Their bones cracked explosively throughout their bodies, and their faces flushed purple-red.
Their eyes filled with humiliation and despair, yet they could not move so much as a finger.
Even the foremost mighty beings at the front changed expression.
Each unleashed their abilities, bringing out their last-resort means of survival.
"Heaven and earth, black and yellow, protect my true body!"
Laozi gave a low shout, and a small black-and-yellow pagoda rose above his head.
It was the foremost acquired Merit Supreme Treasure, the Heaven and Earth Black-Yellow Exquisite Pagoda!
Countless streams of black-and-yellow primal qi cascaded down, securely shielding the Three Pure Ones as they strode forward against the Saint's pressure.
Elsewhere, Di Jun summoned the River Chart and Luo Writing without hesitation, a curtain of starlight swirling around him.
Ancestor Minghe stood upon the Twelve-Rank Karma Fire Red Lotus, its towering karma fire scorching the void.
He resisted the omnipresent pressure.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches roared in unison, their surging blood qi rising skyward like columns of smoke.
Relying on the Pangu True Body, they charged headlong against the pressure.
For a time, immortal radiance from all manner of treasures shone across the White Jade Plaza.
Everyone strained until their faces turned red, fighting with all their might to squeeze into the hall.
Yet among these mighty beings, who gritted their teeth and struggled with bulging veins, one figure presented a picture
that was utterly different, even entirely out of place.
He was a young man dressed in moon-white Daoist robes.
Li Qingxiao neither summoned any earth-shaking treasure nor let out a roar that cowed the gathered immortals.
He merely walked calmly through the crowd, the faint image of a sacred, flawless twelve-rank White Lotus flickering in and out of existence beneath his feet.
The heaven-defying property of Ten Thousand Laws Immunity was pushed to its utmost limit!
The terrifying Saint's pressure, powerful enough to make even a Daluo Golden Immortal struggle to take a step, came within three feet of Li Qingxiao
and vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea, instantly broken down and purified by the supreme World-Purifying Light.
It became gentle wisps of breeze.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Li Qingxiao remained utterly composed, as though strolling through his own back garden.
He did not seem to walk quickly, but each step embodied the profound truths of the Great Dao within Shrinking Space to Inches.
His speed was not the slightest bit slower than Laozi beneath the Xuanhuang Pagoda or Taiyi holding the Chaos Bell!
This bizarre sight immediately caught the attention of several nearby mighty beings.
Ancestor Minghe, sprinting with gritted teeth, turned and caught sight of Li Qingxiao's effortless ease. His mouth twitched sharply, and shock surged through his heart:
Who in the world is this man? Without even using a treasure, he can ignore a Saint's pressure with nothing but the protective divine light around his body? When did such a monster appear in the Primordial World?!
Di Jun's pupils also contracted slightly, and he secretly committed Li Qingxiao's appearance to memory.
He marked him as an extremely dangerous figure who absolutely must not be provoked lightly.
Li Qingxiao ignored the astonished looks around him. With a light sweep of his sleeves, amid the labored breathing of the mighty beings,
he crossed the tall purple-gold threshold ahead of everyone like a wisp of breeze and entered the great hall of the Purple Heaven Palace.
The moment he entered, the space opened up before him.
The hall did not have the layout of an ordinary palace; it actually contained a vast universe of its own.
Stars revolved overhead, while the essence of the Dao flowed beneath his feet.
At the very front of the hall, beneath a raised platform suspended in the void, six purple-gold meditation cushions sat quietly, radiating dense Primordial Purple Qi and boundless laws of the Great Dao!
"Those are..."
The Three Pure Ones, Di Jun, Nuwa, and the others who rushed into the hall afterward caught sight of the six cushions,
and every one of them stopped breathing.
The intuitive sense of the Daluo Golden Immortals screamed a warning:
These six cushions were by no means ordinary seats. They surely represented an unimaginably great opportunity!
They might even lead directly to the supreme Great Dao Sage Seat!
"Seize them!"
Without a moment's hesitation, a savage melee erupted within the hall!
"I am of the Orthodox Lineage of Pangu! The first seat belongs to me!"
Laozi shouted, and the Heaven and Earth Black-Yellow Exquisite Pagoda blazed with light, forcibly smashing open the space before him.
With a sweep of his sleeves, he took Yuanshi and Tongtian along with him, and they became three streams of pure qi.
Without any suspense, they planted themselves on the first three cushions.
The profound foundations of the Orthodox Lineage of Pangu were laid bare at that moment.
"Little sister, go!"
Before the fourth cushion, Fuxi risked damage to his primordial spirit from the magical power of the mighty beings around him.
He spat out a mouthful of blood essence, formed seals with both hands, and forcibly pushed Nuwa onto the fourth cushion.
"Oh, excuse me! Coming through!"
Sheltered by Zhen Yuanzi's Earth Book, the kindly Hong Yun seemed to be guided by some unseen fortune.
He stumbled amid the chaos and, by a remarkable coincidence, landed right on the fifth cushion!
"Hong Yun, stay seated!"
Seeing this, Zhen Yuanzi immediately shouted, and the Earth Book in his hands unfolded with a thunderous rumble.
It transformed into an endless expanse of spectral mountains and rivers, forming a solid barrier behind Hong Yun and taking the furious attacks of countless mighty beings for him.
The struggle for the last cushion, the sixth, was the fiercest of all.
Countless treasures and beams of immortal light collided in midair.
"This seat is mine!"
With a piercing shriek that could shatter metal and stone, Ancestor Kunpeng unleashed the unparalleled speed for which he was famed throughout the Primordial World.
He became an elusive afterimage and seized the final seat by the narrowest margin before Taiyi's Chaos Bell came crashing down.
In mere moments, the six Sage Positions had all been claimed!
Yet throughout this earth-shaking struggle, Li Qingxiao remained unusually quiet.
He had clearly been among the first to enter the hall, and with the strength of Ten Thousand Laws Immunity,
he would have had better than a seventy percent chance of forcibly claiming a seat.
But he had willingly given up that chance.
Li Qingxiao knew full well that these six cushions were not merely Sage Positions. They were death warrants!
Without sufficient fortune and the support of Heavenly Dao karma, forcing his way onto one would only make him a target for the entire Primordial World.
He did not want a death trap of a seat that would make him a sitting target. He wanted to be the unpredictable factor that reaped the greatest rewards!
The instant the six took their seats, Li Qingxiao flashed forward, drifting over like a phantom.
He stopped precisely behind the fifth and sixth cushions, positioning himself directly behind Hong Yun and Kunpeng.
He shook out his moon-white Daoist robes and sat cross-legged in the air, resting his hands casually on his knees.
It was the perfect spectator's seat, offering an excellent view and room to either advance or retreat.
The faintest smile curved Li Qingxiao's lips as he gazed intently at Hong Yun before him.
He quietly awaited the opening of the great drama that would soon change the course of the Primordial World.
As time passed, the Three Thousand Guests of the Red Dust squeezed into the great hall of the Purple Heaven Palace one after another, looking utterly bedraggled.
When these mighty beings, who wielded immense power in the Primordial World, saw that the six cushions at the front, radiating boundless Dao resonance, had already been claimed,
the hall immediately filled with cries of regret as they beat their chests and stamped their feet.
"Oh, the agony! I was only half a step short!"
"That opportunity was clearly calling to me, yet someone else got there first!"
Countless pairs of eyes instantly reddened, staring fixedly at the six seated figures with undisguised jealousy and greed.
Di Jun and Taiyi of the Yao were particularly furious.
As innate divine beings born of the Solar Star, they held themselves in exceedingly high regard.
Yet they had failed to seize even a single seat. How could they possibly stomach that?