North of the Great Desert, the Great Void trembled.
Dazzling colors blazed in the void, gray, gold, and white shifting ceaselessly. A tall man, a boy in monastic robes, and a girl in a white dress each occupied one side, locked in a temporary standoff.
All three held exalted positions: Jiang Jie, Left General of Great Flame; Supreme Truth, Dharma Chief of Glorious Age; and Great True Person Miaolin, sect master of the Pudu Holy Land.
"How long do you two intend to bar my way?"
The boy clad in red-gold monastic robes spoke.
"I cultivate great enlightenment and have attained no remaining. I am untouched by cause and effect. Why must you press me so relentlessly?"
Supreme Truth's expression flickered uncertainly amid the glorious light. As Dharma Chief of Glorious Age, he had lowered himself to travel the world alone, precisely to avoid giving the Immortal Cultivators grounds to accuse him of overstepping his bounds.
He had been watching Evil Land's actions from afar when Miaolin came looking for him. After the two exchanged blows, they alerted Great Flame's Immortal Cultivators, and this Left General arrived with troops to mediate.
Mediation in name, favoritism in truth. Otherwise, how could a mere Purple Mansion cultivator have stopped him, Supreme Truth?
"Dharma Chief, you claim to be untouched by cause and effect, yet that evil beast was raised by your people. Does that not count as Glorious Age's wrongdoing?"
Miaolin's voice drifted through the white qi, ethereal and elusive. Petite as she was, she gathered boundless white clouds into a lotus seat to avoid losing in imposing presence, lending her an air that mingled immortal and Buddhist cultivation.
"The Huayan path descends from the Three Sages. It has always been the inheritance of the [Ten Mysteries Dharma Treasury Buddha]. So-called [great