Hongjun Seeks to Seize the Heavenly Dao, All Saints Startled Awake

Hongjun felt stifled just thinking about it!

He was the Dao Ancestor of the Mystic Gate, the Incarnation of Heavenly Dao, a Sage at the Peak Dao Integration Realm, yet whenever he wanted to act, he had to worry about this and that.

But there was nothing he could do.

Who told him that Heavenly Dao still hung above his head?

Hongjun endured and endured, but in the end, he still swallowed it down.

"As long as the West rises, the Karma I owe the Primordial Era will be repaid."

"Then... the day I seize Heavenly Dao will come."

"I shall become Heavenly Dao... Let us see how the Sages turn the heavens upside down!"

Hongjun was faintly pleased with himself.

He had conceived this plan from the moment he attained the Dao.

Thus, he had plotted and planned for countless ages, even deliberately engineering three great calamities: the war between the shamans and demons, the Investiture of the Gods, and Journey to the West.

As long as this Karma was repaid, then the Sages would have a taste of what was coming!

Hongjun stared fixedly at Buddhism, his Primordial Spirit Sea of Consciousness continuously weighing every possible change.

Suddenly, he discovered something that gave him a headache.

That Monkey, whom he had originally regarded as a chess piece, would not be easy to handle!

Monkey had been a Quasi-Saint the moment he was born. If no one stood behind him, who would believe it?

And Hongjun swiftly pinpointed one thing:

behind Monkey stood that incomparably mysterious Penglai Immortal Island.

Hongjun did not dare force Monkey into the great calamity. If he angered that great deity... he simply did not dare imagine the consequences!

Not to mention how, when he had attached himself to Tongtian, he had been casually crushed clean away by the great deity of Penglai Immortal Island.

Just Tongtian's axe alone, and the Merit he and Pingxin had spent, were utterly beyond anything Hongjun could afford to provoke!

Since Tongtian could use immeasurable Merit to raise his realm to the Eleventh Heaven of Dao Integration Realm, Hongjun dared believe that the great deity absolutely possessed enough Merit to let Tongtian continue advancing his cultivation.

Was the Eleventh Heaven of Dao Integration Realm really that far from the Peak Dao Integration Realm?

What a headache!

Fortunately, Hongjun calculated

that there was clearly a line of Karma upon Monkey's body, connected to the West.

"It seems that great deity does not object to my arrangements for Monkey..."

"Still, Monkey cannot enter the West!"

The current Monkey was no longer a chess piece Hongjun could manipulate at will.

Monkey's cultivation might only be at the Quasi-Saint realm, and truly not worth mentioning in his eyes.

But...

Did Hongjun dare handle Monkey however he pleased?

He did not!

Hongjun even suspected that if he truly tried to squeeze Monkey dry, Monkey might very well undergo a sudden transformation and attain the Dao on the spot!

Where had Tongtian's Primordial Violet Qi come from?

Other than Penglai Immortal Island, Hongjun truly could find nowhere else!

"Forget it. When the time comes, Tongtian will have to think of a way!"

Hongjun thought it over, and that was the only way!

His Dharma Eye looked toward the West, where he saw Rulai use Jin Chanzi's refusal to listen to the teachings as an excuse to cast him into reincarnation.

Hongjun smiled.

Everything was ready; all that remained was for Journey to the West to begin!

On Jin'ao Island in the East Sea, within Biyou Palace, Yuanshi's expression was exceedingly stern.

"Fellow Daoists, is Hongjun's true purpose really nothing more than the rise of the West?"

Taishang, Tongtian, and Nuwa all frowned at once.

They could sense the unease in Yuanshi's heart.

The three Sages exchanged glances, deeply puzzled.

Yuanshi was the wisest among the Sages. Had he noticed something amiss?

Taishang asked, "Junior Brother, is there something wrong?"

Yuanshi nodded sharply.

"Of course there is something wrong!"

The three Sages were even more bewildered.

Why had they not sensed anything unusual?

Yuanshi's face darkened.

"After the Investiture of the Gods, I no longer completely trusted Dao Ancestor Hongjun."

"In truth, from the moment I learned that Yang Mei was his puppet, I no longer dared place complete faith in Hongjun."

As soon as those words fell, Biyou Palace sank into silence.

Yuanshi was not the only one who thought so—the three Sages thought the same.

Yuanshi pointed at Tongtian.

"After you all raised your brows, Hongjun manifested himself upon the Investiture of the Gods Battlefield."

"What did Junior Brother Tongtian do?"

"He clenched the axe in his hand, ready at any moment to fight Hongjun."

Yuanshi pointed at Nuwa again.

"Junior Sister, your rebuttal in Zixiao Palace was sincere, wasn't it?"

Nuwa had directly opposed Hongjun in Zixiao Palace then, greatly astonishing all the mighty experts.

No one had expected Nuwa to step forward and object at that time.

Yuanshi pointed at Taishang once more.

"Senior Brother, you have always been serene and detached. If you did not approve of our actions from the bottom of your heart, I fear you would not have joined our gatherings time and again!"

The three Sages nodded in unison.

Yuanshi had thoroughly seen through the thoughts of all three of them!

A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"It is enough that we Sages are of one mind!"

Yuanshi said calmly, "There is something gravely wrong here."

"Hongjun is the Incarnation of Heavenly Dao. He has held dominion over the Heavenly Dao for many years. In the past, he successively plotted the Witch-Demon Calamity and the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, yet the Heavenly Dao showed not the slightest reaction!"

"One must know that neither of these two calamities was the original intent of the Heavenly Dao Origin. They were devised by Hongjun."

"Yet the Heavenly Dao gave not the slightest indication!"

Yuanshi laughed at himself.

"If not for the Heavenly Dao's conduct this time... I might even have believed that the Heavenly Dao possessed no will!"

The three Sages could not help but nod.

That was right!

Ever since they had attained the Dao, everything had been ordered by Hongjun, and the Sages carried it out according to Hongjun's decree.

They thought the same as Yuanshi.

They had all but forgotten that Hongjun was the Heavenly Dao, but the Heavenly Dao was not Hongjun!

It was an error born of their way of thinking.

Yet this error had also been created by the countless eons during which Hongjun had issued orders.

Yuanshi continued, "Under normal circumstances, even if Hongjun made mistakes, the Heavenly Dao would not press him too harshly."

"Basically, it never pursued the matter."

"Take Hongjun's plotting of the Witch-Demon Calamity, for instance."

"One must know that under normal circumstances, the Demon Race should have been destroyed, while the Witch Clan should have become the protagonists of Heaven and Earth."

"That was the true grand trend of the Heavenly Dao."

"But Hongjun forcibly altered this greater trend, yet he received no punishment from the Heavenly Dao."

"The later Investiture of the Gods Calamity was even more so—there simply was not enough Karma between heaven and earth at the time to bring about an immeasurable calamity."

A mocking smile curled at Yuanshi's lips.

"Neither of those two calamities brought punishment upon Hongjun, so this Investiture of the Gods Calamity should likewise not have incurred punishment!"

"But why did Devil Ancestor Luohu return from the depths of time and space?"

"And possess cultivation at the Peak Dao Integration Realm?"

"You must know that when he perished, he was merely Hunyuan!"

Taishang, Tongtian, and Nuwa were startled by Yuanshi's words.

That was right!

Why had Hongjun encountered resistance from the Heavenly Dao when he pushed for the Rise of the West this time?

By its very nature, it clearly could not compare to the two calamities he had orchestrated before!

Yuanshi's words left the three Sages somewhat unsettled.

Yuanshi slowly said, "I suspect Hongjun's purpose is not merely to repay the Karma he once owed heaven and earth."

"He has another objective."

"And that objective is the reason the Heavenly Dao is targeting him!"

The three Sages nodded at once.

They had to admit that Yuanshi was absolutely right!

It was reasonable, logically consistent, and without any apparent contradiction.

All three Sages accepted Yuanshi's theory.

Nuwa impatiently asked, "Senior Brother, have you reached some conclusion?"

Yuanshi paused, a bitter smile appearing on his face.

"This conclusion is so inconceivable that I am not entirely certain of it. I would still ask my fellow Daoists to correct me."

After a brief pause, he continued.

"First, one thing is certain: Hongjun has truly been driving the Rise of the West all along."

"Ever since he attained the Dao, he has been plotting the Heavenly Dao's greater trends, including the Witch-Demon Calamity, the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, and the Rise of the West."

"The thread running through it all is clear: it was all for the Rise of the West!"

Yuanshi explained further.

"After the Dao-Demon conflict, the East flourished while the West declined."

"Cultivators were all in the East, while in the West, only Jieyin and Zhunti had any measure of renown."

"The Witch-Demon Calamity arose against this backdrop."

"The outcome of the Witch-Demon Calamity was clear: the Witch and Demon clans perished together. The Witch Clan withdrew from the Primordial Era, and the Demon Race declined!"

"But... though the Demon Race declined, a considerable number of demon gods still remained."

"Where did they go?"

"Junior Sister sheltered some of them, while the rest drifted into Jiejiao!"

Taishang and Nuwa's expressions shifted slightly.

Tongtian explained, "When I founded Jiejiao, I embraced all without distinction and taught without discrimination. That was dictated by our doctrine: to comprehend the supreme principles of heaven and earth and seize a single thread of life."

"When they entered Jiejiao, they obtained that thread of life!"

Yuanshi took up the thread.

"It may appear so, but in truth, it was all part of Hongjun's scheme."

"After being tempered by Junior Brother's great Sage sect, those with shallow foundations would naturally be reduced to ashes in the Investiture of the Gods Calamity."

"And those with deep foundations would naturally be put to use by... the Western Teachings!"

"Jiejiao merely served as a transfer station. Their ultimate destination was still the Western Teachings!"

Yuanshi sneered.

"This was Hongjun's carefully laid plan."

"Unfortunately, Junior Brother Tongtian saw through the Heavenly Dao's greater trend ahead of time. He keenly sensed the immense danger facing Jiejiao."

"Expelling unworthy disciples, abolishing his own Sage position, disbanding Jiejiao... it shook us Sages, and naturally, it also shook Hongjun!"

The Sages in Biyou Palace all fell silent.

After the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, looking back on that scene now left them with lingering fear.

If Tongtian had not abolished his own Sage position and disbanded Jiejiao—

Considering the Karma of those remnants of the Demon Race, I fear the sages of the Mystic Gate would all split apart.

At that time, it would no longer be a confrontation between the Mystic Gate and the West, but the Mystic Gate and the West joining forces to besiege Tongtian!

They had been just a hair's breadth away!

After a long while, Yuanshi continued, "But it was precisely because Junior Brother Tongtian changed Hongjun's plan that one of Hongjun's hidden contingencies was exposed."

"That was Yang Mei, whom he had refined into a puppet long ago."

"Let us not speak for now of Yang Mei's cultivation."

"Just look at what Yang Mei said and what he did!"

Yuanshi enunciated each word, "Yang Mei said that he was the Dao Ancestor of the West, and that he ought to govern the West."

"And there, Hongjun's plan appeared."

"He wanted to control the positions of Dao Ancestor in both the West and the East."

Yuanshi asked in return, "Isn't that completely superfluous?!"

Taishang, Tongtian, and Nuwa understood what Yuanshi meant.

Hongjun was the Incarnation of Heavenly Dao, and was himself the Dao Ancestor of the Mystic Gate, a Sage at the Peak Dao Integration Realm.

Even if another Dao Ancestor emerged in the West, he would still be beneath him.

It was impossible for him to even stand on equal footing with Hongjun!

Who could blame him for holding the great righteousness of Heavenly Dao in his grasp?!

Under such circumstances, was there any need for Hongjun to create some puppet incarnation to control the position of Western Dao Ancestor?

It was no more than drawing legs on a snake!

For a moment, the sages all fell silent.

Taishang, Tongtian, and Nuwa all looked grim, They had vaguely sensed that answer, but just as Yuanshi had said, it was too shocking!

None of them wished to believe it!

In the end, Yuanshi was the one who unveiled the answer, "Hongjun wanted to keep the position of Western Dao Ancestor firmly in his hand. In the end, he would surely make the puppet Yang Mei disappear and turn him into an incarnation under his control."

"The Dao Ancestors of East and West, the Incarnation of Heavenly Dao—the greatest authority beneath Heavenly Dao had already fallen into his hands."

"Hongjun did not merely want to be a Dao Ancestor of the Primordial Era. He even wanted to... replace Heavenly Dao!!"

Rumble!

Thunder exploded out of nowhere within Biyou Palace!

Cold sweat filled Yuanshi's palm.

He looked toward the three sages, only to find that although their expressions were unpleasant, None of them seemed overly shocked!

In their hearts, they had likely already arrived at this answer long ago.

Yuanshi's heart grew heavier and heavier, "Hongjun's ambition is too great. Heavenly Dao sensed it, and that is why Devil Ancestor Luohu returned."

"The Lord of Seven Kills once swore the Seven Kill Oath before Heavenly Dao. He returned to eliminate one target—Hongjun!"

The three sages nodded at the same time.

Tongtian glanced at Yuanshi and added, "Senior Brother, there is one point here that bears discussion. If Hongjun wishes to steal Heavenly Dao, there is one obstacle he cannot bypass."

He spoke word by word, "Would we Sages allow him to succeed?!"

The four sages asked themselves: if Hongjun wished to steal Heavenly Dao, would they agree?

The answer was, of course, no!

How could they possibly let him do such a thing?

Tongtian immediately followed with another sentence: "We sages are in danger. After the great calamity of the West, Hongjun will surely eliminate us!"