Fengshen: I, Nezha, don’t need a system

"What do you mean?"

Nuwa's expression suddenly changed slightly. The eternally gentle look between her brows quietly faded away, replaced by a faint solemnity.

Li Ziting's casual remark sounded like a thunderclap to her ears.

—The information hidden in these words is enough to overturn the current situation of the primordial world.

It even involves the Dao Ancestor Hongjun, who sits in the Zixiao Palace and has long transcended all things.

I restrain his obsession.

Li Ziting's voice remained calm and even, without the slightest ripple, but to Nuwa's ears, every word carried immense weight.

Are you holding onto the "obsession" that locks up the Spirit Pearl?

For cultivators, the word "persistence" is fundamental.

—It is the anchor of the Dao heart, the foundation of the Great Dao, and the source of a cultivator's most steadfast conviction and fundamental strength on their own path of cultivation.

Lingzhu's "obsession" was an astonishing ambition—the desire to single-handedly unleash the "Elemental Incarnation" supernatural power, and even to attempt to gather elemental laws using the Chaos Bell as a foundation to break through to the realm of a Great Dao Saint....

How magnificent and resilient that was!

And Li Ziting said "locked up"?

Is this "locking" a forced confinement or a covert manipulation?

Did they already succeed, or were they just starting out?

Countless questions flooded into Nuwa's mind like a tide, instantly disrupting her originally calm state of mind, and her emotions began to brew uncontrollably.

—It wasn't anger, but a throbbing sensation mixed with shock, doubt, and a hint of unease.

Like a volcano that has been dormant underground for millions of years, the magma is churning deep within, just waiting for an outlet to erupt.

She stared intently at Li Ziting. His eyes, which had once mended the heavens and created humanity and witnessed the rise and fall of the primordial world, were now filled with a solemn "waiting for an explanation." The air seemed to freeze under her gaze.

"It's just the literal meaning."

Li Ziting met Nuwa's gaze with no attempt to conceal anything on his face.

On the contrary, he spoke in a relaxed tone, with a sense of "finally I can say it," and slowly began to explain.

His aura remained calm, but upon closer inspection, it seemed that beneath that calmness lay a sense of relief that had been suppressed for too long.

"You should remember why Lingzhuzi perished back then."

He began by throwing out a probing question, his voice low but precisely striking a chord deep within Nuwa's memory: "He defied Hongjun's will."

"This is not a minor transgression; it is a fundamental violation that touches upon the very foundation of Hongjun's Dao."

"In the end, Hongjun had no choice but to take action himself, using the power of the Heavenly Punishment to destroy him in public, and only said to the outside world that 'Lingzhuzi went against the heavens and his soul was scattered.'"

At this point, Li Ziting paused, his gaze drifting slightly into the distance, as if recalling the divine punishment that shook the primordial world: "But the world only knows that Lingzhuzi perished, but they do not know that for Hongjun, that divine punishment was 'clearing obstacles,' while for me, it was the only chance to 'break free from shackles.'"

"Hongjun? Dao Ancestor Hongjun?"

When Nuwa heard this name, her heart jolted, and her memories were instantly awakened.

—That's right. Although she didn't witness the scene of Lingzhuzi's fall, she learned the whole story through the Heavenly Dao.

High above, divine punishment thunder poured forth like a celestial river.

The oppressive aura emanating from the Ziwei Palace enveloped the Three Realms, and Lingzhuzi's primordial spirit shattered inch by inch under divine punishment, ultimately showing signs of "soul and spirit scattered".

At first, she thought it was because Lingzhuzi had rushed his path and angered the Heavenly Dao.

Now, after hearing what Li Ziting said, I suddenly realized that things were far more complicated than they seemed.

—A seemingly divine judgment of death, but Li Ziting is actually involved behind the scenes?

Her brows furrowed even more, and the previously scattered clues in her mind began to connect rapidly.

Li Ziting is the Primordial Heavenly Dao, the "Controller of World Order".

However, it always gives people a feeling of being "restrained".

After merging with the Dao, Hongjun Daozu lived in seclusion in Zixiao Palace and rarely concerned himself with the affairs of the prehistoric world.

But he was so ruthless towards Lingzhuzi...

Many previously overlooked details have now come alive, subtly pointing in a direction she never dared to imagine.

“Hongjun is never as 'detached' as he appears on the surface.”

Li Ziting's voice rang out again, this time with a hint of coldness in his tone.

When he spoke of the name "Hongjun," there was a sense of gritted teeth and resentment in his voice.

He looked up at Nuwa, and deep in his pupils, his originally calm gaze suddenly flashed with fragments of divine punishment lightning.

That wasn't ordinary thunder...

Instead, it carries the majesty of Heaven, yet is filled with a violent aura, like a tiger that has been imprisoned for a thousand years, finally having its scales touched, gradually revealing its fangs, and may erupt at any moment.

“When I was first born, my power was not yet stable and I was at my weakest. He forcibly bound me to him in the name of ‘merging with the Dao’.”

Li Ziting's voice lowered, filled with long-suppressed resentment.

"He is not in harmony with the Way of Heaven, but with me."

“He seized the authority I was born with, drained the power of my origin, and turned me into his ‘foundation vessel’.”

"Over the years, he has seemingly been comprehending the Dao in Zixiao Palace, but in reality, he has been using my power to strengthen himself and solidify his position as the 'Dao Ancestor'."

He took a deep breath, his tone filled with helplessness and determination: "I am not free, trapped in this world by him, a 'puppet' of his. He is not free either—because my will has not been extinguished, and my origin is connected to his. As long as I am unwilling, he will never be able to truly transcend, and will always be bound by this 'Dao-merging' shackle. We are mutually devouring, and also mutually restraining."

"so……"

Upon hearing this, Nuwa's confusion suddenly dissipated, and the outline of the matter instantly became clear.

She looked at Li Ziting, her tone carrying a hint of certainty and disbelief: "So you used the fact that Lingzhuzi disobeyed Hongjun's will and was killed by Hongjun to set up a scheme? You wanted to use Lingzhuzi's demise to find an opportunity to break away from your 'merging with the Dao Ancestor'?"

"Yes."

Li Ziting nodded heavily, his voice deep and resonant like the clash of metal, each word carrying an undeniable firmness.

"The appearance of the Spirit Pearl was an accident in itself."

“Hongjun never expected that Lingzhuzi would walk a path completely different from his own, and he never expected that this path would be so powerful as to threaten his position. Coincidentally, at that time, the alien world outside the realm was also secretly spying on the prehistoric world. Hongjun was unable to spare any attention, which gave me an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.”

His gaze sharpened again, and the divine punishment light in his pupils intensified: "Just as Hongjun used the Heavenly Dao Divine Punishment to shatter Lingzhuzi's primordial spirit and was about to be completely destroyed, I made my move."

"I didn't save him—I couldn't, and I shouldn't have."

"That was Hongjun's deadly trap for Lingzhuzi. What I did was at the moment when the divine punishment was at its peak and Hongjun's attention was entirely focused on destroying Lingzhuzi's Dao foundation..."

"They silently seized his most essential thing—not the fragments of his primordial spirit, not the magical artifacts, but his 'true self power,' and also a portion of the true thunder origin that belonged only to Lingzhuzi and had never been touched by Hongjun."

"what!"

Nuwa was truly stunned this time. She stood up abruptly, and the chaotic primordial energy around her trembled slightly due to the fluctuation of her emotions.

To seize the "power of the true self"?

That's a more ruthless method than seizing someone's primordial spirit or stealing their Dao fruit.

—The primordial spirit can be reassembled if it is lost, and the Dao fruit can be repaired if it is shattered...

But the "true self power" is the foundation of a cultivator, the origin imprinted in the deepest part of the soul from the moment of birth. Without this?

Even if Lingzhuzi has a remnant soul, he is now like a rootless duckweed, with no possibility of rebuilding himself!

But why was Lingzhuzi able to reincarnate as Li Chunyang?

Could it be because his true self, along with the slaying of the restless mind, was involved?

"You don't need to be surprised."

Li Ziting seemed to have anticipated Nuwa's reaction, and his tone softened slightly.

A rare complex expression appeared on his face.

There was regret, but also admiration.

"That child is really thoughtful and very talented."

"In the vast expanse of history, he was the only one who could forcibly create the 'Elemental Incarnation' supernatural power, even though he was below the level of a sage."

He recalled the spiritual pearl he had glimpsed from afar years ago.

The laws of the elements flowed around him, and the five elemental avatars of water, fire, wind, thunder, and his true self came to life.

Each clone contains pure power of the laws.

With just one more step, one can use the Chaos Bell as a medium to integrate the five elemental laws, break through the shackles of sainthood, and step into the ranks of the legendary "Great Dao Saints".

This refers to the Great Dao Sage...

It is not the Heavenly Saint who is restrained by Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao.

"At that time, he was the luckiest among the younger generation in the primordial world, the one most likely to gather the elemental laws and break through to the Great Dao Saint, perhaps even unprecedented and unparalleled."

Li Ziting's tone was full of admiration, even though he was the "controller of world order".

Having seen countless geniuses and outstanding figures in the primordial world, he still couldn't hide his admiration when Lingzhuzi was mentioned.

"Given time, if he truly succeeds, the landscape of the prehistoric world will surely change, and the title of 'strongest in the prehistoric world' will no longer belong to Hongjun."

Li Ziting said urgently, "It's Lingzhuzi. He will transcend everything, including Hongjun's Dao and the constraints of the Primordial Heavenly Dao. I just didn't expect that Lingzhuzi has the Chaos Bell and the Chaos Pearl. With their protection, the power I can obtain is limited, otherwise..."

He can also acquire more power.

Furthermore, it lost a significant amount of the power of the Wood element during the conflict with the Chaos Bell and the Chaos Pearl.

He didn't get it....

The spirit pearl was not obtained either.

Furthermore, it was precisely because of his involvement that the power of divine punishment was slightly weakened in terms of its laws and accuracy, which also affected the spirit pearl...

This reduced a lot of stress, thus completing the reincarnation.

"No wonder...no wonder Dao Ancestor Hongjun tried every means to kill him."

Nuwa murmured to herself, only now did she truly understand.

— Hongjun killed Lingzhuzi not because he “went against his will.”

It's all because of "fear".

He feared that Lingzhuzi would grow up, that this rising star would disrupt the order he had built, and that his status as the "Dao Ancestor" would be replaced.

That's why he used the Heavenly Punishment and dealt a fatal blow.

However, Hongjun never expected that Li Ziting would "intervene" in that divine punishment.

He never expected that the trap he set to "eliminate the root of the problem" would ultimately become the "key" for Li Ziting to break free from him.

Even Heaven yearns for freedom.

They also yearn to be in control of everything, the kind of control that doesn't require sharing with others.