Zhunti heard this and smiled as well. Before the corners of his lips had even settled, he gladly replied, "Excellent! Excellent!"
"Speaking of Laozi, the foremost of the Three Pure Ones, the Grand Pure Heavenly Lord of Virtue—his schemes were meticulous, watertight in every drop. He was the standard-bearer of the Mystic Sect lineage. During the Investiture of the Gods War, the six of us Saints stood side by side, yet Sect Master Tongtian presided over the Interception Sect, whose gates flourished and whose momentum was so grand that it faintly overshadowed Laozi's Human Sect and Primordial Lord of Heaven's Elucidation Sect. This bred wariness in Laozi's heart, and he actually did not hesitate to tear apart brotherly ties in order to uproot the Interception Sect completely.
"Yet Sect Master Tongtian held the Zhu Xian Sword Formation in his hand. This formation had been created by the ancient Demon Ancestor Rahu, its vicious might shaking the primordial world. Though Sage Su Yang and the Dao ancestor later joined forces to break it, that battle had already shown its power: unless four Saints gathered together, one should not dream of shaking it in the slightest.
"Laozi feared the formation, yet found it difficult to make up his mind. He might as well have journeyed west in person, using old karma as his reason to invite my brother and me from the mountains, that we might break the Zhu Xian Formation together.
"And what was the result? Though Sect Master Tongtian was defeated, he lost with stern dignity and no shame. Now that Zhu Xian had been destroyed, he alone could no longer contend with the force of four Saints. The Dao ancestor imprisoned him in Zixiao Palace, where he contemplated the Heavenly Dao day after day. It was peaceful enough, but