Primordial Era: A brick knocks Hongyun unconscious, and he seizes the throne at the start.

The secret chamber of Lingshan Mountain is filled with the gentle fragrance of sandalwood.

Jieyin and Zhunti stared at Lu Chen, who was squatting in the center of the secret chamber, their expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

"You...how did you get in?!" Zhunti's Bodhi branch trembled. "This secret chamber has eighty-one layers of Buddhist restrictions. Below the level of a saint..."

"Those below the rank of sage cannot enter?" Lu Chen stood up, patting non-existent dust off his green robe. "But I've already entered."

He grinned, revealing eight white teeth: "As for how you got in—fellow Daoists, your array-setting skills have declined drastically since your reincarnation and re-cultivation. The eighth and sixty-third layers of restrictions use the same set of array eyes, and the Buddha seal of the thirty-second layer is missing half a hook... Even my watchdog could sneak in with such a loophole."

The guide's face turned ashen: "Lu Chen, don't try to win with your words! You trespassed into the forbidden Buddhist grounds and stole..."

"Wait a minute." Lu Chen raised his hand to interrupt, "Who said I 'stole' it? I'm here to 'retrieve' it."

He pointed to the corner of the secret room—where more than a dozen treasures were piled up, with replicas of the Tai Chi diagram and the Pangu Banner prominently displayed on top!

"The stolen replicas from Treasure Distribution Cliff are indeed here with you." Lu Chen sneered. "The Dao Ancestor asked me to retrieve three pieces, so now we have everything we need?"

Jieyin and Zhunti exchanged a glance and attacked simultaneously!

Amitabha Buddha's palm! Bodhi's divine light!

Two Saint-level attacks sealed off all of Lu Chen's escape routes—although they had only recently become Saints and their cultivation had not yet fully recovered, Saints are Saints after all, and this attack was enough to make a Quasi-Saint peak die!

Lu Chen remained calm and unhurried. He took out a small notebook from his pocket, opened it to a page, and read aloud:

"In the year 32,100 of the Primordial Era, the Guide Daoist secretly met with the Styx Ancestor in the depths of the Blood Sea. In exchange for the promise of reserving a Buddha's seat for the Blood Sea when Buddhism flourishes in the future, he received three seeds of the Twelfth Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus..."

The hand that was supposed to guide the way froze in mid-air.

Lu Chen continued reading: "In the same year, Daoist Zhunti disguised himself as a traveling merchant and sold 'Witch-Breaking Talismans' to the Heavenly Court of the Demon Clan, claiming that they could break the true form of the Ancestral Witch. In reality, he used worthless talismans tainted with the resentment of the Witch Clan to impersonate them, and swindled three thousand catties of innate spiritual materials from the Demon Clan..."

Zhunti's face turned pale.

"And this one, from 35,000 years ago in the Primordial Era, two people joined forces to kill the rogue cultivator 'Purple Cloud Daoist,' stealing his natal spiritual treasure 'Purple Cloud Handkerchief,' and afterwards disguised it as the work of the demonic path..."

"Enough!" Jieyin roared, but had already withdrawn his palm strike. "Lu Chen! Where did you get all this?!"

"Kunpeng's place." Lu Chen closed his notebook, smiling innocently. "That old bird was punished to go to the North Sea. Before he left, he sold me his 'Complete Collection of Black Material' that he had accumulated over tens of thousands of years, in exchange for me promising to bring two roasted cranes when I visit him in the North Sea in the future."

He waved the notebook around: "It contains not only your stories, but also those of the Styx River, Di Jun and Tai Yi, and even some less-than-honorable little things from the early days of the Three Pure Ones... You two, what do you think would happen if I accidentally 'dropped' this notebook at the entrance of Jade Void Palace?"

Both Jieyin and Zhunti broke out in a cold sweat.

Even saints fear their dark past, especially when they have just been reincarnated and urgently need to establish a public image.

"What...do you want?" Zhunti asked through gritted teeth.

"Simple." Lu Chen held up three fingers. "First, I'll take those two replicas from the Treasure Dividing Cliff to hand over. Second, I'll give you 30% of the remaining stolen goods from the Treasure Dividing Cliff. Third..."

He paused, his smile becoming meaningful: "I need you to help me leave a 'back door' in the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array."

"What?!" Jieyin's eyes widened. "You want to control the demon race's grand formation? Impossible! That's Di Jun and Taiyi's natal grand formation, an outsider..."

"Outsiders won't be able to, but sages can," Lu Chen interrupted. "Although your cultivation hasn't fully recovered, your sage marks are still there. I want you to secretly implant a 'Buddhist Salvation Seal' into the core of the great formation—the eye of the Sun Star Formation—the next time you go to the Heavenly Court for the 'Dao Discussion'."

Seeing the sudden change in their expressions, he added, "Don't worry, I'm not really letting you control the formation. It's just leaving a mark so that when the Lich War reaches its most crucial moment, I can make the formation 'block' for three breaths."

Three breaths are enough to change the outcome of a war.

After a long silence, Jieyin finally spoke in a hoarse voice, "What if we don't agree?"

"Then I'll make three thousand copies of this book and scatter them throughout the land." Lu Chen shrugged. "Anyway, my reputation is already ruined, so I don't care if it gets even worse. But you two... the Buddhist sect has only just been established; it can't afford this kind of 'scandal,' can it?"

Zhunti looked at Jieyin, his eyes filled with struggle.

Finally, Jieyin sighed, "...We agree."

"Great!" Lu Chen snapped his fingers, putting away the notebook. "I'll take those two replicas first. You guys clean up the rest of the stolen goods; I'll come back for them in three days. As for the Buddhist Salvation Seal..."

He took out a golden lotus seed from the Qiankun Diagram—the very same golden lotus seed of merit that Styx had stolen from him on the Western Spirit Mountain and then intercepted by him.

"Using this as a carrier will make the transmutation seal more concealed."

Zhunti took the lotus seeds, his expression complex: "You even prepared this... Lu Chen, what exactly do you want to do?"

"Me?" Lu Chen turned and walked towards the door of the secret chamber, then turned back and smiled, "I just want to survive this great calamity."

The figure disappeared into the barrier.

In the secret room, Jieyin and Zhunti remained silent for a long time.

"Senior brother, are we really going to help him?" Zhunti smiled bitterly, "This is playing with fire..."

"If we don't help, Buddhism will be finished immediately." Jieyin closed his eyes. "If we help, at least there's still room for maneuver. Besides..."

He opened his eyes, a glint of shrewdness in them: "Lu Chen only wanted to make the great formation 'stalle' for three breaths, which means he doesn't want to completely destroy the demon race. His goal is probably something else."

"You mean...?"

"The Witch Clan," Jieyin said slowly, "Lu Chen is getting too close to the Witch Clan. He likely caused problems with the Zhou Tian Star Array to give the Witch Clan an advantage in the final battle. But if this happens, and the Demon Clan is defeated, the Buddhist sect can seize the opportunity..."

He didn't finish speaking, but Zhunti already understood.

With the demon race defeated, the Western religion can then advance eastward and spread its teachings to the East.

"So, we're actually using Lu Chen?" Zhunti's eyes lit up.

"It's just mutual exploitation." Jieyin looked at the treasures in the corner of the secret chamber. "Giving him 30% of the loot in exchange for the opportunity for the great prosperity of Buddhism... it's worth it."

The two began to inventory the treasures.

At this moment, Lu Chen had already returned to his hiding place on the outskirts of Buzhou Mountain.

Hunyuanzi was taking stock of the "junk" he had picked up from the Lich War battlefield—dozens of damaged acquired spiritual treasures, hundreds of bottles of pills, and a pile of blood-stained innate spiritual materials.

"My Lord, the harvest is quite good." Hunyuanzi looked up. "Have you taken care of Jieyin and Zhunti?"

"Done." Lu Chen tossed the replicas of the Tai Chi diagram and the Pangu Banner into the Qiankun Diagram. "Go collect the rest in three days. Now..."

He looked toward Mount Buzhou, where blood energy surged to the sky and malevolent energy condensed into solid black clouds.

Both the witch clan and the demon clan are working diligently to forge "murderous weapons".

The ancestral witch Zhurong captured seven demon saints and bled them every day to forge a sword. It is said that the sword has already taken shape.

The demon race was even more ruthless. Emperor Jun personally launched a surprise attack on the Gonggong tribe, capturing three thousand elite Wu tribe warriors and throwing them all into the weapon-refining furnace. The Wu-Slaying Blade was about to be completed.

"Both of these deadly weapons have been tampered with." Lu Chen's lips curled into a cold smile. "The Demon-Slaying Sword of Zhu Rong has its thirty-seventh and eighty-ninth steps reversed, so it will backfire on its master when used. As for the Witch-Slaying Blade of Di Jun, I added a little 'ingredient' to the materials list—three drops of the resentful blood of the Chaos Demon God, which will erode one's mind if used for a long time."

Hun Yuanzi gasped, "My lord, your methods are too ruthless..."

"Under the Great Calamity, it's either you die or I die," Lu Chen said calmly. "Besides, even if I didn't tamper with them, more lives would have been lost after these two deadly weapons were forged. By doing it this way, at least they can be rendered useless ahead of time, reducing the amount of bloodshed they cause."

He paused, then added, "Of course, the main reason is to profit. When the enemy retaliates and both sides are severely injured, we'll go collect the corpses... cough cough, clean up the battlefield, and make another killing."

Hunyuanzi remained silent.

He's getting more and more adept at playing both sides.

"Oh, right." Lu Chen remembered his business and took out the genuine Hetu Luoshu. "Let's study this and see if we can find the complete diagram of the Zhou Tian Star Array."

He unfolded the Luoshu (洛书).

The jade book opened automatically, and countless star trails flowed across the pages, evolving into the myriad changes of the Zhou Tian Star Array.

Lu Chen was dazzled by what he saw, but the more he looked, the more alarmed he became.

This formation... is incredibly ingenious.

With the Sun and Moon at the core, 365 main stars as the framework, 14,800 auxiliary stars as the veins, and billions of stars projected as soldiers.

Once the formation is fully activated, it can mobilize the power of the entire primordial starry sky, crushing anything below the level of a saint!

"No wonder the Witch Clan was beaten so badly..." Lu Chen murmured.

But he soon discovered the problem.

The array diagram recorded in the Luoshu is missing a part—the most crucial energy flow route has been deliberately erased.

"Di Jun has a trick up his sleeve." Hun Yuanzi leaned over to take a look. "But we have the Morning Bell and the Sun Star Array Flag, so we should be able to deduce it."

"Let's give it a try." Lu Chen placed the Morning Bell and the array flags in front of him and, in conjunction with the Luo Shu, began to deduce the formation.

Three days and nights.

As the sun rose on the fourth day, a glint flashed in Lu Chen's eyes: "Found it!"

In the fold of the last page of the Luo Shu, he found a passage of small characters written in chaotic divine script—it was a record of Di Jun's insights on formations, which included the complete energy flow route!

What surprised him even more was that the notes also mentioned a "fatal flaw" in the Zhou Tian Star Array:

"The great formation uses the sun and moon as its eyes; only when yin and yang are in harmony can its power be revealed. However, the sun is extremely yang, and the moon is extremely yin; if the two are out of balance, the formation will collapse. Therefore, the 'Yin-Yang Harmony Seal' is needed to guard the formation's eyes. This seal can only be activated by members of the demon royal family..."

Lu Chen's eyes lit up.

An imbalance of Yin and Yang?

He possesses the inheritance of the Morning Bell (the ultimate Yang) and the Yin Origin (obtained from Chang Xi), and can completely simulate the power of the sun and the moon!

Although it cannot compare to the real Sun or Moon, it is enough to disrupt the balance of the great formation!

"Plus the Buddhist salvation seal that Jieyin and Zhunti will implant..." Lu Chen grinned, "Double insurance. When the Lich War comes, the Zhou Tian Star Array will either malfunction or self-destruct... Hehe."

He could almost picture Di Juntai's green face.

"My Lord," Hunyuanzi suddenly said, "news has come from the Witch Clan that Zhurong's Demon-Slaying Sword... has been completed."

"Oh?" Lu Chen raised an eyebrow. "Let's go see what's going on."

The two concealed themselves and quietly made their way towards the Zhurong tribe.

On the weapon-forging platform in the center of the tribe, a blood-red longsword floated in the air, its blade wreathed in the roars of countless vengeful spirits of the demon race. The sheer weight of its malevolent aura distorted even space itself.

Zhu Rong, sword in hand, roared with laughter, "The Demon-Slaying Sword is complete! Di Jun and Tai Yi, your death is nigh!"

He swung his sword and slashed—

A mountain peak a hundred miles away was silently reduced to dust.

Wherever the sword energy passed, the remaining demonic energy was completely purified, and even the plants withered.

"What a fine sword! It truly is the perfect weapon against demons!" Zhu Rong exclaimed with delight.

The surrounding Wu tribe warriors cheered.

Only Lu Chen looked at the sword with pity in his eyes.

Laugh now, while you can still laugh.

He turned and left.

Three days later, at the Heavenly Court of the Demon Clan.

The Slaughtering Witch Blade has also been forged.

Di Jun held a jet-black longsword, the blade of which was dripping with the essence blood of the Wu clan, and his ferocious aura solidified into a hideous face.

He cleaved the testing stone with his sword—a naturally formed, stubborn stone soaked in the essence and blood of the ancestral witch.

"Snap!"

The stubborn rock broke in two, and the blood and energy of the witch clan dissipated at the break.

"It's done!" Taiyi exclaimed excitedly. "With this sword in hand, no matter how strong the Wu Clan's physical bodies are, they're as fragile as paper!"

Di Jun stroked the blade, but frowned slightly: "Why do I feel a violent aura within the blade..."

"It must be the vengeful spirits of the witch clan causing trouble." Taiyi didn't take it seriously. "A few more days of refining will do the trick."

The two smiled at each other.

Meanwhile, deep within Mount Buzhou.

Lu Chen squatted in a cave, with three things in front of him: the Hetu Luoshu, the Morning Bell, and the Taiyin Origin Inheritance Jade Slip.

He began to try to deduce the method of "yin and yang disturbance".

If successful, the Zhou Tian Star Array will become his biggest pawn.

"The Lich King's Cataclysm..." Lu Chen's eyes flashed with a cold light. "It's time to end this."