Boom! Boom! Boom!
Under the overwhelming pressure of Dao Ancestor Hongjun, the Ancestral Witches, Great Witches, and minor witches in Mount Buzhou all dropped to their knees one after another!
Though their hearts burned with defiance and reluctance, the saying "beneath the Saints, all are mere ants" was no empty phrase. What's more, this was Hongjun himself, who wielded the Heavenly Dao!
Even Dijiang felt that death was only a hair's breadth away!
Yet even so, he refused to kneel. Pumping his inner cultivation technique to the absolute limit, he desperately resisted the pressure while looking straight at Dao Ancestor Hongjun. "What, does the Dao Ancestor intend to exterminate the Wu Clan?"
"Very well! I humbly invite the Dao Ancestor to wipe us out!"
With that, he made an inviting gesture and shouted at the top of his lungs!
"Eldest Brother?"
Hearing this, Houtu and the rest of the Ancestral Witches stared at Dijiang in bewilderment, their faces a mask of utter disbelief.
But catching Dijiang's reassuring gaze, they gritted their teeth, forced themselves to their feet, and roared in unison, "We humbly invite the Dao Ancestor to wipe us out!"
"We humbly invite the Dao Ancestor to wipe us out!"
"We humbly invite the Dao Ancestor to wipe us out!"
Even the other Great Witches and minor witches followed suit!
"This!"
The onlookers were dumbfounded all over again!
Some wondered if these Wu Clan members had completely lost their minds.
The Dao Ancestor himself wanted to exterminate them, and yet they were actually begging him to do it! Was there ever such a suicidal way to live?
For a moment, everyone waited to see what Dao Ancestor Hongjun would do next.
"Hmph, enough of this! Heaven loves all living things; to slaughter an entire race merely for one's own selfish desires would violate heavenly harmony!"
The very next moment, just as everyone braced themselves, the terrifying pressure radiating from Dao Ancestor Hongjun vanished in an instant, followed by a heavy sigh!
"Ah?"
Everyone froze, staring at Dao Ancestor Hongjun in sheer astonishment!
*Violate heavenly harmony? You've already merged with the Heavenly Dao, and you're worried about heavenly harmony?*
Nobody believed this excuse for a second, but daring not question him, they could only shift their gaze back to Dijiang.
After all, judging by Dijiang's composure, they figured he must know something!
Dijiang, however, completely ignored them. A cold smirk played at the corner of his mouth as he thought to himself: *Coward!*
The truth was, the moment Dao Ancestor Hongjun had threatened to exterminate the Wu Clan, Dijiang knew he was just bluffing and didn't dare follow through at all!
After all, the Wu-Monster Tribulation was ordained by the Heavenly Dao. For Hongjun to wipe out the Wu Clan—what would become of the Yao Clan? Who would fight the tribulation? The time was not yet ripe; this was merely the beginning! If he actually struck, wouldn't his Heavenly Dao father beat him to death?
Of course, aside from that, there was another crucial reason rooted in Dijiang's memories of the Primordial World from his past life.
Whether it was the Wu Clan or the Sanqing, aside from possessing Pangu's creation merit, they also carried Pangu's creation karmic fortune and creation karma!
And this was precisely why the Heavenly Dao of the Primordial World, and Hongjun himself, never dared to strike directly against the Wu Clan or the Sanqing. If they wanted to deal with them, they had no choice but to leverage the tribulation and use someone else's hands!
This fact was clearly evident from how the Yao Clan was deployed during the Wu-Monster Tribulation, and how the Sanqing were forced to swallow Saint-Slaying Pills during the Investiture of the Gods.
Naturally, these had merely been speculations from Dijiang's past life; he couldn't be entirely certain if they were true. But now, he felt confident they were spot on!
"However, although wiping out the entire Wu Clan would violate heavenly harmony, eliminating certain individuals is entirely permissible!"
Just as everyone remained baffled, utterly bewildered by what had transpired between Dao Ancestor Hongjun and Dijiang, Hongjun's voice rang out once more!
The moment the words fell, the horrifying pressure that had previously weighed down upon all the members of the Wu Clan converged entirely upon Dijiang!
A mouthful of blood spewed from Dijiang's lips as his body was sent flying through the air!
Looking down at Dijiang with cold eyes, Dao Ancestor Hongjun declared, "Dijiang, since you defy the Heavenly Dao and show no respect to a Saint, today I shall represent the Heavenly Dao and eradicate you!"
At this moment, Dao Ancestor Hongjun was genuinely filled with lingering resentment!
Following his own personal desires, he would have loved nothing more than to wipe out the Wu Clan entirely. But he couldn't do that; the consequences were simply more than he could bear. And not just him—even the Heavenly Dao behind him couldn't handle it!
Therefore, having weighed his options, Dao Ancestor Hongjun had settled on a second-best alternative: killing Dijiang!
He was now certain that Dijiang was the variable of this tribulation!
Though eliminating a variable would require him to pay a certain price, that price was vastly smaller than wiping out the entire Wu Clan!
Besides, given his connection to the Heavenly Dao, he could easily withstand the backlash.
So right now, Hongjun was determined to kill Dijiang!
In his eyes, since Dijiang was the variable of the tribulation, once he was eliminated, the tribulation would naturally return to its proper course!
"Kill me?"
Hearing this, Dijiang frowned.
"Hongjun, you dare!"
The other Ancestral Witches and the rest of the Wu Clan glared at Hongjun with furious eyes.
The great powers of the Primordial World reacted similarly.
Of course, they weren't angry on the Wu Clan's behalf; they merely thought that this Dao Ancestor seemed a bit lacking in class. A grand Dao Ancestor, stooping to attack a junior?
Still, not daring to voice their thoughts, they could only resolve in their hearts to keep a safe distance from the Dao Ancestor in the future!
"That's right. You show no respect to the Heavenly Dao, and you deserve to be executed!"
Hongjun nodded faintly, a confident smile gracing his face.
"You cannot kill me!"
Dijiang, however, suddenly chuckled and shook his head!
"Oh?"
Everyone froze, turning bewildered gazes back toward Dijiang!
Given Dao Ancestor Hongjun's might, let alone Dijiang, who was merely at the Mid-Hunyuan Golden Immortal stage, even a Saint could presumably be eradicated! How could he possibly fail to kill him?
Even Dao Ancestor Hongjun looked at Dijiang in astonishment, finding it somewhat amusing. *This brat is truly overly confident. Can I, a dignified Dao Ancestor, really not even kill a mere Quasi-Saint?*
Hum!
Yet the very next moment, just as that thought crossed his mind, a hum echoed from behind Dijiang. Then, a Golden Wheel of Great Dao Merit radiating dense Great Dao aura appeared, followed by a second, a third, a fourth...
It did not stop until a full nine Golden Wheels of Great Dao Merit gathered behind Dijiang!
Bathed in the golden light of merit, Dijiang exuded a divine aura that left every living creature in the Primordial World utterly dumbfounded!
"This—is this Great Dao Merit?"
"Good heavens! Didn't the Great Dao recede? After the creation of the world, hasn't the Great Dao been absent? How can there still be Great Dao Merit?!"
The crowd stared at Dijiang in disbelief!
"Eldest Brother?"
Houtu and the other Ancestral Witches wore identical expressions of absolute shock!
Nuwa, Tongtian, Taishang Laojun, Yuanshi, and Dijun reacted the same way, their eyes widening in horror.
Even Dao Ancestor Hongjun, who had been brimming with confidence just moments before, instantly frowned and demanded in a cold voice, "How do you possess Great Dao Merit?!"
Hongjun was genuinely startled by Dijiang. As the spokesperson for the Heavenly Dao, he was already thoroughly tied to its interests, yet even he possessed no Great Dao Merit!
Yet here Dijiang was, not only possessing it, but having condensed a full nine Golden Wheels of Great Dao Merit!
How terrifying was that?!
One had to know that nine was the absolute limit. Just how much Great Dao Merit must have been consumed to forge these nine merit golden wheels?!
Of course, he had no way of knowing that inside Dijiang's System inventory, there were still over a hundred million points of Great Dao Merit waiting—so many that if the merit golden wheels hadn't reached their absolute limit of capacity, Dijiang could have maxed them out on the spot!
If Hongjun knew that, he probably would have had a mental breakdown!
Observing Hongjun's expression, Dijiang smiled faintly. "This doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Dao Ancestor, does it?"
"Well? Does the Dao Ancestor still wish to kill me now?" he asked cheerfully, looking straight at Hongjun.
What a joke. If Dijiang didn't have a few trump cards and some reliable methods, would he dare act this brazenly?
Did he not know that in this Primordial World, strength was everything?
Of course he knew. And precisely because he knew, Dijiang had prepared this move for himself long in advance!
With these Great Dao Merits, unless someone was suicidal enough to perish together with him, nothing catastrophic could happen to him!
After all, Great Dao Merit represented Grandfather Great Dao itself!
Anyone wanting to harm Dijiang first had to consider whether they could withstand Grandfather Great Dao's wrath!
Listening to Dijiang's words, Dao Ancestor Hongjun fell silent.
He was silenced by sheer fury!
*Damn it!* Words failed him entirely; only vulgarities could capture his mood at this moment.
Nine wheels of Great Dao Merit—it wasn't that this stuff *couldn't* be bypassed to kill someone, but the price of doing so was far too high!
So high that he simply couldn't afford it!
Consequently, Dao Ancestor Hongjun felt as though he had just swallowed a dead fly—utterly nauseating, yet leaving him entirely helpless!
"Hmph! The Wu-Monster War is suspended for one hundred thousand years! Within these one hundred thousand years, neither the Wu Clan nor the Yao Clan shall initiate large-scale warfare!"
In the end, Dao Ancestor Hongjun could only let out a cold snort and prepared to take everyone away.
What's the point of staying here when he couldn't kill him?
"Dao Ancestor, stay your hand!"
Before he could leave, however, Dijiang's voice rang out.
Pointing toward Dijun, Eastern Emperor Taiyi, and the rest of the Yao Clan members, Dijiang said calmly, "Dao Ancestor, you are welcome to take your disciples, but why are you walking off with my spoils of war?"