Within an ancient ruin.
The Seven Elders and Elder Lin exchanged a glance, their eyes flashing with shock.
They had just been speculating whether Warrior Emperor Wuzang and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor were the legendary Dual Polarity Yin-Yang Taiji Boundless. They never imagined Miao Tathagata would harbor the same suspicion.
No!
It wasn't suspicion!
From Miao Tathagata's tone, it was clear that Warrior Emperor Wuzang and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor were almost certainly the legendary Dual Polarity Yin-Yang Taiji Boundless.
"That's it!
It must be! Warrior Emperor Wuzang and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor are definitely the Dual Polarity Yin-Yang Taiji Boundless. Moreover, this old man dares to assert that Warrior Emperor Wuzang is the Celestial Dragon, and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor is the Earth Phoenix!"
The Seven Elders' heart was quite agitated.
Beyond the agitation lay even greater astonishment and doubt.
Although he had previously suspected Warrior Emperor Wuzang and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor were the legendary Dual Polarity Yin-Yang Taiji Boundless, it was merely suspicion without any concrete evidence. It was just a sudden notion that arose when he saw Warrior Emperor Wuzang and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor standing together.
Yet, from Miao Tathagata's words, he seemed quite certain that Warrior Emperor Wuzang and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor were the Dual Polarity Yin-Yang Taiji Boundless.
How exactly had he discerned this?
The Seven Elders couldn't fathom it no matter how hard he tried.
"This old man could never figure out what medicine Miao Tathagata was selling in his gourd. Only now do I somewhat understand."
Elder Lin beside him also nodded. She too understood. Miao Tathagata's earlier purpose in not obliterating the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor was likely to lure out Warrior Emperor Wuzang. And the purpose of luring out Warrior Emperor Wuzang was also to verify whether the two of them were or were not the legendary Dual Polarity Yin-Yang Taiji Boundless.
But how could Miao Tathagata determine that Warrior Emperor Wuzang and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor were the Dual Polarity Yin-Yang Taiji Boundless based solely on two Incarnations? The Seven Elders didn't understand, and neither did Elder Lin.
Not to mention them being unable to figure it out, even the person involved, Warrior Emperor Wuzang, didn't understand. He asked, "May I ask how the Tathagata Buddha Emperor discerned this?"
Warrior Emperor Wuzang asked a question everyone wanted the answer to, but Miao Tathagata acted as if he hadn't heard, offering no response.
"Heh heh!"
Laughter rang out, not from Miao Tathagata, but from Warrior Emperor Wuzang.
Although he couldn't understand how Miao Tathagata could perceive the Dual Polarity Yin-Yang Taiji Boundless based on just two Incarnations.
That was all there was to it.
He wasn't worried about this secret being seen through by Miao Tathagata. Even if all the experts within the Primordial Nine Palaces knew he and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor were the Dual Polarity Yin-Yang Taiji Boundless, he didn't care.
The reason was simple.
Now, almost all the experts from heaven and earth had entered the Primordial Nine Palaces. He clearly understood that this secret between him and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor couldn't be hidden. Even if Miao Tathagata hadn't seen through it today, other existences would. Moreover, after entering the Primordial Nine Palaces, their true original bodies would inevitably appear sooner or later. Once the true original bodies appeared, this secret would naturally be exposed.
Furthermore, from the very beginning, he had never intended to conceal the secret of Taiji Boundless. Spreading rumors to deceive others was all the work of those elders from the Xuantian Immortal Path, saying they were worried the Great Sun Radiant Emperor and the Great Dao Overlords of heaven and earth would strike them down before they matured.
Regarding this.
Warrior Emperor Wuzang felt it completely unnecessary. However, since those elders of the Xuantian Immortal Path insisted, he didn't oppose it.
In the past, he hadn't feared the exposure of the Taiji Boundless secret. Now, he feared it even less. After all, both he and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor had already matured. With their current cultivation and strength, they feared none of the so-called experts in heaven and earth.
"Miao Tathagata, do you think it's remarkable that you've discerned we are the Dual Polarity Yin-Yang Taiji Boundless?
Ha ha ha!"
The Heavenly Dragon True Emperor, who looked utterly disheveled, with disheveled hair and a ferocious face, suddenly burst into loud laughter and shouted, "You probably don't know yet, do you?
This Incarnation is merely an external Incarnation I casually nurtured to deceive you! Since you've seen through it today, then witness this emperor's true external Incarnation!"
As his words fell, a sharp, piercing shriek suddenly echoed through the void.
The shriek was like the wail of a ghost and the howl of a demon, exceedingly sinister.
Immediately after, flames inexplicably ignited in the distant void.
The flames were dark flames, also billowing with thick smoke, sweeping across the sky and earth like rolling river waves or a prairie fire, looking particularly terrifying.
Hiss—That ghostly, demonic shriek sounded again. Vaguely, within the flames, a colossal creature seemed to be soaring.
That colossal creature had a dark red body overall, with six forms and nine attributes. Its head resembled heaven, its eyes resembled the sun, its back resembled the moon, its wings resembled the wind, its feet resembled earth, and its tail resembled the constellations.
The nine attributes: its mouth contained destiny, its heart united with measure, its ears were keen and perceptive, its tongue could bend and stretch, its color was pitch black, its crown was square and vermilion, its spurs were sharp hooks, its voice was stirring and resonant, and its belly bore patterned markings.
With a deer's body behind a qilin's front, a snake's head and fish's tail, dragon patterns and tortoise shell, swallow's jaw and chicken's beak.
It was a phoenix!
And it was an enormous, dark crimson phoenix, looking utterly sinister, like a legendary hellish bird of evil.
This dark phoenix soared through the void, emitting bursts of phoenix cries. The phoenix cries were especially sharp, piercing the ears and making one feel extremely uncomfortable all over, like the demonic sound of death.
Fire!
Fire was everywhere!
Flames filled the sky, descending and scattering down.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
A voice came from the void. It was neither Warrior Emperor Wuzang nor the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor, nor was it Miao Tathagata. This voice was also quite sharp, like a phoenix cry.
"Miao Tathagata!
Open your eyes and see! This is this emperor's true external Incarnation!
Ha ha ha ha!"
That enormous dark phoenix swooped down, becoming increasingly distorted and blurry. The dark flames surrounding its body also grew more vigorous. In an instant, with a whoosh, the dark phoenix vanished. Following that, a person descended from the sea of flames filling the sky.
This person wore dark red robes, hands clasped behind their back. Their face was sinister, ghostly, and effeminate, with what seemed like a red dot between their brows.
What left everyone dumbfounded was that it was actually a woman!
Could this be the so-called true Incarnation mentioned by the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor?
"Miao Tathagata!
Didn't expect this, did you?
The Incarnation you just suppressed with the Five Great Ming Kings' wrathful Buddha form was merely an external Incarnation I casually nurtured, yet you took it seriously! Did you truly think this emperor's external Incarnation was easily defeated?
Ha ha ha!"
It was one sentence, yet spoken simultaneously by two people.
One was the ferocious-faced Heavenly Dragon True Emperor.
The other was the sinister, ghostly Heavenly Dragon True Emperor.
Both of these Incarnations belonged to the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor.
Clearly.
The ferocious-faced Heavenly Dragon True Emperor possessed no self-awareness. Even this true Incarnation of the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor had no self-awareness. Both were merely governed by the divine consciousness of his true original body.
Within an ancient ruin, Bei Changqing gazed at the sinister, ghostly Heavenly Dragon True Emperor in the void and exclaimed in surprise, "Is the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor a woman?
Or did he merely nurture a female Incarnation?"
"Dual Polarity Yin-Yang, dragon and phoenix bring auspiciousness, black and white intermingle, Taiji Boundless, fate is fickle..." The Seven Elders said, "If this old man's guess is correct, the true original body of the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor is most likely also a woman."