Elsewhere!
Jie Yin and the other two traversed the void, already hundreds of millions of miles away from Duke of the East and the others.
Chen Ku glanced back, but he saw no figures following them and sensed not the slightest trace of an aura.
"Heh, it seems Duke of the East is nothing special after all."
"I thought they would lash out in desperation and forcefully attack us."
Chen Ku murmured quietly.
After all, Duke of the East and the others had waited at the edge of the primordial world for a long time.
Who would have thought they had only come to say a few words?!
Hearing Chen Ku's words, Zhun Ti snorted coldly and said,
"Hmph, so what if those people from the Celestial Court come after us?!"
"Old Toad Ancestor is their warning."
"Besides, Duke of the East was certainly not ignorant of what happened today. I have remembered this debt as well."
Zhun Ti's words were full of cold mockery.
Not only did he feel no fear toward Duke of the East and the others.
On the contrary, Old Toad Ancestor's covert attack earlier had made Zhun Ti quietly mark down this grudge as well.
Chen Ku smiled knowingly at that.
It seemed his Martial Uncle was quite petty.
Compared to Zhun Ti, Chen Ku appeared much calmer.
After all, the three sermons at Purple Cloud Palace had now ended.
Presumably, Duke of the East's day of destruction was not far off either.
Why bother arguing with someone destined to fall?
Meanwhile, Jie Yin also glanced in the direction where Duke of the East and the others had been.
"Now, we need no longer concern ourselves with anything else."
"With this Primordial Purple Qi in hand, it will be no difficulty for the two of us to become Saints in the future."
"When that day comes, the so-called Celestial Court will not be worth mentioning to us."
Jie Yin spoke proudly and triumphantly, his eyes shining with an imposing brilliance.
Even the eternal sorrow etched between his brows seemed to have faded somewhat at that moment.
Hearing this, Zhun Ti smiled and echoed,
"Indeed!"
"Though we are only the Dao Ancestor's named disciples, there is still a bond between master and disciples."
"Dao Ancestor Master has treated us well."
Without needing further explanation, it was clear that Jie Yin and Zhun Ti were both deeply grateful for Dao Ancestor Hongjun's gift of Primordial Purple Qi.
However, after hearing this, Chen Ku pondered for a moment before saying,
"Master, Martial Uncle, we cannot celebrate too soon!"
"The Dao Ancestor said earlier that the two strands of Primordial Purple Qi settled the karmic ties from the War of the Dao and the Demon."
"That means the karma of the Western World has fallen upon us."
"Restoring the Western World's fortune, purifying the resentment left behind back then, repairing the shattered spiritual veins of heaven and earth..."
"We must accomplish all of this."
Those involved were often confused, while onlookers saw clearly!
What Jie Yin and Zhun Ti cared about was the Primordial Purple Qi they had received—or rather, their future opportunity to attain the Dao and become Saints.
But Chen Ku cared more about the words Dao Ancestor Hongjun had spoken when bestowing the Primordial Purple Qi.
Karma!
For cultivators of the primordial world, karma was perhaps the force all living beings least wished to become entangled with.
What was more, as Dao Ancestor Hongjun had said, the two strands of Primordial Purple Qi settled the karmic debts of a great heavenly tribulation from long ago.
This was clearly no good thing.
At those words, Jie Yin and Zhun Ti froze.
The two could not help but fall into thought.
The more they considered it, the uglier their expressions became, and the more troubled they felt.
"This... our disciple is right!"
"We were so caught up in the joy of receiving the Primordial Purple Qi that we forgot all about this karma."
"So Dao Ancestor Master had such intentions in granting us the Purple Qi?!"
The two suddenly came to their senses, no longer wearing their earlier triumphant expressions.
How could restoring the Western World be easy?!
Or rather, if it had been so easy, Jie Yin and Zhun Ti would not have waited until now.
It could be said that although the temptation of attaining the Dao and becoming Saints was immense,
the karma they needed to bear was equally enormous.
Moreover, from another perspective,
Hongjun had already attained the cultivation of a Saint, so why did he not act directly to restore the Western World? Why had he instead shifted the karma onto Jie Yin and Zhun Ti?
That alone was enough to show that even for a Saint, this matter was far from easy.
They were numb!
If Chen Ku had not awakened them with a single remark, the two of them might still have been immersed in their expectations of becoming Saints, unaware of this enormous karma.
Yet there was nothing to be done. The matter had become settled and could not be changed.
After a long while, Jie Yin finally spoke in a grave tone.
"Alas, thinking too much is useless!"
"We can only take it step by step and pray that we can resolve this boundless karma as soon as possible, allowing our Western World to return to what it once was."
After he spoke, Zhun Ti showed no reaction.
He knew that this could only be considered a form of self-consolation.
Yet as Chen Ku looked at Jie Yin and Zhun Ti's somewhat gloomy expressions, he instead smiled faintly.
"Hehe, Master, Martial Uncle, there is no need to worry too much."
"When the cart reaches the mountain, there will be a way through. We should first return to the Western World."
"Although I have become Master's disciple, I have yet to see what the Western World truly looks like."
Chen Ku said this aloud.
He had originally been born at the boundary between east and west.
Afterward, once he became Jie Yin's disciple, he had traveled the world together with Jie Yin and Zhun Ti.
Thus, even now, he had never truly witnessed all that the Western World contained.
However, Chen Ku thought that the primordial world stood above all else, and its laws and order were the most complete among all heavens and worlds.
Although the Western World was barren, surely it could not be too outrageous, could it?
That was why he seemed so carefree, as though he did not know what worry was.
Hearing Chen Ku's words, Jie Yin and Zhun Ti nodded as well.
Without saying anything further, the three immediately set out again, raising their speed to the limit as they headed toward the Western World.
However, as they drew closer and closer to the Western World, Chen Ku's heart gradually sank!
As they traveled, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around them visibly grew weaker and thinner.
As far as the eye could see, there was only a scene of desolation and decay.
It was utterly bare; saying not a blade of grass grew there would not have been an exaggeration!
Upon closer inspection, ancient towering trees that had once stood proudly now possessed no vitality at all. Only withered, spiritless trunks lay scattered across the earth!
Furthermore, unlike the bustling prosperity of the Eastern World,
within tens of thousands of miles, Chen Ku did not see a single living creature.
How could such a sight be described merely as bleak and grim?!
Yet while there were no living beings, there were quite a few wronged souls in this place.
Whoosh...
Whoosh...
Standing in the void, Chen Ku heard gust after gust of mournful wind whistle ceaselessly past his ears.
Amid that vast roaring wind, there were faint cries mixed in—miserable howls filled with profound resentment.
Sinister!
Eerie!
Had a creature with slightly weaker cultivation been here, its scalp would already have gone numb with terror.
"Are these the beings of the Western World who died with resentment in the past, their grievances unextinguished as they became wandering wronged souls?"
Chen Ku's expression immediately fell.
The ancient war of the Three Races and the War of the Dao and the Demon had left fewer than one in ten Western World beings alive, with countless others perishing in the great tribulation.
Moreover, one had to know that the underworld had not yet been established, nor had the Dao of reincarnation emerged.
Thus, these wronged souls... no, these lingering obsessions of yin spirits, pervaded the Western World, dispersing endless spiritual energy and turning this place into a forsaken wasteland where even birds would not shit.
Chen Ku was dumbfounded.
It seemed he had been too naive and too optimistic before.
"Tsk... bitter, so bitter!"
"I had only heard that the Western World was barren and desolate."
"Who would have thought... it had fallen into such a state."
Chen Ku could not help shaking his head and sighing.
This time, he truly felt the Bitter Dao from the bottom of his heart.
Before you continue