Chapter 172 Passing Down the Path of Gods and Demons
"It's alright, fellow Daoist, please pass on this method first. I'll see if the Wu Clan can cultivate it."
Houtu was very confident that the Wu Clan could cultivate the Path of Gods and Demons. She had also heard of the Human Clan; they were created by the Daoist Nuwa, modeled after the innate Dao body.
The Wu Clan possessed the bloodline of Pangu and were born with the Dao body. There was no reason why the Human Clan, with their acquired Dao body, could cultivate it, while the Wu Clan, with their innate Dao body, could not.
"Your Majesty, please look!"
As she spoke, an ancient Dao seal appeared between Feng Zichen's brows, bursting forth with brilliant purple light, forming a True Spirit Divine Diagram in the void, demonstrating the Path of Gods and Demons.
"The One Who Opens the Path!"
"Beyond the Immortal Path, another path is opened!"
"Fellow Daoist, you are truly talented; I am no match for you!"
After reading the Path of Gods and Demons, Houtu finally came to her senses after a long time, sighing in admiration.
If she possessed such wisdom, how could the Wu Clan have ended up in this situation, sharing the primordial world with the Demon Clan?
"Your Majesty flatters me!" Feng Zichen waved his hand, not daring to accept such praise.
"This path is based on bloodline, gradually strengthening the innate bloodline to generate an innate, immortal true spirit, transforming into an innate divine and demonic body. It is perfectly suited to the Wu Clan."
"However, the highest achievement of this path involves the deep entanglement of the Zhou Tian Stars, which is somewhat troublesome."
At this point, Houtu frowned, looking slightly troubled.
The highest achievement of the Divine and Demonic Path is not transforming into an innate divine and demonic being.
Rather, it is using oneself to verify the primordial world, reversing everything, refining the supreme Pangu body, proving the Dao through force, and stepping into the Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal realm comparable to a saint.
The Zhou Tian Stars are transformed from the spirits of Pangu's acupoints; their trajectory is a Pangu meridian diagram. Feng Zichen opened up the divine acupoints one by one according to the positions of the Zhou Tian Stars.
Their goal was to align their own meridians with those of Pangu, thereby reverse-engineering Pangu's body, gaining insight into the mysteries of heaven and earth, and gradually transforming into him.
However, the Wu Clan and the Demon Clan were mortal enemies, making it impossible for them to cultivate using the celestial bodies. This path was impassable for the Wu Clan.
Unable to cultivate into Pangu's body through this method, the Wu Clan could only settle for second best: awakening the Ancestral Witch bloodline and cultivating the Ancestral Witch body.
But in this way, their highest achievement would only be limited to the level of the Ancestral Witch; advancing further to become a Primordial Golden Immortal was extremely difficult.
The Ancestral Witch's body could be considered the closest physique to Pangu's body in the primordial world.
If the Ancestral Witch obtained the method to transform into Pangu's body, their transformation speed would undoubtedly be countless times faster than that of ordinary people.
But now, the opportunity was right before their eyes, yet they had to miss it because of the Demon Clan. Houtu was naturally furious, and her impression of the Demon Clan inevitably worsened.
"Your Majesty, as descendants of the Great Dao Venerable, doesn't the Wu Clan have received the Great Dao Venerable's Dao Body inheritance?" Hearing Houtu's words, Feng Zichen was somewhat surprised.
Even if they didn't possess the inheritance regarding Pangu's physical body, the Twelve Ancestral Witches could still condense Pangu's physical body by forming the Twelve Capital Heavenly Gods and Demons Formation. With the aptitude of the Ancestral Witches, comprehending it wouldn't be difficult.
So how could the Wu Clan not have it?
"Fellow Daoist, you are unaware that the inheritance we received from our Father God only includes His body-refining methods, but not the Dao Body's essence."
"Therefore, our Wu Clan does not possess the Father God's Dao Body inheritance."
Houtu said with some helplessness.
After Pangu transformed into the universe, his legacy was divided into three parts: his primordial spirit was left to the Three Pure Ones, his physical body to the Twelve Ancestral Witches, and his Daoist essence spread throughout the newly born primordial world for all beings to comprehend.
"Your Majesty, the ultimate goal of the path of gods and demons is to achieve the body of Pangu. Cultivating with the help of the celestial stars is only one path, not an irreplaceable one," Feng Zichen suddenly said, thinking of something.
"Oh! What method do you have, fellow Daoist?" Houtu's eyes lit up, looking at him with divine light.
"Your Majesty is the ruler of the earth; you can start from Buzhou Mountain, follow the flow of the primordial earth veins, find the nodes of the earth veins, and draw a map of the primordial earth veins."
"Wouldn't that be another Great Daoist meridian map?"
What Pangu's acupoints transformed were not only the celestial stars, but also the countless spiritual acupoints and interconnected earth veins of the primordial world.
Feng Zichen originally planned to traverse the primordial land after attaining enlightenment, exploring spiritual caves, recording earth veins, and comparing them with the celestial sphere to further refine his path to godhood and demonhood.
However, things are different now. Houtu, as the ancestral witch of earth, is practically the ruler of the land. A map of the primordial Earth veins drawn by her personally would undoubtedly be more accurate than one drawn by Feng Zichen.
If he were to ask Houtu for one, she would certainly not refuse. This would save him a great deal of time.
"This method is ingenious!" Reminded by Feng Zichen, countless inspirations surged in Houtu's mind, and in the blink of an eye, she deduced the feasibility of this method.
"Fellow Daoist's wisdom is far beyond my reach!"
Regaining her composure, Houtu sighed and bowed deeply to Feng Zichen. "Fellow Daoist, I am deeply grateful for your teachings. Please accept my bow!"
"No! No!"
"Your Majesty is too kind!"
Upon seeing Houtu bow, Feng Zichen's face instantly changed. He jumped back in fright, unable to accept the bow.
In this world, how could a Quasi-Saint bow to a Taiyi Golden Immortal?
A Quasi-Saint is already infinitely close to the Dao; Houtu's bow is equivalent to the Earth Element bowing to him. Even if Feng Zichen were a Great Luo Golden Immortal, let alone not being one, he wouldn't dare accept such a bow. If Feng Zichen accepted Houtu's bow, he would at least lose half his life, his fortune would be greatly diminished, and his blessings would be gone. This was only because he had been kind to Houtu; otherwise, this bow could have directly taken his life.
"Fellow Daoist, please forgive me; it was Houtu's recklessness!" Houtu realized her mistake and quickly stood up, apologizing.
"It's alright!" Composing himself, Feng Zichen was still somewhat shaken.
To die not at the hands of the enemy, but at the gratitude of others—that would be too ridiculous.
"Fellow Daoist, please accept this token!"
With an apologetic smile, Houtu took out a token and handed it to Feng Zichen.
The token was entirely purple, like a piece of purple jade, shimmering and glowing. The front was engraved with the characters "Houtu," and the back with the character "Witch," both written with innate Dao patterns, faintly revealing the true meaning of the Great Dao, extremely noble.
"This is..." Feng Zichen asked, looking at the token in his hand.
"This is the Houtu Decree, also known as the Ancestral Witch Decree. It is my symbol of identity. All members of the Houtu tribe are subject to this decree, including even Great Luo Golden Immortals!"
"And throughout the entire Witch Clan, this decree allows me to mobilize all members of the clan, except for the Great Witch."
Looking at the token, Houtu solemnly stated.
(End of Chapter)