Primal Beginning Dao Lord

He fell silent for a moment, his voice still steady. "The Great Yin Profound Mirror Dao Fruit does indeed have some connection to my Dao arts, and I once expended considerable effort deducing its course. That you were able to seize it was both your destined fortune and your capability."

He paused and looked directly at Xu Yunfan, his gaze calm and undisturbed.

"Naturally, I am displeased."

He frankly admitted his feelings, which instead eased Xu Yunfan's heart.

"But as you said, you were trapped in a fatal situation while seeking the Dao. In striving for that sliver of survival, no method is too extreme. Such is the norm in the cultivation world."

"Besides—"

Pudu True Monarch changed tack. "Now that the matter has been settled, the Dao Fruit has already merged with your Divine Vault, inseparable from you. Could I possibly seize the foundation of a newly advanced Divine Vault True Monarch of our sect over something that has become useless?

Harming others without benefiting oneself, merely draining the sect's vitality—no wise man would do such a thing.

Let this matter end here. There is no need to mention it again."

"Harming others without benefiting oneself—no wise man would do such a thing."

Xu Yunfan mulled over those words, gaining a clearer understanding of Pudu True Monarch's character.

It was entirely in keeping with the Primal Beginning Sect's nature: thoroughgoing pragmatism, with interests above all else.

As long as the benefits were sufficient, or the cost was unbearable, mortal enemies one moment could greet each other with smiling faces the next.

Likewise, given enough temptation or threat, the present harmony could collapse in an instant.

This True Monarch had evidently calculated the sect's overall interests and his personal gains and losses with exceptional clarity.

Giving up the Great Yin