When the Sanqing learned that the Witch and Demon Races (Witch and Demon Races) had formally gone to war, they were incensed.
"Bastards! Those two fools, Jieyin and Zhunti... they have a talent for ruining every plan. Why trigger the hostilities now without cause?" Yuanshi cursed, nearly laughing in his fury.
"The Two Sages of the West have their own calculations," Laozi remarked, his eyes flickering with insight. "I suspect they want to drag Di Jun and Tai Yi into the conflict, forcing them to join the Yao to counter the Witches." After eons of dealing with the Western Duo, Laozi knew their patterns—if they twitched, he knew exactly what kind of mess they were making.
"Utterly foolish! They're so desperate to perform in front of the Teacher that they've lost all patience," Yuanshi sneered, his arrogance as sharp as ever.
Laozi smiled, stroking his white beard. "Let them be. The Teacher will see who is truly right and who is wrong. Come, I already know what must be done for the Yao Race."
The Pawn of the South
In the southern reaches of the Honghuang World, atop Mount Qingqiu, the air was rich with spirit gems and jade. Once the territory of the Nine-Tailed Fox clan, it had become the Dao-site of the Queen Mother of the West, who had settled there with her celestial maidens.
Suddenly, three Daoists arrived and departed just as quickly. They were, of course, the Sanqing.
"Brother, even with the Queen Mother of the West's help, the Yao are no match for the Witches," Yuanshi noted. They had just pressured her to settle her old karma with the Witches by aiding the Yao.
"That is not our only move," Laozi replied with a smile. He stopped mid-air, looking toward the horizon where golden flames saturated the sky.
"South Bright Volcano!"
Since Ling Xiao had arrived there, the volcanic fires had been infused with the Golden Crow Divine Flame.
"Yuan Phoenix (Phoenix) is actually still alive, undergoing Nirvana..." Laozi's gaze pierced through the mountain, sensing her aura at a critical threshold of transformation.
"Brother, is she your next target?" Yuanshi asked, surprised. Yuan Phoenix was a relic of the previous age, a remnant that could easily be ignored.
Laozi chuckled. "No. She was the protagonist of the previous Calamity. It would be inappropriate to let her enter the Witch-Demon Calamity. Besides, she is in the middle of her Nirvana; she is currently useless."
Yuanshi nodded, but his eyes grew cold. "Her rebirth is clearly tied to Ling Xiao. Can we truly just stand by and watch her return?"
Laozi didn't answer. Instead, he pulled out a purple gourd and pointed it at the volcano. The surging golden flames were violently siphoned into the vessel. After a few breaths, the intense heat of South Bright Volcano had been halved.
"This is enough. The dregs of the last age should not see the light of day again," Laozi said calmly as he stowed the gourd. The three then vanished.
Inside the volcano, Yuan Phoenix's divine thought felt the sudden loss of fire energy and panicked. Her flaming eyes watched the Sanqing's departing backs with a mix of shock and fury.
Disaster from the heavens! I was just quietly undergoing Nirvana, and these three old fossils come and steal my fire? Are they insane?
Without the necessary heat, her rebirth was not only halted but her very existence was now in peril.
The Scavenger of the North Sea
After leaving the south, the Sanqing descended upon the North Sea. Yuanshi and Tongtian soon understood Laozi's intent as they approached the North Sea Eye—a massive whirlpool that swallowed Chaos Qi and exhaled a terrifying, bone-chilling pressure.
Laozi's gaze swept the abyss until he found a single, shimmering black feather absorbing the energy of the eye. He reached out, and the feather flew into his hand, vibrating with a desperate Divine Soul (Divine Soul) signature.
"Don't kill me! Please, don't kill me!" A voice cried out as a phantom of a black-robed old man appeared.
"Kunpeng, calm yourself. If we wanted you dead, would we need to do it personally?" Laozi smiled, studying the fragment of the demon.
Everyone believed Kunpeng was dead, but he had clung to a sliver of life, hiding in the most dangerous Forbidden Land of the North Sea. Had the Sanqing not achieved Sainthood, they never would have found him.
"Kunpeng, you still carry the Luck of the Yao Race. Your time has not yet come," Yuanshi said, though his voice was thick with his natural disdain for "feathered creatures."
"What... what do you want?" Kunpeng asked, realizing resistance was futile.
"The Yao Race needs you," Tongtian said bluntly, his patience wearing thin.
Laozi explained their plan. Kunpeng's eyes flickered with a mix of relief and calculation. "I would love to help the Yao, but as you see, I have no physical form," he said, gesturing to his lone feather.
Laozi laughed. "That is a simple fix for us."
Under Laozi's direction, the three Saints each extracted a drop of their Saint Essence Blood (Essence Blood). They used it to reconstruct Kunpeng's body. While such an act tied them to his Karma, for a Saint, it was a minor price to pay.
A short while later, the complete Kunpeng stood before them. Rebuilt with Saintly blood, his physical body—already legendary—had reached an unthinkable level of durability. Below the Saint realm, he would be almost without peer.
"Thank you, Saints, for granting me a second life," Kunpeng bowed deeply, his eyes gleaming with a dark, unreadable light.
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Total Chapters: 871
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