"Those who defy Heaven must be executed?"
Sect Leader Tongtian repeated Hong Jun's words. There was no worry on his face—only even more mockery.
"Dao Ancestor, when you lectured us back then, didn't you say that cultivators like us should defy Heaven?"
"What?"
"Are you planning to kill every cultivator in the entire Primordial World, or even the Three Thousand Great Worlds?"
"..."
Now it was Hong Jun's turn to fall silent.
Indeed!
The essence of cultivation was to seize the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth and make it one's own. It wouldn't be wrong to say that they were defying Heaven.
But were they even talking about the same thing?
"Don't twist my words!"
After regaining his composure, Hong Jun glanced at Tongtian, then turned to look at Journey to the West Tongtian beside him. He said coldly:
"The rise of Buddhism is the will of the Heavenly Dao. If you insist on defying Heaven, you'll bear the consequences!"
"The consequences? Heh..."
Staring at Jieyin, who still lay unconscious in Zhunti's arms, Tongtian thought, If you hadn't shown up, I'd have already dealt with the consequences myself.
Unfortunately, since Hong Jun had appeared, Tongtian naturally couldn't keep attacking.
Besides, that old bastard had taken the Six Souls Banner...
"Dao Ancestor~!"
Sect Leader Tongtian glanced at the Six Souls Banner in Hong Jun's hand. "Why don't you return my treasure first? I promise not to attack them!"
"No! Absolutely not!"
Before Hong Jun could reply, Yuanshi Tianzun beside him panicked. "Dao Ancestor, the Six Souls Banner is far too damaging to the natural order. You shouldn't have given it to him in the first place!"
"Damaging to the natural order?"
Sect Leader Tongtian raised an eyebrow. "Senior Brother, if I recall correctly, your Pangu Banner is quite destructive too. Why not hand it over to Dao Ancestor to look after for a while?"
"I—That's—That's different!"
Yuanshi Tianzun's face flushed. "Your Six Souls Banner can target Sages directly. My Pangu Banner can't!"
"That just means you're weak!"
Sect Leader Tongtian curled his lip and shot back without holding back. "A treasure is just a tool. Don't believe me? Hand me the Pangu Banner and see whether I can hurt you with it!"
"Fine... No, wait!"
Yuanshi Tianzun had instinctively started to hand over the Pangu Banner, but when he took it out, he realized something was wrong.
How the hell was that the same thing?!
Forget the Pangu Banner—even if he picked up a random stone from the roadside, with his strength, he could still beat him black and blue with it!
"That's enough!"
Seeing this, Hong Jun impatiently waved his hand. "It's settled. When you've thought it over, come back to me and take it."
Then Hong Jun waved the Six Souls Banner at the unconscious Jieyin, returning the true spirit Tongtian had drawn inside it.
"Ugh... What happened to me?"
Fellow Daoist Jieyin came to, rubbing his aching forehead. His head felt muddled.
"Senior Brother! Senior Brother, you're awake?!"
Seeing this, Zhunti hurried forward and helped Jieyin up, while also reminding him to thank Hong Jun.
"Dao Ancestor, what brings you here?!"
Jieyin came to his senses. When he saw Hong Jun nearby and the little banner in his hand, his lost memories came rushing back.
"Thump!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Jieyin dropped to his knees. Tears came instantly, and he wailed as he lodged a complaint with Hong Jun.
"Dao Ancestor, sob... You must stand up for us!"
"Tongtian has gone too far!"
"Waaah..."
"Relying on his powerful treasure, that bastard beat your disciple to a pulp and slaughtered everyone in my Buddhist sect!"
"Dao Ancestor, you must stand up for us!"
"Huh? Huh?!"
As soon as Jieyin finished speaking, Hong Jun had yet to react when Sect Leader Tongtian spoke up.
"Fellow Daoist Jieyin, have some conscience! Don't you know how the Bodhisattvas and Arhats of your Buddhist sect died?"
"Uh..."
Jieyin was stumped.
How had the Bodhisattvas and Arhats of their Buddhist sect died? Of course they'd been slapped to death by that old bastard Yuanshi Tianzun!
But could he say that?
Clearly not!
After all, Tathagata had been the one to lead the Buddhist army to their doorstep first.
Besides,
It was true that Yuanshi Tianzun had killed the Bodhisattvas and Arhats of his Buddhist sect, but he'd also killed a host of Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals!
He'd even casually slapped the Lord of the Three Realms, Haotian, to death...
But before Jieyin could figure out how to explain, Tongtian beat him to it and complained to Hong Jun. "Dao Ancestor, you see? They're the ones truly defying Heaven!"
"Everyone knows the rise of Buddhism is the will of the Heavenly Dao!"
"But look at what they've done!"
"One of them ignored the will of Heaven and slaughtered the Buddhist Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and more than a hundred thousand monks. The other publicly killed the Lord of the Three Realms, whom you appointed yourself."
"Compared to them, what does my little matter amount to?"
"..."
Hong Jun's lips moved. He wanted to say something, but couldn't think of what.
Did he not know about these things?
Of course he did!
Otherwise, given all the little schemes Tongtian had been plotting behind his back, how could he have waited until now to show himself?
Hadn't he just been pretending to be dead because he didn't know how to handle things?
After all, one side was Buddhism, whose rise was ordained by the will of Heaven, and the other was the ruler of the Three Realms whom he had personally supported.
They were both dear to him. What was he supposed to do?
Fortunately,
Just as Hong Jun was struggling to figure out how to handle the situation without disrupting the Heavenly Dao, a Buddhist chant rang across the entire Primordial World.
"I, Yunxiao, hereby reestablish the Interception Sect today, to educate all living beings and rescue the countless people deceived by Buddhism from their suffering. May the Heavenly Dao bear witness!"
"???"
Hearing the voice, not only Hong Jun and Taishang Laojun, but even the two Tongtians and Nuwa were dumbfounded.
She'd established a sect just like that?
Wasn't that a little fast?
Besides, hadn't they agreed to establish a new sect? What did she mean by reestablishing the Interception Sect?
"Hahaha! Hahahaha..."
Yuanshi Tianzun was the first to recover. Unable to hold back, he burst out laughing. "Tongtian, so this was your plan? You actually hoped to use this to raise up a new Sage?"
"Hahaha..."
"Isn't that just wishful thinking?"
"Even if we set aside the fact that Sages are determined by Heaven, and there's still a place available, isn't it a little late to establish a sect now?"
"Hahahaha... Ahem!"
Yuanshi Tianzun was laughing so hard that tears nearly came to his eyes. He was halfway through his taunt when he suddenly noticed Hong Jun's expression.
His wild laughter abruptly stopped!
Staring at Hong Jun's expression—half puzzled, half delighted—Yuanshi Tianzun felt his heart leap into his throat.
No way?
Could it be?!
Could someone become a Sage without Primordial Violet Qi now?!
That made no sense!
Besides, the Interception Sect already had a Sage. Could reestablishing the Interception Sect really produce another one?
If so...
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