Fifteen hundred years later, Xuanming returned.
He entered seclusion once more in the Path-Seeking Courtyard.
Only five hundred years later did he emerge again.
The sunlight was just right, the breeze gentle, and the fragrance of tea filled the air. Xuanming reclined in a rocking chair, rocking as he counted on his fingers to divine the workings of fate.
Over those two thousand years, heaven and earth had evolved in orderly fashion.
With the evil source uprooted, the Heavenly and Earthly Daos had caught up, while the Human Dao had been renewed. The Three Powers of the entire world had become more balanced.
The distortions of old were gone, and the three Daos advanced side by side.
Spirit mechanism surged through this world, spirit veins sprang up everywhere, the heavens rose higher year by year, and the earth grew thicker.
Heavenly treasures and earthly rarities emerged, and opportunities for fortune and transformation appeared in abundance.
The gods each fulfilled their duties. The Heavenly Court and the Underworld Court won ever deeper faith among the people, benefiting heaven and earth and protecting all living beings.
Cultivators also grew ever more numerous.
The Truth-Seeking Abbey had become the foremost Sacred Land, a legend honored throughout the Three Realms and revered by all living beings.
The position of presiding True Person had changed hands twice.
It was now held by Xuanming's granddisciple.
Li Zizai had taken him as a disciple a thousand years earlier, hoping to free himself sooner and roam at leisure.
Five hundred years ago, this granddisciple had become the abbey's leader.
After a thousand years of cultivation, he had become a Mighty Expert. He planned to pass leadership to his own disciple, so he could follow his grandmaster and master in casting off all restraint and becoming a wine-sword immortal.