The Purple Heaven Palace lay beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens, at the edge where Chaos met the Primordial World.
To reach the Purple Heaven Palace, one had to cross the Nine Heavens Thunder Layer and the Thirty-Three Heavens Gale, then split apart the raging chaotic energy. All kinds of illusions sprang up along the way, and the slightest wobble in one's Dao heart could lead to a backlash. Not only might one fail to reach the palace and hear the Dao, but one's Dao foundation could be damaged as well.
After overcoming all those dangers, one still had to cross the River of Time to enter the Purple Heaven Palace.
Those without great fortune, abundant blessings, immense perseverance, and divine powers would be no more than what Hongjun had called "without affinity."
In the Primordial World, years went unmarked. In the blink of an eye, three thousand years had passed.
The Purple Heaven Palace.
Those who were meant to come had arrived; those who weren't naturally couldn't. The last to arrive were Jieyin and Zhunti. After putting on a little performance, they got their wish and claimed the best cushions.
For the first time, this let the assembled great powers see just how shameless these two strangely dressed Daoists were.
But they merely sneered at them. They had no idea what the six cushions represented, so they couldn't be bothered to fight over them.
Just as Jieyin and Zhunti sat down on the cushions, the six seats fell into accord with the Heavenly Mandate, and Hongjun appeared.
The entire Purple Heaven Palace fell silent. The great powers rose to pay their respects, while secretly stealing glances at him.
He was an old Daoist with white hair. His presence, however, was ethereal and unfathomable. Though he stood right before them, the great powers felt that he was like the Heavenly Dao itself: lofty and beyond their comprehension.
"So powerful! Is this what a Sage is like?"
"Unfathomable as the sea, beyond calculation, beyond description!"
The great powers were secretly alarmed. Though Hongjun had revealed nothing of his strength, they could feel an invisible pressure just by looking at him.
Seeing their reaction, Hongjun gave a slight nod, seemingly quite pleased. His gaze passed over the front row without lingering: the Three Pure Ones, Nuwa, Jieyin, and Zhunti.
Not a single key figure was missing, which pleased him even more. Then he slowly spoke. "Good. From now on, sit in your current places in order. No changes."
As he spoke, he looked toward the back of the hall, sweeping over it like a searchlight.
Once, twice, three times...
He just kept going.
The great powers were a little bewildered. They exchanged puzzled, suspicious glances. Why did something seem off about Hongjun?
What was the Sage looking for?
He kept searching, round after round, without end.
At that moment, Hongjun himself was bewildered, his mind full of questions.
He hadn't noticed before. Now that he looked, it was startling.
Two important figures were absent. They were nowhere to be seen.
As a Sage, he had naturally comprehended part of the Heavenly Secrets. The two Golden Crows of the Sun Star, key figures in the coming Tribulation, had actually failed to show up!
He had held this lecture to absorb the fortune of the gathered great powers and speed up his union with the Dao.
The next Tribulation's protagonists hadn't come. That was a considerable loss for him.
Were they still on their way?
At the thought, Hongjun's gaze shifted as he silently began to divine their whereabouts.
"Nothing?"
He turned his gaze toward the Sun Star, piercing through every illusion until he sensed two auras.
He would have been better off not looking. The sight nearly made Hongjun laugh in exasperation.
Now he knew why those two hadn't come.
After all that, they still hadn't broken through to Daluo Golden Immortal.
They had quite a bit of self-awareness. Knowing they couldn't enter the Purple Heaven Palace, they had simply decided not to come.
"How can they be so useless?"
For the first time, Hongjun felt a little worried. At this rate, there would be no Witch-Demon War—only a one-sided massacre.
A single Ancestral Witch would be enough to hammer them into the ground.
Hongjun furrowed his brow. He had been too hasty. If he had known the two Golden Crows were so weak, he would have held the lecture later.
"Forget it. I'll keep an eye on things next time."
Thinking this to himself, Hongjun resolved to make sure the two Golden Crows attended the next lecture.
Just as the great powers were about to lose patience, Hongjun finally gathered his thoughts and began to speak.
"This time, I will lecture on the Dao of Zenith Heaven. You have three thousand years; devote yourselves to understanding it."
"Before Heaven and Earth were formed, there was something born of Chaos, born before Heaven and Earth, silent and still..."
"The Dao of Zenith Heaven: the Three Flowers gather at the crown, the Five Qi return to their origin. According to your own comprehension, perceive the rules of Heaven and Earth..."
Meanwhile.
On the Sun Star, Ling Xiao slowly opened his eyes. After three thousand years of effort, he had finally broken through to Daluo Golden Immortal, just in time for Hongjun to begin his lecture.
"I wonder what expression Hongjun made when he realized Di Jun and Tai Yi hadn't come to listen to his lecture."
Ling Xiao thought to himself, the corners of his mouth lifting in a smile.
"I've finally broken through to Daluo Golden Immortal. Now I can comprehend the Laws."
For him, this would bring a tremendous change. With treasures for comprehending the Dao like the Chaos Bead and the Jade Plate of Creation, his cultivation would likely advance even faster than it had during his Primordial Unity Golden Immortal days.
At the thought, Ling Xiao took out the Chaos Bead and the Jade Plate of Creation.
Both of these treasures contained the Great Dao's laws, so he could use them together.
Though the Jade Plate of Creation was only a fragment, the complete artifact had been a Chaos Supreme Treasure. Hongjun owed no small part of his becoming a Sage and uniting with the Dao to this treasure.
And so Ling Xiao held the Chaos Bead in one hand and a fragment of the Jade Plate of Creation in the other.
The Dao most suited to him, and easiest for him to comprehend, was naturally the Dao of Origin: the Law of Yang.
He had been born from the Sun. No living being understood the sun better than he did.
Naturally, he could comprehend its laws faster than anyone.
Besides that, there was the Law of Fire.
These two laws suited him perfectly.
Ling Xiao planned to begin with them, first raising his strength. He could slowly comprehend the other, more profound laws later.
Elsewhere.
Over the past three thousand years, Di Jun and Tai Yi had finally cultivated to Perfected Primordial Unity Golden Immortal and were attempting to break through to Daluo Golden Immortal.
The Purple Heaven Palace.
Three thousand years passed in a flash. As Hongjun's final words of the Dao faded, the great powers slowly came to their senses, still reluctant to leave.
Pleasant times always seemed short.
Before they knew it, three thousand years had passed.
Over those three thousand years, everyone had made more or less some progress. Their understanding of the Dao had deepened, and the path ahead had become crystal clear.
Among them, the Three Pure Ones, Nuwa, the Two Western Sages, Fuxi, Kunpeng, Zhenyuanzi, and the others, whose origins were powerful, had all reached at least the mid-stage of Daluo Golden Immortal, with some even reaching the late stage.
The only great power who hadn't made a breakthrough was Houtu, the Ancestral Witch. She had come merely to see whether Hongjun's lecture might help the Ancestral Witches.
Unfortunately, the Witch Clan didn't cultivate their primordial spirits, so the Dao Hongjun taught was of no use to them.
"That concludes this lecture."
Hongjun spoke calmly. Seeing that the great powers had all come to their senses, he continued.
"The next lecture will be held ten thousand years from now."
"I will lecture on the Dao of Quasi-Sage."
Hongjun left them with a deliberate mystery. As soon as he finished speaking, his figure vanished, giving no one a chance to ask questions.
By then, the great powers' hearts were already in turmoil.
The Dao of Quasi-Sage!
This was the first time they had learned that there was a Quasi-Sage between Daluo Golden Immortal and Sage.
For a moment, all the great powers were filled with anticipation.
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