Hongjun Becomes a Saint, Teaches the Dao at Purple Cloud Palace

Once the lotus had fully bloomed, a youth who looked no more than sixteen or seventeen appeared. His brows and eyes were upright and clear, and his gaze held the limpid purity unique to newborn innate beings. A white Daoist robe naturally formed around him, faint lotus patterns tracing its cuffs. Purifying light was drawn inward around him, concealing its edge.

As Xuan Heng successfully took form, the Twelve-Rank World-Purifying White Lotus turned into a streak of light and entered his brow. It had actually taken the initiative to acknowledge him as its master.

Xuan Heng lowered his head to examine himself. He tested his hands—they could move—and his legs were not bad either. Within the white lotus, he had always existed as a Dao embryo without hands or feet. Now that he suddenly possessed sensation, he was still somewhat unaccustomed to it.

Xuan Heng raised his head and looked toward the side of the lotus pool.

Taiqing watched him with a gentle expression. Although Yuanshi's face remained stern, the trace of gravity between his brows had already faded.

"At last, you're out. But the moment you took form, a top-grade innate spiritual treasure acknowledged you as its master. Little brother, your fortune truly runs deep."

Seeing this, Tongtian spoke with a cheerful laugh.

"Xuan Heng pays respects to his three elder brothers." Xuan Heng slowly stepped down from the lotus platform. Though his limbs were still somewhat stiff, he nevertheless bowed to the Three Pure Ones, who had cared for him for who knew how many epochs.

"Hehe, you have only just taken form, and your origin has yet to stabilize. There is no need for such courtesy." Taiqing chuckled and sent out a strand of Taiqing immortal light, gently supporting Xuan Heng.

Looking at the three before him, Xuan Heng's heart gradually settled. Though the Primordial World was dangerous and his future burdensome, at least at this moment, these three were truly his elder brothers.

"Now that you have taken form, your words and conduct can no longer be like those of an ignorant Dao embryo. You were born in Kunlun Mountain and inherited Father God's clear qi. You must understand your own foundation and be cautious of karma." Yuanshi watched Xuan Heng's movements, nodded slightly, and spoke slowly.

"Xuan Heng will remember." Xuan Heng nodded and accepted the instruction.

"Second Brother, Little Brother has only just entered the world, and you're already lecturing him in that tone." Tongtian could not help speaking after hearing Yuanshi's words.

"That is still far better than having no one to guide him later, allowing him to become tainted by karma for no reason." Yuanshi glanced at Tongtian as he spoke.

"Enough. Little Brother has only just entered the world, and you two are already like this. Xuan Heng, since you have only just taken form, you should first stabilize your origin."

As he spoke, Taiqing sent another strand of Taiqing immortal light into Xuan Heng's brow. Once the gentle Taiqing immortal light entered Xuan Heng's origin, it merged seamlessly with it.

Xuan Heng only felt some of the chaos in his mind disperse, leaving his entire being much clearer.

"Thank you, Eldest Brother." Xuan Heng immediately cupped his hands in salute.

Yet before Xuan Heng could relax, the sky suddenly changed.

Beyond Kunlun Mountain, the heavens abruptly darkened. Above the western firmament, four streams of sword light pressed across heaven and earth as the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation fully unfolded.

In that instant, every living being in the Primordial World felt a chill run down their spine. The four swords—Immortal-Slaying, Immortal-Butchering, Immortal-Trapping, and Immortal-Ending—stood suspended within the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.

Each sword guarded a gate. Their killing intent was like an ocean, while demonic qi churned within the formation. Luo Hou stood in its midst, a black lotus rising and falling beneath his feet, the edge of the Godslaying Spear in his hand flickering with deadly brilliance.

Hongjun stood outside the formation. Behind him, an auspicious cloud unfurled, fragments of the Creation Jade Disc appearing as countless laws intertwined into light.

Xuan Heng could not see the full scope of this battle, but he could feel heaven and earth trembling, could feel boundless tribulation qi surging.

Whenever sword light fell, the western land split open for tens of thousands of miles.

Whenever Dao light rose, the demonic qi was forced back another fraction.

The boundless Sha Qi accumulated from the killing tribulation of the dragon, phoenix, and qilin clans was all drawn into the formation by Luo Hou. The Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation grew fiercer with every clash, as though it intended to drag the entire Primordial World onto the path of slaughter.

Tongtian gazed westward, the sword intent in his eyes growing ever brighter.

"What a powerful sword formation."

Yuanshi said in a deep voice, "That is the pinnacle of the killing path. Do not allow it to stir your mind."

Taiqing shook his head and suddenly said, "This formation is absolutely not something one person can break."

As though confirming his words, several more powerful auras rose from the western horizon.

Patriarch Qiankun, Patriarch Yin-Yang, and other great powers of the Primordial World entered the formation to lend their aid.

Sword light surged, and demonic qi billowed to the heavens.

What followed was a slaughter that stretched on so long it suffocated the heart.

No one knew how much time passed before an earth-shattering roar suddenly rang out from the west.

The Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation had broken.

Four streams of sword light shot into the sky, each crying out mournfully. At the same time, the auras of Patriarch Qiankun, Patriarch Yin-Yang, and the others vanished as well. In the end, these powerful figures had failed to walk out of the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation alive.

Yet Luo Hou's laughter did not fade. Instead, it became even more frenzied.

"Hongjun, you cannot win."

"Though I am defeated today, the demonic path will not perish."

As his words fell, the spiritual veins deep beneath the western lands suddenly ruptured.

Boundless demonic qi poured downward in reverse. Across the west of the Primordial World, vast stretches of sacred mountains and blessed lands withered in an instant. The earth veins shattered, and spiritual vitality was cut off.

Xuan Heng's expression changed slightly. The scene before him was precisely Luo Hou's final act before his downfall—detonating the western spiritual veins. From then on, the west would become barren, planting countless karmic causes for the future Western Sect.

The next moment, a vast demonic howl resounded throughout the Primordial World.

"When the Dao rises one foot, demons rise ten! So long as sentient beings possess greed, anger, delusion, resentment, hatred, and fear, demons shall never perish!"

As Luo Hou's voice fell, his aura completely dissipated. The demonic clouds over the western world shattered, and the four Immortal-Slaying swords, the Godslaying Spear, and the Twelve-Rank World-Destroying Black Lotus all vanished without a trace.

Yet the demonic echo Luo Hou left behind did not dissipate. It transformed into an invisible wisp and merged into the thoughts of all beings in the Primordial World.

From that day onward, demons no longer ruled heaven and earth in the form of a clan, a sect, or a patriarch. Yet they would forever lurk behind the Dao hearts of all living beings.

When greed arose, demons were born. When killing intent stirred, demons arrived.

Heaven and earth lay silent for a long while. Then, above the shattered western sky, Hongjun slowly closed his eyes.

The Creation Jade Disc rose above his head. The once incomplete jade disc resonated with the Great Dao of heaven and earth at this moment. Countless Dao patterns emerged from every corner of the primordial world, as though the entire world were lowering invisible threads of law toward him.

Taiji yin and yang revolved.

The Five Elements' generation and restraint returned to their places.

Ripples spread across the river of time.

Karma, fate, creation, destruction, life and death, reincarnation—one Great Dao after another manifested behind Hongjun.

He did not speak, yet all living beings of the primordial world seemed to hear the Great Dao rumbling at once.

Xuan Heng only felt a stabbing pain between his brows.

He instinctively closed his eyes, yet he could still feel that boundless pressure.

Xuan Heng's heart sank. He knew that Hongjun was about to attain the Primordial Saint.

Above the western firmament, Hongjun's aura gradually vanished. Yet this was not death—he had simply become so powerful that he merged with heaven and earth.

Heavenly flowers drifted down from the Ninth Heavens, while endless golden lotuses surged from the earth. Purple qi stretched across the primordial world for countless trillions of miles.

The shattered western earth veins were temporarily suppressed by an invisible Dao aura. The surging demonic qi slowly sank into the ground, no longer spreading outward.

Countless living beings fell to their knees at that moment.

Some knelt in awe.

Some knelt because they could not withstand the Saint's might.

Others, in the instant the Great Dao manifested, felt an unprecedented longing rise within their hearts. So there was, after all, such a realm beyond innate sacred beings.

Hongjun opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping across the entire primordial world.

"I am Hongjun."

"Today, I have quelled the calamity of Dao and Demon and attained the Dao Fruit of the Primordial Saint."

"Yet the cultivation of the primordial world's living beings is without order, and slaughter calamities arise time and again. I have perceived the Great Dao of heaven and earth; I shall therefore teach the Dao to the primordial world and establish the proper path of cultivation."

"In three thousand years, I shall expound the Great Dao within Purple Cloud Palace in the Chaos."

"All those fated may come and hear the Dao."