Primordial Era: Reborn Kong Xuan, Steady Cultivation

Beyond the heavens, the Purple Cloud Palace.

The three thousand mortals were still immersed in the profound principles of the Great Luo Three Flowers and the Three Worlds' Convergence. The Daoist aura in the hall was like the sea, and the heavenly flowers and golden lotuses floated and swayed, showing peace and solemnity.

Suddenly, the Styx Ancestor, who was sitting upright on the futon behind him, trembled almost imperceptibly and fell out of his deep state of enlightenment!

He suddenly opened his eyes, a blood-red light flashing in them, and a violent rage almost burst forth. A faint phantom of a sea of ​​blood churned around him, causing the surrounding murderous aura to rise slightly!

Just now, an extremely strong and sudden tremor came from the depths of his primordial spirit, as if something closely connected to his origin and of vital importance had been forcibly stripped away and touched!

The intensity of this tremor was so great that it pierced through the spatial and temporal isolation of Zixiao Palace and the soothing influence of the sage's Dao, directly disturbing his Dao heart!

"What kind of ants dare to touch my possessions?!" A violent thought roared in Styx's heart.

However, just as his anger was about to spiral out of control, he suddenly looked up and gazed at the hazy figure sitting high on the cloud bed, shrouded in boundless mysterious light.

When a sage is before you, his majesty is as vast as the heavens above!

The Styx Ancestor forcefully suppressed the roar that was about to rush to his throat and the movement that almost made him stand up. His face churned with blood for a few breaths before finally settling into a livid calm.

He lowered his eyelids again, concealing the raging blood in his eyes, but his hands clenched tightly in his sleeves, his knuckles turning white.

"What exactly happened?"

He was filled with doubt and unease. It was no small matter that could alarm him even in the Zixiao Palace!

He immediately began to silently calculate in his mind, communicating with the Great Dao of the Netherworld Blood Sea and his own primordial spirit, trying to trace the source of the tremor and deduce the cause and effect.

However, as soon as he moved his finger, he felt an invisible yet supreme barrier enveloping all the secrets of heaven.

The sage Hongjun sat there, and the natural rhythm of the Great Dao emanating from his body disturbed, obscured, and elevated all calculated dimensions.

Styx felt completely lost and empty-handed. He spent a long time trying to deduce the truth, but all he got was a vague feeling that made his heart bleed.

There was a priceless treasure that he was destined to have, but he just... missed it!

It was at this very moment that he was listening to the Great Dao in the Purple Cloud Palace!

"You little thief! That damned little thief!"

Styx roared inwardly, wishing he could tear through the void immediately, return to the primordial world, and drag out that audacious thief who dared to steal the treasures of the Blood Sea while he was away, throw him into the deepest part of the Blood Sea, and suffer the torment of being devoured by the souls of countless Blood Gods, sinking into eternal damnation!

This thought was filled with boundless murderous intent and brutality.

But it was just a thought.

Just as his murderous intent reached its peak, another, grander, and more fundamental desire arose in his heart.

That is the ultimate pursuit of the Primordial Dao and the realm of the Sage!

What the Sage Hongjun is preaching now is the fundamental method to reach that supreme realm!

"It's just a treasure. No matter how precious it is, how can it compare to a sage personally imparting the Dao and directly pointing to the primordial principle?"

His gaze swept over the figures on the six prayer mats in front of him, and over the many fellow cultivators in the hall who were immersed in the Dao realm and whose auras were subtly improving.

If you leave in anger at this moment, not only will you leave an impression of being incorrigible and unable to distinguish between what is important and what is not in the Dao Ancestor's mind, but you will also completely miss this supreme opportunity to lay the foundation for your future path in the Dao!

While others may have made significant progress in their spiritual practice after the lectures conclude, one might stagnate due to momentary impulse, or even miss out on the elusive "secret of heaven"...

How could such a loss be compensated by a single treasure?

Treasures can be found again, and opportunities can be sought again.

But the first lecture at Zixiao Palace said that if you miss it, you miss it forever.

Thinking of this, the Styx Ancestor took a deep breath and slowly loosened his clenched fists.

He stopped calculating, stopped being angry, and even stopped thinking about the lost treasure.

Calm your mind again, and following the Daoist rhyme you heard before, immerse your consciousness once more in the vast and boundless ocean of the Great Dao.

Seated on his nine-layered cloud bed, shrouded in boundless chaotic light, the Dao Ancestor Hongjun could see everything happening in the Zixiao Palace below with crystal clarity, as if reading the lines on his palm, from the depth of the immortals' understanding of the Dao to the fleeting mental tremor of the Styx Ancestor, his secret deductions, and even his final suppression of anger and return to the Dao realm. He had nothing to miss.

A sage is both impartial and discerning.

And in the depths of His eyes, which reflected the past and future of the primordial world and the endless lines of cause and effect, the earth-shattering changes in the depths of the Blood Sea just now, as well as the scene of Kong Xuan holding the Xuan Yuan Water Control Flag and turning into a streak of light to flee the Blood Sea in a panic and head straight for the Northern Sea, were just like a reflection in a water mirror, showing every detail.

Looking at that figure struggling on the edge of the river of fate, yet constantly stirring up unexpected ripples, a trace of thought, almost a whisper of Daoist wisdom, rose in the usually calm and undisturbed mind of Hongjun Daozu:

"The Great Dao is fifty, the Heavenly Evolution is forty-nine, and one is hidden away."

In the primordial world, all things moved according to their predetermined course.

However, if this "one" is restored and the deficiencies are filled, then the operation of the Heavenly Way will reach a more complete and vibrant state...

Only then can I truly borrow the perfect power of Heaven's Way to perform that transcendent act.

With a slight thought, Kong Xuan's entire background, past life karma, and actions from birth to the present, as well as the originally vague destiny that existed in the long river of the future—destined to belong to the Western religion, become the "Peacock King," and ultimately become a mount—all flashed before his eyes...

All of this can be clearly analyzed in the blink of an eye by a sage.

However, interesting changes are taking place.

In Hongjun's "vision", the tributary of the river of fate that represents Kong Xuan's future, which was originally dim but had a clear trajectory, began to tremble slightly after he obtained the Treasure-Dropping Coin, deviating from the predetermined western trajectory.

At this moment, with the acquisition of the Northern Profound Origin Water Control Flag, the tributary trembled violently, becoming blurred and indistinct, and then branching into countless small streams pointing to completely different futures!

Some tributaries disappear into nothingness, some point to unknown dangers, and some even faintly gleam with a light that would make even sages take a second look...

The future, due to the choices and uncertainties involved, is chaotic and unpredictable, full of endless possibilities.

"Is this the meaning of the 'one' that has vanished?" Hongjun Daozu realized in his heart, "Indeed, it contains infinite variables and vitality, and can open up a completely new path beyond the established 'four nines', a path that even the Heavenly Dao cannot fully predict."

For Hongjun, who intended to unite with the Heavenly Dao and then seek transcendence, the existence of this "variable" was not an obstacle, but rather a crucial one.

A "perfect" Heavenly Way that operates entirely according to a predetermined trajectory without any surprises may actually lack the motivation and opportunity for that final leap.

Only when variables exist can the Way of Heaven truly move towards a dynamic, inclusive, and higher level of perfection in the process of responding to, digesting, and integrating these variables.

"This child is very good."

Hongjun's gaze lingered for a moment on Kong Xuan's blurry and chaotic vision of the future, and a profound and indescribable meaning flashed deep within his indifferent eyes.

"Your struggles, your opportunities, the variables you bring about... are all within the Dao, and are all used by the Dao."

He no longer delved into Kong Xuan's specific future, as that was unnecessary and would have lost the true meaning of "variable".

Hongjun withdrew his gaze and focused again on expounding the magnificent path that encompassed "49".

Inside the Purple Cloud Palace, the Daoist chants grew ever more magnificent, and the Daoist charm ever more vast.