Qing Lan sat by the table, legs crossed.
He drank tea and ate pastries.
He even beckoned the two over, acting like a hospitable host.
Ming Yue and Ji Shiyou didn't move. Something was amiss.
Both were shrewd individuals, watching Qing Lan with wary eyes.
"Who exactly are you?
Why did you desperately want to kill us before, and now you fear our deaths?
Why did we revert to this state and return to the apocalypse?
Speak quickly, or I'll end myself right now."
Ji Shiyou casually grabbed a decorative dagger from the Purple Gold Palace and held it to his throat.
Although his cultivation was sealed, this dagger was no ordinary item.
It was incredibly sharp, capable of slicing through hair. With a gentle stroke,
he could kill himself without any magical power.
"Ancestor, can't you just calm down?
I've been working overtime for a hundred thousand years, can't I rest?
Alright, no more trouble!
I'll tell you now, but it's a long story.
I fear you might cause trouble midway, so I'll have to inconvenience you."
Ji Shiyou's action startled Qing Lan, causing him to drop the half-eaten pastry.
With a wave of his sleeve, Ming Yue and the other's figures flickered,
and they found themselves seated in chairs by the table.
Their bodies seemed to be glued to the chairs, unable to stand up.
They couldn't leave, trapped around the table.
Qing Lan took a sip of tea, moistening his throat.
He stood up and, with animated gestures, spoke for an hour.
The expressions on Ming Yue's and the other's faces shifted constantly.
Finally, they spoke in unison, "We're not interested!"
"Won't you reconsider?"
Qing Lan's mouth was dry and his throat was parched,
but he resisted the urge to drink water, instead looking at Ji Shiyou and Ming Yue with a subservient plea.
He begged them like a servant.
"We'd rather die!"
Ji Shiyou and Ming Yue showed no hesitation, their faces filled with resistance.
Qing Lan deflated like a pricked balloon and grabbed the teapot on the table, gulping it down.
This matter began before Pangu created heaven and earth.
At that time, the world was merely a chaos.
There were no heavens, no earth, no living beings, no good or evil, no beauty or ugliness, no beginning or end.
After an unknown period, the infinite spiritual energy within the chaos,
through infinite transformations, gave birth to many powerful beings.
These beings were born from transformation, unadaptable, each with their own nature.
Then, at some unknown time, one of these beings suddenly comprehended the Heavenly Dao and called himself Hongjun.
He then gathered the other beings in the chaos and expounded on the profound principles of creating heaven and earth and manipulating creation.
The beings benefited greatly, and after listening to the sermon, each gained their own enlightenment.
Pangu used the Pangu Banner to split the chaos.
He used the Taiji Diagram to stabilize the earth, water, fire, and wind, separating the turbid from the pure and establishing the Qian and Kun.
He opened up the Great Thousand Worlds and evolved the cycle of reincarnation.
Nuwa created humans and all things, and Taiyi became emperor and ruled the world.
Thus, the formless gave rise to the Taiji, the Taiji gave rise to the Yin and Yang, and the Yin and Yang gave rise to the Eight Trigrams.
The Eight Trigrams evolved all things, eventually evolving the sun, moon, and stars, and dividing the mountains, rivers, and lands.
The beings in the chaos each achieved their own enlightenment, becoming gods and saints, immortal and with boundless power.
Hongjun established the Heavenly Dao as the rules for the Three Thousand Great Worlds, and the destinies of all beings could not violate it.
The ultimate pursuit of all beings in their cultivation was to break through the Heavenly Dao and achieve Hunyuan, thus becoming a saint.
After the creation of heaven and earth, three thousand great worlds and countless smaller worlds evolved.
All the saints each performed their duties, ensuring the normal operation of each world.
However, not long after, they gathered in Hongjun's Zixiao Palace of the Heavenly Dao, complaining incessantly.
Because after the emergence of the Great Thousand Worlds, unlike the chaos,
many things that did not exist in the chaos evolved, the most special of which was time.
Time was the most difficult Dao to comprehend among the Three Thousand Great Daos.
It was formless and intangible, difficult to grasp. It was not affected by external factors.
It operated according to its own laws, unchanging since ancient times.
Only oneself could change it.
This was because time was divided into three states: past, present, and future.
They complemented each other and were mutually causal.
As soon as one state changed, the other two would also change.
For example, if the future changed, the past and present would also change.
Conversely, if the past was altered, the present and future would become unrecognizable.
However, the Three Thousand Great Worlds were not like the chaos, without beginning or end, but were full of variables.
Unexpected events constantly occurred, such as people traversing time and space.
Or things not operating according to the ways prescribed by the Heavenly Dao, and so on.
Such incidents were frequent, and the saints, in order to ensure the normal operation of the worlds,
and to prevent them from being altered, were in a constant state of frantic activity.
In addition to the Three Thousand Great Worlds, there were also countless smaller worlds.
As the future evolved, many special worlds were added.
For example, worlds of painting and calligraphy, fairy tale worlds, film and television worlds, and so on.
The saints were even more overwhelmed and came to complain to Hongjun one after another.
After contemplation, Hongjun decided to establish a Temporal Supervision Department.
One Supervisor would be appointed to specifically handle these special events that affected the normal operation of time and space.
But who would be the Supervisor was a problem.
The saints were already extremely annoyed by these matters.
So none of them were willing to be the Supervisor.
Therefore, Hongjun and the saints,
turned their gaze to Qing Lan, who was dozing in a corner.
Qing Lan was also a being evolved from the chaos and was one of Hongjun's earliest disciples.
In terms of cultivation and comprehension of the Heavenly Dao, he was no less than the great saints.
However, he was lazy and had no great ambitions.
His life's motto was to take things as they came, lacking any grand aspirations.
He only wished to be a servant in Zixiao Palace, attending to Hongjun.
The great saints exchanged glances and reached a consensus.
They unanimously nominated Qing Lan to be the Supervisor of the Temporal Supervision Department.
Thus, the unfortunate Qing Lan, after a nap,
woke up to be informed by Hongjun that he was to become the Supervisor.
And a Supervisor who was constantly busy with endless trivial matters.
Qing Lan was unwilling and knelt in Zixiao Palace for three days.
He pleaded with Hongjun to let him off. Finally, Hongjun, in his great mercy,
agreed to find another candidate for Supervisor.
However, before the official Supervisor reported for duty, Qing Lan was to act as interim Supervisor.
Qing Lan joyfully asked when the official Supervisor would take over the Temporal Management Department.
Hongjun replied, "Soon, I will go and invite him."
"Not only that, besides him, I have a backup."
Thus, Qing Lan happily took up his post.
Who knew that Qing Lan, after working tirelessly in the Temporal Management Department for ten thousand years,
still saw no sign of the official Supervisor for handover. So, he took advantage of a lull to go to Zixiao Palace.
He inquired with Hongjun when the Supervisor would arrive.
Hongjun regretfully told him that the person he had favored,
had a deviation in his destiny. He had fallen in love with a woman.
Now that the woman was dead, it had changed the course of his destiny, and he could no longer take over from Qing Lan.
"Isn't this exactly what I deal with every day in the Temporal Management Department?
It's very easy to resolve. Since that woman is already dead,
the Supervisor's destiny can return to its proper course.
Just have him report to the Temporal Management Department."
Qing Lan had been busy in the Temporal Management Department for ten thousand years, handling many official duties.
Things like unexpected people appearing,
causing deviations in destiny, were easy to handle.
Moreover, this person who shouldn't have appeared was already dead.
So, all that was needed was to guide this person's destiny
back onto the right track, and have that person come to hand over with him.
"He can't come. After that woman died,
he made a blood oath with his divinity to enter the mortal world for a hundred thousand years,
undergoing a thousand reincarnations to find his beloved woman.
He vowed to be eternally united with her for all his lifetimes.
Therefore, he can no longer be the Supervisor."
Hongjun said it casually, but Qing Lan was struck by lightning.
"What about the backup candidate?"
Qing Lan asked cautiously.