What a pity.

The Queen Mother of the West hadn't responded directly to his invitation, giving an ambiguous answer instead.

Simply put, her message was, "Whoever wins, she helps."

But Wu Wang could see that for a moment, she was genuinely tempted.

Tempted by the idea of joining the Heavenly Dao.

Wu Wang knew the importance of moderation and didn't resort to tricks like, "Join now, and you'll be a founding member," or "Join our Heavenly Dao, and after three hundred years, you'll receive a special welcome package." Instead, he just alluded to it and left it there. Stepping back, Wu Wang only hoped that the Queen Mother of the West would remain an observer. Even if she later decided to join the Heavenly Dao when the tide was clearly in their favor, it would still hold significant meaning.

The decision to invite the Queen Mother of the West to join the Heavenly Dao wasn't a spur-of-the-moment idea but rather a well-considered one. From the moment the Queen Mother of the West, in her primal incarnation, had spoken the words "Heavenly Dao," Wu Wang had to contemplate the consequences if she were to divulge this information to Emperor Shun; the repercussions for him would be clear. The answer was obvious. How the Heaven Palace currently treated his mother and him would change one hundred and eighty degrees, from friendly persuasion to outright eradication. How could he ensure the Queen Mother of the West took his side, or at the very least, remained neutral? Selling allure was the least effective method. For a strong being like the Queen Mother of the West, seeking pleasure was merely a thrilling pastime in the midst of long, monotonous years. Once it came down to core interests, even if a relationship lasted ten thousand or a hundred thousand years, one would not hesitate to strike a deadly blow without any mercy. Ultimately, the only way was to clearly state his stance and then attract the Queen Mother of the West with the promise of substantial benefits...

"Listen carefully; there might be opportunities for you here."

The gentle female voice ahead startled Wu Wang from his contemplations. In front of him, the Queen Mother of the West, dressed in a light purple trailing gown, was walking slowly forward, causing ripples on the water beneath her feet with each step. Wu Wang listened quietly for a while. Apart from hearing the Queen Mother of the West's barely perceptible breathing and the faint sounds from the water beneath her feet, there was no other movement. For some reason, Wu Wang felt that the Queen Mother of the West, as she was now, held more allure than when she emerged from the pool devoid of any clothing.

They were walking on a body of water. To the west, the sky hung low with heavy clouds illuminated by sunlight from an unknown source, casting an evening glow like that of a sunset. To the east, the sky was a dark, inky blue, where one could see the silhouettes of enormous fish-like creatures slowly passing by. Several Chi Dragons circled the horizon, flocks of celestial birds soared through the air alongside schools of fish, and Wu Wang even caught a glimpse of a phoenix's ethereal shadow within the clouds. This body of water seemed to have no boundaries, at least not discernible by Wu Wang's Transcendent Immortal Consciousness. He could feel the vibrancy of life here, yet behind it lay an even deeper stillness. Clear, illusory, real, desolate. This subtle, unusual feeling made Wu Wang's spiritual mind feel as if it were suspended in mid-air, unable to find peace.

Two steps ahead of Wu Wang, the Queen Mother of the West held her hands gracefully in front of her, walking slowly with her dress trailing behind. Her expression was solemn, and her gaze fixed forward. The casually tied-up hair accentuated her slender neck, and that nearly perfect silhouette had less of the fullness of her wild incarnation, appearing more ethereal and otherworldly.

Wu Wang felt he should say something and asked, "Senior, where are we heading?"

The Queen Mother of the West replied, "Kunlun Ruins."

"Can you tell me more?" Wu Wang asked with a smile.

"This is a secret I have guarded alone," the Queen Mother of the West said, turning her head slightly, a sly smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Unless you qualify to stand with me and are willing to stay here through countless mundane years, then I might share it with you. Guarding a secret for so long can indeed be very tiring."

Wu Wang smiled, saying nothing. Suddenly, he remembered a few words the Queen Mother of the West had mentioned before—"Activate the Divine Punishment Dao." A Dao that could be activated? Possibly, the Queen Mother of the West might have been deliberately revealing some information to him, or she could be laying a smokescreen.

Ahead, a speck appeared. Wu Wang's Immortal Consciousness swept over it, sensing nothingness there, yet the small dark speck was visible to the naked eye. The Queen Mother of the West led him forward, and within a short time, the speck began to enlarge rapidly as if approaching them. As they drew nearer, Wu Wang could make out the peculiar structure. It resembled the base of a Stele, surrounded by smooth black walls; if viewed from above, it looked strikingly similar to a square, upright coffin. What was odd about it was that its size could not be directly described, as measures of Heaven and Earth had lost all meaning upon it. When Wu Wang approached this structure, its size seemed to settle. It was three hundred feet in length and width and thirty feet high. A thirty-foot-high door appeared before Wu Wang.

The Queen Mother of the West turned her head to look at Wu Wang and asked, "What do you see?"

"A..."

"No need to tell me," the Queen Mother of the West said softly, then closed her eyes and took a gentle breath. "Follow me in."

Wu Wang braced himself and followed closely behind the Queen Mother of the West, stepping through the portal. Ahead, the Queen Mother of the West walked into a curtain of light, and her figure disappeared from view. Wu Wang only felt a sting in his eyes, and his Primordial Spirit and Dao body both closed their eyes simultaneously.

When he opened his eyes again, flashing white lights surrounded him. It was as if many figures were hiding behind the light, watching him. The buzzing voices held inexplicable meanings, which were automatically translated into the language of the Human Domain in the depths of Wu Wang's heart.

"Is this the creator of the new order?"

"He seems quite weak. Was he predicted by the Kunlun Mirror so soon? He must have some exceptional quality."

"Why is it a male again? When will we females ever rise?"

"Quiet, everyone. It's time for us to appear."

DING-A-LING!

Someone began ringing a copper bell. One dark spot after another appeared on the light curtains around them, from which forty-nine men and women emerged. They stood or sat, beneath them Lotus Platforms, meditation cushions, luxurious thrones, or ordinary rocks. Wu Wang looked around at the figures, seeing only the Innate Dao bodies of the Human race—human features. Beauty, ugliness, fatness, thinness, male, female, old, young—they gave Wu Wang the illusion that everything was encompassed. Hidden behind the eyes of these forty-nine unknown beings lay endless wisdom and knowledge.

The Queen Mother of the West sat quietly on a throne, still dressed as before, now holding a wine cup and savoring its flavor.

"Let's start."

The grey-haired old crone directly in front of Wu Wang suddenly spoke. Wu Wang looked at her, feeling that this old crone was at the very center of this place, presumably the leader or a similar figure. Yet, he also felt that each of the forty-nine figures was at the center of this place, and this old woman was not particularly special. The principles here were mystical, complete, obscure, and serene, baffling Wu Wang yet easily accepted by him. Was this the Great Dao Questioning?

The old crone smiled and said, "Please take a seat, Dao Friend... this is the common address among yourselves in the Human Domain, is it not?"

Wu Wang nodded slightly, and a wooden chair had already appeared behind him. He sat down straightforwardly, without feeling any pressure on his spirit. Wu Wang wanted to see whether this place was truly mysterious or just feigning profundity.

"The Queen Mother of the West asked me to come here to undergo the Great Dao Questioning," Wu Wang said directly. "I am just an unremarkable Human Domain cultivator, and I don't understand the current situation. If the seniors here could offer a simple explanation to this junior, I would truly be grateful."

The forty-nine figures fell silent simultaneously. Then, from their mouths, they each spoke a sentence in sequence from left to right:

"We are order."

"Or, to say, we were order."

"We created a perfect order, which has existed for an eternity."

"We have thoroughly researched all the Great Daos. Except for the ultimate question that remains unanswered, we have mastered all secrets of Heaven and Earth."

"But we have also determined that the ultimate question cannot be answered through the Dao, and we will not be troubled by this."

"After confirming Heaven and Earth could no longer expand, we started wholeheartedly crafting this finite Heaven and Earth."

"We wished to explore the infinite possibilities within a finite Heaven and Earth and let all consciousness share."

"We abolished the barriers between the strong and the weak, allowing for equality."

"We began to guide all consciousness in Heaven and Earth towards an eternity without conflict, without pain."

"We established regulations for mending, where communication transcends words, joining consciousness with consciousness."

"We..."

"The final regulation was the abolition of lies, all consciousness directly reaching truth."

"Then, Heaven and Earth died."

"We merged into the consciousness of Heaven and Earth. But at that time, we could not understand the permanence of Heaven and Earth, which was unmoved by external things. We arrogantly believed that our active consciousness could represent this Heaven and Earth."

"In fact, it was Heaven and Earth that accommodated us, and the only path we could seek was to leap out of this Heaven and Earth."

"Heaven and Earth have died, and so have we."

"This place is nothing but the carcass of an old Heaven and Earth, and we..."

Among the forty-nine figures, forty-eight voices spoke up simultaneously, saying to Wu Wang, "are the old Heaven and Earth's beautiful blessings to those who come after."

"I am different," the Queen Mother of the West said calmly as she put down her wine cup and gave Wu Wang a mesmerizing smile. "I am a guardian who has separated from them and integrated into the current order."

Wu Wang looked at the Queen Mother of the West with a hint of puzzlement in his eyes and asked in a low voice, "The Divine Punishment Dao is not an Innate Dao?"

The Queen Mother of the West counter-questioned, "How could an Innate Dao of self-punishment possibly exist?"

Wu Wang pressed, "Senior, you control the remnant power of the old Heaven and Earth, so you are feared by the Second and Third Divine Kings, by the Candle Dragon and Emperor Shun?"

"It's more or less like that," the Queen Mother of the West said with a smile, "but the Divine Punishment Dao does indeed exist..."

The old crone facing Wu Wang spoke with a smile, "We created it; think of it as a gift to future generations."

Wu Wang's face showed sudden realization as he murmured, "You're overseeing the entire Heaven and Earth."

"That's not oversight," the old crone said thoughtfully, speaking slowly. "We simply want to prevent the conscious beings born in the new Heaven and Earth from once again taking our old path. And contrary to what you think, we do not intervene in the development of order, nor do we push it forward. We only leave a gap in order when it becomes too perfect, making it incomplete, imperfect."

"Imperfection, imbalance, and incompleteness lead to diversity."

"If the bottom of a pool is at an absolutely uniform height, the pool water will become stagnant, and no flow will occur."

"Individual differences were what we once fiercely erased but ultimately pursued fervently."

"The last conscious being who sat here took with him the gift we prepared for him—how to weave order seals out of various Daos."

The conversation paused, and then they all watched Wu Wang attentively.

By now, Wu Wang had steadied his spiritual mind. He looked up directly at these figures that had vanished for who knew how many years and said with a smile, "Have you prepared a gift for me as well?"

"A Formation, to use the term from your Human Domain," they said.

"Let the Stars become your strongest support."

"It's called the Zhou Tian Great Formation, one of our past masterpieces, capable of easily annihilating Strong Gods, and it just so happens to suit you."

Wu Wang's eyes narrowed, a Divine Light flickering within them.

"May I ask a question?" Wu Wang ventured.

"We will withhold nothing in our response," the surrounding figures replied with friendly smiles.

Wu Wang asked, "The era in which you existed, is it what the Great Wilderness seldom mentions nowadays, the First God Era?"

"No, we lived before the First God Era."

"The First God Era is the era of Heaven and Earth's revival. We used countless years to revive this Heaven and Earth."

"To put it accurately, the First God Era was when we released the Daos, giving them back to Heaven and Earth."

"If viewed from a future perspective, calling us the First God Era isn't much different. In such a case, the First God Era would be divided into three phases: rise, golden age, and decline."

A faint sigh sounded. "We are the old Divine Spirits who lost everything after the decline, leaving only residual consciousness."

"One last question," Wu Wang said. "If I refuse your proposal, can I leave this place safely?"

It became quiet within the entire light screen.

"We would not do anything to you," the old crone said warmly, "but we would take into consideration whether the birth of the next segment of order would be beneficial for Heaven and Earth."

"I understand."

Wu Wang laughed. "You don't have to be so serious. I was just thinking. If you've been meddling with the operation of Heaven and Earth since the Second God Era, then this Heaven and Earth has merely been an extension of your wills all along. While preventing Heaven and Earth from becoming a certain way, you've actually mapped out what you believe to be the correct path for it. Therefore, I have my doubts about this. If I accept your gift, I will inevitably be influenced by you. But from a broader perspective, is your influence truly beneficial for Heaven and Earth? Apart from that, I would like you to be clear about something before you question me again."

"Ask your question."

"Do you stand for Heaven and Earth, or for all living beings?"

Wu Wang crossed his legs casually, the hem of his long robe fluttering slightly.

"If it has been proven that the path for Innate Gods to merge with Heaven and Earth leads to desolation, then isn't it worth considering giving living beings a chance? The difference between living beings and Innate Gods is that living beings have limits; they are inherently imperfect. But when living beings come together, they have infinite possibilities."

The old gods fell into deep thought, as if brewing something in contemplation. The Queen Mother of the West sat in a corner, gently shaking a wine pot in her hand, her lips curling into a serene smile.

Wu Wang waited quietly for a while. Seeing that the many old gods remained silent, he urged them, "Come on, let the Great Dao interrogate."

...

CLANG!

「An hour later.」

Outside the central Heaven's Gate in the Kunlun Ruins' Nine Heavens.

Wu Wang was 'thrown' out, and the Heaven's Gate closed forcefully, as if there was an irate old gatekeeper inside.

"Heh heh."

Wu Wang raised his hand to touch his nose, his lips revealing a faint smile. Ming Snake had already flown in from a distance, standing quietly behind Wu Wang, showing no sign of the injury she had suffered here before.

"How are your injuries?" Wu Wang asked telepathically.

"Master, that mirror only sealed my Divine Power; it has already recovered," Ming Snake replied.

"Hm," Wu Wang casually tossed over a bottle of Shen Nong-branded Elixir. Ming Snake bowed her head in thanks, holding the Elixir close to her chest, unwilling to consume it for a long time.

"God of Spring," Lu Wu appeared behind Wu Wang and said in a deep voice, "I shall send you back to the Human Domain."

"There's no need to trouble God Lu Wu. I can return on my own. And thanks to the Queen Mother of the West for her hospitality," Wu Wang replied with a smile. As he spoke, Ming Snake had already ripped open a rift in Heaven and Earth.

Lu Wu clasped his hands together and said in a low voice, "In that case, I will not see you off... Is the God of Spring returning in good spirits?"

"It's alright," Wu Wang's mouth twitched a few times.

Lu Wu's eyes revealed a hint of amusement as he nodded slightly to Wu Wang. Clearly, this Divine General of the Kunlun Ruins knew exactly what had happened inside; that smile seemed somewhat teasing, no matter how one looked at it.

Wu Wang: ... All the teasing in the world—nothing had happened between him and the Queen Mother of the West!

Inside the Kunlun Ruins, the mysterious Dao rhyme had yet to disperse. Wu Wang bowed towards the central Heaven's Gate and stepped into the Heaven and Earth rift. His next step landed him on the border of the Human Domain. Ming Snake followed closely, as if she feared that if she fell half a step behind, Wu Wang would disappear without a trace.

Following the trail deliberately left by Yun Zhongjun, Wu Wang quickly found this elder brother snoring heavily amidst the peach groves... Black lines appeared on Wu Wang's forehead when he saw the slightly plump Divine Spirit in deep sleep, and he couldn't help his irritation. He was in the Kunlun Ruins, struggling between gods and humans, resisting the wild invasion of the Queen Mother of the West, laboring to develop the Heavenly Dao, and in the end, taken to a strange place to be bombarded by dozens of bizarre Dao! And this guy was just snoring away!

Rage surged through Wu Wang, malice rising in his heart. He took a decisive step towards the bed, bent down, and whispered into Yun Zhongjun's ear, "Yun Meng, I've had a hard time looking for you."

Yun Zhongjun blinked sleepily and mumbled, "All our enemies are dead."

"Time to get up. We're heading back; we still need to figure out how to dispel the Heavenly Emperor's suspicions about my visit to the Kunlun Ruins." Wu Wang looked back in the direction of the Kunlun Ruins and said with a smile, "I've gained something good; let's go back and play around with it."

Yun Zhongjun's small eyes, already full of drowsiness, instantly became even more overcome with sleepiness. After all, in this Heaven and Earth, what good thing hadn't he seen?