Xuan Du was not yet the renowned Great Master Xuan Du of later ages, the foremost disciple of the Three Pure Ones.
He was merely an ordinary member of the Human Race seeking the path to immortality.
After leaving the Eastern Seashore, he had searched everywhere for immortals and the Dao, bowing at every mountain and kneeling before every river, hoping only that his sincerity would win the favor of the mighty beings of the Primordial World.
Then they might accept him as a disciple.
But with the tides of the kalpa rising throughout the Primordial World, those mighty beings all feared for their own safety, terrified of being drawn into the War of the Liches. Taking Xuan Du as a disciple was the last thing on their minds.
Thus, for nearly a thousand years, Xuan Du had gained nothing.
Laozi followed behind Xuan Du like an invisible man.
He watched Xuan Du kneel before every mountain, seeking to move those mighty beings with his sincerity.
Year after year passed.
Gradually, even Laozi lost track of how many years he had followed Xuan Du.
He forgot how many mountains Xuan Du had bowed before and how many rivers he had knelt beside. Yet Xuan Du still showed no intention of giving up. He continued kneeling and bowing, still placing his hopes in his sincerity moving Heaven to grant him an opportunity.
"This young man has a fine disposition and an affinity with my Great Dao. He may enter my tutelage."
A poor origin foundation did not matter, nor did a lack of talent. He, Laozi, was the Supreme Purity Sage, who presided over the balanced Great Dao. He had no shortage of miraculous pills or heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
For Laozi, producing a heavenly treasure that could alter someone's