The Senior Actually Threw the Sea-Calming Divine Pearls into a Pond
After the thought flashed through Zhao Gongming's mind,
his heart jolted.
He staggered, nearly collapsing to the ground.
It wasn't as though Zhao Gongming had never seen a Saint.
But at the thought that this young man was a Saint too,
he still couldn't help feeling somewhat stunned.
Under the Heavenly Dao,
excluding Dao Ancestor Hongjun,
there were seven Saints.
The Six Saints of the Heavenly Dao had all been ordained by heaven.
And Empress Pingxin, within the Underworld's cycle of reincarnation, could only be considered a Saint of the Earthly Dao.
All of them, in fact, had been fated to become Saints, with extraordinary origins and profound opportunities.
Only after receiving the Primordial Violet Qi distributed by the Dao Ancestor had they gained the chance to become Saints.
But there had only been six strands of Primordial Violet Qi.
How, then, could this senior have become a Saint?
The moment the thought flashed through his mind,
Zhao Gongming snuffed it out.
"This senior is omniscient and omnipotent, and possesses such grand bearing."
"He's at least a Peak Quasi-Saint!"
Just as Zhao Gongming was thinking this,
not far away, Lin Tian, carrying a packet of tea leaves,
slowly emerged from the thatched hut.
Once again, he stepped on the wooden zither.
Clearly, the wooden zither had faithfully fulfilled its duty as a stepping stone.
As he watched Lin Tian approach and hand him the beige package,
Zhao Gongming hurriedly cupped his hands respectfully and said,
"Many thanks, senior."
With that, he carefully reached out and took the tea leaves from Lin Tian.
The moment he took them in hand,
he sensed an indescribable presence emanating from the tea leaves.
It carried a delicate fragrance and an air of elegance.
Pure Dao resonance faintly surged and ebbed,
and profound laws manifested.
Merely by touching them,
he found incomparably pure spiritual Qi continually drifting toward him.
Even wrapped up, these tea leaves possess such remarkable spiritual power.
No wonder the tea brewed from them has such astonishing effects.
I wonder how the senior made them...
I'm afraid the senior is the only one in the Primordial World who has tea leaves like these.
With these tea leaves, I should be able to advance my cultivation a little further.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind,
a trace of gratitude appeared on Zhao Gongming's face.
Just as he was about to speak, Lin Tian's voice suddenly rang out.
"You don't need to call me senior. We met by chance, like duckweed drifting together on the water, and that in itself is fate."
This time,
when Zhao Gongming heard Lin Tian's words, his heart tightened, and he said in alarm,
"Senior, I cannot."
"My strength is meager, so I naturally cannot overstep the bounds between us."
"I must observe the proper courtesies."
Hearing Zhao Gongming's words,
Lin Tian saw his earnest expression and the way he carefully held the tea packet in his hands,
as though terrified of dropping it.
He immediately understood what Zhao Gongming was thinking.
Perhaps this fellow Daoist comes from a poor family and has had a pitiful life.
He must have suffered plenty of scorn and neglect, and no one has ever treated him so courteously.
So he feels grateful and calls me senior?
At that thought,
Lin Tian couldn't help sighing, a trace of pity flashing in his eyes as he looked at Zhao Gongming.
He stopped dwelling on how Zhao Gongming addressed him.
"Even so, there's no need to be so polite. If you run out of tea leaves, just come back for more."
"There's no need to be so careful."
Lin Tian's casual polite remark
made Zhao Gongming's eyes widen at once, and wild joy flashed in them.
Is the senior going to guide me?!
The excitement in his heart made even his voice tremble.
"Many thanks, senior!"
"I am endlessly grateful."
After all, even though he was the Interception Sect's eldest outer disciple,
he couldn't simply see his master Tongtian whenever he wanted.
When he encountered problems in his cultivation, he had to save them up and wait until he was fortunate enough to see his master before he could ask about them.
He even had to wait in line.
Now that he had received the senior's permission,
he could come whenever he wished.
This is an opportunity!
At that thought,
Zhao Gongming suddenly noticed the somewhat strange look in Lin Tian's eyes.
He froze, then coughed and said respectfully to Lin Tian,
"Senior, the hurricane has passed, and I have important business that requires me to return to my cultivation abode."
"I'll take my leave for now."
"If I have time another day, I'll come visit you again."
After placing the tea leaves in the Instant Pouch, Zhao Gongming spoke courteously to Lin Tian.
Lin Tian didn't press him to stay and waved a hand casually.
Zhao Gongming immediately said, "Senior, farewell."
As his words fell,
Zhao Gongming bowed and backed away until he reached the fence.
Only then did he turn around and step out.
Even after traveling several hundred li away, Zhao Gongming had not withdrawn the presence surrounding him.
When the mountain peak was almost out of sight,
Zhao Gongming finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He withdrew the presence surrounding him.
The power of a Daluo Golden Immortal burst forth in an instant.
Clouds formed beneath his feet, and he rose swiftly before coming to a stop in midair.
"Phew... Although the senior has already recognized my identity and strength,
"I still have to keep up the disguise."
"If I expose my identity, the senior might be displeased."
His appearance restored, Zhao Gongming gazed across the void at the distant mountain peak.
He had engraved that location in his heart.
"Although we didn't talk for long,
"in just those few words, my future Dao was set."
"Thankfully, I met the senior. Otherwise, I would have remained stubbornly blind."
Zhao Gongming thought of what Lin Tian had just told him.
Then he recalled the treasure he had given Lin Tian, and a trace of helplessness flashed in his eyes.
"Sigh, the senior not only gave me guidance, but also a packet of spiritual tea leaves."
"Yet I only gave the senior six Sea-Calming Divine Pearls."
"That really was a little too little."
"But those six were all I had on me."
"After I return to the Interception Sect and report back, I'll bring the other eighteen to the senior as well."
"Together, the Twenty-Four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls will count as a Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure."
"That way, the senior's guidance won't have been in vain!"
Just as Zhao Gongming was thinking this,
his primordial spirit suddenly trembled.
The presence of the Sea-Calming Divine Pearls fluctuated strangely for a moment,
making Zhao Gongming instinctively look toward the distant mountain peak.
With his strength as a Daluo Golden Immortal, he could see the scene atop the peak at a glance.
When he saw what Lin Tian was doing, his expression suddenly froze.
He saw
Lin Tian pick up the six Sea-Calming Divine Pearls from the table.
He rolled them around in his hand for a moment.
Then he tossed the six Sea-Calming Divine Pearls away as though throwing out garbage.
Immediately afterward, they landed right in the courtyard pond.
There wasn't a single splash.
The pond quickly fell still.
Zhao Gongming: "..."
The corners of his mouth twitched, and his eyes were full of astonishment.
"Senior, what are you... doing?"
"Those are six Sea-Calming Divine Pearls!! They're comparable to half a Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure!"
"When unleashed, they can even possess the power of the four seas!"
"They can also emit Five-Colored Radiance, dazzling an enemy's spiritual senses and five senses, with power as immense as that of the four seas!"
"...How could you use them to feed the fish!?"
Zhao Gongming's face fell, and he felt that the senior was recklessly squandering heaven's gifts.
But
just as he was thinking this,
another terrifying thought suddenly sprang into his mind!
Huh?
Wait!
Even without all twenty-four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls, their power can't be underestimated!
Why was there not even the tiniest splash when they were thrown into the senior's pond?!
"!!?"
"Could this little pond suppress an Innate Spiritual Treasure!?"
At that thought, Zhao Gongming's expression changed drastically!