That is my most loyal believer. It's going to cost extra.

"You aren't willing to help him kill me."

"Then you help me kill him."

Lu Ge pointed at Donghuang Taiyi, looked directly at the Deity Taiyi, and spoke once more.

Deity Taiyi was momentarily stunned.

What? Is this how you play?

You are really trying to push me to the edge.

Deity Taiyi glanced sideways at Donghuang Taiyi, pondered for a moment, and said, "He is my most loyal follower, after all."

"Doesn't that seem a bit inappropriate?"

Lu Ge raised an eyebrow. "Unwilling?"

"Then forget it..."

Before he could finish, Deity Taiyi hastily interrupted, "No."

"I mean, that will cost extra."

Lu Ge spread his hands. "I'm a pauper, I have no money."

Deity Taiyi's eyes darted around, as though trying to see right through Lu Ge.

"Gold and silver are mere passing clouds to me."

"You well know what I want."

Lu Ge smiled faintly, reaching into his sleeve to pull out a small wooden stick about the length and thickness of a finger.

The moment Deity Taiyi laid eyes on the stick, his gaze locked onto it instantly.

It's him, it's him, it's definitely him.

His senses had not betrayed him.

The Sage had truly bestowed this item upon this young man.

Lu Ge gave the small stick in his hand a gentle flick. In the breeze, the stick expanded until it was just right for a single hand to grasp, roughly the height of a man.

Along the surface of the staff, Dao patterns shimmered with flowing light, making it obvious at a glance that this was no ordinary object.

This wooden stick had been fashioned from a branch of the ancient Fusang tree.

Though Lao Dan had merely stripped it off on a whim, he had instantly refined it with supreme divine power.

Originally material from a primordial spiritual root, it had been further refined by Lao Dan's own hands.

By now, it had transformed into a supreme treasure.

And as for treasures produced by Lao Dan, shape-shifting at will was merely a basic feature.

Whenever Lu Ge fiddled with this wooden stick, he could not help but think of Sun Wukong's golden-banded staff.

He wondered how the two would compare if pitted against each other.

"Are you saying you want to trade this for his life?"

Lu Ge wore a peculiar expression.

"Are you foolish, or do you take me for a fool?"

"Is his life even worth this?"

Deity Taiyi looked slightly embarrassed; he realized he had indeed overreached.

Lu Ge casually swung the wooden stick in his hand and said with utter indifference, "If you are willing to help me kill him, then kill him."

"If you aren't willing, then take your leave."

Summoned at a whim, dismissed at will.

Lu Ge showed not the slightest shred of respect toward Deity Taiyi, who was, after all, a god.

His tone and demeanor hardly treated him as a living being at all.

The enmity of nearly losing his life was something Lu Ge would never forget.

It was simply that he couldn't defeat him right now; otherwise, he would have smashed him with this staff long ago.

Naturally, he was not going to put on a pleasant face.

***

Deity Taiyi stood rooted to the spot, his eyes fixed firmly on the wooden stick in Lu Ge's hand.

That was his incomplete and lost Dao.

If he could not retrieve it, who knew how much arduous effort it would take for him to make his Dao whole once more?

Yet now, if he attempted to seize it by force, he simply dared not.

He believed that the very moment he made a move, all the suns in the heavens would likely be plunged into total darkness.

For this young man to wave the wooden stick around so casually was probably a ploy to lure him into a trap.

Deity Taiyi forcefully suppressed the urge in his heart to reclaim his Dao.

You brat, unwilling to pay a price, yet expecting me to kill my own follower.

How could you be so utterly delusional?

If not for the protection of the Sage, a mortal ant like you wouldn't even be worthy of catching my eye.

Deity Taiyi swept his sleeve, tore open the void, and prepared to leave.

Just then, however, he heard Lu Ge muttering to himself.

"And here the Master boasted about how much face he has."

"Turns out when I just want someone to do a tiny favor, nobody gives me any face at all."

"Looks like he was just pulling my leg."

"No matter, I'll have to go have a proper talk with him another day."

Deity Taiyi's footsteps halted instantly. He spun around and glared fiercely at Lu Ge.

"Kid, I've been treating you with courtesy purely for the Sage's sake."

"That is not grounds for you to dare threaten me."

"I have cultivated through boundless ages and attained the Taiyi Dao Fruit."

"How dare a mere mortal like you humiliate me?"

Lu Ge dropped his relaxed expression, staring coldly at Deity Taiyi.

"Humiliate you?"

"I am humiliating you specifically."

"Damn it all, you already tried to kill me, and you still expect me to give you a pleasant look?"

"Let me make it crystal clear to you today."

"Either you kill him, or I'm going to go lodge a complaint against you."

"I trust you wouldn't want your true body shattered all over again, would you?"

A threat—a blatant, unapologetic threat.

Lu Ge had entirely thrown off pretense.

Deity Taiyi's chest heaved; he was clearly angered to the extreme.

Borrowing the tiger's might to bare fangs, acting fierce on another's authority.

Though he cursed bitterly in his heart, he dared not voice a single word of it.

"Humph."

"If you want him dead, he dies."

Deity Taiyi used the most ferocious tone to utter the most cowardly action.

With a casual wave of his massive hand, the nearby Donghuang Taiyi instantly dissolved into ash and vanished.

Tsk, not even a corpse left intact.

Donghuang Taiyi hadn't even processed what was happening before he ceased to exist.

He wasn't even given a chance to beg for mercy.

Now, simply looking at Lu Ge caused fury to surge within Deity Taiyi's chest.

Unwilling to waste another word with him, he directly tore through the void and strode away.

Watching Deity Taiyi's retreating figure vanish into the void, a cold sneer curved the corners of Lu Ge's lips.

***

"This is merely the interest."

"When I attain the Daluo realm, I will surely make the myriad worlds behold a brand-new sun."

Down below, the leaders of the various schools of thought stood dumbstruck, watching in utter amazement.

Is this truly the Patriarch of Daoism?

Treating deities with such overwhelming dominance?

Truly a role model for their generation.

Lu Ge took a casual stroll, arriving atop the city wall beside Shen Dao.

Seeing Lu Ge return, Shen Dao was overwhelmed with joy, but having lost far too much blood throughout his body, he was completely powerless to move.

His lips twitched slightly as he tried to speak.

Lu Ge gently pressed a hand down on him.

"Say no more. You have suffered because of me this time."

With that, he stood back up and looked toward the assembled masters of the hundred schools.

"Thank you, everyone, for your wholehearted assistance today."

The leaders hurriedly returned the bow.

"You are too courteous, Master Lu."

"This was only right and proper."

"That Donghuang Taiyi acted perversely against the natural order; how could we simply stand by and watch?"

Voices rose one after another in response, instantly filling the scene with a bustling clamor.

Lu Ge's gaze shifted, landing upon Xun Zi who stood at the very front.

"Xun Zi's righteousness in setting aside past grievances to help today is truly admirable."

As Lu Ge spoke, the gathered schools instantly quieted down.

Xun Zi's clouded eyes looked up at Lu Ge on the city wall.

"My journey here was neither for you nor for Daoism."

"I simply could not allow Donghuang Taiyi's attempt to coerce Shen Dao into subjugating Daoism to succeed."

"Once such a precedent is set, the hundred schools will never know peace again."

Lu Ge smiled faintly. A gentleman is judged by his deeds, not his inner thoughts.

Regardless of what Xun Zi's original intentions might have been, his actions had undeniably aided Daoism.

"I have always been fair in my dealings."

"How others treat me is how I treat them."

"In the past, Xun Zi sought to suppress me to elevate the reputation of Confucianism, which is why I stripped you of twenty-five years of lifespan."

"Regardless of your inner thoughts today, you ultimately helped Daoism."

"Those twenty-five years of lifespan, I return to you now."

As Lu Ge's voice faded, he extended a finger and tapped forward.

No miraculous phenomena manifested; no brilliant light of divine power appeared.

Everything happened in absolute silence.

Xun Zi, who had previously appeared withered and aged like a dying man, suddenly blossomed with a second spring, living out a second youth.

His face and physique regained their youth at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"I shall not forget the help of all the leaders here today."

"I can offer you a promise."

"Should you have any requests in the future, I will certainly fulfill them."

"Naturally, whatever you ask for must not violate the harmony of heaven and earth or harm humanity."