Inside Pangu Temple, the twelve titans gathered. Each one had a dark expression on their face.
"We were tricked," Di Jiang finally said.
"Let's go to Nuwa and demand an explanation!" Zhurong immediately said as fire spewed from his body, signifying his anger.
"It's no use," Gonggong said. "Nuwa fulfilled her end of the deal and established the earthly marriage. If there's someone to blame, then we can only blame the demons for being so insidious."
"I say we go to Thirty-Three Heavens and end them then and there," Zhurong suggested. "We can't wait for them to slowly pick us off. When another giant rises to become a gigant, are we going to let them scheme against him too?"
Zhurong's words were met with rounds of approval. However, Jiuyin shook his head. "It's too dangerous. Many years have passed, and the demon's population must have increased more than before. If we rashly charge in, our losses will be far too high."
"What? I thought Gonggong was the coward, not you," Zhurong said, eliciting a glare from the Titan of Water. "Then should we wait for the demons to grow even more before charging? Screw Hongjun, let's get rid of the demons now!"
"Then can you defeat Yuanshi and Nuwa? If we break Hongjun's decree, only death will await us," Jiuyin said, silencing Zhurong. "I never said that we should let the demons grow stronger and kill us. Are there not humans? We should produce more demigiants as much as possible to use as foot soldiers."
"Humans," Zhurong snorted. "I say this is all a trap. Who knows if something might happen at the critical moment? Nuwa created them, after all. If humans hadn't existed, Houyi wouldn't have been tricked. We should kill them all to prevent further trouble."
Zhurong's words elicited even more support, but it was Houtu who rejected his proposal.
"The humans haven't done anything wrong, they are innocent. We shouldn't kill them," Houtu protested.
"Houtu, you are kind, but sometimes too kind," Di Jiang said. "If killing the humans now could defeat the Demon Clan, and we did not do it, it would be too late to regret it."
"But Jiuyin's words are not without merit. What if the demigiants are the key to defeating the Demon Clan?" Houtu asked.
Houtu’s firmness surprised Di Jiang. However, he soon came up with a reason. The Houtu Tribe had the most integration with humans, and as such, demigiants made up a sizable contribution. "The Titan Tribe is split into twelve branches, and each branch can decide to do what they want with the humans."
Although Houtu was unhappy with the final verdict, she could only nod her head in acceptance.
"What about Xi Wangmu?" Rushou suddenly asked. "The demons could not have tricked Houyi without her help."
"It's an even worse idea," Di Jiang said. "With the demons, we can at least use the Pangu Genesis Formation to fight Nuwa but don't forget that Xi Wangmu resides on West Kunlun. I refuse to believe that she has the courage to scheme against Houyi without the interference of those on Kunlun. Laozi and Yuanshi are both Saints of Heaven now. If we tear down the unwritten agreement between us, we will have to face three Saints. It seems our actions of yesteryear have come back to haunt us."
“Those bastards. Didn’t they say that all grievances will end after the transaction?” Zhurong’s words were met with approval by the other titans. Although they wanted to seek justice, none of them truly thought they could force anything from the Three Purities.
After this, Di Jiang also gave a verdict on the reason for the meeting. "We won't attack Thirty-Three Heavens for now either. From now on, the Titan Tribe will focus on subjugating and enslaving the rogue powers of the Great Desolation. Since they live on the land, they must obey its rulers, us. Furthermore, the battle between Heavenly Court and us will begin on the land. We will focus on whittling down their forces as much as possible before assaulting Thirty-Three Heaven."
Although some titans disapproved, they accepted their leader's decision. When they returned, aside from Jiuyin, Jumang, and Houtu, all the titans decided to kill the humans living in their tribe. Some of the demigiants rebelled, but that only reinforced the titans resolve .They killed the rebellious demigiants and turned the remainder into obedient slaves.
Compared to the overall number of humanity that had reached a billion in sheer number, the ones killed within the nine titan tribes were just a drop in the bucket.
After this, the Titan Tribe began capturing and absorbing the rogue powers that had not pledged their allegiance to a major force. Except for those with exceptional strength like Minghe of the Blood Sea or Kong Xuan, the Titan Tribe attacked them all. If they were not willing to submit, they would be killed.
Conspicuously, they avoided the area around Kunlun Mountain and Firesource Grotto.
While the Titan Tribe started a bloodbath on the land, Heavenly Court made plans of their own.
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Di Jun glanced at the weak Earth Immortal demon bowing to him in Eminence Heaven Palace. He turned to Bai Ze, who had brought the weak demon here.
Bai Ze nodded and turned toward the demon. "Show His Majesty the weapon you showed me."
The little demon didn't dare to delay and brought out a plain copper sword. Di Jun waved his hand, and the copper sword flew into his hand. After inspecting it, Di Jun couldn't see what was so special about it. It couldn't be plainer and hadn't even reached the rank of an artifact.
However, Di Jun trusted his prime minister wouldn't bring something so worthless to his attention. He placed the edge against the palm of his hand, where the skin was the thinnest, and slashed. The sword didn't cut, but it left a white mark on his skin.
Di Jun's eyes lit up. Although his physical prowess wasn't as terrifying as the titans or giants, his skin and flesh were still incredibly powerful. It was something a sword that wasn't even an artifact should be able to damage.
"Where did you get this?" Di Jun questioned.
The Earth Immortal demon lowered his head. "I refined this, Your Majesty."
"You did?" Di Jun asked. He looked at the demon, and he really couldn't see anything special.
"Tell his majesty how you refined it," Bai Ze said.
"Yes," the little demon said. "To answer His Majesty, I originally took the sword from a wandering human. After I took it and killed the human, I decided to use his soul to refine an artifact, but I never expected I would refine such a powerful weapon. Using it, I was able to kill Sky Immortals."
"Bai Ze, dispatch a squad of demons and capture some humans for Us," Di Jun ordered. Then he turned to the little demon. "If your words are true, We will handsomely reward you and even give you an official position."
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Elation spread across the Earth Immortal demon's face. He quickly bowed, slamming his head onto the ground in the process. "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty!"
A few months later, Di Jun held a sword in his hand. He had used the best materials consisting of Sunsource Iron, Undermoon Copper, and many other precious materials to forge this sword. Then, he used the souls of ten thousand humans to refine it, and now it exuded a misty, baleful aura.
Di Jun slashed the edge across his palm. The skin split, dripping blood onto the ground. "Haha, Titan Tribe, your good days will soon be over!"
The next day, Di Jun summoned all the demon officials and the demon emperors. After announcing the news, Kunpeng immediately saluted Di Jun and said, "Congratulations to Your Majesty. Saintess Nuwa must have created humanity to propel the Demon Clan's rise. Not only can their soul be used to refine a powerful artifact, but I heard that demons who feast on their flesh can cultivate even faster."
The second part of Kunpeng's words was news to Di Jun, but he still smiled. Truthfully, he had been displeased by the humans growing close to the Titan Tribes, but owing to them being Nuwa's creation, he did not take action. However, now he would reap their lives to strengthen the Demon Clan.
"Your Majesty, I think you must not," Fuxi spoke, stepping out at this moment. "Humanity is Southern Emperor Wa's creation. We mustn't use their souls as materials and eat them."
Di Jun frowned, displeased by Fuxi's words. "Did you not hear the Demon Preceptor's words? Southern Emperor Wa's creation of humanity is for the Demon Clan. Why can't We? She will understand. Now, I order the full might of the Demon Clan to mobilize!"
Fuxi could only sigh upon hearing Di Jun's decisiveness.
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In Wa Outer Heaven, Nuwa's eyelashes flickered as her gaze penetrated the Thirty-Three Heavens and peered at Di Jun. She moved to rebuke him but the Way of Heaven stopped her. She frowned, but relented. "This is a tribulation humanity must face in order to become the future master of the world."
"Hmpf, Di Jun, don't think just because I won't take action, you won't have to pay the price," With those words spoken, she closed her eyes and resumed her cultivation.
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Humanity faced its greatest catastrophe yet. Everywhere, hordes of human settlements were slaughtered. Old, young, male, female, none of that mattered to the demons. Before, many had already discovered the benefits of devouring humans, but did so in secret to avoid Nuwa’s wrath.
Now, with the Heavenly Emperor's orders, they openly ate and devoured the humans to quickly raise their cultivation. Their mission was to collect the human souls and not the body after all.
As more and more humans died, the wandering ghosts and phantoms inhabiting the Great Desolation dramatically rose. Usually, most of the remnant spirits would dissipate with time under the purifying rays from the Supreme Yang Star or go to the Blood Sea, but there were too many dead humans, covering the whole of the Great Desolation in a baleful atmosphere.
The actions of the demons naturally caught the attention of the human ancestors in the East Sea. They held an emergency meeting. Sitting under Nuwa's statue, Suiren, Zhengyi, Youchao, Wutian, and the rest of the upper echelons gathered.
"Have you discovered why the demons have suddenly begun to assault us en masse?" Suiren asked. The upper echelon looked at one another and shook their heads. To them, this disaster came out of nowhere.
"Even if we don't know, since the demons dared to massacre us, we must make them pay the price," Wutian said. After gaining enlightenment after hearing Laozi's sermon, he entered the Golden Immortal Realm and created a path to both the Earth and Sky Immortal Realm using martial arts, drastically increasing humanity's strength.
Now, he was focusing on perfecting the Golden Immortal segment. He had decided that he wanted to use martial arts to grow instead of Supreme Purity Scripture, even though it would be faster to cultivate to the Great Unity Realm using it.
After Laozi's sermon, although many people started cultivating the Grand Purity Scripture Later Heaven Method, many still cultivated martial arts since it had a low entry requirement. Martial arts once again flourished with the appearance of more and more Earth Immortal martial artists.
Wutian had dispatched those Earth Immortal martial artists to settlements who didn't have any martial art inheritance or lost theirs. Because of this, Wutian's prestige now overshadowed the first three human ancestors.
"I don't think that is wise," Zhengyi said. "Although humanity has grown stronger, it's still not enough to combat the Demon Clan."
"We don't need to beat them," Wutian said. "We just need to show them that killing humanity is not worth the effort. If the price for slaughtering us becomes too high, they'll stop."
"Wouldn't that price also be too high?" Suiren asked.
"What else can we do?" Wutian said helplessly. "We as a race are too weak compared to others. If we don't show a tough front, the Demon Clan and even the Titan Tribe will think humans are insects that to be slaughtered at their leisure. Don’t forget that the nine of the twelve branches slaughtered the humans living in peace."
Hearing this, all the upper echelons’ expressions darkened. One of them suddenly asked, "What about Mother Nuwa? Is she not doing anything?"
Hearing this, Suiren, Zhengyi, and Youchao closed their eyes. They had prayed arduously to Nuwa's statue, but there was no response. Clearly, she was unwilling to intervene.
Suddenly another member of the upper echelon asked, "What about your master?"
Wutian hesitated. He looked around the room, and upon seeing the pleading expressions, he gritted his teeth. "I'll ask. In the meanwhile, gather all the immortals of humanity and plan a counterattack!"
"”"As the Martial Ancestor commands!""”
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In the Supreme Purity Hall, Tongtian opened her eyes. The Kongtong Seal appeared in her hand. Upon closer inspection, one could see that it was trembling like it was crying. Tongtian, of course, knew the reason for its abnormal state. The current calamity of humanity had dramatically decreased their Karmic Luck.
Each human carried a little bit of Karmic Luck. No matter how little, together, it made a terrifying number. Of course, humanity’s Karmic Luck would diminish if their numbers dramatically fell. The unhappiest person with this situation should not be her or Laozi, but Nuwa.
Thanks to the Kongtong Seal, Tongtian had occupied a portion of the human luck which greatly aided in her comprehension of the three thousand laws. But recently, her comprehension had slowed. Nuwa, who occupied an even larger portion, would notice the effect even more.
Tongtian stopped as she gazed out of Three Purity Palace onto the base of the mountain, where she saw her disciple, Wutian. She summoned Baihe, a white crane Yuanshi accepted as a steward for Three Purity Palace.
"Aunt-Master," Baihe said. Like Haotian, Baihe appeared like a child no older than ten.
"Go down the mountain and bring up my disciple."
Baihe blinked. He had not known that Tongtian had accepted a disciple, but he didn't question it. The Sky Immortal descended and was surprised to find out that Tongtian's disciple was a Golden Immortal.
The one with the most advanced cultivation base among Yuanshi's disciples was Guang Chengzi, and he was only at the Profound Immortal Realm. The Heavenly Venerable of Primordial Beginning also had another Profound Immortal disciple, Antarctic Immortal Weng, but he was a nominal disciple accepted by Yuanshi after he established the Enlightenment Sect.
Baihe led Wutian to the Supreme Purity Hall. After excusing himself, Baihe left the hall.
"Master," Wutian said as he kneeled down and bowed.
"Rise," Tongtian calmly said. "Why have you come?"
"Master, humanity is undergoing a calamity, and we seek your aid," Wutian said. "Please, help us."
Tongtian sighed. Although she had long stopped considering herself human, she still held special feelings for them. "Even if I wanted to help, I cannot."
Wutian furrowed his brows. "I don't understand."
"All I can say is that it involves the secrets of heaven, and I cannot lightly divulge it. All things in heaven and earth must undergo tribulation. Not even the Great Desolation is exempt. This is humanity's tribulation, and you must overcome it by yourself," Tongtian said. Seeing Wutian's sorrowful expression, she continued. "However, it's not like it's impossible to help."
Wutian raised his eyes, his eyes shining brightly.
"Say, if the demons were to come to Kunlun Mountain, then I and your Uncle-Masters can naturally expel unwanted guests," Tongtian said.
"I understand. Thank you, Master!" Wutian said and immediately left the hall, leaving Tongtian alone.
"I wasn't finished," she muttered. "If you were in danger, I can take action to save you since you're my disciple."