Attitude Shift

Our Lady of Wudang and Zhao Gongming appeared and immediately began to reason with Meng Chen. This left Meng Chen quite satisfied.

As long as there were still those in the Intercepting Teaching who were willing to reason, then the Chan Sect and the Intercepting Teaching still had a future. If everyone were like Daoist Duobao, shielding their fellow disciples regardless of right or wrong, Meng Chen would have no choice but to become a bystander and let the timeline play out as it originally had.

The Intercepting Teaching was already a mix of the good and the bad, and with Daoist Duobao acting as an umbrella, the disciples would only become increasingly lawless. An Intercepting Teaching like that might as well be destroyed, lest the world never know peace.

"Heh, Fellow Daoist Wudang, you only know the surface, not the root. After I suppressed Yu Shuixian, you and the others attacked me without regard for right or wrong, intent on putting me to death. Though I am of humble status and little influence, I have been honored with the trust of my teacher to uphold the Chan Sect's rules. It is one thing for your fellow disciples to kill me, but if I were to fall, there would be no one to enforce the rules of the Chan Sect. Would that not trouble my teacher?"

"Therefore, your intent to kill me is equivalent to offending a Sage, and to offend a Sage is to defy the Heavenly Mandate. I had no choice but to suppress them here to save them. I did this entirely for their own good. How can you say, Fellow Daoist Wudang, that my actions would affect the bond between our two sects?"

As soon as Meng Chen spoke, his words were steeped in the style of a Chan Sect disciple. Many Chan Sect members present felt their blood boil with excitement, and Guang Chengzi even began taking notes.

"Shameless! Meng Chen, what right do you have to speak for the Heavenly Mandate?"

Upon hearing Meng Chen's words, Wuyun Xian glared with rage, wishing he could grind Meng Chen to dust. Though he was suppressed, his voice boomed like rolling thunder, echoing across the heavens and earth.

"We attacked you merely to rescue our fellow disciple; when did we ever intend to put you to death?"

Meng Chen smiled faintly and flicked his finger, and a voice manifested in the void.

"Senior Brother Pilu Xian, Senior Brother Jin Guangxian, Senior Brother Ling Ya Xian, come quickly and save me! Someone is insulting our Intercepting Teaching—come and kill him!"

The voice belonged to Yu Shuixian, and every word, every syllable, was clear and unmistakable.

Our Lady of Wudang and Zhao Gongming's expressions darkened as they listened to Yu Shuixian. Their fellow disciples had failed in their scheme against Guang Chengzi's primordial essence, and in their shame and anger, they had sought to kill the one who stopped them.

If this matter were brought before Sage Laozi, he would undoubtedly side with the Chan Sect.

"There is more."

Meng Chen snapped his fingers again.

"Junior Brothers, this person is exceptionally fierce! Quickly, bring out your Magic Treasures and join me in slaying him!"

This voice was incredibly savage; it lacked the seductive quality of Yu Shuixian's, but Our Lady of Wudang knew exactly who it belonged to.

Pilu Xian silently lowered his noble head; he had no way to argue his way out of this.

Meng Chen had indeed acted against the disciples of the Intercepting Teaching, but he had done so in self-defense. Or rather, he was upholding the dignity of the Primal Sage.

"Fellow Daoist Wuyun Xian, and you as well."

Meng Chen flicked his finger, and a light screen appeared before the crowd.

On the screen, Wuyun Xian was shown with a murderous expression, his eyes glinting with malice as he roared and charged at Meng Chen.

"This..."

Seeing this, even Our Lady of Wudang began to look troubled.

In truth, it was not the Chan Sect bullying the Intercepting Teaching; it was the Intercepting Teaching, relying on their superior numbers, that kept causing trouble for the Chan Sect. The Chan Sect had been forced to suppress the disciples who came to stir up trouble.

Our Lady of Wudang did not know that, within the Three Pure Ones Palace, Master Tongtian's expression was even uglier than hers.

If one looked only at the process, Daoist Duobao and the others seemed pitiful. But if one traced it to the root, they had brought this upon themselves.

Their disciples had offended someone and met with disaster, yet without even gauging the opponent's strength, they sought to kill them—was that not courting death?

Fortunately, they had offended disciples of the Chan Sect. Had they offended disciples of the Western Church and been ambushed and annihilated, all their Magic Treasures would have become spoils of war for the Western Church.

"Third Brother, do you still think Meng Chen is in the wrong?"

Yuanshi Tianzun noticed the change in Master Tongtian's expression and seized the opportunity to speak.

All living beings are bound by emotion. Sages may lack romantic love, but they possess the bond between master and disciple. Yuanshi Tianzun had not expected Master Tongtian to be so trapped by it.

Master Tongtian fell silent, his gaze piercing through the void to look into the past.

Daoist Duobao had entered the sect very early, even earlier than Meng Chen. After Master Tongtian became a Sage, he was traveling abroad when he encountered a Duobao Rat undergoing its heavenly tribulation. Seeing that the rat was talented and spoke well, he took him in as a disciple.

By the time of entry, Daoist Duobao could be considered the first disciple of the Three Pure Ones. Alas, his origin was poor, and he was only a True Immortal when he took human form. No matter how hard he worked, he could not surpass Meng Chen, who had joined later.

Even so, Master Tongtian had spent countless treasures to help Daoist Duobao improve his foundation and compensate for his origins.

Master Tongtian had essentially been grooming Daoist Duobao as his successor.

But now, Master Tongtian realized that his judgment of character seemed flawed.

Daoist Duobao's personality had a major defect: he was too focused on maneuvering. He might make a fine Eldest Senior Brother, but he could never be a good leader of the Intercepting Teaching.

Master Tongtian had handed power to Daoist Duobao, but instead of using that power to govern the sect, he had used it to curry favor. Even though he was the only successor, he remained overly accommodating, terrified of offending anyone.

When the upper beam is crooked, the lower ones go aslant. With Daoist Duobao as a model, the disciples of the Intercepting Teaching followed suit, prattling on about loyalty while casting the sect rules aside.

In just ten thousand years, the true nature of the Intercepting Teaching disciples in the Primordial Wilderness had been exposed. They were increasingly bellicose and arrogant, until they finally kicked the iron plate that was Meng Chen.

"Second Brother, it shouldn't be like this. They have only just entered the sect and are not yet accustomed to the rules. Given time, I can educate them and mold them into the pillars of the Xuanmen."

Even at this point, Master Tongtian remained indecisive. He looked at Yuanshi Tianzun, seeking some form of confirmation.

Yuanshi Tianzun looked at Master Tongtian with a calm gaze and spoke slowly:

"Third Brother, ten thousand years is not a short time. When they first entered, they still had some reservations. But as time passed, the more their wild nature was exposed. Come to think of it, these disciples of yours are quite interesting. They constantly claim that my disciples look down on them because they are 'hairy and horned.' But look at their behavior here on Kunlun Immortal Mountain—eating raw meat and drinking blood, slaughtering immortal beasts... it seems the ones who truly look down on the 'hairy and horned' are themselves, is it not?"