist Ling Xiao is likely already a Quasi-Saint," Nuwa said, a faint smile returning to her face. "If he joined us, we might truly have the strength to look the Witches in the eye."
Bai Ze let out a bitter laugh. "Let's put that out of our minds. They wouldn't even agree to lead the Heavenly Court for the Saint. Why would they bow to us?"
"A pity," Nuwa conceded.
"It's nothing to be sorry about," Jiuying piped up again, oblivious to the atmosphere. "Fellow Daoist Kunpeng will reach the Quasi-Saint stage in a matter of days. By then, we'll have our own powerhouse to preside over us, even if—"
He stopped abruptly as a chilling, unfriendly gaze from the side cut his sentence short.
"Bai Ze, why are you looking at me like that?" Jiuying asked, genuinely confused.
Nuwa's expression had turned icy. "Bai Ze... Kunpeng is about to reach the Quasi-Saint stage? And you didn't think to mention this?"
"Fellow Daoist Nuwa, please, do not overthink it," Bai Ze said with a dry, forced laugh. "I didn't want to add to your pressure. There was no other motive."
He cursed Jiuying a thousand times in his heart. Pig teammates! They had no sense of the room, no understanding of how a woman like Nuwa would perceive being the 'leader' while a subordinate held the greater power.
"Bai Ze," Fuxi said, his voice cold and indifferent. "Is your plan to simply let whoever breaks through first sit at the head of the table?"
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