Upon the cloud bed atop the high platform, Hongjun began expounding the Great Dao.
His Dao voice drifted ethereally, descending from Above the Nine Heavens and transforming into tens of thousands of golden flowers, then rising from the earth to condense into jade-colored golden lotuses.
The entire Zixiao Palace was filled with the boundless profundities of laws.
The Three Pure Ones sat cross-legged, clear qi circulating around them. Within the auspicious clouds above their heads, the Three Flowers appeared and vanished faintly. Clearly, they had gained the deepest understanding of the principles of World Creation.
Nuwa's brows knit slightly as her delicate jade fingers unconsciously traced patterns through the air. A faint thread of creative vitality lingered around her fingertips.
Jieyin and Zhunti wore expressions of wild joy, greedily devouring every Dao sound rune as they tried to find some supreme method to remedy Western Barrenness.
All living beings were enthralled.
Only Xuanzheng stood apart, like an oddity who had slipped into a top-tier academic forum.
He did not listen to Hongjun's teachings on Severing Three Corpses or Refining Primordial Spirit.
[Primordial Spirit Great Dao? That's the broad road for fragile people like you. Our Wu Clan walks the single-log bridge of using the flesh to cross the universe!]
Within his eyes, the ancient mirror surface of the [Script Mirror] reflected not Hongjun's figure, but rows upon rows of waterfall-like data streams.
[Beep! Law fluctuation detected: Space Folding. Frequency: seven parts below Hai. Combination pattern: Qian three, Kun six, Zhen... Data model being entered... Similarity match: Ancestor Witch Dijiang's Space Law, 87.4%... Three optimizable nodes discovered...] [Beep! Residual Great Dao aura detected...]
He quietly raised his left hand, and the phantom of the [Karma Scale] flashed past.
A wisp of Law Fragments that had dispersed unnoticed while Hongjun lectured was precisely "weighed" by him, then packaged away into his own "Secret Stash."
[It may just be scraps, but even a mosquito's leg is still meat! Save enough, and I can trade them for a few high-grade spirit veins for the clan!]
Just as Xuanzheng busied himself "picking up trash" and "building a database," a discordant sneer shattered the solemn silence within the hall.
"Hmph, a bunch of barbarians who cultivate only the flesh and know nothing of fate. You think you deserve to listen to a Sage's Great Dao? What a Monkey in a Crown!"
The speaker was a demon sage with a pointed mouth, monkey-like cheeks, and sharp glints in his eyes. He was the ancestor of the ancient exotic Six-Eared Macaque. Proud of his extraordinary lineage, he saw the Wu Clan members sitting there like wooden stakes, completely unresponsive to the profound Primordial Spirit Great Dao, and could not resist mocking them.
His voice was not loud, but he used his mana to deliver it precisely to the ears of Houtu, Dijiang, and the other Ancestor Witches.
Dijiang and the other Ancestor Witches frowned, killing intent flashing through their eyes. Yet since this was the Dao Ancestor's sacred ground, they forcibly held themselves back.
Xuanzheng did not even turn his head.
[Whispering during class and launching personal attacks? You're seriously disrupting the learning environment! You must be removed!]
He did not even stand up.
He merely threw a casual backhanded punch toward the source of the voice.
There were no law fluctuations, no surging blood and qi—only physical force refined to the utmost extreme!
"Bang!"
A dull impact rang out.
The mockery had not yet faded from the pointed-mouthed demon sage's face when his entire body seemed to be struck head-on by a divine mountain. His body instantly folded at a grotesque angle. Before he could even scream, he became a streak of light and was forcibly "punched" out of the great hall of Zixiao Palace, vanishing into the boundless chaos.
Xuanzheng withdrew his fist and dusted off his hands, as though he had merely brushed away a bit of dust.
Only then did he slowly rise to his feet and cup his hands toward Hongjun on the high platform, wearing an utterly "honest" expression.
"Dao Ancestor, please forgive me! This creature made a racket while you were expounding the Dao and disrupted classroom order. This disciple dared to act only to preserve the peace of the sacred ground and set things right. I hope the Dao Ancestor will not blame me!"
On the high platform, Hongjun's beard twitched almost imperceptibly.
What could he say?
Say Xuanzheng had been wrong to strike? Would that not mean condoning others causing trouble in his sacred ground?
Say Xuanzheng had done well? The blood in his heart had already risen to his throat!
What stifled him most was this!
The instant Xuanzheng's words fell, a slender yet incomparably pure strand of Mysterious Yellow Merit Qi truly descended from Above the Nine Heavens and entered Xuanzheng's body!
Heavenly Dao Certified: Merit awarded for maintaining order!
Hongjun's face turned completely black.
The great powers throughout the hall no longer looked at Xuanzheng with admiration, but with horror.
This guy had beaten someone up and even received an "award for righteous conduct" along the way?!
Xuanzheng calmly sat back down, his inner abacus clicking away.
[Heh, this 'Zixiao Palace Gold Medal Order Keeper' title really works! From now on, anyone I don't like gets slapped with a 'disrupting classroom discipline' charge. I can beat the hell out of them and still get a bonus! What a bargain!]
Having cleared away the "classroom trash," Xuanzheng resumed his "data collection" work.
A thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.
Hongjun finally finished explaining the cultivation methods before the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm and prepared to conclude his first sermon.
At that moment, Xuanzheng stood up once more.
This time, the "honesty" was gone from his face, replaced by unprecedented "rigor" and "professionalism," like a grandmaster about to unveil a revolutionary academic achievement.
In his hands, he held a light screen condensed from mana, glittering with Great Dao Runes.
At the top of the light screen was a line of startling words—
<Report on Corrections and Optimization Suggestions for Several Flaws in the First Zixiao Palace Sermon>!
"Reporting to the Dao Ancestor!" Xuanzheng's voice rang clear and bright, echoing throughout Zixiao Palace.
"While listening to the Great Dao, this disciple Xuanzheng, drawing upon his shallow understanding of the origins of Pangu's World Creation, discovered that there are still three 'Logical Vulnerabilities' and five 'potential risks' in the Great Dao you have taught. I fear these may hinder the universal dissemination of the Great Dao throughout the Primordial World and mislead the paths of cultivation of countless living beings!"
"Boom—!"
The entire Zixiao Palace exploded into uproar!
All the great powers, including the Three Pure Ones, looked at Xuanzheng as if he were insane.
He had gone mad!
This member of the Wu Clan had to be mad!
He actually dared to say, right in front of a Sage, that the Sage's teachings contained flaws?!
Was he tired of living?!
Hongjun's body stiffened.
But Xuanzheng paid no heed and began publicly reading his "report."
"First, the Dao Ancestor's method of 'Severing Three Corpses' relies too heavily upon Innate Spiritual Treasures. Its threshold is too high, making it unfavorable for the many independent cultivators without backing or lineage. This goes against the original intent of 'spreading the Great Dao to all.'
"I suggest introducing supplementary methods of Severing Corpses with Merit and Severing Corpses with Destiny, thereby providing more possibilities for the masses of cultivators..."
"Second, the essence of 'Golden Immortal Immortality' taught by the Dao Ancestor suffers from a repulsive reaction between its operating laws and the World's Fetal Membrane of the Primordial World. It may be harmless in the short term, but over time, it may cause cultivators to become overly entangled with the karma of heaven and earth, making future transcendence difficult. I suggest optimizing its Underlying Law circuits..."
"Third..."
Point by point, clause by clause, Xuanzheng spoke with sound reasoning and detailed data, even providing specific "optimization plans"!
At first, the great powers thought it was utter nonsense.
But as they listened, the expressions of some highly cultivated figures, such as the Three Pure Ones, Nuwa, and Zhenyuanzi, gradually changed.
Comparing his words to their own cultivation, they discovered that every sentence Xuanzheng spoke was incisive and struck directly at the heart of the matter! The obscure stagnations they had vaguely sensed in their cultivation but could neither explain nor identify had been pinpointed by Xuanzheng with unerring accuracy!
Hongjun's face changed from black to green, then from green to purple, and finally into the Deathly Silence of pale white.
More than anyone else, he knew that everything Xuanzheng said... was correct!
What he had transmitted was the Dao of the "Heavenly Dao," while this variable, Xuanzheng, seemed to stand faintly upon the will of "Pangu," ruthlessly identifying and remedying the deficiencies in his Dao!
"Enough!"
Unable to endure any longer, Hongjun gave a Dao shout imbued with Sage might, attempting to interrupt Xuanzheng.
However!
At that moment!
"Rumble—!"
Above the Nine Heavens, Purple Qi Coming from the East stretched thirty thousand miles. Boundless Mysterious Yellow Merit Qi gathered into a dazzling pillar of light, even denser than all the merit previously awarded to Xuanzheng combined!
Before the three thousand great powers and before Hongjun himself, the pillar of merit light poured mightily into Xuanzheng's body!
The Heavenly Dao once again issued a decree, vast and majestic in meaning:
Xuanzheng was commended for his supreme merit in "perfecting the dissemination of the Great Dao and completing the Heavenly Dao Laws"!
Hongjun's cry of "Enough" became lodged in his throat.
It was as though the Heavenly Dao had publicly slapped him across the face. His Dao heart buzzed, and he stood utterly petrified.
A mouthful of sacred blood was trapped in his chest, neither rising nor falling, causing agonizing pain in his Primordial Spirit.
Bathed in Merit Golden Light, Xuanzheng looked at Hongjun with an "innocent" expression.
"Dao Ancestor, look, even the Heavenly Dao thinks I'm right. For the harmony and stability of the Primordial World, and so as not to mislead future generations, why don't you... study my 'optimization suggestions' again and explain it all to everyone next time?"
Expressionless, Hongjun announced the end of the first sermon and stated that the second sermon would begin ten thousand years later.
No emotion could be heard in his voice.
The great powers rose and saluted, their expressions toward Xuanzheng filled with complicated emotions.
At last, Hongjun gave the culprit—who stood bathed in Merit Golden Light and still seemed to be calculating something—a long, deep look.
"At the next sermon, Zixiao Palace will add three meditation cushions. Those fated to obtain them may do so."
With that, his figure vanished from the cloud bed.
Before you continue