A voice swept across the Primordial Great Earth, vibrating not just through the air, but through the very fabric of the soul. It reached the highest heavens and the deepest abysses, vast and boundless as the sea.
In an instant, the world transformed. Golden flowers drifted from the void, and from the parched earth, countless golden lotuses bloomed, exhaling a fragrance that could wash away a thousand years of fatigue. High above, a figure flickered within a shroud of endless Profound Yellow Qi—the primordial essence of merit.
Mysterious chords of the Dao rose in a celestial symphony. Every living being, from the smallest insect to the ancient gods, felt the shift in the universe's balance.
"Holy crap... Hongjun actually did it."
Ling Xiao stood beneath the Fusang Tree, his neck craned toward the sky. The phenomena were blinding, a display of power that made even the Sun Star feel like a flickering candle. His gaze grew complicated.
It was happening. The clock on the Witch-Demon Calamity had officially started ticking.
In the chronicles he had read, this was the beginning of the end. The era would peak with the rise of the Yao and the Witches, only to collapse in a war so violent it would shatter the Honghuang into fragments. From the zenith to the ruin.
"Who is this 'Hongjun'?" Dijun asked, his voice thick with awe. He looked at the golden light blanketing the world. "What is a 'Saint'? Even from here, I can feel a supreme, crushing might."
"Second Brother, Third Brother," Tai Yi added, his eyes burning with a mix of reverence and desire. "Should we go? If we could hear even a word of a sermon from a being like that, our cultivation would surely explode."
Ling Xiao let out a weary, wry chuckle. "Eldest Brother, Second Brother... do you even know where Zixiao Palace is?"
The brothers blinked. Ling Xiao gestured toward the horizon, past the blue veil of the atmosphere. "To reach his palace, one must cross the Chaos beyond the Thirty-Third Heaven. Zixiao Palace exists in a place where time is eternally fixed. To enter, one must be capable of leaping out of the River of Time itself."
"Simply put: if you aren't a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, you'll be ground into dust by the Chaos before you even see the gate."
The brothers went silent. Dijun looked at his hands, realizing that despite his progress, he was still a "mortal" in the eyes of the highest heavens. "Then... we wouldn't even make it in time?"
"Even for me," Ling Xiao lied gently, "crossing the Chaos would take a thousand years. By the time we arrived, the seats would be cold."
In truth, Ling Xiao's heart was firm. He didn't want to meet Hongjun. To the first Saint of Heaven, a third Golden Crow was a glaring anomaly—a glitch in the matrix. If Hongjun decided to "correct" that glitch, Ling Xiao's journey would end before it truly began.
[Ding! Choice Triggered: The Exodus to Zixiao.]
[Option 1: Set off immediately for Zixiao Palace. Reward: Yellow Core Plum (Top Ten Innate Spiritual Root).]
[Option 2: Remain steady. Be a slacker on the Sun. Reward: Fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation.]
Ling Xiao felt a twinge of irritation. The System really wants me out there, he thought. The Yellow Core Plum was a legendary treasure—a single fruit could catapult a cultivator straight into the Grand Unity Realm. It was the ultimate lure.
But he wasn't biting. "System, I choose Option Two."
Safety was a treasure that no fruit could buy.
The Great Migration
As Ling Xiao settled back into his meditation, the rest of the Honghuang erupted into motion.
On the slopes of Mount Buzhou, three figures sat in a circle. One was an old man with hair as white as a crane's wing, one a majestic man in his prime, and one a youth with a sharp, rebellious aura.
"A Saint has emerged before us," the youth, Tongtian, said. "This Hongjun possesses great Luck. Brothers, why don't we go? The Dao has no rank; the first to arrive is the teacher."
The middle-aged Yuanshi frowned, his pride as a Direct Lineage of Pangu bristling. "We are the orthodox bloodline. How can we bow to another?"
The eldest, Laozi, finally opened his eyes. "Stop. Tongtian is right. We are slow in our progress. If there is a path forward, it is our duty to find it."
On the Taiyin Star, the Lunar Sisters had finally achieved the Grand Unity Realm.
"Sister, we must go," Xi He said to Chang Xi, her gaze fixed on the Thirty-Third Heaven. "This is our chance to widen the gap between us and those Sun Star Gods."
Chang Xi glanced toward the Sun Star, puzzled by the lack of movement. "They aren't going? It's as still as a tomb over there."
Xi He smiled, a touch of her old arrogance returning. "Perhaps they finally realize the depth of their own insignificance. Let them rot in their fire; we will return as masters of the Dao."
Across every corner of the world, from hidden immortal caves to underwater palaces, the mighty emerged. Some rode spirit beasts, others steered jade chariots, all of them racing toward the edge of the sky.
On the Sun Star, however, there was only the sound of the wind through the golden leaves of the Fusang Tree. Ling Xiao closed his eyes, his mind entering the Chaos Pearl. Let them race; he was playing the long game.