Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 319 Criteria for Accepting Disciples
After learning that the Boundless Heavenly Venerable had a successor, Wang Bo finally found an outlet for his pent-up hatred. Although he knew he was actually venting his anger, what could he do when the Boundless Heavenly Venerable was already dead, and they were his successors?
Since they have inherited the mantle of the Boundless Heavenly Venerable, they should naturally also accept this grudge.

Of course, Wang Bo didn't necessarily want to fight them to the death, but this matter still needed to be resolved. The best way was for them to fight among themselves and settle the score.

Moreover, in his battles with these two, Wang Bo had only three demands: fairness, fairness, and more fairness. After all, he himself had been killed by Wuliang Tianzun at a disproportionately high level, so he deeply abhorred such behavior. Now that he wanted revenge, he naturally wanted to defeat them in a fair competition.

If he wins, he will never use the level of a Daoist to suppress others like the Boundless Heavenly Venerable did after he attains Dao; even if he ultimately fails to win and allows one of them to attain Dao first, he can still use his Chaos Body to ignore the suppression and attain Dao, and have another overtime round.

In this way, no matter what the outcome, Wang Bo will be convinced and can accept the ending peacefully.

To achieve this situation, cooperation with Yuanshi Tianzun was an inevitable outcome.

According to Yuanshi Tianzun, Wuliang Tianzun's two successors had latched onto Wuji Tianzun's coattails. How could he, all alone, compete fairly with them?
Even if Yuanshi Tianzun said that Wuji Tianzun wouldn't take sides, the foundation that the two of them built with Wuji Tianzun's help would probably be incredibly strong. Even if he had a Chaos Body, he might not be able to gain an advantage at the starting line.

Furthermore, even though it's said that they won't interfere, can that Supreme Celestial Venerable really just watch them die? And can he really ignore the existence of the Supreme Celestial Venerable and go all out? Under these circumstances, how can fair competition be guaranteed?
Thus, the thought of becoming an apprentice arose in Wang Bo's mind, and he suddenly felt that the world had become vast and boundless.

To hell with pride, to hell with self-reliance! In this world, you need connections. If I had someone like Yuanshi Tianzun backing me up back then, would I have been afraid of Wuliang Tianzun bullying the weak?
Now, as long as he can become a disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun, he can be on a basically equal footing with the two disciples of Wuliang Tianzun under Wuji Tianzun. This will allow him to compete fairly by minimizing interference from external factors.

In the original timeline, Wang Bo, due to Ye Fan's presence, repeatedly held back when he could suppress Ye Xian in the early stages. Every time he went too far, Wang Bo would look up at the sky in fear, terrified that a Heavenly Emperor Fist would fall upon him. This could be considered a psychological trauma.

Now, if he had a powerful figure backing him up, he wouldn't need to worry about such things at all. In this situation, Wang Bo gained an unprecedented sense of security and peace of mind.

Moreover, becoming a disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun has other benefits, such as being able to further improve one's physique and Taoist skills by learning the mysteries of the Chaos Body and the laws of chaos that Yuanshi Tianzun comprehended.

In the original timeline, Wang Bo stole the Chaos Scripture created by Ye Fan during his battle with Ye Xian to perfect his own Dao, which is enough to illustrate the profoundness of the Chaos Laws. Even Wang Bo, who was born with a Chaos Body and was rebuilt, could not comprehend it.

Now, learning directly from Yuanshi Tianzun would be twice as effective. As a Chaos Body, Wang Bo didn't really need to consider forging his own path, since he only needed to continuously study the laws of chaos to pave a smooth road for himself.

He could have cultivated the Law of Chaos to its ultimate level before forging his own path. Because at least before attaining enlightenment, he simply couldn't have perfected the Law of Chaos.

Of course, another reason for Wang Bo's choice was that Yuanshi Tianzun clearly possessed absolute power; if he made a move, Wang Bo would have absolutely no chance to resist. Yet, despite this overwhelming advantage, Yuanshi Tianzun still chose to respect his opinion and persuade him through cooperation.

This is enough to show that Yuanshi Tianzun's character is reliable. At the very least, you shouldn't be scammed if you take him as your master.

Yuan Shi Fan was taken aback upon hearing this. Taking on disciples? He already had two disciples. His eldest disciple, Chuan Ying, had successfully forged his own path and would attain enlightenment in a future life.

Although the second disciple, the Emperor, has had his essence strengthened again under the nurturing of the five Creation Source Eyes, the Primordial Celestial Lord has not yet decided at what time he will be born. These two disciples demonstrate that the Primordial Celestial Lord has standards for accepting disciples.

First and foremost, one's innate physical constitution must be exceptional. All the Dao and Dharma created by the Primordial Celestial Venerable himself so far require a strong physique and a powerful life force to support them.

Secondly, he must possess extraordinary comprehension. After all, the Dao and Dharma of Yuanshi Tianzun are extremely difficult to master. If he doesn't meet this requirement, he won't even be able to grasp Yuanshi Tianzun's scriptures, so how can he be his disciple?
Secondly, one's character must also be impeccable. Chuan Ying's open-mindedness, gratitude, and single-minded pursuit of the Dao are self-evident. Although the Emperor was only taught by Yuanshi Tianzun for a period of time, he displayed a majestic and domineering aura worthy of his name even in his youth, which also pleased Yuanshi Tianzun.

Of course, there was actually another hidden standard: not accepting people from other races. But Yuanshi Tianzun never publicly acknowledged this.

Wang Bo's physique is undoubtedly far superior to that of the Chaos Body. Neither the Primordial Celestial Venerable himself, nor Chuan Ying and the Emperor, possess a physique inferior to that of the Chaos Body.

In terms of comprehension, Wang Bo, while not exceptionally gifted, is probably not bad among those who have attained enlightenment, and therefore naturally meets the standard. This can be seen from the fact that through his battle with Ye Xian, he managed to thoroughly learn the Chaos Scripture created by Ye Fan within a few hundred years.

As for his temperament, Wang Bo was inherently resolute and unwavering, single-mindedly pursuing the Dao, and also knew when to advance and retreat, and was reasonable in all matters. The only problem was that he harbored a grudge, which inevitably had some impact. But once he released that grudge, his thoughts would become clear, and his Daoist heart would be pure.

Therefore, he truly met the criteria for Yuanshi Tianzun to accept a disciple, which is why Yuanshi Fan was somewhat tempted.

Yuanshi Banner said, "Your previous incarnation was not only born earlier than me, but you were also close to attaining enlightenment and had achieved considerable success. Are you sure you want to become my disciple?"

In other words, Wang Bo currently lacks a physical body; otherwise, he would have immediately bowed down in worship. He spoke with divine thought: "There is a sequence to learning the Way, and the enlightened are my teachers. I have a sincere heart; I humbly beg the Heavenly Venerable to grant my request."

Yuanshi Fan said, "Very well, then I will accept you as my disciple. From this day forward, you will be my third disciple, Yuanshi Tianzun."

After establishing their master-disciple relationship, the Primordial Banner retrieved the immortal essence sealed within Wang Bo and broke through the void to return to the Kunlun Sacred Realm. Here, Wang Bo encountered the true form of the Primordial Celestial Venerable.

However, at this moment, Yuanshi Tianzun was extremely busy, and the research and restoration of his Chaos Body had to be put on hold. After all, the method of reversing life was definitely the top priority; if he couldn't live to the next life, then all his physical constitution and laws would be in vain.

Therefore, Yuanshi Tianzun only took a little time to simply arrange some source techniques and array patterns to repair Wang Bo's primordial spirit and help him completely eliminate the threat of death.

Under the influence of the Primordial Celestial's source techniques and array patterns, Wang Bo fell into a deep sleep. As for his physical body, it would naturally have to wait until the Primordial Celestial completed his research in this lifetime before it could recover.

(End of this chapter)