Conferred God: Started from Swallowing the Heaven-Repairing Stone

Without the strength to contend with the demons, once a conflict breaks out between the two sides, the powerful forces will be fine, but those forces with little strength will face annihilation.

In this situation, the Xuanmen sect is their greatest shield. To even imitate the two Western saints and establish their own sect? Don't be ridiculous.

Are the two Western Saints saints? If they dare to establish their own independent forces, then with the rise of the demon race, it is inevitable that their established forces will be destroyed.

Even if the demons don't attack them, given the nature of those saints in the Xuanmen sect, they would use the demons to destroy them, teaching them a lesson while also taking back the Xuanmen's fortune that they had taken from them.

Upon realizing this, everyone felt uneasy, and no one dared to entertain the idea of ​​independence anymore.

Unless they cultivate to the Creation Realm now, as long as they dare to stand on their own, they may be worry-free for the time being, and may even live a good life, but they will definitely not escape the fate of being wiped out in the future.

If the sages of the Xuanmen sect can't do anything to the two Western sages, how can they not do anything to them? They only need to use the demons to destroy them, and then no one can find fault with them afterwards.

After all, immortals and demons are irreconcilable enemies, and it's perfectly normal for demons to attack them; they can't be blamed on the saints no matter what.

“That’s right, Renlong is right. The Xuanmen will not split. Even if there are storms in the future, it will only eliminate some people with ulterior motives. It will be beneficial to our Xuanmen and will not cause any harm.”

Before Ao Bing could continue to refute Sage Zhunti, Sage Taiqing spoke first.

On this point, he had to support Ao Bing no matter what, because he was the acting head of the Xuanmen sect. If the Xuanmen sect were to split, he would be held responsible and become a sinner of the immortal path, and would no longer be qualified to call himself the patriarch of the immortal path.

The Sage of Taiqing did not want to become a sinner in the immortal path, so he had to agree with Ao Bing's statement that the Xuanmen would never split apart under any circumstances.

Even if someone betrays the sect, it will not have a significant impact on the Xuanmen sect. On the contrary, it will enhance the purity of the Xuanmen sect and greatly increase its potential.

If this statement holds true, then even if a large number of highly skilled individuals abandon the Dao and turn to demonic ways, it will be a good thing for the Xuanmen sect, not a bad thing.

Since it's a good thing, they naturally don't need to take responsibility for it, and their status in the immortal path will not be shaken; they will remain as one of the founders.

"Things aren't that simple..."

Sage Zhunti wanted to continue arguing, saying that even if all those with ulterior motives had left, the remaining people might not be loyal to the Xuanmen sect; they might be hedging their bets.

Furthermore, who can guarantee that those who don't leave will actually unite? And even if they do unite, who can guarantee that they will unite to fight the demons, or to coerce the saints and demand huge benefits from them?

It's important to understand that if a large number of highly skilled practitioners of the Xuanmen sect were to abandon the Dao and turn to demonic possession, the entire Xuanmen sect would inevitably be thrown into turmoil. Perhaps, this would make them even more united.

But is this necessarily a good thing for the sage? In a time of widespread panic, if they seize upon the sage's weakness of not wanting the Xuanmen sect to disintegrate and coerce him into giving up more benefits, what can the sage do?
If you disagree, then let's part ways and let the Xuanmen sect truly fall apart.

At that time, it was hard to say what would happen to everyone, but the fate of the Xuanmen Saint would certainly not be good. He would inevitably suffer the backlash of the Xuanmen's fortune, causing his strength to decline and making it difficult to recover in a short period of time.

If they agree, the sage's interests will inevitably be harmed, thus hindering his own development.

This is a dilemma. There's no benefit in agreeing or disagreeing. That's why it's said that the unity of the great masters of the Xuanmen sect may not be a good thing for the sage.

If they unite, they can threaten both the demons and the saints.

This is not just impossible, it is highly likely to happen. This is the example that the Sage Zhunti wanted to use to refute Ao Bing's arguments.

It can only be said that as long as people want to find a reason, there is no reason they cannot find.

Even more outrageous is that even if a great master of the Xuanmen sect didn't have this idea before, he couldn't help but be tempted after hearing the suggestion from the Sage Zhunti.

After all, people are driven by self-interest, especially those with great supernatural powers. If they had the opportunity to extract benefits from a sage, they would never refuse.

As always, Sage Zhunti kept gushing out his wicked schemes, and his very words threatened to shake the very foundation of the Xuanmen sect.

Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself to utter those provocative words. The sages of the Xuanmen sect knew him too well; they knew that if he were to speak, he would surely spew out malicious intent.

So when he was only halfway through his sentence, they all glared at him, forcing him to shut his mouth and not dare to speak again.

Sage Zhunti could, of course, ignore the gazes of the assembled sages and continue to reveal his wicked scheme. But the price he would pay for doing so was too high for him to bear.

Since this concerns their fundamental interests, the saints will not be polite to him. If he dares to continue speaking, the saints will join forces to attack him.

Although the sage is immortal, the other sages could still seal him if they joined forces.

There are many ways to solve problems; killing is not the only one. Sealing can also solve many problems.

"You all lack confidence in the Xuanmen. They are merely demons. Even with the support of the Heavenly Dao, what can they do? At most, they can only pose a slight threat to the Xuanmen. How can they shake the foundation of the Xuanmen?"

"To reiterate, the existence of the Demon Race is more beneficial than harmful to the Xuanmen sect, and can greatly promote the development of the Xuanmen sect."

"If not for this, how could the Dao Ancestor have sat idly by and allowed the Demon Race to be born? If the Demon Race truly had the ability to shake the foundation of the Xuanmen and cause it to fall apart, how could the Dao Ancestor, as the founder of the Xuanmen, have remained indifferent and allowed it to be born?"

"We will definitely intervene. Even if we cannot prevent its birth, we will restrict it to prevent it from causing the disintegration of the Xuanmen sect."

Seeing everyone's reaction, Ao Bing shook his head. No wonder the Dao Ancestor rarely paid attention to these disciples; they truly didn't understand his thoughts.

The emergence of the Demon Race, to some extent, also met the needs of the Dao Ancestor.

It is true that the Daoist path was passed down from the Dao Ancestor, and it is also true that the Dao Ancestor taught without discrimination. But before that, he always adhered to one principle: better to have fewer but better, and to value quality over quantity.

In other words, in the eyes of the Dao Ancestor, all races are indeed qualified to cultivate the path of immortality, but the prerequisite is that they must be outstanding enough. If they are not outstanding enough, they are destined to be ineligible for the path of immortality.

So how do we define excellence? Simply put, you need at least one of these three: luck, wisdom, or perseverance. Having even one makes you excellent; having none means you can't be considered excellent. The conditions are there, but what are the standards for passing? The demon race is the test.

Those with abundant fortune will not encounter demonic tribulations, those with profound wisdom can easily resolve them, and those with strong willpower will not be swayed by them.

This means that truly excellent people will not be affected by the demons. Only those who are not excellent enough will fall into the demons' trap and have their spiritual fruits destroyed.

In the eyes of the Dao Ancestor, such a person was not qualified to cultivate the path of immortality. Don't think of the Dao Ancestor as a pushover; if he were, how could the calamity of immortals and gods have occurred?

Do not forget that the Immortal God Slaughter Tribulation was initiated by the Dao Ancestor. Its purpose, ostensibly, was to vent the Jade Emperor's anger, but in reality, it was nothing more than finding a reason to purify the immortal path and eliminate all those less than excellent disciples in order to ensure the purity of the immortal path.

This shows that the Dao Ancestor's philosophy of "quality over quantity" has remained unchanged. To this end, he didn't hesitate to personally purge the disciples of the immortal path, even those who included his own disciples and grand-disciples.

This reveals a glimpse into the Dao Ancestor's ruthlessness. And precisely for this reason, the emergence of the Demon Race perfectly suited his needs.

Without him having to lift a finger, he could use the demons to eliminate the unqualified ones in the immortal path, ensuring that all the immortal disciples who survived to the end were the elite of the elite.

When elites have no shortage of resources, they will inevitably become strong. In this way, the Xuanmen, with a large number of strong people in charge, can still suppress the prehistoric world and firmly maintain its position as the strongest force, even though it has few disciples.

This can be seen from the fact that the Dao Ancestor never took any action regarding the birth of the Demon Race. As Ao Bing said, if the Demon Race truly posed a threat to the Xuanmen, how could the Dao Ancestor have remained inactive?

Do you really think that the Dao Ancestor doesn't need luck after cultivating? Why is the Dao Ancestor the strongest in the primordial world?
It was not only because of his great contributions, but also because he was the founder of the strongest force in the prehistoric world and had the blessing of the Xuanmen Qi, which made his realm always far ahead of others.

Without the Xuanmen, the Dao Ancestor would inevitably be affected, leading to a slowdown in his cultivation speed, or even causing him to completely assimilate with the Heavenly Dao and lose his ability to remain clear-headed.

After merging with the Dao, why was the Dao Ancestor not assimilated by the Heavenly Dao, but was still able to remain clear-headed and even appear from time to time?

It is precisely because of the blessing of the Xuanmen's fortune that, without the blessing of the strongest fortune in the primordial world, he would not have been able to remain clear-headed under the assimilation of the Heavenly Dao, and sooner or later he would have become the embodiment of the Heavenly Dao, completely losing himself. Instead, he is still maintaining his own identity as he is now.

The Xuanmen's fortune is so important to the Dao Ancestor that he certainly cannot stand idly by and watch the Xuanmen fall apart. Therefore, if the Demon Clan were to truly threaten the Xuanmen, the one most anxious would definitely not be these saints, but rather the Dao Ancestor Hongjun.

The fact that the person who should be most anxious isn't anxious at all speaks volumes. The threat from the demon race may exist, but the advantages certainly outweigh the disadvantages; otherwise, the Dao Ancestor wouldn't be so silent.

"That makes sense, and it also aligns with the teacher's/master's thinking: better to have none than to have something of poor quality."

Upon hearing Ao Bing's words, everyone sighed. How could they not understand the Dao Ancestor's thoughts? But understanding was one thing, but to be like the Dao Ancestor, preferring quality over quantity, was another.

The reason why the Dao Ancestor could do this was because he had a large number of disciples. Even if he preferred to have fewer but better disciples, he would still have a large number of successors, thus ensuring that his own fortune would not decline.

But if everyone did the same, their luck would drop by at least ten times, or even a hundred times.

The amount of fortune gained through preaching depends primarily on two factors: first, having sufficiently outstanding disciples; and second, having a sufficient number of disciples. Meeting these two requirements will result in a substantial accumulation of fortune.

Conversely, if only one requirement is met, the luck gained will plummet.

The Daoist Ancestor followed two paths simultaneously, and the number of disciples he accepted was not only large, but also exceptionally outstanding.

But while the Dao Ancestor could do that, his disciples couldn't. Firstly, because they didn't have the same level of influence as the Dao Ancestor.

Secondly, because there were basically no competitors when the Dao Ancestor was spreading his teachings, there was no competition. People had no choice but to go to Zixiao Palace and become disciples of the Dao Ancestor if they wanted to become stronger.

Thirdly, because the beings born in the primordial world are not as good as the previous generation. Based on this principle, the disciples accepted by the Dao Ancestor are far superior to those recruited by his other disciples, both in terms of talent and background.

Without the influence of the Dao Ancestor, the attraction to geniuses is limited. If they want to gain more fortune, they can only abandon the principle of "better to have none than to have bad ones" and recruit more disciples.

In addition, due to the large number of competitors, if the conditions for recruiting disciples are not appropriately relaxed, then all the outstanding talents will be taken by others, leaving no room for them.

Because the beings of the primordial world are getting weaker with each generation, even if they are unwilling to relax the requirements, they still set the threshold for recruiting disciples very high.

That's useless; there are hardly any qualified disciples to be found. The truly capable individuals have all been accepted as disciples by the Dao Ancestor; very few have slipped through the net.

Given these conditions, what can the great masters of the Xuanmen do? They can only relax the requirements for recruiting disciples, abandon the principle of "better to have none than to have bad ones," and just accept those who are "good enough" and not demand too much.

Lowering the requirements is necessary to attract a large number of disciples, thereby accumulating immense fortune and accelerating one's cultivation speed.

If you're unwilling to relax your requirements, you won't be able to recruit many disciples, your luck will be limited, and you'll only be able to watch others' cultivation progress by leaps and bounds while you remain as slow as a tortoise, falling far behind.

How many people can tolerate such a disparity?

Therefore, lowering the requirements for recruiting disciples was inevitable. There was no other way; it was all the Dao Ancestor's fault. He had taught too many disciples, greatly increasing the competition among them, forcing them into a frenzied infighting.

As for not rolling?

If you don't participate, you'll fall behind. Do you dare not participate?
Didn't you see that even the most demanding Sage Taiqing and the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, who had the highest requirements for their disciples, had to relax their conditions because they couldn't withstand the pressure of intensification?
At first, did the Sage of Taiqing think that having only one disciple was enough?

But in the end, there was indeed only one true disciple, but the number of nominal disciples increased over time, showing a strong tendency to recruit three thousand disciples in order to prevent the Dao Ancestor from succeeding.

Similar to him was Yuanshi Tianzun, who had only twelve true disciples, but a large number of nominal disciples. There were quite a few cultivators listening to Yuanshi Tianzun preach in Kunlun Mountain, even more than those listening to Tongtian Jiaozhu preach in the East Sea.

It is said that the Jie Sect had the power of ten thousand immortals paying homage, but the Chan Sect was no less impressive, also having tens of thousands of disciples. The reason why the Chan Sect seemed inferior to the Jie Sect was simply because Yuanshi Tianzun realized this too late, and the time when he recruited disciples was much later than that of Tongtian Jiaozhu.

Therefore, although the two sects had roughly the same number of disciples, the Chan sect, due to its later development, had most of its disciples who hadn't yet had time to mature, which is why it was far inferior to the Jie sect. (End of Chapter)