Deep in Chaos.
The raging chaos energy surged without end, its violent power seeming capable of tearing everything apart.
This was a forbidden zone for all life. Even Grand Luo Golden Immortals could not survive here for long.
At that moment, a solitary figure stood proudly in the void.
Not a trace of magical power stirred around him, and he had no magical treasure to shield him. Yet the chaos energy stayed thirty thousand miles away.
Across the Primordial World, countless billions of miles away, everyone watched his every move intently.
On Golden Ao Island in the Eastern Sea, the ten thousand immortals of the Interception Sect had gathered. All eyes were fixed on the bronze mirror Daoist Duobao had raised.
"Senior Disciple Brother truly is the greatest prodigy in all ages. After cultivating for just tens of thousands of years, he's already about to achieve the Primordial Unity Dao!"
"I'm deeply ashamed. It feels like all these years of cultivation have gone to the dogs..."
Zhao Gongming gazed at the image in the mirror and sighed with deep feeling.
Holy Mother Wudang sighed and echoed, "That's right. Even some of the old Quasi-Saints in the Primordial World have been left far behind by him."
"Compared to Senior Disciple Brother, we're utterly foolish..."
Yunxiao also spoke up. "That's why we must spur ourselves on. We can't let Senior Disciple Brother down."
The other Interception Sect disciples nodded in agreement.
The figure in Chaos was named Ye Changqing. He was the sole inheritor of Sect Master Tongtian's teachings and the senior disciple brother of everyone in the Interception Sect.
His talent and insight were truly unmatched in all ages. In just tens of thousands of years, he had achieved what he had.
Once he survived the tribulation, the Interception Sect would have two Saints in its ranks. From then on, no one in the Primordial World would dare bully its disciples.
But for some reason, the doors of Azure Palace were shut tight, and Sect Master Tongtian was nowhere to be seen at this crucial moment.
In the main hall of Azure Palace, Sect Master Tongtian suddenly opened his eyes. The Great Dao flowed within them, and he could see the paths along which all things in heaven and earth moved with perfect clarity. Yet he alone could not see the future of the Interception Sect.
For days, he had been in seclusion, trying to divine the secrets of heaven, but they remained obscured, and he could not reach any conclusion.
Ye Changqing's words before he left still echoed in his ears.
"The coming calamity will be unimaginably perilous. The slightest misstep, and the entire Interception Sect will be wiped out...
"Even you, Master, will not be spared, despite being a Saint..."
"As the senior disciple brother of the Interception Sect, I must seize a thread of hope for my junior brothers and sisters."
"Today, I have no other choice. I can only achieve Primordial Unity ahead of time!"
Sect Master Tongtian raised his head, his gaze passing through layer upon layer of rooftops and reaching beyond the heavens.
He murmured to himself, "Could this coming calamity truly be as terrifying as Changqing says?"
After a long while, he sighed and looked toward his disciple in Chaos, his eyes gradually softening.
Pride filled Sect Master Tongtian's eyes. He considered taking on such a disciple the greatest achievement of his life.
With a disciple like this, what more could he ask for?
"Changqing, do you truly not need your master to protect you while you cultivate?"
He sent another voice transmission to ask.
Ye Changqing immediately refused. "There's no need. I only ask that you see those people for who they really are!"
Sect Master Tongtian knew his disciple had already embarked on a different path. He felt both comforted and deeply worried.
Those who failed to become Saints would remain mere ants. But the path to sainthood and proving the Dao was far too arduous, and Ye Changqing's path was harder still.
Long ago, at Purple Skies Palace, Dao Ancestor Hongjun had lectured on the Dao and passed down three methods of becoming a Saint.
The first was to become a Saint through merit.
This method was the simplest, but it required an immense amount of merit.
Whether Nuwa created humanity from clay or the Three Pure Ones and the Two Sages of the West founded their sects to become Saints, they had all taken this easiest path.
The second was to become a Saint by severing the Three Corpses.
With the aid of an Innate Spiritual Treasure, one severed the good, evil, and self, and attained sainthood.
Yet in the vast Primordial World, Dao Ancestor Hongjun was the only one ever to succeed.
This path was therefore much harder than becoming a Saint through merit.
The third was to Prove Dao by Force.
One used one's own immense magical power and energy to forcibly surpass the Great Dao.
Great God Pangu had taken this path, but in the end, he stopped just short of becoming a Great Dao Saint and met his end, his body and Dao destroyed.
Now Ye Changqing was also seeking to Prove Dao by Force, but what he sought to transcend was the Heavenly Dao.
If he succeeded, he would become a Saint unconstrained by the Heavenly Dao of the Primordial World—a Primordial Unity Grand Luo Golden Immortal.
Of course, there was another way to prove the Dao: becoming a Saint through the Laws.
Each of the Three Thousand Demon Gods in Chaos had mastered a Great Dao. By cultivating to the utmost, they could transcend the Great Dao.
Though none of them had succeeded, each possessed the strength of a Primordial Unity Grand Luo Golden Immortal, making them comparable to the Heavenly Dao Saints of the present day.
Only one had become a Saint through the Laws: Old Ancestor Yang Mei. He had become a Saint three thousand years before Old Ancestor Hongjun.
It was said that he once fought Old Ancestor Hongjun after Hongjun became a Saint. After winning, he returned to Chaos and was never heard from again.
Thus, the methods ranked in difficulty as follows: Proving Dao by Force > Proving the Dao through the Laws > Becoming a Saint by Severing the Three Corpses > Becoming a Saint through Merit.
Ye Changqing had chosen the hardest path. Could he truly succeed?
"Alas!"
A sigh echoed through Azure Palace, lingering in the main hall.
In Jade Void Palace on Kunlun Mountain, the Twelve Golden Immortals of Chan Sect had also gathered. But the atmosphere was utterly unlike that of the Interception Sect; the entire hall was frighteningly quiet.
Venerable Primordial regarded the Twelve Golden Immortals of Chan Sect below him, his expression dark and unreadable.
Compared to Ye Changqing, they were nothing but a joke.
Was this the Pangu Orthodox Lineage he had personally chosen?
Tongtian, Tongtian, you really had found yourself a fine disciple!
The Twelve Golden Immortals of Chan Sect lowered their heads like defeated roosters.
Before the Three Pure Ones split up, they had already been defeated by Ye Changqing.
Even when all twelve of them attacked together, he had subdued them with a casual counterstrike.
Venerable Primordial had always looked down on the Interception Sect's disciples, and he could not bear to lose face. That was what had directly led to the Three Pure Ones splitting up.
Ye Changqing had always been a mountain looming over their heads, leaving them unable to breathe.
Now Ye Changqing was preparing to become a Saint, while they had been stuck at the Grand Luo Golden Immortal realm for over a thousand years.
They were all disciples of Saints. Why was he so outstanding?
The Twelve Golden Immortals of Chan Sect wore envy and resentment on their faces, their teeth nearly grinding to dust.
Among them, Daoist Randeng was even more bitter with hatred. Why couldn't he be the one proving the Dao today?
Back in the day, he too had been one of the Three Thousand Guests at Purple Skies Palace. By rights, he and Venerable Primordial and Sect Master Tongtian had been peers.
Although he had now joined Venerable Primordial's sect, he had done so by lowering himself.
Venerable Primordial treated him with great respect, even appointing him Vice Sect Master of Chan.
The disciples of Chan Sect also held him in high regard. Who would fail to address him as Teacher?
But now he had been surpassed by a junior, and he could not bear the humiliation.
He could only steel himself and step forward, offering himself some consolation. "How easy do you think it is to achieve Primordial Unity?"
"That Ye Changqing has neither great merit nor the foundation to become a Saint. How could he possibly sever the Three Corpses?"
"This time, the Interception Sect is in for a disappointment!"
Randeng's words were not without reason. Even when Venerable Primordial became a Saint, he had greatly benefited from Great God Pangu.
He was one of the three parts of Great God Pangu's Primordial Spirit, born with immense merit and destiny.
Later, at Purple Skies Palace, he received the foundation for becoming a Saint—the Hongmeng Purple Qi—and only then could he use the merit from founding his sect to attain sainthood.
Ye Changqing had neither a distinguished origin nor any heaven-defying opportunities. How could he prove the Dao?
At this thought, Venerable Primordial's expression slowly eased. The atmosphere in the hall gradually relaxed, and everyone below breathed a sigh of relief.
There were only a few things Daoist Randeng had left unsaid.
There were many in the Primordial World who would not stand by and watch Ye Changqing succeed in proving the Dao.
For example, himself!
Before you continue