Forced Conversion

Sect Master Tongtian was speechless. He had already worked himself into an emotional pitch, only for Ye Changqing to break the mood in an instant.

It was not until Ye Changqing brought out the Enlightenment Tea Tree that his eyes widened.

Good heavens!

Had he misjudged him before?

He already believed half of what Ye Changqing had said in Purple Firmament Palace.

Thinking again of what Zhao Gongming had said about the Hongmeng Controller, Sect Master Tongtian now believed seventy or eighty percent of it.

This was the first time he felt that this disciple of his was unfathomably profound—even he, a Sage, could not see through him.

What a pity that he was about to die...

Like the Peach Tree and the Ginseng Fruit Tree, the Enlightenment Tea Tree was one of the ten great Innate Spiritual Roots of the primordial world.

Only twenty or thirty sparse leaves grew upon the Enlightenment Tea Tree. Dao Rhyme flowed across every leaf, and the laws of the Heavenly Dao seemed to faintly reveal themselves.

Simply steeping one leaf in water could bring one closer to the Heavenly Dao and grant insight.

At the level of a Sage, even the slightest improvement required endless ages. Thus, this thing was of little use to Sect Master Tongtian.

Ye Changqing plucked a leaf and brewed him a cup of tea. At the very least, he could let the old man have a taste.

Inside Ye Changqing's cave abode on Golden Ao Island, he had gathered San Xiao, Zhao Gongming, the Ten Heavenly Lords of Golden Ao Island, Daoist Duobao, and the other Jie Cult disciples.

He brewed every one of them a cup of tea.

"This is... Enlightenment Tea?"

Daoist Duobao's voice trembled slightly, unable to believe it.

Like the Chaos Bead, the Enlightenment Tea Tree was something people had only heard of, yet never seen.

Zhao Gongming held the teacup in both trembling hands, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath of the steam rising from the tea.

With just one sniff, he felt his spiritual platform clear. The cultivation problems that had plagued him for many days instantly crumbled and collapsed.

Holy Mother Wudang likewise felt as though enlightenment had been poured straight into her head, and the aura around her grew even more powerful.

They hurriedly set down their cups and bowed to Ye Changqing. "Thank you, Senior Disciple Brother!"

Only then did they eagerly pick up their cups again, savoring the tea in tiny sips.

The tea turned into a hazy mist and seeped into their Primordial Spirits, while more and more insights surged madly into their minds.

Taking advantage of the tea's effects, Ye Changqing tossed out the Chaos Formation Compendium in his hand.

It slowly unfurled in midair, revealing numerous powerful formations upon its pages.

San Xiao had studied these formations before, but they had found them far too obscure and difficult to understand.

Yet after drinking a cup of Enlightenment Tea, they seemed to understand some of them.

And it was not just them. Everyone had immersed themselves in comprehending the formations.

Ye Changqing took a sip of tea, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

This way, the Jie Cult would gain a few more chances of victory in the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation.

Only, the Ten Heavenly Lords of Golden Ao Island would need a little more effort spent on drilling them.

Their Ten Ultimate Formations were certainly powerful, but far too simplistic.

In the past, they would simply set up their grand formations and wait for their enemies to break them.

That was far too passive!

The Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect would do nothing more than send a rookie to his death, then kill the formation master and break the formation.

If they could be as underhanded as the Chan Sect disciples, that would be much better.

For instance, the name of the formation might not match its reality. They could call it the Heavenly Absolute Formation, while it was actually the Earth Fiery Formation.

Or there could be an Earth Fiery Formation hidden within the Heavenly Absolute Formation.

Or a formation within a formation within a formation within a formation...

All of you are fellow Jie Cult disciples. Do not shut yourselves away and build carts behind closed doors, lowering yourselves to an inferior level.

Any formation taken at random from the Chaos Formation Compendium could yield tens of thousands of variations.

If every Jie Cult disciple learned one and set it up, the formations could stretch all the way from Kunlun Mountain to Golden Ao Island.

Then all he had to fear was that the Chan Sect would not have enough cannon fodder.

In the Western World, a chasm-like crack ran across the earth, as though it had drawn a distinct boundary between the Western World and the primordial world.

This boundary had also turned the two sides into utterly different worlds.

On one side were beautiful mountains and clear waters, singing birds and fragrant flowers, with abundant spiritual energy;

On the other was barren desolation, where not even a blade of grass grew and not a single living creature could be seen.

Immortal Pilu and the others looked upon the bleak Western World, immediately drawing in sharp breaths. They felt as though they had boarded the Two Sages of the West's pirate ship.

This place was a hundred thousand miles worse than Golden Ao Island, let alone worthy of comparison with Kunlun Mountain.

No wonder the Two Sages of the West were so shameless—their Western Paradise truly was impoverished.

But that still could not serve as an excuse for the shameless things they had done.

Only when they neared Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti's lair did they finally see a hint of greenery.

There stood several towering trees, beneath which groups of Western natives had gathered to listen to a bald monk expound on Zen.

Those monkeys not only listened to the bald man's Zen teachings, but also copied how humans dressed. Though their clothes were already tattered beyond recognition, the materials were clearly ones found only in the Primordial World.

Perhaps those two shameless fellows had stolen them from somewhere.

Now that Sect Master Tongtian had stripped Immortal Pilu and the other expelled Jie Cult disciples of their cultivation, they were no different from ordinary mortals and utterly incapable of resisting.

"Two Sages... we no longer wish to take revenge..."

"Please send us back to the Primordial World."

An unfathomable smile appeared on Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti's faces, making Immortal Pilu shudder.

"Wretches!"

"Is the Western World a place you can enter whenever you wish and leave whenever you please?"

"What do you take us for?!"

Daoist Zhunti's expression turned incomparably grim as he barked the rebuke.

Daoist Jieyin also gave a cold laugh. "You are fated with our West, yet you still refuse to accept conversion!"

With a sweep of the Two Sages of the West's hands, Immortal Pilu and the others found themselves bound to bodhi trees before they could react, unable to move in the slightest.

A large group of bald men clad in white appeared from nowhere. They bowed to the Two Sages of the West, then sat cross-legged on the ground and began chanting Buddhist scriptures at those bound to the trees.

One Sanskrit character after another, glowing with golden light, poured from their mouths and plunged into those people's heads, instantly quieting them.

Their gazes shifted from struggle to confusion, then to stillness, as though they had entered some mysterious state.

The golden characters merged into their bodies one by one, placing them in a state of "false enlightenment."

Those bald men were forcibly converting these expelled Jie Cult disciples.

Before even one or two shichen had passed, one of the bound Jie Cult disciples suddenly broke free of his restraints.

He sat on the ground with his palms pressed together, as if he had learned without a teacher, and began chanting the Buddhist scriptures along with them.

A few days later, among the group forcibly abducted by the Two Sages of the West, only Immortal Pilu remained, still struggling bitterly to hold out.

After all, he had once been one of the Seven Attendant Immortals most valued by Sect Master Tongtian. Both his temperament and Dao heart had been outstanding throughout the Jie Cult.

"Interesting, interesting!"

Daoist Jieyin looked at him and laughed.

"He is quite a fine seedling as well!"

Daoist Zhunti was also exceedingly satisfied with him.

"Amitabha!"

"Let this poor Daoist deliver you from the sea of suffering..."

Daoist Zhunti extended a hand and placed it atop Immortal Pilu's forehead. A stream of pure Buddhist power poured into his body.

The next moment, Buddhist light radiated from Immortal Pilu's entire body, his face filled with compassion for all living things.

He had been forcibly converted!