My brother is so cunning

Chapter 1179 The Truth Behind the Gathering of the Four Saints

Beside the computer, the researcher responsible for monitoring causal data looked at the constantly fluctuating numbers and reported to the Celestial Venerable of Creation with a solemn expression: "Celestial Venerable, the karmic debt value of the Chan Sect is approaching the dangerous threshold. The Primordial Celestial Venerable forcibly activated the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation. With each additional mile it advances, the damage to the mortal realm increases, and the rate of karmic debt accumulation is also accelerating."

Upon hearing this, Wen Rui's gaze returned to the battlefield—at this moment, the Chaos Domain of the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation had broken through numerous blockades and was less than two thousand miles away from Freedom City.

Fortunately, the Zhuxian Sword Formation is not a formation that relies on movement speed to achieve enlightenment. Otherwise, the Tongtian Sect Leader could have simply driven the Zhuxian Sword Formation all the way from Chaoge to Xiqi, and there would have been no King Wu's conquest of Zhou.

Such an innate killing formation is naturally infinitely powerful, but the way of heaven emphasizes balance. The price of its near-infinite destructive power is that once the formation is officially deployed, it is difficult to move at high speed.

As the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation slowly approached, Wen Rui showed no worry on his face, but rather a hint of understanding.

He tapped the console with his fingertip, bringing up the historical data model of the "Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation".

"Good grand-disciple, why are you studying these data?"

A person beside him suddenly spoke, sounding like he was cursing. Wen Rui, however, respectfully cupped his hands in response: "Grandmaster, why do you think I am not in a hurry to break the formation, but instead keep an eye on this karmic debt value? The Primordial Heavenly Venerable said 'It cannot be broken without the help of the Four Saints,' and that is absolutely true. Back then, he brought in three saints to help him break our sect's killing formation."

The speaker was none other than the Tongtian Sect Leader. At the moment the Zhuxian Sword Formation was activated, the Tongtian Sect Leader, sensing the chaotic killing intent between heaven and earth, couldn't help but exclaim "Holy crap!" and instantly teleported from the Kunlun Ruins to Wen Rui's side in a flash.

Having watched so many TV programs about the mortal world over the years, and as a self-proclaimed homebody and long-time internet user, I've also picked up quite a few trendy quirks from the Tongtian Sect Leader over the past hundred years.

With the appearance of the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation, even he, a sage of the primordial world, could not remain calm. He was genuinely worried that the Jie Sect, which had finally achieved a great revival under the management of his good disciple, would be destroyed overnight.

Facing his most powerful backer, Wen Rui lowered his posture to the lowest level, smiling obsequiously as he patiently explained:
"Reporting to Grandmaster Grandmaster, the high-energy cosmic ray star-destroying cannons under my command can shatter stars, the nanobots can reassemble matter, and the phase-locking field can withstand a blow from a sage. However, these technological means are nothing more than artifacts in the face of the 'Heavenly Dao Rules.' The foundation of the Innate Killing Array is the law formed from the Primordial Purple Qi. Unless Laozi, Jieyin, Zhunti and you, a sage of your caliber, join forces, no one can forcibly tear apart the Chaos Domain."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the karmic debt curve of the Chan Sect on the screen, his tone becoming colder: "The gathering of the Four Sages? It was as difficult as ascending to heaven during the Investiture of the Gods. Although it is not impossible to achieve now, the price to be paid is too high, and this disciple absolutely cannot accept it."

"What?" The Tongtian Sect Leader was also taken aback: "You have a way to gather the Four Sages? And you're unwilling to do it?"

Back then, when the Tongtian Sect Leader unleashed the Zhuxian Sword Formation, he thought he had it in the bag. He couldn't figure out how the Chan Sect could gather the Four Saints. But to his utter surprise, the Chan Sect seemed to have divine assistance and managed to gather the Four Saints and break the Zhuxian Sword Formation in no time.

“Back then, even if I were Yuanshi Tianzun, I wouldn’t have thought that the rule of the Zhuxian Sword Formation, ‘unbreakable by only four sages,’ was so difficult to achieve.” Wen Rui spoke eloquently: “The emergence of the Western Sect was definitely not accidental. I don’t believe that Yuanshi Tianzun, as a sage of the primordial world, never knew of the existence of those poor bastards chanting scriptures. The other side of the Kunlun Mountains is the West; the two are clearly neighbors.”

"As for getting the Western Sage to help, it doesn't take much effort. To win over a greedy pauper, all you need to do is throw money at him. I wonder how much benefit the Chan Sect offered the Western Sect back then to buy those two foreign monks who wouldn't do anything without a profit to chant sutras for them. Even when the Buddha chants sutras, the ground is paved with gold bricks. If we were to get the Western Sage to help, we would probably have sold out all the fortune of the Eastern Daoist tradition!"

"As for Taishang Laojun, Grandmaster, put yourself in his shoes. If you were Taishang Laojun, you would only be able to watch helplessly as the Three Saints and the Zhuxian Sword Formation were locked in a stalemate if you did not intervene. Every moment of stalemate would cause great damage to the stability of the world's foundation. Although the Three Saints are missing one Saint and cannot break the Zhuxian Sword Formation, they are not under much pressure to fight it out evenly."

"If this fight continues, the destruction of the Three Realms is imminent. Laozi must choose a side. Who is right and who is wrong is no longer important. The key is to end this farce as soon as possible."

"Laojun's allegiance to the Jie Sect will not have a decisive impact. One saint plus the Zhuxian Sword Formation against three saints will only make the battle more intense. Neither side can kill the other, and neither side can end the war."

"By siding with the Chan Sect, he managed to gather the Four Saints, which enabled him to break the Zhuxian Sword Formation and achieve his goal of ending the war as soon as possible."

When Tongtian Jiaozhu heard Rui's analysis, he felt as if he had been enlightened and suddenly understood.

I had initially thought that my senior brother was biased, but now, after Wen Rui's petty-minded interpretation of the saint's intentions, the reasons why Laozi sided with Yuanshi Tianzun have gradually become more reasonable.

If Laozi hadn't helped Yuanshi Tianzun, the Three Sages and the Zhuxian Sword Formation would probably have been locked in a stalemate for over a thousand years before a result could be achieved. By then, the prehistoric world would have been utterly destroyed.

Even if he sided with the Tongtian Sect Leader, he could only shorten the protracted war of several hundred years to several hundred years, and he could not fundamentally change the outcome of the primordial world being destroyed.

While it may seem that Laozi had a choice, he actually had no room to choose sides and could only follow the trend and join the Three Sages to quickly break the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation, thereby reducing the collateral damage to the prehistoric continent.

In this way, recruiting the two Western Saints becomes the key to victory or defeat. If the Tongtian Sect Leader recruits the two Western Saints before the Primordial Heavenly Lord, then the Supreme Lord Laozi probably won't even blink and will immediately switch to the Jie Sect camp, just to quickly determine the winner and quell the great calamity.

"I have reached a ceasefire agreement with the two saints of the Western Sect, which is equivalent to laying the foundation for further cooperation. Winning them over depends on whether the price I offer is high enough. If we win over the two saints of the Western Sect, Laozi will also take the initiative to participate for the same reason, to help us break the Zhuxian Sword Formation and quickly quell this catastrophe."

Wen Rui continued, “But the two saints of the Western Sect are the most shrewd businessmen. They can earn gold dust and gold bricks through faith, a skill that even I, the patriarch of merchants, cannot achieve. If we go to do business with them now, it will be like being a fish on a chopping board. We will definitely be ripped off. Even if we defeat the Chan Sect, we will not gain any benefits. We will all be doing the Western Sect a favor.” “It’s like after the Investiture of the Gods calamity was over, our sect suffered a crushing defeat. The Chan Sect seemed to have won a great victory, but it gradually declined and disappeared. Only the Western Sect rose up and its tentacles continued to spread to the Southern Continent. It is clear that they must have received some promises and been deliberately allowed to do so, reaping huge benefits that they could not have accumulated in the barren West for ten thousand years.”

(End of this chapter)