The moment he looked up—
The space at the center of the Great Hall gently rippled with an extremely faint spatial undulation, without any warning.
Silent and traceless, without so much as a ripple.
The next instant, an ancient, desolate, upright figure bearing the weight of countless ages stood silently in the center of the Great Hall.
His aura was restrained to the utmost, and he appeared to be merely at the unremarkable Primordial Taiji realm. Yet the depth within his bones—the vicissitudes of innumerable epochs, the sight of the rise and fall of the Great Dao, the experience of standing atop Chaos—made every Dao Pattern of Unification in the hall bow and tremble in unison.
Dao One's eyes abruptly froze. His entire body stiffened upon the jade throne as though struck by lightning!
It was him!
It was the Sky Shadow Patriarch, who had been trapped in Dao Prison for countless ages, vanished for several epochs, and whom everyone in the sect had believed would never reappear!
Overwhelming shock, wild joy, and utter disbelief instantly shattered all of his composure.
No longer caring for a shred of a sect master's dignity or bearing of authority, he sprang to his feet and hurried down the steps. Though rushed, his movements were incomparably respectful. He dropped heavily to both knees, bowed his head in worship, and spoke in a trembling, reverent voice:
"Dao One pays respects to Sky Shadow Patriarch!"
The Great Hall was tranquil as Dao Patterns rose and fell.
Seeing Dao One kneeling respectfully before him, Sky Shadow's expression softened slightly. Raising a hand in a virtual gesture of support, he said calmly, "Rise."
Those two simple words carried the Dao resonance accumulated over countless ages, invisibly soothing every anxious and chaotic aura within the hall.
Dao One rose