Preparing to Return to the Great Wilderness, Concealing the Azure Emperor's Aura

Within the Chaos Ancient Forest, emerald-green radiance surged like ocean tides.

Xuandu stood atop an ancient tree branch, his green-clad robes fluttering lightly as he half-closed his eyes and sank his consciousness deep into his Purple Mansion.

The Golden Scale Clan, the three ancient beast spirit roots at the Hunyuan Taiji Early-Stage, and that ancient existence at the Hunyuan Taiji Mid-Stage.

Six deep, abyssal streams of feedback power floated quietly upon the gray-white light screen.

With a thought from Xuandu, he began refining them.

Dark gold, ink black, emerald green, gray-white.

Lights of every color intertwined and flowed within his Purple Mansion, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea as they poured into the depths of his origin.

The bottleneck of the Hunyuan Taiji Late-Stage shook violently under the impact of those six deep, abyssal streams of feedback power.

Cracks emerged one after another.

His cultivation was rising.

His innate foundation was rising.

Even his Divine Soul perception was rising.

Yet Xuandu's expression darkened slightly.

Because he had sensed it.

The Great Dao that had accompanied his entire path of cultivation—the Martial Dao Great Dao—had not risen in tandem.

It was like an endlessly rushing river suddenly entering a dry season.

The riverbed remained, but the water had dwindled.

Xuandu slowly opened his eyes, and within those Eyes Calm as an Ancient Well flashed an exceedingly faint trace of gravity.

Though he was now at the Hunyuan Taiji Late-Stage, only a thread away from the peak, without completing his Martial Dao Foundation, that final thread would forever remain a castle in the air.

The Azure Emperor stood on a branch not far from him, and his dark-green eyes flickered slightly.

He had sensed the subtle change in Xuandu's aura.

"What is it?" the Azure Emperor asked, his voice low.