Zhun Ti Fights for a Seat, Styx Speaks Up

"Hey!"

Zhun Ti shouted at Kunpeng.

"What right does a damp-born, egg-hatched, flat-feathered beast like you have to sit here? Get down at once, lest you incur the Sage's displeasure!"

Kunpeng was about to fly into a rage when Yuanshi spoke up as well.

"Exactly! We Three Pure Ones are Pangu's true lineage—how can a flat-feathered beast like you sit in the same row as us!"

Yuanshi had always disliked the Demon Race. Even though Kunpeng was also a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, it made no difference.

As soon as Yuanshi said this, Laozi and Tongtian both frowned, feeling that it was somewhat inappropriate.

This matter had nothing to do with them to begin with, but once Yuanshi spoke, they were dragged into it simply because the Three Pure Ones were one.

Kunpeng glared furiously at Yuanshi.

What does this have to do with you, Yuanshi? Are you trying to have a bout with me?

Kunpeng roared inwardly.

Yet he did not dare voice those words—he did not have the capital to offend all Three Pure Ones at once.

Nüwa, too, was somewhat displeased by Yuanshi's words.

She was also one of the flat-feathered beasts Yuanshi spoke of, so naturally she felt the barb had struck her as well.

But likewise—

she did not dare offend the Three Pure Ones. She could only pretend she had heard nothing, close her eyes, and compose herself.

The many members of the Demon Race who had not obtained seats on the cushions were also filled with all manner of thoughts. The looks they gave Yuanshi and Zhun Ti became subtly strange.

Yet Yuanshi and Zhun Ti did not care in the slightest.

Yuanshi was confident.

The Three Pure Ones were one. Even if someone was dissatisfied with him, who would dare say it aloud?

Zhun Ti simply did not care.

His reputation was rotten already, so what did it matter if it rotted a little more?

Zhun Ti stared fixedly at Kunpeng.

Kunpeng intended to stall. In his view, once the Sage emerged, he would surely stop Zhun Ti's unreasonable troublemaking.

But the Sage did not appear for a long time.

Everyone's attention was focused on him and Zhun Ti.

Zhun Ti had no shame, but he did.

He was, after all, the Lord of North Sea, a renowned figure among the Demon Race.

Yet being driven from his cushion by Zhun Ti and Yuanshi left him unwilling to accept it.

Just as everyone was wisely keeping to themselves, unwilling to interfere in this matter, someone no one had expected spoke up.

"Clap, clap, clap!"

Styx clapped twice and said aloud, "What a splendid show!"

Everyone froze, unable to understand why Styx had spoken up at this moment.

Zhun Ti was the first to react, and anger immediately rose within him.

Wasn't Styx's meaning clearly that he saw him as some stage performer?

Kunpeng was the next to understand.

Whatever Styx's purpose in speaking, everyone's attention had shifted to Styx and Zhun Ti.

Just as he let out a breath of relief, he caught sight of Jie Yin's gaze still resting on him from the corner of his eye.

His heart skipped.

On the other side, fury instantly appeared on Zhun Ti's face.

"Styx, Kunpeng and I are disputing here. What does this have to do with you?"

Zhun Ti was right.

This matter indeed had little to do with Styx.

Why was Styx interfering?

Simply because Jie Yin and Zhun Ti were far too repulsive.

After attaining sainthood, they acted like petty men drunk on success. Nearly every great power in the Primordial Wilderness had been fleeced by the two of them.

In the Primordial Wilderness legends of his previous life, even Styx's original self, who had hidden away in the Blood Sea and never emerged, had many members of his Asura Race forcibly converted and taken away by Jie Yin and Zhun Ti.

Rather than wait until Jie Yin and Zhun Ti attained sainthood before suppressing them, Styx preferred to directly find a way to stir things up so thoroughly that they could not attain sainthood at all!

What was more, Jie Yin and Zhun Ti would never be satisfied with just one cushion.

If they truly drove Kunpeng down, then he would absolutely be their next target.

Rather than invite trouble, it was better to protect Kunpeng's futon.

"It has nothing to do with that."

Styx answered honestly.

"It is simply that I truly cannot stand the way you are making such a racket in Purple Cloud Palace. This is a Sage's sacred ground. All fellow Daoists have come to hear the Dao, yet you, Zhun Ti, are putting on such a display over an illusory futon for listening to teachings. If the Sage saw this, he would surely be displeased. Perhaps the reason the Sage has not emerged after so long is precisely because of your fault, Zhun Ti!"

The moment those words fell, an uproar rose within Purple Cloud Palace.

After all, everyone had come to hear the Dao.

If the Sage was truly refusing to emerge because Zhun Ti was targeting Kunpeng, then everyone's time was being wasted.

Though time was not worth much in the Primordial Wilderness, no one's time was blown in on the wind.

Rather than waste time watching a show here, more people would rather enter seclusion and seek enlightenment.

The moment Jie Yin heard Styx say this, he knew things were bad.

Sure enough, many people immediately fixed the two of them with unfriendly looks.

Jie Yin hurriedly spoke.

"Styx, do not spout nonsense. The Sage must have his own reasons for not emerging at this time! You dare recklessly speculate on the Sage's thoughts here—what crime should that be?"

Styx gave Jie Yin a disdainful smile and said slowly, "The Sage previously set the date for the teachings at ten thousand years from then. Before you two brothers arrived, the Sage's attendant had already been preparing to close the gates of Purple Cloud Palace so the Sage could begin expounding the Great Dao. Not only did you brothers arrive late, but the Sage, in his great mercy, still permitted you to enter the hall and hear the Dao. Yet the two of you are still making a racket in Purple Cloud Palace, fighting over futons. If I were the Sage, I would have slapped you two to death long ago!"

Styx understood this very clearly.

At the final moment of the Dao-Devil War, Rahula's self-destruction had directly blown apart all the spiritual veins of the Western Lands.

This caused both Hongjun and Rahula to bear heaven-shaking karmic debt.

Although Rahula, the mastermind, bore the greater share, Hongjun, as a participant, also had to shoulder part of it.

Thus, Hongjun intended to grant Jie Yin and Zhun Ti the positions of two Sages, thereby settling this karma.

And as far as the Heavenly Dao was concerned, what it needed was six Sages. Whether those six were the Three Pure Ones or others, the Heavenly Dao did not care in the slightest.

For the positions of Heavenly Dao Sage were, in themselves, a sliver of life the Heavenly Dao had released for all beings of the Primordial Wilderness.

As for Hongjun using the positions of Heavenly Dao Sage to repay his own karma, the Heavenly Dao cared even less.

After all, the Heavenly Dao could not possibly keep watch over such trivial matters at every moment.

Hongjun's reason for not emerging at this time was that he hoped Jie Yin and Zhun Ti could seize two futons.

Otherwise, how could he speak of repaying the karma he owed the Western Lands?

But neither Jie Yin and Zhun Ti nor the other great powers of the Primordial Wilderness knew any of this.

Originally, no one thought much of Zhun Ti fighting for a seat in Purple Cloud Palace.

They merely treated it as entertainment.

But once Styx spoke those words, the more everyone listened, the more reasonable they found them.

Thus, the looks they gave Jie Yin and Zhun Ti grew increasingly hostile.

Among them, Kunpeng's reaction was the fiercest.

As one of the top great powers of the Primordial Wilderness, Kunpeng's reputation might not have been very pleasant either, but he was certainly no fool.

Jie Yin and Zhun Ti now stood against him, while Styx stood against Jie Yin and Zhun Ti.

By that logic, he and Styx were on the same side!

So he, too, shouted, "Fellow Daoist Styx speaks reasonably! We all came to Purple Cloud Palace to hear the Dao! The two of you are delaying matters like this and holding up all our fellow Daoists from hearing the Dao. Can the two of you bear the consequences?"

Styx and Kunpeng then seemed to be performing a comic routine, each taking a line in turn.

Every sentence sounded as though they were considering the great powers present, dragging everyone directly into the matter.

They rebuked even the silver-tongued Zhun Ti until he did not dare say another word.

Jie Yin sighed. In the end, he could only pull the still-indignant Zhun Ti to sit at the very back.

If they continued arguing, the two martial brothers might not even make it back to the Western Lands.

Everyone wanted to add a few more cutting remarks, but before they could speak, they felt a gentle force ripple outward.

Their expressions turned solemn, and they sat upright in their respective places.