Right then.
Sensing his junior brother's intent, Jie Yin followed suit and started wiping away tears.
The two worked together seamlessly. Their sobs echoed through the silent hall, making many softhearted divine beings frown.
Most of the divine beings, however, watched with cold indifference.
In the Primordial World, might made right, and opportunities were seized for oneself. What use was crying and making a scene?
Yet Hong Yun, seated in the fifth place, was famed throughout the Primordial World for being a good-natured soul.
Seeing Zhun Ti weep so pitifully, he couldn't bear it and slowly rose to his feet.
"Fellow Daoists, don't grieve. Since your hearts are so sincerely devoted to seeking the Dao, I'll give this seat to you."
At his words, many powerful beings in the hall secretly shook their heads.
That Prayer Mat might hold a great opportunity. How could he give it away so casually?
Seeing this, Zhun Ti was overjoyed. He flashed forward and sat directly on the fifth Prayer Mat, offering perfunctory thanks as he went.
Next, his gaze fixed on Kunpeng, seated in the sixth place.
Zhun Ti was quick-witted. Seeing that Kunpeng was alone and had a fearsome appearance, he decided to press his advantage and seize the sixth seat for his senior brother Jie Yin as well.
He deliberately moved close to Kunpeng and gave a cold snort.
"You beast—"
Before Zhun Ti could finish his insult, a golden blur streaked across the hall.
Slap!
A sharp crack rang through the entire hall.
Tianlu's thick, powerful tail, covered in golden dragon scales, lashed across Zhun Ti's jeering face like a divine whip.
The immense force sent Zhun Ti spinning through the air eighteen times before he slammed into a stone pillar with a thunderous crash.
"Pfft!"
Zhun Ti spat out a mouthful of blood and sprawled on the floor like a stray dog.
The entire Lecture Hall fell into deathly silence.
More than two thousand Innate Divine Beings stared wide-eyed in terror at the golden figure still sprawled on his cloud.
Madness!
That Pixiu was absolutely insane!
This was the Purple Heaven Palace, a Sage's dojo!
How dare he openly beat another Innate Divine Being here?
Nuwa and Fuxi were stunned, too. They knew Tianlu was domineering, but they hadn't expected him to be this bold.
Tianlu merely flicked his tail lazily and shot a cold glance at Zhun Ti lying on the ground, saying nothing.
In truth, Tianlu knew that if he didn't lash out now, then soon there'd be the classic scene of Zhun Ti starting a fight and Yuanshi joining in.
Zhun Ti clutched his face, but didn't dare utter a word.
Tianlu's aura far surpassed his own. All he could do was pray that Hongjun would appear and give him justice.
Just as the atmosphere in the hall turned tense, a ripple suddenly spread across the raised platform at the very front, which had been empty until now.
Haotian and Yaochi bowed in unison.
"We welcome you, Master!"
The divine beings' hearts jolted. They stopped watching the spectacle and hurriedly rose to pay their respects.
"We welcome the Sage!"
An old man appeared soundlessly on the platform, clad in a dark Daoist robe and radiating the boundless pressure of a Sage.
It was Hongjun.
The moment Hongjun appeared, his gaze swept over Zhun Ti on the floor, then settled on Tianlu.
The corner of his eye twitched violently.
As the master of the Purple Heaven Palace, he naturally knew what had just happened.
By rights, anyone who fought on his turf was blatantly challenging the Sage and had to be severely punished.
But looking at Tianlu's shameless expression, as if to say, What are you going to do about it?
And sensing the dense aura of the Great Dao's favor surrounding Tianlu, Hongjun swallowed the rebuke that had risen to his lips.
Let the rascal hit him. So be it.
Hongjun drew a deep breath and silently reminded himself:
Don't pick a fight with a Child of the Great Dao. There are more important matters to attend to.
He raised a hand, and a beam of Creation light enveloped Zhun Ti, instantly healing his injuries.
"Zhun Ti, go sit down."
Hongjun spoke calmly.
Zhun Ti was afraid Tianlu might strike again, but he still slunk back to the fifth Prayer Mat.
Jie Yin had also given up on fighting for a seat. He could only sit beside Zhun Ti with a bitter expression.
As for Hong Yun, having given up his seat, he could only sit in the second row.
Hongjun's gaze swept across the hall and finally lingered on Tianlu for half a breath. Seeing that the fellow still had no intention of rising to pay his respects, he let it go.
"Take your seats. No more disputes."
"I obtained the Jade Plate of Creation and followed the will of Heaven. Today, I shall lecture on the Dao at the Purple Heaven Palace."
"There will be three lectures: the first on the Dao of Daluo, the second on the Quasi-Sage Dao, and the third on the Sage's Dao."
"Each lecture shall last thirty-six thousand five hundred years."
"Now, I shall begin the first lecture."
As his voice fell, auspicious light blazed around Hongjun. Above his head appeared a damaged Jade Disc radiating boundless, profound mysteries. It was the Fragment of the Jade Plate of Creation.
As Hongjun spoke, enormous golden runes flew from his mouth. Above the hall, they manifested all manner of auspicious visions, dragons and phoenixes bringing good fortune, Qilin presenting auspicious signs, and more.
"The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name..."
When a Sage lectured on the Dao, Golden Lotuses truly sprang from the earth, and Heavenly Flowers rained down.
The Innate Divine Beings instantly immersed themselves in the unfathomable truths of the Great Dao.
Clouds of auspicious energy, each about an acre in size, appeared above the Three Pure Ones. The Three Flowers crowned their heads, and the Five Qis returned to their origin. Their once-hazy path of cultivation became crystal clear.
The Law of Creation flowed around Nuwa. In a flash, she seemed to glimpse the birth and destruction of a world.
Yet amid this entrancing atmosphere, there was one outlier.
Tianlu.
He wasn't listening at all.
As far as he was concerned, the so-called Dao of Daluo was nowhere near as interesting as the spirit root evolving inside his Abdominal Space.
Bored out of his mind, he rolled over and lightly pawed at the air with his golden claws.
In Tianlu's eyes, the Lecture Hall was not filled with divine beings alone. Countless interwoven threads of fortune crisscrossed through it.
Each Innate Divine Being was a vast vortex of fortune.
Tianlu gave a mischievous chuckle and twitched his finger, beginning to toy with those threads.
He was thoroughly enjoying himself when he suddenly paused, keenly noticing that a faint thread of fortune hovered above each of the Three Thousand Guests of Purple Heaven.
As Hongjun lectured, with Golden Lotuses springing from the earth, those threads were silently converging on him at the high platform.
Tianlu was immediately displeased.
"Give a lecture if you want, but why secretly skim everyone's fortune?"
"How is that acceptable?!"
Tianlu snorted inwardly as the Law of Luck quietly stirred within him.
He reached out a gleaming golden claw and gave the air a sharp tug.
In an instant, an invisible power descended. The strands of fortune flowing toward Hongjun came to a halt in midair, then all retreated into the divine beings, settling back where they belonged.
On the high platform, Hongjun, immersed in his lecture, suddenly furrowed his brows.
A lecture meant to enlighten the Primordial World should have brought him a vast measure of fortune, helping him merge with the Heavenly Dao sooner.
But after lecturing for so long, he hadn't sensed any fortune gathering around him at all. It was truly strange.
Before you continue