After a brief wait, news came back from Gao Lan. The Green Emperor mentioned that the seal of the Ancient Bodhi Buddha was profoundly mysterious and would take half a year to fully dissipate before the List of Deification could be utilized.
Inside the Jade Void Palace, Meng Qi sat at the head of the hall, flanked by Guangchengzi, Manjushri Heavenly Lord, and other great supernatural beings. None of them spoke much, each simply smiling and cupping their hands in farewell before departing, creating an atmosphere of harmony and unity.
*Clang!*
Meng Qi was the last to step out of the Jade Void Palace. The grand doors closed abruptly on their own, as if the ancient abode of the Primordial Heavenly Lord still retained a trace of sentience, refusing to fully acknowledge Meng Qi as its true master.
With a faint smile and an air of serenity, Meng Qi took a single step and returned to his own Kunlun Mountain, descending into the ancient and unadorned Taoist temple.
He Mu, Fang Huayin, Yu Banshan, Qi Jinxiu, Sun Wu, Daqinggen, and the returning Xiaotian Quan, who had just visited the demon race, stood on either side of the hall. Sensing Meng Qi’s return, they turned in unison and bowed together:
“Congratulations, Master (Teacher), on attaining the Creation Realm and mastering divine powers!”
“Congratulations, Junior Uncle (Palace Master), for navigating the sea of suffering and wielding the power of creation!”
Seeing these familiar faces and hearing their warm words, Meng Qi smiled faintly, clasped his hands behind his back, and slowly walked past them to sit beneath the statue of the Primordial Heavenly Lord.
This was his true abode.
Of course, he also hoped that one day, the gates of the Jade Void Palace would open wide to welcome him as its rightful master.
…
In a hidden realm, Han Guang, as if just awakened from years of slumber, caressed the Bodhi Wonderful Tree in his palm. The faint aura emanating from his body swirled around him, transforming into mist. To his left was darkness, filled with destruction and corruption, while to his right was a hazy, time-like flow, as if gazing down upon the vicissitudes of life, evoking a sense of transcendence and eternity. At the intersection of these two forces, a swastika symbol formed, sometimes rotating clockwise, glowing like golden glass, and other times counterclockwise, deep red and black.
“The Cause of All Effects…” he murmured again, as if sighing.
At that moment, a figure emerged slowly from the thick mist of the hidden realm. Dressed in a bright red robe and wearing a fishtail crown, his features were ancient and his stature short—it was Lu Ya, who had vanished for years due to the backlash of the Seven Arrows Book.
Lu Ya glanced at Han Guang and chuckled. “Gao Lan barely proved his legend, and yet you already have the confidence to achieve uniqueness. Why delay your breakthrough, suppressing and accumulating further? What are you waiting for?”
“An opportunity,” Han Guang replied, snapping out of his reverie with his trademark leisurely smile, revealing nothing of his true thoughts or emotions. “I just didn’t expect Su Meng to attain the Creation Realm so quickly…”
Before he could finish, a sudden premonition struck him, as if a pair of eyes had opened somewhere in the void, coldly and indifferently gazing down upon him.
*Damn! Has his Cause of All Effects reached this level?* Han Guang’s expression shifted slightly as the Bodhi Wonderful Tree in his palm erupted with pure radiance, rendering his aura and body seemingly empty and nonexistent.
Simultaneously, Lu Ya’s crimson gourd leaped into his hand, emitting a white light that froze causality and severed the connection.
This hidden realm was a fragment of the ancient Immortal World, capable of evading the search of the Nirvana Realm—one of Lu Ya’s life-saving measures. However, it was not a place close to the Dao. Mentioning the names of the Nirvana Realm beings could still draw their attention. Yet now, the Cause of All Effects wielded by the one on Kunlun Mountain had acquired such Nirvana-level divinity?
…
Seated beneath the statue of the Primordial Heavenly Lord, Meng Qi slowly withdrew his gaze from the void and nodded thoughtfully.
His state had long surpassed what was needed to prove his legend. Could it be that he intended to follow Xiao Sang’s path, refining and consolidating two opposing illusory Daos upon his ascension to lay the most solid foundation for the Creation Realm?
With a smile, Meng Qi turned his attention back to his disciples, continuing the earlier discussion:
“The closer one gets to the Nirvana Realm, the more one realizes one’s own insignificance. You must not grow arrogant or rely solely on power. Of course, as the orthodox lineage of the Primordial Heavenly Lord, the foremost of the Nine Daoist Venerables, our Jade Void Palace is no small sect. Now that I have attained the Creation Realm, many things from the past are no longer of use. Therefore, I have decided to establish a sect treasury. Those who contribute sufficiently or attain the Dharmakaya may select a treasure from it.”
Under the curious gazes of Fang Huayin, Qi Jinxiu, and others, and the eager eyes of Daqinggen, Meng Qi extended his right hand, forming a sword with his fingers. With a light swipe, the void split, yin and yang divided, and the forces of earth, fire, wind, and water surged forth, forming another realm.
The realm contracted, the elements condensed, and the yin-yang energies infused, forming vague Dao patterns that layered into seals, ultimately transforming into a gray-green stone gate standing to the left of the Primordial Heavenly Lord’s statue.
*Creating a world from nothingness, manifesting objects from the void!*
This was the Jade Void Palace treasury.
At the Legendary Realm, the created grotto-heavens were incomplete worlds. At the Creation Realm, one could create universes. Only when approaching the Nirvana Realm, with the nascent Real World forming within, could one create realms slightly inferior to the heavens. Though Meng Qi had just entered the Creation Realm, his mastery of the Heaven-Splitting Seal and his consolidation of illusory Daos allowed him to create a realm surpassing ordinary universes, nearing the most ancient cosmos.
As for manifesting objects from the void, it was a hallmark shared by all great supernatural beings.
With a flick of his sleeve, Meng Qi released numerous items that hovered mid-air: the Five-Colored Immortal-Slaying Sword, the Phoenix-Raising Sword with wood as its base and wind-fire accompaniment, the Dragon-Soaring Sword surrounded by clouds and water, the Alaya Sword radiating wisdom and purity, the Three-Life Ming King Wheel pointing to the deepest fragments of memory, and many other exceedingly rare treasures.
At this moment, Meng Qi retained only a few items on his person: the Overlord’s Absolute Saber, the Great Dao Tree, the eerie blood peach, the unrecovered Wheel of Life and Death, and the Sea-Calming Pearl in the abyssal depths.
Daqinggen’s eyes gleamed with greed as he stared at the floating treasures, drooling. “Master, Master, if I contribute enough or attain the Dharmakaya, can I pick something from the treasury?”
“As the gatekeeper of the Jade Void Palace, of course you may,” Meng Qi replied with a faint smile before adding, “However, your selfish actions during the recent celebrations tarnished our sect’s reputation. Your contribution points will be deducted by one hundred thousand.”
Daqinggen’s green face instantly paled. Trembling, he asked, “Master, how are contributions calculated?”
Meng Qi looked at He Mu and smiled. “You and the others draft the specifics, using Daqinggen’s annual gatekeeping contribution of fifty points as the baseline.”
“Fifty a year, five hundred in ten, five thousand in a hundred, fifty thousand in a thousand… It’ll take two thousand years to make up for it. The epoch will have ended by then…” Daqinggen muttered to himself, seemingly crushed yet also determined to improve his strength swiftly.
After addressing this matter, Meng Qi turned to He Mu again:
“He Mu, I have divined that you have a destiny in the demon race’s star domain. Borrow a divine weapon from the treasury and journey there.”
He Mu was momentarily stunned before bowing deeply.
“Thank you for your guidance, Master.”
As great beings and supernatural powers returned, stars fell like rain—partly due to the resonance of their auras altering celestial phenomena, and partly because they had taken fragments of the Real World or their own abodes when they left the earth during ancient wars, transforming them into stars. Upon their return, these stars hung beyond the azure void, as large as lanterns, rivaling the moon in brightness.
Among them, the stars of the demon race formed a river of stars, clustering around places like Naihetian, Fantasy Heaven, and Demon Source Heaven, forming a distinct realm.
After thanking Meng Qi, He Mu took a deep breath, pondered briefly, and without hesitation chose the Five-Colored Immortal-Slaying Sword.
“All of you may leave. I have matters to discuss with Xiaotian Quan,” Meng Qi said with a slight nod after He Mu made his selection.
Within moments, only Xiaotian Quan, sitting obediently, and Meng Qi beneath the Primordial Heavenly Lord’s statue remained in the hall.
“Woof! Junior Uncle, are you asking about my visit to the Demon Emperor’s Hall? Those guys were so dismissive, utterly insincere!” Xiaotian Quan volunteered.
Meng Qi maintained his faint smile.
“Let’s set that aside for now. I have a question for you: where is Erlang now?”
“Erlang? Isn’t he still in slumber?” Xiaotian Quan blinked in confusion.
Meng Qi smiled enigmatically. “Guangchengzi, who has reached the pinnacle of the Creation Realm, has long since awakened. Why is Erlang still asleep?”
“Has he already ascended to the Nirvana Realm, or has he secretly replaced one of the returned great supernatural beings who perished long ago?”
His voice was soft, but to Xiaotian Quan, it was like thunder. Stuttering, he replied, “Woof, woof… I don’t know…”
Meng Qi chuckled. “I understand. You may leave.”
Xiaotian Quan’s tail drooped as he walked toward the door. Just as he was about to exit, he saw Meng Qi pat his sleeves and rise slowly, as if preparing to depart.
“Palace Master, where are you going?” Xiaotian Quan asked curiously.
Meng Qi laughed freely.
“As the current Jade Void Palace Master and one who has attained the Creation Realm, it is only proper—both publicly and privately, in courtesy and duty—to pay a visit beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens and greet my uncle, the Virtuous Heavenly Lord.”
With a flick of his sleeve, his figure vanished from the hall.
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