Ling Xiao already had the threads of a plan woven in his mind. He didn't hesitate to lock in his decision.
"System," he thought, his mental voice cool and decisive. "I choose option two."
With the choice finalized, he projected his intent outward. "Ziwei, come to me."
A moment later, a young boy appeared. He was draped in robes of deepest imperial purple, his very presence a concentration of the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth. He carried an aura of boundless, innate nobility that should have seen him seated upon a throne; instead, he stood as a humble attendant by Ling Xiao's side.
"Master," the boy said, bowing deeply. "What are your orders?"
"Take my treasure," Ling Xiao said, his voice echoing in the vast solar chamber. He raised his hand in a slow, beckoning motion. In an instant, the Hongmeng Cauldron materialized in his palm. It was small, no larger than a man's hand, but the Chaos Qi swirling around it permeated the air with a vast, crushing Divine Might.
"Go and fetch my two elder brothers. Bring them home."
Ziwei Boy's eyes widened, a flicker of genuine astonishment crossing his face as he reached out with both hands to receive the artifact. Though the cauldron was diminutive, the Primordial Qi within was a dense, roiling mist, constantly shifting and evolving into strange, cosmic phenomena. It felt as though a miniature Grandmist World was gestating within its bronze walls; the sensation was nothing short of staggering.
This was the first time Ling Xiao had allowed him to even see the treasure, let alone touch it. Based on the boy's own sharp instincts, he suspected that in the entirety of the Honghuang world, the number of artifacts capable of rivaling this cauldron could be counted on a single hand.
Ling Xiao relayed the coordinates and the nature of the crisis. As Ziwei Boy listened, his composed facade began to fracture. His breathing hitched, and a look of deep unsettlement took hold.
He was being sent—a lone boy—to wield this treasure against the Two Sages of the West.
He couldn't help but wonder if this was some cosmic jest. Although he was relatively sheltered on the Sun Star, the reputations of Jieyin and Zhunti had reached his ears; they were the two most formidable powers of the Western lands.
Relying on himself and a single cauldron... wasn't this just delivering a feast to the enemy? He feared that surviving the first exchange would be a miracle, let alone repelling them.
"Master," Ziwei Boy whispered tentatively, his fingers tightening on the cauldron. "Might this be... a bit difficult? Perhaps a more cautious approach?"
To his young mind, this felt like a march toward certain death.
Ling Xiao let out a low, silent laugh. "Just go. When you arrive at the battlefield, simply cast the cauldron forth. I shall handle everything else."
The Hongmeng Cauldron was his Lifebound Treasure, an extension of his own soul. Now that he had stepped into the realm of a Hun Yuan Golden Immortal and woven the power of the Law into its fabric, he could project his will across the stars. Distance was no longer an obstacle; he could strike from hundreds of millions of miles away with the same lethality as if he were standing there in person.
So long as the Western Sages had not yet severed their corpses to become Quasi-Saints, they remained beneath the threshold of his true power. Repelling them—if not outright erasing them—would be a simple matter of intent.
"Understood." Ziwei Boy nodded, though his jaw remained set in a hard line. He clutched the Hongmeng Cauldron to his chest and turned to leave the Sun Star, his straight back and determined stride giving him the air of a hero heading toward a final, tragic stand.
"A drop of Pangu's Essence Blood, earned for the price of a walk..." Ling Xiao watched the boy vanish into the solar mists, a comfortable, predatory smile playing on his lips.
Far across the void, the battle between the Golden Crows and the Western Sages had reached a fever pitch. The space around them had been shredded, reduced to a roiling sea of Chaos where the very concept of order had been dissolved by the sheer density of destruction.
Dijun and Tai Yi were laboring, their breathing heavy as they fought a desperate rearguard action. Their cultivation was objectively lower than that of their attackers, but by leaning on the absolute power of their innate treasures, they managed to hold the line, refusing to let the Western Sages find a fatal opening.
As the fight wore on, Jieyin and Zhunti found their alarm growing. They had consolidated the entire Luck of the West into their beings; they were on the cusp of a new domain of power. Yet, they were currently unable to crush two Crows who should have been beneath them.
They remembered the encounter at Mount Buzhou, where these Golden Crows had been weak enough to handle at a whim. Now, the gap had narrowed to a terrifying degree.
"This is unacceptable!" Zhunti's thoughts were a jagged snarl of frustration. "We must finalize the corpse-severing. Only as Quasi-Saints can we truly put these pests in their place."
The shockwaves of their clash had drawn a crowd. Mighty experts, fresh from the Zixiao Palace sermon, paused in their flight back to the mortal realms. Many watched with expressions that bordered on delight, savoring the sight of a high-level struggle.
East King Duke emerged from the Chaos mists at the head of a small, hastily assembled retinue. Seeing Dijun and Tai Yi under such heavy pressure, a cold, mocking smile spread across his face.
"Weren't you the paragons of pride back in the palace?" he murmured. He had offered them his hand in friendship, and they had spat on the gesture. Now they were tasting the bitter dregs of their arrogance.
"Immortal Head," a subordinate whispered from behind him, gesturing toward the explosion of Dharmic light. "They are disrupting the primordial order with this baseless violence. Should we intervene to restore peace?"
"There is no need," East King Duke said, dismissing the suggestion with a lazy wave of his hand. "This is a private grievance. Let them settle it amongst themselves."
If it were lesser beings, he would have swooped in to display his authority. But these were the Western Sages. He harbored no fear of the Crows, but he was wary of offending the West—at least until his own power was absolute.
On another front, the Ancestral Witches watched with keen interest. They had only just finished their own skirmish with the Three Pure Ones when the solar flares caught their attention.
"The strength of those Westerners... it rivals the Three Pure Ones?" Qiang Liang's voice boomed like a thunderclap. His skin was still humming from his previous fight, his battle intent boiling over. He looked ready to throw himself into the fray just to see how the Sages tasted.
"It is the Luck of the West," Xuanming corrected, her eyes narrowed as she dissected the flow of energy in the battlefield. "They carry the weight of their entire region. It grants them a resonance with Karma itself."
"A pity," Houtu noted, her voice tinged with a strange regret. She shared the details of what had transpired in Zixiao Palace with her siblings. "If the Golden Crows had accepted the Saint's decree to lead the Heavenly Court, the Western Sages wouldn't dare raise a hand against them."
"They were offered that?" Xuanming looked genuinely shocked. Rejecting such a massive opportunity was almost unthinkable.
"Monitoring the Heavens... maintaining the order..." Xuanming analyzed the words, her expression darkening. "That move was designed to leash our Wu Clan. The Crows were wise to refuse. They knew that taking that title meant facing us, and they chose the path of survival."
"Whoever tries to ride above me will be torn asunder!" Qiang Liang roared, lightning flickering between his teeth.
"The entire world was carved from Father God's body," the God of Fire added, his lip curling in disdain. "Who has the right to manage us? This is our inheritance. We do as we please."
"Look! What is that?"
The debate was cut short as a streak of brilliant purple light tore across the sky, heading directly for the center of the cataclysm.
Ziwei Boy had arrived. He was white-knuckled, clutching the Hongmeng Cauldron to his chest as he forced himself into the heart of the destruction.
The surrounding experts gasped. When they realized the newcomer was only at the Early Stage of the Grand Unity realm, their confusion turned to mockery.
"Has the boy lost his mind?" someone jeered. "Or does he simply have a death wish?"
A battle of this caliber was no place for a child to meddle.
"Stop... everyone, stop!"
Ziwei Boy took a shuddering breath and screamed the words. His heart was hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. He had zero confidence. How was he supposed to stop the Sages with a pot?
"And who do you think you are?" Zhunti snapped, his gaze snapping to the boy. His voice was like grinding stone. If he hadn't sensed a strange, ancient origin within the child, he would have swatted him into ash already. "Interfering in our business... do you seek death?"
"My Master sent me," Ziwei Boy shouted back, trying to puff out his chest and project the aura of a grand master. "You should leave. All of you. Leave this place at once. I... I do not wish to use force."
In the heat of the standoff, Dijun and Tai Yi caught sight of the small vessel in the boy's arms. Their eyes widened in synchronized shock.
"Is that... Third Brother's treasure?"
They exchanged a quick, knowing look. A spark of hope ignited in the depths of their eyes.
"Little thing," Zhunti sneered, his eyes narrowing as they locked onto the Hongmeng Cauldron. There was something about it... a familiarity that prickled at his skin. "Who is this Master of yours who thinks he can command the Sages?"
Ziwei Boy set his jaw, drew a final deep breath, and let his voice ring out across the cosmos.
"My Master is the God of the Sun Star—Ling Xiao!"