Many children, many blessings; the twelve ancestral witches forced marriages throughout the primordi

With that domineering question, the void above Mount Sumeru shattered like a mirror.

A figure dressed in an apricot-yellow palace gown slowly walked out.

She didn't unleash any earth-shattering supernatural powers, nor did she emit any dazzling light. She simply stood there quietly, yet all the laws of heaven and earth seemed to bow down to her.

The earth bowed down beneath her feet, and the mountains and rivers fell silent before her.

Houtu.

Or rather, the true ruler of the land, the Lady of Peace.

Now, relying on her vast earthly merits and reincarnation authority, although she is somewhat suppressed within the scope of the Heavenly Dao, she is invincible wherever the earthly power extends.

Although Mount Sumeru is the sacred site of the Western religion, it is also a mountain and grows on the ground!

"Sis! You're finally here!"

Lin Xuan, who had just been acting indifferent and pretending to be a master, immediately changed his expression when he saw Houtu arrive. He ran over, hid behind Houtu, and started complaining about Zhunti.

"That bald monk is bullying us! He borrowed five million merits from us, and not only will he not pay it back, he's also trying to kill us to silence us! He even called our underworld a garbage dump, and said you were... cough cough, anyway, he said some really nasty things!"

Zhunti's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he heard this.

"Nonsense! I didn't say that! When did I ever insult Consort Pingxin?!"

"You were thinking that just now!" Lin Xuan said matter-of-factly. "I can read minds, and that's what your look just now meant!"

Houtu affectionately patted Lin Xuan's head, then turned around and looked at Zhunti and Jieyin, her eyes instantly becoming colder than ten thousand years of ice.

"Zhunti, how dare you!"

Houtu's voice wasn't loud, but every word struck Zhunti's heart like a heavy hammer.

"To borrow money and not repay it is to be untrustworthy; to lay a hand on a creditor is to be unrighteous; for a saint to do such a despicable thing is to be shameless."

"Does a faithless, unrighteous, and shameless person deserve to be called a saint?"

Zhunti's face turned red and white as he was scolded.

"Calm down! Don't go too far!" Zhunti roared, his voice trembling with fear. "I am a saint now! I am immortal! Although you are the Lord of the Earth, this is still the Primordial Land, the territory of the Heavenly Dao! You can't possibly kill me, can you?"

"Kill you?"

Houtu's lips curled into a faint, mocking smile.

"Killing you would be too easy for you. Besides, I never intended to kill you."

Houtu slowly raised her right hand and grabbed at the void above Mount Sumeru below.

"Imperial Edict for the Underground Passage: Sealed!"

"Boom—!"

The entire Mount Sumeru began to shake violently.

Countless earthen-yellow chains emerged from the ground, engraved with reincarnation runes and radiating an aura of suppression.

As if they were alive, they instantly wrapped around the spiritual veins and foundation of Mount Sumeru.

"What are you going to do?!" Jieyin exclaimed in shock.

"Since you don't have the money to repay the debt, then use the collateral as collateral."

Houtu said calmly.

"From this day forward, the spiritual veins of Mount Sumeru belong to the Underworld. Every wisp of spiritual energy, every stone, and every blade of grass here is an asset of the Underworld."

"Mount Sumeru... will be sealed off until the debt is paid off!"

As Houtu finished speaking, the chains tightened suddenly.

Mount Sumeru, which was not rich in spiritual energy to begin with, was instantly drained of all its blood. All the spiritual energy was forcibly extracted by the chains and transported back to the underworld along the earth's veins.

The flowers, plants, and trees on Mount Sumeru withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The once glittering sacred site has turned into a desolate mountain in the blink of an eye.

"No—! My spiritual veins! My very foundation!"

This was followed by a piercing scream. Mount Sumeru was their stronghold, built up over countless years; now that its spiritual energy had been drained, how could the Western Sect recruit disciples? How could it develop?

Zhunti was so angry that he trembled all over and raised the Seven Treasures Tree, ready to fight to the death.

"Pingxin! I'll fight you to the death!"