That frown lasted less than half a breath.
Then Hongjun's expression smoothed out again.
It was as though that faint disturbance had been nothing more than a fallen leaf brushing across a lake, erased before its ripples could even spread.
His eyes remained lowered.
He continued to gaze down at Luohu with that same air of standing beyond worldly affairs, letting nothing enter his heart.
That bearing was itself a form of crushing superiority.
Not superiority in strength.
But in perspective.
You claimed the Devil Dao could never be extinguished?
You claimed you could never be killed for good?
Fine.
Then he would not kill you.
Hongjun spoke.
"No matter."
Two words.
Two lightly spoken words.
Yet when they fell upon the ears of Golden Ao Island's million disciples, they struck everyone dumb.
No matter?
What did he mean, no matter?
Luohu had just revealed the nearly unanswerable trump card that "the Devil Dao could never be extinguished."
It was a fact even the Dao Ancestor himself could not deny.
How could the heart-demons of countless living beings be rooted out?
They could not. Even if Luohu were killed, he could be reborn through those heart-demons. Did that not mean he could never truly die?
Yet Hongjun's response was actually "no matter."
For a moment, everyone was utterly bewildered by Hongjun's attitude.
Some even could not help wondering whether Hongjun was merely feigning composure, while in truth he, too, was helpless.
Before they could make sense of it,
Hongjun's next words had already descended.
"Luohu."
"Come with me to Zixiao Palace."
Those words allowed no room for negotiation.
They were not an invitation.
Nor a suggestion.
They were a sentence.
Golden Ao Island fell silent for two full breaths.
Then, almost at the same instant, countless minds seemed to thunder