“Now, is there anyone else who objects to my establishment of the Dao Academy with me as headmaster?” Lu Yun scanned the surroundings and encompassed the entire world in his gaze.

With the six paths of his nascent spirit fully formed and refined, the Tome of Life and Death at the ready, his mastery of the supplemental paths was the greatest within this cycle of reincarnation.

Since he’d dared put forth the notion of supplemental paths as king, he was naturally confident in doing so. Even the four mightiest sovereigns of the supplemental paths had ceded to his superiority—there would be no voices raised in objection now.

“In that case, the Dao Academy for immortal dao is hereby established today.” He looked up into the sky. A southerly wind was blowing, and the hour had just struck noon. “Today—” His voice suddenly rose in pitch, “is the first day of the first year in the Xuanhuang calendar!”

Boom!!

The immortal dao, world, and life itself erupted with a fury at his words.

A formalized calendar! Lu Yun wanted to institute a standard system of timekeeping!

One had to know that in the past eighty thousand years, none of the nine majors, ten lands, or four seas had ever submitted to anyone else. No one was willing to recognize any one party as the legitimate heirs of past eras. To this date, there was no concrete calendar in the world of immortals!

Today was the first day of the first year in the Xuanhuang Era!

The calendar was instantly acknowledged by the immortal dao. Now residing in Mount Xuanhuang, the calendar used the mountain for its name so that everyone in the world would remember it. This would imprint the mountain on everyone’s hearts and propel it forward as a sacred mountain.

In the Xuanhuang calendar, there were twelve months, or three hundred sixty five days to a year. A ji was marked by twelve years, and a jiazi by sixty years. Three hundred sixty five years meant one full revolution of the heavens.

……

No one had fathomed that Lu Yun would be so bold as to set forth a formal calendar!

This was something that previous generations of celestial emperors had wanted to achieve, but something they’d never had the courage or charisma to do so. There had indeed been a calendar in the Primordial Era, but that had been installed by the immortal emperor.

A calendar wasn’t only a way to keep track of time or a symbolization of the passage of the years, it was a nod to unifying the world!

Many were those who would object to what it represented, but it was too late. The immortal dao had accepted this method of timekeeping and incorporated the calendar into itself, engraving it into the minds of all beings beneath it.

“On the first day of the first year in the Xuanhuang Era, the Dao Academy is established in Dusk Province! Lu Yun is its headmaster, and his dao partner Qing Yu is the acclaimed Dao Sovereign!”

The news immediately spread throughout the world, making a mockery out of the celestial courts of the other facets. They didn’t even have their own calendar, what, were they playing house in calling themselves a celestial court??

……

“If I may be so bold as to ask the venerated headmaster—what are the academy’s standards for choosing its pupils?”

The crowd shifted their eyes to see Nephrite Celestial Emperor Zhao Shenguang approach with a bow, his heavenly mandate floating over his head.

“None,” answered Lu Yun.

“Eh?” Collective incomprehension draped over everyone.

“In the world of immortals, all those who have gained intelligence, be they human, monster spirit, divine, demon, or any other races—all may enter my Dao Academy,” he elaborated matter-of-factly.

“What about the uncivilized fur seals?” someone else asked.

“The immortal dao is the dao of all, and the Dao Academy is the school of immortal dao. All are equal within the academy.” Lu Yun avoided a direct answer.

“What can we learn in the Dao Academy?” Zhao Shenguang probed further.

“All paths lead to the immortal dao, you can learn whatever it contains!”

“Then what if I want to learn something that even you don’t know, headmaster?” asked Zhao Shenguang.

“If three of us walk together, then at least one of the other two is good enough to be my teacher!” responded Lu Yun. “As the teacher of all beings, I will pass on everything that I know. All beings are my teacher as well and tutor me in kind. They pass on the great dao to me as learning is never-ending.

"There is no such thing as a hierarchy when it comes to gaining knowledge, and those who find great achievements first may not be the trailblazers. Once in the Dao Academy, everyone is a teacher, and everyone is a pupil.”

The two scarlet apes in the North Sea looked at each other.

“It looks like the era of various factions ruling the world of immortals is about to come to an end.” Silverlight sighed as she looked at Lu Yun beside Mount Xuanhuang. “Factions… are not just limited to the great familial clans. They existed before Emperors Fall, but we see the beginning of their end today.”

“Should we go too?” Goldenlight looked at his dao partner.

“The immortal dao is the dao of all. We fall beneath it as well, so why shouldn’t we go?” Silverlight responded matter-of-factly.

“We were at odds with Lu Yun so many times. Will he take advantage of this to do something to us?” Goldenlight was slightly concerned.

“Will someone who’s raised Mount Xuanhuang, established the Dao Academy, and instituted a calendar be as petty as that?” Silverlight chuckled, hardly concerned about any potential revenge from Lu Yun. “The Dao Academy faces a great many challenges before it can truly become the school of immortal dao. The great factions of the world will not willingly go to their proverbial deaths like this.”

……

“Do you mean to say that divines can join your Dao Academy as well?” A frivolous voice sounded as Dongfang Hao walked out of the void, the Sword of Chaos on his back. “Don’t forget, we ruled the world eighty thousand years ago and enslaved all beings. Humans were our slaves, monster spirits our food, and demons our pets. That is an insurmountable death feud. Do you think the immortals of the world will be able to forget bone-deep hatred with just some pretty talk of how all lives are equal?”

Atmosphere tightening, he stared straight at Lu Yun, tone dripping with contempt. Indeed, the divines and their past evils were a blade plunged deep in everyone’s heart.

“You’re right.” Lu Yun nodded and cut off Dongfang Hao when he opened his mouth. “That’s why I’m going to show something to all of you.”

He waved a hand and projected over Mount Xuanhuang the realm of the World Gates. The Dao Flower picked up the image and sent it to all worlds in the multiverse. Though the universe lay in shambles, that didn’t mean that all life was extinct out there.

There were still the fragments of some worlds or some secluded paradises hanging on by tooth and nail, trying to fend off the countless hordes of yin spirits for just another day, another hour, another minute.

“Lu Yun, what are you doing?!” A soft rebuke sounded as the little nun’s master rushed to the scene. She waved a hand to destroy the curtain of projection, but was thwarted by the strength of Mount Xuanhuang.

“I just want to show the truth of things to the world,” Lu Yun answered calmly.

“That’s… the nine celestial emperors!”

“What’s that in front of them…? Divines! Bodies of countless divines!”

“The divines have done a great service to the world of immortals and stood guard over all of life for all this time.” A formidable voice came from the world projected in the void—not another illusion, but reality. The nine celestial emperors had spoken at the same time and sent everyone’s ears ringing with their words.

“This son greets my royal father!” Zhao Shenguang quickly fell to his knees when he saw Zhao Fengyang.

“Good, wonderful!” Zhao Fengyang beamed with pride to see his son. “You have not comprehended the benevolence within your mandate, but you have truly grasped its power and become a celestial emperor. You have proven stronger than your brother in this regard.

“A hundred thousand years ago, there was a great war of immortals that shattered the world. However, peace did not descend after that cataclysm, the war continues still!

“The divines protected the world with no heed for their own safety. They nearly went extinct in shielding all of us!

“They are not the sinners of the world of immortals, the divine are heroes! Their descendants should not be treated in this way!” Zhao Fengyang roared and pointed at the mighty body lying in front of the World Gates. “Here lies their last crown prince from eighty thousand years ago. He died only recently, standing guard over the world of immortals!”

All beings shook and trembled from the former celestial emperor’s words. The impact from his revelations were not much less than when Lu Yun had established a calendar earlier.

“The divines are not sinners, they are heroes,” the remaining celestial emperors said slowly.