The First Lecture Ends, Ancestor Witches Block the Way

Beyond these few future Saints, the sight within the entire Purple Cloud Palace was even more magnificent.

Three Thousand Red Dust Guests sat in silent meditation, their bodies and minds long since immersed in the omnipresent supreme Dao resonance.

Within the void, countless Golden Dao Patterns flowed like living things, intertwining into the tracks of the Great Dao and silently imprinting themselves deep within the Primordial Spirits of every listener.

Hongjun Dao Ancestor's Dharma voice did not sound beside their ears, but directly within their Dao Fruits, like sweet dew falling upon their hearts, like great bells and grand chimes jolting the lost awake.

Within this profound Dao Realm, formerly obscure and impenetrable barriers suddenly became clear. Their cultivation, once stalled, quietly advanced, while their understanding of the Heaven and Earth Laws grew clear at an unprecedented speed.

The gains of every instant surpassed a hundred or even a thousand years of bitter cultivation.

Immersed in the exhilaration of soaring advancement within the Dao Realm, time lost its original measure.

Upon the high platform, the final true word of the Great Dao slowly fell from Hongjun Dao Ancestor's lips. The boundless Dao resonance filling the palace receded like the tide, while the wondrous golden patterns within the void gradually vanished.

"Three thousand years have passed. Why have you not yet awakened?"

A calm call entered the depths of every cultivator's mind, reaching those still sunk within the Dao Realm.

Within the hall, the silence that had frozen for countless years was quietly broken.

As the Dao resonance faded, Donghua's eyes suddenly opened. There was not the slightest trace of confusion in them—only an incomparably sharp flash of brilliance.

Three thousand years of listening to the Dao had seeped into his Dao foundation like sweet rain. Donghua had long since sorted through every profound mystery of the Daluo Realm, rendering them seamless, complete, and crystal clear.

At this moment, the aura around Donghua's body surged in abundance, already reaching fullness. His Dao foundation was as steady as Mount Buzhou, standing tall to support Heaven and Earth; his Magic Power was as vast as ten thousand rivers returning to the sea, endlessly rushing onward.

The path of Primordial Unity had already become clear before him. All he needed was an opportunity to knock upon the heavenly gate and leap like a fish transforming into a dragon.

Almost at the exact instant Donghua's aura stabilized, Laozi, seated upon the cushion ahead, slowly opened his eyes as well.

Unlike Donghua's sudden edge, Laozi awakened like an ancient well without a ripple. Only the Dao resonance in his eyes rose and fell, unfolding the ultimate truth of effortless naturalness.

As the two awakened, the remaining figures trembled slightly, and eyes that had been shut for three thousand years opened one after another.

At first, vast visions of revolving galaxies and universes being born and extinguished still lingered in their eyes. Then dazzling brilliance flashed past and returned to profound depths.

Yet amid that clarity, there was generally a lingering trace of bewilderment and melancholy.

"Three thousand years have already ended?"

A cultivator in a moon-white Dao robe murmured to himself. He instinctively examined himself inwardly, and his Primordial Spirit—already elevated to an entirely new realm and brimming with vast Magic Power—told him beyond doubt just how immense his gains over these three thousand years had been.

Precisely because of that, the hollow sense of unfinished longing grew even stronger. "With the Great Dao before us, what are three thousand years worth regretting? I only regret that I cannot listen for another thirty thousand!"

"It was like a dream, yet it was utterly real." A female cultivator shrouded in rosy light beside him softly continued. A thread of law leaped at her fingertips, proving the reality of those three thousand years. "If only I could have comprehended a little longer just now, perhaps..."

Those unfinished words voiced the thoughts of the vast majority of cultivators present.

If three thousand years had been spent sitting in secluded cultivation within a cave abode, it would have been nothing more than the slow grinding effort of steadily tempering one's cultivation, like groping alone for the road ahead through a long night.

Yet here, blessed with the Dao Ancestor's teachings and guided by Dao Sound as their spirits wandered the great void, time seemed to fly like lightning—too swiftly for them to savor more mysteries, too swiftly for them to consolidate their already explosively increased cultivation.

Their immense gains and the brief passage of time intertwined in their hearts, becoming profound reluctance and endless aftertaste.

Yet in stark contrast to such cherishing sighs stood the Twelve Ancestor Witches at one corner of the great hall.

They cultivated no Primordial Spirit and comprehended no Heavenly Dao. The myriad wondrous methods expounded by Hongjun were, to them, no different from a heavenly book.

These three thousand years had been less a matter of listening to the Great Dao than enduring a long, agonizing session of dry sitting.

Several of the Ancestor Witches had even let their minds wander beyond the heavens, nearly drifting off into slumber.

Now that the lecture had ended, the eleven Ancestor Witches let out a breath in unspoken unison. Their brows were filled with the look of liberation, and obvious impatience already showed in their eyes.

Their gazes met, and their intentions were already perfectly understood.

They would never again come here to waste their time during the next two lectures.

Rather than sitting here as if on pins and needles, they might as well return to the lands of the Primordial Wilderness, temper their supreme fleshly bodies, and lead their tribes in conquest and expansion. That was their true path.

Upon the Cloud Bed, seeing that all Three Thousand Red Dust Guests had returned from the Dao Realm, Hongjun Dao Ancestor remained expressionless as he lowered his gaze upon the beings below.

His voice stirred no ripples, yet it disregarded the barriers of time and space, echoing clearly through every inch of the void with the majesty of Heavenly Dao, beyond all doubt:

"This lecture has concluded. One hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred years hence, I shall lecture again on the path of the Quasi-Saint."

As his words fell, before those below could react, the Saint's Dao robe gave a light sweep.

An irresistible and incomprehensible great power instantly enveloped every cultivator in the hall.

Everyone felt the space-time around them suddenly twist and shift. The scene before their eyes blurred at once, and the myriad Dao resonances and golden patterns within Purple Cloud Palace all receded into the distance. Not one of them could offer the slightest resistance before they were all sent outside the palace.

Once the dizziness from the spatial shift subsided, they fixed their eyes ahead—where was there any trace of Purple Cloud Palace?

Only boundless Chaos qi churned endlessly around them, enveloping everyone within it.

At that very moment, the two Golden Crows who had arrived as blazing great suns, crossing the void in splendor for tens of thousands of zhang, now withdrew every last trace of their radiance. With their wings lowered, they blended into the edge of the dispersing crowd and silently slipped into the depths of Chaos.

"Hmph. Those two Golden Crows do know how to read the times."

Donghua and Taizhen walked side by side, taking in the scene of departure.

Taizhen, however, remained calm upon hearing this. Dao resonance still flowed in her eyes, showing that she remained immersed in the baptism of the Great Dao from earlier.

"A Saint's lecture truly contains inexhaustible profundities." Taizhen spoke softly, her tone thoughtful. "The path of the Quasi-Saint to be taught in the next lecture must surely be the supreme method beyond Daluo."

As she spoke, Taizhen's eyes were limpid and clear, Dao resonance flowing within them as heartfelt reverence showed through.

"Senior Hongjun carved open the path ahead, imparted the Dao to our generation, and bestowed his grace upon the Primordial Wilderness. Such merit has never existed since heaven and earth were first opened."

Donghua nodded slightly, just about to respond!

Suddenly, a savage, tyrannical aura crashed down. Like Buzhou Mountain collapsing, it forcibly cut off the path before them!

Several towering figures had already blocked the way, Sha Qi churning around them. They were several Ancestor Witches led by Dijiang.

Faced with the Ancestor Witches' overbearing obstruction, Donghua's gaze sharpened. He stepped half a pace forward, subtly shielding Taizhen behind him.

His expression remained calm, yet his voice rang clear as a sword's cry, piercing through the surging Chaos Qi and reaching every Ancestor Witch's ears distinctly:

"May I ask why you Ancestor Witches have suddenly blocked our path?"