Chapter 342: The Music Ends, the People Scatter

The Three Pure Ones and Three Aspects: the Great Purity is the elder, the Jade Purity is middle-aged, the Upper Purity is youthful.

The Three Aspects refer to the Three Ways, which are intimately connected to each of their respective paths.

The Great Purity, as the elder, emphasizes non-action and tranquility, values his disciples greatly, and is the most protective of shortcomings among the Three Pure Ones.

This is why, as a personally transmitted disciple, the Grand Master of the Mystic Capital can freely draw upon the power of sage's magic treasures.

The Jade Purity, in his middle years, holds that order and rules are propriety; only by following them can one be carefree and at ease. He concerns himself with every sect affair, wishes his disciples well, yet is also extremely strict.

As for the Upper Purity, he ought to be youthful by rights!

This relates to his own Way: he is unrestrained and carefree, arrogant in character, seizing a sliver of vitality for all beings, with great ambition.

However, the Three Pure Ones are fundamentally formless and traceless; under certain circumstances they can even span the River of Time, emerging from within it as past or future incarnations.

The youthful-looking Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven before us is clearly a past incarnation that has walked out of the River of Time!

"What on earth has happened, causing the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven to resort to his past incarnation?"

The Receiving and Guiding Daoist secretly thought to himself.

But regardless of the cause, the Receiving and Guiding Daoist knows that today trouble has grown great.

After all, youthful vigor is passionate, but adolescents are even more impulsive.

If today's affair is mishandled, it could even provoke a war among the Sages.

Now, the Calamity has begun, and the Heavenly Dao maintains order.

If the Sages wage war recklessly, they may even invite punishment from the Heavenly Dao.

For the Western Teaching, which is destined to flourish, this is absolutely not a good thing.

"Senior Brother Who Penetrates Heaven..."

The Receiving and Guiding Daoist was still preparing to say a couple of sentences, but the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven gave him no chance, pointing a finger at him.

In the next moment, two sword glints flew from the horizon, pointing straight at the Receiving and Guiding Daoist—namely, the Sword of Severing Immortals and the Sword of Slaughtering Immortals.

Facing the cold sword tip aimed at him, the Receiving and Guiding Daoist's face darkened as he said, "Senior Brother Who Penetrates Heaven, are you really so unfeeling? If I join forces with Junior Brother Zhunti, you may not be able to kill us both."

"Hmph, you have some spine—better than that waste over there."

The Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven laughed and said, "However, don't forget that the Three Pure Ones are one entity; do you think my good senior brother would stand by while his junior brother faces two opponents?"

Saying this, the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven gave a glance to the Primordial Heavenly Venerable standing nearby.

Hearing this, the Receiving and Guiding Daoist's expression stiffened, and he turned his gaze to the Primordial Heavenly Venerable beside him.

On the other side, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable remained silent.

Although he harbored anger at this moment—after all, he had been innocently entangled with the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven for tens of thousands of years—he felt no goodwill toward him.

But, as the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven said, the Three Pure Ones are fundamentally one; at least, on the surface they appear so now.

Therefore, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable did not refute the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven's words.

What's more important, however, is the trembling Vice Sect Leader of the Sect of the Enlightenment beside them—the Lamp-Burning Daoist!

Betrayal is forever the most hateful thing.

In the instant they emerged from the great formation, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable already knew everything the Lamp-Burning Daoist had done.

Having defected to the Western Teaching, does he still think the Primordial Heavenly Venerable is easy to deal with?

Thus, compared to the struggle with the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable now dislikes the Two Sages of the West even more.

All of this, the Lamp-Burning Daoist sees with his own eyes, yet now he can only crawl on the ground, trembling weakly.

He cannot fathom how, after plotting everything and using Kong Xuan and the Golden-Winged Great Peng as tokens of allegiance, he has fully devoted himself to the Western Teaching.

Yet his careful plans were shattered by the sudden appearance of the Primordial Heavenly Venerable and the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven.

Even now, the Lamp-Burning Daoist cannot understand why the Primordial Heavenly Venerable and the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven have suddenly appeared here.

And while the Primordial Heavenly Venerable offered no rebuttal, in the Receiving and Guiding Daoist's view this amounted to tacit acceptance.

Indeed, with him joining forces with Daoist Zhunti, the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven may not be able to slay them all.

However, if the even more troublesome Primordial Heavenly Venerable is added, the Receiving and Guiding Daoist loses that confidence.

Indeed, in the eyes of the Receiving and Guiding Daoist, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable is a more troublesome existence than the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven.

After all, the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven has ample sharpness but is overly radical, lacking much in the way of scheming.

However, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable is different; he prefers scheming and is not as indifferent and inactive as the Great Purity Sage.

Thus, among the several Sages, the one the Receiving and Guiding Daoist truly fears is this Primordial Heavenly Venerable.

"Never mind; for today's affair, I will apologize on behalf of my junior brother to the two of you."

Saying this, the Receiving and Guiding Daoist bowed with clasped hands toward the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven.

This sight left Daoist Zhunti feeling utterly stifled.

After all, from start to finish he has been the one suppressed, bullied by the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven and the Primordial Heavenly Venerable—why should he apologize?

"Tsk, what a pity!"

Seeing this, the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven flashed a hint of disappointment in his eyes, as if the other party's inaction was not the outcome he desired.

"Junior Brother Zhunti, let's go!"

The Receiving and Guiding Daoist said, and only saw that atop his Twelve-Grade Merit Golden Lotus, several lotus petals drifted down, enveloping Daoist Zhunti, who was being threatened by the Sword of Slaughtering Immortals, and vanished from everyone's sight.

"This Receiving and Guiding!"

This move inevitably caused the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven to narrow his eyes slightly.

For just now, the Receiving and Guiding Daoist's seemingly insignificant move was far stronger than his previous self.

"Is he displaying the Western Teaching's current foundation? Hah, interesting!"

With a light chuckle, the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven waved his right hand, and three flying swords returned to his side.

"How about it, Senior Brother Primordial—shall we continue?"

Turning to face the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, the Sect Leader Who Penetrates Heaven spoke.

Upon hearing those words, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable did not directly answer, but instead turned his gaze toward Ao Yifan's direction.

"Little friend, we meet again."

"I pay my respects, Jade Pure Sage!"

Ao Yifan smiled, performed a salute, and said, "I don't know, Sage, are you satisfied with my performance?"

Being able to simultaneously bear the fortunes of my Chan Sect and Junior Brother Tongtian's Jie Sect, using that fortune to lock onto the Venerable's and Junior Brother Tongtian's auras and forcibly break Junior Brother Tongtian's great formation—you truly surprise the Venerable.

The Primordial Heavenly Venerable said, "Just, I don't know if you can explain why several of my Chan Sect's Twelve Golden Immortals have karmic ties with you."

Upon these words, the Burning Lamp Daoist, who had been prostrate on the ground, suddenly shuddered.

"Case solved!"

At this moment, the Burning Lamp Daoist finally understood who had ruined his good plans.

As for Ao Yifan's existence, the Burning Lamp Daoist is, in fact, aware of it.

Just, in the Burning Lamp Daoist's eyes, his own path to sagehood is the most important.

He is even preparing to betray the Chan Sect—how could he bother with sect affairs?

Therefore, the Burning Lamp Daoist did not place too much importance on Ao Yifan's existence.

However, what the Burning Lamp Daoist never expected was that the one who ultimately ruined his grand plan was actually this person who likes to have children.

"Hehe, please Jade Pure Sage be aware: I have said before that I seek only the prosperity of the Chan Sect; presumably, my child, being too outstanding, is able to occupy the current position."

Ao Yifan said.