Like Oil Boiling Over a Flame, Sinful Afflictions Take Root; He Cuts Out the Causality Daoist and Attains Semi-Sagehood

The towering Imperial Mound was a place of unparalleled grandeur.

This Human Race Holy Capital had been transformed beyond recognition after eight generations of Sage Kings had governed it since Shao Kang's Restoration.

After Shao Kang had offered sacrifices to Heaven and Earth with the Nine Tripods and made a pact with the Human Dao, the supreme treasures had shed all traces of their acquired nature and become nine Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures that suppressed destiny.

The Nine Tripods floated above the imperial palace, swallowing and exhaling boundless Human Dao Purple Qi and the merit of Heaven and Earth. Nine pillars of light pierced the heavens, resonating with Fire Cloud Cave and sharing in the vast merit of the Xia Hou Clan's Dao Lineage.

Deep within the imperial palace stood a divine tree that reached from earth to sky. Its trunk seemed cast from gold, its branches and leaves carved from jade, and a warm, sacred radiance flowed from it.

After the Xia Hou Clan established its Imperial Dynasty, Heaven and the Human Dao had bestowed this Innate Educational Sacred Tree—an emblem of the authority to enlighten and teach—as the Phoenix Tree.

Beneath the Sacred Tree's protection, all magic was ineffective, and every evil force was driven away.

Even Great Luo Dao Lords had to restrain their auras and lower their eyes when passing before the imperial palace. None dared behave with the slightest disrespect.

Beneath the Sacred Tree, the great power of Human Dao enlightenment nourished the foundations of the Xia Hou Clan's Sage Dynasty Dao Lineage like spring rain.

Yet the immense merit and destiny it required to grow were also quietly draining the foundations of the Xia Hou Clan's Dao Lineage.

The Xia Hou Clan's Sage Dynasty Dao Lineage now encompassed the entire Human Race's territory, its