Utter defeat!
Those words exploded like divine thunder from the Nine Heavens through the vast, deathly silent Zixiao Palace!
Every word carried a weight and despair heavy enough to shatter a Sage's Dao Heart.
Heavenly Venerable Yuanshi's face, twisted with fury, abruptly froze.
The resentful words poised to burst from his throat were forcibly choked back, turning into silent astonishment.
Slowly, almost mechanically, he turned his head. His bloodshot eyes no longer stared at Dao Ancestor Hongjun seated high upon the Cloud Bed, but fixed themselves on the Elder of Chaos.
He was not the only one.
The weariness on Taiqing Laozi's otherwise unruffled face deepened. His fingers paused slightly on his fly-whisk, and his gaze likewise fell upon the Elder of Chaos.
Daoist Jieyin, his face etched with suffering, even stopped his quiet chanting. For the first time, a trace of scrutiny and inquiry appeared in his compassionate eyes.
What did Dao Ancestor Hongjun mean by that?
We suffered an utter defeat...
Who was he addressing?
All of them, or... the Elder of Chaos, who had proposed this scheme and sworn with absolute certainty that it would erase Gu Changqing once and for all?
In an instant, the atmosphere in Zixiao Palace, already oppressive enough to freeze, grew stranger still.
An invisible pressure slowly bore down upon the Elder of Chaos from the three Sages.
It was a silent accusation, the instinct to seek out the culprit after a defeat!
Indeed!
They clearly remembered that it had been the Elder of Chaos who first proposed unleashing the Chaos Storm.
He had also been the most important figure directing their efforts.
Now that the Profound Gate had suffered an utter defeat, should the Elder of Chaos... take responsibility?
Naturally, the Elder of Chaos felt that pressure as well.
Gu Changqing's