Saint Realm!

"You're going into Closed Door Meditation to break through again?" Nuwa's eyes widened, and she looked utterly miserable.

How long had it even been?

Again?

Any thought of catching up to him had long since been tossed to the back of her mind.

"I just suddenly gained some insight. It's nothing major." Tongtian waved a hand, looking perfectly calm and unconcerned.

The more he acted like this, the worse Nuwa felt.

He always acted so smug!

He never even changed his lines!

Even if he was absurdly strong, did he really have to use the same routine every time?

Seeing Nuwa purse her lips and roll her eyes, Tongtian could not help himself and gently rubbed her head.

Fuxi stood nearby, dumbfounded. Before he could react, even Tongtian froze.

With a swish, Tongtian's figure vanished from the hall.

"Little sister, what... what exactly is going on?"

Seeing the blush on his little sister's face, Fuxi could not help asking.

"What does it have to do with you? Go handle your own business already!"

Nuwa shot him a fierce glare, then hurried away as though something terrifying were chasing her.

If one looked closely, even the tips of her ears had turned red.

Her heartbeat had also quickened unconsciously.

Inside the secret chamber.

Watching Nuwa leave, Tongtian withdrew his Spiritual Sense, a helpless smile appearing on his lips.

This was bad. It seemed this matter would not be easy to explain anytime soon.

As he pondered, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

It seemed... perhaps... maybe... Nuwa was actually quite nice?

In any case, he did not have a Dao companion. Why should he restrain himself?

The moment the thought surfaced, even he was startled, and then he could not help laughing aloud.

Let nature take its course.

He silently repeated the words to himself, shook his head, and stopped thinking about it.

Composing himself, he directly communicated with the system.

"System, extract the cultivation of the sect members."

[Cultivation extracted. Distribution in progress...]

As the system's voice fell, an indescribable force poured into his body, bringing boundless and surging mana.

The mana from countless believers became restless the instant it entered his body, like a violent storm.

Its sources were too mixed. Once gathered together, it was naturally difficult to tame.

Instinctively, he began circulating the Primordial Supreme Merit.

In an instant, that mana became docile.

As wave after wave of mana flowed into his body, Tongtian's aura gradually strengthened.

Elsewhere.

Fuxi delivered a batch of spiritual treasures, pill-refining materials, and Artifact Refining Materials to the council of elders. The twenty great cultivators were so shocked that they could not speak.

Some even viciously pinched their own arms, afraid this was merely a dream.

No!

Even in their dreams, they would not dare hope for such abundant resources.

Seeing their expressions, Fuxi could not help teasing them.

"Look at all of you, making such a fuss. How pathetic."

"Why not learn from me? Calm and composed, unruffled by anything."

Fortunately, neither Nuwa nor Tongtian was present.

Otherwise, upon hearing this, they would surely have had to get to know Fuxi all over again.

When had his skin become this thick?

And he could spout such nonsense with such a straight face.

"Ah... this humble Daoist is truly ashamed. This is the first time in my life I've seen so many spiritual treasures."

Qing Xuanzi's voice choked up, and tears actually welled in his eyes.

The other elders nodded one after another, their expressions complicated beyond words.

"Alright, each of you pick one to use first. I need to send the rest to the Treasure Pavilion."

"Rest assured, as long as you work diligently, the Sect Master will never treat you poorly."

"Of course, if anyone harbors ill intentions, you all know the Sect Master's strength and methods."

Fuxi offered rewards while sounding a warning, wielding both kindness and severity to perfection.

"Who would dare betray us? That would mean there's something wrong with their brain!"

"That's right! From this day onward, my life belongs to the Interception Sect!"

The elders all hurried to declare their loyalty, looking as though they feared being even half a step too late. Fuxi's eyelids twitched at the sight.

After a while, once everyone had chosen their spiritual treasures, Fuxi took out the Universe Cauldron.

"Elders of the Artifact Refining Hall, the Sect Master asked me to hand this spiritual treasure and these materials over to you."

"As long as you work efficiently, there will be no shortage of benefits for you once the Sect Master emerges from Closed Door Meditation."

The five elders of the Artifact Refining Hall were stunned at first, then both excited and moved.

They were excited because Tongtian trusted them enough to place such a supreme treasure in their hands.

They were moved because if they completed the task perfectly, perhaps the Sect Master would be pleased enough to reward them with even more spiritual treasures.

One elder carefully held the Universe Cauldron in his arms and solemnly promised, "Rest assured, the few of us will work ourselves to the bone and refine everything as quickly as possible. We'll definitely make the Sect Master's eyes light up when he emerges from Closed Door Meditation!"

Fuxi nodded, then handed the pill-refining materials to the five elders of the pill-refining hall.

Once he had finished his instructions, he did not linger and turned toward the Treasure Pavilion.

On the Sun Star.

"I heard East King Duke is planning to hold an opening ceremony for his manor soon and has been inviting great cultivators from all sides to attend?"

After learning that the Demon Race had been completely consolidated, Dijun raised an eyebrow and spoke with a faint smile.

"Opening ceremony, my ass. Does he really think he's Tongtian?"

Eastern Emperor Taiyi sneered, his face filled with disdain.

In his view, East King Duke was merely lucky.

If he had not borne the title of leader of the male immortals personally conferred by the Dao Ancestor, he would have died in some unknown corner long ago.

He had neither genuine ability nor any sense, yet he constantly stirred up trouble.

"Reporting to the Heavenly Emperor, why not take advantage of the situation and attend their opening ceremony?"

"That way, the cultivators of the Purple Mansion will all gather in one place, making it convenient to wipe them out in a single sweep and absorb them all at once."

"While we're at it, we can also use the opportunity to win over some powerful figures who come to witness the ceremony."

Seeing the meaningful smile at the corner of Dijun's lips, Kunpeng stepped forward at just the right moment.

East King Duke had to be eliminated sooner or later.

Since the other party had taken the initiative to deliver himself to their door and was even making full use of his final value, Kunpeng naturally had no reason to refuse.

"I support the Demon Master's suggestion." Bai Ze pondered briefly before speaking.

"I support it as well."

"I agree too."

The Ten Great Demon Gods voiced their agreement one after another.

Seeing this, Dijun's expression turned solemn.

"How long until the opening ceremony?"

"Five hundred years," Kunpeng answered truthfully.

"Good. Then let East King Duke cling to life for a few more days."

At the same time—

Three Immortal Islands, Wuzhuang Temple, Netherworld Blood Sea, Kunlun Mountain, Mount Sumeru, Huoyun Cave, the Moon Star, and other places.

Nearly all the great cultivators among the three thousand Daoists who had once listened to the Dao at Purple Heaven Palace received invitations from East King Duke.

For a time, the great cultivators of every faction wore different expressions.

If no one dared refuse Tongtian's invitations, quite a few people chose to ignore East King Duke's invitation.

After all, the two sides were not on the same level at all.

Among those who explicitly declined was Fuxi.

Tongtian was in Closed Door Meditation, and Fuxi was handling nearly all the affairs of the Interception Sect in his stead.

He was unwilling to attend partly because he had no regard for East King Duke's Purple Mansion at all.

On the other hand, while the movements of the Demon Race had been concealed from many people, they could not be concealed from him.

Since that was the case, he naturally had no desire to get involved.

Of course, if he truly intended to attend, Dijun and Taiyi would not dare act rashly against anyone from the Interception Sect.

Back to Tongtian—

As his cultivation continuously rose, his aura was also quietly changing.

Though the changes were subtle, they persisted as his mana grew.

Before long, the changes gradually stabilized.

At that moment, his strength broke through to the peak of the Quasi-Saint realm!

He was only one final step away from the Saint realm.

Opening his eyes and sensing his own strength, Tongtian nodded in satisfaction.

"Since I reached the peak of the Quasi-Saint realm so quickly, I might as well strike while the iron is hot and enter the Saint realm in one go."

As he murmured, he raised a hand and drew the Primordial Violet Qi out from within his body.

The so-called foundation of sainthood was not worth mentioning to him.

He was walking the path of Attain Dao Through Strength and had no need to rely on this violet qi.

With a casual motion, he stored the Primordial Violet Qi in the system space. After a brief thought, Tongtian took out all the spiritual treasures within his body.

He planned to select several supreme treasures to use in opening heaven and proving the Dao.

"Hmm... the God-Slaying Spear and the Primordial Measure-Heaven Ruler can be used to open heaven and earth, while the Heaven and Earth Mystic Yellow Exquisite Pagoda and the Twenty-Four Petaled Green Lotus of Creation can suppress the void."

"The Sect Master's Seal and Sect Master's Edict will stabilize earth, water, wind, and fire. That should do it."

After returning the other Dharma treasures to his body, Tongtian's mind stirred, and he entered the Chaos Bead directly.

Facing the gray expanse before him, he said nothing.

The Primordial Measure-Heaven Ruler was in his left hand, the God-Slaying Spear in his right, and the Great Dao of the Sword was activated instantly.

Rumble!

With a sweep of both hands, two spatial cracks immediately tore open around him.

Even Quasi-Saint experts would have to deal with such cracks cautiously.

But relying on the strength of his physical body, Tongtian did not care in the slightest.

What was more, the Sect Master's Seal, the Creation Green Lotus, and other spiritual treasures circled around him.

With such divine weapons and treasures protecting him, let alone spatial cracks, even if heaven and earth collapsed, he would remain completely unharmed!

In only a few breaths, the spatial cracks began to slowly close.

How could Tongtian simply stand by and watch?

He immediately swung the Primordial Measure-Heaven Ruler and the God-Slaying Spear.

One!

Two!

Three!

Several streaks of sword light tore through the void in succession, continuously ripping apart and expanding the already fractured space.

Deafening roars echoed endlessly throughout the entire space.

After several more slashes, endless Chaos Qi began to churn and roar.

The void cracks grew larger and larger. The vague outline of heaven and earth appeared, and earth, water, wind, and fire began to emerge.

"Open for me—!"

With an enraged roar, Tongtian unleashed more than a hundred streaks of sword light in succession.

Boom!

A thunderous roar rang out!

Yin and yang first separated, and surging Two Qi began to flow.

Amid earth-shaking roars, clear qi slowly rose while turbid qi sank layer by-layer.

The distance between heaven and earth suddenly expanded.

Earth, water, wind, and fire seemed to find an outlet, wildly sweeping toward Tongtian.