"Oh? Not only was that thread of Dao Intent forcibly severed, it was utterly extinguished in the River of Time."
Amid a bustling market, a young man smiled. His pure, clear eyes brimmed with delight.
"That person must have received my challenge, yet I sensed nothing of the entire process."
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
"A Sole-Self Will, destroyed without a sound. Now that is an opponent worth facing. The seat of the Eighth Path is the key to the Nine Heavenly Ways. Only by shaping a story splendid enough can I truly push open that door! Otherwise, Wang Mang, Hou Jing, and Jiang Ziya will all serve as warnings of what lies ahead!"
With that thought, he strode through the crowd and, a few steps later, arrived outside a tavern.
Inside, a storyteller was holding forth, spittle flying—
"That mysterious Grotto-Heaven dated back to the age of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Danger lurked on every side. The Eight Pillar Gods held dominion over its lands, endlessly draining the lifeblood of its countless people. Once their work was complete, they would break through the Grotto-Heaven's barriers and descend upon the Mortal World, plunging all living things into misery!"
The tavern had fallen still. The listeners held their breath, too engrossed to utter a word.
"...To meet this calamity, the Eight Sects of the Daoist Order sent in eighty-one cultivators to set up the Greater Celestial Circuit Star-Reincarnation Array. Banners snapped, gongs and drums thundered, and the battle raged until heaven and earth went dark, the sun and moon lost their light! Yet for all their efforts, they were defeated, even Daoist masters like Qingxiangzi among them! The Central Plains was about to be cast into dust, the Divine Land about to fall! At the critical moment,