Die Unrepentant

The people do not fear death, so why use death to frighten them?

Sometimes, one truly could not underestimate the resolve of ants. They might possess little strength, and their lives might be exceedingly brief, but they would still fight desperately.

Ants could not bite an elephant to death, but they could use their own lives to influence an elephant's actions and draw the attention of other beasts toward it.

Just as the Plant Spirit Race experts were about to perish, a dragon's roar resounded through heaven and earth, sealing time and space and freezing everything on the battlefield within halted time.

Although both sides possessed the power of laws, their laws were far too weak. They were frozen in an instant.

Their mana, their consciousness, everything about them was locked in place. This patch of heaven and earth seemed to have become a painting, exquisitely beautiful.

A pillar of azure light descended from the heavens, and Meng Chen appeared within the painting.

He arrived at the center of the battle. Azure light spread from his body, and the divine abilities and Daoist arts unleashed by both sides melted away like snow and ice, vanishing into nothingness. True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue's Small Chiliocosm also flew back into his body.

When the Plant Spirit Race experts and True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue regained their senses, they discovered that each of them had been trapped inside a cocoon of light. All their mana had been suppressed, and they had been completely sealed away.

Everyone looked up and saw a towering figure standing among them. An imposing aura naturally radiated from him, making their hearts tremble.

When True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue saw that the newcomer was Meng Chen, he immediately said, "Eldest Senior Brother, have you suppressed the wrong people? These spirits do not know the heavenly order and have offended the Sage's Disciple. Eldest Senior Brother, quickly kill them to set an example."

Upon hearing this, the Plant Spirit Race experts all assumed Meng Chen had come to aid True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue.

The Great Elder of the Crimson Pearl Clan cursed, "What a Chan Sect! You actually indulge your disciples in slaughtering living beings. Do not think that you can do whatever you please just because your mana is powerful. Karmic Sin will treat every living being of the Primordial Wilderness fairly."

"That's right! Ever since we plants were born, other cultivators have treated us as cultivation resources. That is why we have regarded life and death as insignificant from the very beginning. You may refine us into pills, and you may kill us, but we will never submit to you."

The Great Elder of the Blue Silver Clan glared furiously, looking like a puffed-up pufferfish.

The Great Elder of the Zhu Yu Clan laughed loudly, as though delivering his final words. "All plant immortals under heaven, listen well! If one day the Primordial Wilderness can no longer tolerate the Plant Spirit Race, then please tell our descendants not to reproduce again. Let there be no grass or tree left in the Primordial Wilderness for all eternity!"

His voice traveled through the plants beneath his feet, spreading from one to ten, from ten to a hundred, reaching farther and farther into the distance.

His words gave the other Plant Spirit Race experts inspiration. One after another, they used the Plant Spirit Race's unique divine abilities to spread the declaration, "Let there be no grass or tree in the Primordial Wilderness," throughout All Heavens and Myriad Realms.

"That's right! Even the Sage's Disciple treats our Plant Spirit Race as cultivation resources, so what is the point of our Plant Spirit Race continuing to exist in the Primordial Wilderness? From now on, the Primordial Wilderness does not need the Plant Spirit Race."

"Fellow cultivators of the Plant Spirit Race, do not reproduce any longer. Let tragedy and suffering end with our generation. Do not let our descendants inherit this hopeless fate of ours!"

As True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue watched the Plant Spirit Race experts descend into madness, a chill rose in his heart. He had never expected these plant immortals to be so vicious as to wish for all vegetation in the Primordial Wilderness to vanish.

Without immortal herbs and spiritual medicine, how would immortals refine pills, make talismans, or forge Treasure Robes? Without immortal herbs and spiritual medicine, how would the birds and beasts that fed on vegetation across the land grow and reproduce?

"How outrageous! You... you truly intend to defy Heaven. Eldest Senior Brother, quickly release me, then kill these fiends!"

True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue was enraged. He wished he could immediately kill these Plant Spirit Race experts who were spreading such bewitching words. Of course, he knew the Plant Spirit Race would not be so easily wiped out.

But what if the other plants truly lost heart? What if they refused to bloom, bear fruit, or propagate their lineage?

Meng Chen quietly watched True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue struggle, disappointment filling his heart. Even at this point, True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue still had not realized his own error.

All things grew for their own reasons. The fact that the Plant Spirit Race could cultivate into immortals proved that heaven and earth acknowledged them. True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue's constant talk of "obeying Heaven" and "defying Heaven" was merely a cover for his own actions.

Moreover, the Plant Spirit Race's actions showed that even ants possessed the ability to resist Sages.

If Sages wished to spread their teachings to all living beings, then there had to be living beings. Without all living beings, were Sages supposed to preach to rocks, mud, and sand?

"Junior Brother Clear Void, shut up!!"

Meng Chen roared, his voice like a great bell, thunder shaking the nine heavens. It made True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue's eardrums ache and instantly silenced him.

Meng Chen's gaze swept across everyone present as he declared, "Today's matter is True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue's fault. For his own selfish desires, he used fellow cultivators to refine pills, already violating My Teaching's rules. In the name of the Chan Sect's Eldest Senior Brother, I guarantee everyone that the Chan Sect will give every clan a satisfactory answer."

His words stunned the entire crowd. No one could believe it.

True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue refused to believe that his Eldest Senior Brother would actually bow his head to a group of weak Rogue Cultivators, and even use sect rules to punish him.

The Plant Spirit Race was a cultivation resource. Who would punish his own junior brother over a pill or an immortal herb?

The Plant Spirit Race experts could not believe it either. This Chan Sect Eldest Senior Brother's mana was countless times stronger than True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue's, yet he had actually lowered himself to explain things to insignificant people like them?

"Eldest Senior Brother, have you gone mad? You want to punish me for these people?"

True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue was deeply unconvinced.

Meng Chen naturally knew that True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue was unconvinced. Even after Daoist Duobao and the others had knelt, they had not truly submitted to him. However, Meng Chen had no interest in reasoning with True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue.

He did not have the habit of being softhearted. Since he had decided to punish True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue, he would show no mercy. He would even treat True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue as an enemy.

Meng Chen would not naively believe that after punishing True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue, the latter would bear no resentment toward him.

When striking a snake, one had to kill it. One could never leave a snake a chance to survive.

It was almost accurate to say that Meng Chen had no affection for his fellow disciples. He was not an emotional person to begin with. In his previous life, he had finished four years of university without even being able to name all his classmates.

What had Meng Chen and True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue experienced together? They had merely listened to a sermon once and shared a drink once. How could they have developed feelings so quickly? If the Chan Sect had not had so few disciples, Meng Chen might not even have been able to recall True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue's name.

Among the Intercepting Teaching's three thousand disciples, Meng Chen paid no attention to any except those with considerable fame. As for those insignificant disciples, he did not care what they were called at all.

True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue still wanted to say something, but Meng Chen sealed his mouth. With a raised hand, he seized True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue in his grasp.

"Rest assured, Dao Friends. My Chan Sect is the Pangu Sect. If even my Chan Sect cannot give you justice, then justice does not exist within the Three Realms."

Leaving behind those words, Meng Chen seized True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue and returned to Jade Void Palace.