Brotherly Bonds, Stronger Than Gold, A Community of Shared Interests

"Elder Brother, I'll come clean. No more pretending. I have a huge secret to tell you."

"Only in this realm can I reveal the truth about certain matters to you."

"I only hope that after hearing it, Elder Brother won't be too shocked. Stay calm."

Taiyi took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. His golden eyes looked earnestly into his elder brother Dijun's, filled with sincerity.

"Go ahead, Second Brother. Your elder brother isn't someone who has never weathered storms. Besides, no matter how shocking it is, it can't possibly be more shocking than this place."

Dijun likewise forced down the turbulent emotions in his heart and spoke with a solemn expression, his heart full of complicated feelings.

He truly had not expected his Second Brother to possess such an enormous fortuitous opportunity, enough to open up a realm of his own.

"I imagine Elder Brother has long wondered why I am so familiar with certain people in the Primordial World, haven't you?"

"It's only because Elder Brother trusts your younger brother that you never asked. But your doubts are known to me."

"Yet as I said before, many things cannot be spoken of openly in the Primordial World, lest they bring disaster upon us brothers."

"But now, your younger brother can finally tell Elder Brother the whole truth without worry, lest it affect the bond between us."

With a thought, Taiyi casually created a divine palace identical to the one on the Primordial Sun Star and invited Dijun inside.

The two rose on escaping lights, their figures turning into streaks as they flew apart and landed facing one another. Taiyi then spoke with an earnest expression, frankly explaining himself.

"Second Brother, say no more. Your elder brother already knows."

"Anyone in this world might wish your elder brother harm, but you, Second Brother, would never harm me."

"Even if you did something that wronged your elder brother, you must have had no choice but to do so."

The two brothers took their seats again within the Sun Palace. They opened their hearts to one another and spoke with complete honesty, revealing their innermost thoughts without the slightest concealment.

They had originally been brothers of the same origin, born as one within the Primordial Sun Star.

Though they did not share blood like children born of the same mother,

their bond was even closer and more inseparable than mortal kinship.

They were one with the Dao, indivisible parts of each other. Neither Taiyi nor Dijun could exist without the other.

It could be said that once either of them Proved Dao and became a Sage, the other would inevitably rise with him and elevate his Dao Path.

Perhaps it was precisely for this reason that Daoist Hongjun had not bestowed a Sage position upon either brother.

The Sage positions of the Three Pure Ones were ordained by Heaven. They possessed the merit of creating Heaven and Earth, and the Primordial Heavenly Dao needed to repay the karma it owed them.

Nüwa's Sage position likewise concerned the future evolution of the Primordial Heavenly Dao, for the protagonists of the next calamity would be humanity.

As the mother of humanity, Nüwa was meant to possess a Sage position.

As for the Western Two Sages, there was no need to mention them. Their positions were repayment for the karmic debt incurred when Hongjun Daozu and Demon Ancestor Rahu fought in the west during the Dao-Demon War, forcing Demon Ancestor Rahu to self-destruct the western spiritual veins.

After Proving Dao, the relationship between Taiyi and Dijun

would be like the connection between three dimensions and four dimensions.

Taiyi in the four-dimensional realm could actively send Dijun in the three-dimensional realm a path and coordinates for promotion.

Dijun in the three-dimensional realm could likewise follow the close connection of their shared origin and seek his way upward.

Even the Pangu Three Pure Ones could not compare to such an inseparable unity so closely connected to their future Dao Paths.

The Three Pure Ones of Pangu were merely three portions of Great God Pangu's primordial spirit. Though they shared the same origin, none of them was incapable of living without the others.

Thus, if Taiyi wished to Prove Dao, he absolutely could not bypass his elder brother Dijun.

This was the karmic bond between Taiyi and Dijun in the Primordial World.

Naturally, Dijun would become Taiyi's weakness and vulnerable point in the future.

If other Sages wanted to deal with Taiyi, they could act through Dijun.

Through the resonance between Dijun and Taiyi's origins, they could launch Sage Dao attacks and strike at Taiyi across the boundaries of space and time.

It was easy to foresee that if Taiyi truly Proved Dao and became a Sage, attaining the Grand Luo Golden Immortal Zenith and disrupting the predetermined trajectory of the Primordial Heavenly Dao,

then Sage Hongjun, lackey and partner of the Primordial Heavenly Dao, would surely act against Taiyi at its instigation.

Even if Hongjun Daozu was unwilling to dirty his own hands, the Six Sages of the Heavens would certainly be unable to defy their teacher's will.

At that time, if all six Sages joined forces to besiege Taiyi, then even the smallest flaw or weakness could become a fatal blow, casting him down from the Sage realm.

The Primordial Heavenly Dao would likely ensure that this variable in the Primordial World could not even linger on in miserable existence.

It would directly erase both body and soul, scattering his spirit so completely that he could never be reborn for all eternity.

To eliminate this hidden danger in advance, Taiyi could only selectively reveal part of his secrets.

He was also selectively choosing to trust his Elder Brother Dijun.

Testing the brotherly bond between them with a secret treasure was not something Taiyi was reluctant to do.

Taiyi's greatest foundation since arriving in the Primordial Wilderness remained the existence of the Homebody Choice System.

As long as the system existed, Taiyi would possess the greatest confidence to contend against any move made by the Heavenly Dao.

Of course, if Taiyi were as unscrupulous as the Western Two Sages,

or as ruthless and merciless as Yuanshi, he could simply eliminate this hidden danger through human means.

After all, among cultivators, there were countless examples of people killing their wives, abandoning their children, harming fellow cultivators, and blood-sacrificing all living beings just to take one step further.

Most cultivators were cold, selfish people without affection or loyalty.

Such people were the majority in the cultivation world.

Brothers, friends, and relatives who could truly support one another, remain united in heart, and walk together until the end were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

In the cultivation world, such people were the true rare breed.

Like Red Cloud Hermit, there had been only one in all the ages of the Primordial Wilderness.

But doing so went against Taiyi's true heart.

Unless left with no other choice, Taiyi would not choose such a tragic ending as brothers killing each other.

Unless Dijun betrayed the brotherly bond between them.

Of course, the history of the Primordial Heavenly Court in Taiyi's previous life had long proven that their brotherly bond was stronger than gold.

They did not ask to be born on the same day, in the same month, in the same year, but only to die on the same day, in the same month, in the same year.

After Dijun fell, Eastern Emperor Taiyi likewise self-destructed his broken body and exhausted his remaining strength fighting the Ancestral Witches, unwilling to live alone in the world.

Thus, later generations jokingly said that Dijun and Taiyi were true love, while Xihe and Changxi were merely accidents.

Taiyi's unwillingness to turn against his brother was not because he lacked the resolve to be ruthless.

It was because there was no need.

Eliminating one's closest brother and comrade simply because he might become a hidden danger was as foolish as killing oneself after falling ill.

Wasn't the best solution to carry his good brother to greater heights together?

Even the Jade Emperor, after undergoing trials and ascending, could let one person attain the Dao while even his chickens and dogs rose to Heaven.

Could he, Taiyi, the future ancient supreme Eastern Emperor Great Emperor, not carry his elder brother Dijun, who would likewise become an ancient Heavenly Emperor?

Not to mention that Dijun was naturally gifted, possessed extraordinary roots, and shared the same origin as him.

Even if he were a pig, Taiyi believed he could turn him into a pig riding the wind.

A man with a system was just that confident.

As long as Elder Brother did not drag Second Brother down, that was enough.

Moreover, Taiyi's reason for opening his heart to Dijun and treating him with complete honesty today involved another layer of careful consideration.

Even the closest bond would one day snap.

Once one side of a shared origin underwent Ultimate sublimation, ascended to another higher-dimensional world, and transcended its primordial life,

the connection between their origins would become dispensable, and this thread of karma could be severed at any time.

Just as the Three Pure Ones went their separate ways after each became a Sage, even coming to blows and turning against one another over disputes of ideals, Dao Paths, and sectarian differences.

That showed that no matter how close a connection was, no matter how inseparable their shared body, it could not withstand a dispute over the Dao Path.

By contrast, although Jieyin and Zhunti, the Western Two Sages, were despicable and unscrupulous in their pursuit of the Dao, making them repugnant,

the trust and affection between those two senior and junior brothers truly could not be compared to the Three Pure Ones' fragile brotherhood.

Even the bloodline ties among the Twelve Ancestral Witches were closer than those among the Three Pure Ones born of primordial spirit.

Thus, Taiyi's decision today to entrust part of his secrets to Dijun was meant to forge the bond between them into something absolutely unbreakable.

One harmed, both harmed; one prospers, both prosper.