Chapter 121: Proscribing the Western Sect

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However, the Western Church had always been confined to the bitterly cold lands of the West, and most of humanity knew little about the so-called Western Church. Thus, at Zhun Ti’s urging, Ran Deng began repeatedly whispering slander into Yu’s ear, speaking ill of the Three Teachings while praising the many virtues of the Western Church.

Yu had always held Ran Deng in considerable esteem. After all, when his father, Gun, had been executed and left behind a widow and an orphan, their lives had naturally been difficult.

And it was precisely at that time that Ran Deng had stepped forward, offering young Yu a glimmer of hope.

Therefore, after Ran Deng’s repeated preaching, Yu implemented a series of measures. He began to disparage the Three Teachings while spreading the doctrines of the Western Church among humanity.

Yet in doing so, he shook the very foundations of the Three Pure Ones.

…

On Shouyang Mountain, Laozi was the first to lose his composure.

The Human Teaching had only just begun to flourish among humanity, and its momentum was excellent.

Now the Western Church had actually dared to incite the Human Emperor to expose the Human Teaching’s shortcomings, destroying its promising momentum. How could Laozi possibly stand by and watch?

At that moment, on Penglai Island, Tongtian also rose abruptly and furiously cursed the West.

Of the three teachings, the one that suffered the greatest losses from this wave of slander was undoubtedly the Jie Teaching.

Because the Four Swords of Immortal Execution could not suppress destiny, the human destiny possessed by the Jie Teaching was rapidly declining… It was nearly on the verge of being completely exhausted.

Thus, when Tongtian received Laozi’s transmission, he immediately cast aside the decision he had made after the affair with Xuanyuan—to cease conspiring with Laozi and Yuanshi. With a flash of his body, he hurried toward Laozi’s location.

“Zhun Ti has gone too far! When I accepted Xuanyuan as my disciple, I never even made him deliberately promote the Jie Teaching. Yet now he has dared to brazenly incite the Human Emperor to suppress our Three Teachings and promote the Western Church. How dare he? What gives him such confidence?!”

Upon arriving at Shouyang Mountain and seeing Laozi and Yuanshi, Tongtian vented the fury he had been holding inside.

Yuanshi was harboring no small amount of resentment himself.

“That Zhun Ti refuses to remain quietly in the bitterly cold West and is forever jumping about. I tolerated it all. But now he has dared to meddle with the foundation upon which we established our teachings. This is utterly intolerable!”

“Second and Third Brothers, calm yourselves,” Laozi said. “Now that the reputation of our Three Teachings among humanity has greatly declined, the situation is extremely disadvantageous for us all. Our foremost task should therefore be to restore the reputation of the Three Teachings as quickly as possible.”

“Senior Brother, what plan do you have?” Yuanshi and Tongtian asked in unison, turning toward Laozi.

“Where the calamity began is where it must end. We shall first go and find the Human Emperor.”

“Agreed.”

Yuanshi and Tongtian nodded, then followed Laozi toward the Human Emperor’s palace.

In the blink of an eye, the three of them arrived above the Human Emperor’s Hall. Amid endless auspicious clouds, they slowly descended.

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After receiving the report, Yu naturally did not dare to delay. He immediately summoned numerous human ministers to welcome them.

“Yu, Human Emperor, pays his respects to the three Saints.”

Surrounded by countless people, Yu gave the Three Pure Ones a slight bow. As for the other human ministers, they were naturally not granted such an honor. The instant the Three Pure Ones descended, they all knelt in worship.

“The Human Emperor need not be so formal.”

Laozi glanced indifferently at Yu before going straight to the point.

“We three have come because of the recent remarks arising among humanity that are detrimental to our teachings. May we ask whom the Human Emperor heard these things from?”

“This…”

Yu hesitated. Yet under the pressure of the three Saints, he naturally did not dare to deceive them. After struggling for a moment, he finally turned his gaze toward Ran Deng.

“Ran Deng pays his respects to the three Saints.”

Seeing this, Ran Deng could only step out from the crowd and bow respectfully. At that moment, he was extremely anxious, so much so that he did not even dare raise his head.

“Hmph!”

Tongtian was already in an exceedingly foul mood, and upon seeing Ran Deng, he could not help giving a soft snort.

That single snort nearly caused Ran Deng to collapse completely. He cautiously lifted his head and glanced over. Only after seeing that Tongtian was not looking at him did he let out a long breath of relief.

“Were you the one who incited the Human Emperor to disparage our Three Teachings?” Laozi asked, casting Ran Deng a calm glance.

Yet those placid words rang in Ran Deng’s ears like a thunderclap.

Confronted by three Saints glaring at him like tigers watching their prey, Ran Deng decisively surrendered. He hurriedly knelt on the ground and said in a trembling voice, “I was careless for a moment and mistakenly believed the rumors. I beg the three Saints to forgive me…”

The Three Pure Ones looked at Ran Deng’s disgraceful appearance with disdain, but naturally had no intention of wasting more time on such a person.

“If these were merely rumors, then we ask the Human Emperor to clarify the matter at once,” Yuanshi said, glancing at Yu.

“Yes.”

Yu hesitated, but could only cup his hands and agree.

After all, Ran Deng himself had admitted that they were rumors. Yu could not possibly risk offending three Saints by stubbornly clinging to the matter.

“And as for that heretical Western Church,” Tongtian added at once, “to prevent more innocent people from being deceived, we ask the Human Emperor to issue an order banning it immediately.”

Tongtian had never held the Western Church in high regard. Ever since Ran Deng had defected to it, his resentment had only grown more intense. Thus, he did not hesitate to take advantage of the situation and strike at the Western Church.

“I shall obey the Saint’s command…”

Yu glanced at Ran Deng. Seeing that Ran Deng had lowered his head and dared not speak, he could only nod.

At the same time, Yu felt somewhat disappointed in Ran Deng. He had never expected his teacher to be such a coward…

In an instant, the fairly favorable image Ran Deng had possessed in Yu’s heart collapsed completely.

…

“The Three Pure Ones are going too far!”

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In the lands of the West, Zhun Ti was furious when he learned what the Three Pure Ones had done.

After all, he was looking at the matter from an entirely different angle.

In Zhun Ti’s view, he had been racking his brains every day to develop his religion so that he could fulfill the grand vow he had made when attaining sainthood and bring the “World of Ultimate Bliss” down into the mortal realm. Now that the Western Church had finally begun to show some promise, the Three Pure Ones had forcibly made the Human Emperor declare it a heretical religion.

Was that not going too far?

Everyone was developing their own teachings by their own means. Why should they overturn the table simply because they were losing the contest?

However, just as Zhun Ti was preparing to seek out the Three Pure Ones and argue with them, the Three Pure Ones had already descended above the Western Church.

“Zhun Ti!”

From far away, Zhun Ti heard Yuanshi’s aggressive shout. His face flushed crimson with anger. This was his own sacred ground, where all his disciples and followers resided. Yuanshi had shown him no consideration at all—where was he supposed to put his face?

When the Three Pure Ones arrived above Zhun Ti’s sacred ground, Yuanshi looked down at him from the sky and said coldly, “Zhun Ti, from this day onward, your Western Church is forbidden from setting foot in the lands of the East. Otherwise, do not blame us for disregarding the fellowship we once shared in the Violet Cloud Palace.”

“You…”

Upon hearing this, Zhun Ti’s eyes widened in fury. He nearly lost control and attacked Yuanshi regardless of the consequences.

Fortunately, he retained his reason.

“Hmph. It seems you will not be satisfied unless we settle this by force?” Tongtian said with a cold laugh, his gaze turning sharply toward Zhun Ti below.

Zhun Ti’s heart was filled with resentment. Yet facing the three men of the Three Pure Ones, who watched him like tigers eyeing their prey, he could only submit. He lowered his head in humiliation and answered meekly, “Yes.”

“Behave yourself.”

Having obtained the result they wanted, the Three Pure Ones naturally had no interest in Zhun Ti’s feelings. They cast him a disdainful glance, then flashed away and vanished from the spot.

“Damn it…”

Zhun Ti clenched both fists. It took him a long while to barely calm the resentment in his heart. Then he threw back his head and let out a long, anguished roar.

“Heavens above, are you truly determined to destroy the West?”

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