Tongtian's blunt, offhand remark served as a wake-up call for Laozi and Yuanshi, forcing them to snap out of their shock.
"Currently, Di Jiang has achieved Physical Sainthood (Attain Sainthood through the Physical Body). Even with the Five Elements Grand Array, the Yao are no match for him," Laozi noted.
"This was never meant to happen. I feel we should seek an audience with the Dao Ancestor (Hongjun)," Laozi added solemnly. For the first time, he found himself without a clear counter-strategy.
"But... to run to him for every minor setback?" Yuanshi hesitated, feeling it made them look somewhat incompetent. "Won't the Teacher find us useless?"
"Since that is the case, and the Great Trend is irreversible, I trust the Dao Ancestor has his own arrangements," Laozi said calmly, his gaze piercing through the void to look toward Mount Buzhou on the Primordial Great Earth.
The Confusion of the Empress
At Empress Wa Heaven (Empress Was Heaven), Nuwa watched the Yao's crushing defeat and the sudden reversal of the war. She was speechless.
She had expected mutual destruction; instead, Di Jiang's physical ascension had nearly wiped the Yao off the board. If not for the timely intervention of the Three Pure Ones and the Western Duo, there would be very little of the Yao Race left.
"Is it possible... for the Great Trend to be changed?"
A tremor of unease passed through her. The current situation was drifting further and further away from the ordained path.
"Why is this happening? Who is interfering?"
She attempted to deduce the Heavenly Secret, but after a long while, she found nothing.
"Could it truly be Pangu's will?"
As she pondered this, Ling Xiao's image flickered through her mind. Could it be him? The thought vanished as quickly as it came. She couldn't deduce any trace of his involvement. If Ling Xiao had moved, she should have seen a karmic thread—but there was only silence. She dismissed the possibility; in her eyes, Ling Xiao couldn't possibly be this elusive.
The Architect of the Sun
On the Sun Star, Ling Xiao was multi-tasking—delivering a profound sermon to Di Jun and Tai Yi while monitoring the carnage below.
"Not bad. The Ancestral Witches didn't disappoint me."
Di Jiang's reversal of the war was the perfect pivot. Ling Xiao found it particularly amusing that he had given the essence nectar to Qiang Liang, yet the boy had given it to his elder brother instead. Is it deep brotherly love, or was he just worried the liquid was poisoned? If it was the latter, Qiang Liang was far more "Steady" than Ling Xiao gave him credit for.
I wonder if Hongjun's face has turned green yet, Ling Xiao thought with a smirk.
He didn't stop his lecture. Unlike the Saints, who often held back secrets or had ulterior motives, Ling Xiao's teachings were pure essence. One year of his guidance was worth a century of anyone else's.
"Third Brother, I didn't realize your mastery of the Way of Formations (Way of Formations) was so deep. This is exactly what I needed," Di Jun said, his eyes glowing with clarity. "I have decided. I will fuse the Hun Yuan He Luo Array and the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Array. I will use this fusion to Attain the Primordial Chaos Grand Unity Golden Immortal (Attain the Primordial Chaos Grand Unity Golden Immortal) rank."
After eons of searching, Di Jun finally saw his Dao. He wasn't like Ling Xiao or Tai Yi, who excelled in raw, aggressive combat. His strength was in logic, structure, and the mastery of systems. His companion treasures—the Hetu and Luoshu—were already a massive hint.
"A fusion array?" Tai Yi blinked, his eyes snapping open. "The Universe Heluo Array (The whole Cosmos?"
"It's... the Heluo Star-Array," Di Jun corrected him immediately.
"Is there a difference?"
"Of course! The eldest brother's name has to come first," Di Jun smiled, always one to mind the "Face" and hierarchy of his work.
"Hmph! You still can't beat me in a fight," Tai Yi snorted.
"Enough arguing. Let's call it the Hun Yuan Universe Heluo Star-Array (The whole Cosmos)," Ling Xiao laughed, setting the name in stone. Both brothers nodded in agreement.
"Brother, if you can truly fuse those two, your mastery of formations will reach the pinnacle. Achieving the Grand Unity Golden Immortal rank will be a simple matter," Ling Xiao added, growing serious.
Those two arrays were already among the most powerful in the Great Desolation. A fusion of the two would be an unthinkable weapon—one that could potentially suppress a Saint. Even Ling Xiao was excited to see it.
"With your encouragement, Brother, I am more confident than ever!" Di Jun declared.
"Seeing you confident makes me feel like I could punch through a star!" Tai Yi added, his fighting spirit soaring.
Ling Xiao resumed the lecture, specifically tailoring it to their chosen paths. He was determined to see his brothers reach the Saint-tier in the shortest time possible.
The Western Duo's Insight
Meanwhile, Jieyin and Zhunti were reflecting on the Yao's failure.
"The Sanqing were too careless," Zhunti sneered. "After all that work, they were chased into the Chaos? How disappointing."
"Actually, this is a good thing," Jieyin smiled thinly. "It allows the Teacher to see the Sanqing's incompetence clearly."
"Then, Senior Brother, what is our next move?"
"We are not like the Sanqing," Jieyin said, his eyes flickering with ancient omens. "We carry a massive debt to the Heavenly Dao. We must overcome this hurdle."
"To solve this, we either weaken the Witches or strengthen the Yao," Jieyin analyzed. "We cannot touch the Witches directly right now—not with Pangu's will lingering there. So, we must find a way to make the Yao even stronger."
As Jieyin performed a deep deduction, he caught a fleeting, obscure spark of Heavenly Secret. His gaze turned toward Shouyang Mountain (Shouyang Mountain).
"The Human Race (Human Race)..."
"What about them, Brother?" Zhunti asked.
"Come! I have an idea." Jieyin stood up and led the way toward the lands of the Human Race.