“Take care, Junior Brother. Your elder brother must go wandering the four directions.”
“Mm, take care.”
Dizang smiled reservedly as he watched Virtual Puti float away.
For some reason, Dizang suddenly felt that this fellow disciple, who had schemed against him several times before, wasn’t so detestable.
It must be due to the other’s advancement in the Dao realm, becoming closer to the essence of ’emptiness,’ thus reducing the barriers between them.
Dizang muttered to himself:
“If all is emptiness, isn’t this world but an illusion?
This path is most void, merely phantoms in the spirits’ hearts.
Emptiness is an illusion, the Dao is an illusion. Between spirit, Dao, and truth, why must one leap beyond the realm of form to seek that utter void?
All dharmas have their ways, all dharmas have their end.
All dharmas bear the mark of birth and extinction, all kalpas arise from the heart.
Rather than searching for emptiness and stillness between heaven and earth, better to seek that true meaning within one’s own heart. The great Dao this Senior Brother seeks is, ultimately, but a dream.”
Hearing Truth chuckled: “Master, are you jealous that this fellow has advanced in his Dao realm?”
Three black lines appeared on Dizang’s forehead. He first snorted, then said:
“The Dao is not for comparison, dharma is not for measuring against others.
Few gaps remain between the spirits of heaven and earth. This poor monk’s wish is merely to do more for living beings.
It’s also…” carrying forward that person’s will.
“Ah, the Western Teaching is rising to prominence,” Hearing Truth lazily yawned. “Now there’s no one who can restrict it.”
“Not so. The Heavenly Court remains, and nowadays no one can step beyond the Heavenly Court.”
Dizang said with a smile, sitting back beside Hearing Truth and comfortably leaning against him. He casually drew over a scripture and read it carefully, softly murmuring:
“It’s just that it will feel somewhat lonely in the end.”
Hearing Truth chuckled and turned his head toward the direction where ‘Virtual Puti’ had departed, his six ears unconsciously twitching.
Almost instantly, all the hair on his body stood on end, his eyes filled with shock.
Dizang asked puzzledly: “What’s wrong?”
“The Empty Void Great Dao is so powerful? Impressive.”
Hearing Truth bite his tongue and say softly, “Truly a formidable character.”
After speaking, he quickly withdrew his gaze. His six delicate ears instantly transformed into two dog ears as he lay there as if asleep.
[“Hearing Truth, in the future stay peacefully by your master’s side. If someday you hear something you shouldn’t…”]
Gulp.
Hearing Truth swallowed and silently looked down at the floor before him.
When the Dao Ancestor modified everyone’s memories before, why did his master use the power of Heaven’s Dao to protect him?
He knew nothing, heard nothing.
That Virtual Puti had absolutely no problems! There wasn’t any blurry shadow in his Dao’s heart!
Ah this…
Hearing Truth glanced at his master, pondering deeply about whether ‘his master truly lost narrowly back then?’
Just… too strong.
The gradually distancing ‘Virtual Puti’ slightly turned his head to glance back, a trace of a smile crossing his lips as he rode his cloud past Fengdu City, heading west.
There were familiar faces at the eastern checkpoint, better not to meet them this time.
After all, those two fellows couldn’t possibly remember him. Going would only bring loneliness, and he’d likely face their sarcastic mockery.
The current Underworld had lost most of its shamanic symbols.
The Six Paths of Reincarnation Wheel turned steadily. While the majority of beings between Heaven and Earth were intimately connected to the Netherworld, the power of Heaven’s Dao here wasn’t particularly dense.
Li Changshou rode his cloud away without doing much, merely leaving two strands of mysterious energy downstream of the River of Three Crossings.
Like two invisible nails, they were driven into the most easily found Paths of Reincarnation and Soul.
Before Heaven’s Dao could notice, he had already reached the edge of Heaven’s Pillar, flying along it toward the western sea’s edge.
Everything seemed as if nothing had happened, yet something had indeed changed.
Leaving the Five Regions, Li Changshou could feel the heaven and earth’s surveillance power notably weakening by several levels.
Li Changshou wasn’t surprised by this, as it was an inherent flaw after the Dao Ancestor’s merger with the Dao.
When Heaven’s Dao developed personal desires, preferential treatment became inevitable. When Heaven’s Dao concentrated its ‘resources’ on the Five Regions, its attention toward the Three Thousand Worlds naturally decreased.
This limited Heaven’s Dao to some extent.
Li Changshou remained cautious, maintaining all of ‘Virtual Puti’s habits without revealing any flaws, as he began his journey seeking ’emptiness and stillness.’
In truth, he was searching for places where Dao principles converged, embedding strands of mysterious energy.
This was the implementation phase of the counter-heaven strategy.
The ‘Three Thousand Great Daos’ constituting Heaven’s Dao, while omnipresent and formless, could be understood as the natural laws of the primordial world. However, traces of specific Daos were easier to find in certain special areas.
For instance, in the Underworld just now, traces of the Reincarnation Dao and Soul Dao were everywhere.
The more easily and effortlessly he embedded these ‘Phantom Spirit Nails’ into these Daos, the lower the possibility of Heaven’s Dao detecting it.
Virtual Puti’s Empty Void Dao needed to comprehend the final path of heaven and earth and explore its mysteries to reach its most profound realm, which became the perfect cover for his actions.
Thus, compared to the identity of ‘Puti Elder,’ the Empty Void Dao was the more crucial ‘tool.’
Traveling westward, Li Changshou first entered the mortal realm, staying a few years in the world where immortals and mortals coexisted. He found several places where the Dao manifested, drove in a few nails, and then began exploring nearby small worlds.
He walked and stopped intermittently, constantly gaining insights, not only slowly advancing his Dao realm but gradually changing his bearing as well.
Inevitably, he attracted Heaven’s Dao’s attention.
Unavoidable, as ‘Virtual Puti’ was a sage’s disciple and a notable one from the Western Teaching at that. If his Dao realm advanced two more major realms, he wouldn’t be far from the original Maitreya’s level.
Li Changshou employed some subtle tricks at this point.
He didn’t pretend to be completely unaware of Heaven’s Dao’s attention, showing slight caution and nervousness. He temporarily paused his search for emptiness and stillness, deliberately thinking phrases like ‘following heaven’s way should be one’s true nature.’
Li Changshou didn’t miss any details of how Virtual Puti would react upon discovering Heaven’s Dao’s surveillance.
Even so, Heaven’s Dao silently observed ‘Virtual Puti’ for a long time.
Even when Li Changshou was comprehending the Dao, a strand of mysterious Dao rhythm once peered into his Dao’s heart.
Li Changshou slightly furrowed his brows, displaying the appearance of ‘discovering Heaven’s Dao’s surveillance yet calmly facing it,’ while maintaining a tiny secret place in the corner of his Dao’s heart.
This situation continued for several years.
In the bamboo grove of Purple Void Palace, that burly elderly Dao finally withdrew his observing gaze, and all strands of Heaven’s Dao power were completely retracted.
Before Li Changshou could breathe a sigh of relief, a call sounded in his ear.
[Seek this poor Dao in three hundred years at Mount Huaguo in East Victory Divine Continent.]
‘Virtual Puti’ trembled and immediately knelt, saying softly: “Disciple obeys.”
In that bamboo grove, the burly elderly Dao revealed a knowing smile. With a light finger point, waves of enlightenment concerning the Empty Void Dao rippled through ‘Virtual Puti’s’ Dao heart.
This feeling was certainly not unfamiliar to Li Changshou.
Just the benefits of being Heaven’s Dao’s tool.
After kneeling for a while, ‘Virtual Puti’ stood up, first showing a slight smile at the corners of his mouth, then quickly concealing it. He made a Dao salute toward the sky and turned to leave this great world.
Three hundred years later? Mount Huaguo?
He was meant to enlighten that Stone Monkey, leaving a mark to facilitate taking a disciple in the future.
The minor tribulation of the Journey to the West was finally approaching; the Dao Ancestor’s next scheme had begun.
What was the Dao Ancestor’s minor objective?
Li Changshou understood it perfectly clearly: the main goal was to spread Buddhist teachings throughout heaven and earth, to erase the anti-heaven forces, and to extinguish the last flames of the demon race.
The Stone Monkey’s origins were special, like the Spirit Zhenzhu Child, existing between primordial and post-celestial beings, his position somewhat ambiguous.
— The Heaven-Mending Stone was originally a primordial treasure, but it gained consciousness after Heaven’s Dao took control of heaven and earth, thus lacking the ‘transcending heaven and earth’s limits’ characteristic of primordial beings.
The Dao Ancestor’s approach was to arrange for the Stone Monkey to become part of the demon race, gathering those demon kings who defied Heaven’s Dao, and depleting the demon race’s power through the great battle between Mount Huaguo and the Heavenly Court.
Li Changshou felt nothing particular about this.
The demon race and human race were mortal enemies, to begin with, and the Dao Ancestor was the enemy of all living beings.
Comparatively, Li Changshou was more concerned about whether the Heavenly Court still possessed the Immortal Bean Military Strategy, since the Dao Ancestor had erased traces of his existence. He worried whether there would be massive casualties among the celestial armies in the upcoming minor tribulation.
Hopefully, the Immortal Bean Military Strategy still existed—it was beneficial to the Heavenly Court after all.
Ao Yi, Golden Roc, Long Ji, Bian Zhuang… Your Majesty the Jade Emperor…
Li Changshou sighed softly, contemplated within his true self’s Dao heart for a while, then returned to the primordial world to begin his three-hundred-year journey.
Time was an interesting concept.
To mortals, time was their brief yet long life.
To ordinary cultivators, time was the force driving their cultivation, climbing the ladder toward immortality.
But to some ancient immortals, time held a different meaning.
Time was like a long river, carrying past, present, and future. Living beings floated and sank within it, seeing different scenes when looking toward both shores.
Immortals had stepped out of this river, standing on its banks.
When the river flowed quietly, it held little meaning for immortals, only adding some ‘as usual’ memories and understanding of the Dao.
Of course, often this understanding would be bottlenecked, meaning no change at all.
But when the river’s waters churned into waves—when events occurred—memories would gain some ‘exciting’ fragments, making it somewhat meaningful for immortals.
Suddenly feeling waves of enlightenment in his heart, Li Changshou suppressed these insights, letting his true self slowly digest them.
Sudden enlightenment was also troublesome—Virtual Puti’s Dao realm couldn’t advance too quickly, or it would certainly raise the Dao Ancestor’s suspicions.
A three-hundred-year bottleneck?
Good.
After breaking through the current major realm, he would hit a three-hundred-year bottleneck. This would better explain his wandering throughout the Three Thousand Worlds.
Where the Great Dao manifests, the Phantom Spirit Nails follow.
Though he could choose to scatter three thousand Phantom Spirit Nails all at once during the final battle with the Dao Ancestor, that wouldn’t be as reliable as making preparations in advance.
This endgame was approaching ‘checkmate.’
Thus, several decades later…
…
At the edge of heaven and earth, in a great world sparsely populated by humans but rich in spirit beasts and demon beasts.
“Master, was that Virtual Puti?”
“This fellow’s hit a bottleneck? Not bad Dao realm though, just two or three steps behind your master from ten kalpas ago.”
In a void earth tunnel, two pairs of eyes watched the figure meditating in the distant forest, whispering to each other.
Looking at this earth tunnel, it now resembled a cave dwelling, furnished with various items and meditation cushions. Numerous spirit treasures emanated misty light, making the place seem like a storehouse.
The earth tunnel hung between heaven and earth while existing outside it—and in the primordial world, only one cultivator could achieve this.
The Severing Sect’s Senior Brother, the tunneling expert, the void-walking treasure-seeking rat—Master Duobao.
Since the battle outside Zhaoge City, when Duobao had angrily shouted the slogan of opposing heaven, drawing heaven’s punishment, the mighty Severing Sect had seen some die, some converted, and some scattered.
If you asked whether he regretted it, that would be impossible.
After all, if he hadn’t shouted those words then, Heaven’s Dao would have had no reason to directly send down heaven’s punishment.
But among all the pills in the primordial world, there were none for regret.
If he could do it again, seeing his master reduced to such a miserable state by the Dao Ancestor’s schemes, how could he, as the senior disciple and eldest brother, not stand up and reason with the Dao Ancestor?
Fighting was impossible—he wasn’t that fellow Changgeng after all.
Fortunately, half of his master’s disciples had gone with Changgeng, and a small portion had gone to the Heavenly Court. Though the losses were heavy, it wasn’t as tragic as losing everyone at once.
Ah, Heaven’s Dao had wanted to destroy their Severing Sect from the very beginning.
“Master,” Fire Spirit Holy Mother said softly, making a throat-slitting gesture.
Duobao thought carefully and shook his head slightly:
“No need, he’s just a Western Teaching disciple, what’s the point in killing him?
Your master finally set up this most hidden residence here, avoiding Heaven’s Dao’s detection. It wouldn’t be worth it to expose ourselves directly.”
“Master, think about it!”
Fire Spirit Holy Mother whispered: “The Western Teaching is about to rise to prominence, and this Virtual Puti’s Dao realm has improved so much—it must be Heaven’s Dao directly giving him benefits to improve his realm.
What does this mean?”
Duobao patted his round belly, his eyes brightening: “He’s Heaven’s Dao’s next piece?”
“That’s almost certainly right! How else could he have such a Dao realm?”
Fire Spirit Holy Mother gritted her silver teeth and cursed:
“The Dao Ancestor controls Heaven’s Dao, destroys our Severing Sect, and even modifies everyone’s memories—truly excessive!
If not for you, Master, helping your disciple block those blue ripples, your disciple might still think our Severing Sect must have committed some unforgivable sin to make Heaven’s Dao target us so.
Hmph, since we are heaven’s outcasts, we should strike when the time is right, cause some trouble for the Dao Ancestor, and vent some anger for our sect members who died under heaven’s punishment or are trapped on Spirit Mountain!”
“Well…”
Duobao was hesitant, but soon nodded slowly, “Killing a Virtual Puti isn’t such a big deal.”
“Master, you agree?”
“Agreed! Vent our anger, kill him, and run!”
Duobao cursed through gritted teeth, waving his large hand to draw all the treasures from around the tunnel into his sleeve.
Afterward, the master and disciple whispered for a while, determining their battle strategy for ambushing Virtual Puti.
The basic plan was to tunnel through space-time, target Virtual Puti’s Dao body’s weak points, and launch a surprise attack from below, aiming to critically wound Virtual Puti instantly!
At once, the master and disciple pair began busily preparing, with Duobao chuckling as he dug the void earth tunnel toward Virtual Puti’s location.
“Hmm?”
Space-time rippled with fine patterns…
Li Changshou keenly detected the space-time changes, traced their source with a strand of immortal consciousness, and couldn’t help but twitch the corners of his mouth.
This?
Would fleeing directly make his perception seem too keen? Why was Senior Brother Duobao hiding here? Should he deliberately let Senior Brother Duobao wound him?
But what if Senior Brother Duobao directly ‘went all out,’ setting up an array with hundreds of spirit treasures for a spirit explosion—wouldn’t his ‘collector’s edition false body’ be instantly reduced to ashes?
It was truly quite headache-inducing.
Fine, time to flee…
Moo—
Suddenly, a cow’s cry came from the horizon, and an elderly Dao sat atop that familiar green ox, slowly approaching.
It was the Elder Lord!