"We were blinded."
Sect Master Tongtian spoke impassively.
"If some means of influencing our minds had already been planted in us before, we naturally wouldn't think to question it."
Taiqing Laozi nodded slowly.
"So what we need to investigate isn't whether Hong Jun tampered with us.
"Rather, it is whether our own Primordial Spirits contain interference from an outside force that does not belong to our true selves.
"If we find nothing, then it was naturally just a false alarm.
"If we find something, we can then see where that outside force points."
Yuanshi Tianzun said gravely, "We can investigate, but we must be cautious.
"If an outside force truly is interfering with us, and it has influenced us for countless ages without our noticing anything, then its lofty level goes without saying.
"If we investigate with great fanfare, the other party will certainly sense it.
"When that happens, he need only withdraw that trace of outside force, and we will have nothing left to investigate. Instead, we will have beaten the grass and startled the snake."
"That is why we must conceal the workings of heaven."
Sect Master Tongtian said, "Pan Xuan can conceal the workings of heaven with his authority as Lord of the Divine Dao. Naturally, we can too.
"If he can do it alone, there is no reason the three of us cannot."
Taiqing Laozi nodded and slowly rose.
He walked to the center of the Three Pure Ones Hall, and a streak of interwoven black and white light flew from his sleeve.
The Taiji Diagram slowly unfurled. Yin-Yang Qi revolved ceaselessly within the hall, forming an enormous taiji pattern that enveloped the entire Three Pure Ones Hall.
The Taiji Diagram was an Innate Supreme Treasure containing the ultimate principles of yin and yang. It was