Honghuang: My understanding is beyond belief. I am the first immortal of Jiejiao.

After a domineering "admonition," Indra was left speechless, his face turning pale and then red. In the end, he could only shut his mouth in frustration, his disgust for the White Lotus Boy and his anxiety about his own situation reaching their peak.

Seeing this, Lin Zhu seemed even more "anxious". He suddenly raised his voice and shouted at the White Lotus Boy.

"White Lotus Boy! You act so arbitrarily, have you ever consulted the opinions of your colleagues?! Perhaps they know things you don't?! Bitter medicine is good for the disease, and honest advice is hard to hear but beneficial to conduct!!"

He firmly believed that as long as the White Lotus Boy was willing to listen to the opinions of others, there was still room for maneuver. The system also seemed to be subtly hinting to him that good people would be rewarded.

As if in response to Lin Zhu's "call," the void behind the White Lotus Child rippled slightly, and several figures appeared. Leading the group was the Vajra Yaksha King, with an indigo face and a fierce aura. Beside him were several Arhats with equally profound auras, at least at the Great Luo level.

Their faces were filled with urgency and solemnity, clearly alarmed by the recent events and rushing over.

As soon as Vajra Yaksha King appeared, his gaze was fixed on the head and the struggling primordial spirit in the hands of the White Lotus Child. His expression changed drastically, and he said urgently.

"White Lotus Child! Stop! That Ao Lie is the West Sea Dragon..."

"presumptuous!!!"

However, he had barely begun to speak when he was abruptly interrupted by an even more furious roar from the White Lotus Child!
The White Lotus Child suddenly turned around, his childlike eyes, bloodshot from killing and excitement, staring intently at Vajra Yaksha and the others, his face filled with fury at being "offended" and extreme impatience.

"Who gave you permission to come out?! Who allowed you to point fingers here?! Do I need to explain myself to you?! Do I need to hear your opinions?! Who do you think you are?!"

He pointed at Vajrayaksa's nose, his voice sharp and piercing.

"I am the guide of the sage! Representing the sage's will! What are you people? How dare you instruct me on how to do things? Huh?! Get back here! If you utter another word, don't blame me for punishing you for 'disobeying the imperial decree and disrupting the morale of the army'!!"

This merciless, almost insulting rebuke was like a bucket of cold water poured over their heads, causing Vajrayaksa and the other Arhats to instantly turn red in the face, their chests to heave violently, and their eyes to be filled with resentment, anger, and disbelief!

Who are they? They are the renowned Dharma Protectors of Mount Ling in the Western Paradise! They are highly accomplished and revered Arhats!
Even before the Buddha, who treated them with great respect, how could they have ever been subjected to such public and merciless insults and belittlement? This White Lotus Child is nothing more than a newly ascended Quasi-Saint, a tyrannical brat who relies on his status as a Saint's Child to act arrogantly. How dare he be so domineering?!
The group trembled with anger, pointing their fingers at the White Lotus Boy.

"you you……"

After a long pause, he swallowed back his words, hampered by the other party's status as a "saint's child" and the possibility that he might actually possess a "decree."

In the end, all they could do was glare at the White Lotus Boy with an extremely indignant, disappointed, and even somewhat sorrowful look, snort coldly, turn around and transform into streaks of Buddhist light, leaving this suffocating place of right and wrong without looking back.

In the distance, the three wrathful Buddhas, hidden in the deeper layers of Buddha's light, watched this scene. Their three wrathful faces simultaneously revealed a helpless expression of "as expected." They gently shook their heads and whispered to the Buddhas beside them, whose expressions were equally solemn.

"See? I told you so, this boy... he's got a screw loose. We've done all the necessary reminders, more than enough. The rest... we'll leave it to fate."

The Buddhas remained silent, their eyes filled with worry.

Having dismissed his "troublesome" subordinates, the White Lotus Boy felt even more exhilarated, as if his "authority" had been further consolidated.

He turned around, looked at Lin Zhu, and his mockery deepened.

"See that? Lin Zhu, these are the 'good-for-nothings' and 'cowards' of my Western Paradise! Location determines perspective. They can only stay in their small corner of Mount Ling, their vision is pitifully low! No matter how powerful the background of these little monsters who appeared out of nowhere is, can it be greater than my Western Paradise? Can it be greater than the Sage of Reception? How laughable!"

He raised the struggling, weakening primordial spirit in his hand, his tone filled with a condescending sense of superiority.

"The most important task at present is to force you, Lin Zhu, to surrender and fulfill the Sage's decree! My mission is ten thousand times more important than your identity, Lin Zhu, or your pitiful schemes! Their vision is only fit to see the immediate gains and losses, while my vision extends beyond the Three Realms! It is supreme!"

As he spoke, he pointed towards Lin Zhu, and with his other hand, his five fingers began to slowly tighten, and the glazed Buddhist light burned even more intensely on the pale golden dragon-shaped primordial spirit in his palm!
"Ugh—!!!"

The primordial spirit let out an even more shrill and painful wail, its light rapidly dimmed, and its form began to become blurry and unstable.

"Did you see that? Lin Zhu!"

The White Lotus Child's face was filled with cruel mockery.

"This is the 'life' you risked your life to save! In my hands, it's like an ant! Now, his primordial spirit is about to shatter!"

His fingers suddenly clenched tightly!
"Pop—!"

A very faint sound, yet it seemed to resonate on the level of the soul, like the popping of a bubble.

In the palm of his hand, the pale golden dragon-shaped primordial spirit was completely shattered under the crushing force of the violent glazed Buddhist light, turning into countless tiny specks of light, which were then swept away by the Buddhist light and annihilated without a trace!
Body and spirit... both perished!
"Ha ha ha ha!!"

The White Lotus Boy spread out his empty palms and burst into wild laughter, his voice filled with the triumphant joy of a victor and the ultimate humiliation of Lin Zhu.

"His primordial spirit is shattered, his true soul annihilated! He will never be reborn! Lin Zhu, do you still want to protect him?! What bargaining chips do you have left?! If you don't surrender immediately, your fate will be the same as his! No, it will be even worse! I will crush all your hopes, bit by bit!!"

Lin Zhu stared at the completely dissipated primordial spirit light, then at the White Lotus Child's face, contorted with extreme excitement. He slowly, deeply took a breath, and then shook his head with immense weight and heartache, as if witnessing the most regrettable tragedy in the world. He forced out two words through clenched teeth: "A...sin...ah..."

At the very moment the White Lotus Child crushed the primordial spirit of the White Dragon Ao Lie, in an endless, distant place, in a deep darkness where even time seemed to stand still, or rather, in the deepest part of an ancient, cold, and desolate star river that had stretched for countless epochs...

A pair of dragon eyes, enormous beyond imagination, seemingly slumbering for eternity, covered with thick dust and the frost of time...

Slowly...

He opened his eyes.

At first, there was an ancient blankness and emptiness in the golden vertical pupils, as if it had not yet fully awakened from a long slumber.

But soon, that confusion was replaced by an instinctive throbbing. Deep in his pupils, he saw a faint yet clear wave of lamentation and annihilation that had traveled across endless time and space when something connected by blood was completely annihilated.

Immediately afterwards, boundless anger and icy killing intent, enough to freeze stars and make all worlds tremble, like a volcano dormant for billions of years, began to silently, yet terrifyingly, gather and churn deep within those ancient dragon eyes.

In the depths of darkness, the enormous dragon eyes, ancient and seemingly bearing the dust of all time since the beginning of time, opened completely, and the anger within them quickly transformed into a raging fury that would burn the heavens!
A deep, angry roar, seemingly from the end of time and space and suppressed for countless epochs, exploded in the absolute silence of darkness, like the roar of billions of stars collapsing at the same time, yet strangely echoed only on a level beyond mortal perception.

"West—Heaven—!!"

"Betrayal of faith!! Slaying my descendants! Severing my karmic ties!!!"

Every word seemed to carry the thunder and storm of the primordial chaos, containing an ancient rage that even the Great Dao could not fully bear!
That was not just about the death of a junior dragon, but also about the Western Paradise Buddhist sect so decisively severing the crucial causal link between the dragon race and the new era's destiny through the Journey to the West plan, thus preventing their revival! This was a complete betrayal and a declaration of war!
"Roar--!!!"

It was as if responding to the roar, or as if a slumbering behemoth had been awakened by the roar of its companion.

In an instant, centered on the first pair of dragon eyes to open, in this seemingly boundless abyss of darkness, one after another, enormous eyes of varying sizes, colors—gold, red, black, or blue—all ancient and containing terrifying power, lit up like wildfire!
With each pair of eyes opened, an ancient and powerful aura, dormant for countless eons, awakened, like clusters of vibrant, life-giving flames of the soul igniting in a deathly abyss, flames powerful enough to incinerate the world!

These auras intertwined, forming a terrifying pressure that made even the laws of the heavens retreat and caused all living beings in the world to tremble instinctively!
This is a secret place that existed before Mount Buzhou was destroyed, a hiding place chosen by the ancient continent before the concept of reincarnation existed. Inhabited here are the first innate deities born at the beginning of time, alongside the Phoenix, Qilin, and other races, who once truly ruled the primordial world—the true, ancient Dragon Clan!

They once soared through the heavens and roamed the seas, enjoying the purest and most primal spiritual energy of heaven and earth. They witnessed the devastation of the Dragon and Phoenix Calamity and the rise and fall of the Lich Wars.

Since then, they have chosen to keep a low profile, hiding in the deepest and most secret place of all the heavens and myriad realms, concealing their claws and teeth, settling their bloodline, and almost completely fading from the sight of the three realms.

Only when an immeasurable calamity affecting the entire Three Realms arises will they secretly take action, subtly influencing the course of the battle in an imperceptible way, betting on who they believe to be the possible victor, thereby maintaining the existence and continuation of their race, and waiting for the arrival of a true opportunity for revival.

The Journey to the West was the glimmer of hope they had waited for countless years! For this reason, they did not hesitate to push out Ao Lie, the third prince of the West Sea, who was the most promising and had the purest bloodline among the younger generation of their clan, to reach an agreement with the Western Heaven and embed him in the grand drama concerning the operation of the Heavenly Dao, in order to share the merits and fortune and continue the glory of the Dragon Clan.

However, this glimmer of hope has now been extinguished by the Western Paradise itself, in the most cruel and brutal way!
Descendants killed! Cause and effect severed! This is no longer a simple breach of contract, but a naked provocation and declaration of war!
"Awooo—!!!"

"Sing—!!!"

From the depths of the abyss, the roars of dragons began to rise and fall, from low to high, from anger to chilling killing intent! The ancient dragons, who had been sleeping, were utterly enraged!

The next moment, nine dragon shadows, each a different color but equally enormous and exuding an aura that could dim the stars, suddenly soared into the sky from the endless dark abyss!

The Crimson Dragon is like fire, burning away the void; the Azure Dragon is like wood, severing all life; the White Dragon is like sharp metal, cleaving through the laws; the Black Dragon is like mysterious water, annihilating all things; the Yellow Dragon is like thick earth, suppressing heaven and earth... There is also the noble Purple Dragon, the ferocious Blood Dragon, the icy Silver Dragon, and the gentle Jade Dragon, yet it harbors deadly intent!
Nine colossal dragons, representing the nine oldest and most powerful primordial bloodlines of the dragon race! Their bodies are tens of thousands of miles long, with chaotic energy flowing between the opening and closing of their scales, their claws capable of tearing apart spatial barriers, and their whiskers causing ripples in the Great Dao!

They no longer concealed themselves, no longer lay dormant! Carrying the rage accumulated over countless epochs and the supreme power of being one of the most powerful beings since the beginning of time, they broke through the endless void and rushed towards the location of the Western Heavenly Spirit Mountain, which they sensed in the darkness!

Wherever the dragon's might passed, the heavens trembled! Along the way, the countless beings in the minor and middle worlds that were attached to the main world, regardless of their cultivation level or race, all felt the most primal fear and awe rising from the depths of their souls, and involuntarily knelt on the ground, trembling!
Some beings with low cultivation or weak will were even directly shattered by the terrifying pressure, their souls scattered and they died on the spot! The true wrath of the dragons had not yet arrived, but its power had already made the Three Realms change color!
Meanwhile, at the Great Thunder Temple on Mount Ling in the Western Paradise.

The solemn and dignified Buddhist temple was now devoid of its usual peaceful chanting and tranquil Zen atmosphere.

A nameless palpitation and unease, like an invisible dark cloud, shrouded the hearts of every Buddha, Bodhisattva, and Arhat.

The Buddha, seated on the nine-tiered golden lotus throne, suddenly felt his right eyelid twitch violently without warning. One twitch, two twitches, three twitches... It made him restless and uneasy! At his level, he had long since transcended worldly calamities. Even the slightest sensation in his physical body often foreshadowed a major change concerning himself and even the fate of his entire sect!
"A twitching left eye means good fortune, a twitching right eye means bad luck... Amitabha, could it be..."

The Buddha forcibly suppressed his unease, but the ominous premonition grew stronger and stronger.

He vaguely sensed that some extremely terrible calamity, closely related to the Western Paradise, was happening or about to befall him!
"Bring the round mirror!"

The Buddha could no longer remain seated and shouted in a deep voice.

Immediately, a Vajra warrior standing guard presented an ancient bronze mirror with a restrained luster and countless images of the Buddha preaching carved along its edges. The Buddha made hand gestures and chanted incantations, infusing the mirror with a pure and vast Buddhist power.

The surface of the bronze mirror rippled like water, light and shadow shifting, quickly retracing and displaying the scene of the battlefield before the Snowstorm City in Jambudvipa. The image was incredibly clear, even capturing the subtle fluctuations of breath and sound. (End of Chapter)