That voice drifted leisurely out from within Eight Views Palace.
It held neither joy nor anger, nor any karmic ties.
Yet it was like an invisible sledgehammer forged by the Great Dao itself, smashing fiercely into Zhao Gongming's primordial spirit.
Xuandu.
Let that... Flow Official come in and sit.
Zhao Gongming froze where he stood.
Holding the Official Letter he had just presented, he felt as though his arm, along with the Dao heart of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, had been completely frozen by those few words.
C-come in and sit?
Senior Uncle-Master wanted to personally meet the instigator—his Junior Brother Wuwei?
This surpassed even his wildest expectations.
It even surpassed the limits of understanding for all living beings in the Primordial World!
Instinctively, he turned to look toward Golden Ao Island, his eyes filled with unprecedented shock and bewilderment.
Almost at the same moment.
Golden Ao Island, main hall of the Calamity Aversion Department.
Sect Leader Tongtian, Daoist Duobao, and all the core disciples of the Calamity Aversion Department held their breath, staring fixedly at the Water Mirror Zhao Gongming had set up before departing, which could synchronize the scene in real time.
When those distant, ethereal words emerged from the Water Mirror—
The entire hall fell so silent that a pin could have been heard dropping.
The jade brush Daoist Duobao had been using to draft documents slipped from his hand and clattered onto the table.
Sect Leader Tongtian's hand, which had been stroking his beard, suddenly stopped. He plucked out a strand of beard hair without even noticing.
Everyone's expressions froze, turning them into statues that would never melt even after countless ages.
A Sage had personally summoned him!
And it was the Head of the Three Pure Ones—the Senior Uncle-Master who, in theory, never concerned himself with worldly affairs!
It was over.
Those were the two words that surfaced in everyone's mind at once.
In their view, Junior Brother Wuwei's "Process" had finally gone too far.
Those tricks he had used against the Chan Sect and the Dragon Clan were ultimately nothing but a joke before a Sage who was truly Pure and effortless.
This was... a reckoning after the fact!
The entire hall was shrouded in a deathly stillness called "fear."
Only Chen Changsheng—
He remained seated in his place, without the slightest trace of panic on his face.
He even unhurriedly lifted the teacup before him and gently blew at the nonexistent foam floating atop it.
Under the gazes of everyone around him, filled with shock, worry, and incomprehension, he slowly raised his head. A calm smile appeared on his face, even carrying a hint of just as expected.
"Looks like the intention for the Series A financing is even stronger than we anticipated."
"The Chairman of the other company has requested a direct meeting with our founder."
"Perfectly reasonable."
He set down his teacup and rose to his feet.
"Senior Brother Duobao."
"J-Junior Brother, this disciple is here!"
Daoist Duobao jolted and hurriedly bowed in response.
"Immediately prepare the final revised edition, V3.0, of <White Paper on the Core Principles and Practices of the Process Dao>."
Chen Changsheng's voice was calm and clear, instantly dispersing the panic in the hall.
"Print the sections on 'governing through non-action' and 'systematic self-correction' as priorities, and bind them in Purple Gold Jade Slips of the highest standard."
"Also prepare a copy of <Feasibility Analysis Report on How the Heavenly Dao Credit System Can Assist Sage Education>."
"Yes!"
Daoist Duobao had no time to think at this moment. He could only instinctively obey the instructions and quickly throw himself into work.
Chen Changsheng's gaze fell upon Zhao Gongming in the Water Mirror once more.
"Senior Brother Zhao."
He transmitted his voice through magic power.
"You need not return. Remain where you are and serve as my... project assistant for this trip."
Zhao Gongming, on the other side of the Water Mirror, shuddered and nodded heavily.
Only after finishing all this did Chen Changsheng turn toward Sect Leader Tongtian, who had long been unable to restrain himself, and bow slightly.
"Master, this disciple is not going there to answer accusations, but rather... to give a work report."
"It is to report the phased results of my new Process Dao project to Senior Uncle-Master, the most senior 'Chairman' of the Mystic Sect."
Sect Leader Tongtian looked at his young disciple, whose mouth was full of strange terms yet who always managed to make them sound reasonable. For some reason, the heart lodged in his throat gradually settled.
He took a deep breath, and the defiance returned to his eyes.
"Go!"
"Remember, the entire Interception Sect stands behind you!"
"This disciple understands."
Chen Changsheng bowed once more. Then, without bringing any attendants, he stepped forward alone.
His figure instantly vanished from the hall.
The next moment, he had crossed the endless void and appeared before the ancient gates of Eight Views Palace beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens.
He calmly nodded at Zhao Gongming, who had been waiting there with a face full of shock.
"Senior Brother, sorry for the wait."
Then he straightened the plain gray Daoist robe he wore, his gaze falling upon the palace gates that slowly opened, as though they led to the origin of the Great Dao.
Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped inside.
Buzz—
It was as though he had passed through an invisible membrane woven from time and space.
The scene before him suddenly opened up.
There was no imagined splendor of gold and jade, nor any endless expanse of chaos.
This place resembled nothing more than the most ordinary thatched cottage in the mortal world.
The cottage was not large, and its furnishings were simple.
A table, a chair, and a Prayer Mat.
In a corner, a pill furnace half a man tall burned over a gentle flame, releasing wisps of medicinal fragrance that refreshed the heart and mind.
A young man wearing an Eight Trigrams Daoist Robe stood quietly beside the pill furnace. He was Grand Master Xuandu.
And seated cross-legged upon the Prayer Mat at the center of the cottage was an elderly man with white hair and beard.
The old man wore the plainest hemp clothes. His features were ancient and unadorned, his aura ethereal, as though he might blend into heaven and earth at any moment and vanish completely.
His eyes were closed, and he held no magical treasure in his hands. He merely sat there in silence.
But Chen Changsheng knew.
He sat here.
And he was the sole "reason" of this world.
"Interception Sect disciple Wuwei pays respects to Senior Uncle-Master."
Without the slightest breach of etiquette, Chen Changsheng gave the old man a deeply respectful ninety-degree bow.
That old man was the Head of the Three Pure Ones, Grand Supreme Moral Heavenly Venerate.
Grand Supreme Elder Lao.
Elder Lao neither opened his eyes nor spoke.
The entire thatched cottage sank once more into that eternal, unchanging stillness.
Pressure.
An invisible pressure, yet one sufficient to crush even a Sage, began to permeate the air.
This was not spiritual pressure, but the crushing force of the "Dao."
Before this extreme aura of "non-action," any thought of action, any scheming heart, any calculation, seemed so insignificant and ridiculous.
Standing behind Chen Changsheng, Zhao Gongming felt his primordial spirit gradually being assimilated by the stillness, on the verge of falling into eternal silence.
Yet Chen Changsheng remained calm.
His back was ramrod straight.
His Dao heart was as steady as a rock.
Because his Process Dao had never, from the very beginning, been built upon conspiracy or trickery.
It had been built upon the coldest, most merciless... rules.
A long time passed.
So long that it seemed as though an entire Yuanhui had gone by.
At last, Elder Lao slowly spoke. His voice was as placid as an ancient well, seeming to come not from his throat but from the source of the Great Dao.
"Your Process is quite interesting."
He paused, then asked a seemingly simple question that struck directly at the core.
"The Dao gave birth to One; One gave birth to Two; Two gave birth to Three; Three gave birth to all things."
"So, what number is your Process?"
This question was like a bolt of Chaos Divine Thunder, exploding violently within Chen Changsheng's Sea of Consciousness!
This was the most fundamental question of the Dao!
It was questioning the fundamental position of his entire system within the cosmology of the Primordial World!
If he answered wrongly, it would be heresy.
If he answered imperfectly, it would be a minor path.
Only a perfect answer could allow his "Process" to truly merge with the underlying logic of this world!
Zhao Gongming's heart instantly rose to his throat.
Behind him, Xuandu also focused his gaze completely on Chen Changsheng for the first time.
Faced with this ultimate question of the Dao, enough to leave even a Sage speechless—
A smile slowly appeared on Chen Changsheng's face.
He bowed deeply to Elder Lao once more.
"In answer to Senior Uncle-Master."
"The Dao gave birth to One; One gave birth to Two; Two gave birth to Three; Three gave birth to all things."
"This is the Heavenly Dao's 'production.'"
He raised his head, his gaze clear. His voice was not loud, yet every word landed with force.
"And this disciple's Process lies neither within One, Two, or Three, nor alongside the myriad things."
"Process lies in 'birth.'"
"It is the... instruction manual for the operation of the Heavenly Dao."
Before you continue