Tea Talk

"Second Brother, your senior disciple is truly ruthless! How can you rest assured handing the Chan Sect over to someone so cold and merciless?"

Master Tongtian had watched the entire affair unfold. Seeing Meng Chen cripple True Lord Clear Void of Virtue's cultivation and expel him from the Chan Sect, he couldn't help asking.

If it were him, he could never bring himself to be so harsh.

No one is a sage—who can avoid mistakes? A mistake corrected is a virtue restored. When a junior brother errs, the senior brother should reason with him, teach him through principle, and give him a chance to reform, not kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.

This touched on a matter of philosophy. Master Tongtian would always leave a sliver of hope for everyone.

Yuanshi Tianzun, however, smiled faintly. "Precisely because of this, I feel at ease. To lead a sect, one must cast aside the seven emotions and six desires, rewarding and punishing with clarity. A sect leader is a model for all living beings—every move he makes teaches them. If those above favor something, those below will vie to imitate it. If a sect leader shields his fellow disciples out of personal sentiment, other immortals will surely rush to follow suit."

With that, he turned to Master Tongtian, his tone instantly turning grave.

"If Meng Chen had let Clear Void off today, other Chan Sect disciples would harbor false hope in the future. They would create new disasters and new slaughter in the Primordial Wilderness for their own selfish desires. Sometimes, ruthlessness is true compassion."

Master Tongtian only agreed with half of Yuanshi Tianzun's words. The other half, he did not.

"If Clear Void could turn back from the brink and return to the righteous path, the righteous path would gain a fresh force. Rather than killing him, why not teach him through reason, letting him use his magic to benefit the world? If we kill without mercy, never giving erring juniors a chance to repent, they may abandon themselves and commit even more heinous acts that outrage both heaven and humanity."

Master Tongtian's meaning was clear: don't push things to the extreme. Push too hard, and you force people to desperate measures.

Yuanshi Tianzun nodded slightly at this. "Third Brother speaks sense. Nothing in this world is absolute—that's precisely why the Chan Sect and the Intercepting Teaching came to be. So let time test our respective paths!"

Yuanshi Tianzun was rational. Debating matters of philosophy was pointless. He was no Sage Jieyin, after all, with no gift for spinning golden words.

Master Tongtian fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Second Brother, can you be ruthless?"

The smile faded from Yuanshi Tianzun's face. He shook his head. "I cannot, either."

Anyone can preach grand principles, but not everyone can live them. Even a sage cannot achieve true ruthlessness.

"Then your senior disciple is terrifying indeed!"

Master Tongtian sighed. What Yuanshi Tianzun could not do, Meng Chen could. This proved that Meng Chen was a man without feelings.

But Yuanshi Tianzun disagreed. He frowned slightly. "Third Brother, people have their close and distant ties. To me, Clear Void is a disciple I painstakingly raised—of course I feel reluctant. But to my disciple, Clear Void is merely a familiar stranger. I am your fellow disciple, and Jieyin is your fellow disciple as well. To you, are Jieyin and I the same?"

"Of course not!"

Master Tongtian let out a wry laugh, shaking his head as he realized he had been somewhat subjective in his view.

Meng Chen's actions affected not only the Chan Sect but all the sage sects.

The sage disciples had always believed that once they became a Sage's Disciple, they held a golden rice bowl, forever standing above others. But True Lord Clear Void of Virtue's fate told them that even a sage's disciple could be expelled one day.

"How dare Meng Chen! He's openly opposing all sage disciples. Isn't he afraid of being besieged by every one of them?"

Jin Guangxian flew into a rage upon hearing that True Lord Clear Void of Virtue had fallen.

He wasn't pitying Clear Void—he was furious at how Meng Chen had handled a sage disciple. Being a sage disciple wasn't just an identity; it was a class. In the Primordial Wilderness, aside from the sages themselves, the most honored class was that of the sage disciples. Meng Chen's move had shattered that class outright.

Meng Chen had declared to the Primordial Wilderness that sage disciples had no special privileges—they would still face punishment for their mistakes. This touched the interests of many sage disciples.

Of course, the "sage disciples" here referred to those like Jin Guangxian, who embodied fine qualities like "heroic spirit," "unrestrained nature," "open and upright character," and "true temperament."

Curly Head Immortal's face was dark as thunder. "Meng Chen, relying on his formidable magic, looks down on us all. If only the Eldest Senior Brother hadn't been schemed against by Wudang and lost the power to enforce the sect rules. Otherwise, things wouldn't be such a mess."

Though Daoist Duobao was no longer the Intercepting Teaching's Eldest Senior Brother, the disciples who had always followed him still called him that.

Daoist Duobao had only lost the authority to enforce the rules—he hadn't lost the support of his faction's disciples. This was what troubled Our Lady of Wudang the most.

Wuyun Xian, Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal, and the others banded together, shielding and covering for each other. Our Lady of Wudang wanted to manage the Intercepting Teaching well, but she could never get a foothold.

Daoist Duobao, however, wore a calm expression. After being brutally beaten by Meng Chen, his image among the Intercepting Teaching disciples had plummeted. Now, he needed to bide his time and regain the trust of both the disciples and Master Tongtian.

"Junior Brothers, the Teacher's decision is never wrong. Since the Teacher believes Senior Sister can manage My Teaching well, we should unconditionally support Senior Sister Wudang."

Seeing Daoist Duobao speak up for Our Lady of Wudang again, Wuyun Xian and the others could only sigh in frustration.

"Eldest Senior Brother, you care too much about sect brotherhood. You treat Wudang as the senior sister, but does she treat you as the senior brother?"

Daoist Duobao frowned and warned in a low voice, "Junior Brother Wuyun Xian, don't say things that harm the unity of My Teaching anymore. If I hear it again, even if Wudang doesn't punish you, I will."

"Eldest Senior Brother, you're just too kind."

Daoist Duobao's honeyed words successfully won over the hearts of Wuyun Xian and the others. These disciples had always loved flattery—Shen Gongbao could confuse them with just two sentences, let alone Daoist Duobao.

Meanwhile, in the Western Church, the Two Sages of the West were growing anxious.

When they learned Meng Chen had suppressed Daoist Duobao, the Two Sages of the West weren't worried. When they learned Daoist Ran Deng had become Wu Liangzi and had his cultivation crippled, they still weren't worried.

But when they learned Meng Chen had expelled True Lord Clear Void of Virtue from the Chan Sect according to the sect rules, the Two Sages of the West finally panicked. The significance of Meng Chen's move was too great—it seriously threatened the Western Church's schemes against the Chan and Intercepting sects.

If the high-ranking members of both sects truly managed their sects by the rules, there would be no chance of decline for either.