Primordial Era: I am a treasure trove, full of magical treasures.

Deep within Mount Buzhou, the earth's veins trembled.

The fluctuations caused by the successive removal of the Corrosive Vein Nails finally alerted the demon race who had been secretly plotting against them.

Above the nine heavens, in the Heavenly Court, the Lingxiao Palace.

Emperor Jun sat high on his throne, eyes closed, the Hetu and Luoshu scrolls slowly unfurling in his hands. Suddenly, his brow furrowed, his eyes snapped open, and golden light burst forth: "Something's changed! The corrosive nails on Mount Buzhou are being removed! And at an incredibly fast pace; seven key points have already been breached!"

The demons in the hall erupted in chaos.

Taiyi stood beside Dijun, the illusory image of the Chaos Bell appearing and disappearing behind him. He said in a deep voice, "How could the Wu Clan react so quickly? The arrangement of the three hundred and sixty Corrosion Nails was extremely well concealed, and the power of the stars in the Zhou Tian Star Array was used to obscure the secrets of heaven..."

"Not the Witch Clan." Golden light gleamed in Di Jun's eyes as he deduced cause and effect through the Hetu and Luoshu diagrams. "It's Zhen Yuanzi! The Earth Book... it's the power of the Earth Book!"

"Zhen Yuanzi?!" Taiyi's pupils contracted. "He actually joined forces with the Witch Clan?"

Fei Lian stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Majesty, Zhen Yuanzi was on good terms with Hongyun. Hongyun perished because of our schemes, and he must hold a grudge. Now that he controls the Book of Earth, he can monitor the primordial veins, and the matter of the Corroding Vein Nail probably cannot be hidden from him. I just didn't expect that he would cooperate so deeply with the Witch Clan."

"It's alright," Di Jun said coldly. "Now that we've been exposed, there's no need to hide it anymore. Taiyi, you immediately lead 365 demon gods to set up the Zhou Tian Star Array and descend upon Buzhou Mountain! You must stop them from continuing to remove the Corrosive Vein Nails, and at the same time... accelerate the placement of the remaining nails!"

"Big brother wants to..." Taiyi's eyes flashed.

"Now that they've discovered it, let's detonate some of them ahead of time!" A ruthless glint flashed in Di Jun's eyes. "Seven of the twelve key nodes have already been breached; the remaining five must be secured. Immediately detonate the one hundred Corrosion Nails already planted at the non-key nodes! While not enough to severely damage the central vein of Buzhou Mountain, it's enough to trigger a large-scale tremor, disrupting the primordial spiritual energy of the wilderness, tying down the Wu Clan and Zhen Yuanzi, and buying us time to reorganize our plans!"

"Yes!" Taiyi accepted the order and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute." Di Jun stopped Taiyi and looked at Fei Lian. "Fei Lian, order Ying Zhao, Ji Meng, Fei Dan, and Qin Yuan to each lead their elite demon tribes to search for the myriad races of the prehistoric world from all directions. It's fine if they want to join my demon race, but if it's not what you know..."

"Yes, sir!" (The order is accepted.)

"Feilian, Jiuying," Dijun continued, "you two will accompany me to Buzhou Mountain to oversee the overall situation. This time, we must either completely control the changes in the earth's veins, or... make the Wu Clan and Zhen Yuanzi pay the price!"

"Yes!" Jiuying and Feilian responded in unison.

Di Jun stood up, looking at the surging sea of ​​clouds outside the hall, his eyes flashing with a cold light: "Now that the game is clear, let's make our move head-on. Mount Buzhou... If we win this battle, the Wu Clan's fortune will be severely damaged, the primordial earth veins will be damaged, and the spiritual energy of the primordial world will inevitably decrease. At that time, all the myriad races of the primordial world will naturally submit to the demon race, which possesses the power of infinite stars."

As for why Di Jun chose this path, it was because he discovered that the chaotic energy transformed by the Star Vein Spirit Transformation Array was converted into stellar spiritual energy. However, there were also drawbacks. Some chaotic energy would remain in these stellar spiritual energies, and over time, the demon race would become mentally unstable. Moreover, the demon race was now being targeted by Zhen Yuanzi in the prehistoric continent.

Finally, one day, for some unknown reason, Di Jun came up with this wicked plan. All that was needed was for the innate spiritual energy of the primordial world to decrease, and the myriad races of the primordial world would be forced to make a choice due to their need for cultivation...

As for the consequences, Di Jun can't care about that now. After all, he is now Hongjun's personal disciple. Hongjun didn't stop the demons from doing it, which proves that it's okay to do it.

"Pass the order: depart immediately!"

In an instant, the war drums of the Heavenly Court thundered, demonic clouds rolled in, and banners blotted out the sky. The phantom of the Zhou Tian Star Array slowly rotated above the Heavenly Court, gathering boundless stellar power, and a terrifying aura shook the Thirty-Three Heavens.

At this moment, Zhen Yuanzi's eyes reflected the dense network of vein-corroding nails in the earth's vein network. The second nail, the third nail... the peeling process became more and more skillful, but the mental strain also became more and more intense.

Just as the seventh Corrosion Nail was sealed into the Earth Box, Zhen Yuanzi's expression suddenly hardened as he looked at the Earth Book in his hand.

On the ground book, several moving marks suddenly disappeared, as if their perception had been blocked by some force.

"This is bad," Zhen Yuanzi said in a deep voice. "The demon race has noticed."

Houtu also sensed the subtle tremors of the earth: "The earth veins are giving abnormal feedback... They are urgently evacuating the un-laid corrosive nails, while activating the ones that have already been laid."

As soon as the words were spoken, a muffled rumble came from the depths of the earth's veins. Although suppressed by the barrier of time and the power of the earth, the fluctuation was like the murmur of a sleeping beast, chilling to the bone.

"They're detonating some of the Corrosion Vein Nails!" Zhen Yuanzi's expression changed drastically. "Although they're not at the core nodes, it's enough to cause the earth's veins to tremble!"

"Zhurong, Gonggong, go and investigate immediately!" Houtu urgently ordered.

The two ancestral witches transformed into red and blue streaks of light, shooting off to the north and south respectively. A moment later, Zhu Rong returned, his face grim: "Three ley lines on the northern slope of the mountain have been detonated, causing the earth's energy to leak out and forming three deep fissures, each ten thousand feet deep."

Gonggong then returned: "Two nodes on the southwest slope have been destroyed, the underground water veins have flowed backward, and the area within a thousand miles has become a swamp."

Zhen Yuanzi activated the Earth Book to investigate the condition of the earth veins, his expression growing increasingly grave: "The earth vein tremors have begun to spread. If they are not calmed in time, they may trigger a chain reaction. What's even more troublesome is... some of the Corrosive Vein Nails have become more entangled with the earth veins, and the demon race has strengthened the restrictions remotely."

"Can it still be cleared?" Houtu asked.

"Yes, but it will take more time and be riskier." Zhen Yuanzi looked towards the Pangu Palace. "This matter needs careful consideration. Now that the demon race knows, they must have a backup plan."

"Let's go back to Pangu Palace first!" Houtu decided immediately.

The four returned to the Pangu Palace. Zhu Jiuyin and Dijiang had already sensed the change and their expressions were solemn.

"The demon race has made a move?" Di Jiang asked.

Zhen Yuanzi briefly explained the situation, and Di Jiang slammed his fist on the stone platform, causing spiderweb-like cracks to appear: "Well done, Di Jun! Well done, demon!"

Zhu Jiuyin calculated with his fingers, the vertical lines between his brows flickering: "The timeline has become chaotic... The demon race's actions are intended to delay; they have a bigger scheme."

"What are you plotting?" Zhu Rong pressed.

"I don't know." Zhu Jiuyin shook his head. "The secrets of heaven are obscured; there is the intervention of a sage."

"A sage?" All the ancestral witches were astonished.

In the primordial world, those who could be called saints were few and far between. The Three Pure Ones, though saints, each established their own sects and rarely intervened in the conflicts of the primordial world. Nuwa, though a saint, secluded herself on Phoenix Perch Mountain after creating humanity and becoming a saint herself, rarely taking action. The two Western Saints resided on the Western Spirit Mountain, and by all accounts, they shouldn't have intervened, unless…

Zhu Jiuyin added, "The secrets of heaven are chaotic, and cause and effect are intertwined. It is highly likely that a sage has intervened."

The atmosphere inside the main hall was heavy. If the sage were to intervene, things would become even more complicated.

"Are we really going to sit idly by and watch the demon race destroy Buzhou Mountain?" Gonggong roared.

"Of course not," Dijiang said decisively. "But we need to change our strategy. Fellow Daoist Zhen Yuanzi, is it possible that the ley line tremors have subsided?"

Zhen Yuanzi pondered and said, "We can try to use the power of the Earth Book to dredge it, but we need the cooperation of the Ancestral Witch Houtu, and a large amount of Wutu essence is needed to stabilize the earth veins."

"The essence of Wu Earth..." Di Jiang pondered for a moment, "Deep within Mount Buzhou lies the source of Wu Earth, formed from the essence left behind by the Father God. Though not much, it should be enough. Hou Tu, take Fellow Daoist Zhen Yuanzi to retrieve it."

"Yes," Houtu replied.

"As for the demon race..." Di Jiang's eyes flashed coldly, "If they want to play, we'll play along to the end. Second brother, can you predict the demon race's next possible target?"