"What are you looking at?"
When Queen Mother of the West stared at him without blinking,
Dan Jing opened his mouth and let fly:
"What? Got a problem with me? Want to take me on?"
At Dan Jing's words,
Queen Mother of the West, the target of his challenge, jumped in fright. She waved her hands and took several involuntary steps back.
She forced a smile.
"You've misunderstood me, fellow Daoist."
"Your strength is extraordinary and your cultivation profound. I yield, I yield, I yield!"
Queen Mother of the West knew when to give ground.
She had means of her own.
But she also knew some beings were simply beyond her power to provoke.
Dan Jing, for instance—
He had dared to attack someone inside a Sage Realm cultivator's Daoist Sanctuary, then kill someone at its gates. And the man he killed was none other than the leader of male immortals appointed by that very cultivator.
Yet the Sage Realm cultivator had shown no anger, made no move to punish him. Dan Jing had walked away without so much as a scratch.
Unless Queen Mother of the West was a complete fool, she would yield!
There—
That was the price of lacking both strength and the confidence it brought.
"Hah!"
Dan Jing sneered and swept a contemptuous glance over the gathered Red-Dust Guests.
Then,
he swaggered off into Chaos, turned into a Golden Rainbow, and vanished.
Once Dan Jing was gone,
the Red-Dust Guests on both sides of the Violet Cloud Palace gates all breathed an instinctive sigh of relief.
They could hardly help it.
Standing beside a formidable fighter who struck without warning and killed so readily put anyone under pressure.
Most of them—
were even weaker than Eastern King Gong.
Before Dan Jing, they were no different from ants.
Of course,
some were not afraid of him—
Xi He and Chang Xi, the Three Pure Ones, and many other long-renowned figures had their pride. They would not allow themselves to fear another cultivator!
Before long,
the Red-Dust Guests pushed down their tangled thoughts and slipped into Chaos, heading back toward the Primordial Cosmos.
And with them,
they carried word of everything that had happened at the Violet Cloud Palace back to the Primordial Cosmos.
Upon an auspicious cloud,
the Three Pure Ones traveled together toward their Daoist Sanctuary on Kunlun Mountain.
Tongtian was the first to break the silence.
"Eldest Brother, Second Brother, what do you make of that Daoist Dan Jing? Where did he come from, to dare do something so ruthless at the Violet Cloud Palace?"
Tongtian did not care whether it was ruthless. He had no fondness for Eastern King Gong anyway.
What bothered him—
was that someone in the Primordial World had proved even more overbearing than the Three Pure Ones of the Pangu Orthodox Lineage!
Tongtian could not stand Dan Jing. The Primordial World was not supposed to contain anyone more overbearing than the three of them.
Beside him,
Yuanshi frowned slightly. He disliked Dan Jing too.
As he saw it—
Dan Jing's devil-may-care attitude toward the Sage Realm cultivator, his taking of a cushion from the cultivator's Daoist Sanctuary, and his outright killing of Eastern King Gong all showed a lack of manners and respect!
Of course,
the Sage Realm cultivator had said nothing. Yuanshi certainly would not presume to overstep his place and rebuke Dan Jing.
That did not stop him from disliking Dan Jing, or from looking down on the reckless bastard who resorted to violence without a word!
Yuanshi stayed silent and gave Tongtian no answer.
Laozi, on Tongtian's other side, felt rather strange himself and had no mind to respond.
He was considering—
whether to conceal his real name and adopt a new religious name or Daoist title.
After all,
while beating Eastern King Gong to death, Dan Jing had called himself "laozi" with every other breath.
If he kept using the name Laozi, he might one day find himself burdened with a great karmic debt because of it.
"..."
Ignored, Tongtian pursed his lips and said no more.
He was used to Laozi and Yuanshi ignoring him.
On the way back to Fengqi Mountain,
the refined and easygoing Fuxi stroked his long beard, looking thoughtful.
He asked his younger sister Nuwa,
"What do you think of that fellow Daoist Dan Jing?"
Nuwa raised an eyebrow.
A thoughtful glint crossed her eyes.
"A bold, unhinged madman."
How could he be anything else?
He had killed at a Sage Realm cultivator's Daoist Sanctuary, treated its master with careless ease, and even walked off with one of the cushions.
Nuwa had never seen anyone so outrageous!
"Is that so?"
Fuxi smiled at his sister's assessment of Dan Jing and said no more.
He held a somewhat different view, but could not yet be sure of it.
So there was no point bringing it up.
On the Lunar Star—
after returning from the Violet Cloud Palace to the Primordial World, the sisters Xi He and Chang Xi went back to their Daoist Sanctuary, the Moon Goddess Palace.
Once home,
Xi He sat beneath the Moon Laurel Tree, a Supreme Innate Spirit Root. She said nothing, but made no attempt to hide the thoughts in her eyes.
Seeing her elder sister like this,
Chang Xi spoke in her cool voice.
"Are you thinking about fellow Daoist Dan Jing, Sister?"
At that,
Xi He smiled and nodded.
"I really can't hide anything from you!"
"I've been reliving—"
"the magnificent sight of fellow Daoist Dan Jing slaying Eastern King Gong in a fury. It truly... makes my heart race!"
As she spoke,
two rosy patches bloomed on Xi He's cheeks. Sitting beneath the Moon Laurel Tree, she wore a lovestruck smile that looked out of place on her usually gentle, elegant, and dignified face.
Chang Xi, however,
was used to it.
Her sister truly was gentle, elegant, and dignified in public. In private, though, she was like this.
When something caught her fancy—
she became so entranced that she forgot herself!
From the look on her sister's face, Chang Xi was certain Xi He had fallen completely for fellow Daoist Dan Jing.
She only hoped... her sister would not frighten him someday!
"Sister, this is for you."
Ignoring her sister's lovestruck grin, Chang Xi reached out and handed Xi He a Lunar Prayer Mat.
At the sight of the Lunar Prayer Mat Chang Xi held out,
Xi He snapped back to herself.
"You... brought back the mats we sat on too?"
Chang Xi nodded.
She readily admitted it.
"I figured—"
"since fellow Daoist Dan Jing could take one and the Sage Realm cultivator didn't object, we could take ours too!"
"This must be another opportunity granted to those of us with a destined connection."
Xi He's eyes widened.
"So you took them?"
Chang Xi nodded again.
"Yes."
That answer—
was hard to argue with.
Xi He opened her mouth, then found she had no idea what to say.
On second thought, they had already taken the mats. What were they supposed to do, return them now?
There was nothing for it. They would keep them.
And to be fair—
the rare treasures they had acquired from the Sage Realm cultivator's Daoist Sanctuary did offer a slight benefit to their cultivation!
The Red-Dust Guests who had returned from hearing the teachings at the Violet Cloud Palace hurried back to their respective Daoist Sanctuaries.
Then they entered seclusion.
And so—
six cosmic cycles passed in peace and quiet.
One day—
on a ridge halfway up Mount Buzhou, Dan Jing broke through an innate formation and immediately spotted the treasure it had nurtured.
His eyes lit up.
"Ooh!!!"
Before you continue