Wisps of blue smoke curled upward through the dilapidated temple.
Three sticks of ordinary incense stood quietly in the ash-laden incense burner.
Sect Master Tongtian stood before the Divine Statue, his blue robes hanging loosely, and bowed to a clay statue to seek instruction with the courtesy of a disciple.
If word of this scene spread, the entire Primordial World would tremble.
Saints stood high above all others, enduring as long as the Heavenly Dao, imperishable through countless tribulations.
They were the pinnacle all living beings looked up to, the embodiment of the Dao.
Who had ever seen Sect Master Tongtian bow his head to anyone?
Yet today, he had done exactly that.
Because he had finally seen one thing clearly.
The Saint's body he took such pride in merely made him a somewhat stronger prisoner within the Heavenly Dao's cage.
The brotherhood he cherished had long since been factored into a deadly scheme.
The countless disciples he sheltered had already been written onto a list of sacrifices.
The road ahead was pitch-black.
His retreat had been cut off.
And the being behind this Divine Statue seemed like the only light shining in the darkness.
Even if that light led into a deeper abyss, he had to seize it.
Because staying where he was meant only death.
Inside the Main Temple at Guanjiangkou.
Gu Changqing's divine sense clearly received this incense offering.
It was no ordinary incense offering.
It was the yearning to seek the Dao offered by a Heavenly Dao Sage after his Dao Heart had been utterly shaken.
Heavy. Pure. Astonishingly vast.
Almost at the same instant, system notifications rang out in a frenzy.
[Ding! Detected Heavenly Dao Sage Sect Master Tongtian offering Saint-tier Dao-seeking incense!] [His Dao Heart has suffered an unprecedented shock. He has developed a strong acceptance of the host's Dao teachings!] [Epic ten-thousandfold critical hit return triggered!] [This return is among the highest-tier rewards the host has received since transmigrating!] [The system is calculating...]
Gu Changqing's gaze flickered slightly.
He knew the truly great gift had arrived.
[Congratulations to the host on obtaining: ten billion years of pure cultivation!] [Congratulations to the host on obtaining: Sect Master Tongtian's insights into Saint-level Dao laws (complete version)!] [Congratulations to the host on obtaining: the slaughter essence of the Four Immortal-Slaying Swords and their formation diagram (system-replicated version)!] [Congratulations to the host on obtaining: one wisp of primordial violet qi (pure)!] [Congratulations to the host on obtaining: access to unlock the epic quest-"Guide the Interception Sect Beyond Transcendence"!] [Congratulations to the host on obtaining: volume one of the supreme cultivation art, "Mythic Great Luo Technique" (can be bestowed)!]
Boom!
A string of rewards exploded within his sea of consciousness.
Gu Changqing's breath caught slightly.
Ten billion years of cultivation.
A complete set of Saint-level Dao laws.
The essence of the Four Immortal-Slaying Swords.
Primordial violet qi.
And volume one of the Mythic Great Luo Technique.
This time, what the system had given him was no ordinary return.
It was a foundational method powerful enough to rewrite a Saint's destiny.
Gu Changqing understood at once.
This was a true opportunity to spread his teachings.
An opportunity to lead Sect Master Tongtian fully onto his own path.
Once he bestowed this volume, Tongtian would no longer be merely the Saint of the Interception Sect.
He would become the first propagator of the Mythic Great Dao, its first guardian.
Only then would this game of chess truly begin.
Chaoge, the Ruined Temple.
Tongtian remained bowed, but his gaze never left the Divine Statue.
He was waiting.
Waiting for an answer.
And for a path.
Just as tension tightened around his mind, the clay Divine Statue finally spoke.
"The path to transcendence..."
The voice was faint, yet it seemed to fall directly into the depths of his Saint soul.
"The path has always been there."
"You simply cannot see it yet."
Tongtian's mind shook, and he bowed even lower.
"Please, senior, guide me out of this bewilderment."
The Divine Statue fell silent for a moment.
As though deciding something.
Only after a long while did that voice slowly sound again.
"Very well."
"Since you possess this heart that seeks the Dao, I shall bestow upon you a volume of scripture."
"This method does not borrow from the Heavenly Dao, does not sever the Three Corpses, and does not entangle itself in karma."
"It cultivates only the self, taking your own heart as the furnace and your own Dao as the heavens."
"When cultivated to its pinnacle, a single thought can open chaos and establish all laws. Even the Heavenly Dao will be no more than something held in your palm."
"This method is called-"
"The Mythic Great Luo Technique."
As the words fell.
An indescribably profound radiance shot from between the Divine Statue's brows.
That radiance was neither gold nor violet.
It seemed like a mote of primal essence peeled away from the first opening of heaven and earth, tranquil, pure, and astonishingly ancient.
Ignoring space and time, the radiance instantly sank between Tongtian's brows.
Boom!
Tongtian felt his Saint soul shudder, as though his entire being had been cast into a boundless ocean of Dao teachings.
Countless runes, Dao traces, and principles poured madly into his sea of consciousness.
He saw them.
He saw towering beings beyond all description, enthroned above the endless River of Time and Space.
With each breath they took, universes were born and destroyed.
A single glance from them could divert the river of time.
Their very existence formed the foundation of infinite multiverses.
That was-mythic great Luo.
Before those beings, the realm of the Primordial World was so tiny that it scarcely warranted mention.
Tongtian's Saint soul trembled.
For the first time, he truly realized.
The Saint Dao Fruit he took such pride in was merely a speck of dust in a greater world.
If those earlier words had let him see the cage.
Then this Mythic Great Luo Technique had placed the starry sky beyond that cage directly before his eyes.
Only after a long while did Tongtian slowly come back to himself.
The chaotic radiance between his brows had faded, becoming a scripture of utmost profundity, branded deep into the essence of his Saint soul.
It was volume one of the Mythic Great Luo Technique-the Foundations Volume.
A cursory examination was enough for him to know that this method was utterly different from all the arts of the Mystic Gate.
It did not seek the Heavenly Dao.
It did not rely on anything external.
It only required the cultivator to continually elevate his own existential standing and condense
a mythic concept of his own.
The stronger the concept, the greater the power.
"Thank you, senior, for bestowing this method."
Tongtian bowed again.
This time, he prostrated himself fully.
From that moment onward.
In his heart, the Mysterious Being before him could no longer be encompassed by the mere word "senior."
He was a path that could truly break the Heavenly Dao's cage.
And the only path by which his Interception Sect might escape.