I am a living immortal.

He had originally planned to take it slow and steady, but now he wasn't ready for that. Completing such a large framework would undoubtedly take considerable time, even with the support of the sun. Another point was that, while he was powerful now, his understanding of metaphysics was limited. He needed to enrich himself as much as possible.

Compared to Buddhist scriptures, Taoist scriptures should be easier to understand, and he also needs help, so it seems he needs to speed up.

Chen Dong looked at the abbot who had bowed his head in submission, and said to the group of people in the Imperial Master's Mansion, "The rest of the finishing work is now in your hands. From this moment on, the Lotus Buddha Kingdom will no longer exist."

"Next, we will incorporate these monks into the Imperial Master's Mansion."

"Collect all the classics and the methods these monks used to canonize the Buddha statues, and transport them back to the Imperial Master's Mansion. As for the merits and faith of that pond, I will also let you collect them." As he spoke, Chen Dong pinched out a white porcelain bottle with his bare hands and handed it to the deputy supervisor who had been following him from the beginning.

"Yes!" a group of people nodded in response.

"As for the Lotus Buddha Kingdom, let the imperial court take it over." Chen Dong said, looking at the group of monks: "Behave yourself, listen to the instructions, and take more rest now. I'm afraid you won't have so much free time later. And take the one outside who wants to know whether this world is real or not with you."

"What about you?" asked the deputy supervisor.

"Me? I'm going to the Xuantian Alliance. Plans can't keep up with changes, so I plan to make a quick decision. I won't take you with me. I'm enough on my own."

After Chen Dong finished speaking, he looked around and suddenly remembered to say to the deputy supervisor next to him: "Pack up the spirits living in the Buddha statues and take them away to see what their condition is."

The deputy supervisor nodded and noted it. This time, Buddhism's submission was a great achievement. The newly appointed Imperial Master seemed unconcerned about this small amount of credit, giving it all to them. This alone was enough to win their unwavering loyalty, regardless of whether the Imperial Master needed it or not.

In reality, Chen Dong hadn't given it much thought. Right now, he simply wanted to quickly bring the Xuantian Alliance under his wing and begin his grand plans. If that framework were truly successful, not only him but everyone involved would rise to prominence. By then, no one would likely value this achievement. Right now, these people's perspectives were too narrow.

In Chen Dong's eyes, these are just trivial matters.

Seeing that there was nothing more to order, he dropped everything, floated into the air, turned into a rainbow light and disappeared into the sky. His target was the Xuantian Alliance.

The Xuantian League spent several days in fear, then received word that the newly appointed Imperial Master had already departed for the Lotus Buddha Kingdom, though further details were still to come. The best outcome now was that the Imperial Master would be met with failure in the Lotus Buddha Kingdom, buying them more time to prepare. Heming Mountain, where the Xuantian League was based, was immediately sealed off, and the long-unactivated mountain protection formation was activated, enveloping the entire mountain like a thin film.

They looked determined to fight to the bitter end. After all, the direct descendants had the upper hand, and the Xuantian Alliance still held the same banner. As long as those generals weren't approaching with their vast armies, the Xuantian Alliance would have been able to fight. This wasn't an all-out struggle, nor did they want to rupture relations with the imperial court; that would be detrimental to everyone involved. They simply sought bargaining chips. As for the Imperial Preceptor, gifted with extraordinary visions, they doubted that a newly established Imperial Preceptor's Office and a newly appointed Imperial Preceptor could contend with a millennium-old power. Even if that power had long since lost its former glory, it still had a wealth of heritage. In this respect, the Xuantian Alliance was significantly superior to the Lotus Buddha Kingdom.

Just as they expected, the Imperial Master's first stop was not them but the Lotus Buddha Kingdom. In their opinion, although the Lotus Buddha Kingdom was not as good as them, it was still the leader of Buddhism and should be able to cause some trouble for the Imperial Master.

In the final analysis, they just don't want to give up and want to take a gamble.

I bet you wouldn't dare do anything to me. However, the Xuantian Alliance never imagined that these monks from the Lotus Buddha Kingdom would be so useless. In other words, they never imagined that this national master could be so powerful, shattering the monks' confidence with a single wave of his hand. At this moment, they were still immersed in their own self-righteousness.

Little did they know that they would soon be dealt a heavy blow. Chen Dong would shatter their ridiculous fantasies with concrete actions, and the entire Xuantian Alliance would lose everything because of their desperate gamble.

The Xuantian Alliance was not united internally. There were some contradictions, but they all broke out at the time of life and death crisis. It was a mess, and Zhang Yan could no longer control himself.

For the first time, this millennia-old organization began to crumble. Some walked alone, swords in hand, down the mountain, never to return; some locked themselves away in the mountains, ignoring the mundane concerns of the world; some clamored to make the Han court look bad; some actively prepared for war; and still others silently observed the myriad happenings, using this as a means of spiritual practice, akin to entering the mundane world, a profoundly fascinating experience. Cultivating the Dao, they found tranquility and freedom, unperturbed by the impetuousness of Heming Mountain. These were the true cultivators.

If the Taoists acted as they pleased, chaos would truly ensue. Even the cranes that normally frolicked around Heming Mountain seemed to anticipate something major was about to happen, their calls falling silent, lending the mountain a sense of desolation.

The ancestral temple of Taoism is no longer what it used to be.

Zhang Yan stood in front of the huge mural, looking up at the Taoist gods and ancestors. The kind eyes seemed to be focused on him, making him relax for no reason.

"What should I do?" Zhang Yan murmured.

But he seemed to have the answer already in his heart. "Don't you already know?" If so, then do it. The Taoist gods and ancestors still looked kind, seemingly unperturbed by his choice. It was the will of heaven, so let it be.

Zhang Yan stood beneath the mural for days, not in a state of enlightenment or regret, but silently reciting scriptures.

Just when the Xuantian Alliance thought that this situation would last for a while, what was coming finally came, and much faster than expected.

This day was just like any other.

However, the apparent peace was ultimately shattered at this moment. A figure crashed heavily into the mountain protection formation, and a roar echoed throughout Heming Mountain. The mountain protection formation, once their pride, was like paper before this figure, shattering in an instant. The fragments of the formation transformed into streams of light that fell into the Xuantian Alliance, radiant even in daylight.