Over the next few days, Xuande and the others stayed at Wuzhuang Temple.
Partly, they were waiting for the time to draw near, and partly, it was a rare chance to spend time together.
The five of them drank tea and discussed the Dao beneath the Ginseng Fruit Tree, sharing their cultivation insights. Their days were peaceful and fulfilling.
Hong Yun was a lively sort, and with him around, the atmosphere was always light and cheerful.
He told them about all sorts of things he had seen while traveling through the Primordial Wilderness: some dangerous, some amusing, and some downright bizarre. Zhunti kept asking questions, and even Jieyin occasionally smiled.
Zhenyuanzi, by contrast, was much steadier. Most of the time, he listened quietly, adding a few words now and then.
During their discussions of the Dao, he would sometimes share a few insights into the Earth Dao, offering just enough to make his point.
He did not say much, but every word carried weight.
Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti also shared what they had learned in their cultivation over the years.
Jieyin spoke of his new insights into the Nirvana Dao, while Zhunti discussed his various attempts to explore the Way of Mystical Applications.
Xuande, in turn, spoke of the ideas on engaging with the world and withdrawing from it that he had heard from Fuxi and Nuwa while traveling around Buzhou Mountain.
Zhenyuanzi and Hong Yun listened closely, sometimes asking questions, sometimes voicing their thoughts.
Time flowed by like water, quietly slipping away.
At Wuzhuang Temple, the five of them sometimes discussed the Dao, sometimes cultivated in silence, and sometimes simply sat beneath the Ginseng Fruit Tree, watching the clouds drift and listening to the wind rustle its leaves.
Grand Unity Golden Immortals had boundless lifespans. To them, a few centuries passed in the blink of an eye.
Before they knew it, only five hundred years remained before the lecture.
One day, Xuande opened his eyes and spoke:
"Fellow Daoists, the time has come. We... should set out."
They exchanged glances and nodded solemnly.
Zhenyuanzi rose and gave Qingfeng and Mingyue a few instructions, telling them to look after the temple.
Hong Yun brushed off his robes and smiled. "We're finally setting out! I've been getting a little impatient waiting."
Zhunti smiled too. "So have I! Wuzhuang Temple is lovely, but the moment I think about hearing a Sage preach at Zixiao Palace, my heart has already flown into Chaos."
Jieyin said nothing. He simply stood and nodded to Zhenyuanzi.
Zhenyuanzi took one last look at Wuzhuang Temple, then turned to the others. "Fellow Daoists, let us be off."
The five of them mounted their Escape Lights, left Longevity Mountain, and flew toward Chaos.
Where was Chaos?
To most cultivators in the Primordial Wilderness, Chaos was distant, mysterious, and beyond their reach.
It lay beyond the Primordial Wilderness, an endless expanse of nothingness with no time, no space, and no direction.
Ordinary cultivators would never dare approach it. There was no Spiritual Energy and no laws there; once lost, they would never return.
Yet Ancestor Hongjun's Zixiao Palace stood within Chaos.
After a long flight, the five of them finally reached the edge of the Primordial Wilderness.
Ahead lay an endless stretch of gray. That was Chaos.
"Is this Chaos?" Hong Yun stared wide-eyed at the void. "It looks... terrifying."
Zhenyuanzi's expression was grave. "There is no Spiritual Energy or direction in Chaos. We must rely on our own magical power to sustain ourselves. The slightest mistake could leave us lost forever."
Zhunti sounded a little uneasy too. "Then... how do we find Zixiao Palace?"
Xuande fell silent for a moment, then spoke slowly. "Since Ancestor Hongjun said that 'all who are destined may come,' there must be some kind of guidance.
"We need only head in one direction and sense our way forward."
Jieyin nodded. "Brother Xuande is right. A Sage's lecture must follow the workings of fate. If we seek it with sincerity, we will surely find it."
The five said no more. Each circulated his magical power to protect himself, then they stepped into Chaos together.
Chaos was an indescribable expanse of nothingness.
There was no sky, no earth, no direction, and no point of reference.
Above, below, left, right, in front, and behind—all were the same gray void.
The five could only stay connected by sensing one another's auras as they flew forward at an extremely slow pace.
At first, Hong Yun looked around with great enthusiasm, but soon the void left him dizzy. He grumbled:
"This is unbearable. There's nothing here—not even anyone to talk to."
Zhunti gave a wry smile. "Tell me about it. I'd rather fight a ferocious beast than stay in this miserable place."
Zhenyuanzi said gravely, "Do not let your attention wander. Chaos may appear empty, but hidden dangers lurk within. If you lose your focus, you could easily become lost."
Jieyin said nothing. He quietly channeled his magical power to protect himself while using his divine sense to sense what lay ahead.
Xuande was silent as well.
He was thinking of the details from the legends he had heard in later generations.
Supposedly, Zixiao Palace lay deep within Chaos, and one had to sense it with a sincere heart to find it.
Some found it after a few years, while others searched for centuries without success.
Jieyin and Zhunti were said to have arrived late because they had set out too late and spent too long searching for the way...
But this time, they had set out five hundred years early.
No matter how long the search took, they should still reach the palace before the lecture began.
Time became hazy in Chaos.
The five had no idea how long they had been flying. Perhaps decades, perhaps a hundred years, perhaps even longer.
The same gray void stretched around them without end.
Nothing changed. There were no landmarks, no points of reference, as if they would never reach the end.
Hong Yun looked worse and worse, and Zhunti had grown much quieter. Even Zhenyuanzi and Jieyin looked faintly weary.
Only Xuande remained calm, using his divine sense to search ahead and missing not the slightest irregularity.
About two hundred years later, Xuande suddenly felt a stir in his mind.
He sensed an exceedingly faint, yet distinctly unusual, fluctuation.
It was neither a fluctuation of Spiritual Energy, nor of magical power, nor of anything else he recognized.
It was... the resonance of the Dao?
Or perhaps some kind of guidance?
"Fellow Daoists!" he said at once. "Have you sensed anything?"
At his words, the others quickly focused their senses.
After a moment, Zhenyuanzi was the first to nod. "Yes... There's an extremely faint aura somewhere ahead."
Hong Yun exclaimed in delight. "I sense it too! It feels like... like something is over there!"
Jieyin spoke slowly. "That aura... vast, solemn, profound. It is unlike anything ordinary."
Zhunti grew excited. "It's Zixiao Palace! It must be!"
The five were greatly heartened. Following the direction of that faint aura, they sped up.
The aura grew clearer and stronger with every moment.
At last, Chaos changed before them.
A point of light appeared in the gray void.
At first, it was faint, but as they drew closer, it grew brighter and more dazzling.
Within the light, the faint outline of a palace appeared, suspended in Chaos and radiating a solemn, sacred aura.
Zixiao Palace.
The five halted their Escape Lights and gazed at the legendary palace before them, speechless for a long time.
The palace was not particularly imposing. Compared to the scale Xuande had imagined for a Sage's abode, it seemed rather plain.
Yet it floated in Chaos, faint purple light flowing around it. Its profound, ancient, sacred aura defied description.
It seemed to have existed there since the Creation of Heaven and Earth, bearing witness to the rise and fall of the entire Primordial Wilderness.
"Zixiao Palace..." Zhunti murmured. "Did we... find it?"
Hong Yun rubbed his eyes hard. "It looks real... We really found it?"
Zhenyuanzi drew a deep breath and spoke slowly. "I never expected us to be the first here."
Jieyin nodded, his expression composed, though a trace of excitement was impossible to hide in his eyes.
Xuande gazed at the palace, his heart surging.
Zixiao Palace.
The very place from the legends of later generations that would determine the futures of the six Heavenly Dao Sages and usher in the age of Sages... It was right before him.
And he, together with Jieyin, Zhunti, Zhenyuanzi, and Hong Yun, had become the first to arrive.
Xuande silently calculated the time.
About two hundred years had passed since they set out.
Three hundred years remained before the lecture.
Three hundred years.
They were the first to wait before Zixiao Palace.
The five approached Zixiao Palace and stopped before its gates.
The gates were shut. They bore no decoration, only two ancient characters: "Zixiao."
The strokes were powerful, the resonance of the Dao flowing through them. Just looking at them filled one with reverence.
Zhunti tried pushing the gates, but they did not budge.
"It seems the gates haven't opened yet," he said.
Zhenyuanzi nodded. "There are still three hundred years before the lecture. We really have arrived too early."
Hong Yun laughed. "Early is good! Better to arrive early than late. Let's wait here until the gates open!"
The five exchanged smiles, found a place before the gates of Zixiao Palace, and sat down cross-legged.
There was no sense of time passing in Chaos, but they felt completely at ease.
Zixiao Palace stood before them, and the Sage's lecture would begin in three hundred years.
And as the first listeners to arrive, they would have the perfect place from which to hear the most precious Sage's Path since the Creation of Heaven and Earth.
Xuande sat quietly among them, his gaze resting on the tightly shut gates.