Chapter 50: Coming for Me, Houtu

"Huluwa! Huluwa!" In a valley on Mount Buzhou, Tian Yuan called out repeatedly.

Without that strange will shrouding the area, he easily escaped with the Gourd Vine.

The attainments of the Three Pure Ones and the others were not weak, with several even surpassing his own, but what could they do to him?

After carefully checking the Gourd Vine several times using the will of Mount Buzhou, Tian Yuan finally confirmed that it had no further abnormalities.

More importantly, this place was not far from the valley just now, yet the Three Pure Ones and the others had no sense of it at all.

This further verified what Tian Yuan thought: they were only able to find the valley because of those wills.

If Hongjun were to embody the Dao, the manifestation of the so-called Heavenly Dao would be nothing more than a wave of his hand.

"Hmm-no~"

With a slightly muddled murmur, the Gourd Vine's confused voice followed: "Father Mountain! Why am I here?"

Apart from the cliff face beside him, there was not a shred of familiarity in the surroundings.

He had left the valley where he had always lived, yet he had not the slightest impression of these events.

Seeing the Gourd Vine wake up, Tian Yuan let out a heavy sigh of relief and hurriedly asked in a soft voice, "How are you feeling now?"

He had long felt that the Gourd Vine was not as simple as just an Innate Spiritual Root, and after this incident, he was even more convinced of this idea.

Among the ten Supreme Innate Spiritual Roots of the primordial world, besides the Ginseng Fruit and Bodhi Tree that had taken human form, there were still many others remaining.

Moreover, Hongjun was not lacking in magic treasures at all, so why would he want to take away the last Chaos Gourd? Thinking this, Tian Yuan's gaze turned toward the final purple-black gourd.

Aside from the difference in color, he could not see any distinction between the seven gourds.

"Eh!" the Gourd Vine exclaimed in surprise, then said excitedly, "The origin of the last gourd is about to be complete; in at most a thousand years, I will be able to take human form."

Earlier, he had felt that taking human form was close at hand, but he had always been clouded by a sense of confusion, unable to find that sliver of opportunity.

Now, after being inexplicably muddled for a period of time, he had suddenly gained clarity on his own Dao, and even he himself was a bit stunned.

"Good, good, good!" Tian Yuan was overjoyed.

With seven Supreme Innate Spiritual Treasures hanging on his body, Tian Yuan was naturally worried about being targeted.

Once he took human form, he would no longer have such concerns, and he would also gain a little helper.

As one of the ten Supreme Innate Spiritual Roots of the primordial world, he should be an Innate Sacred no weaker than Zhenyuanzi or Zhunti.

Excited, Tian Yuan took the Gourd Vine and flew away again, distancing himself from this mountainside.

The Three Pure Ones and the others were still on the mountain searching for treasures, especially Jieyin and Zhunti; Tian Yuan did not want to suffer any losses.

Now, the heavenly materials and earthly treasures on Mount Buzhou were all his private property.

"It has only been a few thousand years, and the will of Father God has become even more intense." Feeling the aura emanating from the sacred mountain, Houtu was very surprised in her eyes.

Was this the reason why so many of her brothers had appeared on Mount Buzhou?

"Eh! Why is that little fellow here?" Houtu, who was about to fly toward Dijiang, paused and looked in another direction.

Her little pet was actually on Mount Buzhou; with that little fellow's strength, he could not have walked here.

After a moment of contemplation, Houtu walked toward that direction.

Before long, she saw a round, rolling fellow lying in a forest of Iron Bamboo.

With one hand clutching an Iron Bamboo and the other holding a Spirit Stone, he was eating quite carefree.

"He has actually reached the late stage of Golden Immortal!" Houtu muttered, stepping forward.

Gungun, who had been leisurely, twitched his ears slightly, immediately looked up, and his body stiffened instantly.

He saw a familiar figure; his former master had returned and had even found her way to Mount Buzhou.

Gungun hurriedly climbed up, but his peripheral vision scanned the surroundings; his new master had not appeared.

"Master~~~" Gungun moved his little body and quickly lunged toward Houtu.

Houtu frowned again; the mountain terrain here was not low, and the might of Mount Buzhou was even greater, yet Gungun was completely unaffected.

"Why are you here?" Houtu squatted down and rubbed his furry head.

Houtu clearly felt the other's abnormality, and with so many of her brothers on Mount Buzhou, her inner confusion grew, so she asked softly again, "Has there been a change in the tribe?"

Gungun swallowed his saliva, thoughts racing through his mind, and then he whispered in reply, "Gungun doesn't know; it was a stone man who brought Gungun here and gave Gungun lots of delicious things." Gungun was very conflicted now; Houtu treated him well, and Tian Yuan did not treat him poorly either.

Why couldn't he have two masters at the same time?

"A stone man?" Houtu was stunned, and a figure immediately flashed through her mind.

In that valley just now, a stone man had saved the Innate Gourd Vine; could it be the same one? Houtu had no interest in Supreme Innate Spiritual Treasures, but at the time, she felt that the stone man was not simple, and later, it proved to be so.

Gungun did not know if Houtu was clear about the tribe's affairs, so he could only nod repeatedly.

"Do you know where he is?" As she spoke, Houtu scanned the surroundings.

It was just a slightly special bamboo forest, with no sign of a stone man.

"The master stone man comes and goes without a trace, so Gungun doesn't know." Gungun shook his head like a rattle-drum.

After not seeing him for a while, this little fellow had become restless.

However, thinking that this was Mount Buzhou, the temptation for an Iron-Eating Beast was truly too great.

Houtu did not say much more and carried the Iron-Eating Beast away toward Dijiang's location. Now that she had taken Gungun away, that stone man would surely come to find her.

Looking back at that bamboo forest with a hint of reluctance, Gungun did not make a sound.

He still felt a bit guilty about Tian Yuan taking away many of the Witch people.

In a short while, a figure flew over rapidly from the distance; it was the Ancestral Witch Dijiang.

"Little sister!" Not having seen her for thousands of years, Dijiang's face was full of joy.

But when his gaze swept toward Gungun, a strange look flashed in his eyes, though he did not ask further.

"Big Brother!" Houtu nodded and then asked softly, "What has happened that the brothers have all gathered on Mount Buzhou?"

Most of the time, their Ancestral Witches were in quiet cultivation, with only one or two occasionally guarding the tribe; the current situation was very rare.

Dijiang sighed softly and, without hiding anything, recounted one by one the events that had occurred after Chaos returned.

They had been searching on Mount Buzhou for nearly three thousand years, but apart from that one encounter with the stone man, they had not seen the other party again.

"That stone man again?" Houtu muttered, a strange look flashing in her eyes.

She could feel Kuafu, Houyi, and the others, including those clansmen, very clearly; the resonance of their bloodlines remained, but she could not find their location.

Having captured so many of her clansmen, and not even sparing her own pet, what could that stone man be planning?

"You have met the other party?" Dijiang was taken aback by this.

They had searched for so long without result, yet Houtu had made a discovery just after returning from Purple Heaven Palace.

Houtu nodded and said softly, "The stone man is likely coming for me; you all should return to the Divine Temple to cultivate in peace."

If even the Three Pure Ones and the other Innate Sacreds could not trap the other party, the Ancestral Witches, who possessed only brute strength, would likely be even less capable of dealing with the stone man.

She now somewhat understood why Tian Yuan had grinned at her in that valley.

For the Ancestral Witches to continue searching would only be a waste of time.

"This..." Dijiang hesitated.

Kuafu and the others had been missing for thousands of years; as their elder brother, it was his failure that he had not handled it well.

"Big Brother, just listen to our little sister's words." A cold voice came from the side as Xuanming revealed her form.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Figures arrived in the distant sky; it was the rest of the Ancestral Witches who had come after receiving Dijiang's message.

"Little Sister!" Gonggong looked embarrassed, gazing at Houtu with a hint of guilt.

Meeting everyone's gaze, Houtu smiled and said, "It is nothing! It is not your fault either."

Since Kuafu and the others were in no danger of losing their lives, naturally there would be no major issue.

"In that case! We shall follow our little sister's advice." Dijiang nodded, having made his decision.

After the group asked about some matters from Purple Heaven Palace, Dijiang and the other Ancestral Witches all departed one by one.

Only before leaving, Xuanming cast a puzzled glance at the Iron-Eating Beast.

(End of this chapter)