Chapter 135: The Power of Comprehension

The shouts from the scene carried all the way outside the mountain gates. Having learned the details of what was happening inside the All-Phenomena Sect, the tens of thousands of cultivators were instantly invigorated, and the name Liu Junhuai echoed through the clouds, chanted in unison by the massive crowd.

If Liu Junhuai had made a name for himself in a single battle at Pingdu City when he was not even sixteen years old, then today, at the All-Phenomena Sect, the news of three Nascent Soul stage cultivators—in their early and middle phases—perishing because of him instantly transformed him into a hero in the hearts of countless people.

Feeling Mo Sitong's teasing gaze, Liu Junhuai's face flushed as red as two ripe apples.

Xiao Qingtian had not expected that simply reporting the battle situation factually would inadvertently build such a glorious image for Liu Junhuai. Although he felt somewhat that Liu Junhuai was overshadowing the host, upon second thought, he realized that fully utilizing the positive image Liu Junhuai had rapidly established could work wonders in expanding the Sect Alliance.

Xiao Qingtian pressed both hands downward, and as the atmosphere at the scene subsided slightly, he spoke in a resonant voice: "According to the grand assembly's agenda, Sect Master Liu will take the stage to speak a little later. Let us allow our hero to rest briefly before he comes out to meet you all again. Now, I invite the first leader of the Sect Alliance, Ren Yinhuai, to address us!"

Amidst a wave of applause, Ren Yinhuai stepped up to the podium. "I will skip the congratulatory remarks. First, delaying Sect Master Liu's audience with you all, I have several important matters to announce! I am Ren Yinhuai, the first leader of the Sect Alliance, and also the current master of the Heaven-Ocean Pavilion of the 出云谷 (Cloud-Exiting Valley). During our recent encirclements and suppressions of the Blood-Slaying Alliance, we discovered several hundred spies hidden among various sects!"

When Ren Yinhuai reached this point, the scene fell into absolute silence, with everyone craning their necks in anticipation of hearing familiar names.

"Most of these individuals have already been hunted down and eliminated. The specific roster will be notified to their respective sects by the Sect Alliance via letter. However, there are certainly still some unexposed cultivators hiding within the sects. The Sect Alliance is now offering a reward of one thousand medium-grade spiritual stones per spy. Once a report is verified beyond doubt, the reward will be delivered secretly to the informant, and the Sect Alliance will guarantee their personal safety henceforth.

"Now, on behalf of the Sect Alliance, I announce the alliance's first decree: any cultivation sect in the Western Territory that secretly colludes with the Blood-Slaying Alliance, once verified, shall be executed without mercy!" As soon as Ren Yinhuai uttered these words, his early Nascent Soul stage aura burst forth from his body, and the powerful pressure actually caused the surrounding void to freeze momentarily. His majestic and stern presence was truly awe-inspiring!

"Now, the execution of this first decree of the alliance will be personally carried out by me, as the current master of the Heaven-Ocean Pavilion!" With that, he shouted with explosive force: "Bring Haotian up!"

Amidst this murderous atmosphere, two Core Formation stage cultivators in the late phase escorted a disheveled middle-aged cultivator onto the stage.

"This is our Heaven-Ocean Pavilion's Second Elder, Haotian, possessed of late-phase Core Formation cultivation. As early as ten years ago, he entangled himself with the evil forces of the Blood-Slaying Alliance, and he currently holds the position of elder within the Blood-Slaying Alliance!" As his voice fell, Ren Yinhuai waved his hand downward, and with a flash of blades from the two late-phase Core Formation cultivators, Second Elder Haotian's body was severed into three pieces!

As the two late-phase Core Formation cultivators waved their hands to store away the body of Second Elder Haotian, Ren Yinhuai spoke up: "To be honest, Second Elder Haotian had good relations with many of our peers in the Heaven-Ocean Pavilion. Because of his dual-spiritual-root constitution, the sect even expended a great deal of cultivation resources to nurture him to the late Core Formation stage, and he rendered meritorious service to the Heaven-Ocean Pavilion on several occasions!

"However, the Heaven-Ocean Pavilion considers itself a righteous sect and will not allow a single black sheep to cause the downfall of an entire sect, just like the Yanfu Palace! Even if he has not yet had the chance to personally take the field for the Blood-Slaying Alliance, the Heaven-Ocean Pavilion cannot let him endanger the cultivation world. Here, I admonish those cultivators who have already joined or intend to join the Blood-Slaying Alliance—not as a sect master, but as an elder—that all evil forces can only wield their might temporarily. The Blood-Slaying Alliance's behavior of bullying the weak, wrapped in a layer of conspiracy while committing evils in secret, poses a tremendous hidden danger to the stable order of the cultivation world.

"As everyone knows, the existence of every living environment is supported by various distinct forces standing like the legs of a tripod. Mutual checks and balances are the normal rules of survival. Even if this survival rule is temporarily broken, it will not last long, because no force will ignore the destruction of the rules. These rules are the laws of nature; violating the laws of nature goes against the Heavenly Dao and is a shameful act intolerable to heaven and earth!

"Cultivation is not easy, and a safe and orderly cultivation environment is even harder to come by. I advise those dark-minded individuals that to make an enemy of the entire cultivation world will lead to a very miserable end for you, and will even implicate your sect and your family!" After Ren Yinhuai finished speaking, thunderous applause erupted from the audience, applauding Ren Yinhuai for executing righteousness above family loyalty, and for every single word of his being a pearl of wisdom!

Next, several sect representatives elected by the Sect Alliance took the stage in turn to share their original intentions and the significance of their sects joining the Sect Alliance.

Afterward, Xiao Qingtian stepped forward once more. "The founding assembly of the Sect Alliance has temporarily concluded. As one of the founders of the Sect Alliance, I am extremely excited about the All-Phenomena Sect joining us. Sect Master Liu Junhuai is young and promising, repeatedly acting as the trailblazer to shield the existence of the Sect Alliance. Today is also the joyous occasion of the All-Phenomena Sect's founding. Let us now invite the first Sect Master of the All-Phenomena Sect, Liu Junhuai, to the stage to speak!"

"Boom!" The cultivators at the scene instantly descended into uproar. Cheers and shouts rose one after another. Upon seeing Liu Junhuai's tall figure and handsome, striking features, countless young female disciples shrieked in high-pitched excitement.

Covering his awkwardness with a slight cough, Liu Junhuai imitated Xiao Qingtian by making a gesture of pressing both hands downward, but unfortunately, the shrieks from below only grew fiercer, and the VIP seating area behind Liu Junhuai burst into a chorus of laughter.

Fortunately, the moment Liu Junhuai began to speak, the various noises below abruptly ceased. "Thank you all for traveling tens of thousands of miles to come to the All-Phenomena Sect to attend this grand ceremony! My name is Liu Junhuai, and I am the current Sect Master of the All-Phenomena Sect. Having stepped into the cultivation world only a few years ago, if there are any moments of youthful arrogance on my part, I ask you all to forgive me!

"At the very inception of our All-Phenomena Sect, we established a twenty-four-character creed: Take loyalty as the priority, take righteousness as the foundation, take the prosperity and glory of the sect as one's own responsibility, and take the flourishing of our spiritual nature as the ultimate goal! The literal explanation of this passage is that every cultivator must first harbor a heart of loyalty and filial piety toward their sect, but this loyalty and filial piety must be built on the foundation of conforming to grand righteousness. Without the guarantee of supreme benevolence and righteousness, your so-called loyalty and filial piety can only be called blind obedience!

"The primary task of joining the sect is to help the sect achieve more enduring prosperity and glory, and to pass down its heritage forever! Once you have accomplished all of the aforementioned, the sect will bestow upon you the complete path of cultivation and resources. Regardless of your state of mind and the level of your realm, through your own efforts, you will achieve great accomplishment in cultivation, and ultimately attain the Dao to become an immortal!

"This is not merely a simple slogan of the All-Phenomena Sect. Within it lies both the awareness of being a disciple and the moral rules that a cultivator should abide by. Regardless of which aspect you violate, at the very least, your state of mind will achieve nothing.

"The reason why I, Liu Junhuai, am speaking of these things today is entirely inspired by my feelings regarding the Blood-Slaying Alliance. Putting aside what kind of organization the Blood-Slaying Alliance is and what deeds they have done, simply looking at how they treat the cultivation world, they lack even a shred of benevolence, righteousness, and morality. Their behavioral code in doing things is first and foremost calculated and scheming, using any means necessary to achieve their own ends.

"To cite a specific case, let us start with the tragic incident at the Dragon-Sacrificing Pool. In order to wipe out more of the living strength of the cultivation world, they released false news and laid a trap, and over a hundred cultivators actually hid at the bottom of the Dragon-Sacrificing Pool for three days and three nights. The consequences are known to all of us: our various sects lost three hundred and sixty talented disciples.

"According to the confessions of the many Blood-Slaying Alliance cultivators captured during this period, their ultimate goal is to sever the heritage of the sects. The venomous and ruthless nature of their hearts is thus evident! Can one who harbors such a mindset ever attain the Great Dao?

"What kind of world is this? The Dao is right beneath your feet, and every word and action of yours and mine is the practice of the Dao. The Dao is the fruit of karma and achievement; that is the Dao. To put it simply, what your and my eyes can see, and everything we use, are products of the Dao, differing only in names and forms. Whether it is the Buddha Dao, the Human Dao, worldly Dao, and all other named and formed things, they are all Dao. Dao is the collective term for all things, names, and forms.

"Whether one acts according to the principles of the Dao yields different results. If one adheres to the principles of the Dao, the world is peaceful and stable; if one abandons the principles of the Dao, the world plunges into chaos and warfare. If you act according to the laws of the Dao, the Dao will fulfill you. With a mindset like that of the Blood-Slaying Alliance, which so blatantly runs counter to the laws of nature and the Dao, what kind of achievements can they possibly attain in the future?

"I have discussed this issue with many seniors and teachers: since the actions of the Blood-Slaying Alliance violate the Heavenly Dao, why do they still do such things? The leaders of the Blood-Slaying Alliance are not foolish; their purpose in doing this is to plunder all the rare treasures of heaven and earth across the entire world and make them their own, which is why they delusionaly dream of dominating the entire cultivation world!

"It is only with these heavenly treasures and earthly resources that they can cultivate to higher realms, and the price paid is merely the lives of the cultivators beneath the leaders of the Blood-Slaying Alliance. Would you say the Blood-Slaying Alliance is an evil organization or not?" Liu Junhuai's lengthy discourse plunged the scene into a prolonged silence, with everyone pondering the meaning behind these words.

Even the heavyweight figures sitting in the VIP seating area, such as Mu Fanghe, Fang Yexu, Guan Zhaoyong, and Fang Keyin, were carefully savoring Liu Junhuai's words.

Even Mo Sitong, who had already heard Liu Junhuai's discourse a few times, felt a glimmer of new comprehension budding within her.

Seeing the cultivators present immersed in enlightenment, a bored Liu Junhuai simply stood on the spot and began circulating his true essence to cultivate.

I do not know how much time passed, but as a disciple of the All-Phenomena Sect in the audience began to softly recite the twenty-four-character sect creed, the people around him began to chant along.

Before long, more cultivators joined the ranks of recitation, and their voices grew increasingly loud and high-spirited.

Finally, countless cultivators began to loudly chant the twenty-four-character creed, which in turn evolved into everyone present joining in.

"Take loyalty as the priority, take righteousness as the foundation, take the prosperity and glory of the sect as one's own responsibility, and take the flourishing of our spiritual nature as the ultimate goal!" They repeated it over and over again, repeating it again and again......

At this moment, outside the mountain gates of the All-Phenomena Sect, tens of thousands of cultivators also began to chant loudly.

For a time, within a radius of several hundred miles around Misty Peak, their voices permeated everywhere.

This majestic and grand sound stirred ripples across the void, seeping into the heart and abdomen like Buddhist chants, penetrating the entire body, and leaving the mind crystal clear!