Such a Grand Occasion

Boom!

Yun Chuan, holding a long spear, unleashed the imposing aura of a Golden Core Master. His spear stood horizontally in the air before he thrust it downward.

The spear shot forth like a dragon, instantly transforming into a hundred spiritual energy spears that pierced through all the demon beasts charging at them.

Li Junzi held the tattered brush once used by a former Sub-Sage. Since winning the debate, she had been temporarily using this brush. It had not acknowledged her as its master; it seemed the brush merely wanted to see if Li Junzi's words matched her actions.

She raised the brush, stirring righteous energy, and wrote the characters for "Armor-Piercing" in the air.

Righteous energy and scholarly aura coalesced into a long arrow. With a tap of her brush, the arrow shot forth, weaving through the air.

Perhaps even these nearly mindless demon beasts retained a primal fear of death.

The demon beast tide did not linger to fight this group excessively. Instead, they swerved around and stampeded frantically past them, as if something extremely terrifying was pursuing them.

Li Junzi's expression turned grave. "An abnormal situation foretells trouble. The situation ahead might be worse than we imagined."

Yun Chuan retracted his spear.

"Whether it's good or bad, we must press on."

Li Junzi gave a slight nod, also proposing the worst-case contingency plan.

"Everyone, please be extremely cautious. We are still quite a distance from the True Sound Dharma Temple. If the temple has also been overrun by the demon beast tide, we will divert to the Universal Ferry River nearby."

The group voiced their agreement.

Yun Chuan glanced at Li Junzi, who couldn't conceal her weariness. As a mere Confucian cultivator, her stamina ultimately couldn't match that of a Qi-refining practitioner.

However, the situation along this path was abnormal, and lingering was not an option.

After a moment's thought, Yun Chuan spoke up.

"I'll scout the path ahead first. If there's any situation, I'll return to notify you."

"Unwise." Li Junzi gently shook her head. "The situation ahead is unknown. Going alone would leave you isolated and unsupported..."

Her words trailed off because two streaks of rainbow light were speeding towards them from the direction of the True Sound Dharma Temple.

They made no attempt to conceal themselves. Even from a great distance, their terrifying aura could be felt.

Yun Chuan's eyes widened. His spiritual sense was on high alert, covering his entire body, yet he also tightened his grip on his spear.

Whether they were friend or foe was truly uncertain.

However, with cultivation at that level, they might not even deign to glance at our group.

They might just be passing by...

But no sooner had this thought arisen than Yun Chuan wanted to slap himself.

The two streaks of rainbow light headed straight for them without the slightest deviation, even descending in altitude.

They were clearly coming for us.

Yun Chuan's face hardened, and he prepared for the worst.

"None of you have reached the Golden Core stage. Staying is useless. Take Li Junzi and retreat first."

Li Junzi hesitated slightly, looking at the streak of light with the slightly lesser aura. Its presence felt vaguely familiar to her.

"Fellow Daoists, do not panic."

A clear, cold female voice transmitted through spiritual energy reached them.

A smile instantly spread across Li Junzi's face; she recognized the voice.

"Everyone, don't be alarmed. One of them is a fellow disciple of my student."

Yun Chuan looked shocked... Your student's fellow disciple is that formidable?

The two streaks of rainbow light descended.

One was a young man in Daoist robes.

The other was a woman in white clothes, with extremely delicate features.

Li Junzi naturally remembered Daoist Yuyang; he had gone to Gentleman Mountain with Chu Xingchen.

As for the woman in white, her voice hadn't changed much and was still recognizable.

However, she had changed greatly from the image of little Baiqing in Li Junzi's memory.

Li Junzi asked,

"Is that Baiqing?"

Chen Baiqing quickly stepped forward to meet her. "It's Baiqing. Shouldn't you be at Gentleman Mountain? Why have you come to the Western Oxen Continent?"

The tension in Li Junzi's heart completely dissipated, replaced by a smile.

"I heard about the rampant demon beasts in the Western Oxen Continent and couldn't bear it, so I wanted to come see the situation for myself."

"You shouldn't have come alone to see. You should have come to find us first. Do you not feel close to us in your heart?"

Chen Baiqing's brows furrowed slightly, her expression somewhat displeased, but her hand warmly grasped Li Junzi's arm while her spiritual sense subtly flowed out, probing Li Junzi's condition.

"Of course not," Li Junzi hastily denied.

Chen Baiqing withdrew her spiritual sense. Li Junzi was largely unharmed, just slightly fatigued and low on energy.

Daoist Yuyang also approached quickly, giving a slight nod to Li Junzi and introducing himself.

"I am Yuyang, considered Baiqing's martial uncle."

Yun Chuan watched Li Junzi conversing very familiarly with Chen Baiqing, whose aura was profoundly deep, feeling only mild surprise. But upon hearing the young Daoist call himself Yuyang...

The shock in his heart was completely ignited.

Yun Chuan's eyes widened, his lips moved but no words came out. He didn't dare to actually ask if this top-tier cultivator was the renowned Daoist Yuyang from the Central Continent's Taidao Sect.

Li Junzi promptly returned the courtesy. "I remember you. We met on Gentleman Mountain."

Hearing this, Daoist Yuyang smiled.

"It's good that you remember. It has been a long time since we last met."

Chen Baiqing supported Li Junzi. "This is no place for reminiscing. We are temporarily staying at the True Sound Dharma Temple. You also need to rest and recuperate. Why not go there to rest for a while?"

Li Junzi had been heading for the True Sound Dharma Temple anyway. Moreover, with Chen Baiqing here, it was highly likely Chu Xingchen was also there.

Their reason for coming was probably also due to the demon beast chaos in the Western Oxen Continent.

Indeed, in this world, good people are always plentiful.

Li Junzi did not refuse, nodding in agreement, while also mentioning that the fellow cultivators traveling with her also needed to rest.

Daoist Yuyang readily agreed. This was no major issue. He retrieved several jade hairpins from his spatial ring and, with a flick of spiritual energy, transformed them into flying hairpins large enough to sit on.

With several people per hairpin, he waved his hand, and they turned into streaks of emerald light heading towards the True Sound Dharma Temple.

As the group departed,

several figures dispatched by Chen Baiqing's orders also headed in the direction of the True Sound Dharma Temple.

The journey was silent until they reached the True Sound Dharma Temple.

Yun Chuan felt as if in a dream, the scene before him surreal and illusory.

He saw hundreds of cultivators, at minimum Golden Core stage, each holding formation positions. Multiple layers of golden light encircled and protected all the refugees who had fled to the area around the True Sound Dharma Temple.

Furthermore, Nascent Soul cultivators patrolled the skies, their spiritual senses sweeping the surroundings.

Not just him, his traveling companions were mostly only at the Foundation Establishment stage. Where had they ever seen a scene where Golden Core Patriarchs were as common as grass?

Yun Chuan soon had his suspicions about Daoist Yuyang's identity confirmed.

He had broken through to the Golden Core realm while seeking opportunities in the Central Continent, so he had naturally learned to recognize the attire of disciples from the Central Continent's Eighteen Immortal Sects.

Along the way, many disciples wearing Taidao Sect robes clasped their hands in salute. Daoist Yuyang merely responded with a slight nod.

As for cultivators from other sects, he basically didn't acknowledge them at all.

The saluting Taidao Sect cultivators were mostly at the Nascent Soul stage, each with an astoundingly profound and heavy aura.

To fake this in the Western Oxen Continent, you probably couldn't find this many Nascent Soul cultivators.

This Daoist Yuyang... was indeed a core disciple of the contemporary Taidao Sect, one of the Eighteen Immortal Sects.

Yun Chuan silently swallowed hard. This time, he had truly seen the visage of an immortal.

Led by Daoist Yuyang, they simply passed through the layers of defensive formations and arrived directly before the sole remaining Great Hall of the True Sound Dharma Temple.

Li Junzi also felt some emotion, but as a Confucian cultivator from the Southern Continent, her knowledge of the Eighteen Immortal Sects was limited; she couldn't even name them all.

She didn't fully comprehend what these represented in the cultivation world.

She casually praised, "With such fervor, the sect that Daoist Yuyang belongs to must also be a grand and righteous sect of virtue."

Upon hearing this, Yun Chuan could only lower his head. Grand and righteous... whether it was righteous or virtuous, he didn't know, but 'grand' was certainly fitting.

Grand enough to be utterly intimidating.

But... why would the Taidao Sect come directly here? This is Buddhist territory.

And how could the Zheng Yin Dharma Temple fall under the jurisdiction of the Taidao Sect?

Daoist Yuyang sighed softly and said:

"It was Chu Xingchen who took the lead. Quite a few of these fervent, grand sects of virtue have come this time. The Mysterious Purity Heavenly Sect and the Tianyan Sect have also arrived in full force."

Hearing this, Yun Chuan's mind went completely numb.

How could a mere Western Oxen Province warrant such an enormous spectacle?

Is this... a war to subjugate the Buddhists?