"Are the Twelve Ancestral Witches present? Tongtian has come to visit."
On this day, a resounding voice echoed from outside the ancestral land of the Wu Clan.
"Tongtian..."
Inside the treasure vault of the Wu Clan, Panshi paused his work on forging a divine weapon upon hearing this voice.
*Tongtian claims he is here to see the Twelve Ancestral Witches, but he is surely here for me.* A sharp gleam flashed in Panshi's eyes.
Ever since countless living beings across Honghuang had witnessed Pangu's "resurrection" within Honghuang, Panshi had anticipated that the Three Pure Ones would eventually come to Pangu Hall in the Wu Clan's ancestral land to seek him out.
However, he had not expected that out of the Three Pure Ones, only Tongtian would show up.
"The divine weapon is nearly finished anyway. I might as well go out and meet him!"
Panshi waved his hand, putting away the Qiankun Cauldron and the various forged divine weapons, and stepped out of the Wu Clan's treasure vault.
"Greetings, Wu Emperor."
A burly warrior with knotted muscles stood guard outside the vault. Seeing Panshi emerge, he hurriedly bowed.
"And you are?"
"Houyi, Great Wu of the Houtu Tribe, pays respects to the Wu Emperor."
"Ah, you are Houyi."
Hearing this, Panshi looked Houyi over a couple of times and nodded slightly. With a flick of his wrist, an archaic-looking great bow materialized. Black lightning crackled faintly along its frame, radiating an aura of absolute destruction.
"This is..."
Houyi stared at the ancient bow in Panshi's hands, feeling his blood surge and resonate with the weapon.
This felt utterly incredible to him.
The Wu Clan possessed no primordial spirit and could not refine Innate Spiritual Treasures—nor acquired ones, for that matter. Consequently, the Wu Clan typically relied on bare fists and physical might in combat.
As a result, members of the Wu Clan generally cared little for weapons.
Yet this archaic bow before him was actually stirring his blood into a frenzy. Involuntarily, a trace of yearning appeared in Houyi's eyes as he looked at the bow.
"I forged this bow as a top-grade divine weapon. I infused it with the origin of a Dutian Divine Thunder, and in terms of offensive power, it is in no way inferior to a top-grade offensive Innate Spiritual Treasure. Since you share a karmic affinity with it, I bestow it upon you."
"This bow can condense the power of heaven and earth into arrows, augmented by the Dutian Divine Thunder carried within the bow itself. Even if an opponent's cultivation is a minor realm higher than yours, they will be gravely injured if they are caught off guard."
A top-grade divine weapon was equivalent to a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure—though strictly in terms of offense, whereas Innate Spiritual Treasures possessed various profound and mysterious abilities besides.
Still, for the Wu Clan, this was more than enough.
In a daze, Houyi accepted the archaic bow as Panshi's voice continued beside his ear.
"I have just forged this bow and it has yet to be named. Since you share a bond with it, let us call it the Houyi Bow."
As Panshi's words fell, three archaic characters spelling "Houyi Bow" materialized upon the surface of the great bow.
"Many thanks, Wu Emperor! Many thanks, Wu Emperor..."
"Divine weapons do not require primordial spirits for refinement; they only need to be nourished by your own vital blood."
With those words, Panshi's figure soared into the air, transforming into a streak of escaping light that vanished toward the horizon.
"A divine weapon..."
Houyi stared intently at the divine weapon in his hands for a long while before reluctantly pulling his gaze away, muttering to himself:
"With this Houyi Bow, my strength will at least double. If every Great Wu and Ancestral Witch of our Wu Clan possessed such a divine weapon, what difficulty would there be in annihilating the Demon Clan? With the Wu Emperor here, our Wu Clan will surely conquer the entirety of Honghuang."
***
Outside the ancestral land of the Wu Clan.
After announcing his name, Tongtian waited quietly. Before long, he saw a streak of light fly through the air and halt right before him.
The moment he saw Panshi within the light, Tongtian's pupils contracted sharply.
"Tongtian pays respects to... pays respects to..."
"I am not Pangu," Panshi said, shaking his head.
"Yet your aura is identical to Pangu's."
As someone formed from Pangu's primordial spirit, Tongtian was confident that his senses could not possibly be mistaken.
"I am the manifestation of the Heart of Pangu, with the Dao title Panshi, and I am also the Wu Emperor of the Wu Clan. If I am not mistaken, your purpose in coming here is not to visit the Twelve Ancestral Witches, but to see me," Panshi said slowly.
Hearing this, Tongtian took a deep breath, calming his turbulent thoughts. Then, he bowed slightly to Panshi and said, "Shangqing Tongtian greets Fellow Daoist Panshi."
Panshi nodded slightly. "Among the Three Pure Ones, why have only you come? Where are Taiqing Laozi and Yuqing Yuanshi?"
"My eldest brother and second brother have gained insights and are currently in seclusion on Mount Kunlun. Once their seclusion ends—"
"Even when their seclusion ends, they will not come."
Interrupting him, Panshi said, "You needn't make excuses for them. They are not coming because they do not wish to offend Hongjun. I am rather curious—are you not afraid of offending Hongjun?"
"Teacher would not fault us over such a minor matter," Tongtian replied.
Looking at Tongtian's upright and candid expression, a trace of pity surfaced in Panshi's eyes, and he uttered words that left Tongtian dumbfounded.
"Hongjun is no good man."
Among the six sages of later generations, Tongtian was the one most deeply betrayed and trapped by Hongjun. First, Hongjun had bestowed upon him the Four Swords of Execution, which lacked the power to suppress karmic luck, making Tongtian a target of envy and wariness among the other sages.
During the Battle of Gods Investiture, Tongtian's massive Jie Cult was nearly completely wiped out by the combined forces of Taiqing Laozi, Yuqing Yuanshi, and the Westerners Jieyin and Zhunti.
In the end, he was even forced to swallow the Sage-Slaying Pill.
How utterly tragic was that?
"You... how can you speak of Teacher like that?"
Tongtian frowned, a majestic surge of sword qi radiating from his body. Were it not for Panshi's identity, he would have struck out at Panshi on the spot.
"Do you know of the Dao-Demon War?"
"Of course. In the last kalpa calamity, the Demon Ancestor Luo Hou sought to destroy Honghuang, and Teacher stepped forth to stop him, saving all living beings in Honghuang," Tongtian said with a look of adoration on his face.
Panshi shook his head at this.
"Does Fellow Daoist Panshi believe I am wrong? This is common knowledge throughout all of Honghuang, and Heavenly Dao even bestowed a vast amount of merit upon Teacher to help him attain Sagehood."
"I did not say you were wrong."
"Then why did Fellow Daoist shake your head?"
"I shook my head simply because what you and all living beings in Honghuang know is only a part of the Dao-Demon War—and specifically the part Hongjun wanted you to know."
Without waiting for Tongtian to speak, Panshi continued, "Back during the Dao-Demon War, to break Luo Hou's Heaven-Execution Sword Formation, Hongjun sought the help of three friends: Ancestor Qiankun, Ancestor Yinyang, and Ancestor Yang Mei.
In that battle, Ancestor Qiankun and Ancestor Yinyang went to help at Hongjun's invitation, yet Hongjun did not go all out from the start. He clearly possessed his three corpses, yet he only summoned them to help *after* Ancestor Qiankun and Ancestor Yinyang had died in battle.
Had Ancestor Yang Mei not sensed danger and fled, he likely would have suffered the exact same fate as Ancestor Qiankun and Ancestor Yinyang. The Qiankun Cauldron given to me by Hongjun was Ancestor Qiankun's supreme treasure, while Ancestor Yinyang's Taiji Diagram likewise fell into Hongjun's hands."
Hearing this, Tongtian could not help but recall the words Panshi had spoken when confronting Hongjun in the starry skies. Although Panshi had only spoken briefly then, it bore a striking resemblance to what he was saying now.
Most crucially, Hongjun had not refuted those claims at the time.
Could it be that everything Panshi said was true?
If all of this was true, then Teacher... no, Hongjun, truly was no good man.
Of course, the fact that Tongtian believed Panshi had a great deal to do with Panshi's identity as well.