"When did this palace ever slander your Sacred Ground? When did this palace ever defame your Sacred Ground? This palace was merely stating a fact to everyone, nothing more."
"Hmph! The affairs of our Sacred Ground are not for you, the Empress of Fate of the Immortal Dao, to meddle in!"
At that moment, another voice chimed in.
"She is not our Immortal Dao's Empress! Our Immortal Dao has no such Empress of Fate!"
Well, well.
Judging by the tone, it seemed an Ancestral Patriarch of the Immortal Dao had also gotten involved?
Who could it be?
The various Grotto Heavens?
No!
That was unlikely.
Currently, the Immortal Dao Ancestral Patriarchs of the various Grotto Heavens were each minding their own business; it was improbable they would get involved, let alone participate in the name of the Immortal Dao.
Then it could only be an Ancestral Patriarch of the Xuantian Immortal Dao.
Thinking about it, that made sense.
Just now, Empress Wuyue had heaped scorn and humiliation upon the Immortal Dao. Presumably, the Ancestral Patriarchs of the Xuantian Immortal Dao had long been seething with anger.
Sure enough.
Immediately after, another Immortal Dao Ancestral Patriarch roared furiously, "Wuyue! As the Empress of Fate of the Immortal Dao, your duty is to guard the Great Dao, not to aid the wicked! Could it be that even you are scheming for the position of True Lord of Original Sin?"
"This palace, scheming for the True Lord of Original Sin? Hehehehehe..." Empress Wuyue laughed heartily. "If this palace were scheming for the True Lord of Original Sin, like them, I could simply hide in the shadows and watch your spectacle. Why would I need to appear in person?"
"Outrageous! Do you know how foolish your actions are? Do you know how dangerous it is for the Great Dao that you've stirred up the situation? If the Great Dao falls, can you bear that responsibility?"
"How pitiful and laughable," Empress Wuyue said. "It's a shame that each of you barely qualifies as a senior of the Great Dao, yet you remain so stubbornly deluded even now."
"Do you think letting a destined calamity figure swagger about here can stabilize the situation? That it can command the heroes of the Great Dao and unite the various Grotto Heavens?"
"You've lived too long. So long that your brains have gone rusty. Even if you stabilize the situation this way, it's only a superficial stability that will leave behind even greater hidden dangers."
"Without a master for a single day, the Immortal Dao will forever be a scattered mess. If the Sacred Ground loses Xuanyuan Wuji, then the so-called Sacred Ground has no reason to exist."
"Do you really think that with you so-called old-timers, with the so-called Immortal Dao, with the so-called Sacred Ground, you can truly command the heroes of the Great Dao?"
"Do you think that just because the Great Dao's origin is in your hands, the heroes of the Great Dao will listen to you? If the Great Dao has no master, the so-called Great Dao origin is utterly worthless."
It must be said, Empress Wuyue's courage was truly immense. In front of the Sacred Ground and the Xuantian Ancestral Patriarchs, she berated them as worthless, scolding them like children, thoroughly infuriating the Ancestral Patriarchs of both the Sacred Ground and Xuantian.
"You don't understand! You simply don't understand! Foolish! Utterly foolish!"
Whether it was an Ancestral Patriarch from the Sacred Ground or Xuantian, one roared in rage.
"This palace doesn't understand? What a joke. There's nothing this palace doesn't understand. If anyone here doesn't understand, if anyone is foolish, it's you who don't understand, you who are foolish!"
Empress Wuyue's voice was calm, as if discussing something unrelated to her. "Your Sacred Ground simply distrusts Xuanyuan Wuji. The Xuantian Immortal Dao simply distrusts Great Sun Yaohuang. You fear they covet the True Lord of Original Sin. If you can't even trust those two, how can you trust the various Grotto Heavens? How can you trust the heroes of the Great Dao?"
"Seeing that you don't even trust Xuanyuan Wuji and Great Sun Yaohuang, how can the various Grotto Heavens trust you?"
"If no one trusts anyone else, what good is stabilizing the situation? Won't it just be mutual suspicion? Won't it just be a scattered mess?"
"Trust is mutual. It's not something you decide from your lofty perches!"
Perhaps Empress Wuyue's words struck a nerve, or perhaps they made them realize their mistake, for neither the Sacred Ground's nor Xuantian's Ancestral Patriarchs spoke again.
Though many were reluctant to admit it, they had to acknowledge that Empress Wuyue spoke the truth.
If the Sacred Ground and Xuantian couldn't even trust beings like Xuanyuan Wuji and Great Sun Yaohuang, how could they trust the various Grotto Heavens?
It must be known that Xuanyuan Wuji and Great Sun Yaohuang were considered meritorious servants of the Great Dao. Since the Primordial Era, they had rendered immense service to the Great Dao and this world.
Since the Primordial Era, the several cataclysms that befell the myriad heavens and worlds were all personally quelled by Xuanyuan Wuji.
And since the Primordial Era, the ability of all living beings in the myriad heavens and worlds to cultivate in peace, with each Dao following its own path, was largely thanks to the suppression by Great Sun Yaohuang.
If not for this, Xuanyuan Wuji and Great Sun Yaohuang would not have been hailed as pillars of the Great Dao.
Even so.
The Sacred Ground and Xuantian still did not trust them.
If they didn't trust such pillars of the Great Dao as Xuanyuan Wuji and Great Sun Yaohuang, then considering that most of the various Grotto Heavens were secretly nurturing Original Sin as a backup plan, the Sacred Ground and Xuantian likely trusted them even less.
Thus, even if the various Grotto Heavens abandoned Original Sin anduphold the Great Dao, they would not gain trust. What if, in the future, they truly managed to defend the Great Dao, and the Sacred Ground and Immortal Dao used this as a pretext to settle accounts later?
This was a consideration they had to make.
"Let me tell you," Empress Wuyue's voice now turned serious and angry. "If you continue to suspect each other like this, the Great Dao will inevitably fall, and the Daoless Age will inevitably begin."
"The only solution now is for the Sacred Ground to obediently invite Xuanyuan Wuji back to take charge of the overall situation, and for Xuantian to obediently hand over the Immortal Dao origin to Great Sun Yaohuang. Only those two can salvage the situation. Only those two can truly stabilize it."
"Don't worry about them coveting the True Lord of Original Sin. If even those two covet the True Lord of Original Sin, then the Great Dao has no hope left. You wouldn't be able to defend it even if you tried. So, whether you trust them or not now, you have to trust them. Whether you admit it or not, the life and death of the Great Dao rests in their hands."
Although Empress Wuyue's words were somewhat exaggerated, the reality was not far off.
Currently, the reason the Great Dao side was a scattered mess was firstly due to mutual distrust, and secondly because no one was presiding over the overall situation.
Looking throughout the ages of the Great Dao, the only ones qualified to preside over the situation and command respect were Xuanyuan Wuji and Great Sun Yaohuang. Others simply couldn't suppress the various Grotto Heavens.
And the fact was, as Empress Wuyue said, if even Xuanyuan Wuji and Great Sun Yaohuang coveted the True Lord of Original Sin, then the Great Dao truly had no hope. It couldn't be defended.
Therefore, the problem facing the Great Dao now was not a matter of trust or distrust. It was that the life and death of the Great Dao rested in the hands of Xuanyuan Wuji and Great Sun Yaohuang. They had to be absolutely trusted. There was no other choice.