Chapter 1: The Human Sect? Not Even a Dog Would Worship It!
The Great Wilderness Continent was vast and boundless.
Shouyang Mountain stood majestic and towering, rising proudly in the Eastern Great Wilderness.
Its mountain ranges rolled endlessly, spiritual energy swirled like mist, rosy clouds radiated in myriad paths, and auspicious colors shone a thousandfold.
This place was the Daoist sanctuary of the Grand Pure Sage Laozi, tranquil and non-action, with a naturally formed Dao charm.
At the foot of the mountain, a young man opened his eyes in a daze.
I... where is this?
Xuandu felt utterly bewildered at the moment.
He remembered that he had simply taken a nap, so why did he wake up in this barren wilderness?
He looked around; ancient trees scraped the skies, and the spiritual energy was so dense it was almost impossible to disperse. Taking a single breath made him feel refreshed and clear-headed.
Transmigrated?
Before he could ponder further, a massive and chaotic torrent of memories rushed violently into his mind.
A long time passed.
Xuandu slowly raised his head, the confusion in his gaze gone, replaced only by endless shock and a trace of... wild joy?
He was merging with the memories of this body.
This was the Great Wilderness World!
And he had become Xuandu!
That future personal disciple under the Grand Pure Sage Laozi!
Xuandu wore a look of utter disbelief, murmuring:
"Waking up from a nap, I transmigrated into Xuandu? Laozi's only future disciple?"
This opening... was simply perfect!
Xuandu was so excited he was practically trembling.
Knowing the Great Wilderness plot inside and out, he understood all too well what this meant.
Backed by the Human Sect, a disciple of a Sage!
Grand Pure Laozi had already attained sagehood, established the Human Sect, and enlightened the human race. He was one of the top six sages in the Great Wilderness, and his strength was unfathomable.
As his only disciple, his status was incomparably noble, and he could practically walk sideways across the Great Wilderness.
The Investiture of the Gods Tribulation?
That was the business of the Jie Sect and the Chan Sect, and had little to do with the Human Sect.
He could live in peace and stability; his safety coefficient was maximized directly!
"Ten years... According to these memories, I have been kneeling here, hoping to be accepted into the Sage's sect, for ten years already."
"Has Laozi really not appeared yet to take disciples?"
Xuandu carefully sorted through his memories, and his heart surged with even greater joy.
This meant he had not yet formally taken a master, and everything was just right!
The trajectory of fate was not yet completely fixed, and he could use his foreknowledge to plot the greatest benefits!
"Safe, far too safe!"
"This identity is full of a sense of security!"
Xuandu almost burst out laughing.
With a Sage as a backing, what was there to be afraid of?
As long as he did not court death, his future would be bright!
[Host transmigrated to the Great Wilderness World detected.]
[System binding... 1%... 50%... 100%...]
[Binding successful!]
Xuandu was stunned at first, and then wild joy almost shattered his heavenly spirit cover!
A system!
The standard golden finger of a transmigrator! It really had arrived!
"Hahahaha! Heaven helps me!"
"With a Sage master and a system cheat, can't I, Xuandu, walk however I want in this Great Wilderness?"
"I can't imagine how I could possibly lose!"
He shouted in his heart, feeling that his future was completely bright, as if the realm of a Sage was beckoning to him.
He eagerly communicated with the system to check its functions.
[Total Sum System] [Host: Xuandu] [Realm: None] [Sect Affiliation: None] [System Function: After the host joins a sect, they can obtain in real-time the cultivation, foundation, cultivation method, comprehension, and divine ability sum of all disciples in that sect. Leaving the sect or the destruction of the sect will reset the feedback to zero.] [Current Unlock: Can obtain the cultivation sum]
A flurry of information poured into Xuandu's mind.
At first, he was excited.
Obtaining the total strength of all disciples across the entire sect?
This function sounded heaven-defying!
But the next second, the smile on his face stiffened.
Wait...
The total strength of the disciples within the sect?
Xuandu's expression turned colorful piece by piece.
According to the Great Wilderness plot, when Grand Pure Laozi established the Human Sect and attained sagehood, he advocated ruling through non-action!
Until the Investiture of the Gods period, on the surface there was and only was himself, Xuandu, as a personal disciple!
In other words, if he followed his original destined path and joined the Human Sect...
Then the sect strength feedback he could obtain would forever be just his own strength!
The Earth Immortal would be himself, the Heavenly Immortal would be himself, True Immortal, Profound Immortal, Golden Immortal, Taiyi Golden Immortal...
Even if he cultivated to the Daluo Golden Immortal, what would be fed back to him was still the strength of himself alone!
To him, this system was practically useless!
Most crucially, it wasn't just cultivation, but also foundations, cultivation methods, and everything else.
"This... what the hell..."
Xuandu almost spat a mouthful of old blood.
His boundless joy was doused by a basin of ice water, chilling him to the core.
A sense of security?
Joining the Human Sect was indeed safe.
Yet with this system, clinging blindly to the Human Sect would simply be begging with a golden bowl—a sheer waste of heaven's gifts!
His thoughts inevitably turned to the Jie Sect!
Under the seat of Sect Leader Tongtian, they intercepted a glimmer of heavenly secret, taught without discrimination, and myriad immortals came to court!
What kind of grand spectacle was that?
The number of disciples under their banner could be called the greatest in the Great Wilderness!
Personal disciples, the seven attendant immortals, outer disciples, registered disciples... spreading across the Great Wilderness, numbering in the tens of thousands, or even a hundred thousand!
Though the quality varied, they couldn't help the massive base!
Even if the average disciple only reached the Heavenly Immortal or True Immortal realm, how terrifying of a number would the sum of tens of thousands of strengths combined make?
Daluo Golden Immortal? That was probably just the starting point!
Even... reaching the realm of a Sage directly!
And this was sustainable growth!
As the Jie Sect developed and its disciples cultivated, his strength could rise with the tide! He could become stronger just by lying down!
As for the risks?
The Investiture of the Gods Tribulation was indeed a disaster for the Jie Sect.
But that was a matter for the far future.
The Witch-Demon Tribulation hadn't even passed yet.
Before that, he had plenty of time to use the system to rapidly elevate his strength.
As long as his strength was strong enough, what did a tribulation matter?
He might not be unable to fight for that glimmer of hope!
In contrast, the Human Sect was safe, but the future... could almost be seen through at a single glance.
Without the system's blessing, Xuandu's ultimate achievement would most likely be just like the original text: a peak Quasi-Saint at best, still mere ants in front of a Sage.
Take a gamble, and a bicycle becomes a motorcycle!
Xuandu's gaze instantly turned incomparably resolute.
"I cannot worship the Human Sect; joining the Jie Sect is the only way to truly take off."
Even becoming the most ordinary disciple, as long as he joined, he would take off directly.
After all, there were already quite a few Jie Sect Disciples now.
Among them were many powerhouses such as Daoist Duobao and Zhao Gongming.
Although they were at most in the Daluo Golden Immortal realm now, it was enough for Xuandu.
He recalled in the original text that Xuandu knelt here for decades, eating wind and sleeping in the dew, with a firm will, before finally moving the Sage and managing to enter the sect.
Decades?
Xuandu could not wait that long.
Time was strength, and time was opportunity!
The Witch-Demon Tribulation had not yet ended, and it was precisely a time when the Great Wilderness was chaotic and opportunities were everywhere.
However, a realistic problem quickly surfaced in his mind.
Golden Ao Island was far in the depths of the East Sea, hidden within boundless waves and the Innate Grand Formation, impossible for anyone without great opportunity and great magical power to find or enter.
And he, Xuandu, was now just an ordinary mortal without any cultivation in his body!
Let alone finding Golden Ao Island, he was probably likely to be buried in the mouth of a Demon Beast at any time along the way.
That he would be unable to reach it in this lifetime was by no means an empty phrase!
Just at this moment, the system prompt sounded again:
[Novice Gift Pack has been issued: Teleportation Talisman × 1] [Teleportation Talisman: Can teleport to any location in the Great Wilderness, one-time use.]
Xuandu's eyes lit up.
Golden Ao Island!
The Daoist temple of the Jie Sect!
The Great Wilderness was vast, and as a mere mortal, he could never reach it in his lifetime.
This talisman happened to dispel his final misgivings!
He tightly grasped the Teleportation Talisman, resolution in his heart.
"Laozi practices the Wu Wei Dao, devoid of emotion and desire."
"If I enter the sect, I fear I too will become a heartless person."
"Let alone ignoring the rise and fall of the Human Race, what of the Seven Emotions and Six Desires?"
"Human Sect? Not even a dog would bow to it!"
He no longer hesitated and used the Teleportation Talisman to target Golden Ao Island.
Then Xuandu's figure vanished without a trace.
Just at this moment, a strand of Spiritual Sense surged out from the peak of Shouyang Mountain, vast as a sea of stars, and swept across the cliff.
Sensing that the place where someone should have been kneeling was completely empty.
That strand of Spiritual Sense paused.
Before you continue