Longzang

Chapter 951 Chickens and dogs ascend to heaven
After bowing three times, the world before Wei Yuan's eyes changed, and he suddenly found himself standing in the air, with endless mountains and rivers below. Countless people were working on the land, smaller than ants, just tiny dots, indistinguishable to the naked eye, and could only be perceived by divine sense.

Before Wei Yuan stood a young cultivator, looking down upon the world. Just from his back, Wei Yuan instinctively felt that this was the patriarch.

The young cultivator turned around and indeed saw the same appearance as his ancestor. Wei Yuan then understood that there was indeed a divine thought left behind by his ancestor hidden in the statue.

Wei Yuan looked around curiously, only to find that the area was empty, with neither palaces nor thrones or immortal mountains, which was completely inconsistent with the identity of the ancestor.

Although only a divine thought remained, the strength of the Primordial Ancestor of the Primordial Palace at the last moment was probably enough to overwhelm the world. Even a mere divine thought could slowly evolve into a small grotto-heaven. Such a barren space is truly unbecoming of an ancestor.

The patriarch seemed to know what Wei Yuan was thinking. He pointed, and a quiet courtyard appeared before them, consisting of a main hall and two side rooms. There was a deep spring in the courtyard, which served as decoration.

"This is the place where I will pass away in peace, and I still feel a little nostalgic about it."

Seeing this small courtyard, Wei Yuan finally understood why the two immortal lords, Yan Shi and Ting Hai, had such a fondness for creating small courtyards.

However, as the Taichu Palace flourished and more cultivators joined, the number of cultivation paths increased, and the styles gradually became more diverse. For example, True Lord Xuan Yue was obsessed with building the Azure Sky Hall, the more magnificent the better, which completely contradicted the ancestor's teachings.

Take, for example, the current view of creation, where the subjective use of materials is incredibly extravagant. The Heavenly Mystery Hall, on the other hand, simply refined the entire hall into a magical artifact.

Compared to the place where the patriarch finally passed away, a single meditation room in Wei Yuan Immortal City is larger than the entire courtyard here. The small courtyard, along with the surrounding land, could fit into the main hall of the council.

Seeing this, Wei Yuan felt somewhat guilty, but not much.

The main reason is that this is considered standard equipment in the Immortal City; everyone has one, and people often decorate and maintain it themselves when they have free time. The residences of Cui Yu, Bao Yun, Xiao Yu, and Xu Henshui are all radiant with precious light.

At this moment, the young cultivator formed from divine thought said, "What is cultivation? Some say that if one is a king, the world serves one person. But if one becomes an immortal, heaven and earth serve one person. Therefore, immortals are truly thieves of heaven and earth. When one person becomes an immortal, a region withers. When many people become immortals, a world falls into silence. Do you agree?"

This question was somewhat unexpected for Wei Yuan, but after thinking about it, he said, "Heaven and earth are impartial, and all living beings have spirits. The so-called impartiality means that the Great Way will operate as it should. For example, grass and trees will grow on fertile soil, and as grass and trees grow, the land will naturally become barren. This is the Great Way. But the grass and trees have no fault, and we cannot blame them for this."

Furthermore, we are sentient beings, and we should view this matter from the perspective of sentient beings. To be more specific, as human beings, we should speak from the perspective of humans. Currently, countless mortals in the world suffer from hunger and cold, and only one in ten thousand can embark on the path of cultivation. Even those who have established a foundation for cultivation often face insufficient sustenance, resulting in slow progress, and they can only watch helplessly as their lifespans deplete, unable to advance any further.

It is absurd that many local Taoist temples can claim to be their ancestors, but this is actually a tragedy.

In this world, the vast majority of mortals are still struggling to eat and wear, and the vast majority of cultivators can only drift along, struggling desperately! You can't see so many things, yet you insist on worrying about the world. Isn't this cultivator you're talking about too idle? Isn't his cultivation insufficient? With this time for pointless whining, wouldn't it be better to develop mathematics, or lower the threshold for cultivating the Dao?

The young cultivator was stunned, completely unexpected to receive such an answer.

Wei Yuan, still not finished, added, "When those immortals were summoning wind and rain, plucking stars and seizing the moon, traveling the four seas, and consuming rare elixirs, they didn't share any benefits with the world. Now that the world is barren, they expect us mortal cultivators to share the burden? If I were the world, I would first use heavenly tribulation to kill them!"

The young cultivator opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

Wei Yuan realized he had said too much and quickly tried to smooth things over: "Of course, I wasn't talking about you! You established the mountain gate and laid the foundation for the eternal Taichu Palace. You have truly done a great service! Without you, where would we be today?"

As Wei Yuan spoke, he secretly observed the Patriarch's expression. What if the Patriarch really got angry? Wouldn't the benefits he might be about to gain vanish? That was absolutely unacceptable!

Moreover, the more Wei Yuan thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Could the immortal friend mentioned by the patriarch be himself? But upon further reflection, Wei Yuan felt it was unlikely. The core of the patriarch's past deeds could be summed up in two words: fierce and decisive. There was no time for such hesitation.
The young cultivator finally recovered his senses, gave Wei Yuan a deep look, and said, "In my past life, I have committed countless killings. You could say that I have spent my entire life fighting against heaven and earth and against alien races. All four immortal swords were forged using the souls and bodies of alien races. Therefore, to alien races, I am no different from demons. As far as heaven and earth are concerned, I have not done anything of merit."

"That's not quite right..." Wei Yuan blurted out, but realized his mistake as soon as the words left his mouth, and quickly shut up.

The young cultivator smiled slightly and said, "I am merely a divine thought, and I have no reward for you. I am only helping you to sort out your own Dao heart. Please feel free to say what you want to say."

Wei Yuan was taken aback: "No reward?"

The young cultivator spread his hands and said, "Look at what I have left here. Even if I left something behind back then, thousands of years have passed. It would have been taken out and used by the younger generation long ago. How could it have been left until now?"

Wei Yuan asked with skepticism, "Then what about the gift from the patriarch back then?"

"You were just starting out then, and you didn't have any cultivation. Increasing your aptitude wouldn't cost much. The gift given every five years is enough to rely on the sect's own accumulation; it's just a little bit of spiritual energy."

"So that's how it is!" Wei Yuan wasn't disappointed. Now that he possessed the Azure Netherworld, he didn't care about ordinary immortal treasures. Hearing that there was no reward, Wei Yuan, being free from desires, relaxed his attitude and said, "Then I'll tell you the truth!"

The young cultivator smiled and said, "Speak freely." Wei Yuan, no longer holding back, said, "The alien races have oppressed humanity for hundreds of thousands of years. Before we had immortals, they could kill and eat as they pleased! Now, humanity has only just become strong, but looking across the world, the vast majority of mortals are far from being well-fed, and cultivators are also struggling. We humans are far from being well-off; how can we have the time to care about what the alien races think, or even sympathize with their plight? Isn't that just being idle and having too much free time?"

"Now that all four realms are at war with foreign races, these idle people should be sent to the battlefield first! Or they could be sent to the foreign races, but I'm afraid they won't accept them!"

The young cultivator chuckled and said, "Aren't you afraid that the friend I'm talking about is myself? Aren't you insulting me as well?"

Wei Yuan said firmly, "Those are definitely your friends, not you!"

"Oh, why do you say that?"

Wei Yuan said, "I have read all the historical records of our sect. If you were that kind of person, you wouldn't have brought back the head and spirit core of the First Heavenly Witch and buried them under the mountain gate back then. You would have started with eight thousand miles of treasure land. How could any human immortal be so rich?"

Of course, you may have said some things in your later years that showed sympathy for other races, but I believe that was absolutely crocodile tears..."

Wei Yuan immediately covered his mouth! For some reason, his mouth seemed unusually eager to express itself in front of the Ancestral Master's divine sense today.

The young cultivator could no longer contain himself and burst into laughter, a hearty laugh that shook the heavens and earth... making Wei Yuan uneasy.

After laughing for a while, the young cultivator finally said, "Then let's get back to the original topic. What do you think cultivation of immortality should be like?"

At this moment, Wei Yuan's mind flashed back to the refugees he had seen in his childhood Wei family mansion, the refugees who resorted to cannibalism, and the impoverished people of Quliu Town in the Western Regions, who were immersed in sewage all day long and had numb faces. He also thought of the millions of refugees he had taken in over the years. Although these people had different faces, they all had the same expression: despair.

Although the outer world was destroyed, the fleeting glimpse of wealth and prosperity among ordinary people in the illusion had deeply shocked Wei Yuan. How could a world without immortals be so prosperous, while the mortals of this realm, with its many immortals, were so impoverished, with even porridge a luxury?
Wei Yuan asked, "If I can ascend to immortality, will I also possess my own celestial realm?"

"That's natural. Your inner world rises to the heavens, that is, the celestial realm."

Wei Yuan nodded and said, "If I were to ascend to immortality, I would either bring down the celestial realm and transform the mortal world into the celestial realm, or I would elevate all the mortals under my rule to the celestial realm. Therefore, my purpose in cultivating immortality is: 'When one attains the Dao, even one's chickens and dogs ascend to heaven!'"

Upon hearing this, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a bright light around him. A beam of light appeared out of nowhere and fell on the earth below, gilding the mountains and rivers with a golden glow.

Seeing such a strange change in the heavens and earth, Wei Yuan was greatly alarmed and hurriedly looked up at the sky, searching for traces of the tribulation clouds. Based on past experience, the heavenly tribulation must already be on its way, and it would be a strange and unusual one, specifically targeting the weak points.

But the beam of light slowly faded, the earth's radiance remained, and the heavenly tribulation did not arrive. Wei Yuan looked at the sky in confusion, but he absolutely refused to believe that Heaven would show mercy.

Seeing Wei Yuan's expression, the young cultivator couldn't help but burst into laughter again, then said, "I haven't laughed as much in all these hundreds of years combined as I have today. Actually, a million years ago, the principle of impartiality between heaven and earth might have made some sense, but as generations of powerful beings have continuously merged with the Dao, the Great Dao of heaven and earth that you see now definitely has a temper. You can't speak carelessly, or you might get struck by lightning, hahahaha!"

The young cultivator laughed for a while before stopping, showing no restraint whatsoever, which made Wei Yuan's impression of the ancestral master's aura fade considerably.

After laughing enough, the young cultivator asked again, "Your path naturally grants you a great deal of fortune. How do you plan to use it?"

Wei Yuan said, "The path of destiny is truly governed by great cause and effect, and cannot be acted upon recklessly. In my opinion, it should be taken from the people and used for the people."

With a deafening roar, the long-awaited thunderclap finally subsided, and a bolt of lightning that stretched for thousands of miles illuminated the entire sky!

The young cultivator said, "It's complete only with this sentence. Alright, go and choose your grotto-heaven now. Based on the great vow you just made, there is something that is exceptionally suitable for you."

"Wait, did I just make a great vow?" Wei Yuan suddenly sensed something was wrong.

With a mere flick of his sleeve, the young cultivator transformed the scenery before Wei Yuan, returning him to the main hall. He had just finished his final kowtow and hadn't yet fully risen. So much had been said, yet only a fleeting moment had passed in reality.

A middle-aged Taoist priest with an otherworldly air came to Wei Yuan's side and said, "Junior brother, please come with me. The ancestral treasury has been opened."

The ancestral treasury of the Taichu Palace is situated atop a suspended mountain, magnificent and imposing. Wei Yuan landed on the plaza, and the main hall doors opened automatically. The middle-aged Taoist priest stepped back, gesturing for Wei Yuan to enter and make his own selections.

Wei Yuan entered the treasure vault with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. Inside, it was a completely different world, a veritable grotto-heaven. Countless jade platforms and crystal shelves were scattered throughout the immortal mountain, each a scenic view in its own way.

The hundreds of jade platforms and shelves should have been filled with treasures, but the storeroom was empty. All the shelves and platforms were bare except for a simple, ancient lotus lamp, which floated quietly in the center of the storeroom.

(End of this chapter)