The primordial era began with the Upper Cave Man.

The Daoist Ran Deng harbored a deep-seated resentment and worry: the Jade Purity Saint seemed to have tacitly approved of the "primordial" future of the infinite universe, which meant that the Daoist Ran Deng would betray the Chan Sect and join the Western Buddhist sect—a momentous event.

Now, the Western Brahma school has transformed into Buddhism, and Shakyamuni Buddha has been led to the primordial world. Now, after going through countless tribulations in the cycle of reincarnation, he is just waiting for the right time to attain the position of Buddha in Buddhism.

It was the appearance of Buddhism that made Daoist Ran Deng even more worried. Would Master Yuqing really let Him go to Buddhism?

He truly never had such a heretical thought, not even for a moment.

Now it seems that He is being pushed towards Buddhism little by little. Moreover, the Sage Zhunti has extended the Bodhi branch to Him many times, trying to win Him over to Buddhism, or even to create an avatar to become the Dipankara Buddha.

However, the Taoist Ran Deng did not agree. He also asked the Jade Purity Saint, but the Saint only said: When the time is right, you will take it yourself. There is no need to look back or hesitate, lest you miss the heavenly secret.

This makes it clear that the Jade Purity Saint agrees to Him settling in the Buddhist order, even if it means giving up the position of Vice Leader of the Chan Sect.

The Taoist Ran Deng naturally refused and immediately knelt down at the foot of the jade steps of the Jade Void Palace: "I have served my teacher wholeheartedly, why does my teacher abandon me and ignore me?"

"Foolish child, the origin of the Dao is the same. In this world, there are only fellow Daoists. How can there be master and disciple? Our fate was originally in Zixiao Palace, and later in Yuxu Palace. Perhaps in the future, we will witness it at Leiyin Temple? There is no need to worry or fret. The heart of the sage, the heart of Heaven, the heart of the Dao, and the heart of the Buddha are all the same." This is how the Jade Purity Sage advised him at that time.

But this matter had long been an obsession for Daoist Ran Deng. He did not want to leave the Chan Sect. He had poured so much effort into it, how could he leave, how could he abandon it?

He had no intention of questioning or blaming Luo Zu, since these things were very likely future deductions made by the sage under the guise of Luo Zu.

Therefore, blaming Luo Zu is pointless. Why not think of a way to resolve this? If all else fails, you could simply listen to the advice of the Sage Zhunti, create an incarnation, and become the Ancient Buddha Dipankara.

No, if He was in the past, He was not Dipankara Buddha, but rather He was to inherit the Buddha throne of the present Amitabha Buddha. He should be called Dipankara Buddha, the present Buddha, not the past Buddha.

He only needs to wait for the future Buddha Shakyamuni to return after countless eons, and then hand over the throne of the Tathagata Buddha to him.

At that time, the Buddha Dipankara will have achieved perfect merit and become the Ancient Buddha Dipankara, taking over the throne of the past Buddhas. He will attain great wisdom and enlightenment and witness the wondrous realm of primordial chaos with the Dharma of Buddhism. This is the result that the Sage Zhunti deduced for the Daoist Dipankara, and it is also the promise He made.

Unfortunately, the Taoist Ran Deng was unwilling to take the bait, fearing he would choke. It wasn't that he didn't believe in the sage's promise; he simply couldn't overcome his inner turmoil.

If one's obsessions are hard to dispel and hard to resolve, then one cannot enter the Buddhist path and become a Buddha.

Seeing this, the Sage Zhunti naturally knew that a forced relationship would not be sweet, so he prepared to wait for the right time, the right place, and the right people, and finally invited this Buddha, Dipankara.

Today, Daoist Ran Deng will ask the Ancestral Witch Zhu Jiuyin about the future, to see if the Three Sovereigns of the Fire Cloud Cave of the human race can be seen at the very bottom of the River of Time.

If we can see it, it means that the rise of the human race is inevitable. The emergence of the Three Sovereigns of Fire Cloud Cave represents the rise of the human race, while the witch and demon races will eventually turn to dust.

Faced with this result, both the Lich and Demon races felt that Luo Zu's deduction was alarmist and a provocation by human isolationists. Unfortunately, Luo Zu had someone protecting him; behind the human race was the Goddess Nuwa. These great gods of the Lich and Demon races knew this, so they could not cause trouble for the human race and Luo Zu.

But this is a thorn in the side. All the ancestral witches and great witches of the witch clan are keeping an eye on the human race and Luo Zu. Even Hou Yi and Hou Tu are now being secretly complained about by other witch clan gods, who say that they are suspected of aiding the enemy.

If this was a predetermined outcome, Zhu Jiuyin, as the Ancestral Witch of Time, should have been aware of it long ago.

It's time to make arrangements for the future of the Wu tribe as soon as possible; for example, the Wu God Realm should be developed vigorously.

But the Witch Clan hasn't made any moves yet. Now, Daoist Ran Deng wants to push Zhu Jiuyin and the Witch Clan a little harder, to make them "seriously" look at the future, to see if the human race has a place in that distant or near prehistoric future. Or, more seriously, the human race might actually replace the Witches and become the protagonists of the prehistoric world.

But whatever the answer, Daoist Ran Deng would accept it, as long as Zhu Jiuyin could provide it.

As the other great gods followed the questioning of the Taoist Ran Deng, they all looked intently at the Heavenly Realm, where the Great God Zhu Jiuyin sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to meditate in the Wuzhuang Temple.

The great god slowly opened his eyes, which could bring light to the chaotic universe, and then said leisurely: "The Three Sovereigns are the number ordained by Heaven. In the ancient times, there were three sovereigns. Later, the three races of dragon, phoenix and qilin fought for supremacy. After that, there were the three sovereigns of the demon race's Heavenly Court. These are the three powers ordained by Heaven, which are used to stabilize the order of the Great Dao."

"If a new overlord of the primordial world is born in the future, there should also be three emperors or three saints. The three emperors and five emperors of Huoyun Cave that Fellow Daoist Luo Zu deduced are just a reflection of the heavenly secrets."

Who can believe Zhu Jiuyin's claim?

But He is already a symbol of time, He is time itself. He said so, so other great gods can hardly refute it.

We can only listen to it and believe it.

"Among the Three Sovereigns is Fuxi. Do you think the Three Sovereigns do not exist?" Chaos Daoist slowly spoke.

How could the great gods overlook this point, but none of them mentioned it? Now that Chaos Daoist is willing to be the first to speak out, they are also happy to see how the Great God Zhujiuyin will respond.

But the Great God Zhujiuyin simply nodded: "The return of Fellow Daoist Fuxi... is inevitable, but whether he will return with the Holy Throne of the Three Sovereigns is still unknown."

The Three Sovereigns returning the throne to the Holy Ones—isn't Zhu Jiuyin indirectly acknowledging this "factual" future?

"If that's the case, if the Three Sovereigns can truly claim the holy positions, then achieving sainthood through merit is not impossible," the Great Immortal Hongmeng pondered, grasping the key point.

The Great God Zhujiuyin remained noncommittal: "Perhaps it's about taking another path of primordial chaos?"

Now that the Primordial Chaos Realm belongs to Quasi-Saints, the Great Gods no longer pull Saints into this realm, but separate them out.

Therefore, while the Three Sovereigns also had the title of saint, they lacked the substance of a saint. Could they be classified as quasi-saints of the Primordial Chaos realm, merely attaining this realm through special methods?

Many experts' minds began to stir.

If this can prove one's sainthood, then can we also accumulate merit in our respective multiverses? Or is it necessary to accumulate great merit in the primordial era, such as the merit of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors in educating the overlords of the primordial era?

And who said the Three Sovereigns were necessarily human? Besides, who said the Three Sovereigns of the human race were necessarily Fuxi, Shennong, and Xuanyuan? (End of Chapter)