The endless Golden Light of Merit, like a golden divine river bursting through its banks from beyond the nine heavens, finally poured every last ray into Yang Chen's body.
Wherever the golden light passed, his mortal body underwent an unimaginable transformation.
Every cell rejoiced, every inch of bone was reforged, and the meridians that had been riddled with holes by boundless karmic force were gently repaired, widened, and reinforced by the incomparably pure power of merit.
An unprecedented sense of comfort spread from the depths of his soul.
Comfortable—damn comfortable. So this was power? This was what it felt like to be cradled in the palm of the entire world? Being a creditor was this satisfying?
For any living being in the primordial world, even a Quasi-Saint Great Power, obtaining even one ten-thousandth of this would have been enough to send their Dao Heart into rapture. They would have immediately entered seclusion to seek enlightenment and a breakthrough.
Yet Yang Chen merely lazily lifted his eyelids.
He could not even be bothered to examine the earth-shaking changes within his own body.
Bathed in the gradually fading golden radiance, treasure light flowed around him. His skin gleamed like the finest immortal jade, yet he showed not the slightest joy or gratitude.
Instead, he stretched with extreme satisfaction. His joints crackled in a string of crisp explosions, every sound carrying the rhythm of newfound strength.
Not enough. Far from enough. If he wanted to truly rest easy, he had to assume the highest possible stance and trample their bottom line into the dirt.
Then he raised his head toward the nine heavens, where the purple qi had yet to fully dissipate, and curled his lip.
His expression carried a trace of pure, undisguised disdain.
"Is that all?"
His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of every Sage present, as though directly questioning the supreme will of the Heavenly Dao.
"The mighty Heavenly Dao only has this much to show?"
"Looks like this primordial world is not all that wealthy."
The instant his words fell, the vast purple qi above the nine heavens, which had been about to disperse, suddenly froze before roiling violently.
A profoundly muffled rumble came from the depths of the void.
There was no anger or majesty in that sound, only the stifled frustration and helplessness of having its bottom line touched while being unable to do anything about it...
The eyes of all six Heavenly Dao Sages twitched.
Primal Celestial Venerable felt a surge of blood rush straight to his head. How insolent! How arrogant! He actually dared mock the Heavenly Dao to its face! This brat... this brat is simply a cancer upon the primordial world! Yet the Heavenly Dao can only endure it!
Sovereign of Heaven's hand gripping his sword bulged with veins. What a bold junior. Does he truly think the swords of my Jie Sect are dull? Endure it. I must endure it. To touch him now would be to make an enemy of the entire primordial world.
This guy...
He actually dared ridicule the Heavenly Dao to its face!
The muscles on Primal Celestial Venerable's eternally cold face stiffened beyond his control.
The fingers of Sovereign of Heaven's hand, which had just released the sword hilt, instinctively clenched again, his knuckles turning faintly white from excessive force.
Saint Nuwa's slender jade hands, which had created humanity, trembled slightly within her sleeves, her beautiful eyes filled with incomprehensible absurdity.
I created humanity and mended the heavens, gaining countless merits, yet I never dared show such disrespect toward the Heavenly Dao. He... what gives him the right? That karmic force capable of destroying everything? How utterly absurd.
What on earth was this guy's courage made of?
Yang Chen completely ignored the Sages' complicated gazes.
He stretched his limbs, feeling the power inside him surge to the point of nearly overflowing, along with the flawless body nourished by the Golden Light of Merit.
The expression on his face remained as lazy and uninterested as ever.
"Fine."
He said it casually, as though dismissing a servant who had done a passable job.
"Seeing as you're so sincere, I'll put this debt on the books for now."
After saying that, he paused.
Those pitch-black eyes finally shifted away from the heavens and slowly swept across the six Sage manifestations around him, each powerful enough to crush the myriad heavens and make all living beings bow their heads.
His gaze was calm and indifferent.
From Primal Celestial Venerable's face, dark as the bottom of a pot, to Sovereign of Heaven's barely contained fury, and then to the expressions of the two Western Sages, uglier than crying.
He looked at each of them in turn.
Good. Looks like they've learned their lesson. They know who really calls the shots.
At last, an incomparably brilliant smile spread across his lips.
Under the Golden Light of Merit, that smile appeared incomparably sacred, yet it carried a demonic quality that made even Sages' hearts tremble.
"And you lot."
He raised a hand and casually pointed at the several Innate Spiritual Treasures floating beside him, each blazing with light and each capable of stirring up a bloody storm.
"Consider the things you brought today advance interest."
At those words, the breathing of all six Sages stopped.
Daoist Zhunti felt as though his Dao Heart were bleeding. Interest? My Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree, the treasure of my enlightenment... is merely interest?! When will the barren West ever produce another treasure like this?!
Interest?
Their dignified treasures of sect protection, belonging to Heavenly Dao Sages, were merely... interest in this man's eyes?!
However, that was not the end.
Yang Chen's smile grew wider as he stepped forward. At that moment, his aura became incomparably clear—and incomparably arrogant.
He looked at the six Sage faces, all bearing different expressions but equally ugly to the extreme, and said slowly, one word at a time:
"Remember this."
"This is not Heavenly Dao merit."
"Nor is it a gift from the Sages."
His voice abruptly rose, carrying an overbearing force that allowed no dispute. Like thunder, it exploded throughout the valley and within the Dao Hearts of every Sage!
"This is the Protection Fee that all of you collectively paid to me, Yang Chen!"
Protection Fee!
Those three words were like three invisible chaos divine hammers smashing brutally onto the crowns of the six Sages' heads!
For the first time, ripples of something called collapse spread through Grand Supreme Elder Lord's Dao Heart, which had always been as still as an ancient well. Protection Fee... He had spoken the cruelest truth in the crudest words. My Dao of inaction seems so laughable at this moment. The Heavenly Dao turns, and all things follow order, yet this order... has been extorted in such a simple, brutal manner.
The expressions on their faces completely froze at that moment.
The smile on Yang Chen's face, however, vanished at that moment.
He looked around at the six Sages standing rigidly in place and gave those three words their final—and most cruel—explanation in a tone as flat as though he were merely stating a fact.
"Protection Fee to keep your primordial world from being..."
He drew out the last words, and a trace of pure, eager desire for destruction flashed through his dark eyes.
That's right. Make them remember this fear forever, remember what it feels like to be dominated. As long as they still want to preserve this world, they'll have to obediently... worship me.
"Accidentally played to ruin by me!"
His words fell.
The entire world sank into absolute silence.
The faces of the six Sages shifted from green to white before finally becoming ashen blanks.
Their mouths opened, yet they found themselves unable to utter even a single syllable.
Because what Yang Chen said was the truth.
Yes... it was the truth. An absurd yet real truth: the dignity of Sages trampled beneath his feet, and the rules of the Heavenly Dao toyed with in his palms.
Everything they had done today—the dignity they had cast aside, the supreme treasures they had offered, the humiliation they had endured...
Was indeed the payment of Protection Fee.
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