Zhunti Weeps in the Hall, Qingxiao Opens His Eyes

The Three Pure Ones were Pangu's orthodox lineage. With the Xuanhuang Pagoda above Laozi's head, they were not to be provoked.

Nuwa had Fuxi protecting her. Both were top-tier innate divine beings with profound foundations, so they were not easy to challenge.

Thus, Di Jun and Taiyi's gazes naturally fell upon Hong Yun and Kunpeng, who sat in the last two seats and appeared to be the easiest targets.

"Hmph! A mere dark-scaled aquatic creature from the Northern Underworld dares sit alongside supreme divine beings born of the Solar Star?"

Taiyi snorted coldly. Hot-tempered as he was, he strode forward at once.

With a lift of his right hand, a tiny chaos-colored bell spun in his palm,

emanating a terrifying pressure capable of suppressing primordial chaos as it bore down upon Hong Yun and Kunpeng. He shouted sternly:

"Get down here at once and give your seats to my elder brother!"

Kunpeng's eyes turned sinister. He gritted his teeth as demonic energy surged around him, clearly unwilling to yield so easily.

Zhen Yuanzi, standing behind Hong Yun, gave a cold snort. The Earth Book in his hand erupted with dazzling earthen-yellow light,

transforming into a heavy barrier between heaven and earth as it confronted Taiyi's Chaos Bell without giving an inch.

"Taiyi, the Purple Heaven Palace is the Dao Ancestor's place of cultivation. How dare you cause trouble here? Do you take my Earth Book for mere decoration?"

Zhen Yuanzi glared furiously.

"You seek death!"

Killing intent flashed in Taiyi's eyes as he prepared to activate the Chaos Bell and forcibly shatter the Earth Book's defenses.

Yet just as his power was about to pour forth, from the corner of Taiyi's eye,

he suddenly caught sight of the moon-white figure sitting quietly directly behind Hong Yun and Kunpeng.

Li Qingxiao's eyes were half-closed, as though he had not noticed the tense atmosphere around him at all. He simply sat there in silence.

Yet the transcendent Dao aura around him was like an insurmountable divine mountain, blocking Taiyi's senses.

Taiyi's heart lurched, and a scene from the chaos instantly surfaced in his mind:

the terrifying sight of this mysterious young man casually dissolving the Chaos Bell's aftershock with a flick of his finger and saving Houtu,

as well as the strange scene from earlier, when he had ignored the saintly pressure and strolled into the hall as if taking a leisurely walk.

"Why is this man sitting behind Hong Yun and Kunpeng? Could it be... he is their backer?!"

Taiyi was filled with uncertainty.

Without knowing Li Qingxiao's true capabilities, if he acted rashly and provoked a furious counterattack from this unfathomable mysterious expert,

then with Zhen Yuanzi's Earth Book added to the mix, neither he nor Di Jun would come away well today.

After weighing the pros and cons, Taiyi gritted his teeth and forcibly suppressed the killing intent in his heart.

With a cold snort, he withdrew the Chaos Bell and retreated to Di Jun's side.

Seeing Taiyi actually yield on his own, the mighty experts in the hall were all baffled.

But when they followed Taiyi's wary gaze toward Li Qingxiao, who sat with his eyes closed in repose,

many felt a chill in their hearts and secretly speculated about the mysterious young man's identity.

For a time, the hall fell into an eerie silence.

The six seated on the cushions raced against time to comprehend the laws of the Great Dao emanating from beneath them.

The more than two thousand behind them stared at them as though they wanted to devour them alive.

Meanwhile, Li Qingxiao calmly absorbed the lingering aura of creation within the hall, as though he had completely removed himself from the affair.

Just as everyone in the hall harbored their own thoughts, and the violet-gold doors were slowly about to close, with the sermon about to begin...

a heart-rending cry suddenly came from outside the hall, so miserable that any who heard it would weep!

"Senior Brother! We're too late—!!!"

Immediately afterward, two figures tumbled and crawled into the main hall of the Purple Heaven Palace like kites with severed strings.

The arrivals were none other than Jieyin and Zhunti!

But at this moment, how could either of them retain even a trace of the bearing of future saints?

At Mount Buzhou, Li Qingxiao had taken the low-grade innate spiritual root before them,

preventing their magic treasure from reaching completion. Then they had forced their way through the chaotic gale winds to rush here.

Now, their Daoist robes were torn into strips, their bodies covered in blood, their faces bruised and swollen. They were miserable beyond compare.

Thud!

The moment Zhunti entered, his knees buckled and he collapsed to the floor.

He paid no heed to the strange looks from the three thousand mighty experts around him.

He immediately launched into the "academy award-level" performance that would make him famous throughout the primordial world.

"Heavenly Dao is unjust! The West is already barren, its earth veins destroyed and its living beings plunged into misery!"

Zhunti beat his chest and stomped his feet, tears and snot streaming down his face as he wailed:

"My senior brother and I braved countless dangers in pursuit of the supreme Great Dao, all to bring blessings to the living beings of the West. We nearly perished amid the chaotic gale winds!"

"Who could have known... who could have known we would still arrive one step too late!"

"If we cannot listen to the Dao Ancestor's immortal teachings from nearby, how can we ever return and face the countless living beings of the West?"

"We might as well smash our heads against a pillar of the Purple Heaven Palace and die!"

With that, Zhunti made as if to scramble up and ram himself into a nearby jade pillar carved with coiling dragons.

Jieyin, beside him, wore a face full of grief as he desperately held him back. The two cried themselves into a heap.

Faced with this farce, the reactions of the beings in the hall were wonderfully varied.

The Three Pure Ones closed their eyes in meditation, their faces filled with contempt.

Ancestor Minghe sneered repeatedly, silently cursing them for their shamelessness.

Di Jun made no effort to hide the mockery in his eyes.

Yet Hong Yun alone, seated upon the fifth cushion, looked at their miserable state.

A trace of pity and sympathy unexpectedly appeared on his kindly round face.

Though Zhunti was crying and making a scene, his bloodshot eyes

rapidly swept over the six cushions at the front beneath the cover of his tears.

The Three Pure Ones occupied the first three cushions. As Pangu's orthodox lineage, they could not be provoked.

Nuwa sat on the fourth cushion, with Fuxi guarding her nearby. She was not easy to offend.

Kunpeng occupied the sixth cushion, his eyes so sinister and vicious that he looked ready to eat someone alive. He was clearly a tough opponent.

Left with no other choice, Zhunti's gaze could only settle on the next-best option: the fifth cushion.

At last, it locked firmly onto Hong Yun, whose face showed sympathy!

"It's you!"

Zhunti was overjoyed. He suddenly broke free of Jieyin, scrambled to Hong Yun, seized his thigh, and cried out in heartrending anguish:

"Fellow Daoist Hong Yun! You have always been known as the foremost kind soul of the primordial world! Please, take pity on the living beings of the West!"

"If you will not give me this seat, then I will die right in front of you today!"

Such shameless moral coercion left the mighty experts throughout the hall dumbfounded.

Hong Yun was kind by nature and could not bear to see others beg him like this.

Looking at Zhunti, who was crying so hard he could barely catch his breath, he sighed.

At that moment, Li Qingxiao's grave warning from the chaos flashed through his mind:

"What Heaven grants, if not taken, will bring misfortune instead... What you give up is not a good karmic bond, but a death tribulation."

But seeing Zhunti's miserable appearance, the little vigilance in Hong Yun's heart was ultimately drowned by overflowing sympathy.

"Fine. It is only a seat. Let it form a good karmic bond."

Hong Yun shook his head helplessly, braced both hands against the cushion, and slightly raised himself.

Looking at Zhunti on the ground, his lips parted. He was about to utter the fatal words that would ruin his life:

"Fellow Daoist, do not cry. I shall give this seat to you..."

However!

Just as Hong Yun's buttocks had risen half an inch from the cushion,

and at the critical instant when wild joy burst from Zhunti's eyes!

Li Qingxiao, who had been sitting directly behind Hong Yun with his eyes closed like a clay statue or wooden carving,

suddenly opened his eyes!