Resurrection

Meng Chen treated the Disciples of Chan Sect and Disciples of Intercepting Teaching differently.

Whatever the Disciples of Intercepting Teaching did had nothing to do with him. Whether they killed and burned, or slaughtered cities and destroyed nations, that was all under the jurisdiction of Master Tongtian and Our Lady of Wudang.

At most, he would suppress these Disciples of Intercepting Teaching and send them to Biyou Palace; he would not do anything beyond that.

The Disciples of Chan Sect were different. The entire Calamity Fate of the Chan Sect was linked together. If a Disciple of Chan Sect did something that harmed the Chan Sect's Calamity Fate, it was equivalent to harming Meng Chen's own Calamity Fate.

Harming another's Calamity Fate was like killing their parents. Meng Chen had no choice but to handle things by the book and deal with the Disciple of Chan Sect.

But that was only one aspect.

If a Disciple of Chan Sect and a Disciple of Intercepting Teaching were both in danger—even if the one in danger from the Chan Sect was merely a boy servant or a mount, while the one in danger from the Intercepting Teaching was a heavyweight like Daoist Duobao or Our Lady of Wudang—he would still unhesitatingly go to rescue the Chan Sect's boy servant or mount.

Act according to one's station—that was Meng Chen's style.

He might not have the great compassion of Goddess Nüwa or Goddess Houtu, nor Master Tongtian's deep sense of loyalty and righteousness, but everything he did was worthy of his position.

"All you fellow disciples, and you, Junior Brother Wu Liangzi, you have all seen this—this is the consequence of violating the sect's rules. I hope you will never follow in the footsteps of the True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue. The identity of a Disciple of Chan Sect is supremely noble, but whether you can remain a Disciple of Chan Sect forever depends on your own choices."

Meng Chen swept his sleeve, taking the True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue with him, and vanished into a speck of light, disappearing from Jade Void Palace.

After Meng Chen left, the atmosphere in Jade Void Palace remained very heavy. What had just happened gave these Disciples of Chan Sect a harsh lesson. They finally understood that Meng Chen's enforcement of the sect's rules was not just talk—he would truly punish fellow disciples.

Most importantly, it was Meng Chen's final words.

Those words were a warning: the Primordial Wilderness had countless living beings; they were not the only ones qualified to be Disciples of Chan Sect. If someone's virtue did not match their position, someone else would come to replace them.

Realizing this, the Disciples of Chan Sect suddenly began to take the sect's rules seriously.

At this time, the Witch-Demon Tribulation was underway, and the Witch and Demon Clans fought every three days over small matters and every five days over big ones.

The reason they could be so carefree and occasionally discuss the Heavenly Fate was entirely based on their status as disciples of a Saint. If they were no longer disciples of a Saint, they would no longer be so noble.

Guang Chengzi, Yu Ding Zhenren, Yellow Dragon True Man, and Cihang Zhenren exchanged glances. After a silent communication, they left Jade Void Palace together.

Wu Liangzi noticed this scene. His eyes rolled as he considered what to do. He stepped out of Jade Void Palace and was about to chase after them, but then he thought of his own situation.

Every time, Meng Chen would single out his name. Now, all of the Chan Sect avoided him, afraid of offending Meng Chen.

"Damn Meng Chen, what good has the Chan Sect done you that you are so loyal to it?"

Wu Liangzi nursed a secret hatred. In this world, the person he hated most was not Yuanshi Tianzun, but Meng Chen. If he could, he would cripple Meng Chen's cultivation, make Meng Chen his boy servant, and humiliate him every day to repay the grudge of Meng Chen suppressing him.

"Ah!"

But in the end, a thousand words turned into a single sigh.

At the foot of Clear Void Peak, many experts of the Plant Spirit Race were waiting for Meng Chen's return. No matter the situation, they dared not go to Jade Void Palace to demand an explanation.

All living beings were filled with fear toward Saints. A Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal was but an ant before a Saint; how could this group of Golden Immortals dare to face a Saint?

Just as these experts were growing bored from waiting, a speck of light descended from the sky, transforming into Meng Chen and the True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue.

Bang!

Meng Chen showed no courtesy to the True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue. He casually tossed him in front of the gathered experts of the Plant Spirit Race.

The True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue felt boundless terror. As a mortal with no cultivation whatsoever, relying only on that thread of Meng Chen's magic power to maintain his Innate Dao Body (his state was the same as a mortal's; this did not mean he was a human), he simply could not withstand the pressure of a Golden Immortal.

"What is this?"

The Great Elder of Blue Silver Grass Clan looked at the disheveled True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue in disbelief.

Meng Chen explained, "This man harmed his fellow Daoists and violated the Chan Sect's rules. I have already crippled all his cultivation. You may deal with him as you see fit."

The experts were stunned for a moment, then immediately bowed to Meng Chen.

"Thank you, Immortal Lord, for seeking justice for us. The Chan Sect is truly the orthodox lineage of Xuanmen!"

"We will never forget the Immortal Lord's grace!"

Although it was a Disciple of Chan Sect who had killed their Young Clan Leader and refined their clan's genius into pills, they knew their place.

Meng Chen had not only saved them but also crippled their enemy and handed him over to them. As a disciple of a Saint, being able to treat them so fairly filled them with boundless gratitude.

"Please rise, everyone!"

Meng Chen raised his right hand slightly, sending out a wave of magic power to lift the experts of the Plant Spirit Race.

A faint apology appeared on his face. "To be honest, it was my lax discipline that allowed this beast to wreak havoc in Kunlun Wonderland. When I crippled this fiend's cultivation, I used the Chan Sect's secret technique to Revert to Root, Return to Origin, restoring the bodies of your fellow clansmen."

He took out the Creation Gourd. A stream of air shot out, and more than a dozen intact immortal bodies flew out, landing before the crowd.

The True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue was dumbfounded. The experts were also stunned. They never imagined that Meng Chen possessed such divine power—he had restored the immortals who had been refined into pills and then into magic power.

The True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue was furious. Since Meng Chen had such means, why had he still dealt with him so harshly?

He simply did not understand that his violation of the sect's rules was an established fact. Even if Meng Chen reversed the outcome, the existing karma still remained.

"Immortal Lord, what do you intend to do?"

The Great Elder of Blue Silver Grass Clan looked at these corpses, not quite understanding Meng Chen's intention.

Meng Chen nodded. "Correct. I will perform the orthodox Xuanmen Life-Returning Great Art to revive them. As for your clan's Third Elder, his primordial energy has already scattered into heaven and earth; I have no way to resurrect him."

"That is enough! That is more than enough! From now on, we are willing to follow the Immortal Lord's commands. If the Immortal Lord gives an order, even if we are at the ends of the earth, we will come to resolve your troubles."

The experts of the Plant Spirit Race wept with gratitude toward Meng Chen, entrusting their entire clan's lives and fortunes to him.

Meng Chen merely smiled faintly, a cluster of azure immortal light flickering in his hand. He flicked his finger, and sixteen beams of cyan light shot out, sinking into the corpses of those Plant Spirit Race experts.

With the infusion of that light, the bodies that had lost all vitality instantly revived. Their souls returned, their flesh regained life, and they were fully resurrected.

"What... happened to me?"

"I remember—I was refined into a pill."

These experts had died and come back to life, their memories still frozen at the moment before death. The elders of each clan, fearing they might show disrespect to Meng Chen, quickly reminded them.

"Clan leader, it was Immortal Lord Meng Chen who used his supreme divine power to save you."

"We have already decided to follow the Immortal Lord's lead. Clan leader, pay your respects to the Immortal Lord at once."

The Great Elder of the Blue Silver Grass Clan outright turned the order upside down, pressing his own clan leader's head down to bow to Meng Chen.

Seeing this, the True Lord of Clear Void and Virtue was filled with regret to the point of death. His killing and pill-refining had all been for nothing, and he had only brought himself to such a miserable end.

He regretted it!