Living in the deep palace

next moment.

A streak of light flew out from the white jade tower and landed at the entrance of the Red Dust Inn.

The fleeting light faded away.

An old man with white hair and beard, dressed in a Taiyi Taoist robe, appeared.

It was none other than the Transmission Elder of Taiyi Dao Palace, the Mysterious Immortal—Gu Chenzi!

A hundred years ago, he was merely a "true immortal".

A hundred years later, he had become a "mysterious immortal"!
He is the true "Heaven" in this "Tian Shu Star Region"... apart from the lofty "Dao Ancestor"!
Gu Chenzi has arrived!

He didn't even glance at the Feng family members who were being suppressed in mid-air.

His eyes, filled with the weight of life's experiences, were fixed on the person inside the Red Dust Inn, who had their back to him and was still drinking tea by themselves...

A figure in a blue robe.

Gu Chenzi's Dao body was trembling!

His Dao heart was pounding wildly!

His divine consciousness was wailing!
he……

He can't "see" it!
Behind that figure in blue, what he "saw" was not a "person".

It's the "universe"!
It's "Jianmu"!
It is that new sun that hangs high above the "Taiyi Daotai" and has illuminated the starry sea for a hundred years!
It is the source of the "order of heaven and earth"!

"thump--!"

This "mysterious immortal"!
This "Ancient Grandmaster Uncle" is worshipped by millions of cultivators!
Under the incredulous gazes of hundreds of thousands of mortal cultivators in the "New Fire Ancient City"!

actually……

My knees buckled!
Facing that figure in the blue robe...

Five-body cast!

He knelt down!

"No...unworthy disciple, Gu Chenzi..."

Gu Chenzi's forehead was pressed firmly against the cold bluestone slab, his "mysterious immortal" voice filled with endless "fear" and "dread":
"Knock...knock to greet you..."

"Dao Ancestor!!!"

……

"The Dao...the Dao Ancestor?"

"Did I hear that right...?"

Feng Xiaotian, the Nascent Soul ancestor of the Feng family, was completely dumbfounded.

Taoist Ancestor?

Which Taoist patriarch?

In this vast starry sky, over the past hundred years, who can be called the source of the "Tao"?

Who else is qualified to make Gu Chenzi, the only second-realm immortal in the Star Sea who is above all living beings, prostrate himself and worship as if he were a god?

Answer……

This sea of ​​stars holds only one answer!
"boom--!"

Feng Xiaotian's nascent soul trembled violently, as if struck by billions of chaotic divine lightning bolts simultaneously. His Dao heart, which had been as solid as a rock after hundreds of years of trials and tribulations, crumbled inch by inch at this moment!

He thought of it!

He came up with an explanation that was so absurd it was beyond his wildest imagination, yet it was the only reasonable one at that moment!
that……

A hundred years ago, he sat atop the Taiyi Dao Platform, transforming himself into a new sun, illuminating the starry sea, ending the calamity, and recreating the path of immortality...

The teacher of all immortals, the source of all paths!
"god"!
"No...no! This...this is impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

Feng Xiaotian went mad. His nascent soul twisted in mid-air, his features contorted, his expression one of extreme terror, even surpassing death itself.

His son, Feng Shaoyu.

His son, on whom he had placed high hopes and who was praised by the immortal master Gu Chenzi as the "Pearl of the Heavenly Pivot"...

What did you just do?
Feng Xiaotian frantically recalled the words, each one like a red-hot branding iron, searing into his soul.

"Get out."

"To cut off one's own arm."

"My father is Feng Xiaotian, and Immortal Master Gu Chenzi is my honored guest!"

he……

He actually dared to threaten the "Dao Ancestor"?!

He actually dared to make the "Dao Ancestor"... cut off his own arm and get out of Xinhuo Ancient City?!
“Ahhhhh——!”

Feng Xiaotian felt no anger, no resentment, only...

despair!

This is not "offending the emperor".

This is……

An ant, an insignificant ant that survives only by basking in the sunlight, actually... spat at the "sun" that nurtures all things!
madness!

That's incredibly stupid!

Feng Xiaotian didn't even dare to look at Su Chen's back, fearing that if he only glanced at him, his nascent soul would be burst by the boundless "Dao".

"You beast...you beast!!" His heart was bleeding.

At this moment, outside the "Red Dust Inn," the hundreds of thousands of mortals and cultivators, after experiencing a deathly silence that lasted for three breaths, finally... erupted!

"The Dao Ancestor?!"

"What...what did I just hear? Ancient Immortal Master...he...he called that senior in green robes...Dao Ancestor?!"

"Is it...is it 'that' Dao Ancestor?!"

"Oh my god!!"

The first to react were not the high and mighty cultivators, but rather the mortals kneeling on the ground who were closest to them.

"Plop! Plop! Plop!"

The sound of kneeling and worship, like a landslide and a tsunami, resounded throughout the ancient city of Xinhuo at that moment!
This time, it's not about kneeling before Gu Chenzi.

It refers to everyone, whether mortal or cultivator, whether outside a restaurant, on the street, or at their own window...

At that moment, everyone who could see in the direction of "Red Dust Inn" turned their gaze towards that figure in green robes...

Crazy!
Five-body cast!

Kowtow!

"Greetings, Dao Ancestor!!"

"May the Dao Ancestor be well!!"

"The Dao Ancestor... the Dao Ancestor has descended upon the Ancient City of New Fire!!"

The sound converged into a tidal wave of faith, almost overturning the "sky" of this ancient city!
What did they see?
them……

They actually witnessed the "true form of the Dao Ancestor" in the mortal world!
This is not an illusion, not a legend, not a blurry shadow on the high platform of the Taoist palace, but something real and right before our eyes...

"god"!
What an incredible stroke of luck!

And what is it...?

"Fearful!"
Those diners who had been pointing and whispering about Su Chen outside the restaurant, mocking him for being blind and ridiculing him for being "mortals who do not know the power of immortals," now buried their heads in the ground and kowtowed with all their might. Their foreheads slammed against the bluestone slabs, drawing blood, but they dared not stop, as if this could atone for their sin of "blaspheming the Dao Ancestor."

"I...I was wrong...I just...I was laughing at him..."

"Shut up! Do you want to die? How could the Dao Ancestor possibly stoop to our level... But... but we... we actually dared to criticize the Dao Ancestor..."

"Stop talking! Kneel! To see the true form of the Dao Ancestor, even death... would be worth it!"

Inside the Red Dust Inn.

Amidst the deafening roar of kneeling and repentance, Su Chen finally put down the cup of tea that had long since gone cold.

"Snapped."

The teacup fell on the table.

The sound was not loud.

But at that moment, it clearly drowned out the clamor of hundreds of thousands of people in the city.

The thunderous chants of "Holy Ann" abruptly ceased.

The entire Xinhuo Ancient City, along with the kneeling Xuanxian Guchenzi and the limp Feng Shaoyu, seemed to have been frozen in time.

Time and space seem to be waiting.

Su Chen ignored the thunderous kneeling worship behind him, and also didn't look at the now-crippled playboy.

He, slowly...

Turned around.

His dark, deep eyes, as calm as the eternal starry sky, for the first time looked directly at the person kneeling before him, whose "Mystic Immortal Body" was trembling violently...

Gu Chenzi. "Gu Chenzi."

Su Chen spoke.

The voice was soft and calm, like an old friend catching up after a long time apart.

Yet it clearly entered the consciousness of everyone present.

"It's been a hundred years."

"You...you've really made something of yourself."

Six simple words.

There was no murderous intent, no anger, not even a question.

But these six words almost caused Gu Chenzi's indestructible "Mysterious Immortal Dao Fruit" to "shatter" on the spot!
"Disciple...disciple knows his crime!!"

Gu Chenzi kowtowed frantically, and the hard bluestone floor was dented one deep pit after another by his "mysterious immortal" body!

"Disciple...disciple has mismanaged! Disciple...disciples have not been strict enough!"

"This disciple...is ashamed before the Dao Ancestor's grace!!"

"This disciple... deserves to die a thousand deaths!!"

He is afraid!

He was really scared!

What he feared wasn't that Su Chen would kill him. At his level, he had long since become indifferent to life and death, let alone dying at the hands of the "Dao Ancestor," which could even be considered a kind of "return."

What he feared was the "disappointment" in Su Chen's eyes!
A hundred years ago, he was just a "last true immortal" who was "running out of oil and his lamp was burning out." It was Su Chen's "Law of Life" that gave him a new life. He was also blessed with the divine grace of the "Dao Ancestor" and listened to the Great Dao, which allowed him to become a "Mysterious Immortal".

Su Chen is his "mentor"! He is his "faith"! He is the "source" of his "path"!
And now...

He, however, brought shame upon "faith".

"You... know your crime?"

Su Chen slowly walked up to Gu Chenzi, lowered his head, and looked down at the "Mystic Immortal" he had personally promoted.

"Tell me, what crime do you... know about?"

“Disciple…” Gu Chenzi paused, then suddenly looked up, tears streaming down his face:

"The disciple's fault lies in 'arrogance' and 'indulgence'!"

“Disciple…disciple thought that with the revival of the immortal path, we should ‘encourage and support the younger generation’ and ‘set up benchmarks’…but we forgot…forgot the ‘fundamental’ principle of ‘Dao heart’!”

"This disciple has sat high in the clouds for a hundred years, enjoying... enjoying the worship of ten thousand immortals, thinking himself an 'elder of the Dharma transmission,' but forgetting the suffering of the mortal world!"

"That's why...that's why 'Feng Shaoyu' and other such...such...such 'beasts' were born!"

He finally understood.

He thought he was "managing" the immortal path.

As everyone knows...

Unwittingly, he became the "protector" of that "new immortal class"!
Why does Feng Shaoyu dare to be so arrogant?

Isn't it because he, Gu Chenzi, publicly praised Feng Shaoyu as a "Heavenly Pivot Pearl" three years ago?!
Isn't it because he, Gu Chenzi, accepted Feng Xiaotian's "offerings" and tacitly approved the Feng family's special status in Xinhuo Ancient City?
“Dao Ancestor…” Gu Chenzi said sadly, “This disciple was wrong. This disciple… forgot the ‘root’.”

Su Chen watched him quietly.

"You are wrong."

Su Chen's voice finally turned cold.

"But you're wrong about more than just 'forgetting your roots'."

"Your mistake is that you forgot about 'immortals'—and why they are 'immortals'!"

Su Chen's voice suddenly rose, like the sound of the Great Dao, causing even Gu Chenzi's Xuanxian body to tremble.

"I pass down the 'Taiyi Immortal Path' for the sake of 'protection'! For the sake of 'inheritance'! For the sake of 'humanity'... so that everyone can be like a dragon!"

"I have bathed you in divine light so that you may protect those 'compatriots' who have not yet awakened!"

"I have entrusted you with this power so that you may end the old order of 'survival of the fittest'!"

"Instead of..."

Su Chen's gaze slowly swept over Feng Shaoyu, who was slumped on the ground, defecating and urinating, over Feng Xiaotian, who was suppressed in mid-air and whose nascent soul had withered, and over the countless "terrified" "cultivators" in the city.

"...instead of making you the new 'Calamity'!"

"I will make you the new 'evil spirits'!"

"Let you, high and mighty, 'keep' them, 'oppress' them, 'bully' them..."

“Your 'compatriots'!”

"boom--!"

"A new 'calamity'!"
These four words, like a heavy hammer of the "Great Dao," struck Gu Chenzi and Feng Xiaotian hard in their hearts!

Feng Xiaotian's vision went black, and his nascent soul nearly collapsed on the spot.

"No! Dao Ancestor, spare my life! This disciple...this disciple dares not!"

Gu Chenzi completely collapsed!
he……

In fact, in the eyes of the Dao Ancestor, he had become a "kindred spirit" of "Heavenly Calamity"?!

This is a "judgment" that is even more terrifying than "death"!
This is a complete denial of his century-long "cultivation"!
Su Chen shook his head.

The "depression" in his heart turned into a sigh.

He had thought that with the revival of the immortal path, humanity would prosper. But he never imagined that in just a hundred years, power and influence would be enough to corrupt the heart of a "mysterious immortal."

"Gu Chenzi".

"Disciple is here! Disciple accepts punishment!" Gu Chenzi kowtowed heavily.

"I will punish you."

“From this day forward, you are no longer the ‘Elder of Transmission’ of the ‘Taiyi Dao Palace’.”

"Ah..." Gu Chenzi's Dao heart trembled. This position of "Elder of Transmission of the Law" was the symbol of his century of glory and the cornerstone of his status as a "Mysterious Immortal".

However, he dared not utter the slightest complaint: "Disciple... obeys the decree."

“I will not kill them either.” Su Chen pointed to the limp Feng Shaoyu, and then to Feng Xiaotian in mid-air.

“What…” Feng Xiaotian was stunned, then overjoyed? No, it was a deeper fear.

Dao Ancestor, don't kill him?
"I will cripple Feng Shaoyu's path to immortality."

Su Chen said it casually, as if he were talking about a trivial matter.

"Then it is up to you, Feng Xiaotian, to cripple your 'Nascent Soul'. Your Feng family will be forbidden from cultivating immortality for the next hundred years."

Upon hearing this, Feng Xiaotian actually breathed a sigh of relief.

By abandoning their own nascent soul, the Feng family has been unable to cultivate immortality for a hundred years.

This……

This is "kindness"!
It is the "benevolence" of the "Taoist Ancestor"!
He didn't destroy the Feng family's "gate," he only crippled the Feng family's "immortals"!
"Yes! Disciple... no! Sinner Feng Xiaotian... obeys the decree!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Feng Xiaotian, under the suppression of the "Mysterious Immortal," was unable to even self-destruct his Nascent Soul, but he did shatter his "Dao Foundation" on the spot!
"puff--"

The flame of the nascent soul has been extinguished.

He preserved the "bloodline" of the Feng family.

Su Chen's gaze returned to Gu Chenzi.

"And you, Gu Chenzi."

“Your ‘punishment’ is… ‘teaching’.”

"Teach?" Gu Chenzi was taken aback.

“I want you to shed your ‘Mysterious Immortal’ robes, transform into a ‘mortal,’ and retrace the ‘Immortal Path’ in this ‘New Fire Ancient City’.”

“I want you to ‘see,’ to ‘hear,’ and to ‘understand’…”

"What, is this the 'Tao' I passed down!"

"I want you..."

At this moment, Su Chen's voice was no longer confined to this small inn, but transformed into the "decree" of "order," becoming a golden "divine pattern" in the sky above "New Fire Ancient City."

Do not!
It's not just the new ancient city!
At this moment, throughout the entire "Azure Star Sea," whether it was the patriarchs in seclusion, the disciples undergoing trials, the warships sailing in the star sea, or the cultivators walking in the mortal world...

A solemn, dignified, and grand voice resounded simultaneously in everyone's "sea of ​​consciousness"!

Su Chen's figure seemed to merge with the entire "Great Dao" at this moment.

“There is a difference between ‘immortal’ and ‘mortal’.”

"But the 'Dao Heart' is without difference!"

"I, Su Chen, the Grand Ancestor of Taiyi, hereby establish the 'Laws of Immortals and Mortals'!"

"From this day forward, throughout the vast cosmos and the starry seas, all that lies under the rule of my 'Taiyi Immortal Path'..."

"Any cultivator who deceives mortals without cause is guilty of the same crime as one who deceives immortals! They shall suffer the tribulation of inner demons!"

"Any cultivator who kills a mortal without cause is guilty of treason! Their foundation should be destroyed, and they will be condemned to eternal damnation!" (End of Chapter)