Chapter 104: First Hearing of the War for Seizing the Dao

"Gather!"

Inside the cave dwelling, as the Senior Butian Peak Master uttered the Daoist sounds and frantically urged his magic power, the soul of "Chen Chen Xinan," which had been nearly scattered, finally stabilized once more.

"Am I still alive? Father?"

Watching Chen Chen Xinan gradually regain consciousness, the Senior Butian Peak Master wore a gentle expression and smiled: "I knew my son was not one of those vulgar types."

Clearly, while helping Chen Chen Xinan reassemble his soul, the Senior Butian Peak Master had already calculated the karmic ties; after Liu Xin lost the protection of the divine talisman, the events of the past could no longer be concealed, yet the banner spirit Chen Chen Xinan, having borrowed the karma of his original body and carrying the divine talisman on his person, could perfectly obscure the heavenly secrets.

After all this, the Senior Butian Peak Master actually detected nothing amiss.

In his calculation, the sequence of events was simply that Chen Chen Xinan had been secretly plotted against by the Innate Daoist, reduced to a banner spirit controlled by Liu Xin, but relied on his wisdom to turn the tables and kill him.

"Regardless, it is good that you are unharmed."

The Senior Butian Peak Master sighed with emotion, and although the banner spirit Chen Chen Xinan displayed a moved expression on the surface, his heart remained utterly unruffled.

'I apologize, Father.'

'I already belong to the Master.'

Holding Chen Chen Xinan's soul, the Senior Butian Peak Master took a single step back to the summit of Senior Butian Peak, then immediately molded earth into a human form and carefully placed the soul inside.

"Rest assured, this is only temporary; this mishap occurred because you were calculated by that Innate Daoist. With your father here, you need only rest and recuperate for ten-odd years to restore your cultivation base to its peak; I can also reshape a physical body for you, and given time, you will still have the opportunity to break through to the realm of Foundation Establishment!"

The Senior Butian Peak Master said patiently.

Clearly, he had mistaken Chen Chen Xinan's silence for dejection following a setback, which was why he took the initiative to offer comfort; at first glance, his deep parental affection was evident in every word.

Chen Chen Xinan responded perfunctorily, but in his heart, he recalled Lu Yang's mission.

"Father, in my current state, can I really still break through to Foundation Establishment?" Chen Chen Xinan raised his head, his face displaying a perfectly measured look of dejection.

"Of course you can!"

Hearing this, the Senior Butian Peak Master smiled slightly and said: "I possess a rare treasure for Foundation Establishment called Creation Jade Clay, which I intend to use to reshape your physical body."

"In that case, you will inherently have a ten percent chance of breaking through to Foundation Establishment."

"Next, as long as you cultivate the 'Severing Thoughts to See My Heavenly Silkworm Secret Art' and combine it with the Third Grade true qi from the 'Supplementing Heaven True Scripture,' your chances of successfully achieving Foundation Establishment will rise to thirty percent."

These are all rather ordinary methods.

Having been repeatedly refined by Lu Yang, Chen Chen Xinan was now utterly loyal to him; at this moment, his only thought was whether he could help his Master probe for rare resources within the Holy Sect.

"Thirty percent... isn't that too low?"

Chen Chen Xinan sighed: "Father, I do not wish to gamble with only a thirty percent chance; if possible, I would like to have greater odds before attempting to break through to Foundation Establishment."

"Oh?"

Hearing this, the Senior Butian Peak Master paused for a moment, then revealed a look of gratification and nodded: "Good, since you have this thought, how could your father blame you? Speaking of other plans to increase the success rate, they do exist; I recall that a few days ago, a True Person emerged from closed-door cultivation and issued an order to restart the Great War between Orthodoxy and Demonic."

"The Great War between Orthodoxy and Demonic?"

Chen Chen Xinan was stunned, while Lu Yang's spiritual sense within his body also monitored this conversation, equally curious; was the Great War between Orthodoxy and Demonic related to breaking through to Foundation Establishment?

Seeing the confusion on Chen Chen Xinan's face, the Senior Butian Peak Master immediately laughed:

"It is normal that you do not know about this matter; after all, you grew up in the Sky-Reaching Sea of Clouds, and as my offspring, you have had no exposure to such affairs."

"Do you think the reason we fight Jiangnan until blood flows is truly what you imagine?"

Hearing this, Chen Chen Xinan subconsciously said: "Because Orthodoxy and Demonic cannot coexist."

"That is bullshit!"

The Senior Butian Peak Master shook his head: "Both Jiangnan and Jiangbei follow the 'Form Refining Ascension Dao'; they merely differ in style, and 'Orthodoxy' and 'Demonic' are just titles."

"Would you fight to the death over a mere title?"

Speaking thus, the Senior Butian Peak Master pointed to the sky above: "The so-called Great War between Orthodoxy and Demonic is, in essence, a struggle for power among the various True Persons, a contest for the lineages of the schools!"

"If our Holy Sect wins and pushes one step further into Jiangnan, the fruit positions of the various True Persons can extend into Jiangnan, and their cultivation bases will strengthen accordingly. If the Sword Pavilion wins and breaks into Jiangbei, the fruit positions of the various True Persons will weaken as a result; rather than a war between Orthodoxy and Demonic, it is better described as a War for Seizing the Dao!"

"For this reason, most of the True Persons of the Holy Sect are stationed throughout Jiangnan."

"This includes disciples at the Qi Condensation realm; the Sky-Reaching Sea of Clouds is merely a place to train new disciples, while the battlefield of the War for Seizing the Dao is the true ground for raising gu!"

"Most of the True Persons of our Holy Sect also emerged from there."

"It is precisely because the outcome of the War for Seizing the Dao affects fruit positions that it is not only useful for True Persons but also greatly beneficial for us lower cultivators who rely on their protection."

"Among these benefits are opportunities that can assist in increasing the probability of breaking through to Foundation Establishment."

"For instance, that junior from Yinshan suppressed all other cultivators during the War for Seizing the Dao over a decade ago, assisting a True Person in seizing the Ten Thousand People Pit of Jiangnan, and only then broke through."

However, upon finishing his words, the Senior Butian Peak Master shook his head again: "Even so, the battlefield is far too dangerous, nearly a nine-out-of-ten chance of death; with your father here, there is actually no need for you to deliberately take such risks; at worst, your father can think of another way to beg a Foundation Establishment Elixir from the various True Persons for you."

Saying this, the Senior Butian Peak Master patted Chen Chen Xinan on the shoulder again.

"In short, what you must do now is rest well and recover as quickly as possible; your father awaits the day you achieve Foundation Establishment and inherit my mantle."

As his voice fell, the Senior Butian Peak Master smiled slightly.

His smile was kind and affectionate, like an old farmer full of hope, waiting for a seed to sprout, bloom, and finally bear fruit.

On Senior Butian Peak, inside a cave dwelling.

Lu Yang reviewed the intelligence he had just eavesdropped on through Chen Chen Xinan, his face showing a look of contemplation: "The Great War between Orthodoxy and Demonic for Seizing the Dao, a struggle for lineages, an opportunity for Foundation Establishment..."

This news resolved a doubt he had harbored for a long time.

He had always felt that the Holy Sect had too few disciples.

Take Senior Butian Peak, for instance.

Most disciples were in the Early and Mid Stages of Qi Condensation; those in the Late Stage were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, and those at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation were so elusive one might see the head of a divine dragon but never its tail.

This was clearly unreasonable.

After all, since the probability of breaking through to Foundation Establishment was so low, one necessarily needed to pile up a vast number of cultivators at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation to possibly cultivate enough True Persons at Foundation Establishment.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, cultivators at the Late Stage and Great Perfection of Qi Condensation should not be common everywhere, but at least they should not be so rare.

Yet in reality, it was not so.

Now it seemed that it was not that the Holy Sect lacked so many disciples, but rather that these disciples were not in the Sky-Reaching Sea of Clouds; they were on the front lines of the Great War between Orthodoxy and Demonic!

"So the Sky-Reaching Sea of Clouds is actually the rear base."

"Those at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation who remain here are basically people like Luo Wuya and Chen Chen Xinan, who have True Persons as backers and do not need to go to the battlefield to risk their lives."

The more Lu Yang thought about it, the brighter his gaze became.

"In the Great War between Orthodoxy and Demonic, True Persons will definitely descend personally to supervise the battle; they would never allow something like a Foundation Establishment True Person bullying the small by attacking Qi Condensation cultivators!"

"In other words, Arhat Fu Long would not dare to come."

"If I can break through on the battlefield of the Great War between Orthodoxy and Demonic, that should be the safest option!"

After all, compared to Arhat Fu Long, those Qi Condensation cultivators on the battlefield of the Great War between Orthodoxy and Demonic were simply not worth mentioning; if I cannot defeat a Foundation Establishment cultivator, can I not defeat you lot?

"Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix!"

Looking back, what kind of demons and monsters had I been facing?

Patriarch You Ting, who broke through to Foundation Establishment and reincarnated; the Senior Butian Peak Master, at the Mid Stage of Foundation Establishment but half-crippled; Arhat Fu Long, at the Mid Stage of Foundation Establishment in his peak form... each one more absurd than the last!

"I've become arrogant, so arrogant!"

Thinking of this, Lu Yang learned his lesson from the pain and reflected deeply:

"Actually, from the very beginning, I was never someone skilled in magical combat; my greatest strength lies in using a higher cultivation base to overwhelm those below, challenging opponents across realms..."

Lu Yang's gaze turned firm as he decided to follow his true heart.

I want to return to the beginner's village to show off!

(End of Chapter)