On the steps of the front hall.
Shen Xiaozhu and Hu Qianqian strictly followed the Dao Palace's rites and set up an altar befitting a True Lord. Before Wang Ping arrived, the two of them had each offered a stick of incense according to the rules.
Wang Ping descended onto the high platform. He first bowed toward True Lord Yuanwu's statue, then looked at his grand-disciples and waved his hand. "You may go attend to your own affairs first."
He wished to discuss advancement to the Fifth Realm with True Lord Yuanwu, so it was inconvenient for Shen Xiaozhu and Hu Qianqian to remain.
"Yes, Master/grand-disciple!"
After his grand-disciples had left, Wang Ping took three incense sticks from the offering table and lit them. He respectfully placed them into the incense burner, then sat cross-legged upon the cushion before the altar and quietly recited, "This junior, Changqing, respectfully invites True Lord Yuanwu to descend."
This world had no overly complicated prayers, because great power truly existed and needed no elaborate words to lend it strength.
More than ten breaths later.
Specks of golden light emerged from the golden statue atop the altar, and True Lord Yuanwu's illusory figure appeared. He was no longer dressed in the short-sleeved hemp clothes of a farmer as he had been in his small courtyard. Instead, he wore a magnificent wide-sleeved robe, with resplendent golden mystic radiance behind him.
With just one glance, Wang Ping could sense that True Lord Yuanwu's attainment in Divine Art had surpassed his own. This was the first time he had sensed someone exceeding him in the cultivation of Divine Art. It was as he had expected—after all, Yuanwu's faith had formed within human society long before the rise of the Human Way.
"Has Ao Yi's matter been resolved?"
Yuanwu's