Chapter 77 Primal Wrath

Kunlun Mountain, Yuxu Palace.

Chi Jingzi knelt in the center of the main hall, his knees hitting the white jade floor tiles with a dull thud.

Before him lay several dull fragments—the wreckage of the imitation taiji diagram.

Its spiritual light was completely extinguished, making it worse than scrap metal. His right hand was still shaking; it hadn't stopped since he flew the thirty thousand miles from Zhaoge back to Kunlun.

Above the hall, upon the cloud bed, Yuanshi Tianzun sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

He did not speak.

There was no need to speak.

The pressure of a Saint poured down like a physical weight, making the very air in Yuxu Palace feel as if it were sinking.

Chi Jingzi's back bent lower inch by inch until his forehead touched the cold floor tiles, sweat dripping from the tip of his nose.

Beside the jade pillars on both sides, the Twelve Golden Immortals, including Guangchengzi and Taiyi Zhenren, stood in formation. No one made a sound.

Chi Jingzi gritted his teeth and recounted every detail of his trip to Zhaoge.

"...Your Disciple trapped his Divine Soul with the imitation taiji diagram; his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering should have been a certainty."

"However, an unknown Dao charm protected his body. Not only did he survive, but he even achieved a Breakthrough in his cultivation within the Magic Treasure's space—"

"A Breakthrough to what Realm?"

Yuanshi Tianzun spoke. His voice wasn't loud, sounding like a stone dropped into a deep pool.

Chi Jingzi's throat bobbed.

"Taiyi Peak."

Silence filled the hall for three breaths.

Guangchengzi's brow twitched. Taiyi Zhenren's fingers tightened inside his sleeves.

Master Huanglong subconsciously took half a step back.

Chi Jingzi continued, his voice growing lower and lower.

"He tore through the barrier from within the Magic Treasure. I struck down with a full-power palm, but he neutralized dozens of moves with a chessboard Domain."

"Twice my Daluo Divine Thought attempted to probe him, and twice it was repelled. The stinging pain in my Primordial Spirit from the second time has yet to fade. Finally—"

He paused.

"The Three Xiaos arrived with the hunyuan golden bucket. I was no match for them and retreated."

Retreated. That was a polite way to put it.

Guangchengzi added in his mind: He came crawling back like a beaten dog.

Yuanshi Tianzun opened his eyes.

"You say that Dao charm was... ancient, profound, and stood above all laws?"

Chi Jingzi kept his forehead pressed against the floor tiles.

"Your Disciple has cultivated for ten thousand years and has never seen such a Dao charm. It is superior to any Cultivation Technique of our Chan Sect..."

The words reached his lips, but he swallowed them back.

Yuanshi Tianzun said it for him.

"Higher."

A single word.

The temperature in the hall plummeted, and a thin layer of frost condensed on the surface of the jade pillars.

The Twelve Golden Immortals all lowered their heads, not daring to breathe loudly.

Yuanshi Tianzun closed his eyes, using his Saint magic power to deduce the heavenly secrets.

In the direction of Zhaoge, a thick mist obscured all threads of Karma regarding Chen Yuan.

He could recognize part of the mist's nature—the handiwork of the Jie Sect. His troublesome Junior Brother, Tongtian, was muddying the waters.

But not entirely.

Mixed within the mist was another trace.

Something even more ancient, heavier, as if it had existed before the Primordial Chaos was even split open.

Yuanshi Tianzun's fingertip paused on his knee for an instant.

He did not voice that judgment.

But that sliver of unease in his heart had not appeared for a very long time.

The last time was before the Great War of the Liches and Sorcerers.

"Revered Master."

Guangchengzi took a step forward and cupped his fists.

"Your Disciple believes there is no need to rush into a direct confrontation."

Yuanshi Tianzun did not negate him, his gaze falling upon him.

Guangchengzi looked up, a sharp light restrained in his eyes.

"No matter how strange Chen Yuan's cultivation is, he is ultimately only in the Taiyi Realm. A single Taiyi is insignificant, whether he is killed or not."

"What is truly problematic is the hunyuan golden bucket in the hands of the Three Xiaos, as well as their Nine Bends Yellow River Array."

"If we take direct action, it would give Junior Martial Uncle Tongtian an excuse to start a war."

Chi Jingzi, kneeling on the ground, moved his lips but didn't dare to interrupt.

Guangchengzi continued.

"Your Disciple has investigated recently; Emperor Yi has long been suspicious of Chen Yuan."

"He has already begun laying plans to suppress him—bestowing a marriage, transferring his father, and filing impeachments. Three strikes in a row. Why not just go with the flow?"

His voice dropped another notch.

"Plant a Disciple in Zhaoge to approach Emperor Yi as an official, pushing that suspicion one step further."

"As long as Emperor Yi acts personally in his name as the Human King, the Jie Sect will have no reason to point their spears at Kunlun."

"The Human King killing a subject—that is the internal affair of the Human Race."

The hall was silent for five breaths.

Yuanshi Tianzun looked at Guangchengzi, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes.

"Go and do it."

Guangchengzi took the order and turned to leave.

He had only taken two steps when a Divine Thought suddenly rang in his mind.

It was Yuanshi Tianzun's voice, audible only to him.

"—The hidden piece entering the court is the obvious move. You personally take two Disciples and lie in wait outside Zhaoge City."

"If Chen Yuan falls into a desperate situation and the Three Xiaos cannot protect him in time—"

The Divine Thought paused for a moment.

"Strike. You must erase this variable before the Jie Sect can react."

Guangchengzi didn't stop his pace, giving a slight nod.

After walking out of the hall, he stood on the corridor for a moment, his gaze scanning the group of third-generation Disciples waiting under the eaves.

Finally, his gaze landed on a handsome young Daoist in the corner.

"Yin Pobai."

The young Daoist stepped forward and bowed: "Junior Martial Uncle."

Guangchengzi sized him up for three breaths. This person's cultivation was in the Heavenly Immortal Realm, but he was proficient in rhetoric and political maneuvering, excelling at reading people's hearts.

"Pack your things. Tomorrow you will enter Zhaoge and seek an audience with Emperor Yi as a scion of a noble family."

A light flashed in Yin Pobai's eyes as he lowered his head to accept the order.

Guangchengzi tossed him a bamboo slip.

"This is the record of 'correspondence' between that Chen Yuan and the various tribes of Eastern Yi. Do it carefully; don't let Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong's Heavenly Eye see any flaws."

Yin Pobai unfurled the bamboo slip and scanned it, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Rest assured, Junior Martial Uncle, even the age of the ink will be perfect."

——

That same night.

Jinao Island, deep within Biyou Palace.

Daoist Qingping sat alone on a prayer mat, the horsetail whisk in his hand moving without any wind.

His eyes were closed, his face calm, but a very faint golden light flickered at the center of his brow.

Deducing the heavenly secrets.

In the direction of Kunlun, a subtle fluctuation of Luck was converging toward Zhaoge.

Its form was extremely well-hidden, like fine rain soaking into the soil, silent and unnoticed.

Had he not been the benevolent corpse of Tongtian Jiaozhu and at the Half-Saint level, he wouldn't have sensed it at all.

"My second brother's Disciples have begun to move."

Daoist Qingping opened his eyes and took out a blank Jade Slip.

Magic power condensed at his fingertips as he carved eight words into it.

"Water-Fire."

Beside the prayer mat, Water-Fire Boy stepped forward at the call and took the Jade Slip with both hands.

"Deliver this to Yunxiao. Go and return quickly."

Water-Fire Boy nodded and turned into a streak of light, disappearing into the night sky.

Daoist Qingping watched him leave and closed his eyes again.

The horsetail whisk tapped lightly against his knee.

"That child Ziyuan..."

He murmured to himself, leaving the sentence unfinished.

Now that the chess game had reached this stage, it was time for his Disciple to make his own move.

——

Zhaoge, the backyard of the Chen Manor.

The hour of the Rat had just passed.

When Yunxiao received the Jade Slip, she was sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard with a cup of cold tea before her.

She unfurled the Jade Slip, and eight words met her eyes.

"Kunlun's hidden pieces have entered Zhaoge; beware the blade of the Human Dao."

Yunxiao gripped the Jade Slip in her palm; with a surge of immortal power, it crumbled into dust and scattered with the wind.

She did not alert Bixiao or Qiong Xiao.

Nor did she go to the bamboo building to wake Chen Yuan, who was currently regulating his breath.

The courtyard was deathly quiet. The wind blowing through the bamboo grove made a rustling sound like someone whispering.

Yunxiao stood up and walked to the window of the bamboo building.

The window paper reflected a sitting shadow, back straight and breathing long and steady.

Magic power flowed smoothly through his Meridians, and the faint light of the Great Dao Golden Wheel seeped through the cracks in the window, casting bits of golden light on her face.

Inside her sleeve, the hunyuan golden bucket vibrated slightly.

Yunxiao pressed down on it, her fingertip stroking the cold rim of the bucket.

She stood under the window for a long time.

The moonlight stretched her shadow long, overlapping with the sitting shadow in the bamboo building before separating again.

Finally, she turned and walked back to the stone bench, sat down again, and picked up the cup of cold tea.

She didn't drink it.

She just held it.

Under the moonlight, the lights of the myriad households in Zhaoge City were extinguished one by one.

Emperor Yi's transfer order, the Chan Sect's hidden pieces, the Jie Sect's warning, Chen Yuan's chess game—all the lines were converging toward the same point.

And at that point sat a youth in white, eyes closed as he regulated his breath.

His breathing was very steady.

Like the final calm on the surface of the sea before the arrival of a storm.