These Students Are Hard to Teach

The moment Dongwanggong spoke, the entire Purple Cloud Palace fell deathly silent. Everyone's gaze inevitably turned toward Dongwanggong.

Yet none of them thought Dongwanggong arrogant. Instead, they felt that he knew his own limits quite well.

Only Chen Xuan secretly rejoiced. At last, Dongwanggong, this chess piece, is finally going to serve its purpose.

Hongjun, meanwhile, was incomparably frustrated. Why is this not quite what I expected?

At that moment, Dijun spoke. "Master, since Dongwanggong believes he is unqualified to command the male immortals of the Primordial World—"

"Then please give this position of chief of the male immortals to your disciple instead. I will certainly manage the male immortals of the Primordial World properly on Master's behalf."

Hongjun did not answer Dijun. Instead, he began pondering how to resolve the situation before him.

After all, replacing Dongwanggong now would be equivalent to admitting that he had chosen the wrong person—a slap in his own face.

Moreover, the Three Pure Ones and Nuwa still showed no intention of becoming his disciples. He had no choice but to make preparations on two fronts.

Thus, he simply addressed Dongwanggong. "Since I have made you the chief of the male immortals, I shall naturally accept you into my sect."

"Not only you—even Queen Mother of the West shall be the same. You will both be my registered disciples."

Dongwanggong and Queen Mother of the West knelt down together and performed the formal rites of master and disciple toward Hongjun. This finally made Hongjun let out a long breath.

But at this moment, Dongwanggong spoke again. "Master, since we are all disciples under Master, there should be no distinction between close and distant."

"The two senior brothers from the West not only received many innate spiritual treasures, but also received the Primordial Purple Qi bestowed by Master."

"Since we are all Master's disciples, should Master not also bestow Primordial Purple Qi upon us, so that your disciples may have a chance to attain the Dao and become Saints?"

Dongwanggong had learned from Chen Xuan that the key to attaining the Dao and becoming a Saint lay in the foundation of the Great Dao. Now that he knew the Primordial Purple Qi was that foundation, how could he possibly give it up?

After all, once this village was passed, there would be no such inn ahead. If he wanted to find Primordial Purple Qi again, even turning the entire Primordial World upside down might not uncover a single strand.

After all, Hongjun had just said that eight Saints were destined to exist under him. In other words, there were only eight strands of Primordial Purple Qi.

He had already given one each to the two Sages of the West, leaving only six. And from Hongjun's attitude, it was clear that he wished to take the Three Pure Ones and Nuwa as disciples.

As long as the Three Pure Ones and Nuwa agreed, another four strands of Primordial Purple Qi would be gone. That would leave only two strands in the end.

If he did not hurry now and use managing the male immortals of the Primordial World as an excuse to secure a strand of Primordial Purple Qi, he truly would have no chance in the future.

When Dijun and Taiyi heard Dongwanggong directly ask Hongjun for Primordial Purple Qi, they too snapped awake as though from a dream.

They shared Dongwanggong's thoughts and were even more anxious than he was. After all, they did not even possess the status of chief of the male immortals or chief of the female immortals.

They immediately knelt down as well, hoping Hongjun would bestow Primordial Purple Qi upon them and give them a chance to attain the Dao and become Saints.

Hearing that Dongwanggong, Dijun, and the others also wanted Primordial Purple Qi, Hongjun could not help but sneer inwardly. He had never intended to let these cannon fodder attain the Dao and become Saints.

He immediately said, "Primordial Purple Qi is the foundation of the Great Dao. Only my personal disciples may receive it."

Such a blunt refusal left Dongwanggong completely unable to press the matter further. Yet he was unwilling to give up so easily and prepared to settle for the next best thing.

He immediately said, "Since Primordial Purple Qi can only be bestowed upon personal disciples, may Master grant your disciple three innate spiritual treasures that share the same origin?"

"After all, without three innate spiritual treasures from the same origin to house the three corpse incarnations—and with no Primordial Purple Qi in my possession—how could I possibly unite the three corpses as one?"

The moment Dongwanggong said this, Hongjun's expression instantly changed. He clearly remembered that he had never mentioned the key to uniting the three corpses.

Indeed, he had never intended to teach them the true method of severing the three corpses. Naturally, he would not have revealed its crucial point.

Yet Dongwanggong had now exposed that key in a single sentence. A trace of killing intent appeared in Hongjun's gaze as he looked at Dongwanggong.

But now that Dongwanggong had said it aloud, if he denied it, then when cultivators later proved unable to unite their three corpses, his lie would be exposed.

And this karma was something Hongjun could not bear. It would cause him to lose boundless fortune, perhaps even shake his position in the Primordial World.

After all, the path of severing the three corpses that he had passed down was the orthodox cultivation path of the Primordial World. Anyone who cultivated the path of severing the three corpses would contribute a share of fortune to Hongjun.

But once the cultivators of the Primordial World learned that Hongjun had concealed the key, not only would he fail to obtain that fortune, he would instead suffer a backlash.

Yet if he admitted it, how many people in the Primordial World would be able to complete the path of severing the three corpses? Even Hongjun himself did not dare say for certain.

At that time, he would truly be unable to use Primordial Purple Qi to control the number of Saints.

It could be said that, for Hongjun, no matter how he answered this question, there was harm and no benefit.

As fate would have it, Tongtian spoke at this moment. "I recall that in the quasi-Saint path Senior explained earlier, there seemed to be no mention of needing innate spiritual treasures from the same origin to house the three corpse incarnations."

"Did Senior forget to mention it while preaching the Dao, or is Fellow Daoist Dongwanggong simply talking nonsense and misleading all the fellow Daoists present?"

Once Tongtian raised this question, Hongjun could no longer avoid answering. After weighing the pros and cons, he could only nod and say,

"It seems that my choice of Dongwanggong as chief of the male immortals of the Primordial World was indeed wise. After all, among everyone present, only he grasped the key to the path of severing the three corpses."

"Originally, I intended to mention this when I explained the path of the Saints. Since Dongwanggong has already asked about it, I shall speak of it ahead of time."

"Indeed, innate spiritual treasures from the same lineage can help unite the three corpses as one. But it is not absolute; everything still depends on fate and opportunity."

Although Hongjun had not answered directly, it was tantamount to acknowledging Dongwanggong's words.

After all, compared to deceiving the cultivators of the Primordial World and becoming stained with boundless karma, allowing a few more people to attain the Dao and become Saints was still beneficial to Hongjun.

As long as one cultivated the path of severing the three corpses, Hongjun could obtain a share of fortune from them. And the greater heights one reached, the more fortune Hongjun would gain.

If not for the sake of controlling the Primordial World more easily, Hongjun would not have restricted the number of Saints. In fact, the more people who became Saints, the greater the benefits they would bring Hongjun.