Wasn't this far more comfortable than arduous cultivation?
Lu Changqing was pondering this when suddenly—
A vast Saintly Might swept across heaven and earth.
The instant that Saintly Might surged through the Primordial Wilderness,
purple qi stretched for millions upon millions of miles in the east,
auspicious clouds churned across the nine heavens, and countless rays of divine light descended.
Rosy clouds poured down like waterfalls, illuminating the nine heavens and ten lands.
The profound mysteries of the Great Dao flowed throughout the universe, as nine returned to one.
The River of Time and Space flickered in and out of sight above the clouds.
A streak of
brilliant divine light tore through the heavens.
Amid the boundless rosy radiance, nine upon nine
waves of auspicious qi roiled without end.
The laws of heaven and earth shook in every direction,
golden lotuses bloomed and withered, again and again.
Though the Sage's true form could not be seen, the immense pressure had already blanketed the cosmos,
making all living beings in countless worlds tremble.
A Sage had actually broken through!
Ran Deng witnessed the drastic change in the heavens and could not help crying out.
Every advance within the realm of a Sage
required enduring countless tribulations.
Such a phenomenon truly was extraordinary."
Lu Changqing looked up at the auspicious signs filling the sky,
thinking to himself.
Though it did not compare to what he would achieve in the future,
this phenomenon had already surpassed the scope of a Quasi-Saint.
Kunpeng gazed at the wondrous sight across the heavens.
Which of the Six Saints had obtained such an opportunity?
As Saintly Might shook the Primordial Wilderness,
all living beings looked up at the heavens.
Yet the affairs of Sages were mysterious and unfathomable,
so all they could do was speculate in secret.
Such a disturbance naturally alarmed the other five Sages.
Inside Biyou Palace on Golden Ao Island,
Sect Master Tongtian awoke from meditation,
and after deducing the Heavenly Secret, surprise appeared in his eyes.
"Senior Brother Yuanshi actually broke through?"
He and Yuanshi had both been at the Third Heaven,
so this breakthrough must have come with a tremendous opportunity.
"I should go to Kunlun and investigate."
Within Eight Sceneries Palace on Shouyang Mountain,
the tranquil and detached Taiqing Laozi was likewise disturbed.
After learning the reason,
he immediately instructed Xuan Du,
"I am going to Kunlun. Guard the Daoist field."
At Wa Imperial Palace and the Western Pure Land,
although Nuwa, Jieyin, and Zhunti did not go personally,
they all focused intently on the developments at Kunlun,
wishing to uncover the mystery behind the breakthrough.
Inside Jade Void Palace on Kunlun Mountain,
the Three Pure Ones,
who had not gathered for a long time, reunited at last.
After congratulating Yuanshi on his breakthrough, Taiqing Laozi was the first to ask,
"Junior Brother Yuanshi, did you encounter some fortuitous opportunity this time?"
Tongtian also cast him an inquiring look.
Yuanshi answered with a smile,
"Indeed, I encountered an opportunity."
Seeing the anticipation in the two men's eyes, Yuanshi added,
"Do you still remember the one favored by the Heavenly Dao?"
Though he could have stated the reason directly,
Yuanshi was unwilling to say too much about Lu Changqing.
Tongtian and Laozi immediately understood,
and knew the opportunity had come from Wuji Heaven.
Recalling the recent disturbances in the Primordial Wilderness,
Laozi suddenly realized,
"So it was Fellow Daoist Changqing's doing!"
The Sages had long known that Lu Changqing was extraordinary,
but they had not expected his merit to help a Sage break through.
Tongtian exclaimed in amazement,
"What kind of background does this Fellow Daoist truly possess?"
Yuanshi shook his head.
"His origins are unfathomable, but he is certainly no ordinary person."
Recalling how Lu Changqing had freely bestowed merit,
Yuanshi sighed.
"He is truly the most generous person in the Primordial Wilderness!"
The other Sages all felt deeply moved by his words.
At this moment, the Two Saints of the West and Nuwa also arrived at Kunlun.
After learning the reason,
all the Sages sighed. "Who would have thought Wuji Heaven possessed such an opportunity!"
The Two Saints of the West recalled what had happened before,
when Zhunti suddenly said,
"You are all overestimating that boy!"
Jieyin echoed,
"A mere Quasi-Saint—
how much merit could he possibly have?"
The other Sages understood what they meant,
and merely smiled without speaking.
After their idle conversation,
the Sages departed, each harboring their own thoughts.
Yuanshi immediately summoned Guang Chengzi.
"Bring me the magic treasures I refined!"
Guang Chengzi was puzzled.
"Master, did you not say we should not take shortcuts?"
Yuanshi replied solemnly,
"I have another use for them."
Yet inwardly, he thought,
With an opportunity before me, why take the long way around?
Meanwhile,
after returning to Eight Sceneries Palace, Laozi
also took out the pills he had refined over many years.
Xuan Du did not understand.
"Master, why are you in such a hurry?"
Laozi did not explain,
only saying,
"Remain behind and guard the Daoist field. I am going to Wuji Heaven."
He then quietly departed,
without alerting anyone.
Sages had to consider their reputations, after all. If the beings of the Primordial Wilderness learned that they too had come to exchange for merit, would they not become a laughingstock?
He quietly arrived outside Wuji Heaven, only to run into Primordial Heavenly Venerate, who was likewise concealing his movements.
The two fellow disciples looked at one another and were both stunned. The atmosphere immediately became rather awkward.
Yet they understood each other without words. They exchanged smiles and tacitly ignored their earlier claims that shortcuts were not the proper path.
Primordial Heavenly Venerate spoke first. "What a coincidence. Elder Brother, are you also here for Wuji Heaven?"
Taiqing Laozi nodded with a smile. "Indeed, quite a coincidence."
"Since we have met, let us go together."
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two Sages entered Wuji Heaven side by side, then sent out voice transmissions.
"Taiqing Laozi of Shouyang Mountain has come to visit Fellow Daoist Changqing!"
"Primordial Heavenly Venerate of Kunlun Mountain has come to visit Fellow Daoist Changqing!"
The voice transmissions resounded through the clouds. King Father of the East and Kunpeng were greatly shocked upon hearing them. "Even Sages have come to exchange for merit?"
Hearing the transmissions, Ran Deng guiltily tried to flee, only for Primordial Heavenly Venerate's divine sense to lock onto him.
"There is no need to hide. I have long known of this matter."
Ran Deng stared in astonishment at Primordial Heavenly Venerate, who stood in the distance beside Laozi.
From what he knew of Yuanshi, this Sage had always been majestic and dignified, with pride ingrained in his bones.
Under ordinary circumstances, he would surely have punished him severely.
Why was he acting so strangely today?
Before Ran Deng could think further, Yuanshi's voice transmission sounded again.
"Remain here without worry.
"If you can uncover Fellow Daoist Changqing's true background, report it to me immediately."
Ran Deng suddenly understood and hurriedly replied, "I obey your decree!"
This order was more in line with Yuanshi's usual manner.
If he truly ignored the matter entirely, that would instead have been unsettling.
Suddenly, another voice transmission resounded through heaven and earth.
"Tongtian of Golden Ao Island has come to visit Fellow Daoist Changqing!"
Before Tongtian's words had faded, Kunpeng and the other two were already dumbfounded.
The Three Pure Ones gathering in Wuji Heaven was truly a rare sight in the Primordial Wilderness.
Before they could recover,
two more voice transmissions sounded one after another.
"Jieyin of Mount Sumeru, together with Zhunti, has come to visit Fellow Daoist Changqing!"
With the Two Saints of the West arriving in person, King Father of the East and the others were utterly stunned.
Five Sages appearing together? Such a scene could only be witnessed when a great calamity descended.
Even more terrifyingly, Nuwa's voice transmission followed close behind.
"Nuwa of Wa Imperial Palace has come to visit Fellow Daoist Changqing!"
All Six Saints had gathered!
Kunpeng and the other two felt their souls tremble.
Even if the Primordial Wilderness shattered, it would be difficult to witness the grand sight of all Six Saints appearing together.
And Great Master had actually drawn every Sage here!
"Such prestige could belong only to Great Master."
With the Six Saints gathered in Wuji Heaven, the atmosphere temporarily froze.
After all, they had just been speaking at length about how shortcuts were not the proper path, only to appear here together moments later. It was truly both absurd and amusing.
"Ahem... Fellow Daoists, what a coincidence." Tongtian, with his straightforward temperament, was the first to break the silence.
The Six Saints exchanged greetings, yet all tacitly avoided discussing what had happened before.
Just as the Sages were feeling awkward, Lu Changqing was alerted by a succession of voice transmissions.
All six Sages had arrived?
Though he did not fear Sages, such a lineup still surprised him slightly.
In the Primordial Wilderness, there were only a handful of matters capable of drawing all six Sages out at once.
Even in the future Investiture of the Gods war, only five Sages would take the field.
Lu Changqing strolled out of Longevity Palace, swept his gaze across the Sages, and asked with a smile:
"For all of you Sages to arrive together is truly a grand occasion for the Primordial Wilderness.
May I ask what brings you here?"
The Sages only smiled without speaking. No one wished to publicly mention exchanging treasures for merit.
After a moment of silence, the thickest-skinned Two Saints of the West spoke first:
"Fellow Daoist Changqing, does the matter of exchanging for merit still stand?"
Lu Changqing immediately understood. The six Sages had all come for merit.
He laughed aloud. "Of course it still stands! However much you wish to exchange, let your treasures do the talking!"
At those words, all the Sages smiled.
The Two Saints of the West were the first to produce a Middle Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure and a thousand Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
Since they had already sold treasures before, this was all they could gather now.
Zhunti said with a smile, "Please inspect them, Fellow Daoist."
Lu Changqing swept his gaze over them. Only the turbid Dao Comprehension Stone was somewhat worthy of notice.
This stone could even aid a Sage's comprehension of the Dao.
He instructed Kunpeng to set the treasures aside and handle them all together once the Sages had finished exchanging.
Nuwa then said, "My collection is limited, so I shall exchange these two Dharma treasures."
She brought out two Dharma treasures, one of which was actually a Top Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, leaving Kunpeng and the others dumbfounded.
Upon closer inspection, although the Hunyuan Supreme Dust was good, it was of little use to him. The other Upper Grade Innate Spiritual Root, however, was not bad.
He accepted them with a smile and instructed Kunpeng to record them.
Tongtian stepped forward and said, "I came in haste and did not prepare any lavish gifts."
Though the quantity of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures he presented was substantial, their quality was **. The best among them was merely the Middle Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Purple Lightning Hammer.
Lu Changqing accepted everything as listed and still had it entered into the accounts.
Laozi flicked his sleeve. "Please appraise the pills I refined."
Several hundred gourds appeared in response, containing thirty Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs, over six thousand pills of various turns, and another three thousand eight hundred healing and Dao-comprehension pills.
All the Sages were astonished. None had expected Laozi to empty out his entire stock.
Lu Changqing alone gave the Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs an extra glance. Seeing this, Laozi brought out a Mirror-Breaking Pill as well. "This pill can help a Quasi-Saint break through."
Kunpeng and the other two gazed at the pills with longing, while the Sages sighed in admiration.
Seeing his elder brother make such a heavy investment, Primordial Heavenly Venerate's expression grew increasingly solemn.
With a sweep of his sleeve, several hundred Dharma treasures floated in the air.
"Haha, Fellow Daoist Changqing, though I possess little talent, I do enjoy refining small trinkets."
Though most of these numerous Dharma treasures were postnatal items, they had been crafted by a Sage and possessed extraordinary power.
Kunpeng, who was responsible for keeping records, had long been left dumbstruck and began counting them instinctively.
"A total of three hundred and seventy-six items: seventy-six Postnatal Ultimate Treasures, and even one Upper Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure!"
King Father of the East and Ran Deng could not help but marvel at the abundance of a Sage's wealth.
Though it did not compare to Great Master's collection, it far surpassed everything they possessed.
Looking at the mountain of piled-up Dharma treasures, the three of them sighed in unison:
"Before merit, all beings truly are equal!"
Lu Changqing handed all the Dharma treasures to Kunpeng, who was in charge of the accounts, and said calmly, "Calculate how much merit each Sage should receive."
"As you command, Great Master!"
Kunpeng respectfully accepted the order and began calculating each Sage's share of merit with trembling care.
Facing six supreme beings, he did not dare to be the slightest bit careless. Only after checking his calculations a hundred times did he nervously report:
"Reporting to Great Master, the merit due to each Sage is as follows: Sage Nuwa, eight million; the two Sages Jieyin and Zhunti, eight million each; Sage Tongtian, thirteen million; Sage Taiqing Laozi, eighteen million; Sage Yuanshi, twenty-three million.
The total is seventy million merit."
Hearing this astronomical figure, the Six Sages of the Primordial Wilderness could not help holding their breaths.
If such a vast amount of merit were combined with Primordial Violet Qi, it would be enough to achieve the Hunyuan Great Luo Dao Fruit.
Yet after hearing this, Lu Changqing's expression remained unchanged, and there was even a hint of boredom in his eyes.
In his eyes, seventy million merit was no more than a drop in the ocean.
"Ah—less than a hundred million. How dull."
With a soft sigh, Lu Changqing casually summoned ten thousand mu of Merit Golden Cloud.
Dazzling golden light illuminated the universe. Though the six Sages were blinded by the glare, the joy on their faces was impossible to hide.
He casually distributed the Merit Golden Cloud according to the amounts owed.
Taiqing and the others, making their first transaction, held the golden clouds and could not conceal their shock.
When Nuwa created humanity in the past, she had received only fifty million merit, already an earth-shattering feat.
Yet this Quasi-Saint before them casually handed out seventy million merit and still complained that it did not reach a hundred million.
When had these rustic cultivators ever witnessed such a spectacle?
Seeing the six Sages holding their merit **, Lu Changqing shook his head. "The things you Sages brought out are truly not much to look at.
All six of you together only exchanged for seventy million merit, not even comparable to Hong Yun's three hundred million alone.
If it were me, I would have to exchange for at least three to five hundred million for it to seem worthwhile."
These words left the six Sages looking dazed.
Fifty million merit was already a heaven-shaking amount in the Primordial Wilderness.
Yet this man found seventy million too little.
He spoke as though one hundred million was merely the starting point.
Three to five hundred million merit—he made it sound like buying groceries?
How could any cultivator of the Primordial Wilderness say such things?
Had anyone else been this arrogant,
the six Sages would already have shown him what it meant to wish for death but be unable to die.
Just as the six Sages began questioning their lives,
Lu Changqing suddenly looked toward Laozi.
He recalled that this Sage seemed to possess a rather fine Dharma treasure.
"Sage Taiqing, I have heard that your Heaven and Earth Mysterious Yellow Exquisite Pagoda was formed from twenty percent of the Merit of World Creation. It is known as the foremost postnatal defensive treasure, its power no weaker than a Primordial Supreme Treasure. Once deployed, it renders its bearer invincible."
Lu Changqing got straight to the point:
"Would you be interested in selling it?"
Laozi laughed. "This is my companion treasure. How could it be bought or sold?"
Cultivators of the Primordial Wilderness all regarded their companion spiritual treasures as limbs of their own bodies.
Not only were they extraordinarily powerful, but they also bore profound emotional significance.
They had always been considered unsellable.
Yet Lu Changqing revealed a meaningful smile:
Before you continue