Chapter 001: Pangu Opens the Sky and Changes Fate

  "I am Hong Jun, and now I will merge my body with the Heavenly Way. From this day on, Hong Jun is the Heavenly Way, and the Heavenly Way is not Hong Jun!" As soon as the Daozu Hong Jun let out a loud shout, his voice spread throughout the vast expanse of the universe in an instant. The Daozu lightly pointed to the illusory Creation Jade Plate above him, and its mysterious light filled the air, illuminating the entire universe. It transformed into a stream of creative energy carrying the true spirit of the Daozu, rushing towards the sky, breaking through the layers of thunder and whirlwinds, shattering the constraints of the River of Fate, stirring up great waves on the surface of the River of Fate, and finally merging with the Gate of Destiny above. The two became one, and a Heavenly Way Dharma Wheel appeared before the gate. The appearance of the Dharma Wheel in the world was like a sudden descent of auspicious clouds, a gushing forth of golden lotus flowers from the earth, a purple energy coming from 90,000 miles away, a rainbow stretching across the sky above the vast expanse, a sweet rain pouring down everywhere, plants and trees flourishing, all living things recovering from their illnesses, and people crying out in joy: "The Daozu is benevolent and compassionate!"

  A thick, majestic, and mysterious aura descended from the River of Destiny, pouring into the crown of the Taoist Ancestor's head. The Taoist Ancestor's breathing became increasingly ethereal, until the aura had fully entered his body. Then, it burst out from behind his head, coalescing into a magnificent wheel of light that illuminated the Purple Firmament! Hong Jun opened his eyes and addressed the three thousand guests in the Purple Firmament Palace below: "You may disperse now. In the future, you must embody the heart of Heaven above and treat all living things with kindness below. Follow the natural order of Heaven and do not act rashly!"

  With Sanqing and others as the leader of the 3,000 Purple Cloud Palace guests, they all kowtowed again and again, performed three kneels and nine knocks, thanking Daoye for his great kindness in teaching Daoism and resolving their doubts!

  Suddenly, the newly arrived Hou Tu Niangniang stepped forward and knocked on the ground to ask: "I beg to ask the teacher, our witch tribe, except for the ancestral witch, has no divine soul, no yuan god, and cannot see the heavenly machine. Even if we are lucky enough to hear the great way of heaven and earth today, what we gain is not much. Dare I ask the teacher, is there a way to break free?" As soon as she finished speaking, Hou Tu Niangniang looked at Hong Jun Dao Zu with a hot face, while many giant monsters from the side heard the words and their eyes turned red, with a fierce expression, as if they wanted to go forward and bite his flesh and gnaw his bones.

  And so, Hou Tu Niang Niang was one of the few among the twelve ancestral witches who inherited the blessings of Pangu. Although she also received the power of the pre-heavenly gods, Hou Tu's ability to connect with the earth and carry all things was not inferior to that of Zhuo Jiu Yin in terms of understanding the workings of heaven and predicting fortune and disaster. Since being blocked by Dao Zu during the war between witches and demons, although Zhuo Jiu Yin had not discovered it, Hou Tu found that her wandering soul in the world seemed to be shrouded in dust, feeling uneasy and anxious, as if the witch tribe was about to face a great crisis, but still unable to clearly understand the workings of heaven.

  Then, taking advantage of Hong Jun's third lecture, he was preparing to ask one party. Following the Daozu's lecture, the later Hou Tu Niangniang felt that the heavenly machine was more and more obscure, and the witch tribe had already fallen into a crisis without knowing it. So, under the situation of being uneasy in mind, she asked the Daozu, wanting to seek an answer. The Daozu heard this, and his eyes flowed with divine light. Finally, he said: "Forget it, forget it! This matter has its own destiny, your opportunity will appear on its own later!" After finishing speaking, he waved his sleeve robe and sent everyone out of the Purple Cloud Palace. Xuanwei only felt that after a flash in front of his eyes, he had already fallen to the mountain gate of Yuhua Xianshan. What Purple Cloud Palace was there?!

  Just as everyone left, a strange noise suddenly sounded, and then a strand of demonic energy burst out from the cushion where Daozu Hongjun was sitting.

  "Hahahaha, you've finally merged with the Way! What reason do you have to be confined by me now? You are no longer Hong Jun, but the Heavenly Way. Now is the time for the emergence of the Tianmo lineage from outside my domain!!!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, a surge of dark magic flew out from under Hong Jun's ancestral seat, coalescing into an old man in front of him. The old man looked like a candle flame in the wind, and at first glance, he seemed no different from the elderly humans of the mortal world. However, his body was surrounded by an aura of decay, decline, and destruction, revealing that he was not ordinary.

  Upon closer inspection, one would notice that the old man's body was constantly shifting between illusion and reality, with wisps of dark magic swirling around him like chains, suppressing the boundless and ever-changing aura within him.

  The old man's body gathered a faintly visible purple-black demonic energy chain, which was not simple. It was clearly the accumulation of countless living beings' resentment, evil energy, and other negative emotions after death, mixed with the old man's demonic energy, slowly accumulating and manifesting. If an ordinary Da Luo immortal were to be locked up by it, they would likely go mad, but what's even more terrifying is the dark black lotus platform under the old man's feet, which is said to be the twelve-part world-destroying Black Lotus of Mozu Luotuo. As the lotus flower opens, threads of primordial demonic energy crisscross, manifesting countless demonic heads around the old man, shrouding the originally ethereal Purple Heaven Palace in a dark wind array, with demonic energy surging into the sky. Hongjun Daozu didn't seem to mind at all.

  Hong Jun said calmly: "Yuanshi Tianmo, your current cultivation is close to the Hunyuan Great Dao, but you should also know your own mission. Although the foreign Tianmo should appear in the world, it's not the right time yet. Fellow daoist, go to the bottom of the Destiny River outside the heavenly realm and calm down for a thousand years first."

  Hong Jun's sleeve waved, and the old man in front of him, who was also Yuan Shi Tian Mo, was knocked into the bottom of the River of Fate. The river was filled with silt, which were the accumulated karma and curses of all living beings since the beginning of time. These silts continued to rise, causing the water in the River of Fate to flow more turbulently. When they reached a certain level, the river would overflow, changing countless possibilities and disrupting the balance of the universe. At the same time, the mud at the bottom of the river would turn into calamity energy, pulling more lives into the depths of the river. This was the cycle of catastrophe, where each disaster consumed some of the silt while accumulating more, and when the silt reached a certain level again, another catastrophe would occur. As the silt continued to accumulate, the time between catastrophes grew shorter. One day, when the River of Fate could no longer hold the silt at its bottom, it would spill all the silt into the world, creating an infinite catastrophe.

  Every grain of sand at the bottom of this river of fate is the result of countless heavenly spirits consuming and producing karma, as well as the thoughts, curses, and resentment left behind by countless living beings. Each grain of sand is enough to bring down a celestial being from their pedestal and turn them into an ordinary person. A handful of sand would be unbearable even for a Golden Immortal. However, this only applies to the living beings of the Primordial Wilderness. For the residual soul of Luo Yu, who gave birth to the Heavenly Venerable of the Origin - Yuanshi Tianmo, these sediments at the bottom of the River of Fate are actually excellent things. Yuanshi Tianmo manifested a vast expanse of magical cloud sea, constantly gathering up the sediment from the riverbed of the River of Fate. This is the thick and unbreakable karma that has accumulated over billions of years since the birth of the Primordial Wilderness world. Along with this karma, resentment, and curses, like an endless rolling tide, poured into Yuanshi Tianmo's body. The original sins at the bottom of the River of Fate, which were so numerous that they could not be recorded even if one were to use up all the bamboo slips in the four seas and three rivers, gradually decreased. The River of Fate, which had been quietly revealing its waves, also became much calmer.

  The originally peaceful Honghuang, since the third lecture of the Purple Mansion, has once again stirred up a wave of turmoil. Although the entire Honghuang has been peaceful for a hundred years, with no signs of killing or bloodshed, like a paradise, all those in the know feel that the entire Honghuang is trapped in an eerie calm before a storm. Especially Xuanwei feels suffocated by the impending doom, and the tragic events of the Dragon and Phoenix Tribulation still resonate deeply in his memory, prompting him to prepare for the worst without delay. Although he finds it strange, he plans to have his disciples seal themselves within their caves, recite the Huangting Jing, and carefully contemplate the Tao, avoiding any external entanglements that might lead to disaster, hoping to survive the great war a thousand years later!

  Suddenly, the Xuanwei felt a thread of joy emanating from the Jade Flower Fairy Mountain beneath his feet. The Jade Flower Fairy Mountain was originally a blessed land of immortals, with beautiful scenery and gathering the main spiritual energy of the Honghuang world. It had also been frequently cleansed by the sound of the Great Way due to Xuanwei's long-term recitation of the Taoist scriptures. As a result, the fairy mountain naturally had an aura of peace and tranquility surrounding it, with the air of morality lingering around, even subtly connecting with the spirits. This made it extremely sensitive to the heavenly calamity energy. Today, it suddenly emitted a clear joyful emotion, which was clearly not right.

  So, sitting quietly in the midst of the mysterious and subtle observation, the mysterious and subtle one immediately reacted, with his divine thoughts flowing on the surface of the River of Fate. Seeing the changes in the River of Fate, he suddenly reacted, muttering to himself: "So that's how it is, so that's how it is! There has always been a method to delay the calamity of fate between heaven and earth. No wonder the third Great War of Witchcraft was delayed for so long, and the accumulated calamity energy reached such an extent without breaking through the heavens. The scene before me perfectly explains this. Then, at the bottom of the River of Fate, it should be the ancestor of the Domain-External Heavenly Demon, the Primordial Heavenly Demon. I wonder what the Primordial Heavenly Demon looks like and where it comes from?????? Wait a minute, since the calamity energy has begun to be suppressed, can't we let Kong Xuan and others take this opportunity to go out and understand the cause and effect, accumulate merit??????" Thinking of this, the mysterious and subtle one immediately withdrew his divine thoughts from the surface of the River of Fate before the other great gods had a chance to react.