HomePull StringsChapter 733: Transforming Hu into Buddha!

Chapter 733: Transforming Hu into Buddha!

Time flows unnoticed in the Primitive World, a jar of fine wine soothes worries.

High in Heaven’s Palace singing true names, endless rivers yearn to flow east.

Li Changshou sat at Mount Fangcun as one hundred and eighty years swiftly passed.

He was increasingly embodying the essence of a transcendent master.

His heart wasn’t without concerns—he often thought of You Qin, worried about the Crossing Immortals Sect, and frequently concerned himself with Long Ji and Golden Peng’s situations.

Comparatively, Li Changshou worried less about Ao Yi.

After all, Ao Yi carried the hope of the Dragon Race’s revival and understood from childhood the Dragon Race mission on his shoulders. Even without modified memories, he wouldn’t easily make any decisions that might implicate the Dragon Race.

Golden Peng was different.

Golden Peng had an extremely proud nature; without Li Changshou’s suppression, he might have acted out of line.

He wondered how You Qin was doing.

These years he had rarely ventured out, and when he occasionally heard news from the Celestial Court, it mostly centered on the Investiture of the Gods Registry matters.

Female war deities like You Qin Xuanya had their importance ‘diluted’ in the Celestial Court, appearing far less frequently than before, thus fewer people mentioned them.

Li Changshou truly wanted to use False Subhuti’s eyes to see You Qin’s current state.

In the South Continent, after experiencing a hundred years of ‘Shang Chaos’ following Emperor Xin’s death, the Zhou Kingdom had finally stabilized. The original Shang people had been forced to relocate and disperse, and most had become Zhou citizens by now.

Li Changshou dared not investigate ‘Wu Geng’s whereabouts, as that wasn’t something False Subhuti would do.

Fortunately, except for You Qin, most of the Small Jade Peak friend group had already fled beyond Heaven and Earth.

Friends who remained in Heaven and Earth either held positions in the Celestial Court or rarely ventured out while cultivating in the mountains, having no connection with his false identity.

‘The greater situation takes priority.’

Li Changshou only worried about You Qin’s safety, without feeling lonely because of it.

After all, his true form accompanied Yun Xiao and Ling E, along with various martial uncles and the little ancestral master, and in spare moments, he could share tender feelings with his future dao partner.

Playing cards and drinking were off-limits—’False Subhuti’ had important matters to attend to and couldn’t be distracted.

Since he had nothing else to do, and couldn’t openly plant nails in the Great Dao at Mount Fangcun, Li Changshou began pondering what else he could do.

‘Can only gain more insight into the Great Dao.’

Li Changshou hummed softly, for the first time since beginning cultivation, focusing his attention primarily on dao comprehension.

He had previously discovered that False Subhuti’s Great Dao of Resolving Emptiness was quite interesting.

This dao interpreted the following principle:

[All things come from emptiness and return to emptiness and void; the essence of the formed realm is merely a projection of the formless realm.]

When this dao collided with Western Sect teachings, it concluded:

[Therefore, one need not mind present sufferings, need not mind current glory and humiliation, all will eventually return to void.]

Extremely negative, without any praiseworthy core.

Li Changshou had contemplated this dao for no short time. Though mostly for ‘playing False Subhuti,’ gradually, he began trying to interpret this dao’s deeper essence.

Then, as he contemplated and contemplated…

After an unknown time, he suddenly encountered a wave of Heaven’s Dao tremors.

Li Changshou’s form flew out from his meditation cave, looking up to see the azure sky turn dark red, as if endless seas of blood were about to pour into the Five Continents of the Primitive World.

Nine Filth Springs?!

His heart was instantly shocked, but in a flash he understood what was happening, preparing escape methods to flee the Five Continents.

On this day, strange phenomena arose frequently in the Five Continents.

First, the sky turned dark red, as if dyed by fresh blood, with endless filth about to transform into blood rain and fall.

Then the Four Seas shook, with dragon cries emanating from the sea eyes of the West, North, and South Seas.

Following this, countless ghosts in the Underworld wailed, innumerable beings in Heaven and Earth trembled together, with a kind of instinctive fear quietly spreading in their hearts.

The Celestial Court revealed its presence in Heaven and Earth’s center, countless immortal lights and immortals above it, endless celestial armies spreading in all directions, forming Heaven-Earth Net Formation, connecting to become the Heaven Protection Grand Formation!

The Dragon Race also received aid from the East Sea Dragon Palace and Celestial Court, with dozens of true deities leading celestial armies to appear, suppressing the turbulent sea eyes of the three seas.

Such turmoil continued for exactly twelve hours.

The celestial armies didn’t know what enemy they faced, nor did the Dragon Race know why the sea eyes were turbulent;

Until a golden light pillar shot from the Celestial Court’s Jade Imperial Palace, only then did the blood-dyed sky swiftly recede, returning to that clear azure.

The three sea eyes quieted again, their internal filthy karmic force greatly reduced.

Streams of clear qi appeared in Heaven and Earth, the entire Primitive World seeming somewhat more stable.

Qi cultivators were completely bewildered;

The mortal world of South Continent arose with talk of ghosts and spirits;

Mortals were startled by such strange phenomena, many elders checking in early at the Underworld.

Soon, news spread rapidly through Heaven and Earth.

The Blood Sea in the Underworld had vanished, a treasure pagoda appearing at the former Blood Sea’s edge, suppressing half the Netherworld.

That pagoda was the Reincarnation Treasure Pagoda, somehow moved here from outside Fengdu City, subtly opposing the Six Paths Reincarnation Disc, while the pagoda’s master Ksitigarbha appeared at its top, reciting transmigration dharma, ferrying over the Underworld’s wronged and resentful souls.

Half a day later, Sovereign Zhenyuan, Master Xiaoyao, Guixu Dao Person, and other veteran Primitive World experts personally confirmed that the Nine Filth Springs’ power had dispersed from Heaven and Earth, with specific reason unknown.

Three days later, news spread through the Three Realms:

[A great teaching favored by Heaven’s Dao will emerge in the Five Continents.]

For a time, opinions varied—some said it was time for Heaven’s Dao to greatly prosper the Western Sect, others said it must be a sign of the Dao School’s revival.

After all, that big shot who ruled Heaven and Earth was titled ‘Dao Ancestor,’ surely he would favor the Dao School.

However, none had seen…

In Doushuai Palace, Lord Lao and the green ox had vanished, along with that rotund Severance Sect Senior Brother.

Atop the Jade Imperial Palace’s high platform, the yellow-robed Jade Emperor’s expression dimmed, yet was reminded by the old servant beside him of the Jade Emperor’s duties.

At Spirit Platform Mount Fangcun, that old dao master reclined on his bed sensing Heaven and Earth’s changes, inwardly chuckling.

Well done, Honored Lord Hongjun.

After brewing for so long, he could use Heaven’s Dao’s power to resolve the Nine Filth Springs’ hidden danger in one go.

Why so?

Simply to destroy Li Changshou’s trump card that had once threatened the Dao Ancestor.

From today forward, the Nine Filth Springs no longer existed in Heaven and Earth, and Li Changshou could no longer directly draw upon the Nine Filth Springs’ power to destroy the Celestial Court;

In Dao Ancestor Hongjun’s eyes, his wariness of Li Changshou had lessened somewhat.

Mustn’t be careless, it might not be so simple.

Li Changshou hummed softly, his true form activating the Void-Bright Dao Heart to enter deep sage mode, carefully pondering for a while.

He wondered if the Dao Ancestor might be deliberately creating confusion;

But after calculating again and again, such a possibility was extremely minute, and the cost would be too great for Heaven’s Dao.

In this move, the Dao Ancestor lost his excuse for future great tribulations of living beings, expending considerable Heaven’s Dao power, all to prevent Li Changshou from triggering the Nine Filth Springs—truly ‘harming the enemy a thousand while self-harming eight hundred.’

This was equivalent to the Dao Ancestor secretly expending great effort to empty the Primitive World’s septic tank in advance, just to prevent Li Changshou from blowing it up!

Hmm…

This analogy had quite a flavor.

Were the Nine Filth Springs moved away or purified?

If moved away, where did that power go?

Li Changshou didn’t take this matter lightly. His consciousness returned to the Kun Peng Secret Realm, immediately sending voice transmission to instruct Yun Xiao, having her recall the Kun Peng vessel and asking the Grand Master and others to investigate the Primitive World’s outer regions.

They must confirm the Nine Filth Springs’ whereabouts, preventing them from becoming the Dao Ancestor’s counter-attack method.

Remote struggle appeared again.

Dozens of years later, Li Changshou received definite feedback—the original Nine Filth Springs’ power had been evaporated by the Dao Ancestor.

But to neutralize the karma within the Nine Filth Springs, the Dao Ancestor had used the method of decomposing true spirits, creating an equal amount of merit, letting this merit fill the Nine Filth Springs, leading these karmic forces to the Chaos Sea, very far from the Primitive World.

This was equivalent to moving the Nine Filth Springs to a new home, making them unable to affect the Primitive World.

As for what effect this would have on the Chaos Sea, the Dao Ancestor didn’t care.

This karmic force was nothing to the endless Chaos Sea, extremely weak in volume, and would be slowly dissolved by the Chaos Sea into attributeless, undefined, yet all-encompassing chaos qi.

Li Changshou’s trump cards were successfully reduced by one.

At this time, Li Changshou turned his gaze to the Primitive World, keenly detecting Heaven’s Dao power’s weakening.

Was Hongjun afraid?

Li Changshou expelled such thoughts from his mind, preferring to believe that Dao Ancestor Hongjun had greater calculations at this time, showing weakness to deceive the enemy.

Be extra careful, prepare more backup plans, and maintain utmost vigilance.

Neither he nor Hongjun could afford to lose.

Time to go out again.

With Heaven and Earth changing, staying in closed cultivation wouldn’t make sense.

Due to the Nine Filth Springs’ power dispersing, the world now welcomed a revival in dao cultivation.

Estimating that the transformation of Hu into Buddha wasn’t far off, he should also venture out, and gather some disciples back to Spirit Platform Mountain to train, making all preparations for teaching the Stone Monkey.

Thus, this Patriarch Subhuti mounted an immortal crane, and flew from Spirit Platform Mountain, once again setting foot in Central Divine Continent.

Last time he’d gathered classics, this time to gather disciples…

A fine tradition of the Western Sect.

Several years later.

“Hey, have you heard? They say Patriarch Subhuti of the Western Sect disguised himself as an ordinary qi cultivator and stole numerous Dao School classics from our Central Divine Continent, taking away more than ten gifted young boys and girls.”

“The Jade Void Palace has already sent immortals to investigate, though it will likely come to nothing.”

“Hey, how can you call it theft among qi cultivators? Fellow Daoist, your words are too harsh—it was enlightenment gained during dao discussions.”

“Hahaha!”

In a market town of Central Divine Continent.

Li Changshou, using False Subhuti’s shell to transform into a middle-aged scholar, sat quietly in a private room of a wine house where qi cultivators gathered, sipping tea while listening to various discussions.

This place wasn’t far from South Jambudvipa’s border. Li Changshou quietly spread his immortal consciousness, observing a scene unfolding at a checkpoint in northern South Jambudvipa.

Twenty-some years ago, an old scholar had appeared in the South Continent, traveling through various vassal states before ending up beside the Zhou Son of Heaven, managing the Zhou Kingdom’s documents and classics.

Over these twenty-plus years, this elder had gained quite a reputation in the mortal ‘literate circles,’ guiding countless ambitious scholars.

But two years ago, this elder resigned from his position, riding a green ox, traveling to study through prosperous human lands.

Seeing through the mortal world unmoved, speaking all dao principles returning to nature.

The elder rode his ox northwest through the South Continent, gathering some human race destiny around him.

Today, this elder had just reached Hangu Pass, Zhou Kingdom’s northwestern stronghold. The gate official was half a disciple of this elder, having visited him in Zhou’s capital during his youth.

Learning that the elder planned to leave the prosperous Central Plains to teach in the west, the gate official was moved and begged the elder to leave behind a scripture for his contemplation.

The elder gladly agreed, dismounting his ox and taking up brush and ink. He wrote from noon until dusk, finally departing leisurely with the setting sun.

That official was named Yin Xi;

That elder was named Li Er, naturally Lord Lao’s transformation.

This scripture, carrying the human race destiny Lord Lao had gathered, became an immortal work through the ages.

Its name: “The Dao De.”

Initially, this ‘small matter’ didn’t draw much attention.

The event of Li Er departing westward through Hangu Pass and leaving behind the eternal classic “Dao De Jing” would need some time to spread through the Zhou Kingdom.

But an event that could shake Heaven and Earth was about to occur next.

Li Changshou watched this scene, waiting for this moment.

After leaving Hangu Pass, the green ox carried Lord Lao for a while before their forms vanished into the setting sun.

Moments later, with the evening’s remaining glow, the green ox slowly appeared in West Aparagodaniya’s southeast, carrying Lord Lao to a mountaintop facing Spirit Mountain’s direction.

At this moment, at least four pairs of eyes in Heaven and Earth firmly watched Lord Lao’s every move.

These four pairs of eyes belonged to Dao Ancestor Hongjun in Purple Void Palace, Primordial Heavenly Lord in Jade Void Palace, Honored Master Rujia at Spirit Mountain, and the tea-drinking ‘False Subhuti’ Li Changshou in the private room.

Suddenly, a golden light flew from Lord Lao’s sleeve, transforming into a slightly plump dao master.

This dao master wore a gold-threaded kasaya and sat upon a lotus platform, his countenance solemn and gaze clear, his whole body emanating mysterious dao rhyme, layers of treasure wheels appearing behind him.

His right hand raised before his chest, his left hand forming a lotus seal beneath his right, a purple-gold alms bowl before him, and numerous treasures floating around him.

It was none other than the former Severance Sect Senior Brother, Dao Man Duobao!

Lord Lao said: “Begin.”

“Ah…”

Dao Man sighed softly, reciting scriptures as lotus flowers emerged around him.

Throughout Heaven and Earth, gazes gathered here as thick Heaven’s Dao power surged to this location.

In the sage’s residence at Spirit Mountain, Rujia calculated with finger seals, his expression growing increasingly grave, his breathing becoming somewhat hurried.

“Not good!”

Rujia uttered lowly, his form breaking through space-time and vanishing from Spirit Mountain, rushing straight toward Lord Lao and Dao Man’s location.

However, just as Rujia was about to step through space-time, gray energy coalesced before him into a banner flag, blocking his path to Lord Lao and Dao Man’s side.

The Pangu Banner!

Rujia’s face instantly darkened like a pot bottom, but he didn’t directly crash into the Pangu Banner. Instead, he manifested a thousand zhang away, saying softly to Lord Lao:

“Please show mercy, fellow Daoist! Don’t steal my Western destiny.”

Lord Lao completely ignored him, eyes slightly lowered as he sat quietly, waiting for Dao Man to finish reciting sutras.

High in the sky, the Primordial Heavenly Lord silently appeared, also watching Dao Man’s form with a faint smile, completely blocking Rujia’s path forward.

Heaven’s Dao showed no reaction to this.

Rujia’s eyes narrowed as he immediately calculated with finger seals. Seeing Dao Man’s form already wrapped in lotus flowers, he snorted and stepped back to Spirit Mountain in one stride, beginning to think of remedial strategies.

A misstep.

To think Lord Lao had stolen a move ahead!

Only upon seeing what Lord Lao and Dao Man were doing did Rujia understand how his Western Sect’s path should proceed.

Rujia had previously thought, with Master Taiqing’s true form suppressed, what could Lord Lao do to threaten his Western Sect even with near-sage power?

Now, Rujia realized his carelessness.

Using Dao Man as a vessel, Lord Lao reshaped his Western Sect’s teachings, establishing another great teaching, directly stealing his Western Sect’s destiny and negating the Western Sect’s ‘reason for existence’!

Looking at the current situation, Dao Man’s teachings gained more support from Heaven’s Dao!

Hmph!

Did they think he, the Western Sect’s Great Sage, was just decoration?

Just wait until Dao Man finished proclaiming his teachings and establishing a sect—he need only leverage Spirit Mountain’s existing influence, declare Dao Man’s teachings incomplete as a lower vehicle, a small vehicle, while his own teachings were the great vehicle, encompassing the other’s teachings!

He could turn defeat into victory!

The West’s great prosperity wasn’t their Western Sect’s prosperity, but rather the spread of Western Sect teachings through Heaven and Earth to influence beings!

Understanding dawned—Rujia now fully understood!

Lord Lao had moved to steal his Western Sect’s teaching destiny, to steal his Western Sect’s dao fruit!

This should have been Heaven’s Dao’s benefit to his Spirit Mountain!

He listened intently, not missing a bit of Dao Man’s core meanings, until finally…

Throughout Heaven and Earth echoed the great vows Dao Man established, in the form of prayers to Heaven’s Dao, speaking of how he would deliver all beings, save the world, and spread Buddhist dharma.

After establishing the vows, Dao Man proclaimed the new teaching’s principles, naming it the Buddhist School, established within Spirit Mountain’s domain in West Aparagodaniya.

Rujia was already confident, just about to speak…

“Buddha’s mercy saves suffering beings, must face beings’ doubts, must have false external demons disturbing our Buddha’s name. Now respecting the Western Sage Rujia as the eternal ancient Buddha, establishing Buddhism’s roots.

All who proclaim superior vehicle, great vehicle, transcendent vehicle, supreme grade… various confused Buddhist names, are all false Buddhism.

I am from the Great Vehicle Buddhist School, proclaiming Great Vehicle Buddhist dharma, saving from suffering and hardship, leading spiritual beings.

Those not coming through me cannot be called Buddha.”

Rujia: …

In just that moment of hesitation, endless golden light spread through Heaven and Earth, Heaven’s Dao’s considerable merit gathered on Dao Man’s form, condensing into Buddha’s true form, giving Rujia no further chance.

Beside Dao Man, Lord Lao smiled and shook his head, riding away on his ox.

In that market town’s private room, False Subhuti lowered his head with a long sigh, his expression quite troubled, his eyes showing some confusion…

His true form had long since laughed himself silly in the Kun Peng Secret Realm.

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