To Meng Chen himself, this breakthrough had come naturally. There was nothing worth celebrating. Only by becoming a Great Luo Golden Immortal would he be worthy of his status and background.
To put it bluntly, with his background and resources, even a pig could cultivate to the Grand Golden Immortal Realm if it spent enough time at it.
"Junior Brother, congratulations on attaining the Taiyi Dao. Great Luo lies within sight!"
The moment Meng Chen finished cultivating, Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu came before him and offered his congratulations with a smile. Yet Meng Chen felt that Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu's smile was somewhat strange.
"Thank you for your auspicious words, Senior Brother. Did something happen in the Chan Sect?"
That was Meng Chen's first reaction.
While the Disciples of Intercepting Teaching might disregard their sect rules, some disciples of the Chan Sect were not much better.
Meng Chen had originally thought that the Chan Sect disciples were already exhausted from dealing with the Disciples of Intercepting Teaching and had no energy left to cause trouble. But now, it seemed that was not the case.
Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu nodded, and the smile vanished from his face.
Originally, he had not cared about the actions of the Chan Sect disciples. However, Meng Chen was the Eldest Senior Brother of the Chan Sect and oversaw its rules. If this were allowed to continue, Meng Chen might be accused of neglecting his duties as Eldest Senior Brother.
"That's right. There is someone in the Chan Sect named True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue. In order to refine pills, he infiltrated the Zhu Yu Clan and stole their Young Clan Leader."
Meng Chen's expression turned grave.
Within the Primordial Wilderness, aside from beasts and birds, there were also flowers, birds, insects, and fish. Any living creature could become an immortal.
The Zhu Yu Clan belonged to the Plant Spirit Race, and their true forms were Zhu Yu Immortal Grass. Races like theirs were easily harvested as spirit herbs and immortal grass by cultivators.
Meng Chen did not doubt Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu's words in the slightest. Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu had no reason to deceive him. Besides, True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue himself had no virtue at all.
During the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue passed through Chaoge City and saw Huang Feihu's son, Huang Tianhua, playing in a garden. Without another word, he abducted Huang Tianhua.
For someone like True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue, stealing the Young Clan Leader of the Zhu Yu Clan for pill refinement was hardly surprising.
"What a vile bastard! If this matter reaches the Intercepting Teaching and then the Western Church, they will certainly make a huge issue of it. Yuanshi Tianzun's disciple is a child trafficker—how will all living beings of the Three Realms view our Chan Sect?"
After thinking for a moment, Meng Chen asked, "The Young Clan Leader of the Zhu Yu Clan should be all right, shouldn't he?"
"This..."
Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu looked troubled at those words.
Seeing this, Meng Chen's heart sank. He understood what Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu meant.
Sure enough, Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu said, "I only learned of this afterward. The Zhu Yu Clan has gone mad searching Kunlun Mountain for traces of their Young Clan Leader."
"And that is not all. After sensing the aura of Zhu Yu Immortal Grass on True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue, the Zhu Yu Clan's leader went to demand his people back, only to be beaten back into his original form by True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue. There is no need to say what became of him."
"Junior Brother understands that we of the Eastern Celestial Pole cannot conveniently interfere in the affairs of a Sage's sect."
Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu was not a Chan Sect disciple, only an outsider. If he interfered in the affairs of a Sage's sect, he would be in the wrong no matter what. Meng Chen would not allow Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu to act either.
The Chan Sect belonged to Yuanshi Tianzun, not Meng Chen, and even less to the Azure Dragon Clan. Once Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu intervened, people would inevitably think that the Azure Dragon Clan intended to hollow out the Chan Sect and claim it for themselves.
Azure Dragon Lord Cangwu could act freely only when protecting Meng Chen. In such circumstances, even Yuanshi Tianzun would have no reason to be displeased.
Meng Chen: "..."
He was truly speechless. He had only just managed to suppress the Intercepting Teaching's problems, and now the Chan Sect had caused trouble on its own.
Meng Chen could already imagine the Disciples of Intercepting Teaching mocking the Chan Sect.
He took a deep breath, his gaze sharpening as he made up his mind. This trend could not be encouraged, and this precedent could not be set. He could not allow the Chan Sect to become a monstrous terror in the eyes of all living beings.
"It seems Junior Brother Yellow Dragon is about to become one of the Twelve Golden Immortals."
Meng Chen sighed inwardly. His body had already transformed into a wisp of green smoke and vanished between heaven and earth.
At the foot of Clear Void Peak, experts from the five clans of Blue Silver, Zhu Yu, Migu, Zidou, and Jiangzhu had gathered. More than ten Golden Immortal experts joined forces, unleashing hundreds and thousands of divine abilities as they battled True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue madly.
Among these five clans, the Blue Silver Clan's experts were the strongest. The Blue Silver Clan was actually descended from an Acquired Spiritual Root and was born with the divine ability known as the Great Entanglement Art. Once cultivated to perfection, this art could bind the eternal ages and the myriad Daos of the heavens, sealing them forever.
Yet even with more than ten Golden Immortal experts joining forces, they were no match for True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue.
True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue possessed the Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Five Fires Seven Birds Fan. This treasure was specially designed to restrain the Plant Spirit Race. With a wave of his hand, True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue fanned out a sea of fire that suppressed the divine abilities of the more than ten Golden Immortals.
"True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue, for the sake of refining spirit pills, you have slaughtered the Plant Spirit Race of Kunlun Mountain. You are unworthy of being a Sage's disciple."
"Today, even if every one of us dies here, we will take this demon down with us!"
The third elder of the Blue Silver Clan suddenly revealed his true form, becoming a Blue Silver Immortal Grass a thousand meters tall. The Blue Silver Immortal Grass coiled and twisted through the void several times, carving countless Dao marks into empty space. It actually bound even the flames of the Five Fires Seven Birds Fan into its own body, and the sea of fire filling the sky vanished in an instant.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!
Though Blue Silver Immortal Grass was an immortal plant, how could it possibly withstand the flames of the Five Fires Seven Birds Fan? In an instant, the third elder of the Blue Silver Clan turned to ash and scattered between heaven and earth.
Seeing this, the Great Elder of the Blue Silver Clan was filled with grief and fury. He knew that the third elder had used his life to clear a path for the others.
"Kill!"
The experts of the Plant Spirit Race also saw red.
Every one of their clans had outstanding juniors who had fallen victim to True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue. They had to fight for the future of their races.
They had to tell their descendants that they were immortals, not cultivation resources for other immortals!
Facing the siege of these experts, True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue was utterly fearless. After fighting to this point, not even a single strand of his hair had been damaged. He still appeared as transcendent and sage-like as ever.
"Hmph! You wretches do not understand the timing of heaven or recognize the heavenly mandate. You are clearly spirit medicines meant for consumption, yet you insist on taking form and becoming immortals. Do you not know that this is defying the heavenly mandate? Fine, today I shall beat every last one of you back to your original forms and return you to the places where you belong."
True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue spoke with righteous indignation, as though he were expounding some great truth.
As soon as he finished speaking, he attacked again. A Small Chiliocosm appeared behind him and crashed down fiercely toward the Plant Spirit Race experts.
This strike was like a star falling from the heavens, shattering endless void. Before the Small Chiliocosm even descended, all things between heaven and earth had already been destroyed. A song of destruction echoed through the void.
The Plant Spirit Race experts had only just entered the Golden Immortal Realm. How could they withstand such a move? Despair filled their faces as they charged toward True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue's Small Chiliocosm like moths flying into a flame.
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