Inside Zixiao Palace.
"The aura of the Pangu True Form has completely vanished."
Hongjun's gaze pierced through the endless void, looking down at the Primordial World, and directly at the Pangu Temple.
Though Hongjun's gaze could pierce the endless void, it could not penetrate the Pangu Temple, and thus Hongjun remained unsure whether the Pangu True Form had truly dissipated.
To this day, Hongjun still could not forget that exact moment when the Pangu True Form had merged with the Primordial heaven and earth. At that very moment, his proud Saint position had been forcibly stripped away, and for the first time since achieving sagehood, he had felt fear.
"Pangu has fallen. This is the grand trend of the Heavenly Dao, and even Pangu cannot defy it."
Suddenly, an indifferent voice echoed inside Hongjun's head.
"Heavenly Dao."
Hongjun was utterly shocked. This was the first time the Heavenly Dao had initiated a conversation with him. In the past, it had only provided him with hints regarding heavenly secrets—such as the great battle against Luo Hu, and his post-enlightenment sermons, all of which were guided by the Heavenly Dao.
Yet this time, the Heavenly Dao had actually spoken, leaving Hongjun in disbelief.
However, Hongjun quickly recovered, realizing that the Heavenly Dao must have been awakened by the Pangu True Form.
"Indeed, it is I."
"Hongjun pays respects to the Heavenly Dao."
Hongjun hurriedly stood up and bowed respectfully.
After a brief pause, Hongjun finally voiced the doubt in his heart: "Heavenly Dao, has Pangu truly been resurrected? And the Primordial World was created by Pangu..."
"Pangu creating the Primordial World was a mission I bestowed upon him. His death upon opening the heavens—this is the grand trend of the Heavenly Dao." Seeming to know what was on Hongjun's mind, the Heavenly Dao directly interrupted what he was about to say.
(The Heavenly Dao is bragging; Pangu is stronger than the Demon God of Destiny.)
"But wasn't the Heavenly Dao born only after Pangu created the Primordial World?" Hongjun asked, perplexed.
"It is true that the Heavenly Dao was born after the creation of the Primordial World, but I am not merely the Heavenly Dao. I am also the Demon God of Destiny, the Demon God who rules over all destinies. Whether it was Pangu opening the heavens, the evolution of the Primordial World, or your attainment of sagehood, all of this has long been written in destiny."
"Destiny rules all."
The Heavenly Dao spoke coldly, as if narrating a matter of absolute insignificance.
"You must merge with the Heavenly Dao as soon as possible. Only then will you truly comprehend the might of destiny."
With these words, the Heavenly Dao vanished, as though it had never appeared at all.
"Destiny rules all."
Hongjun repeated these six words, a flicker of doubt crossing his mind. From beginning to end, the Heavenly Dao had never answered his very first question.
Had Pangu truly been resurrected?
Perhaps even the Heavenly Dao did not know.
"Pangu, the Wu Clan..."
***
Time flew, and a millennium passed in the blink of an eye.
Inside the Pangu Temple.
"He's awake! Father God is awake!"
The moment Panshi opened his eyes, Zhurong's excited voice rang in his ears.
"Father God—"
"Father God—"
"Father God..."
The Ancestral Witches all stared at Panshi with glowing eyes, making Panshi feel a chilling sensation all over, as if he were standing completely naked.
Wait, it seemed he really was naked.
With a thought, Panshi quickly conjured a set of clothes and put them on, finally feeling a bit better.
"Cough, cough—"
"I am not Pangu. I am Panshi, the incarnation of the Heart of Pangu."
"Impossible! You are Father God, the Father God summoned by us using the Twelve Heavenly Godsfiend Formation!" Zhurong retorted instinctively.
Hearing this, the other Ancestral Witches nodded in agreement. On Panshi, they felt the resonance of the very source of life, and Pangu was the source of life for the entire Wu Clan.
Panshi furrowed his brows slightly. Although he had fused with the Heart of Pangu and the Pangu True Form, his soul still belonged to his modern self from later times.
He was himself, and Pangu was Pangu.
He had no intention of becoming like Hongjun—where Hongjun was the Heavenly Dao, and the Heavenly Dao was not Hongjun—until eventually, Hongjun himself wouldn't even know whether he was Hongjun or the Heavenly Dao.
Seeing Panshi frown, Dijiang thought for a moment and said, "Panshi, even if you are not Father God, you are Father God's successor. You shall be the Wu Emperor of our Wu Clan and the lord of our people."
"Are you sure? Right now, I only have the cultivation of an Early Da Luo Golden Immortal," Panshi said, looking at Dijiang with a half-smile.
"Dijiang pays respects to the Wu Emperor."
Without the slightest hesitation, Dijiang dropped to his knees and bowed.
"Zhu Jiuyin, Jumang, Rushou, Zhurong, Gonggong, Qiangliang, Tianwu, Xizi, Shebijishi, Xuanming, and Houtu pay respects to the Wu Emperor."
"Very well. Since you all acknowledge me as the Wu Emperor, I shall assume this role."
Panshi nodded slightly. Come to think of it, he owed the Twelve Ancestral Witches his gratitude for surviving this ordeal.
"Understood—"
The Twelve Ancestral Witches stood up, staring intently at Panshi with shining eyes, awaiting his commands.
Looking at the weakened states of the Twelve Ancestral Witches, Panshi waved his hand and said, "All of you, go down and heal your injuries first!"
The Twelve Ancestral Witches had already fallen into a state of extreme weakness due to forcefully deploying the Twelve Heavenly Godsfiend Formation, and afterwards, each had forced out a drop of their core blood essence to help him condense the Pangu True Form. Even a millennium later, they had only recovered ten to twenty percent.
"Wu Emperor, if we all go into seclusion, what should we do if Dijun and Donghuang Taiyi come to attack?"
Zhurong had a hot-tempered personality and spoke his mind the moment the thought crossed it.
After all, Panshi was only at the Early Da Luo Golden Immortal stage.
"It is fine. Although I am only at the Early Da Luo Golden Immortal stage, I am more than capable of keeping Dijun and Donghuang Taiyi entertained. Besides, given your current condition, could you possibly fight Dijun and Donghuang Taiyi anyway?"
"But that Donghuang Taiyi is already a Half-Step Hunyuan Golden Immortal, and he wields the Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Eastern Emperor Bell..."
"Enough, Zhurong. We must trust the Wu Emperor. Moreover, what the Wu Emperor says makes complete sense; only when we have fully recovered can we truly assist the Wu Emperor." Dijiang cut off whatever else Zhurong was going to say.
Having experienced the previous battle, Dijun and Donghuang Taiyi likely wouldn't dare provoke the Wu Clan again anytime soon.
"Go on down and heal yourselves!"
"Yes—"
"Wait. Has the Wu Clan been collecting rare treasures of heaven and earth?" Suddenly, as if remembering something, Panshi stopped the Twelve Ancestral Witches as they were about to leave.
"We have. However, those things are of little use to our Wu Clan, so they are all kept in the Wu Clan treasury. By the way, the Wu Clan treasury has always been managed by Houtu," Dijiang replied immediately.
"Hmm."
A flash of delight crossed Panshi's eyes as he nodded. "Houtu, stay behind. Everyone else, go into seclusion and heal your injuries! When you emerge from seclusion, I will give you a surprise."
After all, he had recently acquired the Qiankun Cauldron from Hongjun. While this Qiankun Cauldron was mediocre in both offense and defense, it possessed a heaven-defying ability: it could forge Innate Spiritual Treasures.
Now that he had obtained the Qiankun Cauldron, he naturally had to make good use of it.
Of course, Panshi did not plan on forging Innate Spiritual Treasures. The Wu Clan lacked primordial spirits and could not refine Innate Spiritual Treasures; even if they obtained them, they could only look at them without being able to use them.
Instead, he planned to use those rare treasures of heaven and earth to forge a batch of divine weapons—divine weapons that could be refined with blood essence, divine weapons that had never before appeared in the Primordial World. This would surely give the Twelve Ancestral Witches, and indeed the entire Wu Clan, a pleasant surprise, and shock all living beings in the Primordial World as well.
"Wu Emperor, I will take you to the Wu Clan treasury," Houtu said.
"Alright, let's go."