Xuandu bowed slightly, his voice calm.
"Many thanks, Dao Ancestor, for sparing your disciple the trouble of making the journey."
Hongjun stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze indifferent. He said nothing.
Yet deep beneath that indifference, a hint of complexity flickered.
This kid had even calculated this step.
He had just said he would go to the Four Sages' Daoist grounds to settle accounts, but that had only been to force Hongjun to take a stand.
To force him to hand over the Four Sages.
And Hongjun had no choice.
Because the Sky Mending Item was in Xuandu's hands.
Inside the Purple Heaven Palace.
Laozi abruptly looked up at That Green Clad Figure outside the palace gates, his pupils contracting!
The gates had opened!
The gates of the Purple Heaven Palace had opened!
The palace gates that had remained shut ever since World Creation were now slowly opening before Xuandu!
What did this mean?
It meant the Dao Ancestor had allowed Xuandu to enter!
It meant the Dao Ancestor acknowledged Xuandu's qualifications!
It meant the Dao Ancestor had taken a stance.
He was on Xuandu's side!
"No!"
Laozi growled, his voice hoarse, and sprang to his feet!
But in the next instant,
an invisible pressure quietly descended from beyond the palace gates.
It was faint—so faint that it would have been impossible to sense unless one deliberately looked for it.
Yet wherever that pressure passed, the Purple Purity Dao Light around Laozi abruptly seized up!
His body shuddered violently, his legs gave way, and he collapsed back onto his cushion!
"Teacher."
Laozi looked up at the Grey Clad Figure outside the palace gates, his eyes filled with horrified disbelief!
Hongjun did not turn around.
He merely stood with his hands behind his back before the palace gates,