The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign felt as though he hadn’t woken up yet.

Before being trapped in the box, I was a founding ancestor of the Dao-Seeking Sect, and the most senior one at that. So why has my seniority dropped after leaving the box? Where did the Innate Daoist Priest come from?

“Hold on. Why do I remember the Innate Daoist Priest being dead? I used to burn incense at his grave every year. Besides, neither his appearance nor his cultivation level matches!” The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign was bursting with questions.

Earlier, he had gotten sentimental, lamenting that there was no one left in the sect whom he knew. But now, even the sect founder himself has popped out. He had no more chance to feel wistful.

Lu Yang, the first one to discover the Innate Daoist Priest, explained, “Founding Ancestor Innate faked his death. He awakened not long ago, but due to special circumstances, he was being hunted, so he had no choice but to disperse his cultivation and cultivate anew to escape his pursuers."

“Hello, I’m Qi Tongtian,” the Innate Daoist Priest said, greeting in a docile, honest manner.

A statue of the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign still stood in the sect’s main hall, so no introduction was needed for everyone to know who he was.

“Greetings, Founding Ancestor Innate. I’m Wang Daoyi. Just call me Little Wang.” Although the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign enjoyed showing off his strength and challenging powerful opponents, often acting without considering the consequences, he was still a cultivator who understood proper etiquette.

“I heard you went missing eighty thousand years ago. Where have you been?” The Innate Daoist Priest was very curious about the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign’s story. After all, he was the one who had truly elevated the Dao-Seeking Sect from an ordinary sect to one of the Five Great Immortal Sects.

“Uh...” The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign felt that being over-confident and forcing his way into the secret domain, only to trigger the restrictions and get trapped for over two hundred years, was hardly anything to be proud of.

Especially when he had to say it in front of the sect founder.

Noticing his predicament, Lu Yang stepped forward to explain, saying, “Eighty thousand years ago, Senior Primordial entered an immortal’s secret domain and was accidentally trapped in a time rift. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise—he no longer needed to worry about exhausting his lifespan to appear in the present era.

After breaking free, he valiantly fought Great Qian’s Thunder Arbiter Lord and rescued the Mountain-Moving Sea-Filling Sect from disaster, which was truly a heroic act. But unfortunately, his injuries were too severe, causing him to fall unconscious. We brought him back to the sect, and he has only just woken up.”

“Ah, yes, yes, yes. That’s exactly what happened.” The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign nodded vigorously. This junior Lu Yang is not bad.

“So the one who struck me with lightning was the Great Qian’s Thunder Arbiter Divine Lord?” Only now did the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign learn of the Thunder Arbiter Divine Lord’s identity. He had fought the Thunder Arbiter Divine Lord simply to make him apologize.

When the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign was blasted away, though the Thunder Arbiter Divine Lord had also fallen unconscious, he hadn’t escaped being blasted away as well. His physical constitution was inferior to the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign’s, so he remained unconscious.

“Earlier, you mentioned there were several more people in the sect who I know. Aside from Founding Ancestor Innate, who else is there?”

“Would you like to see Senior River Spirit?”

“Let’s go.” He and the River Spirit were old friends, sharing a deep and enduring bond.

~~~ 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“Senior River Spirit, it’s been a while since we, brothers, last saw each other.” The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign felt a surge of familiarity and warmth upon seeing an old acquaintance. Even the axe in the River Spirit’s hand looked dear to him.

The River Spirit treaded on the waves, emerging from the stream, and swung both his gold and silver axes.

“You disappeared for eighty thousand years without a word! You’re really capable!”

The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign knew he was in the wrong, so he dared not fight back. He could only chuckle apologetically while dodging the axes.

After swinging for a while, the River Spirit realized that he couldn’t hit him and stopped.

Meeting the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign again, the River Spirit was overwhelmed with mixed emotions.

If anyone in the Dao-Seeking Sect had the closest relationship with the River Spirit, it would be the three founding ancestors. He owed his awakened sentience to the Innate Daoist Priest, while the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign and the Vast Sea Daoist Lord had been active for twenty thousand years and fifty thousand years respectively, spending a long time with him.

The River Spirit had watched helplessly as both the Innate Daoist Priest and the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign disappeared. Although his expression gave nothing away, his heart was heavy with melancholy.

He felt like his old friends had departed one after another on this endless road of longevity. Perhaps this was the inescapable fate of those with long lives.

And now, the two who disappeared have appeared again. All my sorrow had been for nothing.

Seeing that the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign and the River Spirit seemed ready to drink and reminisce until they passed out, Lu Yang reminded him quietly, “Senior, we haven’t seen everyone yet.”

“There are more?” The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign was surprised. Who else could I possibly know in the Dao-Seeking Sect?

~~~

On the Great Snow Mountain, Moonchaser True Person shook her head in exasperation and said, “Fellow Daoist Vast Sea, no offense, but how could you give your Dao partner spirit stones directly as a gift for a festival?”

And he still wonders why his Dao partner is upset...

“Well, I didn’t know what to buy. Besides, the Dragon Tribe loves wealth. I thought I’d just give Little Ya the spirit stones directly. If she wanted to buy something, she could just use them. It’s simple and efficient, killing many birds with one stone.”

After being kicked out of the Dragon Palace, the Vast Sea Daoist Lord had come to seek Moonchaser True Person’s guidance. Since she was a female cultivator and possessed a Seven Emotions Incipient Dao Fruit, he believed she had considerable insight in this aspect.

Moonchaser True Person rolled her eyes, wondering how Ao Ya had taken a liking to Vast Sea Daoist Lord in the first place. “That definitely won’t work. When you give a gift, it needs to be thoughtful and original...”

Suddenly, she froze, staring straight behind the Vast Sea Daoist Lord.

“Fellow Daoist Moonchaser, what’s wrong?”

“I’m seeing ghosts. I spotted your ancestor.”

“Ah?”

“Haha, Moonchaser, how did you become such a little tyke?” The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign saw Moonchaser True Person sitting on a chair, her feet not reaching the ground. He laughed so hard that tears came to his eyes.

“Primordial, which grave pit did you crawl out of?!”

“Don’t ask where I crawled out from. First, tell me how you got this small.”

Moonchaser True Person loathed this topic the most. She immediately activated the Seven Emotions Incipient Dao Fruit. “You talk too much! Now cry!”

The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign burst into loud sobs, kneeling and pounding the ground. “Moonchaser, why have you become so small?! I feel so sad for you—”

Moonchaser True Person got goose bumps all over her. She quickly deactivated the Seven Emotions Incipient Dao Fruit’s ability, and only then did the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign return to normal.

“You used your Seven Emotions Incipient Dao Fruit on me again!” The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign was furious. Who messes with someone right after meeting them?

“Heh, even your current anger is due to my ability.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“Then try not to be angry.”

“Fine.”

The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign took two deep breaths, inhaling quite a bit of cold air. His anger completely dissipated, and he grinned. “I knew you were lying to me. See, I’m not angry now.”

“As long as you’re not angry.”

As Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou watched from the side, they felt that Moonchaser True Person was in a completely different league from their founding ancestor.

“Founding Ancestor Primordial?”

Vast Sea Daoist Lord was slightly startled at the sight of the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign. When he noticed Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were also present, he roughly guessed that the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign’s appearance was connected to the two.

“Your junior, Fang Wuya, pays respects to Founding Ancestor Primordial.”

“So you’re the Vast Sea Daoist Lord, the Resurgence Ancestor whom Little Lu spoke of?”

“Yes.”

“Not bad, not bad. I never expected our Dao-Seeking Sect to have three half-immortals! This is a cause for celebration. It seems that aside from Jiang Ping’an and Meng Junzi, our Dao-Seeking Sect is the strongest in Great Xia!”

“Three half-immortals?” The Vast Sea Daoist Lord was hearing this for the first time. Aren’t the only half-immortals in the sect now just Founding Ancestor Primordial and me?

“Yes. You, me, and her,” the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign said, pointing at Yun Mengmeng.

Yun Mengmeng raised her hand to clarify. “Senior, you’re mistaken. Although I follow the Second-in-Command’s orders, I’m not part of the Dao-Seeking Sect.”

This time, it was the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign’s turn to be stunned. “Then who are you?”

“I’m here to visit family.”