Another few thousand years passed. Suddenly, the sacred mountain trembled violently, and countless stones cascaded down its slopes as the shaking intensified, sending massive boulders rolling through the ravines.
Both Luohou and Aozheng flew up into the clouds to observe the unfolding scene below. They both knew that a spirit treasure was about to manifest.
Boom...
With a deafening roar, the towering sacred mountain suddenly fractured, a colossal fissure splitting it from peak to base.
A beam of golden light illuminated Honghuang, shooting straight into the firmament as the Hunyuan Golden Dipper slowly emerged from the cleft in the mountain.
The moment it appeared, the Hunyuan Golden Dipper attempted to flee, but Luohou had been waiting for a long time. How could he possibly let a top-grade Xiantian Spirit Treasure slip through his fingers?
Extending a hand, he conjured boundless demonic energy across the sky that instantly condensed into a ten-thousand-foot-long giant hand, snatching the Hunyuan Golden Dipper out of the air.
"How could I ever let you escape?" Looking at the Hunyuan Golden Dipper in his grasp, Luohou smiled broadly. This item was a true treasure—an exceptionally fine treasure indeed.
"Master, what manner of treasure is this?" Aozheng asked, catching the excitement on Luohou's face and realizing it must be extraordinary.
"This is the Hunyuan Golden Dipper, the primordial world's premier treasure of defilement. Even a Daluo Golden Immortal caught in this magical artifact three times will see their five qi dissipated and their three flowers severed above their crown. It is a top-grade Xiantian Spirit Treasure," Luohou explained with a smile.
"Ah! To think it is a top-grade Xiantian Spirit Treasure! Congratulations, Master, on acquiring such a supreme treasure," Aozheng hurriedly offered his congratulations.
Luohou chuckled, then instructed Aozheng to resume their flight toward Mount Buzhou.
Aozheng transformed into a hundred-foot-long crystalline dragon, with Luohou seated upon his back, and together they vanished into the horizon as a streak of crystal light.
...
Across the vast expanses of the Honghuang lands, countless ferocious beasts roared. The ferocious beast emperor Shenni issued a decree commanding all ferocious beasts to exterminate the living beings of Honghuang without exception.
Aside from Shenni, the ferocious beasts lacked intelligence and knew only slaughter, unleashing a storm of blood and terror across the entire realm.
At this dawn of creation, cultivators generally possessed relatively low levels of cultivation, and the great deities of Honghuang were still gestating, which allowed the ferocious beasts to run rampant for a time.
Amidst all this, Dao Ancestor Hongjun of Yujing Mountain remained entirely unmoved, looking upon these events with cold detachment.
After all, ordinary living beings were mere ants in his eyes, and why should he concern himself with the survival of ants? Besides, in Dao Ancestor Hongjun's view, comprehending the laws contained within the Jade Plate of Creation was of the utmost importance.
Dao Ancestor Hongjun always felt that his fated opportunity lay within that Jade Plate of Creation.
...
Unknown ages passed—perhaps a hundred years, perhaps ten thousand.
As Luohou sat atop Aozheng, deducing divine abilities, they inadvertently entered the region of Mount Buzhou, where a terrifying aura startled Luohou back to awareness.
"The aura of the Great God Pangu? It seems we have arrived at Mount Buzhou." Standing upon the dragon's head, Luohou gazed ahead at the sacred mountain piercing the clouds.
The clouds ten thousand feet up barely reached the base of the sacred mountain, giving a sense of its unimaginable height—likely exceeding one hundred and twenty thousand feet.
When the Great God Pangu once held apart heaven and earth, no one knew just how tall he eventually grew, but this Mount Buzhou was formed from the spine of the Great God Pangu.
"Master, this little dragon can go no further. The aura upon Mount Buzhou is far too overwhelming." Aozheng was forced to halt, unable to advance another step.
Luohou knew that Aozheng's current cultivation level was likely insufficient to endure the pressure of Pangu's aura; even he felt a degree of strain.
Although the Great God Pangu had perished countless ages ago, his lingering might remained undiminished. The Great God Pangu's cultivation had reached the final threshold in life, falling short by only a hair's breadth of entering the Hunyuan Dao Realm.
Yet Luohou's highest cultivation in the past had only been that of a Quasi-Sage, falling short of the Great God Pangu's realm by a myriad of miles.
"Wait for me here; I shall set up an array to protect you," Luohou had no wish to see his mount perish in the vicinity of Mount Buzhou.
Anyone who came here would be a powerhouse of formidable capability. Should they discover Aozheng's true form, murderous intent would inevitably follow, for a crystalline dragon's body was a repository of treasures from head to tail.
Luohou established an illusion array to conceal Aozheng within it. As long as Aozheng remained inside the formation, no one below the level of a late Daluo Golden Immortal would ever detect his presence.
Having settled this, Luohou flew toward Mount Buzhou alone.
The closer he drew to Mount Buzhou, the more overwhelming Pangu's divine pressure became. The sacred mountain felt as though the Great God Pangu himself were standing eternally between heaven and earth.
A ceaseless, boundless pressure beat down without rest, compelling Luohou to marvel at the might of the Great God Pangu while stirring a deep sense of yearning within him.
To act according to one's true demonic nature—that is what makes a demon!
With his mind clear and resolved, Luohou felt a spirit of rivalry awaken, and he was determined to act upon it. Such was the true nature of the demonic path; as the saying goes, while the Dao rises by a foot, the demon rises by ten—likely a legacy of this very disposition belonging to Luohou, the Ancestor of Magic.
Entering Mount Buzhou felt like stepping into a quagmire, save that this was a quagmire composed entirely of the Great God Pangu's pressure.
If mere arrival at the base of Mount Buzhou already produced such resistance and hampered his movement, what would it be like to climb higher?
Walking Mount Buzhou was like ascending a heavenly ladder, or carrying ten thousand sacred mountains upon one's back, making every single step an agonizing struggle.
In a single breath, Luohou climbed over ten thousand feet, faint beads of sweat unexpectedly forming upon his body—a remarkable occurrence for a Daluo Golden Immortal, who should have long transcended mortal frailties.
Ascending another ten thousand feet, Luohou felt his limbs grow heavy, as though sinking into a marsh.
When he reached a height of seventy thousand feet, Luohou stopped ascending and sat cross-legged. Within his mind, a vision spontaneously arose: the scene of the Great God Pangu cleaving open heaven and earth, with three thousand Demon Gods coming to block his path, raining countless attacks upon Pangu's body without inflicting even the slightest injury.
Such formidable physical resilience was akin to a Chaos Supreme Treasure!
At that moment, Luohou comprehended a body-tempering technique derived from Pangu's pressure—one far more profound and mysterious than the body-tempering methods found within the Primordial Demonic Scripture.
Instantly, boundless demonic energy surged for ten thousand feet, drawing in the spiritual qi of the entire Mount Buzhou to form a massive vortex swirling above Luohou's head.
In an instant, spiritual qi poured like a torrential cascade directly into Luohou's body.
"The Magic Dao is boundless, encompassing all creation!" Luohou shouted aloud.
All three hundred and sixty blood-apertures across his body flew wide open, absorbing the endless spiritual qi that then circulated through eighty-one heavenly cycles within his frame. Every single inch of his skin was nourished by the demonized spiritual qi, and paired with the specialized technique in operation, Luohou's physical body broke through to an entirely new tier.
"A resilience comparable to a low-grade Xiantian Spirit Treasure! This trip to Mount Buzhou has truly not been in vain. Let this technique be called the Nine Revolutions of Pangu."
Luohou was overjoyed. Such a technique was by no means inferior to the later generations' Nine-Nine Profound Technique of the Xuanmen or the Eight-Nine Profound Technique of Buddhism.
While the body-tempering methods in the Primordial Demonic Scripture could be imparted to disciples of the demonic path, the Nine Revolutions of Pangu could likewise be taught to his followers.
Luohou was ecstatic; equipped with this technique, future generations of the demonic path would stand on equal footing with the Xuanmen Daoist sects.
Suddenly, Luohou glanced toward a particular spot. A flash of green light had just vanished from there; had his spiritual sense not remained constantly cast outward, he would have thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.