Chapter 8: The First Rift

  After the two became apprentices, they met Xuan Deng under Tongtian's guidance. It turned out that Xuan Deng had also come to visit Sanqing not long ago. Later, Yun Zhongzi learned that Xuan Deng was born with more eyes than others and wanted to climb high to serve Sanqing early or late. In other words, he could do anything but it wasn't about becoming an apprentice. So Xuan Deng was fortunately accepted as a disciple by Yuanshi Tianzun, of course, this also happened after the Daozu merged with the Dao.

  Then the two of them followed Sanqing into the Jade Void Palace. After entering the main gate, there was a passageway about ten meters long. The interior of the Jade Void Palace could be said to be another world. From the outside, it looked like the palace only had an area of several dozen square kilometers, but inside, it was a vast space.

  Behind the corridor is a grand hall, and on the plaque above the hall are written three ancient and simple characters: "Yuxugong".

  After the six people entered the Jade Void Palace together, the Three Pure Ones sat down in three positions on the main hall. The position was also particular, and the central position naturally belonged to Laozi, while Yuanshi sat in the left seat, and Tongtian sat on the right.

  "Behind the main hall are rooms, you can choose one for yourself as your residence. Then, the three of us will give you a lecture." The old man said so.

  Ran Deng heard this and didn't intend to leave, so he sat down on a nearby couch as well. San Qing showed no reaction to this.

  Yun Zhongzi and Duobao stood in the great hall, then sat down cross-legged on the mats, listening carefully to the great Tao spoken by Sanqing. The Tao spoken by Sanqing was the Supreme Great Tao that the Daozu had previously spoken twice in the Zixu Palace, although it could not be fully expressed, but the three people were also enchanted and intoxicated.

  Although the Three Pure Ones did not speak with tongues of fire, their words were like a storm of flowers in the sky. The energy in the great hall was turbulent and surging, and as they spoke, auspicious colors gradually appeared in the hall. The swirling energy coalesced into white clouds that transformed and changed shape constantly within the hall. Finally, these clouds of energy all surged into the bodies of Yun Zhongzi and Duobao. As for Fumeng, it was unclear whether the Three Pure Ones did so intentionally or not, but those clouds only gathered around Duobao and Yun Zhongzi.

  As the white clouds all entered the bodies of the two people, San Qing's lecture this time also came to an end.

  The Three Pure Ones finished their lecture after a year, and the three Cloud Masters still hadn't woken up, remaining entranced by the great Dao that the Three Pure Ones had lectured on. The Three Pure Ones saw this and smiled slightly before turning to leave the grand hall.

  Another year passed, and Rulai woke up first. He took a look at Yun Zhongzi and Duobao, especially Yun Zhongzi. In his heart, he had some regrets. If it weren't for Yun Zhongzi, maybe he could have taken down Duobao and obtained the Duobao Pagoda. This way, he would have gained another congenital spiritual treasure. However, because of Yun Zhongzi, he missed a great opportunity to obtain a congenital spiritual treasure. Rulai was so angry that he wanted to tear Yun Zhongzi apart at that time. Now that Yun Zhongzi had joined Tongtian's sect, Rulai no longer had any thoughts about Duobao and Yun Zhongzi. He took a deep look at Yun Zhongzi, but his face didn't show any changes, and it was unknown what he was thinking in his heart. Later, he also left the main hall and went to his room to start cultivating and comprehending.

  "Hehe, it seems that Reng Deng and Yun Zhongzi still have some grudges." The old man sat cross-legged on the cloud bed, seeing everything in the great hall clearly. Therefore, he could also guess one or two of Reng Deng's little thoughts.

  Just then, Tongtian and Yuanshi also appeared in Laozi's room. Tongtian spoke first, "I believe that Reng Deng is a reasonable person, his cultivation is not much higher than the two in the cloud, now Yunzhongzi and Duobao have also joined my sect, I hope that Reng Deng will not have small thoughts in the future, relying on his own cultivation to make things difficult for my two disciples, this matter still needs Master to resolve."

  Not waiting for the old man to speak, Yuanshi said, "It's a trivial matter, why bother Master to resolve it personally? I believe that Reng Deng is not a narrow-minded person. Looking at the situation, the grudges between the two are not that deep. I believe that after some time, the three of us will naturally put these things down. Yun Zhongzi was transformed from the first white cloud in the world, and it took several yuan to barely take shape. His qualifications must be very poor. When his cultivation is far behind, Reng Deng will not take these things to heart. Moreover, Reng Deng has now become a Taiyi Golden Immortal, while Yun Zhongzi is only at the Golden Immortal stage."

  As soon as the words fell, Tongtian's face turned ugly and he said, "Second brother, what do you mean by this? Yun Zhongzi has just joined my sect, and you speak of him like that in front of me, his master. Don't you think it's a bit improper?"

  When Yuanshi finished speaking, he thought to himself that it wasn't good, but before he could explain further, Tongtian spoke up and his face turned red with anger. As a proud person, how could Yuanshi swallow his pride and apologize?

  Moreover, as his own junior brother, he actually lost face in front of the senior brother for a disciple, which was simply too humiliating. So Yuanshi snorted coldly and left with a flick of his sleeve.

  "Since Yun Zhongzi is the first white cloud in the world, he must be a person with deep blessings. I believe that he will surpass Reng Deng later, but I'm afraid the grudge between them is too deep. During Yun Zhongzi's growth, what bad thoughts did Reng Deng have?" Tongtian said after Yuanshi left.

  His eyes gazed deeply in the direction of the grand hall, saying, "Yun Zhongzi is indeed the first white cloud between heaven and earth, but there are some secrets that even we three cannot figure out. It seems that Yun Zhongzi's origins are quite mysterious. Now that he has joined your sect, you should teach him well and see how high he can reach in the future. As for Rán Dēng, he has a good relationship with your second senior brother, so I believe Yuán Shǐ will handle this matter properly. The third lecture of the Daozu is not far away, let him stay in the Jade Void Palace for now and spend more time with Yun Zhongzi. After a long time, the grudges between them will naturally be resolved. When the Daozu gives his third lecture, bring Rán Dēng along as well. This way, even if anything happens between them again in the future, Rán Dēng will make concessions and we won't need to intervene."

  Originally, the Three Pure Ones calculated with their fingers when Yun Zhongzi appeared on Mount Kunlun and found out that Yun Zhongzi was transformed from white clouds. However, there were some secrets that even they couldn't investigate. At the same time, they also knew that Yun Zhongzi and Duobao came to pay homage to a master. Originally, the three calculated that Yun Zhongzi had a predestined relationship with Yuanshi, but because Yun Zhongzi had some secrets that even they couldn't calculate, Yuanshi was worried that Yun Zhongzi's behavior was not proper, so he didn't want to accept Yun Zhongzi as his disciple. On the other hand, Tongtian didn't care about this and thought that Yun Zhongzi possessed great good fortune, as long as he respected his master and followed the Tao, it would be fine to accept him as a disciple.

  Sanqing was very interested in Yun Zhongzi's origin, so as soon as they left the Jade Void Palace, the three of them focused their attention on Yun Zhongzi. Naturally, Laozi took the lead and let Yun Zhongzi pay his respects to him as a master, which is why Yun Zhongzi obtained the position of Big Brother Master.

  Two months later, Duobao woke up and looked at Yun Zhongzi who showed no signs of waking up. He let out a bitter laugh and turned around to leave the grand hall, going to choose his own cultivation room.

  Just another month passed, and Yun Zhongzi woke up again. Although he gained a lot, he didn't break through the current Golden Immortal mid-stage realm, but only reached the peak of the Golden Immortal mid-stage. One more step forward would be the Golden Immortal late-stage cultivation, which made Yun Zhongzi quite happy.

  He looked around and found that Reng Deng and Duo Bao were not there, so he knew that the two had already woken up. Yun Zhongzi also did not stay in the main hall for long, got up to find his own room.

  Yun Zhongzi chose a room in the corner of a crowd, and then tidied up the room before walking out. He had always been curious about Yu Xugong, and now that he was inside, he naturally wanted to take a stroll around and see if there were any new and interesting places.

  After leaving the room, Yun Zhongzi continued to move forward inside the Jade Void Palace. He saw a large medicinal garden with various rare and precious herbs planted within it. There were colorful lingzhi mushrooms, ginseng several meters long, snow lotus flowers as big as tents, du zhong trees that grew like giant trees, and fu ling mushrooms that looked like huge boulders. Many of the medicinal materials Yun Zhongzi saw were unknown to him, and there were many rare and unusual herbs that were rarely seen in the outside world. The quality of these herbs was several grades higher than those found in the outside world.

  Above the medicine field, several white cranes are flying and dancing. Every now and then, a white crane would sprinkle divine water to irrigate these medicinal herbs.

  Looking at these medicinal materials, Yun Zhongzi really wished he could rob the Yu Xu Palace. The heavenly treasures and earthly gems he had collected himself were simply incomparable to those in this medicine hall, completely lacking in comparability. Thinking back to when he first obtained these medicinal materials, he was excited like a wild wolf howling loudly, but at this moment, Yun Zhongzi was deeply shocked, like a sick cat, his consciousness probed into the green calabaza, and his head suddenly drooped down.

  "Master Bo's medicinal materials are truly rare, no wonder they can refine the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir." Yun Zhongzi walked away step by step, and after leaving the medicine courtyard, there was a deep abyss. Behind the abyss was a range of mountains, which stretched endlessly without end. Even if Yun Zhongzi opened his divine sense to scan the entire mountain range with all his might, he couldn't see the end of this mountain range.

  However, Yun Zhongzi discovered many strange beasts in these mountains. Standing in front of the deep abyss, he measured the mountains for a moment before turning around and returning to his own room.

  "Although the Seal of God's Calamity is still far away, it is necessary to quickly improve one's cultivation now. There are still hundreds of years before the third lecture of the Dao Ancestor. At present, the only way to improve cultivation is to carefully comprehend the Dao methods taught by previous masters."

  Yun Zhongzi carefully analyzed, not wasting any opportunity to improve his strength. He then sat cross-legged on the cloud bed, comprehending the Taoist teachings of the Three Purities. At the same time, Yun Zhongzi also took out the bitter bamboo he had obtained and placed it in the room to enhance his divine soul.

  Fifty years later, Yun Zhong finally fully comprehended the Taoist teachings of the Three Pure Ones that he could understand, and his cultivation had advanced to the late Golden Immortal stage as if it were a natural process.

  Next, Yun Zhongzi rested well for half a month before taking out a piece of crystal tile and starting to refine it. Half a year later, the crystal tile was fully refined by Yun Zhongzi. However, at the moment of full refinement, Yun Zhongzi suddenly slapped his forehead, with a look of regret, remorse, and heartache on his face.

  "Good grief, this shard of crystal is actually a part of Pangu's little fingernail? Heaven, I'm really wasting my luck!"

  Yun Zhongzi directly cursed loudly, this was also his first time swearing after crossing over.

  Yun Zhongzi clutched the crystal tile that he had fully refined, his heart aching. He pounded his chest and stamped his feet, "What a pity! The fragments of the Great Dao contained within were actually refined away by me? Fortunately, there are still five crystal tiles left, but I don't know how many remnants are left."

  He hastily took out another crystal tile, his divine sense trembling as he probed within, extremely worried that the Great Dao had disappeared. After probing, he let out a sigh of relief, for this crystal tile still retained some remnants of the Great Dao. He then took out four more crystal tiles, and fortunately, each one still retained some fragments of the Great Dao, although only a small portion. However, when combined, they were more than what the Three Purities had previously mentioned. According to Yun Zhongzi's speculation, after comprehending these fragments of the Great Dao, his cultivation should improve significantly, even if not enough to break through to the late Golden Immortal stage and reach the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm. Nevertheless, it would still allow Yun Zhongzi to make considerable progress.

  It took another fifty years for Yun Zhongzi to finally comprehend all the fragments of the Great Way in the five crystal tiles, and his cultivation had improved significantly. "The later you cultivate, the more difficult it becomes. The improvement of your cultivation not only depends on your talent but also relies on the accumulation of time. Time is abundant for immortals, but now I lack just that - time. Alas."

  Then Yun Zhongzi stopped wasting time and refined all the crystal tiles to achieve his plan.

  For cultivators, time is just a number. If it's someone with the cultivation of Three Clears, one closed-door meditation could last for thousands of years or more, and in the blink of an eye, hundreds of years would have passed.

  On this day, Yun Zhongzi was sitting cross-legged in his own room, with a ball of true fire jumping in his hand. From time to time, an object could be vaguely seen in the true fire, which was square and square, but it couldn't be clearly seen what it was. Yun Zhongzi looked at the treasure in the fire, and his face involuntarily revealed an excited expression.

  Just then, Tongtian's voice sounded in Yun Zhongzi's ear, "Yun Zhongzi, the third lecture of the Daozu is about to begin. Get ready and follow me to the Zixu Palace to listen to the lecture."