Grand Martial Uncle, shall We Go Pick a Fight with Those Bastards from the Sect of Explanation?

"Eldest Sister!"

"Second Sister!"

Qiong Xiao and Bi Xiao instinctively clung tightly to each other, their faces filled with despair and unwillingness to give up.

Yun Xiao gave a tragic smile and slowly closed her eyes.

"Big Brother, we... have come to join you."

But just as that enormous hand, capable of blotting out the sky, was about to descend and wipe away the Three Xiao and the entire Nine Bends Yellow River Formation—

A sudden change occurred!

"Junior Brother, hold your hand."

A gentle voice, imbued with the supreme truths of the Great Dao, drifted down from the highest heavens.

A moment later, an immense divine diagram appeared out of nowhere, its black and white energies flowing like the currents of a river. It seemed capable of encompassing all of the Primordial Era, and it stretched out between that Jade Pure hand and the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation.

A golden bridge extended across the divine diagram.

Upon it, an old Daoist riding a Green Ox and holding a bamboo staff slowly appeared.

The old Daoist looked utterly ordinary, like some country bumpkin. Yet he radiated the essence of the Dao, an aura of "non-action that leaves nothing undone."

He was none other than the leader of the Human Sect, Grand Supreme Elder Laozi!

"Boom!!!"

Venerable Yuanshi's Jade Pure hand slammed into the Taiji Diagram.

The entire Primordial Era shook violently.

But that terrifying attack, powerful enough to destroy a Great Thousand World, vanished without a trace the instant it touched the Taiji Diagram, easily dissolved by the flowing black and white energies.

"Senior Brother?"

Venerable Yuanshi withdrew his hand and frowned at the suddenly appearing Grand Supreme Elder Laozi.

"Why are you stopping me?"

Grand Supreme Elder Laozi sat astride the Green Ox. He sighed, pointed first at the Twelve Golden Immortals trapped below, then at the Three Xiao, and spoke slowly:

"Junior Brother, the Investiture of the Gods still lacks three hundred and sixty-five righteous deities."

"You and I both have disciples destined to face a tribulation. Your Twelve Golden Immortals have suffered this calamity and been cast down to the mortal world. That counts as fulfilling their tribulation. They need only cultivate anew, and they will recover their powers in time."

"These three nieces may have acted ruthlessly, but their plight is worthy of sympathy. How about I break this formation, capture them, and take them back to Biyou Palace, where Junior Brother Tongtian can decide their fate?"

Grand Supreme Elder Laozi's words made him sound like a peacemaker.

But Venerable Yuanshi heard another meaning beneath them.

Capture them and hand them over to Tongtian?

Easy enough to say!

Given Tongtian's tendency to protect his own, the most he'd do was confine them for a hundred years—a slap on the wrist.

Meanwhile, his Sect of Explanation had lost the Twelve Golden Immortals and suffered a crushing humiliation in front of the entire Primordial Era, yet would get nothing out of it!

How was that mediation? It was blatant favoritism!

"Senior Brother, you're mistaken!"

Venerable Yuanshi's tone turned cold as well.

"These three demon women are vicious and cruel, and have fallen into the Devil Dao! If we don't execute them on the spot as a warning to others, where will the dignity of the Mystic Gate be?"

"Today, no one will stop me!"

As he spoke, an acre of auspicious cloud appeared above his head. A golden lamp hung over it, trailing countless strings of jade pendants. It was none other than his protective treasure, the Myriad Heavens Auspicious Cloud!

He had even brought out his supreme treasure of enlightenment. Clearly, he was truly enraged and had resolved to kill the Three Xiao here and now!

A battle between Saints was about to erupt!

Seeing Venerable Yuanshi bring out even the Myriad Heavens Auspicious Cloud, a trace of helplessness crossed Grand Supreme Elder Laozi's placid face.

His junior brother was a good man in every other respect; he simply cared too much about saving face and protecting his own.

Now that all twelve of his direct disciples had been taken down at once and reduced to mortals in front of the entire Primordial Era, there was no way someone with Yuanshi's temperament would let the humiliation pass.

"Alas..."

Grand Supreme Elder Laozi sighed again.

"Junior Brother, why are you so stubborn?"

"Since you insist on acting, then I have no choice but to... exchange a few moves with you."

Though he sounded reluctant, he didn't hesitate in the slightest.

The Taiji Diagram beneath him flashed, then unfurled in an instant, transforming into a world divided between black and white. It enveloped Venerable Yuanshi and the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage beneath him.

The Taiji Diagram embodied yin and yang, forming a world of its own.

Within that world, Grand Supreme Elder Laozi was its absolute master.

"Senior Brother! Are you really going to fight me for the sake of these three demon women?"

Inside the world of the Taiji Diagram, Venerable Yuanshi's voice seethed with boundless fury.

"No," Grand Supreme Elder Laozi's voice came from all around him. "I simply don't want to see the bond between the Three Pure Ones completely shattered over a dispute between a few juniors."

"Let us discuss the Dao here. Once our tempers have cooled, we can go out."

"Fine! Fine! Fine!"

Venerable Yuanshi laughed in fury.

"Discuss the Dao? Let me see just how powerful your Great Dao of Non-Action really is!"

He stopped wasting his breath. The Myriad Heavens Auspicious Cloud above his head blazed with light, rendering him impervious to all techniques, as he charged into the depths of the Taiji Diagram's world.

He would use his full strength to break through his senior brother's world!

For a time, the Dao clashed within the Taiji Diagram, and the laws thundered.

Nothing could be seen from outside, but every great power could feel the terrifying battle between Saints taking place inside that seemingly thin sheet of paper.

Within the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation.

The three Yun Xiao sisters stared at the dramatic turn of events, completely dumbfounded.

They had never imagined that Grand Supreme Elder Laozi would step in and stop Venerable Yuanshi for their sake.

"Eldest Sister, what... what's going on?" Bi Xiao asked softly. "Grand Martial Uncle Taishang... why is he helping us?"

In their minds, the leader of the Human Sect had always been detached from worldly affairs, serene and inactive. And he had always been closer to Venerable Yuanshi than to their own master.

His unusual actions today were truly baffling.

Confusion filled Yun Xiao's eyes, too.

She shook her head. "I don't know either."

She couldn't make sense of it.

Could it really be because he valued the bond between the Three Pure Ones?

But if he truly cared about that bond, why hadn't he stepped in back when disciples of the Sect of Explanation were killing disciples of the Interception Sect?

Yun Xiao's instincts told her that things weren't so simple.

There had to be a deeper reason behind Grand Supreme Elder Laozi's intervention.

And while everyone's attention was fixed on the battle between Saints inside the Taiji Diagram—

No one noticed

that, far away on the western lands, on the opposite side of the world from Kunlun Mountain and Golden Ao Island,

at Spirit Mountain, in the Great Thunderclap Temple,

Daoist Jieyin sat atop the Twelve-Grade Merit Golden Lotus, expounding the Great Dao.