These immortals…

Li Changshou’s expression grew grave as he waved his hand. A golden light flashed out from Little Jade Peak as his main body in the thatched cottage gripped a wooden whip.

The God-Beating Whip.

Holding the God-Beating Whip, streams of information flowed into Li Changshou’s mind, revealing the names of the immortals who had just entered the Conferment Platform, and even their corresponding god positions.

Severance Teaching disciple Wu Xu, his name revealed on the God Conferment Register, was to become the Heaven Speed Star of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Generals.

Severance Teaching disciple Li Xian, her name revealed on the God Conferment Register, was to become the Heaven Wealth Star of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Generals.

Severance Teaching disciple Yao Gongpa, his name revealed on the God Conferment Register, was to take the position of the House Sun Rabbit among the Twenty-Eight Constellations, belonging to the Eastern Azure Dragon Constellation.

There were also Severance Teaching disciples Tang Tianzheng, Liu Da, Zhang Zhixiong, Sun Yi, Song Geng, and Enlightenment Teaching disciples Daoist Fangling, Daoist Dengtian…

Their bodies were dead but dao was not extinguished, they entered the Conferment Platform.

Incidentally, Li Changshou saw the circumstances of these immortals’ battle before death.

Lights filled the sky!

Several hundred figures from the Severance Teaching rushed in from the East Sea;

The Enlightenment Teaching side deployed a great formation, seemingly well-prepared, with masters like Red Essence and Daoist Manjusri making decisive moves, directly striking the Severance Teaching’s ambush, and catching them off guard.

But the casualty ratio wasn’t too extreme – the Enlightenment Teaching suffered dozens of casualties, while the Severance Teaching’s casualties were about twice that.

Among the souls entering the Conferment Platform, however, the Severance Teaching had the advantage.

Within the Platform, the Severance Teaching immortals were bloodthirsty, immediately wanting to exact cruel revenge on the souls of those three Enlightenment Teaching immortals.

Li Changshou’s consciousness immediately returned to his paper avatar on the Platform as he shouted:

“Wait!”

Several soft pops were heard as over ten beams of light struck these immortals;

Their immortal bodies were instantly filled with immortal light, each standing motionless as the anger in their eyes quickly receded, their gazes at each other becoming incredibly complex.

As if purified by the light.

One person said: “Ah since we’ve already died and lost our dao once, let the past go with it.”

Another immortal god said: “Why must we fight and kill? We all originated from the same Dao School. Now that we’ve escaped the Great Catastrophe, there’s no reason for opposition.”

“When will fighting and killing end? Grudges and grievances bring such chaos.”

“Only mutual tolerance can lead to harmonious prosperity.”

“One Great Wilderness, One Dream.”

Then, these dozen or so figures joined hands, singing praises of the Three Pure Ones and the Ancestral Master, Nuwa and Pangu, creating such a harmonious scene that black lines gradually consumed the forehead of Li Changshou, who had been about to shout.

This was so… cringe?

Forced reconciliation was the most fatal.

Heaven’s Way towards living beings… no, after entering the Conferment Platform, they had become part of Heaven’s Way’s sequence, completely driven by Heaven’s Way, their original natures altered…

How strong could an immortal be when only a remnant soul remained after death?

The Ancestral Master’s move was indeed formidable, taking such pains for Heaven’s Way’s stability and for these immortal gods to serve contentedly in the Heavenly Court in the future.

One had to admire it.

Li Changshou didn’t say much, thinking briefly before still sending his nearest paper avatar to where the Enlightenment and Severance Teachings were confronting each other, to see if his mediation was needed.

The first battle between the two teachings having such great losses truly exceeded Li Changshou’s expectations.

It was also habitual thinking, believing the Ancestral Master would maintain the original God Conferment script, not expecting him to think divergently and dismantle the script himself.

An Ancestral Master who focused only on results and not process was truly more troublesome than before.

Hiss—

Could it be the Ancestral Master already knew what his trump card was? So he was anxious?

Li Changshou pondered for a moment, feeling he should still be more stable, acting as if Lord Ancestral Master didn’t know his trump card, maintaining his current tone.

No choice, the odds of victory were still too low.

The more such moments came, the more one needed to maintain sufficient patience while still being able to endure.

The transformation between initiative and passivity often happened in unnoticed moments.

Why did such a large-scale battle break out today?

This traced back to when Shi Ji left her cave but ultimately came down to Li Jing’s special status.

Adopted son of the Grand White Star.

With the previous dragon-suppressing incident, Li Jing and his sons had become celebrities in the Great Wilderness, and Chen Tang Pass had become an eye-catching place.

Though half a year had passed, Chen Tang Pass’s daily tone remained one of recovery, construction, grain transport, and troop stationing, but immortals’ attention to this place hadn’t diminished.

This led to Bi Yun being accidentally killed by Nezha’s arrow, and when an enraged Shi Ji met Nezha on her way to Chen Tang Pass, the senior disciples of both Severance and Enlightenment Teachings made the same judgment.

[This is bad.]

Today would likely see fighting!

Both teachings chose the same approach – core disciples wouldn’t appear first, letting somewhat peripheral but capable Saint’s disciples clash first to test the waters.

The Enlightenment and Severance conflict was inevitable.

This was already the consensus accepted by both teachings’ immortals after the Western Teaching’s complete paralysis.

For senior disciples managing teaching affairs like Duobao and Guangcheng, making decisions was quite difficult with too many concerns, afraid one careless move would fall into the Great Catastrophe’s trap.

Everyone wanted to preserve their side’s strength, no one wanted their fellow disciples to die.

Speaking of Lady Shi Ji confronting Nezha, Nezha didn’t know how to explain, only saying he was practicing archery, had no ill intent, and was willing to take responsibility, accepting any punishment.

Li Changshou, holding the God-Beating Whip, naturally saw the cause and effect.

Shi Ji must have been influenced by catastrophe fate then, her liver fire rising as she directly said she would severely punish Nezha and go to Chen Tang Pass to hold Nezha’s father accountable.

Nezha immediately became anxious.

Last time he killed a young dragon, and when that dragon’s family came, they destroyed half of Chen Tang Pass. It had only been repaired seven or eight-tenths over the past half year.

This Shi Ji appeared to have profound cultivation – if she burned down Chen Tang Pass with one fire, wouldn’t that implicate everyone again?

“I did this – auntie, if you want to hit me I’ll take it, if you want to kill me then let’s fight. I had no ill intent and had no grudge with your disciple. If you want to take my life for this, I won’t accept it!”

“Such a glib tongue!”

Shi Ji was furious, drawing her White Bone Sword and holding her Nine-Section Whip as she berated Nezha: “Who’s your auntie!”

“Uh… grandma?”

“You little brat, I’m going to beat you today!”

Shi Ji was about to strike when True Lord Taiji, who had been hiding to the side, couldn’t help but jump out and mock Shi Ji a few times.

What happened after was as Shi Ji had said – she moved to strike Taiji, and Taiji steeled his heart and directly summoned the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover.

But what was different was that when the Divine Fire Cover’s light flickered, beams of light were already crossing the sky as immortals from both Enlightenment and Severance Teachings witnessed this scene.

Shi Ji was more or less a number one figure in the Severance Teaching – how could they let her be killed like this?

The Severance Teaching immortals were immediately enraged, wanting to kill Taiji, but this True Lord smiled calmly and said:

“The Great Wilderness has thousands upon thousands of virtuous acts, half belonging to Severance Teaching friends. Shi Ji struck at this poor Daoist – surely you don’t expect me to just stand there and be hit?”

The Severance Teaching crowd denounced Taiji for his sophistry, and the first great battle between the two teachings thus began.

By the time Li Changshou’s paper avatar arrived, the crowd of immortals had already withdrawn, dividing into east and west positions as Guangcheng and Duobao both appeared, confronting each other at the front of their formations.

Before the two teachings’ formations, dozens of corpses had been carried back by immortals from both sides.

Those who could enter the Conferment Platform were still a minority. The Enlightenment Teaching’s casualties were mostly insignificant peripheral disciples, while the Severance Teaching had truly lost several experts to ambush.

But Li Changshou didn’t step forward. After brief consideration, he calmly sat cross-legged on a cloud, taking out a silk scroll and slowly unrolling it to write something on it.

The immortals from both teachings were puzzled but couldn’t see through the dao rhyme around Li Changshou, all guessing this was necessary work for the administrator of god conferment.

Which side to help?

Neither side could be helped.

The Severance Teaching side had none of his close friends, and the Enlightenment Teaching side didn’t have many of his acquaintances either.

Think about when the Dragon Clan suppressed Chen Tang Pass – how wonderfully timed was the Enlightenment Teaching immortals’ arrival? Just when Li Jing and others were about to break, the Dragon Clan’s sharp momentum had been damaged and the Heavenly Court had stirred.

And today?

As soon as Lady Shi Ji left her cave, she must have activated a teleportation formation to reach here in such a short time.

The Enlightenment and Severance Teachings were evenly matched, having now shifted from the stance of the Dao School to their individual sects’ stances.

This was normal for immortals and wasn’t unreasonable, but Li Changshou still felt somewhat depressed, after all, he had spent so much energy earlier trying to build team spirit.

Ideals indeed couldn’t withstand reality’s first blow.

So Li Changshou didn’t plan to speak today, only quickly sketching down the immortal gods from both sides as a record.

His presence here represented the Human Teaching’s neutral stance.

Guangcheng’s expression was cold as he stood with hands behind his back, saying firmly: “Could it be the various Severance Teaching friends can no longer endure? First, eliminate the West, then eliminate Kunlun, to become the Great Wilderness’s greatest teaching?”

Duobao sighed, his oily shining face full of bitter smiles.

“Why must fellow Daoists speak thus? Must you place blame on our Severance Teaching? With the Great Catastrophe ahead, we both know what’s determined in our hearts, so why put on such an act? It truly makes this poor Daoist feel ashamed. Today, our Severance Teaching suffered heavier casualties, and Shi Ji was even burned alive by fellow Daoist Taiji – how should we speak of this?”

Regarding the teachings’ fate, True Lord Taiji rarely spoke seriously, but he immediately stepped forward half a step on his cloud and said calmly:

“Show me the respect of one foot, and I’ll return respect of ten feet. Since fellow Daoist Shi Ji struck at this poor Daoist, she should have considered whether she could withstand my counterattack.”

Behind Duobao, Holy Mother Wudang stepped forward half a step and said coldly: “Junior Sister Shi Ji first lost her disciple and naturally had emotions. Fellow Daoist, striking so ruthlessly, have you truly remembered the matter of the three Dao teachings being one family?”

True Lord Taiji gave an embarrassed laugh: “This poor Daoist didn’t want to strike Shi Ji fatally, but my Divine Fire Cover has one flaw – it specifically burns karmic obstacles.”

“You!”

Guiling frowned and lightly rebuked: “Fellow Daoist Taiji, this poor Daoist truly misjudged you. You’ve already gained the advantage, yet still slander Junior Sister Shi Ji!”

“This poor Daoist merely speaks the truth,” Taiji’s sleeves swayed as a strand of golden light spread out, “These are the merits gained from burning Shi Ji to death, which this poor Daoist returns in full. If what I say is false, let Purple Heavenly Thunderstrike.”

Everywhere in the sky remained perfectly quiet, without the slightest disturbance.

Most of the Severance Teaching crowd fell silent, but their anger hadn’t subsided.

Indeed, many disciples within their teaching had insufficiently pure backgrounds, with many inglorious pasts, leaving them somewhat less confident.

But with the killing catastrophe fallen and immortal blood spilled, how could they turn back, and how could they bow their heads?

Duobao sighed: “Guangcheng, this poor Daoist will call you Senior Brother once more, and ask once more today. How shall we pass through this Great Catastrophe?”

Guangcheng’s eyes were half-lowered as he said calmly: “Each by their ability, each seeking their opportunity.”

“Very well, this is what you’ve chosen, Senior Brother.”

Duobao spoke firmly: “From today, our Severance Teaching immortals must not rashly leave our various immortal islands. If anyone leaves the islands and dies losing their dao in the Great Catastrophe, it shows their heart was unsettled, and has nothing to do with the Severance Teaching. But from today, if we don’t leave our islands yet Enlightenment Teaching immortals still come to kill our brothers and sisters on the islands! The entire Severance Teaching shall together attack Kunlun!”

Guangcheng opened his eyes, divine light surging in their depths: “Very well.”

“Let’s go,” Duobao said coldly.

Taiji showed some helplessness as he stepped back twice, standing with hands behind his back among the Enlightenment Teaching immortals.

The Severance Teaching immortals’ gazes carried hatred and unwillingness, but they could only swallow this bitter fruit for now, taking up the corpses of their fallen immortals and transforming them into streams of light shooting toward the nearest immortal island sanctuaries.

The Enlightenment Teaching crowd stood quietly for a while. Seeing no one speak, Guangcheng gathered the Enlightenment Teaching corpses and raised his hand in a gesture, as one by one the Enlightenment Teaching immortals rode clouds back to the Central Divine Continent.

Only three figures remained: Nezha, Taiji, and True Lord Yuding.

Incidentally, Li Jing was still on his way riding a cloud.

Nezha asked softly: “Master, did I… cause big trouble again?”

“Don’t think nonsense,” Taiji raised his hand to push Nezha’s head, “You weren’t wrong. You don’t understand these things yet – you’ll understand when you grow up.”

True Lord Yuding gave a light sigh, not saying much.

Taiji looked toward Li Changshou, but Li Changshou only smiled and nodded, showing no intention to speak.

The two Enlightenment Teaching True Lords understood, also knowing it wasn’t convenient to converse with Li Changshou now. They made ceremonial bows to Li Changshou and rode clouds with Nezha toward Chen Tang Pass.

With the Enlightenment and Severance sides already in full conflict, any team building Li Changshou might do now would be useless.

Nezha turned his head to look at Li Changshou’s figure sitting on the cloud and said softly: “Isn’t that the adopted grandfather who helped us that day? Why didn’t he help us today?”

True Lord Taiji smiled bitterly: “Because what we did today can’t be called right. Your adopted grandfather distinguishes between public and private matters – he only stands on the right side.”

“Then, did we do wrong?”

“Can’t say it was wrong either,” True Lord Yuding said gently, “Things in this world don’t have absolute right and wrong – often we can only make choices.”

Little Nezha was full of confusion and clicked his tongue.

“Don’t think too much,” Taiji looked toward the East Sea, “That the Severance Teaching could still step back today was already the height of benevolence. Compared to them, we just seemed a bit too ruthless.”

True Lord Yuding said: “With the Severance Teaching’s ten thousand immortals coming to court, Senior Brother Guangcheng was somewhat helpless too.”

“Indeed,” light flickered in Taiji’s eyes, “Otherwise, this poor Daoist wouldn’t have taken the chance to kill Shi Ji today. In this Great Catastrophe, one ultimately can’t be soft-hearted. Junior Brother, why don’t you temporarily move your cave dwelling to Mount Qianyuan? We can live closer to look after each other.”

True Lord Yuding: …

At the site of the great battle between Enlightenment and Severance, where some spirit energy vortexes remained.

Li Changshou slowly stood up. After some thought, he wrote a rather distinctive title on the completed scroll.

‘God Conferment Chronicle: The Split’

In the scroll, nearly a thousand immortals from both Enlightenment and Severance confronted each other, corpses suspended and immortal blood staining the air.

He changed the clear sky and earth to a dusky yellow, adding fierce beasts behind the immortals of both teachings, while the ground beneath their feet was a stretch of grey.

Heaven’s Way manipulates, living beings’ private desires;

Each for themselves, positions in dispute.

This was the God Conferment Great Catastrophe.

Living beings’ evil had been stirred up by Heaven’s Way, and immortal gods were just two words: catastrophe ash.

Great Wilderness, divine abilities, magical power, immortals, and saints.

Speaking of it all, they still couldn’t escape the two words “human nature,” couldn’t escape what lay between ethics and principle.

“Enough.”

Li Changshou shook his head as a door slowly closed in his dao heart. In the Li Manor’s back courtyard, the high-level servant paper avatar that had existed for so long silently dispersed into ash.

Just protect the Human Race.

…

On Little Jade Peak, Bell Spirit raised her hand to lightly tap the bronze mirror, and the scene upon it slowly dispersed.

Ling’e sat at the table with her chin propped up, somewhat lost in thought.

Youqin Xuanya said softly: “The battle between Enlightenment and Severance – is it truly irreversible?”

“This is the Great Catastrophe, sister,” Bell Spirit smiled, “Living beings are just like this. If every living being had an unstained dao heart, even if Heaven’s Way were stronger it could only destroy it.”

Ling’e said softly: “Fortunately Sister Yunxiao didn’t appear today, otherwise Senior Brother’s heart would surely have been unspeakably troubled.”

“I don’t think so,” Bell Spirit shook her head, “Yunxiao is ultimately a Severance Teaching disciple, and she values relationships – she’ll inevitably have to fight against the Enlightenment Teaching later. How to rescue Yunxiao is the difficult point.”

Youqin Xuanya said: “I remember Senior Brother once said the Jade Emperor had issued an edict that could exempt Immortal Yunxiao from entering the catastrophe.”

“That only exempts her from being driven by catastrophe fate,” Bell Spirit corrected, “Catastrophe fate driving those around her can still make her fall into the Great Catastrophe. Did you notice? The Enlightenment Teaching side is quite cold toward those fallen immortals because they didn’t have much interaction normally, each just cultivating on their own. The Severance Teaching side cares very much, with many immortals having impulses to fight to the death. Analyzing from this aspect, the final winner should be the Enlightenment Teaching.”

Youqin Xuanya frowned: “The Severance Teaching values relationships more, why…”

Ling’e shook her head lightly and sighed: “Relationships become shackles in the Great Catastrophe. Just now during the battle, many Enlightenment Teaching immortals glowed with merit light – this is the Severance Teaching’s biggest problem. They harbor too much filth. Just like bandits who rob and plunder in the mortal world – they also speak of loyalty to each other, but that loyalty doesn’t exempt them from their crimes.”

“Ling’e speaks well – you can’t judge people by just one aspect.”

The Chaos Bell’s Bell Spirit looked somewhat helpless as she smiled:

“Can I not suppress the Severance Teaching’s fate? Not necessarily. If I can’t suppress it in this instant, I can also borrow an instant before and after – triple the power of the Way of Years should be able to suppress the Severance Teaching’s fate. As long as I can suppress it for an instant, I can completely solidify their fate. That’s about the extent of my ability. But, I truly don’t dare and am somewhat unwilling. Let’s drink tea. Your Senior Brother has ways to resolve this – his calculations are probably more far-reaching than all the Saints. You needn’t worry – the Dao School’s vitality won’t be exhausted.”

Ling’e blinked and muttered softly: “Sister Bell, can you see what’s about to happen?”

“How could that be possible!”

Bell Spirit waved her hands repeatedly, “How could this small broken bell have that ability? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been kicked back to the Great Wilderness by your Senior Brother. Small broken bell, small broken bell, a small broken bell that can’t provoke anyone.”

As she spoke, Bell Spirit picked up her tea and took a sip, then let out a light breath.

Whew, almost chatted the bell to pieces.