Primordial Era: Starting by overwhelming the Sages, Hongjun was stunned!

Shouyang Mountain, the ruins of Bajing Palace.

Amidst the ruins, Grand Master Xuandu stood alone on the scorched earth, his plain Taoist robe stained with dust, his expression blank.

In that instant, he clearly felt something dormant for billions of years deep within his bloodline suddenly awaken.

It was neither a breakthrough in cultivation nor a sudden enlightenment of heavenly secrets.

Rather, it is something more fundamental and more surging... the resonance of the human soul!

"Humanity...has it been restored?"

Xuan Du muttered to himself, his eyes filled with confusion and disbelief.

As the only direct disciple of Laozi, the Sage of Taiqing, he has followed his master since the day he took human form, cultivating the Way of Non-Action and comprehending the profound mysteries of the Supreme Being, and has long forgotten his human origins.

In fact, throughout his long years of cultivation, he deliberately avoided all human karma, remained uninvolved in dynastic changes, ignored worldly disputes, and stayed in the Eight Views Palace of Shouyang Mountain, refining elixirs and comprehending the Dao, living a life of tranquility and non-action.

Master once said that the human race's destiny is complex and intertwined with cause and effect; getting tainted by it will inevitably damage one's foundation in the Dao.

He believed it.

So when the Investiture of the Gods began, Xiqi attacked Shang, the human race was in turmoil, and countless lives were lost... he never gave it a second glance.

Even though his master secretly supported Xiqi and plotted against Yin Shang, he only regarded it as following the way of heaven and governing by doing nothing.

But now, Master is dead.

He was killed by Kong Xuan with a single sword strike, his sacred body shattered.

The People's Education System exists in name only.

But it was precisely at this moment that humanity awakened.

Xuan Du slowly raised his head and looked at the dilapidated main hall of the Eight Views Palace.

That place was once where Lao Tzu sat on the cloud platform and preached the Great Dao. Now, only half a charred jade pillar remains, along with fragments of a broken alchemy furnace scattered all over the ground.

"The Way of Non-Action...Am I really wrong?"

His voice was dry, with a slight tremor that he himself was unaware of.

If humanity is destined to prosper and the way of humanity should be established, then why did Master, as the leader of the Human Religion, never think of awakening humanity, but instead use humanity as a pawn to scheme for destiny?

If non-action is the true path, why did it ultimately end up like this?

Xuandu suddenly remembered that a long time ago, before he had taken human form, he had met an old human at the foot of Shouyang Mountain.

The old man was dressed in rags, but his eyes were clear. He pointed to the swirling clouds on the mountain and said to him:

"The immortals dwell high in the mountains, drinking the wind and dew, living a carefree and natural life."

"But the people living at the foot of the mountain also have their own ways of farming, weaving, raising children."

"The path of immortality is the path, and the path of humanity... is also the path."

At the time, he thought the old man was foolish and just laughed it off.

Looking back now, what shone in the old man's eyes was clearly the light of humanity—the spirit of passing on the torch and striving for self-improvement!

"boom!"

Just as Xuan Du was feeling agitated, a deep rumble suddenly came from the sky.

He suddenly looked up.

Above Shouyang Mountain, the pale golden sea of ​​fortune clouds that originally belonged to the Human Sect, to Laozi, and embodied the faith and fortune of hundreds of millions of people was now churning violently!

A figure in a black robe appeared amidst the sea of ​​clouds.

Kong Xuan!

He actually went to Shouyang Mountain in person!

Xuan Du's pupils contracted sharply, and he instinctively wanted to summon his magic weapon, but his hand fell limply halfway down.

Even his master was killed by him with a single sword strike, so what is his own Great Luo Golden Immortal cultivation level...?

Kong Xuan did not look at him.

He simply stood above the sea of ​​clouds, his gaze indifferent, looking at the churning fortune of the Human Sect.

"Laozi has passed away, and the teachings of humanity should be disbanded."

"Human destiny...returns to humanity."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kong Xuan raised his hand and gently grasped at the pale golden sea of ​​clouds.

"Sizzle!"

The sound, like tearing cloth, echoed throughout Shouyang Mountain!

That vast and magnificent sea of ​​human destiny, accumulated over hundreds of millions of years, was forcibly stripped away by Kong Xuan!

It's not about devouring or plundering.

Instead, return it!

Boundless pale golden fortune poured down from the sea of ​​clouds, transforming into countless brilliant streams of light, like a celestial river flowing backwards, surging towards the primordial land, towards the land where billions of humans lived...

Chaoge, Xiqi, Donglu, Nandu, Beijiang...

Cities, villages, fields, mountains...

Wherever there are humans, the light and rain of fortune fall upon them!

The light rain seeped into the bodies of the human people, making the healthy strong and healthy, curing the sick of their chronic illnesses, prolonging the lives of the elderly, enlightening the children, bringing bountiful harvests to the farmers, and enlightening the scholars...

All humankind, regardless of good or evil, noble or lowly, are nourished by the Qi!

This is humanity's own destiny!

It is the original power that was occupied by the Human Sect and stolen by the Sage for hundreds of millions of years... and finally returned to its rightful owner!

Xuan Du stared blankly at this scene, watching the rain of light fall upon the earth, watching the cheers and cries faintly rising from below the mountain, watching the unprecedented vitality and hope blooming on the faces of the human people...

He suddenly felt an unprecedented emptiness.

Shouyang Mountain is empty.

The fortunes of the Humanist sect have dissipated, the Eight Views Palace has collapsed, the master has perished, and the lineage has been severed.

And he, Xuan Du, the former chief disciple of the Human Sect, this self-proclaimed quasi-saint at the peak of tranquility and inaction...

Standing here on these ruins, I have no idea where to go.

Continue cultivating the Tao?

Where is the Way?

Returning to the human race?

But he has been estranged from the human race for billions of years, so what face does he have to return?

"well......"

Xuan Du sighed deeply and slowly closed his eyes.

A single, murky tear slid down from the corner of her eye and disappeared silently into the scorched earth.

He knew that Kong Xuan would not kill him.

It's not that I can't, but... I disdain it.

Why should a lonely person who has lost his lineage, his fortune, and his beliefs, sully the hands of Hunyuan Wuji?

"The Way of Non-Action..."

Xuan Du gave a low, bitter laugh:

"It turns out it was wrong from the very beginning."

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure gradually faded away, turning into wisps of pure energy that dissipated into the wind of Shouyang Mountain.

There was no fall, no reincarnation.

He simply dispersed his cultivation and returned to the world.

From then on, the Great Master Xuandu was no more in the primordial world.

Only the ruins of Shouyang Mountain silently witness the end of the People's Education Movement and the rebirth of humanity.

......

Chaoge, Zhaixing Tower.

Di Xin stood atop the tower, dressed in a black royal robe and wearing a flat crown. His face was resolute and his eyes were deep.

For a long time, however, his eyes were always shrouded in a faint sense of bewilderment and turbidity.

As if shrouded in mist, one cannot clearly see the landscape, nor can one clearly see oneself.

But just now...

When that dragon's roar that resounded through the soul, and that golden stream of light that pierced through heaven and earth surged into the body...

The fog... has dissipated.

Di Xin trembled violently, and his pupils suddenly contracted!

Countless chaotic memories, altered wills, distorted emotions... receded like the tide.

What replaced it was an incredibly clear...self.

He recalled that when he was young, his father, Emperor Yi, taught him the way to govern a country, saying that a ruler should put the people first and the state first.

He recalled his early days on the throne, when he was ambitious and wanted to reform the court, revitalize the Shang Dynasty, and free the human race from the control of the gods and immortals.

He recalled the incense offering at the Nuwa Temple and the inexplicable lewd poem he recited... It wasn't his wish at all! His mind had been secretly manipulated!

He recalled how, after Su Daji entered the palace, his personality changed drastically; he harmed loyal officials, indulged in wine and women, and turned the once prosperous Yin Shang Dynasty into a chaotic mess...

"Zhunti... the Western Religion... how cunning they are!"

Di Xin gritted his teeth, his five fingers digging deeply into the white jade railing, his knuckles turning white.

He finally understood.

The emperor himself was never truly "himself".

From the very beginning, it was a pawn in the game between Western religion and the Way of Heaven!

Using the poem from Nuwa Palace as a starting point and Su Daji as bait, they gradually lured him into depravity, ruined the fortunes of the Yin Shang dynasty, and paved the way for Xiqi's conquest of Shang.

But he, in a daze, became a tyrant who personally destroyed his empire!

"Ridiculous...pathetic...hateful!"

Di Xin roared to the sky, his voice hoarse, filled with endless humiliation and anger.

And at that very moment.

"Buzz!"

Above Chaoge, the aura of destiny roared!

The fate of the Yin Shang dynasty, which had been declining and gloomy due to years of war and the incompetence of its rulers, suddenly began to surge violently!

Immediately afterwards, boundless pale golden light rained down from the sky, merging into Chaoge City, into the territory of Yin Shang, and into the bodies of every Yin Shang citizen!

The nation's destiny... is reviving!

No, it's not a resurgence.

It's... a new student!

Stripped of the manipulation of sages and freed from the calculations of countless eons, it is purely formed by the will of billions of people... the destiny of humanity!

Di Xin suddenly looked up at the sky.

He could clearly feel that the Human Emperor's position within his body, which had been suppressed by Zhunti's hidden hand and was almost withered, was now frantically absorbing the luck of humanity, rapidly growing stronger and awakening!

An imperial aura, transcending the mortal realm yet connected to the bloodlines of billions of humans, slowly emanated from his body.

It is neither the path of immortals nor the path of gods.

It is a humane imperial power that belongs exclusively to the human race!