Before Doushuai Palace, Golden Horn Attendant and Silver Horn Attendant had already been waiting. When they saw Meng Qi arrive directly, surprise showed on their faces. As an Other Shore Great Figure, even if he could be everywhere at once, he should still maintain an air of lofty dignity and arrive in the Nine-Dragon Agarwood Chariot. Why come as he had in the past?
They dared not dwell on it. Their expressions complicated, they bowed and said:
"Great Lord invites the Heavenly Venerable inside."
Not long ago, they had still addressed each other as senior and junior brothers. Now he was a Heavenly Venerable. No matter how courteous they were, they could not show the slightest disrespect.
Meng Qi nodded slightly. "Thank you for your trouble, Senior Brothers."
"Yes, Heavenly Venerable." Golden Horn Attendant and Silver Horn Attendant turned and led Meng Qi inside. They passed through one palace pavilion after another and arrived at a quiet chamber furnished with an Alchemy Furnace. The flames beneath it looked ordinary, yet not the slightest heat came from them.
The white-haired, long-bearded Daoist Old Man sat cross-legged before the Alchemy Furnace, his eyes half-open and half-closed. Every so often, his head dipped, as if he were asleep.
At the sight of the Moral Heavenly Venerable, Meng Qi suddenly felt something subtle. Compared with their last meeting, his presence had grown even fainter. It was both the influence of the approaching end of the era and a kind of transcendence nearing completion.
Just then, the Moral Heavenly Venerable slowly spoke:
"What is nonaction?"
"Nonaction does not mean doing nothing. To follow Heaven's will and act in season, to take nature as one's teacher and follow the Dao—that is nonaction. One who practices nonaction has the Dao upon them and moves with the great