Laozi Was Stunned and Chased Him to Golden Ao Island!

At the summit of Shouyang Mountain, in Tushita Palace.

Clouds and mist swirled, while Daoist resonance filled the air.

Grand Pure Sage Laozi sat quietly on his meditation cushion, his aura in harmony with the Heavenly Dao, embodying effortless naturalness.

He slowly opened his eyes.

A trace of faint surprise and confusion flickered in those eyes, which had seen through the vicissitudes of countless ages.

His thoughts stirred, and the Heavenly Secret revealed itself.

"He left?"

Laozi murmured softly. His Dao Heart, usually as still as an ancient well, rippled faintly.

He had long since divined that the young Human Race man named Xuandu at the foot of the mountain was bound to him by a master-disciple connection.

The young man was resolute in nature, and had been kneeling there to seek a master for ten years.

Laozi had planned to temper his nature for several more decades. Once the young man's rough jade had been polished, he would take him as a disciple and pass on the Great Dao to him.

It would be a good opportunity to temper Xuandu's nature.

But why...

After only ten years, the young man had actually left?

That made no sense.

Even more astonishing to Laozi was that Xuandu was clearly nothing more than an ordinary Mortal with no cultivation. Why, then, had he vanished from the area around Shouyang Mountain in an instant, as far as Laozi could sense?

His aura was gone, and even their Karma had grown indistinct.

It was as if an invisible hand had erased him from existence.

Something about this was suspicious.

Laozi's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

He sank his mind into the Heavenly Dao and divined Xuandu's whereabouts.

Yet the Heavenly Secret was like a flower seen through fog, a blur of Chaos.

An External Force had interfered, obscuring part of the young man's fate.

"Interesting."

Laozi lifted his gaze slightly and looked beyond the palace toward the boundless Great Wilderness.

If so, he would see for himself.

The next instant.

An immense and boundless Spiritual Sense silently surged out from the summit of Shouyang Mountain.

In an instant, it covered the entirety of the Great Wilderness Heaven and Earth.

This Spiritual Sense did not deliberately exert pressure, yet it carried the indifference and majesty unique to a Heavenly Dao Sage, who stood above all things.

"Please calm your anger, Sage!"

Across the Great Wilderness Land, all living beings, no matter their level of cultivation, felt fear well up within them.

Countless cultivators jolted awake from seclusion, drenched in cold sweat.

Restrictions flared at the abodes of mighty beings, only to quietly fade the instant that Spiritual Sense touched them. None dared to offend it in the slightest.

In the mountains and forests, Demon Beasts cowered on the ground, trembling.

In the rivers, aquatic creatures plunged into the depths, not daring to surface.

Countless living beings faced the source of that Spiritual Sense and knelt in terror. They had no idea why the Sage had stirred, and feared disaster was about to befall them.

A Sage's heart was unfathomable; a single thought could decide whether all living beings lived or died.

This sudden sweep of Spiritual Sense plunged the entire Great Wilderness into brief silence and terror.

Laozi's Spiritual Sense swept indifferently over boundless mountains and rivers, over battlefields where the Wu and Demon races clashed, and over the cave abodes of mighty beings in secluded cultivation.

Without sorrow or joy, without thought or desire.

At last.

His Spiritual Sense reached the East Sea.

It passed through the vast waves and crossed an innate maze formation.

Golden Ao Island, hidden deep in the East Sea, unfolded before him like a painting.

Mountains rose and fell across the island, spiritual energy soared into the sky, palaces stood in great numbers, and Myriad Immortals had gathered.

What a thriving scene, with Myriad Immortals Come to Court!

Laozi's Spiritual Sense swept across the island.

Then it stopped beside an inconspicuous reef on the shore.

There stood a young man who had just regained his balance, his face still full of bewilderment and delight. Who else could it be but Xuandu?

At this sight, Laozi's placid face finally showed a clear reaction for the first time.

It was genuine astonishment.

"Golden Ao Island?"

Xuandu, a mere Mortal, had actually appeared on Golden Ao Island in the East Sea, hundreds of millions of miles away!

Such a method was no ordinary feat.

In the blink of an eye, he had crossed boundless space and evaded some of the perception Laozi had laid out earlier.

That was certainly beyond Xuandu's own ability.

Then...

Laozi's gaze seemed to pierce endless space and fall upon the magnificent Golden Ao Island.

Was it Tongtian?

Had he used his great magical power to teleport Xuandu there?

Was he trying to take the young man as his disciple first?

As soon as the thought arose, a trace of displeasure stirred in Laozi's heart.

Though the Three Pure Ones had split up and established their own traditions, they had ultimately come from the same source.

Tongtian had overstepped with this action.

Xuandu was bound to him by a master-disciple connection. That was Heaven's Decree. How could Tongtian not know?

What did he mean by acting this way?

Competing for disciples was no way to honor the bond between the Three Pure Ones.

Besides, the Human Sect had only just been established, and its fortune was tied to the Human Race. As a member of the Human Race, Xuandu ought to join the Human Sect.

With Myriad Immortals gathered beneath Tongtian, why did he need to fight Laozi for this one disciple?

Effortlessness did not mean a lack of resolve.

This concerned his lineage and his dignity. Laozi could not simply stand by.

He slowly rose from his meditation cushion.

His aura remained calm, but his gaze was as deep as an abyss.

If so, he would have to make the journey himself.

Laozi took a step forward.

In the next instant, he vanished from Tushita Palace.

Without a sound or trace, as if he had never existed.

Only the empty palace remained, along with the faint Daoist resonance that lingered in the air.

At the same time.

Outside Golden Ao Island, in the East Sea.

Xuandu felt the world spin as the scenery around him changed.

The moment he opened his eyes, the sight before him left him speechless with shock.

Before him lay a colossal island beyond the power of words to describe.

Myriad Immortal Lights blazed, and Thousand Auspicious Qi streamed through the air.

Through the swirling clouds and mist, he could make out jade towers and palaces, celestial halls and shell-encrusted pavilions.

Exotic flowers and rare herbs carpeted the land, while spirit beasts and Immortal Birds soared through the air.

Auras of all strengths, each brimming with vitality and fierce determination, rose from the island and intertwined into a vast field of life.

And there was the Sword Qi that surged into the sky, sharp and unstoppable, as if it would cleave open the firmament. It carried a resolute, unrestrained spirit, determined to Seize a Thread of Life.

"Golden Ao Island... This is Golden Ao Island!"

At the sight, Xuandu's heart filled with wild joy.

He had done it!

The Teleportation Talisman had really sent him outside the Interception Sect's stronghold!

From Shouyang Mountain to Golden Ao Island, the journey crossed half the Great Wilderness. For a Mortal like him, it should have been an insurmountable chasm, impossible to cross in a lifetime.

But now, thanks to the spirit talisman granted by the system, he had arrived in a single step!

He gazed at the magnificent Immortal Island, his eyes brimming with excitement and longing.

This was where his rise would begin!

This was the Interception Sect, where Myriad Immortals Come to Court!

As long as he successfully joined, the [Total Sum System] would instantly grant him an unimaginably powerful Cultivation Feedback!

The Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, the Killing Tribulation looming over him—before absolute strength, he could break through it all with a single sword strike!

Safety? The Human Sect was safe, but it was the safety of a stagnant pool, the safety of becoming utterly ordinary.

What he wanted was the safety of controlling his own fate—and even the fates of others!

It was the sense of security that came from absolute strength!

Xuandu took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

His top priority was to find a way onto Golden Ao Island and join the Interception Sect.

Sect Leader Tongtian taught without discrimination. As long as he was sincere, or had the right fate, he might have a chance.

He straightened his clothes, slightly rumpled by the teleportation, and looked resolutely toward the path leading to the Immortal Island.

Hope was right before him.

He took a step forward.

But just then.

An indescribable pressure descended without warning.

The sky seemed to sink all at once.

The wind stopped, and the waves fell still.

Even the faint Immortal music drifting from the island seemed to freeze in an instant.

An old man appeared soundlessly a short distance in front of him.

The old man wore a plain Daoist robe and had a timeworn face. His figure seemed ordinary, yet he appeared to merge with the whole world.

He stood there, and he was the manifestation of the Dao, the source of the rules.

He merely stood there calmly, making no move and releasing no aura.

It was none other than Grand Pure Sage Laozi!