Primal Celestial Venerable Panics: "Dad! You Can Have the Vice Sect Master Position of Chan Sect!"

The first to react was not anyone else.

It was Jade Pure Primordial Heavenly Lord, who had always valued rules and decorum above all, viewing the order of heaven and earth as the foundation of his Great Dao.

Just moments ago, his will had been the coldest, most resolute judge among the Six Sages.

To him, Yang Chen's existence was an ugly stain upon the Primordial World, a festering sore that had to be cut out completely, root and branch.

Yet now, not only had that sore not been removed, it was about to drag the entire world down with it.

The end of order was chaos.

This was the outcome Primal Celestial Venerable found most unacceptable, most intolerable.

He was afraid.

The dignity of a Sage shattered.

For the first time, a crack called "fear" appeared in that lofty Dao Heart, unchanging throughout the ages.

A madman! A complete madman! How dare he? How dare he bind his own life and death to the survival of the entire Primordial World! My Dao is the order of the Heavenly Dao, the principles of all things. If heaven and earth return to ruin and all things perish, what will order cling to? What will principle remain in? No, I absolutely cannot let him have his way! Dignity, decorum... before the survival of my lineage, they are all dust!

Kunlun Mountain, Jade Void Palace.

The wondrous sounds of the Great Dao echoing through the hall abruptly broke off on the most basic syllable.

The Twelve Golden Immortals, listening to their Sage Master's teachings, felt as though their Divine Souls had been viciously clenched by an invisible hand. A great terror of impending apocalypse, originating from the very source of heaven and earth, made every one of them turn pale.

The jade chime in Guang Chengzi's hand silently crumbled into dust.

Chi Jingzi's body shook violently beneath his Daoist robe.

They looked up in horror at their master seated high upon the cloud couch.

On Primal Celestial Venerable's face, eternally veiled in the majesty of the Heavenly Dao, all indifference and order had completely collapsed.

A Sage's thought, so urgent it was nearly unseemly, no longer concealed itself or offered any preamble. It transformed into a streak of golden lightning that tore through space and time, blasting across hundreds of millions of miles of void in a desperate rush and plunging directly into Yang Chen's True Spirit Sea of Consciousness, which was on the verge of "disintegrating"!

"Stop!"

This voice no longer carried the cadence of a Sage's Dao voice, nor did it bear the support of laws.

It was shrill, hurried, and even somewhat distorted by the extreme turmoil of emotion.

What it contained was pure, unembellished panic.

Then came a second and a third Sage's thought, each more urgent and faster than the last, as if they feared that if they were even a fraction of an instant too late, the madman holding the button of destruction would truly press it.

"Dad!"

"Fellow Daoist! Why say such a thing?"

Boom!

That cry of "Dad" did not come through sound. It was branded directly into Yang Chen's mind in the most fundamental form of will.

The impact it caused was far more violent and absurd than the threat of the Heavenly Dao divine lightning from before.

The boundless karmic force roiling and boiling within Yang Chen, on the verge of detonating the entire Primordial World, strangely stagnated for an instant at that form of address.

He maintained that despairing posture, as though prepared to drag the whole world down with him at any moment, while the flames of destruction still burned in his eyes.

Yet deep within his Divine Soul, in that frozen sea built from absolute reason, a faint, imperceptible ripple spread from this stone that had been cast into it.

Primal Celestial Venerable of Kunlun Mountain... the Jade Pure Sage who values rules and decorum most, was the first to break? Interesting. Truly interesting. That "Dad" sounded so sincere, but unfortunately, I am no longer the fool who could be sweet-talked into confusion by a few words from those above me.

Yang Chen sneered inwardly, but the twisted, liberating smile on his face became even more genuine, even more infectious.

He did not respond.

He did not even reveal any sign that he had heard those words.

He merely continued to drive the karma binding him to the source of the Primordial World, making that aura of "returning to ruin" grow denser and more dangerous.

This silent action was the most direct answer to Primal Celestial Venerable.

Your words were useless.

This extreme pressure instantly crushed Primal Celestial Venerable's last psychological defense.

How could he still care about face? About the dignity of a Sage?

Before the immense terror of heaven and earth returning to chaos, all of it became worthless!

He had to steady this madman!

At any cost!

Steady him, I must steady him! This madman does not care about life or death, nor does he care about karma. He only cares about dragging everyone into destruction with him! What is face worth? As long as the Primordial World remains, as long as the Chan Sect lineage remains, there will be plenty of chances to settle today's humiliation in the future! Give him whatever he wants, give him everything! As long as he stops!

"Everything can be discussed. Do not ruin yourself, and do not ruin the living beings of this world!"

Primal Celestial Venerable's voice trembled with near pleading as he offered a stake that would have driven any Grand Unity Golden Immortal mad.

"As long as you stop, the position of Vice Sect Master of Chan Sect will be reserved for you!"

Vice Sect Master of Chan Sect!

What an exalted position was that?

Below one person and above ten thousand immortals, controlling the fortune of the Chan Sect and issuing commands to its disciples in the Sage's stead.

Even Daoist Randeng, his most favored disciple, had plotted through countless epochs without ever obtaining such a promise.

Yet Primal Celestial Venerable's Sage thoughts continued pouring forth wildly, and every offer he cast out was more astonishing than the last.

"All Innate Spiritual Treasures of my Chan Sect, save for the Pangu Banner, are yours to choose from!"

"The Twelve Golden Immortals of Kunlun Mountain, including all my registered disciples, may all obey your commands!"

"I beg you!"

"I beg you to live properly!"

If any living being in the Primordial World had heard these words, their entire worldview would have been utterly shattered.

Primal Celestial Venerable, proud to the bone, the Sage who regarded all beings as "furred and horned, born damp or hatched from eggs," had actually lowered his noble head—one he had never bowed to anyone—for the sake of letting an "unclean anomaly" in his eyes live on.

He promised status, magical treasures, and authority.

He had even used that "Dad," enough to stain his Dao Heart.

Yang Chen received every bit of this information with absolute clarity.

Every word became the purest nourishment, feeding the cold, twisted ecstasy within him.

The position of vice sect master? A shackle. Innate Spiritual Treasures? Bait. Obedience to my commands? Surveillance. A Sage's promises sound incomparably tempting, but once I truly stop and lose my only leverage of mutual destruction, what awaits me will only be more thorough suppression and refinement, one I cannot resist at all.

Yang Chen had lived two lives. He was no longer the fool who could be deceived by the empty promises of a boss.

You lofty beings will never truly compromise. You will only use more exquisite cages to keep an out-of-control chess piece. Want me to stop? Fine, but not with these hypocritical rewards. I want you... to fear me, fear me to your very bones!

He sneered inwardly, while the curve of his lips stretched wider and the flames of destruction in his eyes blazed brighter.

The black karmic force around him showed no sign of calming. Instead, because of Primal Celestial Venerable's "goodwill," it churned even more violently and ferociously!

That aura of "returning to ruin" once again spread madly through the entire Primordial World at a geometric rate!

With his actions, he gave the clearest answer.

Not enough.

What you offered was still far from enough!

Now was far from the time to stop.

One Sage's compromise was only the beginning.

What he wanted was for every lofty creditor to kneel before him and beg for his survival in the humblest manner possible!