Sages Must Not Be Insulted, Words Become Law Upon Utterance

Wanhua's gaze landed calmly on Ao Zhan. That look was neither angry nor contemptuous; it was an absolute indifference, as if he were looking down upon mere specks of dust.

He had just spoken the words, "Dragon Palace, do you wish to debate the Dao with me?"

His tone remained peaceful, yet the meaning contained within caused the souls of Ao Zhan and the thousands of aquatic beings behind him to freeze in an instant!

That was not a question; it was the prelude to a sentencing!

Ao Zhan's dragon scales stood on end. Extreme terror made him want to reveal his true form to struggle, but he discovered that he could not even move a single claw!

It was not just his physical body; even his Primordial Spirit and his very thoughts seemed to be completely locked and solidified by that invisible gaze!

He opened his mouth, wanting to beg for mercy, wanting to bring up the Dragon Palace and the name of the Ancestral Dragon Secret Realm, only to find that he could not transmit even a sliver of divine sense.

This was the might of a Saint! There was no need for an explosion of aura, no need for surging magic power; with just a single thought, a realm of space-time and billions of laws were all determined by his will!

"Beneath the Saint, all are ants"—this was no empty phrase!

Wanhua did not look at Ao Zhan again, as if that peak Primordial Unity Golden Immortal general of the Dragon Race was no different from a pebble on the side of the road.

His gaze slowly swept over the dense ranks of the Dragon Palace naval forces, who remained in their formation posture, yet were as still as clay sculptures or wooden carvings.

"I established my dojo here to preach the Dao to the Primordial World, with the original intention of benefiting all beings. Yet, ants do not know the height of the heavens, repeatedly disturbing me, and now even daring to invade with blades. Their hearts are punishable."

His voice remained flat, yet it was like the resonant sound of the Great Dao, clearly imprinted into the depths of every aquatic being's mind, carrying an unquestionable sense of judgment.

"You rely on the name of the Dragon Race to act so arrogantly, yet you do not know that even if the Ancestral Dragon were here in person, he would still need to show me respect. How dare a mere broken Dragon Race act like this?"

He mentioned the Ancestral Dragon! His tone was flat, yet it carried a sense of vicissitudes and absolute height that looked down upon the ages.

It was as if the Ancestral Dragon, who once traversed the Primordial World and vied for hegemony with the Phoenix Race and the Qilin, was not an unreachable existence in his eyes.

These words, like a thunderclap, exploded in the hearts of Ao Zhan and all the aquatic beings who still had perception, causing their pride—based on the glory of the Dragon Race—to shatter instantly!

"Offending the Saint's might warrants punishment."

Once Wanhua spoke, the Law followed!

He did not even make a move; he merely shifted his intent.

The next moment, a scene that Xuanjizi and the other academy disciples, as well as the living beings in the "Enlightenment Zone" who had luckily escaped being caught in the fray, would never forget, occurred—

They saw the thousands of frozen aquatic beings, starting from the general Ao Zhan down to the most common shrimp soldiers and crab generals, their bodies, along with their armor and weapons, begin to disintegrate and collapse silently, starting from the most minute structural level, just like snowmen thrown into a furnace!

There were no screams, no struggles, because their thoughts and perceptions had also been frozen.

Their flesh, bones, scales, and Primordial Spirits... every substance and energy that constituted their existence was forcibly stripped away and refined under a power that transcended their understanding!

Ao Zhan's hundred-zhang dragon body, under the eyes of all, withered like a sand sculpture in the wind, annihilating inch by inch until it finally transformed into a cluster of the purest, most brilliant flowing light, containing the essence of the Dragon Race and the power of the laws of water and fire.

That massive Dragon-Patterned Water-Parting Halberd also let out a mournful cry, losing all its spirituality as the most fundamental essence of innate metal was extracted from it.

Following that, the Flood Dragon Knights, Sea-Patrolling Yaksha, Giant Whale Warriors, and elite shrimp soldiers and crab generals... like a chain reaction, transformed one after another into flowing lights of various colors.

Some turned into pure essence of water, some into the origin of hard shells, and others into the sharp aura of weapons...

The entire process was silent, yet more chilling than any earth-shattering explosion! This was erasure at the level of laws; it was extinction in the sense of existence!

In just a few breaths, the Dragon Palace naval forces that had previously blotted out the sky with their aggressive aura—that elite army of tens of thousands capable of sweeping across a region—had vanished without a trace.

All that remained in their place were hundreds of pure origin orbs of various colors, containing different attributes and powers of law, floating above the calm sea like docile stars, emitting a soft, precious glow.

The sea breeze blew past, failing to stir up a single trace of blood; there was only a sense of desolation, as if all things had returned to the void and their original source.

Inside and outside the academy, there was dead silence.

Every living being who witnessed this scene, whether they were academy disciples or rogue cultivators on the periphery, turned pale, their minds suffering an unprecedented shock.

They knew the Saint was powerful, but they had never imagined he was powerful to this extent!

With a word, the Law follows; he views all spirits as straw dogs, and with a flick of a finger, powerful enemies are reduced to dust! What kind of divine might was this? What kind of irresistibility!

Xuanjizi and the others looked at their Teacher's still-indifferent back, their hearts filled with endless awe.

And they gained the most profound, most intuitive understanding of the phrase, "Beneath the Saint, all are ants"!

Wanhua's gaze fell upon the hundreds of floating origin orbs, and he nodded slightly: "The materials are passable; it would be a pity to waste them."

He raised his hand again, tracing in the void. Those light orbs containing the Dragon Race origin, water essence, shell origin, and weapon aura began to combine, smelt, and reshape according to some profoundly mysterious logic!

The Dragon Race origin and the power of water and fire laws condensed into "Startling Dragon Brushes" with sharp tips and flowing dragon patterns;

The shell origin and innate metal essence fused into heavy, steady "Sea-Suppressing Inkstone" with dragon-turtle shaped knobs;

The water essence and a portion of the weapon aura transformed into nine flags shrouded in water vapor, capable of setting up the "Vast Sea Literary Waves Formation"...

These newly forged magical treasures were not traditional weapons of slaughter; they flowed with literary grace and contained internal logic. Although they were refined from the Dragon and aquatic races, their aura was upright and peaceful.

They were more suited for assisting cultivation, gathering Literary Qi, protecting the mind, and setting up literary-style formations.

Each piece could be considered a masterpiece among Post-Heaven Spiritual Treasures, especially suitable for disciples of the Confucian Dao.

Wanhua flicked his sleeves again, and these newly refined literary treasures turned into streaks of light, flying toward Xuanjizi, Elder Teng, Yun Xi, and all the disciples present who had participated in the defense.

"Your resolve in protecting the academy this time is commendable. Take these little trinkets for your own use. I hope you use them well, clarify your minds, rectify your virtues, and do not stray from my Dao."

His voice roused the disciples from their shock.

Xuanjizi and the others looked at the artifacts floating before them, refined from the very enemies who had been so arrogant just moments ago, their emotions incredibly complex; they felt both the joy of obtaining treasures.

And even more, a deep awe for the methods of a Sage. They bowed in unison, their voices trembling with excitement: "Thank you for your grace, Teacher!"

Wanhua nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the empty expanse of sea one last time, as if he had merely cleared away some unsightly dust.

"Should the Dragon Palace dare to invade again, the outcome will not be as it was today."

Leaving behind these calm words, which nonetheless contained boundless majesty, Wanhua's figure vanished from the spot as silently as he had arrived, returning to the depths of the Myriad Dao Academy.

Between the sea and the sky, true Stillness was restored.

The sunlight was warm and the sea breeze gentle, as if the thousands of troops, the destructive attacks, and that soul-shuddering erasure and refinement had all been nothing more than a dream.

Yet, the Literary Treasures floating before the disciples.

And the absolute fear of the Sage's majesty deeply branded into the minds of all who witnessed it, all served as proof that everything that had just occurred was undeniably real.

A Sage cannot be insulted! To insult one is to invite death and the dissipation of one's soul, with one's entire cultivation becoming the assets of the enemy!

After this event, although the Myriad Dao Academy remained tucked away in a corner, the supreme majesty of the Primordial Chaos Sage behind it would surely spread throughout the Primordial World in an incredibly brutal fashion, deterring all those with malicious intent!

And those Literary Treasures refined from the Dragon Race navy would also become one of the most conspicuous and terrifying symbols for the academy's disciples as they traveled through the Primordial World.