Chapter 397: Three Pure Ones Return to Chaos, But Pan Gu Knows How to Play!

Tian Shi Yuan, Zhu Tian City.

“Boss, how come you run a black shop?!”

Two youths entered a shop, gazing at a tall figure clad in dark robes, curiously asking.

“Where’s it black? I’ve run this shop in Tian Shi Yuan for years exactly like this—don’t go blabbing nonsense with your eyes wide open; running a shop is hard.”

The boss didn’t turn around, merely standing before the shelves, carefully polishing a divine weapon.

One of the youths turned and stepped outside, looked up, then walked back in: “But your sign clearly says ‘Black Shop’!”

“The sign is the sign.”

The boss carefully placed the polished weapon into a long case, then turned to face the two youths and said:

“You say you’re good people—does that make you good people?”

The two youths shook their heads: “Not necessarily.”

“Because we’re not even human!”

“Exactly right.”

The boss smiled: “What would you two guests like?”

“Our shop carries a wide array: divine weapons, sacred artifacts, spiritual treasures, spiritual roots, pills, scriptures—all available.”

“Do you have the latest ‘Wu San Secret Scroll’? The one with answers?” one youth asked.

The boss’s eyes flickered with surprise: “Are you students of the Heavenly Dao Academy?”

“Shh!” Jin Peng pressed a finger to his lips, then extended his spiritual sense, observing for a while; seeing no one else enter, he finally exhaled.

“Boss, pretend you never saw us—if our academy’s dean finds out, we’re in trouble.”

Jin Peng looked at the boss, his gaze pleading: “Our academy’s academic exchanges have become too frequent lately, and the exam difficulty has skyrocketed.”

“Especially since the ‘Five Academies Joint Exam: Three Realms Simulation’ came out—we simply can’t handle it.”

“I wonder which bastard came up with this thing!”

By the end, Jin Peng’s voice was almost growling, his refined face twisted with clear disgust.

The so-called Five Academies Joint Exam refers to an irregular joint examination organized by the five top-tier branch academies of the Hong Huang realm, besides the Heavenly Dao Academy’s main campus, to elevate educational standards across all academies.

These five branches are: Kunlun Academy, Sumeru Academy, Shanhai Academy, Ghost and God Academy, and Wu Dao Academy.

Due to the vast scope and extreme demands of the Five Academies Joint Exam, the first session humiliated many renowned academies.

Hence, before every subsequent exam, academies across the Three Realms train their students and organize mock assessments.

This wave of academic pressure has now swept through the Three Realms for quite some time, leaving students both pained and delighted.

The pain comes from the high difficulty of mock exams—and even higher difficulty of the final exam.

The delight lies in the abundant rewards granted to those who endure and succeed.

“The latest ‘Wu San Secret Scroll’ hasn’t been released yet, but I have connections with several branch academy deans and obtained some reference scriptures used for question-setting—I can sell them to you.”

“Really?” The two youths beamed.

Reference scriptures for question-setting?

That means content on cultivation theory, practical drills, and innovation of cultivation arts!

This is perfect!

After studying them, we can even list them on the Star Net for sale—definitely worth it!

Xiang Xuanqing pointed to the scripture section: “Storage box Jia-7. Go take a look.”

The two youths shot out like arrows.

“Big Brother Hao Tian, is this correct?” Jin Peng flipped through a few pages, but when he tried to turn further, the subsequent pages were blank.

A basic anti-theft measure in the cultivation world: pay to continue reading.

Hao Tian studied it carefully: “The style still closely matches the final exam.”

“Then buy it!”

Jin Peng glanced at the price: “The price is reasonable—only 100,000 spiritual stones and 100,000 merit coins?!”

The youth’s eyes widened in disbelief; he checked twice more, nearly laughing in anger: “Just a few reference scriptures, and you charge 100,000 merit coins?!”

“And Hong Huang Heavenly Dao-level merit? Why not just rob a bank?!”

He turned to Xiang Xuanqing, glaring: “Black shop!”

Xiang Xuanqing took out another divine weapon.

As he began polishing it, he answered casually: “Prices are clearly marked, fair to all—buy if you want, don’t if you don’t.”

Hao Tian was also stunned by the price.

One hundred thousand merit coins—Hong Huang True Realm Heavenly Dao merit!

If I had these 100,000 merit coins, I’d buy all thirty mature ginseng fruits from the Earth Immortal Academy this year and consume them, or trade them with Jing Yao Shang Zun for an Imperishable Golden Core—I’d crush the final exam!

“Boss, this is way too expensive!” Hao Tian shook his head.

Xiang Xuanqing said: “These are the final reference scriptures for the joint exam—this price is already generous.”

“Don’t complain about the cost—look inward at your own reasons.”

“Have you studied diligently all these years? Have you neglected travel? Have you rarely taken academy assignments? Why haven’t you accumulated more merit coins?”

Jin Peng’s defenses shattered instantly.

I’m a top student of the Yin-Yang Academy, never relying on family wealth; though I lack merit, I have literary virtue and martial virtue.

Am I supposed to take this?

Remembering that a shop owner in Tian Shi Yuan must be no ordinary person, Jin Peng decisively abandoned the martial virtue option and chose literary virtue—report him!

“This is a black shop!”

“I’m going to report you to the Tian Shi Yuan Market Supervision Bureau!”

“Even the Heavenly Realm has laws!”

“Big Brother Hao Tian, let’s go!” Jin Peng grabbed Hao Tian’s arm and turned to leave.

Just as they reached the door, they bumped into a youth in blue robes.

Jin Peng paused, asking: “Kong Xuan? What are you doing here?”

Kong Xuan glanced at Jin Peng coolly, his gaze lingering for an instant on the spot where Jin Peng and Hao Tian held hands.

Then he walked straight to Xiang Xuanqing, bowing: “Boss, the orders have been delivered.”

Xiang Xuanqing nodded: “Thank you for your hard work. Here are more orders—please make another trip.”

He handed Kong Xuan a jade slip, then waved his hand.

Streams of light flew from every display area.

Kong Xuan opened his sleeve and collected them.

After retrieving the goods, Kong Xuan did not leave immediately.

Instead, he walked again to storage box Jia-7: “Boss, can I buy this one myself?”

Xiang Xuanqing glanced between Jin Peng and Kong Xuan, then smiled faintly.

“Of course you can.”

“Thank you, Boss.”

Payment, pickup, departure—all seamless.

Only after Kong Xuan left did Jin Peng finally realize.

【Where did your brother get so much merit?】 Hao Tian asked.

【I don’t know!】

Jin Peng rushed out after him.

“Brother! My dear brother! Wait for me!”

Hao Tian gazed thoughtfully at Jin Peng’s back, bowed to Xiang Xuanqing, then departed.

After seeing off several waves of customers, Xiang Xuanqing’s small shop welcomed another distinguished guest.

The man was exquisitely handsome, with an extraordinary bearing.

He wandered through the shop for a while, then curiously asked Xiang Xuanqing: “Did the late Emperor find life here comfortable?”

“Comfortable? What’s not comfortable?” Xiang Xuanqing replied calmly.

Di Jun nodded gently.

“Good.”

After stepping down, Xiang Xuanqing publicly announced he needed to enter seclusion to break through to the Tai Yi Realm.

In truth, Xiang Xuanqing still uses his 【Ji Du Shang Zun】 alias.

Except for internal meetings within Tai Wei Yuan, he now rarely participates in court affairs, living a leisurely retired life.

Only a few divine beings know he runs this shop in Tian Shi Yuan; others who encounter him are affected by his Dao Fruit and overlook his identity.

After learning Xiang Xuanqing runs this shop, the current Heavenly Emperor Di Jun felt both joy and concern.

He occasionally visits Tian Shi Yuan to see Xiang Xuanqing.

One reason: to seek advice.

Xiang Xuanqing’s presence in the Heavenly Court gives Di Jun considerable confidence—he often consults him on strategy.

The other reason: mainly, he fears Xiang Xuanqing will cause trouble.

Before the establishment of Tai Wei Heavenly Court, the Tai Wei deities each held their own authority.

What was the authority of Xiang Xuanqing, the 【An Yao Ji Du Shang Zun】?

He governs all fortune and misfortune in the world, primarily overseeing calamities of illness and suffering, defying the Heavenly Dao, and concealing divine radiance.

Follow it, and fortune follows; defy it, and disaster strikes!

When Xiang Xuanqing was Heavenly Emperor, he could be radiant and majestic, his holy virtue shining bright.

But when he returned to being the [Dark Radiance Luo Hou Shang Zun], he would have to sit at the same table as the [Hidden Radiance Luo Hou Shang Zun], lord of all evils, and the [Void Radiance Yue Bi Shang Zun], lord of all slaughter.

“Sun Dao friend, don’t come visit me unless you have to—it makes me deeply uncomfortable.”

Xiang Xuanqing spoke with solemn gravity: “You’ve been Heavenly Emperor more than once or twice—have your plans, and carry them out boldly. Don’t worry too much about what this former emperor is doing.”

“Now, I am a virtuous minister. If the Heavenly Emperor issues an edict, he can simply summon me to the meeting.”

Emperor Jun listened and chuckled: “Virtuous minister? Or idle minister?”

“Same thing.”

Xiang Xuanqing turned and walked to a storage cabinet, taking out a spiritual treasure—a golden-skinned gourd.

“The spiritual treasure you commissioned me to modify has been completed,” Xiang Xuanqing tossed it casually to Emperor Jun.

“So fast?” Emperor Jun’s face showed surprise.

He examined the golden-skinned gourd: inside glowed a thread of radiant light, over three zhang tall, upon which appeared an object seven cun long, with eyebrows and eyes, its gaze piercing with twin beams of white light.

“This item is called: the Executioner’s Flying Knife.”

“When used, simply chant the true incantation: ‘Treasure, turn around.’ A thread of light will fly from the gourd, piercing the enemy’s Yuan Shen—no matter how they transform, they cannot escape.”

“At the tip of the white light, it spins like a windwheel—just one or two rotations, and it severs the enemy’s head.” Xiang Xuanqing explained the treasure’s power, then repeatedly warned Emperor Jun: “This item is extremely potent, but consumes cosmic fortune—use it with caution.”

“Understood. To gain such power with only a slight drain on cosmic fortune—what a marvelous treasure! Truly marvelous!” Emperor Jun, upon hearing the drawback, actually relaxed.

If it had no drawback, he wouldn’t dare accept it!

After accepting the treasure, Emperor Jun chatted with Xiang Xuanqing for a long while.

He wandered again through every exhibition area of the shop, then finally indicated his departure: “Dao friend, don’t miss the next Weiyuan internal meeting.”

“I have something major to announce.”

Emperor Jun looked mysteriously secretive.

Xiang Xuanqing raised an eyebrow: “Good news?”

Emperor Jun paused, then laughed: “You can’t hide anything from me!”

“Then I’ll have to bring a gift,” Xiang Xuanqing smiled.

Emperor Jun waved his hand: “Weiyuan internal meetings are all family—why bring gifts?”

Xiang Xuanqing shook his head: “You’ll find out when the time comes.”

Your good fortune may not be good fortune for a certain deity.

After seeing off Emperor Jun,

Xiang Xuanqing calculated the hour—it was nearly time to close shop.

He was just about to seal the store when Tai Shang sent a message: “Xiang Xuanqing, was it you who guided Hao Tian to me?”

“No,” Xiang Xuanqing shook his head.

Tai Shang replied: “He left your black shop and followed Kong Xuan all the way to our Sanqing Shop, then refused to leave—he says he wants to intern here.”

“I thought it was your idea.”

Xiang Xuanqing said: “If he wants to intern, give him the chance.”

“Alright then.”

Tai Shang chuckled: “I wonder where Hong Jun found such a peculiar treasure—excellent talent, clever and mischievous. A real gem.”

Xiang Xuanqing suddenly said: “What if I told you he wasn’t found by Hong Jun—he is Hong Jun?”

“.” Tai Shang paused noticeably.

He instinctively glanced at Hao Tian, diligently working inside Sanqing Shop, and felt a sudden chill.

“You’re joking, right?”

“Hmm, of course I’m joking,” Xiang Xuanqing replied.

Tai Shang immediately sighed in relief: “Ugh, you’re such a troublemaker—why scare people for no reason?”

“I said Hong Jun might be cunning, but he wouldn’t sink so low as to trick himself.”

“Isn’t that just lowering his own status for nothing?”

Xiang Xuanqing only smiled, saying nothing.

Not long after, Yu Chen Dao Jun transmitted: “The hour is nearly upon us—Fu Xi and Nu Wa should be inviting us to depart.”

Indeed, the next instant,

Fu Xi transmitted his voice.

“Three Dao friends, are you ready?”

The Three Pure Ones replied: “We’ve been waiting for you.”

“Then let us depart together?”

“Go!”

On this day, in the void of Chaos, five brilliant divine lights tore through the barrier of space and time, silent and simultaneous, flowing upstream.

Roar!

A five-colored lion appeared atop the silver-white river, crouching before Xiang Xuanqing.

“Good, good, good,” Xiang Xuanqing assumed the form of Yuan Shi Tian Zun, holding the Ruyi scepter, floating seated atop the five-colored lion.

“Moo!”

“Moo!”

Two bovine roars followed—Qing Niu and Kui Niu arrived.

“You clever beast!” Tai Shang scolded playfully, riding Qing Niu backward.

Yu Chen Dao Jun then mounted Kui Niu.

All three divine beasts were now on the verge of breaking through to Da Luo Zhi Zun.

Perfect—they’d tag along with their masters for some fortune!

Fu Xi and Nu Wa, seeing this, asked curiously: “In the Creation Era, you can bring mounts?”

“Of course,” Tai Shang explained to the siblings, noting they weren’t the first to do so.

“Dao transformation into personal ornaments? You can do that?” Fu Xi and Nu Wa were enlightened.

So they summoned their own juniors.

Two white lights flew from the Shan Hai World, taking the form of human-headed, serpent-bodied beings.

“Greetings, Master!”

Teng She and Bai Xi, guardians of the Shan Hai World, appeared together.

Nu Wa nodded: “Accompany us.”

The two deities rejoiced: “Thank you, Master!”

In the river of time and space, a small boat rocked gently.

Xiao Song, seeing the five supreme beings traveling together, rubbed his eyes and muttered: “Pangu’s axe!”

“With these five together, how lively would the Chaos Era be!”

Especially as he noticed many deities in the tributaries of the Time River were also traveling upstream.

These were either worldly guests of the Purple Cloud Palace, or newly elevated Da Luo deities from the past few millennia due to the Three Corpses Severance Method and the Five Tai Path to Enlightenment.

“This scene feels familiar.”

Xiao Song gripped his fishing hook, recalling the moment when the names of the Three Pure Ones illuminated all realms.

“Indeed, they’re the real fishing masters!”

“Compared to them, I’m just a green recruit!”

After hesitating a moment, he cast his fishing rod to the ferryman.

“I’ll join the commotion too!”

Xiao Song eagerly transformed into a five-colored radiant light, flowing upstream through time.

The white-robed ferryman bent to pick up the hook, watching Xiao Song’s departing form, and shook his head: “This is what they mean by ‘those who wish to be caught, are caught.’”

The Underworld.

More than a dozen beams of light shot skyward.

The Ten Yama Kings led a host of ghostly deities.

The Eastern Sea.

The Turtle Chancellor encouraged the Four Dragon Kings: “My sons, you are the future of the Dragon Clan—go with confidence!”

“Yes!”

Ao Guang, Ao Run, and other Dragon Kings soared into the sky.

In the boundless void, the Wandering Qilin Cliff.

Bai Hu Shen Jun saw off the new hope of his clan.

“Rest assured—you are the new generation’s children of our clan’s cosmic fortune; you shall turn misfortune into fortune, and adversity into auspiciousness.”

The Phoenix Platform in Tiannan.

The Feng bird flew, soaring upward.

The Wu Tong Divine Tree looked on with eager hope: “The Creation Era isn’t so terrifying—wait for the right moment, and return safely.”

Across the Hong Huang Three Realms, the boundless heavens, and every Heavenly Dao Academy, deities journeyed toward the Chaos Era.

The boundless sea of Chaos, gray and formless, without up or down, left or right, past or future—only eternal chaos and disorder.

Yet, within this seemingly eternal and unchanging tapestry of chaos, there existed one eternal and unchanging “singularity.”

A “origin” of all time and space, the earliest sprout from which all things in the Honghuang emerged from “nothing” into “being.”

There, it was said, was the birthplace of the primordial deity Pangu.

“Thirty-six-petal Azure Lotus—how many times has this happened now?”

When the Three Pure Ones, relying on their profound understanding of the Dao of time and space and their immensely powerful cultivation, successfully crossed the temporal-spatial origin, they returned smoothly to their familiar realm.

This time, it was even smoother than last time.

“At least we didn’t get struck by lightning!”

Upon returning to the Chaos Azure Lotus, an indescribable sense of intimacy and destiny—like returning to the womb—immediately enveloped their spirits.

They already possessed the identity of Pangu’s primordial spirit, and thus shared the most direct and profound primordial connection with this Chaos Azure Lotus.

Almost the instant their forms manifested at this temporal-spatial origin,

the thirty-six-petal Chaos Azure Lotus, which had seemingly existed since eternity yet still remained in bud, radiating boundless creative energy, trembled violently—as if summoned by some mysterious force.

Ten thousand rays of radiant light burst forth from the lotus, illuminating the chaos for millions of miles with brilliant clarity.

Boundless pure qi surged like a tidal wave, forming a colossal energy vortex that swept the five figures—Sanqing, Fuxi, and Nüwa—into its depths without hesitation.

Unlike last time, when they had passively and collectively merged into the lotus, becoming Pangu’s primordial spirit,

this time, as they re-entered this supreme maternal womb that gave birth to all creation, a subtle yet profound change occurred.

Perhaps it was because they had come this time with the clear goal of “proving the Dao of Taiyi.”

Perhaps it was because their respective Dao cultivations had advanced further and their self-awareness had grown sharper than last time.

Or perhaps, the hidden will of Pangu was deliberately guiding a new evolution.

In any case, when the five souls once again merged with the primordial essence of the Chaos Azure Lotus, they did not fuse into one as before—instead, each occupied a vast, boundless, yet mutually independent “chaos space” within the lotus.

Within these chaos spaces, they were no longer in the complete form of primordial deities, but transformed directly into something more primordial, more abstract, and more powerful: “Primordial Dao Spirits!”

Even more wondrously, the characteristics of the five Dao Spirits they became perfectly corresponded to the five key realms of the “Five Great Da Luo Method” that Xiang Xuanqing had previously expounded in the Purple Cloud Palace—Taiyi, Tai Chu, Tai Shi, Tai Su, and Tai Ji!

“Every time we come to chaos, it’s different!”

Xiang Xuanqing sighed: “Pangu, you’re still the master of this, Old Man!”

————

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(End of Chapter)