Nine Sage Seats, Tianyan Takes the Seventh, Daoist Zhunti's Envy, Jealousy, and Hatred

"Second Brother, did you sense it?"

Dijun collected his thoughts and looked at the celestial flowers, golden lotuses, Purple Qi Immortal Rain, and spiritual dew that filled the Primordial Wilderness void, then asked.

"I saw it, and I heard it."

Taiyi nodded, his gaze distant.

"Second Brother, what do you think happened?"

Dijun asked curiously.

After appearing, he had remained within the Sun Star and had never gone out.

He had always stayed by his Second Brother Taiyi's side, and no one had taught him any related knowledge.

The Great Sun Golden Crow's inherited memories contained no records concerning this matter either.

Proving Dao and becoming a Sage, as well as the Hunyuan Dao Fruit, were entirely blank concepts in the Primordial World.

After all, the Primordial Wilderness was not the Chaos Sea. No Innate Gods and Demons comparable to the Great Dao had ever been born here.

Taiyi, however, possessed memories of an additional lifetime and had already formed some guesses in his heart.

Yet nothing had been confirmed, and the Heavenly Dao had not announced Hongjun's ascension to Sagehood.

Thus, out of caution, Taiyi did not speak openly and without restraint.

Only his pair of brilliant golden eyes flickered faintly with deep, wise light.

Great Sun Golden Flame illuminated the myriad worlds as he gazed upon the magnificent spectacle of celestial flowers and golden lotuses suddenly emerging in the void.

The divine mark between Taiyi's brows, formed from the manifested perfection of the Sun Law Great Dao, was also faintly heating up.

It shone with blazing, radiant sunlight.

It seemed to echo remotely with the distant Sun Star, their auras linked and resonating at the same frequency.

His mysterious yellow hair flowed down to his waist. He wore the Primordial Crown, a Heavenly Dao Imperial Mark between his brows.

The handsome youth, with an immortal bearing and jade-like features, dressed in the Primordial Sun-Moon-Stars Robe, drew Dijun's praise.

However, Dijun's own appearance after taking form was not inferior, so he was not jealous.

Besides, outward appearance was ultimately merely an external manifestation. Beauty and ugliness were not worth mentioning to Dao cultivators.

"Second Brother, first the Great Dao shook, then the Heavenly Dao rang in unison, and now it has created a Heavenly Dao phenomenon of universal celebration. What exactly happened?"

"And earlier, you said Hongjun became a Sage?"

"What does becoming a Sage mean?"

Still bewildered, Dijun continued speaking.

Dijun did not know the history of later generations, so he need not fear drawing the Heavenly Dao's attention.

It truly was as the saying went: fools have foolish luck.

The scheming Taiyi inwardly sighed and grumbled.

But now that the Heavenly Dao itself had begun celebrating throughout the world...

Presumably, it would not matter even if he said it now, right?

Heavenly Dao, I revealed your secrets ahead of time. You won't be angry with me, will you?

Taiyi glanced at the resplendent Heavenly Dao phenomena that filled the sky with countless auspicious vapors.

He muttered to himself inwardly.

"Brother, if I am not mistaken, Hongjun Daozu should have become a Sage."

Taiyi pondered briefly before speaking cautiously.

By calculation, the Dragon-Han Calamity had ended long ago.

Many yuanhui had also passed since the Dao-Demon War ended.

No matter how much Hongjun delayed, it should have been time for him to become a Sage.

Moreover, Taiyi knew that Hongjun was the First Saint of the Primordial Era.

This did not merely mean that Hongjun ranked first in strength among the Sages.

It also meant that Hongjun was the first in the Primordial Wilderness to attain the position of Sage.

"Hongjun Daozu? Who is this person? What is his origin?"

Dijun immediately asked in surprise.

"Oh, right, Second Brother, how did you know?"

"I'm not sure either. I sensed it from the spiritual resonance of the Great Dao in the unseen."

Taiyi froze for a moment, then quickly reacted and casually made up a lie to conceal the truth.

The Great Dao was formless and intangible anyway; anything could be attributed to it.

Dijun did not think much of it and instead found it perfectly normal.

After all, the Great Dao was simply too great and too unfathomably profound.

Before the Great Dao, even all impossible things could become possible.

Though all this sounded lengthy, it happened in an instant.

After the Great Dao Heavenly Sound resounded, a magnificent and vast phenomenon followed: flowers rained from the sky, Golden lotuses surged from the earth, sweet dew sprang forth, auspicious signs appeared, and endless Primordial Spiritual Energy fell like rain across the void and earth.

It was not only Taiyi and Dijun in the Primordial Starry Sky who sensed this scene.

Throughout the entire Primordial Wilderness, countless living beings were shocked by this strange sight at this very moment.

Regardless of who they were or what they were doing, all stopped what they were doing.

They looked up at the boundless firmament and listened intently to the waves of ethereal Great Dao Heavenly Sound.

"This is a Heavenly Dao phenomenon of becoming a Sage!"

"Who, after the Dragon-Han Calamity, successfully Proved Dao Primordial Chaos and drew the Heavenly Dao's celebration?"

"Damn it! Someone else actually seized the first Sage-seat Dao Fruit of the Primordial World!"

Daoist Zhunti stared unblinkingly at the grand phenomenon of golden flowers suddenly appearing in the void and falling across countless starfields. His eyes nearly spewed fire as envy, hatred, hostility, resentment, and every other negative emotion surged into his heart at once.

The jealousy and fury in his heart erupted like a volcano, surged like a tsunami, and churned like an earth dragon. His hands clenched into fists, his face full of Zhen Niu, his expression twisted, and his eyes filled with resentment.

If looks could kill, that unknown existence who had suddenly Proved Dao and become a Sage would likely have been chopped into meat paste by Daoist Zhunti's gaze billions of times over.

As the finest son of the sacred Mount Sumeru range on the Western Continent of the Primordial Wilderness, Daoist Zhunti and Daoist Jieyin were likewise blessed individuals possessed of Great Destiny.

From the spiritual-vein ruins of the Western Continent, the main battlefield where Demon Ancestor Rahu and Hongjun Daozu had fought in the Dao-Demon War, Zhunti and Jieyin had discovered fragmented portions concerning the Hunyuan Dao above the Great Luo realm.

Among them was an incomplete object, naturally formed before heaven and earth, silent and solitary, standing alone without change, circulating endlessly without exhaustion. Upon it was recorded the secret of becoming a Sage in the Primordial World.

It stated: The numbers of the Dao begin with one, stand at three, are completed at five, flourish at seven, and reach their limit at nine.

Therefore, there are nine Sage seats between heaven and earth.

The Dao of Heaven reduces excess and supplements deficiency.

Of the nine Sage seats, one is hidden, while eight Sages emerge.

The Great Dao has fifty, while Tianyan has forty-nine; one escapes.

Therefore, among the Sages of heaven and earth, seven is honored as the final number.

They came to understand the future cultivation paths of themselves, the two martial brothers.

It was precisely because of this that Daoist Zhunti tirelessly traveled across the Primordial Continent, eagerly and relentlessly searching for the Hunyuan mystery of Proving Dao and becoming a Sage.

Naturally, Daoist Zhunti understood what becoming a Sage meant.

He also knew what a Sage represented to the Primordial Wilderness.

That was why Daoist Zhunti bore such resentment and hostility.

He had originally believed that the opportunity for the first Sage seat was already his for the taking.

Yet it had slipped away from his hands before his very eyes.

It had passed him by and been claimed first by another.

How could the hatred in Daoist Zhunti's heart possibly be described by a single word?

He even wanted to kill.

Stealing another's Dao Path was no different from an irreconcilable enmity.

"Do not let this poor Daoist discover who stole the opportunity for my senior brother and me to become Sages."

"Otherwise, I will surely fight you to the end."

Daoist Zhunti was so furious that his face turned red, and he panted heavily.

At this moment.

The Heavenly Dao boomed, and the Primordial World shook continuously once more. Immortal melodies and celestial music rang out without end.

Countless phenomena appeared in dazzling succession.

A magnificent and vast pillar of energy light from within the chaos descended from an unknowable, mysterious place. It pierced through endless realms, penetrated the Heaven and Earth Membrane, crossed the Thirty-Three Heavens, and shot straight toward the Primordial Continent.

Everything in its path was reduced to powder, transformed into nothingness by the Dao, and returned to the place of heavenly ruins.

The pillar connected the boundary between heaven and earth, vast and immense like Buzhou Mountain, stretching across heaven and earth.

Gulp!

At the sight, Daoist Zhunti was nearly frightened to death.

Just now, that Nine Heavens Divine Light Pillar had pierced past right beside him.

The distance between them had been no more than a billion li.

It had truly been a narrow escape.

Taiyi glanced at the cold-sweating Daoist Zhunti without saying anything.

He narrowed his eyes and fixed his gaze upon the vast heavenly pillar connecting heaven and earth.