Inside Biyou Palace, seeing that all his disciples had arrived, Tongtian began to expound the Dao.
The Dao preached by a Sage was truly extraordinary.
In an instant,
heavenly blossoms fell in a riotous profusion, and golden lotuses welled up from the ground.
Every single syllable of the Great Dao echoed through the void, drawing a resonance from heaven and earth and calling forth countless auspicious manifestations.
Everyone closed their eyes to listen,
entranced and utterly immersed in the Sage's discourse.
Lotus flowers blossomed from Tongtian's lips,
cyan lotuses drifting down from the high platform toward the gathered Jiejiao disciples who were listening to the Dao.
These were the Dao-Rhyme Lotus Flowers.
Not only did they contain rich spiritual energy, but they also held the Sage's personal Dao-Rhyme.
To absorb and refine them brought immeasurable benefits.
One of the main reasons everyone yearned so deeply for the Sage's lectures was precisely for these Dao-Rhyme Lotus Flowers; to secure even a single one could save ten thousand years of arduous toil.
As the Dao-Rhyme Lotus Flowers drifted down,
half of them stopped at the very front, absorbed by Duobao, the Three Xiao Sisters, and the others.
Such was the advantage of sitting near the front.
The remaining half of the lotus flowers floated past them, drifting toward the back rows.
Thousands of outer disciples concentrated with all their might, hoping for some flash of insight, hoping to catch the Sage's favor and claim a Dao-Rhyme Lotus Flower.
Just as everyone was absorbed in listening to the Dao,
only Luoxuan stared wide-eyed, fixing his gaze straight ahead into the void as if his mind had wandered.
In truth,
Luoxuan had been startled by a notification from the system.
[Ding!]
[Checked in at Biyou Palace! Congratulations to the host for receiving the reward: Nine Turns Mysterious Art (Complete Edition)!]
The Nine Turns Mysterious Art!
This was the supreme cultivation method once practiced by the Great God Pangu himself, cultivating the primordial spirit within and the physical body without, pointing straight to the realm of the Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal.
As descendants of Pangu, the Wu Clan had also obtained the Nine Turns Mysterious Art.
Yet because the Wu Clan possessed no primordial spirits, their version was actually incomplete, containing only the methods for cultivating the physical body while lacking the chapters on the primordial spirit.
Later on,
the Three Pure Ones used the Wu Clan's Nine Turns Mysterious Art to deduce the Eight-Nine Mysterious Art.
That only made the incompleteness even worse.
As for the version the system had given Luoxuan, it was the complete Nine Turns Mysterious Art, refining both the primordial spirit and the physical body simultaneously. Its profound wonders were beyond the comparison of either the Nine Turns Mysterious Art (Physical Body Chapter) or the Eight-Nine Mysterious Art.
"Claim the reward!"
Luoxuan murmured silently in his mind.
Instantly,
he felt a streak of golden light shoot into his mind, and then the golden light burst violently apart.
Following that,
countless streams of information flooded his brain.
The Nine Turns Mysterious Art was divided into nine tiers in total, with each tier corresponding to a stage of cultivation; for example, the first tier corresponded to the Earth Immortal realm.
The ninth tier corresponded to the Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal.
At this moment,
taking a brief pause from his preaching,
Tongtian glanced down at his disciples below.
Seeing that everyone was listening with utter devotion, a satisfied smile could not help but form on his face.
Then his gaze suddenly sharpened.
He noticed that Luoxuan was actually daydreaming at a time like this, and his brow instantly furrowed.
Among the vast number of outer disciples,
though most were mediocre, there were a few standouts, and Luoxuan was one of them. With his mastery of fire-based spells, he enjoyed a modest reputation within Jiejiao.
Such top-tier students
were naturally the focus of a teacher's attention.
"Luoxuan is usually diligent in his cultivation; why is he acting so lazy today?"
Displeasure stirred in Tongtian's heart.
Right then and there, he stopped his preaching, and the miraculous visions instantly dissolved.
Everyone opened their eyes,
looking at Tongtian with faces full of puzzlement, unable to understand why he had stopped so abruptly when the appointed time was clearly not yet up.
With a calm expression, Tongtian spoke to the assembly below.
"Luoxuan."
"While everyone else was listening intently to the Dao just now, why were you daydreaming?"
Learning that Luoxuan had actually let his mind wander during the Sage's lecture, everyone felt a surge of displeasure.
This was a Sage's discourse!
If you didn't want to listen, fine, but you actually got caught by the Master, wasting everyone's precious time—how hateful!
Shock gripped Luoxuan's heart.
This is bad!
He had been too busy checking the system just now and hadn't realized Tongtian had caught him.
He hurriedly stood up.
Before he could even speak, a shrill, exceptionally grating voice rang out.
"Master,"
"Luoxuan actually daydreamed while you were preaching the Dao. This is utter disrespect and he deserves to be punished."
Luoxuan frowned
and looked in the direction of the voice.
He saw a young man with cherry-red lips and an exceptionally effeminate, delicate face staring right at him, a malicious, sneering smile plastered across his face.
This person was none other than Dingguangxian, one of the Seven Attendant Immortals.
He was the very same man
who would later betray Master Tongtian during the Myriad Immortals Formation, defecting to the Western Sect and ultimately causing Jiejiao to suffer a crushing and total defeat.
Luoxuan turned his mind over,
desperately rummaging through the original owner's memories, until he finally understood why Dingguangxian was targeting him.
As one of the Seven Attendant Immortals, Dingguangxian held a status second only to the four personal disciples within Jiejiao, and the outer disciples naturally fawned over him.
Yet the original owner had always possessed a stubborn and upright temperament.
He remained neither servile nor overbearing even in front of Dingguangxian, and had thus offended him.
Narrow-minded as he was,
Dingguangxian had immediately taken offense the last time Luoxuan crossed him, and now that an opportunity had fallen into his lap, he was naturally going to step hard on Luoxuan.
Luoxuan made a formal bow.
Ignoring the petty-minded Dingguangxian who was drunk on his own perceived triumph, Luoxuan addressed Tongtian directly.
"Reporting to Master,"
"Your disciple was listening to your discourse just now when I gained a slight insight and my cultivation surged ahead; that is why my mind drifted for a moment. I beseech Master to forgive me!"
Seeing that Luoxuan dared to spin such a clumsy excuse, Dingguangxian burst out laughing.
The others shook their heads one after another.
To commit a fault in front of a Sage,
the wisest course of action was to simply confess; given Tongtian's temperament, at most he would only utter a couple of reprimands.
But Luoxuan had no business resorting to sophistry.
No matter how silver-tongued one might be, it could never fool the eyes of a Sage. Not only would it fail to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, but it would also draw the Sage's disgust.
Sure enough,
Tongtian's expression instantly darkened.
As one of the Seven Attendant Immortals, Dingguangxian often accompanied Tongtian by his side and was exceptionally skilled at reading facial expressions.
A single glance
told him that Tongtian was already angry.
Inwardly, he gloated with relish:
"Oh, Luoxuan, Luoxuan, this time you've truly brought this destruction upon yourself. Now that you've offended Master, let's see how you plan to keep your footing in Jiejiao!"
Dingguangxian cried out sharply:
"Audacious Luoxuan! How dare you deceive Master!"
"You clearly drifted off while listening to the Dao, yet you still dare to use glib words and claim you gained some insight."
Watching the aggressive Dingguangxian, a flash of ferocity crossed Luoxuan's eyes.
Secretly circulating the Nine Turns Mysterious Art,
he took a single step forward.
Everyone was completely baffled, unable to understand what Luoxuan was trying to do.
Suddenly,
Luoxuan's body gave a violent jolt. A powerful wave of aura erupted from him, and a distinct "pop" echoed through the void.
Luoxuan had broken through to the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm!
Inside Biyou Palace,
there was absolute silence, not a single sound to be heard.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at Luoxuan, as if they couldn't believe their own eyes.
He... he broke through!
Dingguangxian looked as though he had been struck by a total immobilization spell, freezing stiff on the spot. The smile on his face slowly stiffened, his eyes bulging like copper bells as he stared at Luoxuan in sheer disbelief.
"Impossible! That's utterly impossible!"
Luoxuan had broken through,
which proved that he hadn't been daydreaming earlier at all—he truly had gained insight!
That being the case,
the aggressive Dingguangxian had just made a complete clown of himself.
Sensing the faint, mocking glances coming from all directions, Dingguangxian's face flushed red with fury, and he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.