Yuanshi Tianzun and the Grand Pure Saint were both stunned.
The two of them followed the Karma Thread from Mount Buzhou—to the Chaos Sea—the far south—the East Sea—and finally to Biyou Palace on Golden Ao Island.
When they returned to Biyou Palace, they thought they could capture their third brother, Tongtian. Instead, they were greeted by the battered Lingbao Tianzun.
Most importantly, the Karma Thread was bound to him.
There was no question that Tongtian had gotten away...
Moreover, the miserable state of Lingbao Tianzun's face made both of their expressions darken. It was obvious that Tongtian had beaten up this good corpse.
And made him take the blame again.
The fact that he could wail so bitterly proved that Tongtian had tormented him terribly, to the point that the good corpse had voluntarily wanted to merge with the main body.
One could imagine just how much grievance Lingbao Tianzun had suffered.
"Wuwu... Eldest Brothers, I can't go on like this.
"Here are the secret arts you wanted." Lingbao Tianzun took out two jade slips and handed them over, hurriedly turning his head away as though afraid they would see his face.
To the two of them, this behavior meant he was protecting Sect Master Tongtian. Seeing him like this, they felt that Lingbao Tianzun was far too considerate, and both felt somewhat sorry for him.
They were too embarrassed to ask some of their questions, because they had already obtained the methods they had come for.
They had also wanted to speak with their third brother about what had happened recently and why he had changed so much. Yet that fellow hid from them every day.
Yuanshi Tianzun looked at Lingbao Tianzun's bruised and swollen face, his fists clenching tightly. He said seriously, "Can you untie the Karma Thread so that we can continue pursuing him?"
"I can't undo it. He planted a trace of his origin aura inside me. From now on, all karma he incurs in the Primordial World will be borne by me.
"Wuwu... My life is so miserable." As Lingbao Tianzun spoke, he covered his face and began to cry. His aggrieved tone was enough to make one's heart ache.
He completely dropped his defenses, allowing the two of them to clearly see his current condition. That Karma Thread was bound to the origin within him and simply could not be removed.
Such frankness left the two of them at a loss for words.
If their good corpses possessed such awareness, they would have merged with them long ago and broken through to a higher realm. Then, after severing their evil corpses, they could step into the indestructible Hunyuan realm rather than relying on the empowerment of the Heavenly Dao to reach their current realm.
After reading the information in the two jade slips, the Grand Pure Saint handed them to Yuanshi Tianzun and said seriously, "Notify us immediately when he returns next time."
Then he gave Lingbao Tianzun a drop of Saint blood essence.
"Use this to trap him for a moment. Then we can come over and teach him a lesson."
"That's right. We'll back you up on this matter." Yuanshi Tianzun also handed over a drop of Saint blood essence.
"Thank you, Eldest Brothers. He even warned me that if the Interception Sect doesn't develop properly, he'll beat me up.
"The Interception Sect lacks this and that. How am I supposed to develop it? None of my current disciples have reached the Quasi-Sage realm.
"This is too hard for me..."
Upon hearing this, Yuanshi Tianzun's mouth twitched. Was his third brother Tongtian going a little too far? He had opened this sect himself.
"Take this. There are one hundred Nine Revolution Golden Pills inside. Use them to nurture your disciples." The Grand Pure Saint handed over a gourd and said seriously.
"Take this as well. There are some immortal artifacts inside... I—"
Before Yuanshi Tianzun could finish, the Grand Pure Saint directly dragged him away through the void, because he had seen that Lingbao Tianzun was preparing to extort more from them.
After the two left Golden Ao Island,
Lingbao Tianzun smiled. As expected, the art of being an actor was truly useful.
Looking at the Karma Thread on his body, he casually summoned a Merit Golden Body and transferred the Karma Thread onto it, then sent it back to continue guarding the formation.
He also instructed it that if anyone attacked the formation, it should immediately self-destruct and scatter the karma onto the attacker.
"No, I can't keep carrying this burden. It seems I need to have the main body release an evil corpse. I can't be the one handling everything." Lingbao Tianzun stroked his chin. He was indeed the good corpse.
But living in constant fear every day was not conducive to cultivation.
Far east—Valley of the Sun.
Dijun arrived at the Fusang Divine Tree and looked at the nine Golden Crows upon it, his expression darkening. Sure enough, one was missing. The youngest, Sixth, was gone.
Dijun immediately communicated with the Fusang Divine Tree, asking it to replay what had happened here earlier. He wanted to know who had come here and stolen Sixth away.
Very soon, through the tree's recollection, he saw Saint Zhunti walk in, take a look around, break the defensive barrier, and seize Sixth.
The entire process seemed as casual as reaching out a hand.
"Zhunti!!"
Dijun roared in fury. He had never expected a dignified Saint to be so shameless. His poor sixth son had not even taken form yet, yet he had been taken away just like that.
At this moment,
the nine Golden Crows were awakened by the roar. Upon seeing their father arrive, they all gathered around him.
"Father, Father."
"Father, I missed you so much."
"Father, you haven't visited in so long."
"Huh? Where's Sixth?"
The eldest was the first to carefully notice that his sixth brother was missing. Where had that somewhat melancholic Sixth gone?
"Ah! Where's Sixth Brother? Father, where is Sixth Brother?" Tenth asked curiously, worry flashing through his narrowed eyes.
"Something's wrong. Someone came here, Father! Someone came here and took Sixth away!" The second Golden Crow cried out. A gleam flashed in his eyes as he used his divine ability to inspect the space.
"Yes. Sixth was taken by Saint Zhunti. It isn't safe here anymore.
"I'll take you to live on the Sun Star. The environment there may not be good, but it will be safe." Dijun spoke in a deep voice, concern flashing through his eyes.
He could not defeat Zhunti, who had become a Saint, but he had to protect the remaining Golden Crows. Nothing else could happen to them.
He had originally wanted his children to grow up slowly in a good environment, yet something like this had happened.
"Father, you must rescue Sixth Brother." Ninth pleaded, worry flashing through his eyes. Sixth Brother might have been a little melancholic, but he was very good to them.
"Mm. Let's go."
With a wave of his hand, Dijun summoned the Hetu Luoshu and enveloped the entire Fusang Divine Tree, signaling the nine Golden Crows to enter.
In an instant, they left the Valley of the Sun.
Chaos—Zixiao Palace.
Hongjun, dressed in white, opened his eyes and looked at the jade disc in his hand, his brows tightly furrowed. Why had the laws upon it changed again?
Moreover, even more laws filled with uncertain variables had emerged, as though they had departed from their originally established trajectory. Yet it was a good thing for the entire Primordial World. At this rate, the Primordial World would develop into something even more powerful.
"What is going on? This is a change related to the Demon Race. Why has their destiny suddenly begun soaring again, endlessly?
"Shouldn't it be with the Witch Race...
"I'll calculate what happened." Hongjun immediately injected a law into the jade disc and began his deduction.
An hour later,
Hongjun's face was pale, and confusion showed in his eyes. Why had this happened?
"The Demon Race has produced a restorer of its fortunes? Someone capable of turning the tide? Something's wrong! Who is it...
"Why can't I calculate it?" Hongjun was completely stunned.
Shouldn't the Demon Race and the Witch Race have developed to their peak, then erupted into war for the sake of further development, ultimately following the old path of the Dragon, Phoenix and Qilin Clans?
Had he not shattered the blood essence Pangu left behind, allowing the Heavenly Dao to perfectly control the entire Primordial World, so that there would be no chance for a calamity to descend in the future?
Then they would all transcend it.
"Who is it! Yang Mei, is it you? Or are you lingering Chaos Demon Gods? The Fierce Beast Race? Innate divine beings? The Dragon Clan or Phoenix Clan?
"Hmph! No matter who it is, the Primordial World can only be controlled by the Heavenly Dao." Hongjun said coldly, killing intent flashing in his eyes.
Laws continuously surged from his hands as he constantly repaired the erroneous laws, trying to return them to their original positions.
Unfortunately, he did not understand one thing: once something went wrong, applying patches was futile.
Because there would only be more things that needed to be done.
And when a world began operating, it would only develop in a better direction. Once it considered that direction beneficial, no amount of patching would be of use.
Far south—a volcano.
Sect Master Tongtian emerged from the passageway, his eyes filled with smugness. He had already left traces in various places.
The next time his Eldest Brothers used the Karma Thread to pursue him, they could take their time searching. Without spending eighty or a hundred years, they definitely would not catch him.
When the Karma Thread appeared again, he could simply arrange another scheme.
This time, his Eldest Brothers had made Li Er worry again. He had to find a gift to take back and comfort him.
He had heard Li Er mention before that he was very interested in Nirvana Fire.
Only Phoenix possessed this thing. Now that she was suppressed beneath this volcano, he would borrow a wisp of flame from her and bring it back for Li Er to study.
Then he broke through layer after layer of suppression, arriving at the bottom of the volcano and seeing the sleeping Phoenix.
"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Phoenix." Sect Master Tongtian spoke respectfully.
According to Li Er, if one was asking for help, one needed to act like someone asking for help. One could not be unreasonable just because one was powerful.
First, reason things out. If the other party refused to be reasonable, then it would be fine to seize it by force with a clear conscience, without letting one's Dao heart be tainted.
"Greetings, Saint Tongtian." Phoenix awoke, somewhat puzzled. Why had this Saint come looking for her?
"Recently, I have gained some insight and wish to comprehend this Nirvana Fire. I wonder whether Fellow Daoist would be willing to lend me a wisp of flame?" Sect Master Tongtian said seriously. With a raise of his hand, he threw out more than a hundred formation plates, helping Phoenix stabilize the flames within the earth veins here.
This prevented her from having to exhaust herself dealing with those things.
Phoenix saw this, and vigilance flashed through her eyes. The Primordial World had always been ruled by the strong devouring the weak. Sect Master Tongtian's request had taken her by surprise.
He was being far too reasonable.
Did he have some other motive?
"Of course. However, I have one request." Phoenix said seriously, a glint flashing through her eyes.
This was a test. She wanted to see just how important the Nirvana Fire was to Sect Master Tongtian.
"Speak freely." Sect Master Tongtian said calmly, narrowing his eyes.
If he were not afraid that acting directly would cause an abnormal change in the earth veins here, he would have extracted it long ago.
However, his suppression with more than a hundred formation plates was not without purpose. If Phoenix dared make an excessive demand, he would simply extract it by force.
Then it would no longer be a matter of merely borrowing a wisp.
"I heard that Saint Tongtian established the Interception Sect. I have a son named Kong Xuan. Would you be willing to accept him as a disciple?"
"That's all?"
Before you continue