The First Lesson of Sealing the Mountain: Ten Thousand Immortals Experience a Hundred Deaths of Samsara

The Sage's decree had been issued, and the Dao Protector's Imperial Edict had gone forth.

When the four words "seal the mountain for a thousand years" calmly left Chen Changsheng's mouth, the entirety of Golden Ao Island exploded.

After a brief dead silence came an uproar that soared into the sky.

"What? Seal the mountain for a thousand years?"

"What does the Dao Protector mean by this? If we cultivators do not enter the world to gain experience or fight for opportunities, how are we supposed to advance our cultivation?"

"This... how is this any different from prison?"

Tens of thousands of disciples, especially the combative Inner Sect Disciples accustomed to roaming the Primordial World, all revealed expressions of shock and resistance.

The Interception Sect's strength had been fought for, not hidden away for.

This was practically a belief branded into their bones.

Facing the increasingly heated discussions below, Chen Changsheng's expression remained unchanged.

He offered no explanation and merely watched in silence.

Daoist Duobao stepped forward. Releasing a faint trace of his Grand Unity Golden Immortal aura, he spoke in a voice like a great bell that resounded across the entire grounds.

"The Dao Protector's order is our master's order!"

"Those with objections may go to the Jade Palace themselves and present their case to our master."

That single sentence instantly suppressed all unrest.

Go to the Jade Palace?

They would not dare even if they had ten times the courage.

Zhao Gongming immediately followed with a loud announcement.

"From this day onward, the Calamity Aversion Department is officially established! I shall oversee drills, while Senior Brother Duobao oversees development! All disciples must cooperate unconditionally!"

With the two highest-ranking Senior Disciple Brothers personally backing it, any thought of bargaining was thoroughly extinguished.

The most profound reform in the Interception Sect's history thus began amid this atmosphere of compulsion.

The Calamity Aversion Department was astonishingly efficient.

In just one day, a brand-new hall rose from the ground beside the Dharma Transmission Platform.

There were no extravagant carvings, only enormous stones that were heavy, unadorned, and full of reassurance.

Above its gates hung a pitch-black plaque bearing three flamboyant characters.

"Calamity Aversion Department."

As the Dao Protector, Chen Changsheng was naturally the department's highest authority.

Yet he acted as a hands-off manager, entrusting all specific matters to Daoist Duobao and Zhao Gongming.

Daoist Duobao seemed to have found a second spring in life, brimming with enthusiasm.

He brought out every kind of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures he had collected over countless years, gathered all disciples skilled in artifact refinement and arrays, and threw them into researching "life-saving treasures" day and night.

For a time, Golden Ao Island was no longer filled with sword qi piercing the heavens, but with blazing furnaces and the clangor of hammers.

Zhao Gongming was responsible for drills.

He divided all disciples into different echelons according to cultivation, making them undergo basic physical and reaction training every day.

Yet the enthusiasm for this reform seemed confined to the upper ranks.

After their initial awe wore off, the disciples below gradually became lax.

This was especially true for the Inner Sect Disciples. All of them were proud and arrogant; making them hold stances and run laps like newly initiated disciples was practically torture.

"Sigh, we've been training for three days now. Other than running a little faster, what use is this?"

"Exactly. When we face a true enemy, it comes down to Divine Abilities and magic treasures. Are we supposed to compete over who runs faster?"

"I think this Calamity Aversion Department is just the Dao Protector's three fires upon taking office. It'll pass after a while."

On the Martial Arts Arena, quite a few disciples went through the motions and whispered among themselves, clearly taking this so-called training lightly.

Zhao Gongming saw it all and grew anxious, yet he could do nothing about it.

He could not exactly beat up several thousand junior brothers.

That day, when signs of laziness appeared on the Martial Arts Arena once more, Chen Changsheng finally arrived.

He still looked as though his aura was unstable as he slowly walked onto the arena's high platform.

All the disciples immediately composed themselves and respectfully saluted him.

"Greetings, Dao Protector."

"Today is the Calamity Aversion Department's first lesson."

Chen Changsheng wasted no words and went straight to the point.

He clapped his hands.

Daoist Duobao personally led over a dozen disciples in laboriously carrying an enormous ancient bronze mirror to the center of the platform.

The bronze mirror stood roughly a hundred zhang tall. Its surface was smooth as water, yet utterly without ripples, instead exuding the profound aura of chaos before creation.

"This is..."

Zhao Gongming's pupils contracted. From the mirror, he sensed a trace of a Sage's Dao Charm.

"This treasure is called the Myriad Tribulations Samsara Mirror."

Chen Changsheng's voice slowly rang out.

"It was bestowed by our master. It can reflect the myriad heavens and simulate countless Killing Tribulations. Those who enter it will have their primordial spirits undergo the most real scenes, the most real pain, and the most real... death."

The moment the word death was spoken, the temperature across the grounds seemed to drop several degrees.

The idleness on the disciples' faces was gradually replaced by gravity.

"Of course, dying in the mirror will not truly damage your Dao foundation. It will only make your primordial spirit experience the full impact of death."

Chen Changsheng swept his gaze across the crowd, a meaningful curve lifting at the corner of his mouth.

"Today's first lesson has a very simple subject."

"Survive."

His gaze shifted and settled on a brawny young Daoist with a violent aura among the crowd.

"Nephew Huoyun, among the Inner Sect Disciples, you are the strongest in combat. Are you willing to set an example for your fellow disciples?"

The named True Lord Huoyun was a renowned battle maniac among the Inner Sect Disciples. His fire-based Divine Abilities were exquisite, and he rarely encountered an opponent of the same realm.

Hearing this, he stepped forward proudly and cupped his hands toward Chen Changsheng.

"This disciple is willing!"

He simply did not believe the mirror could be all that formidable. It was nothing more than an illusion technique.

"Good."

Chen Changsheng nodded.

Daoist Duobao activated a hand seal, and ripples spread across the surface of the Myriad Tribulations Samsara Mirror.

True Lord Huoyun's figure was instantly drawn into it by a ray of light and vanished.

The next moment, the giant mirror clearly displayed a gray, hazy expanse.

Within it, Killing Intent surged into the sky. Ten great arrays stood in separate locations, the notoriously fearsome Ten Ultimate Arrays.

True Lord Huoyun appeared before them.

"A mere illusion array. Watch me break it!"

True Lord Huoyun in the mirror let out a long roar and sacrificed his prized magic treasure, the Crimson Flame Pearl. It transformed into a fire dragon as he attempted to force his way into the Golden Light Array.

The instant he stepped into the array's range,

the twenty-one treasure mirrors within the Golden Light Array flashed in unison, firing thousands of beams of golden light.

Before True Lord Huoyun could even react, his protective immortal light shattered like paper. His entire body was instantly riddled with holes and reduced to ash.

Two bloody words clearly appeared on the mirror's surface.

[Killed in Action].

The entire Martial Arts Arena fell silent.

Everyone was stunned.

He had... died just like that?

The number one combatant among the Inner Sect Disciples had not even lasted a breath?

Light flashed within the mirror, and True Lord Huoyun's figure condensed before the arrays again.

His face bore confusion and fury.

"Again!"

This time, he had learned his lesson. Rather than charge in headfirst, he chose to probe from the direction of the Heavenly Severance Array.

The moment he approached, three black banners inside the array swayed, drawing upon the energy of heaven and earth as a bolt of Chaos Divine Thunder crashed down.

True Lord Huoyun screamed and was reduced to charcoal once more.

[Killed in Action].

Revived.

He entered the Earth Blazing Array, was swept up by Red Sand, and was instantly ground away.

[Killed in Action].

Revived.

He entered the Blazing Flames Array and was burned into nothingness by Samadhi True Fire.

[Killed in Action].

Revived.

He entered the Cold Ice Array, froze into an ice sculpture, and shattered into fragments across the ground.

[Killed in Action].

On the Martial Arts Arena, tens of thousands of Interception Sect disciples were utterly silent.

They could only watch as Senior Brother Huoyun, usually so imposing, was slaughtered again and again in the mirror in all manner of ways.

At first, some found it rather amusing.

But when True Lord Huoyun had "died" for the thirtieth time, no one could laugh anymore.

When he had "died" for the fiftieth time, some disciples' faces had already turned pale.

When he had "died" for the ninetieth time, the only sound remaining throughout the Martial Arts Arena was heavy breathing.

Every death in the mirror was incomparably real.

The heart-rending screams and the excruciating pain of a primordial spirit being ground away seemed to pass through the mirror and into everyone's senses.

Finally, after the ninety-ninth time, when the black sand of the Blood Dissolving Array fouled his magic treasure and turned him into a pool of pus and blood,

a wretched figure was flung from the Myriad Tribulations Samsara Mirror and crashed heavily onto the high platform.

It was True Lord Huoyun.

He lay sprawled on the ground, trembling violently, his eyes vacant and his face bloodless as he muttered to himself.

"Dead... all dead... I died ninety-nine times..."

His formidable Dao heart had already been completely crushed by those repeated experiences of real death.

The Martial Arts Arena was deathly silent.

The disciples who had previously complained that training was boring were now drenched in cold sweat, their legs weak.

They asked themselves that if they entered, they likely would not even endure ten times.

Chen Changsheng slowly walked to the edge of the platform and looked down at the pale faces below.

His voice was calm and cold.

"Now, do you still think staying alive is an easy thing?"

No one answered.

"From today onward, the Calamity Aversion Department's practical drills officially begin."

"All disciples, inner and outer alike, must enter the Myriad Tribulations Samsara Mirror and complete the Hundred Deaths Achievement."

"Those who fail to complete it..."

Chen Changsheng paused, revealing a kindly smile.

"Will not be allowed to eat."