Chapter 258 - 258: 164: Dispute over Dao Veins
Chapter 258 - 258: 164: Dispute over Dao Veins
Lu Yuan brewed a cup of tea, sipping the fragrant drink while digesting what he had just learned.
Not long after, the Shangguan siblings came to look for him.
Together with Qi Yun, the four of them went to the front hall of the inn for dinner.
As the host, Zi Yun Taoist school was extremely generous. All attendees of the gathering who had an invitation enjoyed free accommodation and meals.
When they arrived at the front hall, they saw many gluttonous Daoists taking advantage of this opportunity, ordering large amounts of dishes and feasting.
But it was normal.
After all, many Daoist priests practiced martial arts and refined their Inner Strength every day. The consumption of energy was enormous, and they had to make up for it by eating a large amount of meat.
Thus, whether one was gluttonous or not, practicing martial arts turned them into a big eater.
When Lu Yuan practiced martial arts in the past, he’d been a glutton for the first ten years. It was only in recent years, after he started taking Rejuvenation Pills and Divine Blood Elixir, that he’d no longer needed to rely on external food supplements.
Of course, not everyone was like this.
There were people with major success in martial arts or those who cared about their image who didn’t indulge themselves in food; they simply ordered some light tea and a simple meal, then found a table on their own and discussed the Dao with a few fellow Daoists.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan and the others also joined a table in the corner of the hall.
However, among the four of them, like Lu Yuan and Qi Yun, they had almost reached the limit of their current cultivation. They didn’t refine their Inner Strength much in their daily lives, so they didn’t need meat.
As for the Shangguan siblings, although they were still at the peak of their training, they had the support of medicinal pills provided by their family, and so they didn’t need meat either.
Therefore, the four of them only ordered some special dishes and tea, then chatted quietly like the others nearby.
Although it was meant to be a conversation, the main topic was the Shangguan siblings and Qi Yun discussing what was fun about this gathering.
As an old-timer who had attended the gathering twice before, Qi Yun was well-informed about many aspects of it.
At this moment, when he answered, he effortlessly listed many delightful details.
“This gathering is divided into four stages.
The first stage is the Daoist meeting. As the name suggests, it is held before the gathering, allowing the participants from various Dao veins to introduce themselves and get to know each other, and to make more friends among the Daoists.
This stage will last three days and is more than enough time for us to meet like-minded fellow Daoists.
The second stage is the presentation of the Dao. On Tianluo Mountain, Zi Yun Dao has set up ten preaching platforms. Any Daoist school can step forward and share their teachings to demonstrate to other Daoists around the world.
This stage will last for five days.
The third stage is the discussion of the Dao. People are different, and so are the Daoist teachings. After the presentation, naturally, there will be differences or even contradictions among the various Daoist schools.
Therefore, a discussion is held on Tianluo Mountain. The Daoist schools with contradictions, disagreements, or differing philosophies can debate on the preaching platforms to determine who is superior.
This stage is also the most intense part of the gathering.
Many Daoist schools strive for fame and orthodoxy, attacking and eliminating others during this gathering.
There are numerous feuds between Daoist schools due to victories or defeats during the gathering, becoming mortal enemies.
The debate phase will last for six days before it comes to an end.
The final stage is the preaching of the Dao.
As its name implies, this stage is for preaching the teachings of the immortals.
At the end of the gathering, Zi Yun Dao and other invited schools with genuine immortal teachings will lecture on the preaching platforms, demonstrating their Immortal Techniques.
At that time, all of us attendees will be able to observe the marvelous teachings of the immortals.
This stage will last for one day. Afterward, the entire Inescapable Meeting will come to an end.
In total, the gathering will last for half a month, until the end of the eighth month.”
At this point, Qi Yun described the various activities and processes of the entire gathering.
Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan and the others couldn’t help but be filled with longing, eager to participate immediately.
Shangguan Guangbai asked, “Qi Daoyou, does Ziyun Dao really know the Immortal Techniques?
Qi Yun confirmed, “Of course they do. Not only does Ziyun Dao know them, but according to my observations, Feishuang Tao in our country, Cang Long Way, Dan Ding Path, and Yuchan Tao in Zhou Country, as well as Juling Tao overseas, these six Daoist schools also know the Immortal Techniques.
Moreover, not only do our Daoist schools know them, but I’ve also made some friends from other schools during my previous two attendances.
From what I heard, there are also quite a few Buddhist schools with genuinely orthodox teachings. However, in terms of quantity, they are far fewer compared to the Daoist schools.
There seem to be only three of them in the whole world, and their influence is far less than that of our Daoist schools.”
Shangguan Guangbai sighed, “There are so many Immortals in the world, but it’s hard for me to be one of them. This is truly a great regret in my heart.” The others present couldn’t help remaining silent.
Who wouldn’t want to cultivate and ascend to immortality, reigning supreme in the world?
But everything has a fixed fate. If you’re not destined to enter one of these immortal sects, you won’t be able to cultivate the Immortal Techniques. In comparison, the Shangguan siblings were actually quite fortunate.
Unlike Lu Yuan, who traversed and became a humble Hunter.
If it were not for his bit of luck and golden finger, he would have eventually made a fortune.
At this moment, he might still be in the mountains, worrying about what to eat tomorrow.
It’s exactly this kind of experience that made Lu Yuan not feel self-pity like others but believe that humans can triumph over nature. As long as they work hard, mortals can become Immortals too.
As for now, isn’t he about to touch the Immortal Technique?
Thus, when Qi Yun and the others were silent, Lu Yuan laughed and said, “The Immortal Technique is too far away from us, and it’s useless to think about it. Instead, Fellow Daoist Qi, your Qingyun View is also one of the Dao Veins, I wonder if you will go up to the stage and preach the great Dao during the discussion of methods and theories?”
According to Qi Yun, during the discussion of methods and theories, theoretically, all Dao Veins have the qualification to go up to the stage and preach their own Dao, and then compete with the world’s various ways to determine superiority.
Lu Yuan was actually quite curious.
What would his Dao friend look like on the stage during this time?
Having been with Qi Yun for several years, Lu Yuan knew that his Dao friend was a quiet person who didn’t strive for prominence, and even when discussing the Dao, he was gentle and elegant, never competing for the first place.
Such a person, if he went up to the stage and competed with others, the scene would be really interesting.
Lu Yuan was already looking forward to it.
However, Qi Yun’s words soon disappointed him, as he saw the other party saying, “My Qingyun lineage is a small Daoist path, and even in the gate, there’s only the founding ancestor who has ascended to Immortality. Compared with the countless True People who have ascended from other veins, we are no match for them.
Therefore, during the previous discussions of methods and theories, I did not participate on stage.
Being able to sit under the stage and listen to the preaching of the world’s major Dao veins is enough for me.
There is no need to compete for the momentary name and position.”
Alright, as expected, Daoist Qi Yun is still that idle and indifferent, not wanting to compete against others.
However, there may be the reason that if he went to compete, he couldn’t win a place anyway, and it would be easier to humiliate himself instead.
Lu Yuan thought so in his heart.
At this time, the Shangguan siblings came forward to comfort Qi Yun and then began to pester him to talk about the interesting things during the Meeting.
Lu Yuan listened while also dividing his attention to eavesdrop on the conversations of the Daoists at the other tables.
The hall of this Inn was not small, with more than a dozen tables, all of which are now filled, and more than fifty Daoists are gathered inside.
With Lu Yuan’s martial arts major success, he can naturally bring all the surrounding sounds into his ears.
After listening for a while, he found that he couldn’t understand what more
than halt of the Daoists in the hall were saying. These people spoke a language completely different from that of Da Yue, and they should be from other countries.
The remaining half could understand, but what they said was not much different from Qi Yun, so after a while, Lu Yuan lost interest and withdrew his attention.
It took nearly half an hour to finish the meal, and finally, the Shangguan siblings stopped their curiosity and did not continue to ask Qi Yun questions, allowing him to finally rest.
After the meal, they were ready to go back, but they saw that many Daoists in the hall did not return to the backyard of the Inn and went out of the Inn in groups instead.
This scene surprised the four.
So they asked the Innkeeper and found out that this time, many Liang and Zhou Dao veins from the north came. After arriving at the town, they set up stages, raised their banners, and openly invited the Yue Country Dao veins to discuss.
Now these stages have been set up for several days, and many Yue Country Dao veins have gone up to debate with the two foreign Dao veins, but all went down in defeat.
At this moment, the debate has become more and more intense, gradually becoming a contest between Yue Country and other Dao veins, and both sides are getting angry.
That’s why every time they had some free time, people would go up to discuss, and Dao veins from the other three nations were also happy to watch the excitement, so many would join in for fun.
Hearing this, Lu Yuan and the others could not help but look at each other and then turned their eyes to Qi Yun.
Qi Yun sighed bitterly, “In the past, indeed, some Dao veins wanted to fight for fame and accumulate momentum before the meeting started, so they held small meetings here to compete with the world’s Dao veins.
That was allowed by Ziyun Dao.
However, at that time, it wasn’t as intense as it is now.
It seems the rivalry between countries and blood feuds has accumulated to this point. Even we, who are cultivating outside the world, are involuntarily involved.”
Qi Yun sighed deeply, showing helplessness and worry about the situation where national enmity affects the Dao Veins.
The Shangguan siblings didn’t need to mention it.
As one of the six families and seven clans, they were naturally united with the Yue Country. Now they heard that their enemy, Liang and Zhou, openly challenged the Yue Country’s Dao veins on their own territory, and their hearts were filled with anger.
So they willingly invited Lu Yuan and Qi Yun to go with them to see for themselves.
Seeing the siblings’ intentions, they might even be planning to go up to the stage and fight the Liang people and Zhou people if possible, to extinguish the Dao veins of these enemy nations.
Lu Yuan was curious about this.
As a traverser, he doesn’t feel much allegiance to Da Yue. But since he has become an official of the Yue Country, he will stick to this side.
Moreover, regarding the discussions between the Dao veins, Lu Yuan was indeed very curious.
There are still more than ten days before the Meeting officially begins.
Being able to experience it in advance feels like a great idea.
Thus, the four of them followed the crowd and headed to the various stages in
town..