Xiaoyaozi spoke! "This person is the Liu Hui you mentioned, the one named Hongjun." Liu Hui gasped in shock, exclaiming, "How is this possible? Isn't Hongjun just a fictional character from the myths and legends of our world? How could he possibly truly exist?"

Xiaoyaozi stated calmly, "Young friend, you must believe that Hongjun genuinely exists in this world, for he has only just achieved sainthood, and he is standing right before you."

Liu Hui stared blankly at Xiaoyaozi, then after a long pause, asked, "Oh, right, you are also a clone of Hongjun, so I can call you Hongjun too, correct?"

Xiaoyaozi replied, "Young friend, you are indeed correct to call me Hongjun, for the entity I am and Hongjun are one and the same."

Liu Hui felt an overwhelming sense of absurdity in his heart. This Xiaoyaozi, whom he had always considered utterly cunning, was actually the incarnation of the legendary and famous Hongjun. The shift from a shrewd, materialistic plane-merchant to a ruthless ruler of the Primordial Chaos was so sudden that he simply could not accept it. The sheer ridiculousness of this transformation surpassed even the invitation he had received to become the God of Light in the magical plane.

"Fine, Senior, I can regard you as Hongjun. But in our myths, Hongjun achieved sainthood long ago and later merged with the Heavenly Dao, becoming its spokesperson. Furthermore, he has several powerful saintly disciples. How can you claim to have just become a saint?" Liu Hui questioned.

Xiaoyaozi responded, "Young friend, speaking of which, I must thank you. If you hadn't offered the timely reminder, I wouldn't have known the key to my sainthood and my subsequent destiny. It was you who told me the legends of Hongjun, likened me to the operating system within the Heavenly Dao, and pointed out the roles and significance of my major disciples. Only then did I have a sudden realization, grasping the opportunity for sainthood. These insights immediately transmitted to my main body outside, and in an instant, I achieved ultimate enlightenment. The realm I had failed to breach for eons finally broke through, and I became a true Immortal Saint."

Liu Hui asked, "Senior, you still haven't told me why your legend exists in our world's mythology."

Upon hearing this, Hongjun's lips curved into a mysterious smile. He extended his hand, and a white jade slip began to spin above his palm. He asked, "Young friend, observe this—what is it?"

Liu Hui saw the white jade slip that had altered the course of his fate once again. He said, "Senior, I recognize this jade slip. It is precisely because of this object that my destiny underwent such a massive change."

Hongjun stated, "Young friend, this object is called the Jade Slip of Creation. I believe you have already heard of it in your legends."

"So this white jade slip is indeed such an awe-inspiring existence! I knew there must be something in this world capable of rewriting my fate!" Upon hearing the name 'Jade Slip of Creation' associated with the white slip, Liu Hui became intensely excited.

Hongjun continued, "I know you once possessed it and used it to change your destiny. However, I must clarify: you never truly possessed the Jade Slip of Creation."

Liu Hui looked perplexed. "Senior, what do you mean I never truly possessed the Jade Slip of Creation? I distinctly remember using it to alter my fate."

Hongjun said, "Addressing this point necessitates discussing the quandary of enlightenment I faced in the past."

Liu Hui urged, "Please continue, Senior."

Hongjun explained, "Since the splitting of heaven and earth, I have lived in the Primordial Chaos world for a billion years. After obtaining the Jade Slip of Creation atop Kunlun Mountain, I began meditating upon the Three Thousand Great Daos contained within it. My cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, quickly reaching the peak of the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm. Yet, upon reaching this level, no matter how hard I cultivated, I could not break through that final barrier to become an Immortal Saint."

"So, I continuously sought deeper understanding from the Jade Slip of Creation and finally realized that to become a Saint, one must experience all human emotions and comprehend everything between Heaven, Earth, and Man. Only when I had grasped all of this could I transcend the limitations of humanity and become a true Saint. Consequently, I began creating countless virtual worlds. Within these worlds, I manifested as trillions of avatars, using them to construct complete realities. These avatars continuously perceived and absorbed the truths of human existence within these realms. My main body remained outside, meticulously gathering these life lessons in the hope of one day fully grasping the true essence of life and thus achieving Immortal Sainthood."

"Originally, the Cultivation World was the least likely place to gain insight into life's true meaning. This realm emphasizes the law of the jungle—the strong prey on the weak. Cultivators neither honor the heart of Heaven above nor investigate the will of the populace below; everything is decided by martial might. They endlessly cultivate merely to enhance their own strength, gaining almost no meaningful comprehension of life. Therefore, they could never help me achieve sainthood. Yet, unexpectedly, within this simulated Cultivation World, I managed to acquire the Plane Trading Device and engage in various transactions with you."

"Even those exchanges with you shouldn't have offered much reference value for my sainthood, but you provided me with the legend of Hongjun from your world. This immediately sparked an epiphany in my main body, which was outside. My main body had long perceived that the Primordial Chaos world, despite being formed, was incomplete—it held certain deficiencies that required external aid for completion. I was meant to leverage this moment of supplementation to achieve my Great Dao. However, I never found the method to complete the Primordial Chaos world until I encountered you through the Plane Trading Device."

Liu Hui asked, "Did the items I traded you, Senior, lead you to discover the method for completing the Primordial Chaos world?"

Hongjun shook his head, "The items you traded me are worthless to me now; I can manufacture countless equivalents in the blink of an eye."

To the now-sainted Hongjun, those fourth-tier demonic beast cores were indeed worthless, and Liu Hui understood his statement. He pressed on, "Then, Senior, did you gain some enlightenment from the mythological tale of Hongjun that I recounted?"

Hongjun replied, "The myth of Hongjun you told me certainly offered some valuable inspiration, but those were not the most crucial aspects. The most significant revelation you gave me was showing me how to traverse the plane crystal wall."

Liu Hui startled. He had shared the method for traversing the plane crystal wall with Xiaoyaozi, never imagining it held the key to Hongjun's sainthood. A possibility immediately struck him: "Do you mean, Senior, that you intend to travel to the plane where I reside?"

Hongjun shook his head, "No, it is not I who will travel to your plane, but I must take three individuals from your plane. These three people will compensate for the deficiencies in the Primordial Chaos world. With these three, the entire Primordial Chaos world will finally be whole, and I can then achieve my true Great Dao."

Liu Hui, alarmed, asked cautiously, "Senior, which three individuals do you plan to take from my world? Surely not me?"

Hongjun stated calmly, "Not you, but they are figures you know well: Taishang Laojun, Yuanshi Tianzun, and Tongtian Jiaozhu."

Liu Hui sighed, "Senior, I did mention the existence of these three saints in our mythology, but those are just legends. No one has ever seen the three of them. How could you possibly take them away?"

Hongjun chuckled, "Young friend, even groundless rumors often have some basis! You consider mythology mere legend, but why couldn't these legends be real?"

Liu Hui grew more confused the more he heard. "Senior, I don't understand what you mean."

Hongjun smiled again, "Let me put it this way: I will explain this entire sequence of events in detail, and then you will understand completely."

Liu Hui quickly listened as Hongjun detailed the intricacies. Hongjun began, "Once this current communication with you concludes, this Cultivation World will utterly collapse, and the Plane Trading Device in my possession will vanish instantaneously."

Liu Hui was startled. "Senior, you are already a Saint. Can you not control the Plane Trading Device?"

Hongjun laughed, "Young friend, do you know what the Plane Trading Device truly is?"

Liu Hui pondered for a moment. "The Plane Trading Device must be something manufactured by a deity or some such being, right?"

Hongjun shook his head. "Young friend, let me tell you, the Plane Trading Device is far from simple. It is not something any deity could create; even I lack the capability to forge a Plane Trading Device."

Liu Hui hastily inquired, "If even a Saint's power cannot create one, then where did the Plane Trading Device come from?"

Hongjun asked, "Have you heard the saying: 'The Great Dao has fifty, and Heaven evolves forty-nine'?"

Liu Hui nodded. He had shared this very saying with Xiaoyaozi six months prior, so how could he not know its meaning?

Hongjun continued, "When heaven and earth first separated, the Heavenly Dao generated forty-nine Daos. But the Great Dao comprises fifty paths; where is the trace of that 'One'? Where did it go?"

Liu Hui responded, "That 'One' is the 'One that fled'—surely no one can capture it?"

Hongjun nodded. "Precisely. That 'One' is the fled 'One.' Whoever obtains this 'One' can alter their destiny. Under the governance of the Heavenly Dao, everything becomes fixed destiny, and no one can change their fate. The only thing outside the Heavenly Dao's jurisdiction is that fled 'One.' Therefore, possessing the fled 'One' grants the ability to completely change one's destiny, remaining outside the control of the Heavenly Dao."

Liu Hui remarked, "Since this 'One' has fled, it shouldn't be easy to find, should it?"

Hongjun affirmed, "Correct. That fled 'One' is immensely mysterious; no one knows its location, its mode of existence, or how to obtain it. However, you and I are exceptionally lucky, for we have already obtained this fled 'One.'"

Liu Hui was astonished. "Senior, are you implying that the Plane Trading Device we obtained is actually the fled 'One' from our plane following its genesis? Is that it?"

Hongjun smiled, "Why couldn't it be so?"

Liu Hui felt dizzy. He had never imagined that the Plane Trading Device was the fled 'One' from his plane after its creation, and that he had been lucky enough to acquire it. Judging by the benefits it brought him, it was indeed a miraculous item capable of altering destiny.

Hongjun warned, "This fled 'One' is too mysterious. Even if you possess it temporarily, you cannot retain it forever. If you disclose the circumstances of obtaining the Plane Trading Device to anyone else, you will instantly lose it, and you will never be able to recover it."

Liu Hui was deeply shaken. He had nearly revealed the secret of the Plane Trading Device to Hu Xian'er before, and he had even considered passing the device to his son, Xiao Bao, after leaving the 'City of Stars,' along with the coordinates for plane trading. He never realized that such a great calamity would follow the leakage of the secret. Now, Liu Hui began to understand why previous holders of the Plane Trading Device had failed to pass it down permanently: the moment the secret was revealed, the device would vanish without a trace.

Setting aside his shock, Liu Hui continued his questioning. "Senior, you just said that after the Cultivation World collapses, the Plane Trading Device will leave you. And then?"

Hongjun explained, "After the Cultivation World collapses, I will completely merge back with my external body, and the Plane Trading Device will depart from me. But that is inconsequential; I will obtain it again." Hongjun gestured toward the Jade Slip of Creation before him. "This Jade Slip of Creation contains unimaginable power. I will extract the spiritual essence of the Law of Time within it to form an entirely new Jade Slip of Creation. This new slip will have the exact shape of the true Jade Slip of Creation, but its function will be far simpler: it will only allow time to reverse."

Hearing Hongjun’s words, Liu Hui immediately recalled the white jade slip he had previously obtained. Could the white slip he once possessed be this shrunken version of the Jade Slip of Creation, capable of reversing time?

Hongjun continued, "I will use the formidable Law of Time within this new Jade Slip of Creation to fundamentally reverse the flow of time in the entire Primordial Chaos world, returning it three thousand years into the past." Liu Hui asked curiously, "Senior, what will you do when you return three thousand years?"

Hongjun answered, "Because three thousand years ago, I will obtain the Plane Trading Device once more. Upon regaining the device, I will wait for the right opportunity again and conduct a transaction with your plane. However, at that time, the trading device will not be in your hands; you won't even have been born yet." Liu Hui calculated the timeframe and felt a chill. "Senior, you aren't planning to contact the Three Pure Ones from our world two thousand years ago, are you?"

Hongjun confirmed, "Precisely. My purpose in returning three thousand years and regaining the Plane Trading Device is specifically to establish contact with the Three Pure Ones. Though at that time, the Three Pure Ones will only be ordinary mortals, not yet deities. As you know, the Primordial Chaos world is flawed; it requires supplementation from other planes to achieve perfection, allowing me to attain my Great Dao. The Three Pure Ones from your plane exist precisely to remedy the deficiencies of the Primordial Chaos world."

Liu Hui asked foolishly, "But Senior, how do you know those three individuals will definitely obtain the Plane Trading Device, and if the three of them know the secret together, won't the device disappear?"

Hongjun laughed, "I have become a Saint; naturally, I can calculate certain matters. The Three Pure Ones are certain to obtain the Plane Trading Device, and since they are fundamentally one entity, there is no scenario where the device will vanish. Once I contact them, I will use the method you taught me to establish the Three Great Sects in the Primordial Chaos world, causing them to accept the faith of all beings in the Chaos. Then, I will draw them into the Primordial Chaos world to become my three major disciples—the future Saints of the Three Sects of Chaos."

Liu Hui listened, utterly dumbfounded, finding the strangeness of the world less astonishing than the news imparted by Hongjun. He stated, "So, does this mean that the tales of Hongjun circulating in our plane are entirely true, and you are the Hongjun from those stories?"

Hongjun nodded. "Correct. I am the Hongjun of your legends. All the myths and legends you heard were disseminated by me through the Plane Trading Device, orchestrated via the Three Pure Ones in your plane. Because of the transactions with me, the Three Pure Ones achieved great fame in their era. Every word and action they took was recorded and passed down, eventually reaching your ears, and then relayed back to me, enabling my current enlightenment and achievement of the Saintly position."

Liu Hui was astonished to find himself intertwined with Hongjun’s grand plan for sainthood, feeling it utterly absurd. Hongjun continued, "After the Three Pure Ones were summoned to the Primordial Chaos world, their Plane Trading Device vanished. However, it would be obtained by you over two thousand years later. Your original destiny was not meant for this, nor was it meant for you to complete my solemn trust. Therefore, I gave the white jade slip, which had already expended the vast majority of its spacetime power, to the Three Pure Ones, instructing them to inter it in a tomb. In the future, this white jade slip would completely alter your destiny and allow me to achieve the Great Dao."

"Once all this is accomplished, the Plane Trading Device in my hand will depart from me once more, until three thousand years later when my avatar in the simulated Cultivation World obtains it again."

Liu Hui questioned, "But didn't Senior say that you obtained the Plane Trading Device thousands of years ago?"

Hongjun clarified, "In the virtual worlds I create, the passage of time holds no sway. Ten thousand years might be but an instant..."

Hearing Hongjun’s detailed explanation, all the fragmented clues immediately snapped into place for Liu Hui. At this point, every mystery that had plagued his mind was fully unveiled.

Hongjun, in order to achieve his Great Dao, had contacted the Three Pure Ones of Liu Hui’s plane via the Plane Trading Device over two thousand years ago. The Three Pure Ones then left behind the myth of Hongjun before ascending to the Primordial Chaos world to secure their Saintly positions. The Three Pure Ones also left behind the Plane Trading Device, which is why Liu Hui later found it at the Three Pure Ones Temple in Bashan. The other miraculous item left by the Three Pure Ones—the flawed Jade Slip of Creation—was obtained by Shu Yan years later, who then carried it back from the future to influence Wei Chao, thereby influencing Liu Hui’s destiny. Subsequently, Liu Hui discovered the method for crossing the plane crystal wall and informed the pre-sainthood Hongjun of the myth, which allowed Hongjun to achieve sainthood and return three thousand years to initiate his grand plan for the Great Dao.

All the threads of causality were perfectly clear; Liu Hui was left with no further doubts. He had never imagined that such a minor figure as himself was intrinsically linked to the most crucial affair of the Primordial Chaos world, and that his own destiny had been so drastically altered because of Hongjun.

Hongjun looked at Liu Hui and stated placidly, "Young friend, we cultivators are concerned with the relationship between cause and effect. Due to my actions, your destiny has undergone a fundamental change, but this is insufficient to negate the immense help you have provided me. Therefore, you may now voice a single wish. Once this wish is fulfilled, all ties between us will be severed, and I can finally dedicate myself to achieving my Great Dao in peace."