In the boundless chaos, Qing Ling arrived at a formless expanse of chaos.
Then, he meditated silently, connecting and drawing upon the Chaos Self deep within the chaos.
Far away, the Chaos Self suddenly opened its eyes. With movements of its palms, it grasped the world. The void rippled, and the power of the world locked onto a distant target, teleporting the Primordial Self across endless chaos.
Qing Ling smiled, "Thank you for your hard work."
The Chaos Self's expression was devoid of emotion. "This is unnecessary."
Qing Ling shook his head, "After witnessing the divine abilities of the Sages, I must be extremely cautious. Even their names cannot be uttered, lest their terrifying power, which transcends fate and controls time and space, discover your existence before our grand plan can be realized!"
The Chaos Self nodded, "It is your plan, not mine."
Qing Ling's expression faltered for a moment, a hint of helplessness. He had placed all his rationality into the Chaos Self, ensuring it would not be swayed by power and would not harbor dissent due to prolonged separation.
However, the Chaos Self, as a result, only recognized two judgments: right is right, and wrong is wrong. What is yours is yours, and what is mine is mine.
"Enough of this," Qing Ling said. "Your magic power is stuck at the Thirty-Third Heaven, unable to advance further. You still need my assistance."
The Chaos Self's expression remained flat. "Will dual cultivation allow me to break through?"
Qing Ling nodded. "You and I are one. If our two bodies merge, we can generate supreme power. In the grand scheme of the Primordial World, you will naturally become my fallback."
Upon hearing this, the Chaos Self closed its eyes and sat cross-legged. Qing Ling's Primordial Self also sat cross-legged. Their four palms faced each other, the wood path connecting, and their origins mingling and merging.
Behind the Primordial Self, the wood path's Buzhou Mountain appeared, with the wood path of the Heavens flying above. Countless threads of roots connected to countless wood-elemental beings, manifesting on the wood path's Buzhou Mountain.
Behind the Chaos Self, the World Tree grew robustly. The Hunyuan Golden Cauldron above it vibrated, and endless Hunyuan Qi devoured the surrounding wind, water, fire, and earth, transforming it into wood and injecting it into the shadowy illusion of the World Tree. Illusions of great and small worlds interwove, giving rise to life.
Between Qing Ling's two bodies, their realms communicated, and their primordial spirits became one. The Primordial Self's primordial spirit poured the comprehension of higher-level magic power and laws into the Chaos Self.
As a result, the Chaos Self's magic power surged rapidly. The accumulated magic power, which had been stagnant at the Thirty-Third Heaven for a long time, began to ascend towards the Thirty-First Heaven realm.
In the Primordial World, the Demon Emperor and others returned to the Heavenly Court.
The Heavenly Court now possessed five quasi-Hun Yuan powerhouses. In terms of high-end combat strength below the Sages, the Demon Race was half the Primordial World.
The Demon Race's prestige once again soared. Even though they had suffered some loss of fortune from the slaughter of the Human Race, they had recovered due to the addition of two quasi-Hun Yuan beings, and their fortune had become even greater.
Thus, the fortune of the Demon Race reached its destined peak!
The Demon Race flourished, while the Witch Race declined. With one rising and the other falling, no one held out much hope for the Witch Race.
The Heavenly Emperor was preparing to launch the third Great War between the Witches and Demons. Now, when the Witch Race was weak, why not seize the opportunity to defeat them and further their decline, instead of waiting for them to recover?
However, between heaven and earth, everything has its limits, and the cycle of all things has its time of change.
The fortune and power of the Demon Race had reached their highest point. After extreme prosperity, came decline!
Because the Demon Race had reached the highest point possible for their race, if they could not advance further, it meant regression and only decline.
Extreme prosperity leads to decline.
Of course, this decline was not instantaneous but rather a gradual process over time.
It was precisely at the peak of the Demon Race's fortune that Lao Tzu made his decision.
Lao Tzu decided to seek enlightenment. His enlightenment would bring heavenly signs, and the Demon Race would certainly not dare to wage war under the signs of a Sage. To do so would be to insult the Sage.
When a Sage appears, the heavens and earth should rejoice. If the Demon Race were to cause rivers of blood and mountains of corpses at such a time, where would the Sage's reputation be?
Lao Tzu descended from Kunlun.
In the East, the ancestor of all mountains, Kunlun, stood as the origin.
At the peak of Kunlun's ancestral脉, purple qi surged throughout the Primordial World.
As Lao Tzu descended from Kunlun, he encountered a spiritual beast, a green ox with its head bowed, grazing by the roadside. It was the same ox he had ridden when he first traveled the Great Dao across the world.
Now, as he left the mountain, they met again, truly a fated encounter.
"Ox, are you willing to endure hardship and carry me one more journey?"
The green ox was happily grazing. In the past, the masters on the mountain were vigilant, and it could never smell these heavenly treasures. For the first time, for some unknown reason, the masters, big and small, had disappeared from the mountain, so it naturally wanted to frolic.
At that moment, the ox, happily chewing grass, did not even lift its head, muttering indistinctly, "No, no, this old ox finally..."
Halfway through his sentence, it suddenly shuddered. It lifted its head, saw Lao Tzu before it, and then, with a thud, its four hooves knelt, terrified.
Standing before it was the great, great, great master who had once ridden it back to the mountain! And behind him stood the young master whom the great master had taken in.
Seeing the green ox stunned, Lao Tzu smiled, "Are you willing to go?"
"Willing, willing, willing to go! Willing to go! This old ox is willing to go! Great master, please be seated!"
The green ox stammered its reply.
Lao Tzu nodded, unconcerned by the ox's earlier rudeness.
He took a few steps, slowly brushing the grass from the ox's head, and said, "No hurry, no hurry. Everything must begin anew."
Xuan Du, standing beside him, remained silent, having inherited his teacher's taciturn nature.
The green ox, its heart filled with fear, carried Lao Tzu down Kunlun, with Xuan Du following behind.
After descending Kunlun, the green ox was unsure where to go and cautiously asked, "Great master, where are we going?"
Lao Tzu gently stroked his long beard. "We shall head south."
The green ox acknowledged and began to walk with its head down.
After walking for a long time, Xuan Du suddenly spoke, "Green ox, look where you're going."
The green ox raised its head and saw a great sun leaping out of the sea directly ahead. It had somehow gone in the wrong direction.
The green ox was dumbfounded.
Lao Tzu shook his head and chuckled. "You still need someone to guide you."
Saying this, he reached out and took a string of golden rope, handing it to Xuan Du. "Tie this rope to the ox's head, and you lead it from the front."
Xuan Du took the rope, tied it to the ox's head, and walked ahead, guiding its direction as they headed south.
The green ox trod with its four hooves, its gait somewhat wobbly. Lao Tzu, however, remained unbothered, sitting on the ox's back, swaying leisurely, his eyes half-closed, half-open, with no worries, naturally calm and serene, as if he were not on such a solemn journey to seek enlightenment.
In Kunlun Mountain, at Jade Void Palace, Primordial Heavenly Lord bathed and burned incense, offering prayers to heaven and earth. After forty-nine days, he emerged from the Great Void Hall. Outside the hall, his disciples bowed respectfully, "Welcome, Master, back from your retreat!"
Primordial Heavenly Lord smiled lightly and said, "Let us depart."
"Yes!"
The immortals obeyed.
Primordial Heavenly Lord ascended the Nine Dragon Immortelle Wood Sedan. On the sedan, maidens held jade fans, and golden boys offered precious pearls. White Crane Boys stood respectfully to the left, holding the Three Treasures like jade, while Southern Pole Immortal Elder held the Jade Void Glazed Palace Lamp to the right. The Twelve Immortals of Kunlun Jade Void stood on either side of the sedan, each exuding an immortal aura and possessing profound cultivation. Before them, Yellow Turban Warriors carried banners, and behind them, attendants held palace plaques. The procession moved, auspicious clouds arose, golden flowers bloomed everywhere, and exotic fragrances filled the air.
On Kunlun Mountain, after his two elder brothers had departed, Tong Tian took out his Qing Ping sword, bringing the cool breeze of Kunlun in his sleeves. The sword sheathed, he walked alone down Kunlun, a solitary figure.
In the Western Pure Land, on Mount Sumeru, Zhun Ti returned from his meditation with a smile. "Brother, the opportunity for enlightenment has arrived!"
Jie Yin awoke from his great dream and said, "Let us hope it is not but a fleeting dream."
Zhun Ti did not refute but smiled. "A grain of sand, a leaf, a flower, a shadow – all are worlds. A leaf on the Bodhi tree may believe itself to be the world, but in my eyes, it is merely a speck of dust within the Bodhi tree. The Bodhi leaf and the Bodhi tree; we too might be like that Bodhi leaf, only to be laughed at by others under the Bodhi tree. But eventually, flowers bloom and fall, and one must go and see. All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows, like dew or lightning. One must eventually adopt such a view!"
Beside the two Sages, Maitreya, with his round, smiling face, rubbed his bald head. "This disciple is ignorant and does not understand well. However, the three Sages of the East have already set out across the world. Why have you, Master and Uncle, not moved?"
Jie Yin shook his head. "Their Dao lies within the heaven and earth. Our Dao lies only within our own hearts. Therefore, the Three Pure Ones must venture out, to prove themselves to heaven and earth, and to all beings. Our Dao, however, must be proven within ourselves, by seeking answers from our own hearts."