After accepting disciples, the three Saints returned to their respective palaces with their own disciples.
Although the Three Pure Ones had not yet split apart, they were Saints after all and could not possibly crowd into a single palace. Sage Laozi established Grand Purity Palace on Sitting-Forget Peak, Yuanshi Tianzun established Jade Void Palace on Qilin Cliff, while Master Tongtian established Biyou Palace on Jue Tian Ridge.
Yuanshi Tianzun sat high upon his cloud bed, looking over the abundance of talent in Jade Void Palace with great satisfaction. His Chan Sect was finally no longer an empty shell. With this batch of disciples, he could carry forward and strengthen his lineage.
His gaze swept across the disciples before finally settling on Meng Chen. "Meng Chen is the son of Divine Lord Meng Zhang, with foundations comparable to a Primordial Saint. From this day onward, he shall be the Eldest Senior Brother of My Teaching, in charge of its rules and responsible for rewarding good and punishing evil."
Meng Chen had not expected Yuanshi Tianzun to value him so highly. He promptly bowed. "Rest assured, Master. This disciple will not fail your trust."
The internal situation of the Chan Sect was relatively simple, nowhere near as complicated as Intercepting Teaching. There were only a dozen or so people. Meng Chen merely needed to win over a couple of them to grasp every development within the Chan Sect clearly.
If it had been Intercepting Teaching, with ten thousand immortals flocking there and factions of every kind, managing it would have been endlessly troublesome.
However, Meng Chen did not become smug because of this. Instead, a sense of urgency rose in his heart.
Enforcing sect rules was bound to offend people. Without the strength to suppress everyone else, the one enforcing those rules would become a target for all.
What if Guang Chengzi, rather than Meng Chen, became the sect leader in the future? Guang Chengzi might even settle old scores and make trouble for Meng Chen.
Meng Chen secretly resolved to keep his cultivation at least one major realm, or two minor realms, above his fellow disciples. Only then could he firmly suppress them.
Seeing Meng Chen's reaction, Yuanshi Tianzun could not have been more pleased. Unmoved by favor or disgrace, unshaken by external things—this was the kind of foremost disciple he had taken a liking to.
Guang Chengzi and the others looked at Meng Chen in surprise. They had never imagined that Meng Chen's origins were so extraordinary. Only those little Golden Crows in the Heavenly Court could compare to such an identity.
"Meng Chen, you are the Eldest Senior Brother of My Teaching and represent My Teaching's prestige."
"This is the Wu Ji Apricot Yellow Banner, a Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure of boundless mysteries, obtained by your master from Treasure-Dividing Rock."
"This is the Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure Creation Gourd, which your master obtained from the Primordial Gourd Vine. It can refine all things and return them to their origin."
"Now, your master bestows these two treasures upon you. I hope you will advance by leaps and bounds and soon grow into the pillar supporting our sect."
"Thank you, Master, for these treasures!"
Meng Chen respectfully bowed. After accepting the two Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures, he felt as though his back had straightened considerably.
He was not lacking in treasures. The clothes on his body and the shoes beneath his feet were all Innate treasures.
The shoes on his feet were called the Three Realms Striding Shoes. They contained the Law of Space. With a single thought, he could roam freely from the ends of the earth to every corner of All Heavens and Myriad Realms.
The garment he wore was called the Seamless Celestial Garment. With his current cultivation, once he activated it, even if he stood still, a Grand Golden Immortal would be unable to break through his defenses.
The Dao crown upon his head was called the Cloud Shadow Moon Crown. It could conceal his form and block deductions of the Heavenly Secrets.
Yet he did not possess even a single treasure on the level of a Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure. Even his imperial father possessed only one Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure.
One had to know that during the Dragon-Han Initial Tribulation, Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures had been clan-suppressing treasures. The finest treasures of the Dragon Clan, Phoenix Clan, and Qilin Clan were merely Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.
With one move, Yuanshi Tianzun had given him two. Meng Chen was both grateful and excited.
He had made the right choice in taking Yuanshi Tianzun as his master. Had he taken Master Tongtian as his master, Master Tongtian simply could not have produced so many treasures.
It was not that Master Tongtian was inferior, but that Intercepting Teaching had too many disciples. Too many wolves and too little meat, and Master Tongtian had to treat everyone fairly. He could not possibly bestow two Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures upon a single disciple.
In the end, choosing a master had to serve one's own interests. So long as Yuanshi Tianzun treated him well, Meng Chen did not care whether Yuanshi Tianzun bullied the weak. In any case, Meng Chen would not be the one getting bullied by Yuanshi Tianzun.
Yuanshi Tianzun nodded slightly, then turned his gaze toward Guang Chengzi. Two streams of treasure light flew out along with his gaze.
"These are the Paired Swords of Yin and Yang and the Rainbow Sweeping Robe. Both are High-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures. Study them well."
"Thank you, Master, for these treasures!"
Yuanshi Tianzun's artifact-refining arts were famous throughout the Primordial Wilderness. The Innate Spiritual Treasures in his possession might be somewhat limited, but he had more than enough Acquired Spiritual Treasures.
Every disciple in this group received a reward from Yuanshi Tianzun. Even Yellow Dragon True Man, the least favored among them, received a Sky Serpent Sword.
Acquired Spiritual Treasures personally refined by a Saint contained the Saint's Dao charm. Their power might not match Innate Spiritual Treasures made for slaughter, but compared with other types of Innate Spiritual Treasures, they were not much inferior.
Yellow Dragon True Man held the Sky Serpent Sword and grinned foolishly with delight, nearly forgetting to offer his thanks.
He had been poor for so long that it had frightened him. Burdened by Karmic Sin, everything he did went poorly. This time, he had come to Kunlun Mountain for the trial merely to give it a try.
Though the dream was unrealistic, what if it came true?
Yellow Dragon True Man had succeeded. He had entered Yuanshi Tianzun's sect. He was now completely satisfied and did not dare ask for anything more.
With the status of a Saint's disciple, no one in the Primordial Wilderness would dare kill him. As long as he remained cautious and avoided provoking trouble, once he cultivated to the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm, he could lie back and enjoy the carefree Immortal Dao.
After bestowing Magic Treasures upon every disciple, Yuanshi Tianzun finally said solemnly:
"Upon entering my Chan Sect, the first thing you must learn is the way of being an immortal."
"My Chan Sect is Pangu Sect. As members of Pangu Sect, we should hold all living beings under heaven in our hearts, cherish compassion, enlighten the countless all living beings, awaken their wisdom, and teach them to respect life and revere nature."
"Heaven and earth were born because of Father Pangu. Thus, all living beings are Pangu, and all things are Pangu. Respecting all living beings and revering nature is respecting Pangu and revering Pangu."
"Though the Witch and Demon Clans rule heaven and earth, they do not cultivate good karma, nor do they respect heaven, earth, and nature. They have formed karmic consequences with Father Pangu, and disaster will surely bring about their destruction."
No one had expected that the first thing Yuanshi Tianzun did after admitting them into the sect was not teach them Dao arts, but instruct them in sect rules.
Meanwhile, within Biyou Palace, Master Tongtian was also expounding the Dao to his disciples.
"What is Intercepting Teaching? Seizing a Thread of Life for all living beings—that is Intercepting Teaching. This Thread of Life is neither between heaven and earth nor within the Heavenly Dao. It lies within all living beings themselves."
"The fate of all living beings rests upon a single thought of their own. Whether they become demons or immortals is their own choice."
"What Intercepting Teaching must impart to all living beings are the laws of heaven and earth, as well as the principles of karma. Once all living beings understand these principles, they can seize a Thread of Life for themselves amid adversity according to those principles."
A two-hundred-pound fat man sat opposite Master Tongtian, quietly listening to his exposition of the Dao, deep in thought.
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