Silence.
A silence so awkward it was enough to shake a Golden Immortal's Dao Heart.
Taiyi Zhenren maintained his posture, Fly Whisk in hand, floating in midair with the bearing of an immortal. Yet the arrogance and fury on his face slowly stiffened at a visible rate.
He had imagined countless possibilities.
Perhaps that wild immortal who did not know his place would step forward and argue with him over destiny.
Perhaps Li Jing and his wife would weep and refuse to part with their flesh and blood, staging some mortal tragedy.
But he had never expected this.
No one answered.
No one paid him any attention.
The young man sitting on the stone bench seemed not to have heard his imposing proclamation invoking a Saint's name at all. He merely continued teasing the child in his arms, calm and unhurried.
And Spirit Pearl, who should have been the chosen protagonist of destiny and should have felt endless affinity upon seeing him, had buried his head in that young man's arms and could not even be bothered to glance at him.
He, one of the Chan Sect's Twelve Golden Immortals and Yuanshi Tianzun's personal disciple, had descended into the mortal world to proclaim a Saint's decree.
And he had been treated like air.
This humiliated him ten thousand times more than a direct rebuttal or open defiance ever could!
A feeling called humiliation began to grow within Taiyi Zhenren's Primordial Spirit.
Still, he was an old Golden Immortal who had lived through countless epochs. His cultivation of mind far surpassed that of ordinary immortals.
After that brief lapse, he swiftly regained his composure and attributed their disregard to ignorance.
How could a frog at the bottom of a well know the vastness of the sky?
How could mere mortals understand even a fraction of a Saint's designs?
Taiyi Zhenren took a deep breath, suppressing the fire in his heart, and forced a compassionate expression of lofty detachment back onto his face.
Seeing that Qin Feng remained silent, he assumed Qin Feng had tacitly agreed but simply could not swallow his pride.
Very well. Since the adult did not know what was good for him, he would solve the problem at its root.
Taiyi Zhenren's gaze passed over Qin Feng and fell directly upon the exquisitely carved little child. His tone instantly became gentle, kindly, and irresistibly persuasive.
"Child, do you know of your origins?"
"You are a spiritual pearl nurtured by the Heavenly Dao, blessed with immense fortune. You are destined to shine brilliantly in my Chan Sect. I am your fated master, Taiyi Zhenren."
He began to coax him patiently, attempting to directly brainwash the newly born and still immature Spirit Pearl with words.
"As long as you enter my sect, you will immediately join the ranks of immortals, become a Saint's Registered Disciple, and enjoy the finest resources in the Three Realms."
"The Immortal Peaches and jade nectar of Kunlun Mountain, the supreme wondrous arts of the Saint's Dojo, and countless Innate Spiritual Treasures will all be yours to command!"
"In the future, you will surely have a place on the Investiture of the Gods. You will be granted divine office, remain unperishing through myriad calamities, live as long as heaven and earth, and receive the worship of countless beings. What glory could compare to that? This is the destiny you were born with!"
Taiyi Zhenren grew more excited as he spoke, as though he could already see Nezha entering his sect, charging into battle during the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, and winning unparalleled merit for the Chan Sect.
The grand vision he painted was simply too beautiful, too tempting.
Not to mention mortals—even ordinary immortals and gods would likely lose their Dao Hearts upon hearing it and immediately bow their heads to become his disciples.
At the side, Li Jing's blood boiled, and his entire body trembled with excitement.
A Saint's disciple!
A place among the immortals!
A proper divine position through the Investiture of the Gods!
This... this was simply ascending to heaven in a single step!
If his son could receive such fortune, then even if he died on the spot, it would be worth it!
He nearly could not resist agreeing on his son's behalf.
However, all his excitement and all his fantasies were completely shattered the next moment by a crisp sound.
"Click."
With a soft sound, Qin Feng finally set down his teacup.
He still did not raise his head to look at Taiyi Zhenren in the sky, as though there truly was nothing there but a patch of air.
He merely lowered his head and looked at Nezha, who was blinking his large eyes in his arms as if trying hard to digest Taiyi Zhenren's words. A teasing smile curled at the corner of his lips.
His voice was not loud, but it clearly entered everyone's ears.
"Disciple, this noisy Daoist says you are destined to take him as your master, and that you can even become a god in the future. It sounds rather impressive."
"What do you think?"
The words were light, like a casual question during an after-meal chat.
But to Taiyi Zhenren's ears, they were no less than a thunderclap!
Noisy Daoist?
He actually dared describe a Chan Sect Golden Immortal like him as "noisy"?
What made him feel even more stifled was that Qin Feng had no intention of speaking to him at all. He had simply thrown the question directly to a three-year-old child.
This was contempt taken to the extreme.
It was as though he were saying that Taiyi Zhenren was not even qualified to speak with him.
Your destiny, your glory, your so-called heavenly mandate—all of it was worth less than a single word from my disciple.
Taiyi Zhenren's face instantly flushed the color of pig liver. The Immortal Qi around him, which had just been peaceful and serene, began to churn violently. He was clearly truly enraged.
Li Jing, meanwhile, felt as though a basin of ice water had been dumped over his head, and his entire body shuddered.
It was over!
This senior did not take Senior Brother Taiyi seriously at all!
He actually... actually wanted Nezha to decide for himself?
What could a three-year-old child possibly understand about destiny or being a Saint's disciple?
This was utter nonsense!
Yet Nezha's next reaction left everyone completely dumbfounded.
After hearing Qin Feng's question, the little child showed not the slightest longing or hesitation. Instead, he looked as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world.
Qin Feng had remolded him with a wisp of Chaos Origin. His intelligence had awakened early, and the depth of his foundation had already surpassed all reason.
Destiny? Saints?
To his pure perception born of chaos, none of those things mattered as much as a single hair on his master's head.
Nezha stretched out his little lotus-root arms and tightly wrapped them around Qin Feng's neck, as though declaring where he belonged.
Only then did he turn his little face and look up at the Daoist in midair, whose face had turned livid.
He made a fierce face at Taiyi Zhenren and stuck out his pink tongue.
In a childish yet incomparably clear voice filled with scorn and contempt from the depths of his soul, he shouted throughout the entire General's Mansion.
"Ugly Daoist, what the hell are you!"
"You think you deserve to be my master?"
Boom!
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
Space appeared to solidify in that instant.
Li Jing's eyes widened abruptly, nearly bulging from their sockets. His mouth hung open, but no sound came out. He felt as though even his heart had stopped beating.
Lady Yin went pale with fright and instinctively covered her mouth.
The guards and maidservants kneeling on the ground felt as though the sky had collapsed and their souls had flown away.
Mad!
This young master had only just been born, yet he... he actually dared call an immortal master ugly? He even asked what the man was?
Taiyi Zhenren's expression froze completely in midair.
His immortal bearing, the pride of being a Saint's disciple, and the majesty of a Golden Immortal Great Power were all smashed to pieces by those innocent childish words.
Smashed so thoroughly that not even scraps remained.
Yet this was not the end.
Nezha seemed to think that one insult was not enough. Still hugging Qin Feng's neck, he proudly puffed out his little chest and used all his strength to announce loudly.
"My master is the greatest hero in the world!"
"You are not even worthy to carry his shoes!"
As his words fell.
Heaven and earth fell into deathly silence.
If the first sentence had been an unexpected blade that pierced Taiyi Zhenren's pride.
Then the latter sentence was a chaos divine hammer weighing hundreds of millions of jun, carrying incomparable humiliation as it smashed brutally and without flourish into his face.
Not even worthy to carry his shoes!
Those five words became an indelible brand, deeply carved into Taiyi Zhenren's Primordial Spirit.
"Buzz—"
Taiyi Zhenren felt his mind buzz as it went completely blank.
The Yuqing Immortal Light protecting his body flickered violently as his mind faltered, nearly collapsing on the spot.
The color drained from his youthful, childlike face beneath his white hair, turning it deathly pale before extreme fury burned it a dark purplish red.
Humiliation!
This was unprecedented, naked humiliation!
He, Taiyi Zhenren, had listened to the Dao at the Purple Cloud Palace, entered beneath a Saint's tutelage, and roamed the primordial world for endless ages. When had he ever suffered such monstrous disgrace?
And it had come from a "disciple" he regarded as already his possession, humiliating him so openly before countless hidden observers!
A terrifying killing intent, enough to burn mountains and boil seas, could no longer be restrained. It erupted explosively from Taiyi Zhenren!
Before you continue