Chapter 823: If a Man Hears the Tao in the Morning, He May Die in the Evening!

"Sect Master... now... what should we do!?" Elder Xiao Yunhe asked, looking at Sect Master Feng Xuehe beside him.

At this moment, not only the Haotian Sect, but even the other great sects, along with Patriarch Xiaoyao and the others, rose from their seats one after another.

"I wonder what insights you seniors might have?" Even as the Sect Master of the Haotian Sect, Feng Xuehe had to show the utmost reverence to predecessors like Patriarch Xiaoyao, bowing slightly as he inquired.

Every face was grave.

"This is no small matter." They exchanged glances, an unprecedented solemnity settling over their features.

Patriarch Xiaoyao looked at the assembly from the Haotian Sect and said, "Recount what happened then once more, in full detail."

Before long, the few of them recounted everything that had transpired with the Mountain-Guarding Elder, Feng Yan, in the Ancestral Shrine, leaving out nothing.

Dugu Xiao, the black-robed elder of the Haotian Sect, spoke with bitter indignation: "These immortal tablets have been enshrined by our Haotian Sect for generations, receiving the incense of our devotion for thousands of years. Over these millennia, our sect has been on the brink of ruin multiple times, and we constantly had to guard against the incursions of those shrines in the Western Continent. We never received a shred of protection, and that would have been fine. Through all these years, our sect elders and masters have lived and died, and we somehow endured. We could have just treated them as non-existent!"

"But now..." Elder Dugu Xiao sneered, "just as our Haotian Sect is beginning to prosper, they coerce us with words and exert such crushing pressure."

"Bah! They simply cannot bear to see us thrive!"

"Yet now..." Beside him, the white-robed elder Xiao Yunhe sighed, "the tides are still against us... contending with such existences is like striking a rock with an egg. This matter... requires careful deliberation."

Patriarch Xiaoyao, Dugu Yi, and a few others exchanged looks, their eyes narrowing slightly.

...

Meanwhile, within the Jiuhua City store, the Half-City store, and various other branches.

The cultivators and warriors had clearly received the same message.

The Sect Master of the Taixi Sect, one of the Three Saint Sects, sat somewhat despondently within the grand hall of his sect.

"How many years has it been..." The old Taoist in purple robes gazed wistfully at the dark, heavy sky outside the hall, as if a catastrophic tribulation was brewing. It made one involuntarily wonder if it were true... that a single spark of divine wrath could completely overturn this world they relied on for shelter.

"I once dreamed of catching a glimpse of an immortal's visage, and today I finally have... and yet..." His face bore a melancholy and confusion he had never shown before.

Even a sect master of such a renowned and grand lineage sat staring blankly on the sofa at this moment, a chill seeping into his heart.

"Sever all ties with them, forget everything of the past, and you may yet find a path to survival."

It was a statement delivered with utter nonchalance.

To forget certain things was merely to return to the way things were before.

"Sect Master..." His eldest disciple, Ling Wanyin, wished to speak, but for a moment, she knew not what to say.

Indeed, in the store... they could not compare to those truly veteran customers. They were neither high nor low; perhaps the term 'insignificant figures' was meant precisely for people like them...

At this moment, she felt truly like an ant. If that ancient, colossal vessel laden with immortals and gods were to roll over them ever so lightly, they would turn to ash.

Others might have had a shred of confidence derived from the rewards in the store.

Yes, facing such existences, it was merely a shred of confidence.

But they lacked even that single shred.

Perhaps in the depths of their hearts, a voice kept bubbling up, saying: just give in this time... after all, those are true immortals... entirely different from the minor demons and monsters of the past. The height where those existences stood was the ultimate destination they had once dreamed of reaching!

And the compromise required of them was only to forget some delusions they should never have harbored, and live the same life they did years ago; that would suffice.

"To preserve oneself at such a small price, surely no one would fail to know how to choose..." Far away at the pinnacle of the void, the Sea of Ten Thousand Immortals billowed with celestial clouds, and the ethereal streams beyond the heavens glowed as brilliantly as brocade. At the Primordial Cliff, an incredibly grand celestial palace hung suspended in the air. Gui Ye stood within the hall, addressing the surrounding immortals with smooth eloquence and absolute certainty.

But...

As it happened, this was the very stretch of memory they were most unwilling to forget.

"Here, I have witnessed a vast world that I once dared not even imagine. Here, this old man understood the true meaning of being a cultivator, along with... many, many other things."

"Sect Master..."

The old man in the purple Taoist robe rose slowly from his seat: "Wanyin..."

His face seemed to have aged a few years more, yet a sudden light seemed to kindle within his turbid eyes: "I recall a saying, 'If a man hears the Dao in the morning, he may die content in the evening.'"

"My... memory isn't very good. Tell me... was there such a saying?"

"Yes," the most outstanding disciple of the Taixi Sect bowed and replied, "It comes from *The Analects: Li Ren* in the Library of the Shushan Faction, said to be a book recording the words and deeds of an ancient sage."

Leaning on an ebony cane and supported by his eldest disciple, Ling Wanyin, he walked to the front of the hall.

Suddenly, a crash of thunder erupted, and a bolt of stark white lightning exploded across the courtyard before them. Countless disciples of low cultivation hid in their rooms, trembling with fear.

"Today, I feel as though I too am such a... seeker of the Dao." His slightly hunched figure pointed toward the sky beneath the clawing, wild lightning, and he spoke to the heavens, "Then, can I not also die for it?"

Rumble!

The wind howled and the lightning danced wildly, sharply silhouetting the cultivator standing between heaven and earth, as if etching the magnificent, aspiring soul of a lifelong seeker of the Dao across the vast sky.

...

The Jiuhua City store.

"Draw a clear line...?" Several old cultivators of the Wuwei Daoist Alliance within the Jiuhua City store also looked outside involuntarily.

At this very moment, cultivators and warriors of lower strength dared not even step out the door, yet the interior of the store still retained a fair amount of bustle.

Even if... Mount Tai collapses before one's eyes, the color of one's face remains unchanged—such words were meant for people like them.

"What of immortals!? What of tribulations!?" Nalan Hongwu said coldly.

"If they dare bring down divine punishment, do they think we dare not strike back!?" In the Half-City store, the demoness Ning Bi displayed a fiercely menacing side she had never shown in the shop, like an ancient grand demon baring her grim fangs.

"What is there to fear!?" In the Yuanyang City store, Gu Tingyun remarked coldly.

"Dare to touch a single inch of my mortal land," by the shores of the Heavenly Abyss Sea, two dark silhouettes also revealed their chilling gazes, "and we shall make you repay it a hundredfold!"

On the Three-Power Ground, the old Sword Saint straightened the spine of a swordsman; only under a sword intent that neither heaven, earth, nor destiny could efface could that incomparably breathtaking strike exist.

As Qionghua plummeted, it was only that youth who declared "My fate is determined by me, not by heaven" who could achieve the miracle of bringing down Qionghua with a single arrow.

...

Though the memories had passed, they raised their heads from the vanished past and straightened their spines. This world had witnessed their growth—not just the growth of their power, but also the courage and mettle that cultivators and warriors ought to possess, to rise up and fight for their beliefs and the Dao they sought!