Chapter 47: Junior Brother Xuan Kong, You Must Cultivate Good Speech

Early the next morning, as the first light of dawn broke through the sky, everyone left Floating Cloud County and went their separate ways.

From this, the news truly spread far and wide.

The fame of the True Truth Temple skyrocketed.

Although it had not yet been officially verified and approved by the Divine Dynasty, factions everywhere had begun privately regarding it as a major Taoist sect. Even the prominent noble clans were no exception.

In an ordinary dwelling south of Fengyang County City, the old man suffered another bout of vomiting blood. After the figure in the fog departed, a rumor began to circulate, claiming that the True Truth Temple possessed an overly murderous intent and harbored too much baleful energy, completely lacking the compassionate demeanor proper to the Taoist tradition.

Regarding this, worldly mortals held varied opinions.

Most Taoists simply smiled without a word.

Hutian Palace.

The viewing stands were divided into three tiers.

The first tier was occupied by minor factions and rogue cultivators.

The second tier was designated for noble clans, major sects, and powerful rogue cultivators.

The third tier belonged exclusively to the three supreme figures representing the Sun, Moon, and Stars.

The viewing stand for the True Truth Temple had been elevated. Although it still technically remained on the first tier, its position was noticeably higher than all the other stands around it.

Upon seeing this, Xuanxu and the others felt a mixture of astonishment and a sense of natural rightness.

After leaving the Immortal Woods Pavilion early that morning, they too had received the news, and both the senior and junior Taoists were overjoyed.

They had never expected that senior expert to be so formidable.

When a person attains the Dao, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

If the True Truth Temple had possessed only an ordinary True Person, meeting the requirements to rise into the ranks of the major Taoist sects would have still demanded fulfilling various other conditions.

However, now that the True Truth Temple boasted a Golden Core True Person, the situation was entirely different, warranting special handling.

Once the Dao Origin Assembly concluded and the Heaven and Earth Academy had the leisure to verify the credentials of the True Truth Temple and confirm the absence of any heretical ties, the temple would officially be elevated to a major sect, raising its status to even greater heights.

Sitting upright upon the viewing stand, Xuanxu, as the abbot, felt the most complex emotions of all. The mere thought that the goal the True Truth Temple had yearned for over a century was finally about to be realized left him trembling with excitement.

At that moment, aside from a lingering sense of unreality, he felt an even deeper sense of gratitude toward that unseen senior expert he had never met.

With this in mind, Xuanxu raised his gaze to look at the second tier.

Four of the viewing stands were completely empty; those were the reserved seats for the Mountain Dwelling Temple and the three other major Taoist sects.

Having tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used as bait, they no longer possessed the face to attend the Dao Origin Assembly.

Others cast glances in that direction as well, each harboring different thoughts.

Some felt pity, believing the True Persons of those four sects had been utterly foolish.

Some sneered in derision, equally convinced that the four True Persons had acted like fools.

Some felt sympathy, sharing the same thought that the four True Persons were foolish.

As for what the others were thinking, Xuanxu neither knew nor cared to probe further. Pulling his emotions back in, he smiled and turned his attention to the competitions unfolding below.

The hundred crafts of immortal cultivation demanded a tremendous expenditure of effort and painstaking care.

For instance, alchemy and artifact refinement could not be accomplished overnight; condensing pills or forging weapons required several days.

Since each participant made different choices, the duration varied. To accommodate the examinees, the Heaven and Earth Academy balanced the various timeframes, setting the total duration of the assessment to seven days.

Today happened to be the final day.

As the setting sun dipped below the horizon and the assessment drew to a close, the trial of the hundred crafts of immortal cultivation finally came to its conclusion, and the results were decided.

Although the True Truth Temple did not achieve results as astonishing as the previous round, its performance remained commendable. Among their ten disciples, two broke into the top hundred: Changqingzi and Chang'anzi.

Xuanyang excelled in artifact refinement, and Changqingzi, as his disciple, possessed no small mastery in the craft, relying on it to secure the ninetieth position.

Chang'anzi, on the other hand, specialized in talismanic arts and ranked fifteenth. Although he did not claim the championship crown, the achievement carried immense weight nonetheless.

Upon hearing his ranking, Chang'anzi ignored the varied gazes of the crowd around him, his heart overflowing with even deeper gratitude toward Uncle-Master Xuanming.

Before Uncle-Master had entered the Dao, he would frequently study Taoist scriptures by candlelight, rising early and sleeping late, forgetting to eat and sleep in his dedication. Concerned for his uncle's physical health, Chang'anzi had wrung his brain for solutions, yet the effects had always been negligible.

It was only when he tailored his efforts to his uncle's preferences—acCOMPANYing him in scripture study and practicing calligraphy—that he won his favor, and the situation finally began to improve.

Five years of practicing calligraphy with single-minded devotion.

Imperceptibly, his foundation had grown increasingly profound.

Characters and talismanic scripts shared a common origin; all myriad transformations stemmed from the same source. Through this interconnected understanding, Chang'anzi's grasp of the talismanic path progressed by leaps and bounds.

Especially after resolving to participate in the Dao Origin Assembly, he would squeeze out time amidst his rigorous cultivation to contemplate the Dao of talismans.

Following his breakthrough through destruction, he had even more time to refine his talismanic techniques. Coupled with the meticulous guidance of his uncle-master, he was able to stand out from the crowd.

The champion of the Dao-debate.

The fifteenth place in the hundred crafts of immortal cultivation.

As long as he could break into the top ten in the martial examination as well, securing a spot among the top ten of the entire Dao Origin Assembly should not prove difficult.

---

Floating Cloud Mountain, True Truth Temple.

The forces behind the three Great Cyclic True Persons arrived very swiftly.

The sole surviving True Persons of the Earth Spirit Temple, the Mountain Dwelling Temple, and the Clear Wind Temple did not pause once along their journey, arriving in person to pay a visit.

Even though only Xuantong received them throughout the entire visit, the three True Persons dared not find fault. Knowing their place well, they maintained a consistently amiable attitude.

Xuantong stood on no ceremony, smiling the entire time, yet every single word he uttered caused the three True Persons internal agony, successfully extracting a massive tribute from all three factions.

Once the latter departed with forced, unsightly smiles, Xuantong turned and headed toward Scripture Hiding Peak.

Because Xuanming was still wholly devoted to comprehending the Dao, immersed in that unique state of enlightenment, Xuantong did not disturb him excessively. He simply set down the items in his hands, concisely summarized the results, offered a Daoist salute, and departed.

Half a cup of tea later, inside the Inquiring Dao Pavilion.

Watching his jubilant, opportunistic junior brother leave, and then turning his gaze to the six volumes of jade slips resting upon the desk, Xuanming stroked his beard lightly and beamed broadly.

"Every art and profession has its own master; truly, it is just so."

Entrusting the matter to Junior Brother Xuantong had indeed been the right choice!

Not only had he extorted a vast amount of resources, but he had also secured six manuals of Qi-refinement insights—two from each of the three sects. Considering that even with their three deceased True Persons included, those major Taoist sects only ever possessed two True Persons each, this haul amounted to digging out a portion of their very foundations.

Even if these were only insights into the Great Cyclic realm, they were immensely precious. They were more than enough to vastly enrich the foundation of the True Truth Temple, making up for its traditional shortcomings in Qi-refinement heritage to a certain extent. If one disregarded other factors and looked purely at Qi-refinement insights and the teachings of True Persons, the temple now surpassed even ordinary major Taoist sects in this regard.

These six manuals of insights would also allow Xuanming to better compare the teachings of various schools, seeing the large through the small and discerning the whole from a glimpse. By absorbing the wisdom and essence of Qi-refinement from each school, taking their strengths to offset his own weaknesses, he could deepen his understanding of the Qi-refinement realm.

Clouds that are thick produce fierce rain; a bow that is strong shoots an arrow far.

The more accumulated he was, the greater his certainty in creating a new cultivation technique.

With a faint sigh of emotion, Xuanming did not rush to peruse them. Instead, he continued to bury his head in studying the three manuals he already had on hand, intending to thoroughly digest and comprehend them before examining the other six, cross-referencing them with his own observations, thoughts, and reflections.

Seeking the Dao and comprehending enlightenment were entirely different from resolving troubles. The latter emphasized cutting through a tangled hemp rope with a sharp sword, whereas the former demanded slow work to produce fine results—advancing from the shallow to the deep step by step.

Haste makes waste; rushing ahead only leads to ruin.

Slowness was a form of wisdom, as well as a form of cultivation.

Consolidating oneself, adjusting one's mindset, maintaining a steady rhythm, contemplating with a focused mind, and balancing exertion with rest—all of these were practiced within slowness and derived from slowness.

In his pursuit of mystery and comprehension of the Dao, Xuanming had always remained patient and meticulous.

As for the Suspended Heaven Temple, which produced the Golden Core True Person Hantian, he was in no hurry. Good soup takes time to brew, and when the time came for them to appear, they naturally would.

Should they truly choose to play deaf and dumb, it mattered little either.

It is not that retribution will not come; the time has simply not yet arrived.

When the opportune moment ripened, Xuanming would naturally pay them a visit to settle the accounts.

---

At the foot of Scripture Hiding Peak, recalling the events of entertaining the three True Persons today and gazing out at the lingering trace of crimson on the horizon, Xuantong felt exceptionally buoyant. "So True Persons aren't quite as terrifying as I once thought."
In the past, he had imagined True Persons as lofty and aloof figures with unyielding spines who would rather die than submit, radiating an otherworldly grace.
Now, he realized that True Persons could also bow their heads, assess the current situation, and greet others with smiling faces.
Those who could bend and stretch were equally capable of achieving the status of a True Person.
Before meeting them, Xuantong had intended to borrow the tiger's might as a fox; after the encounter, he suddenly found the whole affair rather devoid of interest.
At that moment, he understood many principles, shattered his inherent perceptions, and broke the fear lingering within his heart. His state of mind sublimated, and his spiritual power flowed smoother than ever before, as if he finally glimpsed the hope of perfecting his Dao foundation and caught sight of the threshold of Qi-refinement.
Feeling the transformation within himself, Xuantong could not conceal his joy.
When the Chen family had been annihilated, he shattered his mental barrier under the guidance of his senior brothers Xuanming and Xuanyin. Upon returning, he diligently sorted through his state of mind and comprehended the Yin-Yang Foundation Establishment chapter, thereby achieving perfection in refining his essence.
This time, he had broken through the barrier entirely on his own, parting the clouds and mists to elevate his state of mind to a higher level, catching a glimpse of an entirely different scenery.
Inside the straw hut of the Inquiring Dao Pavilion, Xuanming felt a subtle stirring at his desk. He raised his head to glance down the peak, stroked his beard, and laughed heartily.
"What a fine display of establishing one's intent and settling the mind to return to the true self."
Perhaps by next year, the True Truth Temple would welcome yet another True Person.
Xuantong's sudden clarity of mind and perception of his true nature did not surprise him.
Though clever people were prone to backing themselves into corners, this was precisely the manifestation of their proximity to the Dao, seeking wisdom and truth amidst extremes.
If one failed to comprehend it, they would plunge as if into an abyss, sinking deeper and deeper.
Once comprehended, however, their mind would become clear and serene, allowing them to perceive their true self.
Seeing Xuantong catch a glimpse of the grand scenery through his own efforts, Xuanming felt deeply gratified.
A single thread does not make a cord, a single tree does not make a forest.
The True Truth Temple belonged to all of them, not to him alone. He could temporarily hold up the sky for them, but ultimately, everyone had to stand tall together.
Only thus could the heritage of the True Truth Temple endure eternally, ensuring that once it ascended to the ranks of major Taoist sects, it would not merely be a flash in the pan.
A single flower blooming alone does not make spring; when a hundred flowers bloom together, spring fills the entire garden.
Pulling back his gaze, Xuanming resumed his comprehension.
His junior brother was striving hard; how could he afford to slack off?