Chapter 202

For a typical Heavenly Emperor of the Dao, if their body were to be reduced to pulp, there would be no chance of survival.

But they were Ancestral Witches!

Although the twelve Ancestral Witch Heavenly Emperors had not inherited the Witch Ancestor's true legacy—the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art—they had, over the years, undoubtedly forged their own unique physical paths within the Witch clan. They possessed bodies that could achieve the immortal longevity of the Dao, endowed with extremely powerful life force.

Inside the body, Heavenly Emperor Duan was also stunned. He had initially believed, based on his probes, that his combat power would rank in the middle among the twelve Ancestral Witches. He never expected to be at the very bottom. The Ancestral Witches had concealed themselves too deeply. They cultivated both the Dao and physical paths simultaneously. He had only accounted for the Dao and Primordial Spirit strength of the twelve Ancestral Witches, not realizing they had another half of their power hidden: such powerful physiques.

At this moment, one by one, the ancient Ancestral Witch Heavenly Emperors, their flesh and blood writhing, reformed into human shapes and surprisingly stood up again. They laughed, saying, "We didn't expect you all to have the same idea."

"Fellow Daoists, your Dao hearts are no longer pure."

They exchanged smiles, revealing pure, kind, and friendly expressions.

"Oh, Heavenly Emperor Feng was really killed! Over the years, his cultivation had fallen far behind ours. Did he truly only cultivate the Dao and Primordial Spirit, unaware that we are the Witch clan and must follow the Witch Ancestor's path, and that this was his only strength? What an honest fellow!"

"Heavenly Emperor Ping, your aura is unstable. Although you likely have a trump card, it doesn't seem to be very profound. You are too heavily injured; we should heal you..."

The Ancestral Witches sneered.

They had been hidden in the Great Luo Heaven for centuries, never exchanging blows, unaware of each other's true strength. Now, with Dao Changsheng helping to probe, even though they were feigning death, they could still discern hints of each other's hidden power. At this very moment, they completely revealed their true Ancestral Witch forms, no longer maintaining human shapes.

Some had bird bodies with human faces, their hands entwined with green pythons. Others had beast bodies with human faces, human torsos with snake tails, and seven arms on their backs. One had a body covered in bone spurs, four fleshy wings on its back, and six claws growing from its chest, abdomen, and legs. Each of their grotesque Ancestral Witch bodies, though not possessing the authentic Eight-Armed Golden Body, had been secretly developed through their own individual explorations, forging unique paths of physical cultivation.

"The Ancestral Witches are not a unified block."

Standing nearby, Emperor Qi said calmly to Dao Changsheng, his expression serene, "Although the beings of this world have multiplied greatly, only two can achieve enlightenment, holding two Primal Chaos positions. I will take one, and the remaining one will naturally be contended for by those ten individuals."

Dao Changsheng's face turned pale.

Everything... had once again returned to Emperor Qi's control. In this era, he didn't even need to act. Hidden in the shadows, he watched as these once heroic, now decaying Heavenly Emperors fought amongst themselves for the Primal Chaos Saint position. What if one of them managed to fight their way out of the bloodshed and become a Saint alongside Emperor Qi? Emperor Qi had no fear whatsoever. Emperors couldn't defeat him, and Primal Chaos Saints still wouldn't be his match. For Emperor Qi, it would simply mean having another Primal Chaos Saint as a subordinate.

"Everything... is still within his calculations." Dao Changsheng felt a chill run down his spine. This was indeed his terrifying, utterly chilling dark hand, like a grand, vast, majestic mountain, pressing down and suffocating them!

Emperor Qi's eyes flickered. "Dao Changsheng, your combat power is merely top three, but your vitality is astonishingly tenacious.... As the Witch Ancestor's disciple, you claimed to have a hundred lives. Is that true?"

"Of course, it's true," Dao Changsheng replied honestly.

"Even so, you are still not a concern."

Emperor Qi casually turned his head, as if making small talk, and looked at the nine Ancestral Witches before him. All of them had been feigning death, except for Heavenly Emperor Feng, who had truly been killed. The energy of a single Void Cavern Emperor was comparable to the souls and lives of countless beings. The other Ancestral Witches would naturally fight and seize it. It was known that for the second Primal Chaos Saint to emerge, the lives of all beings in the world alone would not suffice. They would also need to kill other Ancestral Witches and acquire the energy of these more than ten Great Emperors to achieve Primal Chaos enlightenment. Thus, they were inherently hidden adversaries.

Ultimately, a Primal Chaos Saint stands upon the bones of countless others.

"This is mine!" Before them, the nine Ancestral Witches collectively glared at the injured Heavenly Emperor Ping and the corpse of Heavenly Emperor Feng on the ground, their eyes like wolves and tigers. Instantly, the nine Ancestral Witches began a terrifying slaughter, attacking the severely wounded Heavenly Emperor Ping.

"They are waiting for each other to get injured! If someone gets hurt, they'll beat the 'dog in the water' and kill them!" Dao Changsheng shuddered.

"This is the bloody truth of human nature... Throughout history, I have never truly acted. I merely waited for you, these Heavenly Emperors, to fall and kill each other—the thirteen Primordial Ancient Gods from my era, Xuyou Nian, the twelve Ancestral Witches before me, and Heavenly Emperor Duan... and now you, Dao Changsheng."

Emperor Qi calmly sat down, gazing at the dark sky. He retrieved a pot of wine from his spatial storage and slowly sipped it, as if recalling his past adversaries one by one.

"You..."

Dao Changsheng remained rooted to the spot, fuming and trembling. Emperor Qi had no intention of attacking him at all, which was the greatest form of disregard.

At that moment, the voice of the Earth Mother Green Vine came from within his body: "Disciple, you should also sit down and drink some tea, calm your nerves, and relax. Once they're done fighting, it'll probably be your turn to get beaten!"

Dao Changsheng couldn't help but honestly ask, "With my hundred lives, could I possibly be beaten to death by them?"

"I don't know; it depends on how thick-skinned you are. They're all old and frail, a bunch of shaky old geezers! They might not be able to beat you to death. Perhaps your bones are hard and will hurt their hands, and you might even tire these old men to death."

Dao Changsheng was horrified and quickly said, "Then if I'm tough and thick-skinned, they won't be able to kill me, but I'm afraid I'll be tortured to death by the pain."

Lei Chui earnestly advised, "My good disciple, to be a cut above others, you must endure the bitterest hardships. Didn't you survive our lightning strikes, electric hammers, and beheadings before? Although this will be a hundred times more painful, you are the strongest Heavenly Emperor of all time; you must endure it."

"Come, drink some tea to warm your stomach and do some warm-up exercises. Once they're finished fighting, it will be your turn to get beaten!" the Earth Mother's gentle voice relayed. "By then, you might even have your stomach literally pierced through, so it's better to drink and digest early."

Dao Changsheng nodded, solemnly took out a tea table, set up a small table, and sat opposite Emperor Qi, drinking tea together from a distance.

Heavenly Emperor Duan, hidden within Dao Changsheng's body, looked utterly bewildered: "My heavens! So this is how they teach their disciples?? No wonder you ancient beings train people to be so strange."

Emperor Qi, who was drinking tea, also looked at Dao Changsheng with a puzzled expression: "Doesn't he take the chance to escape? Isn't he afraid of being beaten to death?"

Boom!

In a flash, Heavenly Emperor Ping was bathed in blood, besieged and killed by the Ancestral Witches. This Heavenly Emperor Ping died several times, his body no longer able to recover. He was quickly slain, marking the true demise of the second Ancestral Witch.

Seeing their battle end, Dao Changsheng couldn't help but stand up, put away the tea table, stand at attention, and stride forward.

The Ancestral Witches were taken aback. "What is this young Heavenly Emperor doing now?" They truly couldn't understand: why didn't he escape while they were busy besieging Heavenly Emperor Ping? Their true combat power was not merely what they had shown. Dao Changsheng was strong, but not significantly stronger than them; at most, he could fight three Ancestral Witches alone. If Dao Changsheng stayed, he would surely die. However, Dao Changsheng was a tough bone to crack, and they didn't want to deal with him for now.

Noticing their gazes, Dao Changsheng honestly said, "I'm ready to be killed. I admit I can't beat you; you're too good at faking. But with my hundred lives, I can still hold out for a while."

The surrounding Ancestral Witches immediately sneered a few times. How could they waste time on him?

One Ancestral Witch coldly declared, "I'm going to the Jianmu Sacred Land! There are over a dozen old Void Cavern Realm monsters living there, some even having reached the Quasi-Emperor realm. Each of those powerful beings possesses incredibly terrifying life energy."

"The Void Cavern of the Ancient Race—the entrance to that sacred land is extremely mysterious, but it holds my former legacy. I'll make a trip there myself and deal with my disciples and grand-disciples."

"Don't kill them all, and don't destroy the legacy. Leave some seeds of hope for future generations, so that in hundreds or thousands of years, they can blossom again and give birth to more powerful individuals," an Ancestral Witch said grimly.

The ancient Ancestral Witches discussed among themselves and quickly descended. Upon seeing the desolate, dark land, they instantly froze, unable to believe their eyes!

"Where are the people? Where have all the people gone!!"

This vast expanse of dark land looked as if it had been gnawed by dogs, its mountains dug beyond recognition, its rivers completely dry, not a single drop remaining. It was more shameless than a goose plucking its own feathers! Nothing was left behind.

"They must have hidden, taking refuge in small grotto-heavens." Their eyes cold, they instantly went to search all the major sacred lands. Only after digging through every inch of soil did they realize the terrifying truth: the world seemed to have been annihilated.

"Where have all the people gone?"

The Ancestral Witches returned to Dao Changsheng, their eyes sharp and filled with immense fury. "Tell us, or we will certainly kill you! We'll make your life a living hell!"

"They're inside me. You ran off so fast, I didn't have time to tell you," Dao Changsheng replied honestly. He never lied, and even offered a solution: "As long as you all work together to kill me, they'll come out."

The Ancestral Witches almost choked, barely able to breathe.

"Is there something wrong with this person's mind?!" Having schemed and dealt with cunning and treacherous ancient beings for centuries, they now saw his honest, simple, and naive expression and, for some reason, felt a suffocating rage in their chests! They found him even more detestable than those insidious Heavenly Emperors!

"I can understand your malicious gazes, as if you want to devour me." Dao Changsheng found their stares unnerving. He obediently squatted down, lay on the ground, adopting a posture ready for a beating, and muttered while looking up at the sky, "Because my teachers said that cunning and treacherous people like you hate honest, trustworthy, and virtuous scholars like me the most."

"You are seeking death!!"

In an instant, the Ancestral Witches were utterly enraged, feeling driven mad. They all unleashed their full power, erupting with energy, and surrounded Dao Changsheng to kill him. Each of their combat powers, when fully unleashed, increased three to fourfold. Their combined force instantly took one of Dao Changsheng's lives.

"It hurts so much."

Dao Changsheng immediately broke into a sweat from the pain. The next second, their terrifying combat power erupted again, killing another one of Dao Changsheng's lives. After dozens of breaths, Dao Changsheng had been killed sixteen times.

At first, Dao Changsheng screamed and struggled frantically, but as time passed, he gradually lay on the ground, "disheveled," with his arms and legs spread out, letting them abuse his body without uttering a sound. He merely stared at the sky with an ashen face, as if his life had plunged into utter despair.

A light flared in the eyes of the surrounding Ancestral Witches, and they couldn't help but sneer, "This torture is more miserable than death. You finally can't bear it, so release those beings, and we won't hit you anymore."

Lying in a pit on the ground, he suddenly turned his head to look at the Ancestral Witches, like a wronged young wife who had been tormented. "You can continue. I've given up resisting. My teacher said that life is like rape; if you can't fight back, just lie down and enjoy it."

Ancestral Witches: "???"

Several Ancestral Witches instantly choked, their Dao hearts almost unstable, about to spit out old blood! "Are you out of your mind?! What kind of bizarre people are your teachers? Are they all idiots?! How on earth did they teach you this?!"

They were utterly furious. Unleashing their full power, they furiously attacked Dao Changsheng, but gradually grew exhausted. Taking a deep breath, they couldn't help but feel a complete chill run down their spines. "He couldn't possibly be that honest, could he? Does he really have a hundred lives?"

Another Ancestral Witch's expression subtly changed as he weighed the situation: "If that's truly the case! We've only killed seventeen of his lives so far, and he still has eighty-three more.... Is this why he's so brazenly fearless?"

This number drove them almost to despair. "We must kill him! Otherwise, we are doomed!"

Boom!!

Again, countless forces erupted. Dao Changsheng was pressed into the ground by the terrifying physical strength of the many Ancestral Witches, turned into a puddle of crimson flesh, as if being pounded like rice cakes, grimacing in pain. However, seeing that they had misunderstood him, he still endured the pain, forced his mouth open, and honestly reminded them, "Esteemed Ancient Heavenly Emperors, you've miscalculated. I still have eighty-five lives left."

The Ancestral Witches looked at him hesitantly, bewildered. They recalculated and found that their initial count was correct, yet Dao Changsheng was straightforward and had never deceived them before. Dao Changsheng quickly explained, "A world resides within me, providing power, and my Undying Golden Body recovers very quickly. In this short period, I've already recovered two lives. If you don't kill me faster, you won't be able to keep up with my recovery rate."