My classmates chose martial arts and fantasy, but I chose the prehistoric world.

Dijiang's eyes were bloodshot, his fists were clenched so tightly that his fingernails dug deep into his palms, and pale golden blood dripped from between his fingers, but he was completely unaware of it.

Zhu Rong gritted his teeth, and the crimson lines under his skin flashed wildly, as if he were about to explode at any moment.

Gonggong's face was ashen, as if all his strength had been drained away.

The other ancestral witches were all in a daze, as if they had been struck by a heavy blow.

They are not afraid of death. The witch tribe has never known the meaning of fearing death.

But they fear annihilation!

They fear that the bloodline of the Father God will end with them!

I fear that the ancestral land of Buzhou Mountain will be reduced to scorched earth!

I fear that countless soldiers will shed their blood and leave no trace of their bodies!

This is an ending a thousand times more terrifying than death.

"Why...why..."

Zhu Rong's voice was hoarse, filled with resentment and despair.

Zhu Jiuyin closed his eyes, and the power of time flowed and dissipated wildly around his body.

He tried to deduce the truth, to find a glimmer of hope, but found the heavens to be in chaos, and the road ahead was nothing but blood and nothingness.

"Meng Chuan..."

Houtu's voice rang out, very soft and ethereal, yet carrying a strange calmness.

She looked up at Meng Chuan, her eyes no longer filled with the initial turmoil, but only with an almost deathly stillness, and beneath that stillness, the last glimmer of fire that refused to be extinguished.

"You're telling us this... because this secret tunnel... is the only way for the witch clan to survive?"

Meng Chuan looked into those eyes that bore the weight of the earth, yet were now filled with despair and last hope, and slowly nodded.

"Yes."

"The Earthly Path of Reincarnation is a great deficiency in the universe beneath the Great Dao. To complete the Earthly Path and establish Reincarnation, one can obtain immeasurable merits from the Great Dao, alter the fate of a clan, and defy predetermined destiny."

"The three clans of dragon, phoenix, and qilin were destroyed in the great calamity because they had nowhere to go and no merit to rely on."

"But you... have Houtu!"

"She transformed herself into the cycle of reincarnation to mend the earth's path. This merit is so great that it could shake the destiny of Heaven, secure a glimmer of hope for the Wu tribe, and even... allow her to transcend the chessboard of Heaven and become a player on the Great Dao, standing shoulder to shoulder with Hongjun!"

Meng Chuan's voice was resolute and carried an undeniable force.

"Hongjun cultivates the laws of the Heavenly Dao, and what he seeks is the perfection of the Heavenly Dao. The affairs of the Earthly Dao are not his path, nor is they what he desires—at least, he does not wish to see the Earthly Dao independent and revered alongside him!"

"Because the earth is independent and its cycle of reincarnation is self-contained, it will take away the authority of the heavenly way and disrupt its arrangement."

"Therefore, he will definitely hinder your attainment of the Dao, or at the very least, he will try to incorporate the Earthly Dao into the Heavenly Dao system and make it a vassal."

"What I need to do is help you lay the foundation for the underground passage and establish the rudiments of reincarnation before he merges with the Dao. By the time he merges with the Dao, the underground passage will have already taken initial shape, and..."

He paused, then flipped his hand and took out the hazy fragment of the Chaos Pearl.

The fragment floated in his palm, its chaotic aura flowing, faintly exuding the Daoist charm of a world unto itself, blurring all the heavenly secrets and auras around him.

"With this thing as a cover, as long as we act cautiously and make little noise, even after Hongjun merges with the Dao, it will be difficult for him to detect that the underground passage has quietly taken shape in a short period of time."

"By the time he realized it, the foundation of the underground passage was already solid, and the momentum of reincarnation was already established, making it difficult for him to intervene."

"At that time, Houtu, through the great merit of establishing reincarnation and perfecting the Earthly Way, will break through the primordial chaos and become the supreme saint of the Earthly Way. From then on, under the Great Dao, the Earthly Way will stand alone, revered alongside the Heavenly Way!"

"Houtu represents the Earthly Dao, and is on equal footing with Hongjun, who embodies the Heavenly Dao, jointly ruling the primordial world!"

"And the Witch Clan... will no longer be a pawn destined to perish in the Great Calamity, but a newly born, eternal race that coexists with the Underworld and wields a portion of the primordial power!"

After he finished speaking, Meng Chuan fell silent and simply looked at everyone.

This time, there was no more doubt or hesitation in the hall.

Only heavy, panting breaths, like a drowning person grasping at the last piece of driftwood, and the almost insane determination that burst forth from that desperate situation.

Dijiang slowly raised his head. The initial shock and despair were gone from his crimson eyes, replaced by a fierce, almost burning, desperate look.

"Brother Meng Chuan..."

His voice was hoarse, yet heavy as a thousand pounds, "What you said is too shocking, and too dangerous. But..."

He looked around at the ancestral witches, and in the eyes of each of them burned the same flame—a frenzied fighting spirit driven to the brink of destruction by those who knew their inevitable fate and were driven to the brink of extinction, willing to do anything to tear a path to survival.

"The Witch Clan would rather die in battle than live on their knees! They are even less willing to be mere kindling destined to turn to ashes in some Heavenly Tribulation!"

"Since the road ahead leads to death, then we will forge a path to survival! Since Heaven intends to destroy our Witch Clan, then... we will defy Heaven!"

next moment.

"roar--!!"

Except for Houtu, the eleven ancestral witches roared in unison!

His blood and qi surged to the heavens, and a murderous aura permeated the air!

The entire Pangu Palace vibrated and hummed, as if an ancient beast driven to the brink of despair was letting out its final, most ferocious roar.

"Girl!"

Dijiang looked at Houtu, his gaze intense, "Do you dare to walk this path?!"

Houtu slowly got up.

She looked at the familiar faces before her, at the resolute determination in their eyes, and at the unwavering resolve in Meng Chuan's eyes.

Then, she took a deep breath, stepped forward barefoot, and stood beside Meng Chuan.

This step was very light.

Yet it seemed as if they had stepped onto some kind of fateful juncture.

"I believe him."

"This is the road I will take."

"Not for the sake of becoming a saint, nor for the sake of standing shoulder to shoulder with Hongjun."

"Only so that... the Witch Clan may not perish, and the bloodline of the Father God may not be extinguished!"

The voice was calm, yet it contained a will heavier than Mount Buzhou.

In Meng Chuan's eyes, it seemed as if starlight had suddenly appeared, and there was also a calm and composed sense of "as expected".

Dijiang laughed wildly, his voice shaking the heavens.

"Good! Good! Good!"

"If that's the case, then let's fucking get to it!"

"From this day forward, the entire Wu Clan will devote all their resources to assist Brother Meng Chuan and Sister Hou Tu in this act of defying fate!"

"This matter concerns the very survival of our Wu clan; it is a top secret. It must not be revealed to a fourteenth person other than the thirteen of us!"

"yes!"

The eleven ancestral witches responded with a thunderous roar, their murderous aura soaring into the sky, without the slightest hesitation.

Zhu Jiuyin's Eye of Time flickered, and he slowly said, "I will burn a portion of the Origin of Time to distort the spacetime around the ancestral land, confuse the secrets of heaven, and, together with the fragments of the Chaos Pearl, create a double illusion. Even a saint would find it difficult to see through it in a short time."

"Very well!" Dijiang nodded, looking at Mengchuan and Houtu. "Whatever you need, just say the word. The Wu Clan's treasure trove, the ancestral witch's blood essence, even our lives... all are at your disposal!"

Meng Chuan nodded: "Right now, Houtu needs to go into seclusion to refine the purple-black gourd, comprehend the laws of chaos, and deepen her understanding of the principles of 'bearing' and 'evolution.' This is the foundation for her future evolution and reincarnation, and for bearing the earthly path."

"And me..."

He looked out of the hall, his gaze seemingly piercing through Mount Buzhou, reaching the endless depths of the netherworld where blood-red light surged.

"We need to go to the Netherworld Blood Sea first to see that 'old friend'."

"The foundation of the future underground passage, the place of reincarnation, is adjacent to the Sea of ​​Blood. Some 'dealings' need to be established in advance. Some 'rules' need to be set in advance!"

Dijiang grinned, revealing his gleaming white teeth, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.

"That Styx River, which dwells in the Sea of ​​Blood, is capricious and not easy to deal with... Do you need any help?"

"Need not."

Meng Chuan shook his head, a cold, sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

"I am enough on my own."

"If he is sensible and understands the consequences, perhaps we can spare him a corner of the bloodbath and grant him a future position as a sage, in exchange for him keeping to himself and being law-abiding."

"If you don't know what's good for you..."

"Even if I can't kill him, I can still make him slumber in a sea of ​​blood for endless years."

As he said this, the dark spear shadow between his brows, which had once shattered the Chaos Bell, defeated the Eastern Emperor, and intimidated the Primordial Beginning, vanished in a flash!

The chilling killing intent caused the temperature in the hall to plummet!

"Of course, that's the last resort... After all, he and I are both quasi-saints now. If we fight to the death, the commotion will be significant, and it will be hard for Hongjun not to notice."

"Hongjun might not stop me from taking action against him, but if we delve deeper into the cause and effect of my attack on the Styx River... my plan for the underground passage might be exposed prematurely!"