In the Primordial Wilderness, the years went uncounted.
The Bodhi Tree on Mount Sumeru had bloomed and shed its flowers countless times.
The Spiritual Energy of the West had quietly grown as rich as that of the East. The Enlightenment Tea Mother Tree in the Tea Garden stood ever more vigorous, while the Four Symbols Banana Tree bathed all of Mount Sumeru in four-colored light.
Disciples came and went. Some traveled abroad, some cultivated in seclusion, some had broken through their bottlenecks, and others were still finding their way.
Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti stood beneath the Bodhi Tree, watching the disciples cultivate in the distance. Each had his own thoughts.
Over the years, the West had gained more and more disciples: several thousand nominal disciples and over a dozen direct disciples.
Their teachings had spread, their script had been established, and their currency was in use. The West's development was on track.
But Xuande felt something was still missing: divine powers.
"Fellow Daoists," Xuande said, "the disciples of the West cultivate the Seven Emotions and Six Desires Severance. Their temperaments grow more balanced by the day, and their cultivation steadily improves.
"But cultivation alone is not enough.
"The disciples need means to defend the teachings and the ability to protect themselves as they travel the Primordial Wilderness.
"We should develop divine powers for the West and pass them on to the disciples."
Jieyin nodded. "You're right. Divine powers support cultivation and serve as tools for protecting one's path.
"The Dao Ancestor taught many divine powers, but they may not suit the temperaments of our disciples.
"We should draw on the ways of the West to create divine powers that belong to the West alone."
Zhunti said, "I've been thinking the same thing. In my travels through the Primordial Wilderness, I've