Chapter Eighty-six: Unfaltering Guardianship, the Strange Plane

Liu Shen and the others exchanged puzzled glances, unable to grasp what Chenxing meant. Noticing their bewildered expressions, Chenxing said irritably, “As the Dao of your world, even if it has lost consciousness, a remnant of its will lingers. Each of you bears the imprint of your own world, so of course, it wouldn’t harm you! Do you understand now? Otherwise, when you put away the Azure Lotus earlier, why weren’t you hurt?”

Huang, a bit embarrassed, spoke up, “I thought it was Master who shielded me from the calamity.”

“You’re overthinking it. I’m nowhere near that capable right now,” Chenxing replied with a twitch of his mouth.

Just as Chenxing finished his self-deprecating remark, a surprised exclamation rang out: “No, that’s not right, Master!” Beside him, Fireling suddenly burst out.

“What is it, Ling’er?” Huang looked at Fireling, perplexed.

Glancing around, Fireling lowered her voice and said to Huang, “Little One, this Dao... Both the Daoist Saint and your Senior Brother are so powerful, so why did one become your Senior Brother, and the other calls someone Master or Lord?”

As she said this, she looked up to see everyone listening intently, and snapped, “Isn’t that odd? Back then, it took Master three days to suppress the Corpse Emperor, while Senior Brother Pangu slew him with a single gesture. Doesn’t that seem strange?”

At first, the others thought something serious had happened upon hearing Fireling’s outburst, but realizing she was merely puzzled by this, they froze, momentarily stunned. Thinking it over, they found her question valid. They always knew Chenxing was formidable, but compared to Pangu or the dark tide incarnated by the Daoist Mo Ni, the sense of oppression from those two felt much greater.

Seeing that Fireling was simply curious about this, Chenxing could only laugh wryly. Observing the confused looks on their faces, he said exasperatedly, “Who says someone with lower cultivation can’t take on a disciple more powerful than themselves? In terms of cultivation, Little One is already my equal. Is it so strange that he calls me Master?”

Naturally, Chenxing would never reveal his true identity to them now, so he had to spin a tale.

The people of Stone Village were straightforward by nature. Satisfied with this explanation, they let the matter drop. Only Liu Shen, Huang, and a few others twitched at the corners of their mouths, wanting to ask why the Daoist Mo Ni called him Lord. Hadn’t they never met before? But in the end, they refrained. Since Chenxing didn’t want to reveal the real reason, it was best not to pry.

After a long silence, Liu Shen suddenly spoke, “Friend Chenxing, you still haven’t told us why, of all things, a drop from the dark tide incarnated by the Dao ended up in our world and brought about such a catastrophe. By your account, as the Dao of our world, it shouldn’t have harmed its own people.”

Before Chenxing could answer, Pangu, who had spoken little, interjected, “Let me explain this.”

Everyone looked at Pangu expectantly, eager to know what truly happened all those years ago.

---

After gathering his thoughts, Pangu began, “Back then, this Daoist friend sought to destroy this world in order to break free, merging with the Heavenly Dao and becoming the dark tide. Over time, only a remnant of his will remained. But those two outsiders were different. They dared to self-destruct and perish with this Daoist precisely because of the existence of this planet. Unlike him, they would not lose consciousness in this world. Their self-destruction was aimed at devouring the Daoist’s origin. There’s a fundamental difference between the two.”

Huang, dissatisfied, said, “Senior Brother! What does that have to do with the darkness invading our world?”

“That brings us to the two invaders,” Pangu replied. “In order to devour the Daoist’s origin, but lacking your world’s exact coordinates, they created countless small spatial rifts, hoping one would connect to your dimension. By channeling the Daoist’s dark power through such a rift, they aimed to destroy your world. Without the support of your dimension, they would finally have a chance to fully absorb his origin.”

Pangu cast a meaningful glance at the crowd. “In the end, they succeeded—and failed.”

Some still didn’t understand, but Huang and Liu Shen nodded thoughtfully.

The ever-curious Fireling asked, “Senior Brother Pangu, what do you mean by that?”

Before Pangu could answer, Huang looked at him, seeking confirmation. “Do you mean, Senior Brother, that although they managed to send the dark source over, they failed to destroy our world?”

Pangu smiled and nodded, affirming Huang’s guess.

Only then did everyone fully understand. The true culprits who brought the darkness to their world were none other than the two beams of light Huang had once thought were the bane of the dark tide.

“Master! I want to completely eliminate those two outsiders. May I?” Huang said through gritted teeth.

Chenxing shook his head and replied calmly, “It’s useless. As primal origins of Saints, unless they’re devoured by another origin of equal rank, no one can kill them.”

“But how were they slain before?” Huang pointed at Mo Ni, confused.

“That was only their physical form. At most, their origin can be sealed, nothing more,” Chenxing replied, shaking his head once again.

Huang turned to look at Daoist Mo Ni, and seeing him give a wry nod, he knew Chenxing spoke the truth. Unable to suppress his anger, he muttered, “Is there truly no way to destroy them completely?”

Chenxing did not answer at once. After a long pause, he said slowly, “I’m quite curious about the dimension they came from. Now is not the time to destroy them. I’ll find a way to control them first. They may prove useful to me in the future.”

---

Indeed, Chenxing was deeply curious about the origins of these two. For someone like him, the emergence of such a mysterious dimension was akin to discovering a hidden treasure.

A realm beyond imagination, where even the most inconspicuous individuals were of Saintly rank—before he sealed himself, he had never heard of such a strange world.

He called it strange because their abilities resembled legends from Earth. Yet in Chenxing’s memory, his own Hongmeng Universe had never created such a race. Shaking his head, he let the matter rest for now; once he captured those two, all mysteries would be revealed.

With this thought, Chenxing no longer hesitated. His body swelled to ten thousand feet tall, and a purple pagoda slowly emerged behind him. The tower had nine levels, as though it had arisen from the depths of eternity, Daoist auras flowing over it, and the ancient chants of countless ancestors resounding through the heavens and earth.

This was among the few supreme treasures of the Hongmeng—now the only one he could wield. He had left it unsealed in case he needed a residence for his family after rescuing them, never expecting they would prefer the environment of Fangzhang Island, using the world within the tower only as an occasional retreat. Chenxing could only accept this with resignation.

As for his family’s safety in that primordial world, Chenxing was not worried in the least; with Nuwa and the Chaos Pearl present, even if Hongjun himself defied the Dao to attack, Nuwa could ensure their safety.

When the towering pagoda appeared, all present—including Pangu and Daoist Mo Ni, both supreme Hunyuan Da Luo Golden Immortals—fell to their knees, bowing with utmost reverence.

Such was the primal suppression the Hongmeng Supreme Treasure exerted over all beings across the myriad worlds; it could not be resisted, regardless of one’s own will.

Although Chenxing had sealed his cultivation, without the Hongmeng Pagoda, he truly would have been powerless against those two; even if Pangu and Mo Ni joined forces, they could at best seal them, but could not harm them in the slightest.

But now, with this supreme weapon in hand, the matter was out of anyone’s control. Sure enough, as the Hongmeng Pagoda appeared, and Pangu and the others bowed, two dazzling curtains of light shot forth. As they flew, they gradually shrank into two humanoid figures.

When these two figures arrived before the Hongmeng Pagoda, they too fell to their knees. Two voices, one male and one female, rang out, “Jinhai and Yin Xian pay their respects to the Envoy of Hongmeng!”

Chenxing was taken aback. These two had some knowledge! It seemed they recognized the Hongmeng Pagoda for what it truly was. Chenxing’s heart was filled with questions.

Meanwhile, the people of Stone Village, kneeling on the ground, were utterly bewildered—especially Huang. The Envoy of Hongmeng? What kind of title was that? He had never heard of it before!