Chapter 114: The Ancestor of Zombies—Hou

Amidst a rumbling sound, a terrifying might emanated from Mount Buzhou behind them.

The Witch and Demon Clans, busy within the Earth Veins, had long since grown accustomed to this, yet in the next second, they all widened their eyes and stared toward the southern firmament.

Through the flowing golden Innate Spiritual Qi, they saw a long golden dragon dancing in the distant sky, radiating an intense golden light.

And on both sides of that long dragon, dozens of long golden whiskers were arranged in close succession, likewise shrouded in auspicious energy and shimmering with golden light.

This sudden change filled the hearts of most of the Demon Race and the Wu Clan with shock and suspicion.

Many of the Demon Race gathered on one side of the Main Vein to gaze from afar, while many of the Wu Clan rushed out of the Earth Veins and stood rooted to the spot to watch as well.

If it were before, they would have inevitably gone to investigate, but now, dredging and purifying the Earth Veins was a task entrusted by the Ancestral Witch Houtu, and no member of the Wu Clan dared to run about recklessly.

At this moment, beneath that soaring Main Vein, Xingtian and a group of other Great Witches stood stunned in their tracks.

Because they were thinking of dredging the last few Branch Veins as quickly as possible, these Great Witches had all temporarily set aside their work on the Main Vein some time ago and come to this Branch Vein at the very end of the Main Vein.

Who would have thought that they hadn't been purifying it for long before this sudden upheaval occurred before their eyes.

They had been purifying the Earth Veins for quite some time, but this was the first time they knew that an Earth Vein could actually soar on its own.

Through the flowing golden spiritual energy, everyone saw pieces of Strange Stone shattering and dissipating into the air.

Once the massive Earth Vein landed in the distance, Xingtian and the others all turned their heads to look at Houtu not far away.

Houtu did not pay attention to them; she had already calmed her mind to communicate with Tian Yuan.

Xingtian and the others were unclear, and she herself did not know what had happened; Houtu guessed it might have something to do with the Primordial land.

Houtu did not speak, so Kuafu and the others in the field naturally dared not make a sound, each waiting where they were.

After a while, the group saw a smile on Houtu's face, as if some great joyous event had occurred.

Turning her head to meet the gazes of the crowd, she spoke: "Everyone, hurry to the nearest Earth Vein now."

They were currently in the wilderness, and Tian Yuan could not use his will to teleport them.

Although the will of Mount Buzhou had strengthened significantly, the places Tian Yuan could control were still mostly within the various Earth Veins.

"Lord Ancestral Witch! What just happened?" Houyi could not help but ask.

When that Earth Vein soared into the air, even at such a distance, they all felt the fluctuations coming from Mount Buzhou.

Everyone looked over with curiosity, and Houtu said to herself: "The Branch Veins on that Main Vein have all been completely dredged."

According to the original estimate, it was expected to take another thousand years or so. Now that it had been shortened directly, and even that Main Vein had been purified to a certain extent, Houtu was naturally very happy.

The more the Earth Veins were dredged, the stronger Tian Yuan's strength would become, and then he would be able to capture all the Ancestral Witches.

Seeing that Houtu had no intention of saying more, Houyi did not dare to ask again.

Houyi also didn't know why, but most of the clansmen had become much gentler after arriving in this space, yet their own Ancestral Witch, who was originally gentle, had become a bit more irritable.

She often urged them to speed up the dredging of the Earth Veins, and any slight slackness would result in a sound beating.

In the past, the stone man just let them be and never supervised their work, but their own Ancestral Witch now cared more about the efficiency of the Earth Vein dredging than Tian Yuan did.

After communicating with Houtu, Nuwa, and the others, Tian Yuan withdrew his mind.

Sure enough, his body hidden underground was shrouded in rich Earth Law, and he had successfully broken through to the Hunyuan Golden Immortal realm.

Feeling the powerful aura within his body, Tian Yuan slowly extended his right hand, and immediately saw the earth-yellow law wrapping around it.

After breaking into the Hunyuan Golden Immortal realm, he was already able to simply master the laws.

Sensing it carefully, Tian Yuan's eyes brightened instantly; the Earth Law had undergone a qualitative change.

Earlier, he had always felt that the Earth Law was somewhat weak, but now it seemed that was not the case.

Although there were differences in strength between laws, they were all much the same when cultivated to the end, mainly differing in their areas of focus.

Putting away the law, Tian Yuan quickly fled toward the East Sea.

Although he guessed that Dong Wanggong had already fallen, with such a great change in the Earth Veins, he still could not help but go and take a look.

He was now a Hunyuan Golden Immortal, and his speed was much faster; a round trip would not take much time.

At this moment, on the shattered Penglai Immortal Island, figures were falling from the sky.

On the largest island, Tongtian glanced at Taiyi in the distance and sighed: "The Innate Supreme Treasure is truly terrifying in power."

After returning to Kunlun Mountain, Tongtian set about refining the Zhu Xian Sword Formation he had obtained, but his cultivation realm was low, and the results were very unsatisfactory.

Innate Spiritual Treasures all contain Innate Restrictions; although the Zhu Xian Sword Formation is a treasure of the Heavenly Dao, like an Innate Supreme Treasure, it also has forty-nine Innate Restrictions.

It was clearly only one restriction more than a Supreme Innate Spiritual Treasure, yet refining each one was incomparably difficult.

It had been some time since he returned from Purple Heaven Palace, and he had not refined a single restriction; one must know that the further one goes, the harder it is to refine.

Donghuang Taiyi had just wielded the Chaos Bell, and it was obvious that he had refined quite a few restrictions.

The Chaos Bell deserved much of the credit for being able to break open Penglai Immortal Island so quickly.

Laozi naturally understood the meaning behind Tongtian's words and replied indifferently: "An Innate Supreme Treasure is a magic treasure meant for a Saint to use; it is already good if a Quasi-Saint can exert one percent of its power, not to mention that you are all still Great Luo Golden Immortals."

To want to refine an Innate Supreme Treasure as a Great Luo Golden Immortal, one could only do so with a companion object.

Just like that Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang Linglong Pagoda, which also counted as his companion object. Of course, with his cultivation too low, the power he could exert was also limited.

Yuanshi Tianzun, who had been full of enthusiasm and intended to thoroughly search Penglai Immortal Island, immediately looked dejected upon hearing this.

Donghuang Taiyi and Dong Wanggong had both severed one corpse, and as a Personal Disciple of the Dao Ancestor, he was still wandering at the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm, which made Yuanshi Tianzun feel he had no face.

"Big Brother! Why don't we return to Kunlun Mountain to meditate and comprehend the Hongmeng Purple Qi as soon as possible?" Yuanshi Tianzun looked up at Laozi.

Dong Wanggong had fallen, and he had picked up a few decent magic treasures, so this trip had not been in vain.

Tongtian also had gains, only Big Brother had returned empty-handed.

"Very well! We all have our supreme treasures, and cultivation is the foundation; let us return to Kunlun Mountain." Laozi nodded and did not object.

Coming to the East Sea, they had already seen the results they wanted to see, and the ordinary spiritual objects on Penglai Immortal Island could not catch their eyes.

Having made the decision, the Three Pure Ones did not hesitate and quickly fled toward Kunlun Mountain.

As for the remaining Innate Sacreds, they were not like the Three Pure Ones, and they searched everywhere.

A hundred years later, above the East Sea, a figure was flying rapidly; it was Tian Yuan, who had rushed over.

The East Sea is vast and boundless; although Tian Yuan does not know where Penglai Immortal Island is, he is clear about the general direction of that earlier Main Vein.

While flying in transit, a heaven-shaking roar came from afar, carrying with it a thick, fierce baleful aura.

"Eh! Why are there such ferocious creatures above the East Sea?" Feeling the fluctuations coming from afar, Tian Yuan was greatly startled.

The violent, crazed aura was not the slightest bit inferior to an Ancestral Witch.

More importantly, that fluctuation was also mixed with a wisp of deathly aura.

Frowning, Tian Yuan did not think much and immediately flew toward that direction.

As he continuously approached, amidst the roaring sounds, he vaguely heard a few shrill screams.

Before long, Tian Yuan saw the waves surging in the distance, and a massive Fierce Beast on the sea surface was chasing and eating dragons.

It was several dozen zhang in size, with a head like a dog, a shape like a horse but with scales, and it spat fire from its mouth; it was exceptionally fierce and savage.

At this moment, it was tearing into a hundred-zhang-sized Dragon Clan member, devouring its brains, while several petite Dragon Clan members were fleeing frantically ahead. Seeing the figure in the sea in the distance, Tian Yuan exclaimed: "The divine beast Hou?"

Hou is a famous divine beast and Fierce Beast of the Primordial World, and it is also the ancestor of zombies. Because it wreaked havoc, it was only after Nuwa, together with Fuxi, slew it that the four great zombie kings of later generations came to be.

It is rumored that Hou was transformed from the bone on Pangu's forehead, possesses an invincible body, and feeds on dragons.

Its violent body, rugged and striking scales, and that aura of looking down upon the world—the more Tian Yuan looked, the more he liked it.

Such a rare beast of heaven and earth is fit to be his mount.

Although the Iron-Eating Beast is not bad, Tian Yuan always felt it lacked a bit of dominance and was quite ill-suited to him, so he had long ago thrown it to Huluwa.

On the contrary, this Hou has a powerful physical body and also has the cultivation of a Great Luo Golden Immortal Peak; it is truly too perfect.

Originally, he was just going to explore how Penglai Immortal Island was, not expecting such an unexpected harvest.

Overjoyed in his heart, Tian Yuan flew at high speed, skimming toward the Hou in the sea.

The Hou, which was gnawing on the Dragon Clan, also noticed the appearing Tian Yuan, but the other party only glanced at it and did not care.

After slurping up the brains, it casually discarded the dragon corpse and continued to chase the few Dragon Clan members ahead.

The Dragon Clan is not what it used to be; because of Karma, they all hide in the deep sea, and the chances of encountering a pure Dragon Clan member in the East Sea are not many.

Moreover, it had no interest in a stone man.

With a roar, the sea surface suddenly exploded, and the few Dragon Clan members fleeing in panic in the distance stiffened and stopped directly in mid-air.

It kicked its hind legs against the void, its massive body streaking across the sea surface, pouncing toward those trembling Dragon Clan members.

Boom! But before it could land, a terrifying force struck its waist, and its entire body was smashed away.

The surging sea surface shook violently, and water waves like a Heavenly Pillar swept out, rippling toward the surroundings.

The Hou, which tumbled into the water, let out a heaven-shaking roar, and thousands of water waves exploded in the air, causing a torrential rain to fall across the entire sea surface.

The Hou, having steadied its body, stared fixedly at Tian Yuan with a pair of crimson eyes, a dense gray deathly aura dissipating around its body.

Having roamed the East Sea for so many years, it had never suffered such a loss.

While hissing in a low voice, it pounced toward Tian Yuan with wild force.

The few Dragon Clan members who had escaped in the distance did not even look back and fled frantically toward the distance.

Tian Yuan did not care; in his eyes, there was only that massive figure approaching.

Just now, he used three layers of his strength, yet this divine beast was actually completely fine.

It is worthy of being transformed from Pangu's forehead bone; its physical strength is not the slightest bit inferior to an Ancestral Witch.

Facing the fellow that arrived in an instant, Tian Yuan simply threw out his fist; this time, he used half of his strength.

Boom! The sea surface exploded, the Hou's massive body flew out, and the roar it let out was even louder.

From that full-throated sound, Tian Yuan could feel the other party's anger and mania.

For a mere Great Luo Golden Immortal Peak to be able to take half of his strength head-on, Tian Yuan was even more satisfied.

Not giving it a chance to catch its breath, Tian Yuan's figure swept up quickly and sent it flying with another punch.

With the suppression of the Essence Refining Stage and the terror of his physical body, this famous divine beast of the Primordial World was reduced to being passively beaten.

Under the continuous offensive, the other party's angry roars resounded across the sea surface.

Regarding this kind of fellow with a powerful physical body, Tian Yuan was very clear that only by suppressing it with absolute power would there be a possibility of subduing it.

His power was gradually increasing, and no matter how angry the Hou was, it could not change the situation before it.

Once again smashed into the void, the Hou let out a heaven-shaking roar, then opened its mouth and inhaled fiercely; immediately, countless deathly auras between heaven and earth gathered and entered its mouth.

Dark black flames began to rise on its scale-covered body.

The void shattered in pieces, and the other party's aura approached the Hunyuan Golden Immortal limitlessly.

"Good, good, good! It seems exploring the Wangchuan River really depends on you!" Seeing this scene, Tian Yuan did not show any panic, but instead had a face full of joy.

Tian Yuan had always been very curious about the creatures in the Wangchuan River.

The Six Paths Reincarnation Disk had not been repaired, the Underworld had not been built, and Houtu could not yet explore it.

After feeling the deathly aura on the other party, Tian Yuan had this idea, and now seeing the Hou cultivating with deathly aura, he was naturally even more moved.

Roar! A roar that resounded through the East Sea startled Tian Yuan.

Looking over, he saw the void before him completely shattered, and a violent figure tore through space and came.

Tian Yuan's eyes were burning; he could be said to like it more the more he looked.

Seeing Tian Yuan's gaze, the Hou, which was fleeing at high speed, felt a surge of anger, and the aura on its body became even more biting.

Boom! A body carrying flames was thrown out and smashed heavily onto the sea surface in the distance.

But no sooner had it plunged into the sea than the Hou kicked its four limbs and fled frantically toward the distance.

After several such exchanges, it understood that it was no longer the opponent of the newcomer.

"Where are you going!" Tian Yuan shouted loudly and flew up at high speed.

The Hou's speed in the water was actually not slow, but due to the gap in the Essence Refining Stage, it was still easily caught up to by Tian Yuan.

His massive body sank suddenly in the air and landed steadily on the Hou's back.

This action of Tian Yuan undoubtedly enraged the divine beast Hou.

It is a divine beast of heaven and earth, and it possesses intelligence that is not weak.

This stone man, who knows where he ran out from, actually dared to attempt to take it as a mount; how could this be endured?

Roar! With a twist of its neck, it bit toward Tian Yuan on its back, and its long tail behind also whipped toward Tian Yuan's lower back to constrict him.

Tian Yuan, sitting steadily on its back, clearly felt the opponent's movements, but he did not resist; instead, he extended his right hand, and a white radiance surged onto his arm, rapidly spreading across his entire body.

The Law of Force, aside from the Earth Law, is the law he has comprehended most deeply.

In the blink of an eye, Tian Yuan had transformed into a stone man of brilliant white.

Crack!

With this crisp sound, the eyes of the fleeing Hou froze; it seemed still somewhat in disbelief, and it bit down fiercely once more, but it was indestructible.

The tail that had whipped out also struck as if against the Heavenly Pillar, sending back a powerful rebounding force.

The physical bodies of the Dragon Clan are terrifying, and he tears them apart easily; how could there be such a powerful stone man in heaven and earth?

This thought flashed through Hou's mind, and the aura on its body became increasingly frantic.

From its mouth, Gungun flames were spewed out, wrapping toward Tian Yuan.

Tian Yuan remained motionless, sitting steadily on its back.

For such an excellent mount, he was willing to spend some time wearing it down.

(End of this chapter)