Taiyin Star Core Ripples

Deep within the core of the Taiyin Star, the eternal, frozen silence was utterly shattered.

Wangshu, the ancient goddess who had embodied the Taiyin since the beginning of creation and wielded the laws of ultimate yin, slowly "opened" her eyes, formed from pure moonlight, from her slumber. Her gaze was no longer filled with unchanging stillness, but rippled with subtle yet real waves—astonishment, anger, and a hint of bewilderment at being forcibly dragged from eternal sleep.

That "Miss Wangshu"... that flippant, lazy tone... that rude signal, forcefully intruding and mixed with countless chaotic laws...

For countless eons, who had dared to profane the sacred land of Taiyin like this? Even the Demon Ancestor Luohu, with his boundless malevolence, had never cast his gaze upon this place of extreme yin. Yet now, someone had "called" her directly to her bedside in such a... childish manner?

She attempted to deduce heavenly secrets and trace the origin. However, the heavenly secrets were a chaotic mess, shrouded by a vast, lazy, yet supremely authoritative power of the Heavenly Dao, making it impossible to discern clearly. She could only vaguely sense that the source of the signal seemed closely related to the Heavenly Dao, and... it was intertwined with the auras of her two disciples, Xi He and Chang Xi!

Xi He, Chang Xi... weren't they serving in the Heavenly Court, managing the operations of the sun and Taiyin star radiance? Why would they become entangled with such an existence? That voice called herself "Dao Ancestor"? Had Hongjun become so... undignified?

Questions swirled like undercurrents beneath the ice, surging in the lake of her heart, which had been still for so long. She tried to close her mind again, to return to the eternal silence, only to find... she couldn't.

That "Hello, hello," like a tiny ice shard, pierced her flawless ice heart, leaving a minuscule yet unignorable hole through which the "noise" and "variables" from the outside world were seeping in.

She floated silently in the moonlight, her cold gaze seeming to pierce through the endless void, looking towards the Primordial Era land, towards the direction of the source that she sensed was subtly changing her disciples' auras.

A completely unfamiliar emotion, named "worry," quietly began to grow.

Meanwhile, in the Purple Heaven Palace, Xiao Kuang, completely unaware of the minor storm he had caused in the Taiyin Star's core, was sighing dejectedly at a pile of smoking parts.

"Junk! These knock-offs just don't cut it!" He kicked the wreckage of the communicator, clearly displeased. "Looks like I need to get some proper materials... Next time, I'll 'borrow' some good stuff from the Demon Race's Heavenly Court or Kunlun Mountain!"

His gaze then shifted, with ill intent, towards the Demon Race and Kunlun Mountain.

Beside him, Xi He and Chang Xi were restless and uneasy.

Although they couldn't precisely sense their master's state, their connection as master and disciples allowed them to feel the subtle resonance of the Taiyin's origin. They had clearly detected the slight disturbance in the Taiyin star's power and the faint fluctuation in their master's aura just moments ago!

Master... had truly been alerted!

And it seemed... not entirely out of anger?

This uncertainty made them even more anxious.

"Sister..." Chang Xi couldn't help but transmit her thoughts to Xi He, her voice laced with panic. "Master... will she really come looking for us? What... what should we do?"

Xi He's expression was grave, and she forced herself to remain calm. "Do not panic. Master has been dormant in the Star Core for countless eons; she will not easily appear. Even if... even if she does come, we will act according to the situation. Regardless, we must not let Master be humiliated!"

She subconsciously tightened her grip on the three strands of Primordial Violet Qi hidden in her sleeve, feeling that they were becoming increasingly hot to the touch. Perhaps... she could use these to prove to Master that their staying here wasn't entirely about humiliation, but also about opportunity?

But would Master, with her cold disposition, approve of such an "opportunity"? Would she think they had fallen?

These conflicting thoughts tormented them.

The other "residents" in the hall also sensed the subtle changes.

Dragon Girl Ao Qingxin carefully smoothed the leaves of the nourishing spirit grass. She could feel that the origin within the Water Spirit Pearl seemed more lively, as if cleansed by the chaotic fluctuations of laws just now. Phoenix Girl Feng Wanxia's Southern Bright Lihuo flickered, its color seeming purer. The range of spiritual light emanating from the ground beneath Kirin Girl Qi Yao's feet had unintentionally expanded slightly.

Even the dragons, phoenixes, and kirins in the backyard zoo seemed much quieter, their eyes more intelligent, as if the recent fluctuations had greatly benefited them.

The entire Purple Heaven Palace seemed to have undergone an invisible "tempering." Although the source was someone's reckless meddling, the outcome seemed... mostly positive?

Heavenly Dao (silently recording): ...Detected a 3.7% increase in law activity within the palace... Slight increase in the affinity of life's origins... Root cause: Law overflow caused by the Proxy's illegal experiment... Conclusion: Incomprehensible... Continue observation...

After complaining, Xiao Kuang turned his attention back to "important matters"—"preparing lessons" for the second lecture.

He frowned as he flipped through the "Quasi-Saint Training Manual" that the Heavenly Dao had shoved at him, which was as inscrutable as a heavenly book. He muttered incessantly, "Cutting the Three Corpses... how do you cut them? Like slicing a cucumber? What brand of knife do you need?" "Achieving Sainthood through Merit... how much Merit do I need to accumulate? Is one 'Immortal Gathering Bonus' enough?" "Proving Dao by Strength... this one sounds the most tiring, skip it directly!"

He felt dizzy and overwhelmed. Finally, he tossed the manual aside and resigned himself to fate, saying, "Forget it! I'll just read it as is! If they want to listen, they can listen! If they don't understand, it's their own fault! I'll just recite it; whether they comprehend it depends on their own fortune!"

With his mind made up, he instantly felt relaxed. He happily hummed a little tune and began to ponder whether to have roasted Kirin leg (the animals in the zoo trembled in fear) or dragon and phoenix soup (Ao Qingxin and Feng Wanxia felt a chill down their spines) for dinner.

Watching him in this state, the people in the hall felt even more complicated emotions.

On one hand, they had benefited from the environment of the Purple Heaven Palace, and their cultivation had advanced. On the other hand, their futures seemed to hinge on this extremely unreliable Dao Ancestor. And now, it might even involve their master, Wangshu...

Beneath the calm surface of the Purple Heaven Palace, undercurrents were silently surging. Everyone seemed to be waiting for something: perhaps a lecture destined to be absurd, or the arrival of an ancient deity, or... the next even more outrageous accident.

And at the center of the entire vortex, the slacker simply patted his belly and sighed, "Sigh, preparing lessons really consumes energy, I'm starving... Extra meal tonight!"