Jieyin and Zhunti
Just as Jieyin and Zhunti stepped into the Purple Firmament Palace, Hongjun suddenly woke from his deep contemplation of the Dao.
"Jieyin and Zhunti have arrived?" Hongjun's slightly bewildered gaze swept over the area outside the Purple Firmament Palace.
Then he saw a crowd of mighty figures from the Primordial World waiting outside the Purple Firmament Palace.
"Why aren't they coming in... Damn, I became absorbed in cultivation again and forgot to send a message to the attendants telling them to open the doors." Hongjun immediately realized what had happened.
Some hundreds of thousands of years ago, Hongjun had paid the enormous sum of an Innate Supreme Treasure, more than a dozen Innate Spirit Treasures, and numerous Innate Spirit Roots to obtain a fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation from Ao Changsheng.
Perhaps Ao Changsheng only knew that he had made a huge profit.
But he did not know just how excited Hongjun had been at the time.
Having traveled the Primordial World for hundreds of millions of years, Hongjun had long since gathered nearly all the other fragments of the Jade Disc of Creation.
The only one missing was a fragment that Yangmei had kept hidden all along.
Thus, after obtaining the final fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation from Ao Changsheng, his Jade Disc of Creation became whole.
And ever since the Jade Disc of Creation had become whole again, its effects had far exceeded his original expectations.
Whenever Hongjun contemplated the Heavenly Dao, he would become immersed in its vastness without realizing it.
Had he not previously made some arrangements concerning Jieyin and Zhunti, the two who were fated to arrive last,
he might well have forgotten about this sermon altogether.
However, looking at the mighty figures of the Primordial World, who had all arrived, Hongjun could no longer carry out the little scheme he had originally prepared.
"Forget it. It was never important to the larger picture anyway." Hongjun shook his head slightly and sent a message to his attendants, telling them to open the doors of the Purple Firmament Palace.
The doors of the Purple Firmament Palace slowly opened, and two Daoist attendants, a boy and a girl, walked out.
To the astonishment of the mighty figures from the Primordial World, both attendants were actually at the Daluo Golden Immortal realm.
Quite a few Early Daluo mighty figures from the Primordial World could not help blushing. Their cultivation could not even compare to that of the two attendants of the Saint.
"The appointed hour has arrived. The Purple Firmament Palace is open!"
"By the Saint's decree, all may enter the Purple Firmament Palace. No clamor is permitted."
The two attendants proclaimed in loud voices.
Through the doors of the Purple Firmament Palace, the mighty figures could clearly see what lay inside.
Looking in from a distance, they saw several thousand meditation cushions arranged in neat rows within the not particularly large Purple Firmament Palace.
At the far end of the several thousand cushions stood a raised platform radiating a profound, rich Dao charm.
None of the mighty figures from the Primordial World present were fools. With a single glance, their eyes all fixed on the six cushions closest to the platform.
After making their proclamation, the two attendants moved directly to either side of the doors, clearing the way.
As if they had received a signal, the numerous mighty figures all rushed forward at once.
However, their cultivation varied. The Early and Middle Daluo cultivators all knew their own limits; only the Late Daluo and even Perfection Daluo Golden Immortals had any thought of competing for the six cushions at the very front.
Among the mighty figures, the first to stand out were none other than the Three Purities of Pangu, three people as one.
With three Perfection Daluo cultivators and the supreme treasure that was the Heaven and Earth Black and Yellow Exquisite Pagoda, the three pushed straight through the crowd.
They sat directly on the three cushions at the very front.
Though the mighty figures were deeply unwilling to accept it, the sight of the defensive supreme treasure, the Heaven and Earth Black and Yellow Exquisite Pagoda, above the three men's heads immediately extinguished their thoughts of fighting for the seats.
Immediately afterward, two figures bearing the presence of the great sun burst from the crowd. With an ancient, chaotic great bell above their heads, they charged toward the next two cushions.
"These seats belong to us brothers." Working together, Eastern Emperor Taiyi and Dijun broke through the crowd. They were on the verge of sitting down on the cushions, and delighted smiles had already appeared on their faces.
Just then-
"Haha, you two feathered beasts had better come back here!"
In the crowd, twelve Daluo figures exuding an ancient, vast presence brazenly joined forces and dragged the two men back just as they were about to sit down.
The Witch Race-the Twelve Ancestral Witches!
As a force that could be considered the strongest in the Purple Firmament Palace, the twelve had, to everyone's surprise, shown no intention of fighting for the cushions. Instead, they had stopped Dijun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi.
"Witch Race bastards..."
The smiles vanished from Dijun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi's faces, and they flew into a rage.
The Twelve Ancestral Witches had joined forces to pull them back. Even though the two were among the Primordial World's rare Perfection Daluo cultivators and possessed the Chaos Bell, a Heaven-Opening Supreme Treasure,
they were clearly no longer capable of competing for the cushions at the front.
Looking at the furious Dijun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi, the Twelve Ancestral Witches hid their accomplishments and names, turned around, and sat down on cushions in the middle rows, smiling as they watched the two men.
Although this epoch had only just begun, the Witch Race had emerged, and the Demon Race had also begun to take shape under the leadership of Dijun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi.
The two forces had clashed in the Primordial World more than once or twice.
The Witch Race revered neither heaven nor earth; they had only ever revered Pangu.
Although they had come for the Saint's sermon, they had no intention of vying to get to the front.
So at a time like this, of course they had to make things difficult for their opponents!
The sight made the eyelids of quite a few nearby mighty figures twitch.
Who the hell said the Witch Race had no brains and only knew how to rush into fights?
Look, weren't their brains working just fine?
With Dijun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi, two strong contenders for the cushions, eliminated, quite a few Perfection Daluo cultivators were secretly delighted.
But what happened next instantly ruined their good mood.
No one had expected Fuxi, a Perfection Daluo cultivator, to give up his chance to compete for the sake of his younger sister.
He single-handedly held all the other Daluo back for an instant, pushing Nüwa onto the fourth cushion.
With only two cushions left, many of the Primordial World's mighty figures felt as if their hearts were on fire, each wanting to rush forward and sit down.
But as they obstructed one another, not a single mighty figure could break out of the crowd for the moment.
Ancestor Hongyun and Ancestor Kunpeng, renowned for their speed, lacked powerful Spirit Treasures to protect themselves and were blocked by the other Daluo.
Meanwhile, Daluo such as Ancestor Minghe and Zhenyuanzi, who possessed powerful Spirit Treasures, lacked the speed to get ahead and could not beat everyone else to the cushions.
For a time, the situation reached a standstill.
Just then, however, two figures appeared eerily a short distance from the cushions and sat down on them before any of the Daluo could react.
"Uh..."
The Daluo who had still been fighting for the seats stared dumbstruck at the two figures on the cushions.
Looking closely, who else could the two figures be but Jieyin and Zhunti, the last two to arrive outside the Purple Firmament Palace?
What stunned the Daluo most was that the two had not managed to sit down because of powerful Spirit Treasures or exceptional strength, but because...
They had taken a detour!
That was right. Rather than flying straight toward the cushions like all the other Daluo, they had taken a slightly roundabout route along one side of the Purple Firmament Palace.
"Fellow Daoists, I am Zhunti. Many thanks to you all for yielding to us this time!" On his cushion, Zhunti turned slightly and gave the Daluo a smiling salute.