No Feast Lasts Forever

Seeing that Laozi had gotten to the heart of the matter, Lu Xuan did not beat around the bush. He said directly, "What Hongjun wants you brothers to do can be seen from the great schools he had you establish."

"The Chan School Yuanshi established follows the mandate of Heaven. The Interception Sect Tongtian established seizes the secrets of Heaven. Think about it—aren't those opposing principles?"

Lu Xuan did not say what would happen to the Three Pure Ones in the future, much less mention the Investiture of the Gods Calamity. He merely used the doctrines of the Chan School and the Interception Sect to enlighten them.

Lu Xuan firmly believed that, with the wisdom of the Three Pure Ones, it was impossible for them not to see the hidden problem. In the original course of the Primordial World, the reason they had failed to notice it was because they had never doubted Hongjun.

Thus, they believed their own doctrines to be correct and naturally could not tolerate the existence of doctrines that contradicted them. If the other party had not been their own brother, they likely would have come to blows long before the Investiture of the Gods Calamity.

Now that Lu Xuan had exposed Hongjun's scheme, and Tongtian's founding of the Interception Sect had also been done at Hongjun's command, everything naturally came to light.

A moment later, Primordial Heavenly Venerable's face showed fury. "We brothers called him Master, yet I never imagined he had been scheming against us at every turn."

"If eldest brother had not exposed Hongjun's conspiracy, my third brother and I would surely have grown estranged one day in the future. We might even have reached the point of fighting to the death."

Although Laozi, standing nearby, had not received Lu Xuan's guidance, he had already guessed his own role. He sighed and said,

"My third brother's Interception Sect teaches without discrimination. Its strength will surely surpass my second brother's Chan School in the future. But the outcome Hongjun wants naturally cannot be defiance of Heaven; it must be my second brother's obedience to Heaven."

"And my role is to step forward at a critical moment to aid my second brother. I will join hands with him and become my third brother's enemy."

Compared to Laozi and Primordial Heavenly Venerable, who had already seen through the crux of it, Tongtian was somewhat bewildered. He scratched his head and said,

"Wait. I established the Interception Sect under his decree as well. Could it be that he had me establish it just so eldest brother and second brother could destroy me in the future?"

Lu Xuan did not explain further. Some matters were better left for the Three Pure Ones to comprehend on their own.

However, Primordial Heavenly Venerable was deeply dissatisfied with Tongtian's reaction and immediately began lecturing him.

Houtu had been away from Abbot Island for a full five hundred years before she finally returned with the Twelve Ancestral Witches.

Of course, traveling alone would not have taken so long. The reason was that the friction between the Witch-Demon Clans had been escalating, forcing them to make arrangements in advance.

After learning the whole story, Lu Xuan immediately had the Three Pure Ones and the Twelve Ancestral Witches begin merging their cultivation arts. After all, they were now racing against time.

The Three Pure Ones possessed Taiqing, Yuqing, and the Upper Pure Immortal Formula, collectively known as the Three Pure Immortal Arts. The Twelve Ancestral Witches possessed twelve body-tempering arts based on the elements, known as the Twelve Witch Arts.

The Three Pure Immortal Arts cultivated the power of the Primordial Spirit, while the Twelve Witch Arts cultivated the physical body. The two arts were therefore perfectly complementary.

Lu Xuan even began looking forward to whether they could fuse them into the cultivation art once practiced by the great god Pangu. If that happened, they would truly strike it rich.

As time passed, three thousand years went by in the blink of an eye. The fifteen different cultivation arts were finally fused together, forming an entirely new art.

The Three Pure Ones and the Twelve Ancestral Witches named it the Pangu Art. Unfortunately, it did not fulfill Lu Xuan's hopes; it was still far from reaching the level of the art Pangu had cultivated.

Even so, it was a supreme cultivation art that cultivated both soul and body. Yet the Pangu Art had one major flaw: exceedingly few people could cultivate it.

Even the Twelve Ancestral Witches could not help shaking their heads upon seeing the fused Pangu Art. Dijiang said frankly,

"I, Dijiang, do not have the fortune to cultivate this Pangu Art. Setting aside the fact that I have no Primordial Spirit, even if I did, I would not possess such potential."

If even the leader of the Twelve Ancestral Witches could not cultivate it, there was no need to mention the others. They shook their heads one after another, indicating that they could not do so either.

Although the Three Pure Ones also did not believe they could cultivate the Pangu Art, their view differed from that of the Twelve Ancestral Witches. Laozi spoke directly.

"Brothers, the Pangu Art was formed by gathering the strengths of all fifteen of us. Naturally, very few can meet its cultivation requirements."

"But why can't we split it apart again and extract the portions best suited to each of us for our own cultivation?"

Laozi's words were truly a wake-up call. Everyone immediately began reviewing the Pangu Art anew according to his suggestion.

After another three hundred years, both the Twelve Ancestral Witches and the Three Pure Ones had reorganized new cultivation arts from the complete Pangu Art, arts better suited to themselves.

Although these new arts could not compare to the Pangu Art, they were far more powerful than the arts they had originally cultivated.

This was because the new arts had absorbed, to varying degrees, the cultivation methods of the others.

Seeing smiles on the faces of the Three Pure Ones and the Twelve Ancestral Witches, Lu Chen walked over with a smile, carrying a jade flask in his hand.

"It seems you brothers have gained quite a lot. Come, come, taste the fine wine your elder brother has freshly brewed."

With a wave of Lu Xuan's hand, fifteen petals from the Purifying World White Lotus flew before everyone. The jade flask rose into the air on its own and poured the wine into the lotus petals.

For a moment, the fragrance of wine filled the air, and the Three Pure Ones and the Twelve Ancestral Witches kept inhaling deeply. They had never smelled such pure wine before.

Unable to wait any longer, Tongtian drained the wine from his petal in one gulp. He then began savoring its mellow flavor.

The others naturally followed suit, each drinking the wine before them. Then they all turned their gazes toward Lu Xuan.

Lu Xuan had no choice but to continue pouring for them. Before they knew it, they drank for more than three months before they were finally satisfied.

"No feast lasts forever. It is time for you all to attend to your own affairs. You cannot keep loafing around on my Abbot Island every day."

"These are for you: Enlightenment Tea, Three Lights Divine Water, and wine. Take them with you when you leave."

Seeing that Lu Xuan was sending them away, no one was displeased. They even felt that his words made sense, for each of them bore heavy responsibilities.

They immediately bid Lu Xuan farewell and left Abbot Island reluctantly, taking the gifts Lu Chen had prepared for them.

This time, even Houtu left with the other eleven Ancestral Witches. As the friction between the Witch-Demon Clans grew increasingly severe, she had no choice but to return and oversee her own tribe.

After seeing off the Three Pure Ones and the Twelve Ancestral Witches, Lu Xuan discovered that they had left the Pangu Art behind for him.

Looking at the jade slip recording the Pangu Art before him, Lu Xuan said with a smile, "There are indeed people who repay kindness with ingratitude. But those who know gratitude will always outnumber those who do not."