After Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu's careful management, the Boundless Tree Sea's once-chaotic primeval forest had become a sacred cultivation ground filled with birdsong, fragrant flowers, and immortal mist.
Every tree here bore Array Dao Runes. Tens of thousands of trees were arranged in a special pattern, forming a grand formation that gathered spiritual energy, trapped and killed enemies, and provided defense.
Let alone those newly initiated Disciples of Intercepting Teaching, even Daoist Ran Deng would not be able to force his way in.
This was exactly the effect Meng Chen wanted. His cultivation ground naturally had to be impregnable. If outsiders could casually find a daoist temple for cultivation, what safety would that daoist temple have?
After ten thousand years of cultivation, Meng Chen had finally mastered the Great Incarnation Technique. Within the greater world inside his body, the Innate Spiritual Root had taken root and become the center of that world, growing rapidly within it.
The Primordial Chaos Spiritual Energy produced by the Innate Spiritual Root fed back to Meng Chen without reservation, strengthening his origin.
Meng Chen's origin was now improving every moment. Whether he cultivated or not, whether he refined treasures or not, it continued to grow. The increase in his origin also accelerated his cultivation, and his comprehension of the Laws of Time, Space, and Destiny advanced by leaps and bounds.
Not only that, after refining the Innate Spiritual Root, Meng Chen also learned its name.
This Innate Spiritual Root was called the Undying Tree. It had been formed when the origin of the Life Demon God fell into the Primordial Wilderness and was nurtured by the laws of heaven and earth. Strictly speaking, the Undying Tree was not an Innate Spiritual Root, but an incomplete Chaos Divine Root.
The Undying Tree possessed an immensely powerful life force. Once it matured and bore fruit, a mortal who ate one fruit would immediately gain immortality.
Note that it was immortality, not eternal youth.
As long as the Undying Tree's true body remained alive, any living being who consumed its fruit would remain eternally youthful and indestructible. In other words, eating the fruit of the Undying Tree guaranteed becoming a pseudo Great Luo Golden Immortal.
"Could the legendary Nine Revolutions Great Luo Golden Pill have been refined using the fruit of the Undying Tree as its main ingredient?"
After learning of the Undying Tree's many wonders, Meng Chen thought of this instinctively. He merely considered it and did not investigate further. Once the Undying Tree bore fruit, he could pick a few and give them to Sage Laozi to verify it.
As a nephew-disciple, it was perfectly reasonable for him to offer his senior uncle a few small gifts.
"Junior Brother, it seems you've mastered an incredible divine ability. I can sense that your aura is growing stronger every moment."
Seeing Meng Chen finish his cultivation, Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu immediately appeared and asked about the situation.
Meng Chen opened his eyes and nodded. "Indeed, I've gained quite a bit. At this rate, in less than three Yuanhui, I'll be able to condense the Three Flowers on the Crown and become a Grand Golden Immortal. Still, Golden Immortals are ants, and Grand Golden Immortals are ants as well. Only Great Luo Golden Immortals can be considered true immortals."
Though he said so, Meng Chen still greatly looked forward to becoming a Grand Golden Immortal. He was the chief disciple of the Chan Sect. If he could not suppress his fellow disciples with absolute cultivation and realm, then his title as Eldest Senior Brother would be undeserved.
If he exhausted every trick he had and could only fight Guang Chengzi to a draw, relying on flaws Guang Chengzi exposed to defeat him, where would Meng Chen find the face to call himself Eldest Senior Brother?
"As expected of Junior Brother. What do you plan to do next?"
Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu was overjoyed upon hearing this. The Dragon Clan's crown prince ought to possess such confidence.
"It has already been ten thousand years since I entered the sect. I plan to meet my fellow junior brothers and strengthen our bonds. In the endless years ahead, I will fight alongside them."
Meng Chen rose to his feet, and a powerful will surged from his body. Meeting the wind, it transformed into a dragon; meeting the clouds, it transformed into a tiger. The dragon's roar shook the nine heavens, and the tiger's howl echoed across heaven and earth, making the entire world tremble.
Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu knew that this will came from Meng Chen's Dao heart and transcended magic power. It therefore shocked him all the more. With will alone, Meng Chen could stir changes in the heavens. Just how firm was his Dao heart?
Meng Chen instructed Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu to remain in the Boundless Tree Sea while he himself transformed into a streak of golden light and plunged into the endless sky.
The moment he left the Boundless Tree Sea, he sensed several streams of magic power colliding nearby. Looking toward their source, he saw three immortals hunting a group of immortal beasts.
All three immortals possessed pure Shangqing Magic Power, yet their magic power carried a bloody aura. Their appearances were not those of the Pangu Creation Dao Body either. They either had long noses and large ears, or green faces and fangs.
The one with the long nose and large ears seized an immortal deer and, without even skinning it, bit directly into its main artery.
The one with the green face and fangs opened his bloody maw. His enormous lion head generated a powerful suction force, swallowing immortal beasts one after another.
"Has it finally begun?"
Meng Chen glanced toward the direction where Ling Ya Xian and the other two were, then shot into the distance.
He was only responsible for enforcing the Chan Sect's rules, not those of Intercepting Teaching. The Chan Sect's rules did indeed contain provisions requiring adherence to the Pure Rules and Precepts and forbidding the slaughter of living beings, but how the Disciples of Intercepting Teaching conducted themselves had nothing to do with him.
However, the appearance of these Disciples of Intercepting Teaching also showed that the Three Pure Ones were about to part ways.
The Three Pure Ones Part Ways had little to do with the disagreements between Intercepting Teaching and the Chan Sect. What siblings who had all established themselves would still crowd together? The Three Pure Ones were brothers, not husband and wife. Only married couples lived together for a lifetime.
Still, Meng Chen needed to confirm something. He now suspected that the Disciples of Intercepting Teaching were conducting an Obedience Test on Master Tongtian.
Master Tongtian was too indulgent toward his disciples, but that indulgence caused his bottom line to fall again and again. By the time of the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, the Disciples of Intercepting Teaching treated Master Tongtian's decree as if it were wind passing by their ears.
Some even directly betrayed Master Tongtian and joined the Western Church.
Meng Chen secretly pondered this. If that was truly the case, then the Chan Sect and Intercepting Teaching would likely have a war. Before long, he arrived at Pointing Heaven Peak.
Disciples of the Chan Sect could sense one another's aura.
On the mountain peak, Guang Chengzi, Chijingzi, and Taiyi Zhenren sat in a circle, chanting the Yellow Court Scripture to cleanse the dust from their hearts.
Yu Shuixian had truly set her sights on Guang Chengzi and had repeatedly come to seduce him. Fortunately, Chijingzi and Taiyi Zhenren had given their full support, allowing Guang Chengzi to preserve his purity. However, as Yu Shuixian visited Pointing Heaven Peak more and more often, Chijingzi and Taiyi Zhenren were nearing their limits as well.
Meng Chen immediately saw that the three had fallen under an evil spell. With a wave of his hand, he scattered a sheet of azure immortal light.
"Mm~ ah~"
The immortal light drifted down onto Guang Chengzi and the other two. In an instant, bursts of shrill, strange panting sounded from within their bodies.
When the panting reached its peak, it abruptly stopped. Three masses of black mist instantly left their bodies. Meng Chen casually struck, and the three masses of black mist turned into nothingness, never to exist again.
With those three masses of black mist gone, Guang Chengzi and the others only felt their Dao Hearts become clear, their hearts filled with joy. The three opened their eyes and saw Meng Chen, immediately realizing that he had lifted the evil spell from them.
"Thank you, Eldest Senior Brother, for saving us!"
"No need for formalities, junior brothers. What happened here?"
Meng Chen knowingly asked.
How could he fail to see that the three had been afflicted by a curse cast by Disciples of Intercepting Teaching? He simply needed to know the full story.
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