Primordial Era: I, Ksitigarbha, shall be the Supreme Being of the Primordial Era.

After the ceremony concluded, everyone returned to their seats in the hall, where the various primordial deities presented the congratulatory gifts they had prepared beforehand to offer their congratulations to the Eastern King Duke and the Western Queen Mother.

The Three Pure Ones united as one, presenting a mid-grade innate spiritual treasure, the Earth Spirit Pearl, as a congratulatory gift.

This item is one of the Five Elements Spirit Pearls. If all five are present, they can form the Innate Five Elements Spirit Array. A single pearl can also suppress a region of land, making it extremely powerful.

The siblings Fuxi and Nuwa presented a low-grade innate spiritual root as a gift. Nuwa cultivated the Dao of Creation and lived on Mount Buzhou, possessing many spiritual plants.

What Di Jun Tai Yi gave him was a low-grade innate fire essence, a rare spiritual object that only appeared on the Sun Star.

Hongyun was all alone and not wealthy, so Zhen Yuanzi sent her a congratulatory gift together: five ginseng fruits.

Of the twelve Ancestral Witches, only Houtu and Xuanming came, offering a wisp of earth vein energy.

Other innate deities also received congratulatory gifts.

When it was Ksitigarbha's turn, he presented a pagoda-shaped Nirvana Flower, saying, "This is the flower of the twin Sal trees, a superior innate spiritual root from Mount Sumeru. It is called the Nirvana Flower, and consuming it has the effect of reviving the soul and achieving Nirvana. I present this as a congratulatory gift to congratulate you two seniors on your breakthrough."

Finally, he added, "Life in the West is tough, so please don't find it distasteful, esteemed seniors."

The Eastern King smiled, but a hint of disdain flashed in his eyes.

After accepting the Nirvana Flower, he handed it over to the attendant, who placed it in the Celestial Treasury.

Seeing that the Eastern King Duke had no reaction, Dizang knew that the Eastern King Duke had not taken a liking to his congratulatory gift, but he did not care about it.

Given the animosity between the two sides, it was already quite good that they weren't harassed on the spot.

So after delivering the gift, he returned to his seat without changing his expression.

When the Queen Mother of the West saw that Ksitigarbha was being slighted by the King Father of the East, she only frowned slightly, but did not say anything more.

After all, times have changed. She has now entered the Quasi-Saint realm and no longer needs to feign politeness towards a junior just to give face to the two Daoists of Mount Sumeru.

Moreover, the man beside her is known to be narrow-minded.

If helping Ksitigarbha resolve an awkward situation causes him dissatisfaction, then it would be a loss rather than a gain.

All I can say is that this person is a sophisticated egoist.

After all the spectators had presented their gifts, the high platform of the Eastern King Duke was already radiant with precious light, making it a sight to behold.

It can be said that Dongwanggong made a fortune from establishing the Celestial Court this time.

After smilingly putting away the treasure, Dongwanggong once again clasped his hands in thanks to the assembled innate deities.

He then sat cross-legged on the high platform and began the most anticipated part of the ceremony: the discussion.

"Today, as the host, I shall take it upon myself to first explain my own way."

Fellow Daoists, is this acceptable?

"good!"

"What I cultivate is the Way of Pure Yang. Pure Yang lies in strengthening the foundation. Pure means one; Yang means brightness. One is the beginning, from which two and three are transformed to obtain all things..."

On the high platform, the Eastern King Duke recounted to the assembled primordial deities his cultivation of the Pure Yang Dao.

Although everyone present cultivated their own path, they could learn from others' experiences, and therefore listened attentively to what the Eastern King Duke said.

Those things that have similar strengths to oneself are incorporated into one's own way.

Ksitigarbha sat at the front, listening attentively.

But as the Eastern King Duke's narration went deeper...

Ksitigarbha even considered abandoning the Tao and switching to other cultivations, and the more he listened, the more he felt that the path he was cultivating was wrong.

But his consciousness constantly reminded him that the path he cultivated was the only one, and only by adhering to his own principles could he attain the true result.

Such entanglement and distress caused Ksitigarbha's brows to furrow and relax at different times, as he both longed to hear the Dao and wanted to escape it.

Seemingly sensing Ksitigarbha's struggle, the Taoist chants reaching his ears grew even louder.

On the high platform, Dongwanggong glanced at Dizang without showing any emotion, and continued his sermon.

The predicament that Ksitigarbha encountered was precisely what the Eastern King Duke had intentionally created.

Firstly, to retaliate against the two disciples of Mount Sumeru who had smeared his face with noodles; secondly, to vent his anger at Ksitigarbha for repeatedly silencing him with tea.

If the Eastern King Duke were only at the Great Luo level, he wouldn't have done this.

But now that he has reached the Quasi-Saint level, the highest-ranking cultivator in the hall is only at the Great Luo Perfection stage, so they cannot detect his actions and are therefore not a cause for concern.

The Queen Mother of the West did notice something, but she ignored it.

Laozi, who was sitting at the very front, also sensed that the Dongwang Gongdao Yin seemed to contain something, but it had no effect on his three brothers, so he paid no attention to it.

After all, what he cultivated was the Way of Non-Action.

On the other hand, as Ksitigarbha became increasingly confused by the Daoist teachings of the Eastern King, a thin layer of dust covered his Daoist heart, and his primordial spirit became increasingly bewildered.

The loss of his Daoist heart caused the Daoist essence on Ksitigarbha's body to instantly become much weaker.

Even his recently attained realm is somewhat unstable, seemingly at risk of falling at any moment.

Just then, a cool sensation suddenly arose within Ksitigarbha's primordial spirit, clearing his previously confused eyes somewhat.

Having regained some clarity, Ksitigarbha instinctively realized that something was wrong with his condition. He quickly placed the Three Lives Stone on his primordial spirit to resist the Dao sound that was constantly eroding his Dao heart.

Seeing that Ksitigarbha had actually sensed something was wrong and still had the strength to resist his Daoist voice, a hint of surprise flashed in the eyes of the Eastern King.

However, it then intensified the erosion of Ksitigarbha's Dao heart, aiming to shatter Ksitigarbha's Dao heart and cause him to lose all his cultivation.

However, at that moment, a sigh suddenly rang out in the hall.

"Alas, fellow Daoist, why must a great being from the primordial world make things difficult for a junior?"

The sound instantly interrupted the preaching of the Eastern King Duke, and also brought the assembled primordial deities back to reality.

"Who dares to interrupt my sermon?"

Upon hearing this, the Eastern King was shocked and enraged. He, a quasi-saint, had his magic broken with a single word!

"Ah, Fellow Daoist Dongwanggong, how have you been? This humble Daoist Jieyin has yet to congratulate you on your breakthrough!"

As the voices spoke, the Guide and the Cundi appeared one after the other in the main hall.

The coldness in the guide's words and the murderous intent in the second Taoist's eyes made the Eastern King Duke instinctively want to dodge.

But then he remembered that he had already broken through to become a Quasi-Saint, and he was no longer afraid.

He stood up and rebuked Jieyin and Zhunti, "You have disrupted our discussion of the Dao. Do you intend to become my enemies?"

"Heh, enemies?" Master Zhunti sneered. "Aren't we already enemies?"

"Since you have established yourself in the Celestial Court, we have sent our disciples to offer our congratulations and present our gifts."

Unexpectedly, you, a quasi-saint, have no shame and have attacked my disciple, corrupting his Dao heart. You are despicable!

You are nothing but a lowly man!

"Today, I, Mount Sumeru, will fight you, the Eastern King, to the death!"

Upon hearing this, all the innate deities were in an uproar. Those with profound cultivation looked at Ksitigarbha and indeed found that Ksitigarbha's Dao heart was clouded and his Dao essence was dim, as if there were signs that his Dao heart was about to shatter.

Immediately, the way everyone in the hall looked at the Eastern King Duke changed, their mockery evident in their eyes.

When Dong Wanggong saw that his plan had been exposed and saw the mocking looks from everyone, he was instantly ashamed and angry.

"You dare to falsely accuse me, Jieyin and Zhunti? Prepare to die!"

As he spoke, he no longer concealed his Quasi-Saint cultivation and flicked his hand to unleash a burst of magical power towards Jieyin and Zhunti.

"Such trivial skills, yet you dare to make a fuss here!"

With a flick of his sleeve, Daoist Zhunti annihilated the attack of the Eastern King Duke.

Dongwanggong instinctively sensed that something was amiss, but before he could think about it, Zhunti Daoist had already summoned the Seven Treasures Tree and was sweeping it toward him.

He could only hastily raise his dragon-headed cane to defend himself.

He thought he could easily block it with his cultivation, but to his surprise, Daoist Zhunti's attack was like a star falling to earth, its force heavy, and instantly sent Dongwanggong flying out of the palace.

The aftershocks of the attack also caused the expressions of the onlookers, including the innate deities, to change, and they hurriedly defended themselves.

"Wait, Zhunti, could it be that you've also broken through to the Quasi-Saint realm?!"

The exclamation from the Eastern King Duke caused everyone present to change their expressions drastically, exchanging bewildered glances as if they had heard a ghost story.

"Heh, you're allowed to break through to a higher realm, but you can't allow me to?"

Zhunti Daoist sneered, grabbed the Seven Treasures Tree again, and lunged at Dongwanggong.