Discussing the Dao with Hongjun

"Qing Xuan..."

Hongjun softly repeated the name, his gaze falling on Qing Xuan.

He did not probe Qing Xuan's origin, but the Creation Jade Disc resting on his shoulder emitted a faint glimmer.

"Fellow Daoist carries the intent of Buzhou and the aura of the world's first opening. You must be an Innate Divine Being nurtured within Buzhou Mountain."

"Indeed."

Qing Xuan did not conceal it.

Now that the Primordial World had only just opened, most Innate Divine Beings had been born from the nurturing of heaven and earth.

Though being born from Buzhou Mountain was extraordinary, it was not enough to make Hongjun lose his composure.

What truly interested Hongjun was the World Dao Resonance surrounding Qing Xuan.

"Earlier, I saw Fellow Daoist take action from afar."

Hongjun glanced at the Fierce Beast corpses behind him.

"Fellow Daoist used a world to command mountains, rivers, and all phenomena. The Great Dao you cultivate differs from every Dao I have seen before."

"The myriad Daos of the Primordial World rise together. I have merely taken my first step."

Qing Xuan's expression remained calm.

Hongjun smiled at those words.

"To forge your own Dao in the Taiyi Realm already surpasses the vast majority of beings in the Primordial World. Fellow Daoist is too modest."

His tone was natural. He did not act as a senior merely because his cultivation was higher.

Nor did Qing Xuan deliberately try to draw closer to him.

Both were Innate Divine Beings. Though their cultivation levels differed, their Daos were each distinct.

Calling one another fellow Daoists was enough.

In the novels Qing Xuan had read in his former world, Dao Ancestor Hongjun had never been a good person.

But Qing Xuan would not casually judge someone based on novels from his past life.

As for what kind of person Hongjun truly was, Qing Xuan trusted his own experiences more.

After their brief conversation, Hongjun took the initiative to mention the great war unfolding in the north.

"Fierce Beasts are now gathering in the north. Beast Emperor Shen Ni has established the Beast Dynasty, and beneath him, the four great Fierce Beast generals—Taotie, Qiongqi, Taowu, and Chaos—have all entered the Great Luo realm."

"Shen Ni himself wields the Godslayer Spear, and his cultivation has already reached the deepest levels of Great Luo."

Qing Xuan listened quietly without interrupting.

All four great Fierce Beast generals were Great Luo, while Shen Ni was an apex Great Luo expert wielding the Godslayer Spear.

That was the true foundation that allowed the Beast Dynasty to sweep across the Primordial World.

The Golden Immortal Fierce Beasts Qing Xuan had killed before were merely ordinary Fierce Beasts at the outermost edge of the entire calamity.

"Ancestor Dragon, Yuanfeng, and Primordial Qilin have each led the powerful members of their clans north. Fellow Daoists Luohou, Yang Mei, Qiankun, and Yin-Yang are also searching for a way to break the deadlock."

As Hongjun spoke, a trace of solemnity appeared in his eyes.

"Wherever the Fierce Beasts pass, the origin of heaven and earth is damaged, and all living beings are extinguished. If this calamity cannot be ended quickly, the entire Primordial World will suffer for it."

Qing Xuan nodded.

"So Fellow Daoist has been traveling east in search of a way to deal with Shen Ni?"

Hongjun admitted it openly.

"My Creation Jade Disc is better suited for comprehending the Dao. Though it can protect me, it is not a treasure of slaughter. The Godslayer Spear in Shen Ni's hands is an Innate Supreme Treasure. If I am to contend with him head-on, I must find another method."

He did not conceal anything for the sake of his future identity as Dao Ancestor, nor did he pretend to be unfathomable.

Shen Ni was already one of the strongest beings in the Primordial World.

Even Hongjun was not arrogant enough to believe he could easily suppress him.

That frankness instead made Qing Xuan approve of the man before him a little more.

Hongjun glanced eastward. "Fellow Daoist is also heading east?"

"Yes."

"Since we are traveling the same path, why not journey together for a while?"

Qing Xuan considered it briefly, then agreed.

Traveling alongside Hongjun at this time was itself a rare opportunity.

Moreover, Hongjun had not hidden his cultivation or intentions, nor had he insisted that Qing Xuan join the war in the north.

"Then I shall trouble Fellow Daoist."

"If we travel together and discuss the Dao, how can it be trouble?"

Hongjun spoke with a smile and turned to walk east.

Qing Xuan stepped forward to follow.

The two Innate Divine Beings born in the earliest days of the Primordial World thus vanished together among the mountains.

Qing Xuan's journey with Hongjun lasted three thousand years.

Over those three thousand years, neither deliberately hurried onward. Whenever they encountered Fierce Beasts, they casually cleared them away. When passing through spiritual mountains and blessed lands, they would also pause to verify each other's Dao.

Qing Xuan also came to truly understand Hongjun's current strength.

A thousand years earlier, three Taiyi Golden Immortal-level Fierce Beasts had come from the north. Wherever they passed, baleful aura blotted out the heavens, and continuous mountain ranges were trampled into ruins.

Hongjun merely pointed a finger forward.

The Three Thousand Great Daos transformed into a wisp of clear light, crossing boundless space and piercing through the brows of the three Fierce Beasts.

There was no earth-shattering collision, nor any aftermath that shattered mountains and rivers.

All life within the three Taiyi Fierce Beasts vanished at once, and their massive corpses fell from the sky.

From beginning to end, Hongjun had not even stopped walking.

The gap between Great Luo and Taiyi had been displayed fully in that single finger strike.

Qing Xuan was not shaken by it.

Hongjun had once been one of the Chaos Demon Gods and was also the protagonist of this era.

He had been nurtured earlier, walked the Primordial World earlier, and possessed a fragment of a Chaos supreme treasure like the Creation Jade Disc.

It was only natural that he was stronger than Qing Xuan now.

What truly benefited Qing Xuan was their discussions of the Dao along the way.

Hongjun did not cultivate any single Dao.

The Creation Jade Disc carried the Three Thousand Great Daos. Using it as his foundation, he studied countless Daos, attempting to find a path among the Three Thousand Great Daos that could run from beginning to end.

Even Qing Xuan could not see the full scope of Hongjun's Dao.

Qing Xuan's World Dao was likewise all-encompassing, yet it was entirely different from Hongjun's path.

Hongjun ascended from the myriad Daos, pursuing their source.

Qing Xuan, however, used the world as his foundation, allowing the myriad Daos to be born and evolve within it, before ultimately returning to a single world.

On this day, the two sat atop a mountain peak.

Behind Hongjun, three thousand Dao resonances flowed, as though every law between heaven and earth had been drawn into them.

Behind Qing Xuan, a world slowly unfolded.

Mountains and rivers were newly born, while the sun and moon revolved.

The two Daos reflected one another, yet remained distinctly separate.

After a long while, Hongjun was the first to withdraw his Dao resonance.

"I once believed that although the myriad Daos of the world followed different paths, they should ultimately arrive at the same destination."

"Only after witnessing Fellow Daoist's World Dao today did I realize that the end of the Great Dao may not have only one destination."

Qing Xuan also gained some insight.

"Fellow Daoist's Dao far surpasses mine. What I can display now is only the embryonic form of a world."

"Cultivation may come sooner or later, but one cannot judge the Dao by a single moment."

Hongjun looked at Qing Xuan and spoke seriously:

"If Fellow Daoist's World Dao can truly reach its end, perhaps a path to proving the Dao never seen before will emerge."

Qing Xuan neither modestly denied it nor became complacent because of it.

"Then we shall see when I reach the end."

Hongjun laughed and clapped his hands.

"Good."

After their discussion ended, the two continued onward.

Several hundred more years passed when Hongjun suddenly stopped and looked north.

Only the boundless sky could still be seen there, yet within the perception of a Great Luo, several auras capable of shaking the heaven and earth of the Primordial World were rising one after another.

Luohou, Yang Mei, Qiankun, Yin-Yang.

And Great Luo experts from the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans.

The situation on the northern battlefield had reached its most critical moment.

The Creation Jade Disc on Hongjun's shoulder turned lightly, and a message from a distant place entered his primordial spirit.

A moment later, he looked toward Qing Xuan.

"The fellow Daoists have found Shen Ni's trail. I must head north."

"This journey should lead to the decisive battle against the Beast Dynasty."

Hongjun did not leave immediately. Instead, he invited Qing Xuan.

"Would Fellow Daoist accompany me?"

Qing Xuan looked north.

There stood the strongest Beast Emperor of the Primordial World, four Great Luo Fierce Beast generals, and some of the strongest Innate Divine Beings of this era.

That battle was destined to shake heaven and earth.

If he could personally observe several Great Luo experts fighting, it would naturally be of immense benefit to him.

But no matter how great an opportunity was, one needed to be alive to receive it.

With his current Early Grand Unity Golden Immortal cultivation, if he were truly caught up in the clash between Shen Ni, Hongjun, and the others, any stray shockwave would be enough to grievously wound him.

Qing Xuan quickly made his decision. "My Dao has not yet reached that point. I will not take part in this battle."

Qing Xuan did not gamble on some supposedly destined outcome using memories from his past life, nor did he overestimate himself simply because Hongjun had invited him.

He refused decisively, without the slightest hesitation in his expression.

Hongjun looked at Qing Xuan for a moment, then nodded lightly. "In that case, take care, Fellow Daoist."

"Fellow Daoist, take care as well."

As his words fell, Hongjun took a single step.

Without disturbing heaven and earth or causing any spatial fluctuations, he vanished among the mountains.

Qing Xuan watched him leave, then turned and continued eastward.

The outcome of the battle between Shen Ni and the Great Luo experts was not something he could interfere with now.

He had to walk his own Dao.

However, only a few days later, Qing Xuan's footsteps stopped once more.

The distant earth shook violently, and mountains collapsed one after another.

Rolling baleful aura gathered into a black tide that surged swiftly along the horizon.

Several hundred Fierce Beasts were fleeing eastward.

The dozens of Fierce Beasts at the front all bore the aura of Golden Immortals. At the center of the herd, a massive creature with nine heads and crimson baleful aura wrapped around its body slowly raised its head.

The fierce might of a late-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal swept across heaven and earth.

Qing Xuan glanced in the direction Hongjun had departed, then looked at the tide of Fierce Beasts rushing toward him.

He would not enter the Great Luo battlefield.

But that did not mean these Fierce Beasts before him could make him step aside.