The Main Temple at Guanjiangkou.
Deep within Gu Changqing's sea of consciousness, red warnings erupted one after another.
[Warning! A Heavenly Dao Sage has entered the Chaoge Branch Temple in his true body!] [Warning! The target is making contact with the incense anchor!] [Saint's second divine sense probe detected! Primordial Purple Patterns have entered maximum concealment mode!] [System energy consumption has tripled! Divine Realm karma has entered deep protection mode!]
Lines of blood-red text refreshed frantically.
An ordinary Great Luo cultivator's divine sense would likely have fallen into disarray by now.
Yet Gu Changqing did not so much as lift an eyelid.
He sat cross-legged before the Divine Statue, the twenty Godfiend Acupores throughout his body silent as an abyss, while Primordial Purple Patterns slowly circulated between his brows.
A Saint had arrived.
Unexpected, yet entirely understandable.
Yang Jian had changed his fate, Nezha had seized treasures, Gu Changqing had intercepted Yin Jiao and Yin Hong and taken them as disciples, and Xiaotian Dog had even bitten Guangchengzi, injuring his Dao foundation.
One incident after another had battered the Investiture of the Gods chessboard until cracks covered its surface.
It would have been strange if the Saints still showed no reaction.
Gu Changqing stirred his will.
"System, turn off the alarms."
[Command confirmed.]
The piercing alarms vanished instantly.
Only lines of red notifications remained, scrolling silently in a corner of his sea of consciousness.
Gu Changqing's divine sense descended along the incense anchor.
The next instant.
His will arrived at the Ruined Temple outside Chaoge City.
Inside the Ruined Temple at the Mass Burial Grounds.
An exceedingly faint purple pattern lit up between the clay Divine Statue's brows.
Sect Master Tongtian's raised hand stopped above the Incense Burner.
He looked at the Divine Statue.
The clay figure, silent and still just moments before, now seemed to have suddenly acquired a master.
The temple walls, broken plaque, offering table, and Incense Burner were all linked by a wisp of purple essence.
The Ruined Temple remained dilapidated.
But in Tongtian's eyes, it had already become a Daoist sanctuary with a master.
Azure sword intent hovered at his fingertips.
Primordial Purple Patterns stretched across the space above the Incense Burner.
The two auras faced each other across a distance of three feet.
There was no thunder.
No roar.
Yet every chill wind throughout the Mass Burial Grounds froze at that moment.
The lingering souls beneath the graves lay prostrate in the soil, not daring to release even a trace of resentment.
The amusement in Tongtian's eyes faded a little.
He could feel that the will behind the Divine Statue had descended.
Vast.
Still.
Without root or source.
His Saint's divine sense tried to follow that wisp of will back to its origins, but the instant it touched the purple-gray veil of Dao, it was silently swallowed.
There was no backlash.
Nor any collision.
It was as though that entire path of karma had never existed in the first place.
The sword intent at Tongtian's fingertips trembled gently.
Interesting.
It had been far too long since an existence whose origins even he could not trace had appeared in the Three Realms.
At the same time.
Gu Changqing was also studying Tongtian.
Under the illumination of the Primordial Divine Realm, the Blue-Robed Daoist before him was no longer a daoist.
He was a sea of swords.
Countless rays of sword light intertwined to form his Dao body, each sharp enough to cleave through laws.
The four sword phantoms of the Immortal Slaying Sword, Immortal-Killing Sword, Immortal-Trapping Sword, and Immortal-Severing Sword hung at the four extremes of that sea.
Their killing aura lay deep and unreleased, yet it made the very space throughout the Ruined Temple subtly tighten.
Deeper still, a formation diagram slowly unfurled.
Within it, the fortune of the Interception Sect's myriad immortals surged like the tide.
This was Tongtian.
The Jie Sect Leader.
A Heavenly Dao Sage.
Foremost in slaughter throughout the Primordial World.
Gu Changqing watched quietly, without the slightest ripple in his heart.
Powerful as Saints were.
Since it was Tongtian who had come today, there was still room to maneuver.
Had Yuanshi arrived in person, he would likely have first crushed the temple beneath his Saint's might, then asked about its karma.
Tongtian was different.
He valued the sword, but also his intuition.
The more unknown something was, the more he wanted to see it clearly.
And that was precisely what Gu Changqing could exploit.
Silence lingered within the Ruined Temple for a long time.
At last, Tongtian withdrew his hand.
The azure sword intent at his fingertips dispersed.
He inclined his head slightly toward the Divine Statue, offering the Daoist salute of an equal.
"I came here in my travels. Though this temple is ruined, I saw that its Dao resonance had not dispersed, and curiosity led me inside."
"If I have disturbed this place's master, I hope you will forgive me, fellow daoist."
The Divine Statue did not respond.
Only the purple pattern between its brows continued to shine calmly.
Tongtian was not annoyed.
Having come in person, he had never expected to uncover the other party's origins with a single remark.
His gaze swept over the Incense Burner.
Deep within the ashes, that wisp of purple essence had already sunk completely into the Dao patterns.
He could force his way through them.
But doing so would bring this strand of karma out into the open.
He had come today to examine the game.
Not to start a war.
Tongtian stood with his hands behind his back, his tone still mild.
"Of late, the calamity qi in Chaoge has grown increasingly dense, Humanity's Dao is in turmoil, and the disciples of the Three Teachings have all entered the game."
"I saw that this place's karma is linked to the Yin Shang Twins and also stirs the fortune of Jade Void. Naturally, a few questions arose in my heart."
At this point, he raised his eyes to the Divine Statue.
"I would venture to ask you one question, fellow daoist."
"The great calamity of the Investiture of the Gods has begun. Heaven's decree has fallen, and immortals and gods alike cannot escape it."
"In your view, is there a solution to this game?"
As that question fell.
The purple patterns inside the Ruined Temple flickered gently.
Gu Changqing understood Tongtian's intent.
Asking for a solution was a pretense.
Probing his Dao was the true purpose.
If he said to follow heaven's will, he would fall within the framework of the Heavenly Dao.
If he said to defy heaven, he would expose his hostility and his edge.
Through this question, Tongtian wanted to see which side of the chessboard he truly stood on.
Gu Changqing smiled faintly inwardly.
Which side of the chessboard?
From the very beginning, he had never intended to be a chess piece.
Nor had he intended to become a blade in the chess player's hand.
In the Investiture of the Gods game, the Saints used all living beings as pieces.
The Heavenly Dao used the Saints as its tethers.
Hongjun sat higher still, watching the six Saints place their pieces, watching the Three Teachings contend, watching Humanity's Dao change its ruling dynasty.
But the path Gu Changqing sought had never been about winning a game for anyone.
What he intended to overturn was the entire table.
Inside the Ruined Temple.
Tongtian waited quietly.
He was in no hurry.
A Saint had patience enough.
But the next moment, a voice finally emerged from the clay Divine Statue that had remained silent for so long.
The voice was soft.
And faint.
Yet it fell directly into the depths of Tongtian's Divine Soul.
"A solution?"
As those words rang out, the ashes in the Incense Burner rose without any wind.
Tongtian's gaze sharpened slightly.
The Primordial Purple Patterns between the Divine Statue's brows suddenly blazed.
That voice sounded again, so calm it bordered on indifference.
"If you remain confined to this chessboard in the Investiture of the Gods, naturally every path leads to death."
"But however much you contend, all you ever fight over is three inches on the board."
Tongtian's fingertips stirred.
A wisp of azure sword intent emerged of its own accord.
The voice within the Divine Statue slowly pressed down.
"The chessboard itself is merely something inside a cage."
"For a game inside a cage, what solution could there be?"
Boom!
For the first time, the Immortal Slaying Sword intent behind Tongtian shuddered beyond his control.
Countless hairline cracks instantly split the ground throughout the Mass Burial Grounds.
Tongtian stared at the Divine Statue, every trace of amusement gone from his eyes.
He asked, enunciating each word:
"This cage you speak of, fellow daoist-do you mean the Heavenly Dao, or the Purple Heaven Palace?"