Chapter 68

Fengxi felt his strength after the breakthrough; compared to before, there was no doubt it was the difference between heaven and earth.

No matter how many of his past selves appear, before him now they are all instantly slain with a single strike.

This is still my normal combat power... what if I also factor in the shrunken version of the Doutian Grand Formation?

The Twelve Ancestral Witches tattoos on Fengxi's body began to glow; a horrifying aura circulated, and his combat power underwent a qualitative change!

Mm... a domain has formed.

Within the domain, I am nearly the Heavenly Dao, controlling everything, my combat power surged by over tenfold...

Like a child who got a new toy, Fengxi toggled the grand formation on and off, having a blast.

Feeling its true power, experiencing all its pros and cons, so that in future battles he wouldn't trip himself up.

Suddenly—

Boom!

The most terrifying divine light erupted, a wave of awe-inspiring pressure that shook ancient and modern eras spread; in this temporal secret realm, the Three Thousand Great Daos all gave way!

This is very abnormal!

Fengxi, astonished, discovered that the formation's domain had vanished, replaced by a blurry figure covering his body's surface.

The figure was very hazy... yet even so, it bore a transcendent divine aura.

Sitting, overlooking heaven and earth, invincible through the ages!

Faintly visible, vast Chaos evolves around, the origin of all phenomena and the final destination of all existence!

Pangu's Dharma Form!

Fengxi inexplicably grasped the essence of this special existence—maddeningly inconceivable!

Compared to the domain, the Dharma Form's power gap is huge... it's a difference greater than heaven and earth, belonging to two completely different dimensions!

With Pangu's Dharma Form upon him, despite being limited by Fengxi's realm and cultivation, he can absolutely open up a great thousand worlds, creating endless beings!

"Upon initial entry into Taiyi, one's life essence equals a small thousand world." Fengxi hurriedly flipped through the content of the Houtu Dao Canon unlocked as his cultivation rose, pondering each word: "Rising further, it's roughly equivalent to a medium thousand world formed by the integration and qualitative change of a thousand small thousand worlds."

"After the medium thousand comes the great thousand."

In pure quantity, a great thousand world compared to a small thousand world has a gap of—millionfold!

This is without considering the qualitative transformation.

And is this the end?

Obviously it's impossible.

Taiyi advancement has no limit—who let Daluo represent infinity?

After the great-thousand-level Taiyi, comes the multiversal level, the Myriad Heavens level... even if you're heaven-defyingly awesome, creating a single Honghuang that doesn't include endless parallel spacetimes is also not impossible!

But there's no need for that.

The Houtu Dao Canon records that a great-thousand-level Taiyi is sufficient to meet the basic hardware requirements for breaking through to Daluo.

Going higher, you can't increase the breakthrough success rate—that requires your own enlightenment.

"I was just messing around, and I actually managed to conjure Pangu's Dharma Form? My combat power exploded, jumping from early Taiyi to late Taiyi in an instant?"

Fengxi's gaze wandered, his eyes losing focus.

"I've been pondering the Doutian Divine Slaughter Grand Formation; it's definitely aimed at Pangu's true form..." He fell into thought: "But this formation of mine, which is almost only nominally related, how could it evolve into Pangu's Dharma Form? That makes no sense!

"This isn't cheating; it's even better than cheating!

Fengxi doubted for a long time, never getting the hang of it.

In the end, he attributed all this to luck, and also to his wisdom and talent; perhaps when inspiration struck, he touched a bit of the essence of the true grand formation?

"Tsk... I'm really smart!

Fengxi was smug, sighing that he himself is as ice-snow smart, with extraordinary perceptiveness transcending the mundane.

But—joy leads to sorrow!

"Pfft!

A soft sound, as if the heavens saw Fengxi inflated like a ball and were dissatisfied, gently letting out air for him.

In Fengxi's astonished, dazed gaze, his combat power plummeted; in the blink of an eye he fell from a true dragon to his original ant-like form, pitiful, weak, and helpless.

The Dharma Form, moreover, vanished at that instant, reverting to the formation's domain.

After having enjoyed a millionfold combat power amplitude, then switching to a mere tenfold increase...

"Where is my Pangu's Dharma Form?

"Where is my huge Pangu's Dharma Form?

"Where did it go?

"Come back quickly!

"This cold, icy Honghuang, only you can bring me warmth!

Fengxi stomped his feet.

However, the lifeless temporal secret realm, the formation domain with twelve colors rotating like a lantern, all remained silent, no response.

This silent scene seemed to want to sing a song in Fengxi's heart.

I don't care about eternity; I only care about having once possessed...

"What 'let go, let go', what 'once possessed'... all lies!

"Anyone who says such things has definitely never experienced the feeling of assets and power shrinking a hundred thousandfold!

Fengxi doesn't want to have merely 'once possessed'; he wants eternity!

At once, he took out a small notebook, frantically toggling the formation on and off, while meticulously recording it, needing to figure out how each factor affects the formation's power!

Repeatedly conducting comparative experiments, Fengxi swore he would definitely find the root of the problem!

……

Open, close, open, close……

After countless attempts, until Fengxi's eyes were filled with bloodshot veins, he finally found the reason for the formation of the Pangu dharma form.

He set up a mirror, Fengxi expressionless, carefully gazing at his forehead.

When he saw that lifelike miniature Houtu, whose divine eyes dimmed, Fengxi snapped and let out a loud shout——

「Open! 」

The great formation opened, the Pangu dharma form reappeared!

And when the miniature Houtu's tattoo, its eyes brightened again——in silence, the Pangu dharma form vanished, returning to its original domain.

It came silently, and left silently.

He flicked his sleeve, not disturbing the gentle and lovable Houtu in the slightest.

Fengxi, unwilling to give up, verified this unbelievable situation again and again.

In the end, he resigned himself.

「When Houtu appears, Pangu hides… sigh, this is because my deep cultivation of the Houtu Great Dao has broken the balance of the All-Heaven Great Formation, preventing the Pangu dharma form from showing? 」

「Or perhaps…」

Fengxi closed his mouth, staring eye-to-eye with the Teng Snake crouching beside him.

One person, one snake—this moment was very quiet.

They probably guessed a corner of the truth, but absolutely lacked the courage to speak it out.

Fengxi glanced at the miniature Houtu in the mirror, especially focusing on its gaze.

As the saying goes, 'dotting the dragon's eyes'…… the tattooed ancestral witch image also gained a bit of meaning.

I don't know what went wrong when Fengxi tattooed himself…… the spirit of this miniature Houtu seems to have become linked to the real Houtu.

Even more, it reflects this ancestral witch's surveillance of the entire world, including Fengxi!

The miniature Houtu, with bright eyes, represents the ancestral witch monitoring Honghuang, paying attention to the changes of the ages——in this process, Fengxi, as a part, is also included.

The Great Sage Fuxi once gave Fengxi a lesson on the omniscience and omnipotence of Great Luo powerhouses—this is their qualification to control Honghuang, the authority of administrators!

But now, Fengxi is challenging the authority of one of those players!

「Three thousand Great Luo in Honghuang, three thousand players…… they keep each other in check. 」 Fengxi felt worried and scared, yet also stimulated and excited, 「So even as an administrator, sometimes one overlooks things, gets one's vision blocked by another player, and cannot fully grasp the situation from start to finish……」

「This Houtu tattoo on my forehead…… I can tattoo it, and it can also reflect the state of the ancestral witch Houtu monitoring the cosmos—it must be the work of a Great Luo player! 」

「The appearance of the Pangu dharma form is probably also inseparably linked to it……」

「However, this player seems very careful…… avoiding any situation where attention to Houtu coexists……」

When the miniature Houtu's eyes lit up, the Pangu dharma form vanished from the heart.

It takes no risk at all, even the slightest chance of exposing the mastermind behind must be nipped!

This is truly caution taken to the extreme…… after all, Houtu monitors the cosmos, and its main targets are those players; for an ordinary little witch like Fengxi to even recall his name, or occasionally glance with peripheral vision, is already remarkable.

Yet even so, the Pangu dharma form is very cautious!

「Sigh……」 Fengxi looked at himself in the mirror, silent, 「This situation…… did I blindly jump into the game between two Great Luo players? 」

「Someone is using me as a pawn…… to scheme against Great Houtu? 」

「Should I report it? Or not? 」

Fengxi was very hesitant.

On one side, there is the ancestral witch Houtu, a kind and venerable goddess who created reincarnation and granted Fengxi the grace of rebirth.

On the other side, a hidden Great Luo, appearing shady, sneaky, covert, quite insignificant.

「However… no matter how shady, it is still a Great Luo, and still a Great Luo daring to scheme against Houtu. 」

「Since they want to scheme against Houtu…… then before achieving his goal, I should be useful, right? 」 Fengxi's gaze deepened, 「A useful pawn always needs proper investment, and the key is……」

「Next time someone lets me drink to death…… he should probably block it? 」

Fengxi's eyes rolled, constantly calculating gains and losses.

As for becoming someone else's pawn, he actually does not resist.

The ruthless cruelty of heaven's killing, Fengxi has already witnessed…… no matter what dreams he had, he is always startled awake from them.

Moreover, Fengxi does not fear being used.

What he fears is that he has no value even to be used.

「After all, the Wu Clan treats me well, and this concerns the battle for the status of humanity as the protagonists of heaven and earth……」

「When going undercover, I always feel my conscience lacking…… a traitor! 」

Fengxi sat cross-legged on the ground, brow furrowed, arms wrapped around himself, pondering a win-win strategy.

Thinking and thinking, his complexion turned strange.

He hurriedly flipped through the books recording data, stringing together scattered clues.

「I was careless…… no, this can't be blamed on my carelessness; mainly, the position on my forehead is too conspicuous, causing me to overlook other things……」

「But I should have noticed it earlier……」

「The All-Heaven Great Formation…… can any Tom, Dick, or Harry grasp its secrets? 」

「Especially the step of condensing the Pangu dharma form…… there must be an ancestral witch intervening! 」

Fengxi trembled and palpitated as he thought, 「With an ancestral witch acting…… are they going to compete with Houtu? 」

「Good heavens…… I've avoided everything just to stay out of the ancestral witch faction fights! 」

「And now I've looped back again?! 」

Fengxi collapsed to the ground, like a salted fish that has lost its dreams.

After a long while, that salted fish flipped over, carrying an autistic mood, and threw himself into the business of cultivation.

No matter what, cultivation comes first.

……

Millions of years of time passed silently.

The gate of the Time Secret Realm reopened, and Fengxi walked out from within.

He raised his head and glanced at the sky, momentarily feeling as though he had been cut off from the world—but that wasn't true.

Because the changes in the outside world were very slight.

Inside the secret realm, a million years passed, while outside only a year had gone by… A year, when placed against Honghuang's temporal scale, really amounts to nothing.

But Fengxi's strength, compared to a year ago, had undergone an earth-shaking change.

A faint pressure spread, his aura rippling, causing many young Wu to feel awe and solemnity.

Fengxi looked left and right; everywhere he saw were ants that could be slapped to death by the millions with a single palm. This stark contrast in power lifted his originally gloomy mood considerably.

"Ah, it's lonely at the top!"

He shook his head and sighed, striding forward with steps that showed no regard for kin, his steps light as he walked toward his old den.

But Fengxi hadn't taken two steps before someone intercepted him.

"Since you lament being lonely and invincible, why not spar with me for a few moves?"

An unremarkable-looking young man had somehow appeared, holding a sword, standing beside Fengxi, and sincerely issued a battle invitation.

"Oh, it's you, Chi Ming? Uh, er…" Fengxi turned, saw who it was, his eye twitched, "Cough, cough, I've just broken through recently, not really fit to fight, so you don't need to aim your Qingping Sword at me… I recommend Mu Yi, Yu Lie, Feng Lixi, You Xian… these would be quite suitable!"

"Mu Yi I've already fought." Chi Ming sighed, "Yu Lie is currently dueling with Yi Xin."

"Feng Lixi and You Xian, being suppressed by the combined forces of Fengxi, Mi Xi, and Qing Hao, are blocked at their home's gate, shouting for battle… I think these few are fighting too fiercely; I fear going over would draw fire onto myself."

"So, you came looking for me here?" Fengxi's face darkened.

"Yes." Chi Ming looked at Fengxi and nodded sincerely.

However, as he kept nodding, the frequency slowed—because he saw Fengxi's face, especially his forehead, which was strikingly eye‑catching… no, it was a very beautiful tattoo.

Chi Ming's mouth twitched, he raised his hand, trembling as he pointed there, "This… this… what's going on?!"

"Houtu is my idol!"

Fengxi wore a solemn, earnest expression, devoid of any frivolity, showing that his words came from the heart.

"That's why I had her tattooed on my forehead, to show my wholehearted reverence and faith in the Ancestral Wu!"

"This is merely an expression of idol worship… absolutely no trace of blasphemy!"

Fengxi's righteous and solemn demeanor, his upright words, left Chi Ming stunned again and again.

This outstanding elite of the Wu Clan, his gaze shifting unpredictably, scanned Fengxi from head to toe, as if to say—only today have I truly seen your true nature.

However, such a lethal gaze was to Fengxi like a gentle breeze brushing his face—not worth mentioning.

In the end, Chi Ming was defeated, his mouth twitching as he sighed with emotion.

"Heh! You're worshipping her?" he flicked his sleeve, "You're just lusting after her Great Dao… where's your integrity?"

Chi Ming wore a look of disdain and contempt, ashamed to be associated with Fengxi.

—After all, as the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together; to be with someone as unprincipled and shameless as Fengxi, who licks his superiors, drawing strange looks from outsiders, is truly a severe test of one's psychological endurance.

(End of chapter)