Chapter 671: Primordial Daoist Lord

He was silent for a moment, his voice still steady. "The Taiyin Profound Mirror Dao Fruit does indeed have some connection to my Daoist Techniques. I once expended great effort to divine its trajectory. That you were able to seize it is your destiny, and also a testament to your ability."

He paused, looking directly at Xu Yunfan, his gaze calm and unwavering.

"Naturally, I am displeased."

His frank admission of his feelings actually allowed Xu Yunfan to relax slightly.

"But as you said, you were in a desperate situation with your Dao on the line. In the pursuit of a sliver of hope for survival, no measure is too extreme. This is the norm in the Cultivation Realm."

"Besides,"

True Monarch Pu Du's tone shifted. "The matter is now settled. That Dao Fruit has already fused with your Divine Sky Golden Core, making them inseparable. Am I really going to destroy the foundation of our Sect's newly ascended Divine Sky True Monarch just to seize something that is now useless to me?

Harming others without benefiting myself and pointlessly draining the Sect's vitality—such is not the way of the wise.

Let this matter be concluded. There is no need to speak of it again."

'Harming others without benefiting oneself... such is not the way of the wise.'

Xu Yunfan mulled over these words, gaining a clearer understanding of True Monarch Pu Du's character.

'It's perfectly in line with the Primordial Sect's character: utterly pragmatic, a man who places benefit above all else.

As long as the benefits are great enough, or the costs too high to bear, a mortal enemy one moment could be greeted with a smile the next.

Likewise, with enough temptation or threat, the current harmony could shatter in an instant.

This True Monarch had clearly calculated the overall interests of the Sect versus his own personal gains and losses with extreme precision.

To give up the Taiyin Profound Mirror Dao Fruit in exchange for the support and stability of a newly ascended True Monarch with immense potential—one who had also just eliminated a major hidden threat to the Sect—was clearly a worthwhile trade in True Monarch Pu Du's calculations.

As for whether he had other schemes in mind, that was impossible to know.'

An expression of immense relief immediately appeared on Xu Yunfan's face, mixed with gratitude and just the right amount of a junior's apology toward a senior.

'As the saying goes, if you're going to put on an act, see it through to the end.'

"True Monarch, your magnanimity is boundless. I am endlessly grateful. I will surely remember your forgiveness today. If you have need of me in the future, I will do everything in my power to assist."

'Of course, one had to say all the right pleasantries.'

"Good."

True Monarch Pu Du nodded, seemingly quite satisfied with Xu Yunfan's attitude.

His tone shifted. "Since the matter is settled, you may go and select your Immortal Mountain. Once you have chosen, a Steward will open the mountain gate and tend to the Earth Vein for you. The Sect's scrolls of law and custom will also be delivered to your residence shortly."

"I will obey, True Monarch."

Xu Yunfan bowed again and prepared to take his leave.

"Wait."

True Monarch Pu Du suddenly spoke, stopping him. A deep, enigmatic smile appeared on his face.

"I seem to have forgotten something. Since you are now a True Monarch of our Sect, you are qualified to have an audience with the Daoist Lord's Dharma Aspect. Come with me."

'The Daoist Lord?'

'The Primordial Daoist Lord!'

Xu Yunfan's heart trembled violently. This was the legendary being who had founded the Primordial lineage, an existence that was Beyond the Material World, residing in some unknown dimension.

He forcefully suppressed the turmoil in his heart and replied, "As it should be."

True Monarch Pu Du rose to his feet. With a single step, he was already outside the grand hall.

Xu Yunfan hurried to follow.

True Monarch Pu Du did not use any earth-shattering Escape Technique. He simply walked at a slow pace. With every step, a wisp of Cloud Qi would naturally form beneath his feet, allowing him to stroll through the air toward a deeper, more secluded area behind Chenghua Mountain, where the fluctuations of Law were fainter.

Xu Yunfan followed closely behind, his body transforming into a flash of lightning, maintaining a safe distance in case the other party launched a sudden attack.

'Even though his opponent was at the Mid-Stage Golden Core realm, he was confident he could escape if he needed to run.

Putting everything else aside, his mastery of Arrays, aided by the Attribute Panel, was enough to allow him to escape in an instant.'

Before long, a simple, ancient hall appeared before them, constructed entirely from massive, dark grey stones of unknown origin.

The hall was not magnificent; it even seemed somewhat low and crude. There was no plaque or inscription on the lintel, only a profound, mystical glyph that seemed to have been formed naturally, containing the True Intent of the primordial beginning.

The air here was filled with an ancient, desolate aura.

This was the great sacrificial hall where the Primordial Sect worshipped the Daoist Lord.

The Primordial Palace.

True Monarch Pu Du stopped before the palace gate, his expression becoming incredibly solemn and devout. Gone was any trace of his usual compassion or indifference, replaced only by a deep-seated reverence that came from the bottom of his heart.

A Daoist Lord.

No amount of reverence was excessive.

He straightened his robes and performed the most formal of Daoist Sect rites, bowing three times and kowtowing nine times toward the palace gate.

Only after completing this ritual did he rise and say to Xu Yunfan, "Compose your Heart and Spirit and clear your mind of all stray thoughts. Follow me inside. Remember, you must not have a single blasphemous thought."

The palace gate, so heavy it seemed to have been refined from the core of a star, silently slid open a crack after True Monarch Pu Du's devout chanting and the casting of a Dharma Seal.

An even more ancient and vast aura, one that seemed to contain the birth and death of the cosmos, rushed out to meet them.

Xu Yunfan took a deep breath, retracting the power of his Divine Sky Golden Core to its absolute limit. With his Heart and Spirit clear and pure, he followed True Monarch Pu Du into the hall.

The hall's interior was vast and empty, devoid of any ornate decorations. Only in the very center stood a shrine, also carved from the same dark grey stone.

Within the shrine, there was no specific idol or memorial tablet, only a swirling mass of light and shadow that constantly shifted between creation and annihilation.

This play of light and shadow had no fixed form. At times it was like a vapor, at others like an egg. Sometimes it would manifest a scene of the world's creation, and other times it would return to absolute nothingness.

With just a single glance, Xu Yunfan felt his own Golden Core begin to thrum violently, his Divine Soul on the verge of being sucked into that endless cycle of creation and Reincarnation, as insignificant as a speck of dust.

"Kneel. Worship with a sincere heart and offer your Heart Fragrance."

True Monarch Pu Du's solemn voice echoed in the empty hall as he himself once again knelt in respectful worship.

Xu Yunfan did not dare to hesitate. He immediately did as he was told, composing his Heart and Spirit and clearing his mind of all distractions as he performed the great rite of three bows and nine kowtows before the chaotic mass of light and shadow.

With each kowtow, he focused his Heart and Spirit, silently reciting his own yearning for and reverence of the Primordial Dao.

As he rose from his final kowtow, a strand of incomparably pure Heart Fragrance naturally condensed at his fingertips. It was a fusion of his most fundamental Divine Thought and Magical Power, carrying with it the True Intents of Divine Sky Destruction and Profound Vault Undying. Respectfully, he offered it to the chaotic light and shadow.

In the instant that strand of Heart Fragrance was about to merge with the light and shadow...

VMMMM!

An indescribable and irresistible feeling of being watched suddenly descended upon him.

It was as if from above the nine heavens, beyond endless time and space, a pair of unimaginably majestic and ancient eyes had pierced through countless barriers to fall upon Xu Yunfan.

In an instant, Xu Yunfan felt as though the gaze had seen through him completely—from his physical body to his Divine Soul, down to the Divine Sky Golden Core he had painstakingly refined within him. Everything, inside and out, past and future, was laid bare.

It was a gaze billions of times more profound than True Monarch Pu Du's.

An immense fear originating from his very Life Origin seized him in an instant, nearly suffocating him.

Under this gaze, he felt more insignificant than a speck of dust. His life and death rested on the other's single whim.

He instinctively wanted to circulate his Golden Core to resist, but he immediately and forcefully suppressed the impulse.

Before such an existence, any resistance was futile and might even lead to his annihilation.

He could only struggle to keep his Heart and Spirit from collapsing, maintaining his posture of offering the incense. He allowed the gaze to inspect him, his mind filled with nothing but pure reverence and submission.