Hearing Haotian's reply, Venerable Yuanshi nodded in satisfaction. Then his gaze sharpened, and he asked in a low voice:
"The Two Saints of the Western Teachings came to see you?"
At Venerable Yuanshi's sudden question, Haotian's heart lurched, and he looked utterly flustered.
After a brief pause, he didn't dare conceal the truth and hurriedly replied:
"Your Venerable, in answer to you..."
"The Two Saints of the West did indeed come to Tongming Palace some time ago."
"They... they also wanted to bring down the Heavenly Court, and even suggested... that I establish the Western Heavenly Court."
"I thought their goal was the same as yours, Your Venerable, so I agreed!"
As he spoke, Haotian grew increasingly uneasy. He bowed to Venerable Yuanshi and added:
"Please forgive me, Your Venerable!"
"I should have found an opportunity to send word to you about this."
"But lately, I've been busy winning over the Immortals and Gods of the Heavenly Court, and I couldn't be in two places at once, so..."
Before Haotian could finish, Venerable Yuanshi cut him off:
"It's fine."
"I have no intention of blaming you."
"To be frank, after the Two Saints of the Western Teachings came to see you, they went to Kunlun Mountain to see me."
Venerable Yuanshi's words made Haotian's heart tremble.
He couldn't help thinking that Venerable Yuanshi truly was a man of profound schemes.
At the same time, Haotian was relieved that he hadn't concealed anything in his answer just now.
Otherwise, facing Venerable Yuanshi, who already knew the answers to the questions he was asking, any attempt to hide the truth would have spelled disaster.
After thinking it over, Haotian secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then changed the subject and asked:
"May I ask what brings you here, Your Venerable?"
Venerable Yuanshi