How Absurd! Immortals Above Gods?

Inside the side hall.

The heavenly tones of the Dao Bai Yi expounded slowly drew to a close.

The Golden Lotuses that had formed in the void shattered inch by inch, turning into gentle Spiritual Mist that sank into the blue bricks of the hall.

Bai Yi sat upright at the head of the hall, his eyes lowered slightly as he gazed at the two figures below, one large and one small.

As the saying went, taking disciples was easy; teaching them was hard. He would see what these two wanted to cultivate.

Bai Yi spoke with a calm expression.

"Did you understand the profound teachings of the Daoist School I just explained?"

Sun Wukong grinned ingratiatingly and chuckled.

"Master, I understood, but your disciple has one question. Can I attain longevity by learning these methods?"

Bai Yi's temple twitched slightly.

Just as he thought.

This monkey had sprung from a crack in a rock with nothing on his mind but longevity. Even with a different immortal playing the part, the monkey's lines hadn't changed by a single word.

Helpless, Bai Yi said mildly,

"There are countless methods in the world, and countless wondrous arts in the Daoist School. As for longevity, naturally, all of them can grant it."

"But the road to longevity goes against the heavens. You must face tribulations of heavenly lightning and earthly fire. Only if you evade those calamities can you roam free between heaven and earth."

Hearing that there was a chance, Sun Wukong's eyes lit up. He leaped to his feet, scratching his ears and cheeks.

"Longevity is enough! As long as I can evade calamities, that's enough!"

"Master, I'm not picky. Golden core arts, riding clouds and mist, moving mountains and filling seas—I want to learn them all!"

"Why don't you just pour everything into me at once, Master?"

The corner of Bai Yi's eye twitched, and he nearly lost his breath.

Insatiable!

The monkey was utterly insatiable!

If he'd known this would happen, why had he tried to save himself trouble by putting everything in one pot?

He should have followed Patriarch Bodhi's example, bringing out the School of Arts, the School of Flow, and the School of Motion one at a time to whet the monkey's appetite. Then the monkey would have learned what it meant to advance step by step.

Bai Yi turned his head away and chose to ignore the unruly monkey.

His gaze fell on the thoroughly bewildered Qian Renxue, and his voice softened.

"Xue'er, your senior brother is a fool who doesn't know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is. Don't follow his example."

"Tell me, what kind of Daoist art do you wish to cultivate?"

Qian Renxue straightened slightly, a solemn look appearing on her little face. Her eyes were clear, and her crisp voice echoed through the hall.

"Teacher, your disciple wishes to become a god!"

A delicate silence fell over the hall.

Bai Yi stared blankly for a long moment.

Become a god?

When he recovered, a peculiar hint of amusement flashed in Bai Yi's eyes.

He had almost forgotten that this little girl had been fished out of the little pond called the Douluo Continent.

In that world, above Titled Douluo was the Limit, and above the Limit were the Deities everyone dreamed of becoming and revered as supreme.

The Angel God, the Rakshasa God, the Asura God—all bore the title of Deity and stood beyond the reach of mortals.

But in the world of the Primordial World and Journey to the West, the word "god" carried an entirely different weight.

Bai Yi couldn't help laughing and shook his head.

"Become a god?"

"Xue'er, do you know what a god is?"

Qian Renxue froze for a moment and shook her head in confusion.

"Isn't someone who has become a god... the most powerful existence between heaven and earth?"

Bai Yi sighed.

"When I taught you the Dao earlier, I briefly mentioned the differences between heaven and earth. It seems you didn't truly understand."

Qian Renxue bowed her head and asked respectfully,

"Your disciple is slow-witted. Please clear up my confusion, Teacher."

Seeing this, Bai Yi spoke, his voice echoing melodiously beside Qian Renxue's ear.

"Between heaven and earth, there are differences in standing, and the great Dao takes different forms."

"What are called gods are manifestations of the order of heaven and earth, servants of the rules."

"Enter the Divine Path, and you will be bound by the authority of heaven and earth. You must toil for all living beings and be driven by the laws. Though you possess authority, you have no freedom."

Qian Renxue's heart shook, and her little mouth fell open.

Gods... were actually servants of the rules of heaven and earth?

They even had to serve all living beings?

This was completely different from the supreme gods who ruled the mortal world that she had heard about in Spirit Hall!

Bai Yi's voice continued to echo through the hall.

"Above gods are immortals."

"Immortals transcend worldly things. They dine on rosy clouds and drink dew, living free and unfettered, unbound by heaven and earth and beyond the jurisdiction of the Nine Hells."

"When an immortal rages, rivers overturn and seas churn. When an immortal smiles, spring comes to all of heaven and earth."

"A true True Immortal or Golden Immortal can tear apart Domains with a snap of their fingers, standing above countless rules and the Divine Path!"

Qian Renxue sucked in a cold breath, utterly dumbfounded.

Immortals actually stood above gods?!

A smile rose to Bai Yi's lips, and his gaze seemed to pierce the void, looking toward an even more unfathomable supreme realm.

"As for what lies above immortals, that is the Saint."

"A Saint endures ten thousand tribulations without wearing away and touches karma without being stained."

"True as the Dao itself, a Saint transcends all concepts and karma, undying and indestructible, standing above all living beings in the myriad worlds of the heavens."

At this point, Bai Yi looked down at the utterly dazed Qian Renxue.

"But you probably won't be able to reach the realm of a Saint in this lifetime, so don't set your sights too far ahead."

"Let me ask you: compared to a Divine Position constrained by the rules of heaven and earth and made to toil like an ox or a horse for all living beings, would you be interested in cultivating immortality?"

Qian Renxue was too shaken to speak.

Gods who toiled like oxen and horses?

Immortals who lived free and unfettered, above gods?!

Saints who were undying and indestructible?!

She immediately bowed forward, knocking her head against the ground, a note of devotion in her voice.

"I am willing! I want to cultivate immortality! Please teach me the wondrous arts of immortal cultivation, Teacher!"

Meanwhile.

On the Douluo Continent.

The heavenly screen stretched across the sky, showing the conversation in the side hall to the continent's billions of living beings.

Everyone was dumbstruck.

In the imperial palaces of the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire, civil and military officials looked at one another.

"Immortals? Immortals actually stand above Deities?!"

"Nonsense! How could that be possible?! Aren't gods the strongest beings in the world?!"

"Is that true? Gods are merely servants of the rules of heaven and earth, while immortals are free and unfettered, able to wipe out gods with ease?!"

At Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang, who had just been helped up from the ground by Tang San, still had traces of blood at the corner of his mouth. His whole body began to tremble.

Gods were servants?

Immortals were the true great Dao?

Absurd!

How utterly absurd!

Yu Xiaogang instinctively wanted to open his mouth and denounce it at length.

But as the thought crossed his mind, Yu Xiaogang remembered his father Yu Yuanzhen's earlier fury and could only force the words back down.

Beside him, Tang San stared fixedly at the heavenly screen, consumed by jealousy.

Immortal cultivation?

Immortals?!

As a soul who had transmigrated from the Bashu Tang Sect, Tang San understood the weight of the word "immortal" better than the natives of the Douluo Continent!

In the legends of his previous life, immortals dined on rosy clouds and fed on Qi, flew on swords for a thousand miles, and were undying and indestructible.

They were beings whom even the Tang Sect Ancestor could only look up to in myths and tales of the supernatural!

He, Tang San, considered himself a Child of Destiny. He possessed Twin Martial Souls and cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, struggling bitterly on the Douluo Continent, all so that one day he could look down upon the world!

But now?

What right did that little girl from Spirit Hall have to become the disciple of a mighty being whose power reached heaven and earth, and cultivate the immortal path that stood above the gods?!

What right did she have?!

Why hadn't such a heaven-defying stroke of fortune fallen to him, the one who possessed the Tang Sect Secret Arts?!