The atmosphere within Zixiao Palace was peculiar.
Heavenly Venerable Yuanshi and Taiqing Laozi had just recovered from Dao Ancestor Hongjun's unfathomable words. The great stone weighing on their hearts had settled a little, only to rise again at the eerie silence.
They followed Hongjun's gaze.
In the corner, Daoist Jieyin still sat motionless.
He resembled a stone statue unchanged since time immemorial, utterly indifferent to every upheaval in the world outside.
Ever since his junior brother Zhunti had died and his Dao perished, Jieyin had remained like this.
His Dao heart had all but collapsed, his vitality extinguished. Had a last breath of Sage fortune not sustained him, he would likely have fallen from his Sage position and crumbled to ash long ago.
Nothing but a broken man.
The thought flashed through Heavenly Venerable Yuanshi's mind. He immediately felt it was somewhat inappropriate, but that was simply the truth.
It could be said that Jieyin now carried no weight whatsoever within the Profound Gate.
Precisely for that reason, when the Sages had previously plotted to unleash a Chaos Storm and disrupt karma throughout the world, they had not even notified Jieyin to attend.
However, Hongjun's thoughts differed from those of Laozi and Yuanshi.
Just then, Hongjun, seated high upon the Cloud Bed, stirred.
For the first time, those eyes of his, united with the Heavenly Dao and unchanged through the ages, truly focused on Jieyin.
It was not a casual glance, but... scrutiny.
An unprecedented scrutiny tinged with astonishment.
Hongjun had detected something unusual.
Beneath Jieyin's deathly still Dao rhythm, an entirely different aura seemed to be quietly gestating and rising.
Transcendent!
Profound!
Wondrous beyond words!
It was no exaggeration to say that Jieyin now felt somewhat unfamiliar even to Hongjun, his own master.
Hongjun's gaze could not help growing