East Sea, Golden Ao Island.
Mists swirled, and immortal light shone everywhere.
Within Biyou Palace, the sound of the Great Dao filled the air, transforming into golden flowers that drifted down from the sky, refreshing the spirit.
Seated high upon a nine-colored Cloud Bed, Sect Master Tongtian was expounding the Dao to the several thousand disciples beneath him.
The Jie Sect Myriad Immortals had come to court, and its fortune was flourishing. Biyou Palace gathered more living beings than anywhere else in the Primordial World, from the Furred and Horned to those of profound foundations, all listening to the Saint's teachings.
"...Thus, the Dao gave birth to One, One gave birth to Two, Two gave birth to Three, and Three gave birth to all things. The changes within lie in the origin of 'One.' If one could see through it..."
Sect Master Tongtian's voice was grand and distant, as though it contained the ultimate truths of heaven and earth, leaving his disciples utterly engrossed.
His eldest disciple, Daoist Duobao, had his eyes half-closed, treasure light circulating around him. He had clearly gained some insight.
Zhao Gongming, the Sanxiao Sisters, and the other personal disciples were equally focused, not daring to slacken in the slightest.
Yet just as the voice of the Great Dao reached its most profound moment, Sect Master Tongtian's voice abruptly stopped without warning.
The entire Biyou Palace instantly fell out of that mystical state of resonance with the Great Dao.
Several thousand disciples jolted awake, raising their heads toward the dais with blank expressions.
What had happened?
There had never been a precedent for a Saint interrupting a lecture midway through.
Could some disciple have been distracted and angered their teacher?
Everyone exchanged glances, seeing deep confusion and unease in one another's eyes.
Daoist Duobao was the first to react. He cautiously looked up, his heart skipping a beat.
His teacher sat upon the Cloud Bed, his Saintly eyes seemingly capable of piercing the Three Realms and Six Paths now slightly narrowed. His gaze appeared to pass through Biyou Palace's roof and fall upon some incomparably distant place in the East Sea.
An exceedingly rare trace of... amazement flashed across his face?
Yes, amazement.
Daoist Duobao rubbed his eyes, thinking he had seen wrong.
Saints endured through countless tribulations, their hearts as still as water, long unmoved by external things. What could possibly amaze his teacher?
Just a moment ago.
A trace of Dao resonance had flashed by.
It was an exceptionally pure, exceptionally perfect, even... flawless Heavenly Dipper Formation resonance.
Like a bright moon in the darkness, that resonance had only shone briefly, yet it made all the stars in the sky pale in comparison.
Sect Master Tongtian was himself a master of formations, and his Immortal Slaying Sword Formation was the Primordial World's foremost killing formation.
Yet before that fleeting Dao resonance, he could not help but feel, So formations can evolve like this.
It was like a supreme painter who had spent his entire life creating what he believed to be his masterpiece, only to accidentally glimpse a Scroll Painting of divinely wrought perfection.
It was not a matter of surpassing technique, but an overwhelming difference in Life Level—in the level of the Dao itself.
"Interesting."
Sect Master Tongtian withdrew his gaze, curiosity he had not felt in ten thousand years rising within him.
Just who could have taken such a brilliant, unprecedented step along the path of formations?
Was it some old friend who had remained hidden from the world, or had another new variable been born within the Primordial World?
With a thought, Sect Master Tongtian naturally spread the five fingers of his right hand. Chaos Qi lingered around his fingertips as he began to deduce the Heavenly Secrets.
With a single thought, a Saint could know the past and future, perceiving all matters beneath the heavens.
The river of fate of the entire Primordial World should have been plainly visible in his eyes.
However, when his divine sense followed the source of that Dao resonance, what he saw was not the truth, but a fog so dense it could not be dispersed.
That fog seemed to exist apart from the Heavenly Dao. No matter how he activated his Saintly power, he could not part it in the slightest.
"Hmm?"
Sect Master Tongtian raised an eyebrow slightly, the surprise on his face deepening.
He actually... could not calculate it?
Within the Primordial World, there were only a handful of existences capable of blocking a Saint's deductions.
They were none other than a few fellow Daoists of the same rank, or his teacher, who dwelled far away in the Purple Heaven Palace and had merged with the Heavenly Dao.
Yet this power belonged neither to Hongjun nor to any of the Three Pure Ones, nor was it possessed by those two from the West.
It was an entirely new power, domineering yet restrained.
Unwilling to accept this, Sect Master Tongtian increased the force of his deduction once again.
The might of a Saint shook space and time.
The mist churned, and at last, he tore open an almost imperceptible crack.
Within that crack, he vaguely saw a familiar figure.
It was Qiong Xiao.
One of his three disciples.
"This matter is related to Qiong Xiao?"
Sect Master Tongtian's heart stirred.
But when he tried to investigate further, to see whom Qiong Xiao had encountered and what she had experienced, the fog suddenly contracted. An invisible rebounding force struck him, directly knocking his divine sense back.
The Heavenly Secrets became chaos once more.
Sect Master Tongtian slowly withdrew his hand, and the Chaos Qi around his fingertips quietly dissipated.
He did not force another deduction.
Because he understood that if he continued, it would no longer be deduction, but provocation.
And since the other party could block a Saint, that meant their level was at least equal to his own.
Biyou Palace remained deathly silent.
All the disciples held their breath as they watched their teacher's shifting expression, growing increasingly uneasy.
Even a Saint could not deduce it and had suffered a backlash?
What earth-shaking event had occurred?
Just as everyone assumed the Saint was about to become enraged, Sect Master Tongtian, seated upon the Cloud Bed, suddenly curled his lips upward into an amused smile.
That smile instantly dispelled all the earlier heaviness and oppression.
"Interesting. Truly interesting."
He murmured softly, but his voice reached every disciple's ears with perfect clarity.
"It seems my third disciple has encountered an extraordinary opportunity."
What else could it be but an opportunity, if it could elevate Qiong Xiao's mastery of formations so terrifyingly in such a short time and even block his investigation of the Heavenly Secrets?
Moreover, the figure behind this opportunity was clearly not his enemy.
Otherwise, what had rebounded against him just now would not have been a gentle obstruction, but lethal killing intent.
A mysterious expert of unfathomable strength, with heaven-shaking accomplishments in formations, who bore goodwill toward Jie Sect Disciples...
Sect Master Tongtian's heart came fully alive.
The Investiture of the Gods Tribulation was approaching. The Heavenly Secrets had long issued warnings. Though his Jie Sect appeared to have Myriad Immortals Come to Court, it was in truth beset by danger on all sides.
Especially his second brother, who had always disapproved of his doctrine of teaching without discrimination and opposed him at every turn.
At such a critical juncture, the appearance of a powerful variable belonging to no faction might be an enormous blessing for the Jie Sect.
As for intervening?
Sect Master Tongtian had no such intention at all.
Having reached his level, he understood even more clearly the importance of the word "fate."
Since this was Qiong Xiao's opportunity, he would let her seize it herself.
If he, as her teacher, were to interfere, he might instead ruin his disciple's good fortune through misplaced effort.
What intrigued him more now was who this mysterious person truly was.
Why had he appeared in the East Sea?
What kind of variable would he bring to the Jie Sect?
Rather than troubling Sect Master Tongtian, that string of questions filled him with intense interest, as though he had discovered a novel new toy.
"Hehe..."
A soft laugh came from the Saint.
The disciples below became even more bewildered.
What was wrong with their teacher...?
Why had he started laughing to himself?
Looking at the confused faces below, Sect Master Tongtian was in an excellent mood. He waved a hand.
"Today's lecture ends here."
"You may disperse on your own."
After saying that, without giving his disciples any chance to ask questions, his figure gradually faded from atop the Cloud Bed and vanished.
Only several thousand disciples remained in Biyou Palace, exchanging blank looks, their minds full of question marks.
"Senior Brother, Teacher, he...?" Zhao Gongming moved close to Daoist Duobao and asked in a low voice.
Daoist Duobao gave a bitter smile and shook his head. How could he know?
He only knew that something beyond a Saint's control had happened.
And it seemed that this matter was related to his third sister, Qiong Xiao.
A storm was likely brewing over the East Sea.
Before you continue