Kunlun Mountain, Three Pure Ones Dojo.
The earlier round of barbed banter had seemed like nothing more than an appetizer. The true main course was about to be served.
The Dao resonance in the air grew viscous and lively, as though countless invisible spirits were dancing with joy. The sea of clouds no longer churned. Instead, it resembled congealed jade cream, quietly suspended between the mountains as it awaited some sacred proclamation.
Chen Song felt as if an invisible hand had gripped his heart, making him unconsciously soften even his breathing.
He secretly glanced at the three elders beside him. Though each held a different posture, the same thing burned in their eyes—the spark of enlightenment, the resolve of one who had finally glimpsed the far shore after countless ages of cultivation, and the overwhelming confidence of being about to stand equal to Heaven and Earth.
Laozi was the first to move.
He merely took an utterly ordinary step forward.
But that single step!
"Buzz—"
The entire Kunlun Mountain—no, the entire network of earth veins across the eastern Primordial World—seemed to tremble lightly with that step.
It was not the violent shaking of mountains and earth, but a profound, weighty resonance, like a sleeping giant turning over. The clouds in the sky parted of their own accord, revealing a dazzling phantom of a river of stars, as if clearing the way for a Saint.
Laozi came to a halt. In that instant, his figure seemed to merge with Kunlun's main peak behind him—ancient, vast, yet standing tall enough to hold up Heaven and Earth.
He did not speak at once. Instead, he slowly closed his eyes, while his divine sense spread like invisible ripples, sweeping across the boundless Primordial World before finally settling upon the human settlements scattered throughout mountains,