“Empty Yin Xue’s fourth-generation granddaughter, Empty Absolute Wonder, comes to pay respects to the Sixth Ancestor.”
Entering the Gate of Three Lives, Hai Shui in her green clothes and jade-like skin stood on the white water surface. Ripples spread in circles under her feet.
She raised her left hand to her chest, her slender jade fingers naturally extended, palm facing outward.
This was the “Fearless Mudra” among the seven great hand seals of Buddhism!
With the Fearless Mudra formed, Buddhist light shone from her back. Hai Shui resembled a peerless Buddhist sage from the Western Heaven Buddha Realm, ethereal and exquisite.
“Swish”
On the water surface, the shadow of Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha appeared, sitting upright and examining her. He said, “You should leave now!”
“Paying respects to the Ancestral Master.”
Hai Shui performed a salute and said, “When I saw the Gate of Three Lives, I knew that although the Ancestral Master’s dharma body is dead, his reporting body must still exist. Dare I ask, Ancestral Master, where is the Sixth Ancestor?”
“Maitreya is not here.” Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha said.
Maitreya was the Sixth Ancestor’s dharma name.
Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha did not want to lie, nor did he want to expose Zhang Ruchen’s secret. So he said this ambiguous sentence.
The two words “not here.”
It could mean he had left, or that he had entered parinirvana!
Hai Shui said, “Why does the Ancestral Master speak falsely? I saw the Sixth Ancestor’s true body with my own eyes earlier. Why would the Sixth Ancestor refuse to see me? I only want to inquire about my ancestor Empty Yin Xue’s whereabouts. After the ancestor entered the Abyss of Darkness, she never came out again.”
Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha said, “Empty Yin Xue did come to the Abyss of Darkness, but after a hasty meeting, she left.”
Hai Shui naturally would not give up. Divine light surged in her double pupils as she peered around, but found nothing. In her heart, she could not help but think whether the Sixth Ancestor’s golden body Buddha shadow earlier was manifested by Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha to deliberately save those gods from the Kunlun Realm?
Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha had been dead for eight hundred thousand years. Did he truly still have such divine abilities?
Hai Shui said, “The Ancestral Master’s reporting body is trapped in the Desolate Ancient Ruins City and can never reincarnate and recultivate. Why not let Absolute Wonder take the Ancestral Master away from this place and escape the darkness?”
“No need!” Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha said.
A trace of smile finally appeared in Hai Shui’s eyes. She said, “It seems the Ancestral Master trusts Zhang Ruchen more.”
Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha remained silent.
Hai Shui said, “Is this Gate of Three Lives of the Ancestral Master also meant to be passed to him?”
Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha said, “Although you cultivate Buddhism, you have demonic obstacles in your heart and act inι°θ―‘ ways, which is not the true heart of Buddhism. Zhang Ruchen does not cultivate Buddhism, yet his mind is open, humble and sincere, and he has the heart to resolve enmities and hatreds. The choice is clear at a glance, is it not?”
Hai Shui said, “The Ancestral Master should know that I am Empty Yin Xue’s fourth-generation granddaughter, while Zhang Ruchen is nothing. Since the Gate of Three Lives is to be passed on, it should be to one’s own people. Why pass it to an outsider?”
“Amitabha!” Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha said.
Hai Shui stepped on the water surface. Her heart became even more certain that the Sixth Ancestor who appeared earlier was related to Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha. Thus, the wariness in her heart lessened a bit. She said, “Since the ancestor met the Ancestral Master, did she leave the two volumes of Nether Books and the Udumbara flower for the Ancestral Master to keep?”
“No.”
Hai Shui said, “Can I still believe the Ancestral Master’s words?”
“Whether to believe or not is up to you, not me.” Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha said.
Hai Shui thought of the thing Zhang Ruchen seemed to be holding earlier and guessed, “The Ancestral Master would not have given such an important item to Zhang Ruchen as well, right?”
“Amitabha!”
Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha chanted the Buddha’s name again.
Hai Shui turned to leave, intending to chase after Zhang Ruchen.
“Splash!”
The calm water surface suddenly rose with strands of clouds and mist, like silk, like fog, all divine venerable divine patterns, wrapping around her and pulling her back.
“Did you not say you felt guilty towards the Buddhist dharma and wished to mend your state of mind through repentance and bitter cultivation? The Ancestral Master will teach you.” Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha said.
Hai Shui let out a delicate hum. “The Ancestral Master has been in parinirvana for many years. To keep me here, I am afraid you lack the strength, right?”
A silver light point appeared at the center of Hai Shui’s brow. Within the light point, the myriad states of the universe appeared: stars extinguishing, the Yellow Springs spanning the sky, ten thousand realms like boats…, tyrannical and brilliant divine power erupted, breaking the strands of divine venerable divine patterns, escaping the trap, and rapidly flying towards the Gate of Three Lives.
She was about to reach the Gate of Three Lives.
From the gate, a flood of golden rule divine patterns surged out, like a heavenly river descending, with endless divine power, rushing her back in flight.
“You are indeed very strong. If outside the Gate of Three Lives, I could not do anything to you. But inside the Gate of Three Lives, it is not certain! To cultivate Buddhism, one must first cultivate the heart. Your heart has been instilled with too many Nether ClanζεΏ΅, and resentment fills the sky. Cultivating Buddhism like this, with body and mind not united, will surely bring great calamity. Only by uniting knowledge and action can the calamity be resolved. Listen to me expound the sutras!” Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha said.
Hai Shui said, “The Ancestral Master can defeat me first, then preach. It is not too late.”
…
“I explained it clearly to you last time. Your level is too low. Absolutely do not travel with two women, otherwise there will be big trouble.” The Sealed Dust Sword God said.
Zhang Ruchen said, “The Sword God misunderstands. Hai Shui is a Buddhist cultivator. We have no male-female relationship.”
The Sealed Dust Sword God glanced at Prajna walking ahead. He sighed inwardly. He had hinted so obviously, yet why did Zhang Ruchen think of Hai Shui?
No way, could not hint anymore!
If he continued hinting, it might anger Chi Yao.
The Sealed Dust Sword God said, “You see her as a Buddhist, but she ruined her Buddha heart because of you. You do not harm people, but emotions do.”
“What about the Heavenly Sparrow Goddess?” Zhang Ruchen asked this.
The Sealed Dust Sword God smiled leisurely. “The Heavenly Sparrow Goddess and I are both free-spirited people. We do not get truly emotional. Rest assured, the thoughts of gods are definitely different from those of mortals in the red dust.”
“Gods pursue transcendence, powerful cultivation, the grand scheme of the universe, immortality, not romantic entanglements between children.”
As they spoke, they were about to exit Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha’s corpse and reach the ear canal.
Outside, a piercing divine sound rang out. “Where is Sealed Dust? You had better confess truthfully, otherwise I will refine your divine sources and divine souls into divine pills, your divine bodies into puppets, to be slaves forever.”
It was a woman’s voice.
The Sealed Dust Sword God, who had been talking and laughing casually moments ago, immediately stopped. His face became extremely grave.
Little Black set up an ingenious concealment array, covering the four of them. He said in a low voice, “This is not good. It is the auras of Heavenly Sparrow Goddess and Gui Si. The six true gods of the Yanluo Clan are surrounded by them! There seem to be gods from other forces too. What do we do?”
The strange beast riot was the perfect time to enter the Abyss of Darkness.
Because during this period, the Abyss of Darkness was relatively safer.
This strange beast riot was unprecedented in scale. For the Yan Clan of the Abyss of Darkness, this was a golden opportunity. So they went all out, sparing no cost to find the old clan leader. Not only did they send dozens of supreme realm great saints, but also six true gods.
Of course, these six true gods were all gods who had not yet passed the first kalpa disaster.
When entering Cloud Azure Ancient Buddha’s corpse, all gods separated. This led to three of the Yanluo Clan’s six true gods being ambushed and seriously injured.
Zhang Ruchen’s perception was even stronger than Little Black’s as a true god. He said, “There is also a lower god with extremely dense ghost qi, but with quite strong power fluctuations. It should be the third son of the Ghost Lord, Luo.”
“Such strong darkness aura. It is Wu Jiang, and there are true gods and pseudo-gods from the Dark Temple and Nether Temple. Together, there are fully ten of them. What a big move!”
Prajna said, “The Dark Temple has always wanted to eliminate the Yan Clan of the Abyss of Darkness. How could they miss this opportunity? Once they confirm that the Yanluo Clan’s old clan leader Yan Huanyu is dead, they will act immediately. The Yanluo Clan cultivators who entered the Abyss of Darkness are surely their extermination targets.”
“Besides that, you, this humanoid divine treasury, are also an inducement, enough to cause gods to fight, divine blood to form rivers.”
Although they had not seen the outside scene with their own eyes, with gods gathered, that majesty and spectacle was enough to scare great saints into prostrating on the ground, unable to move.
“Eh! How is it him?”
A strange colour appeared in Zhang Ruchen’s eyes.
Prajna asked, “Who?”
“Sikong Gong Nanfeng from the Temple of Destiny, and another god traveling with him, who should also be from the Temple of Destiny.”
Zhang Ruchen deliberately asked, “Now the Desolate Ancient Ruins City is full of gods, with a great upheaval. Why has your Temple of Destiny also come to join in? What is the purpose? Not coming for me as well, right?”
Prajna hesitated for a moment and said, “The three divisions and twelve divine palaces of the Temple of Destiny are all independent of each other. How would I know what the Heavenly Fate Division wants to do? Strange, why is there no aura of Gu She Jing?”
“What does it matter about her? We should first think of a way to break the situation. After all, most of the gods outside are targeting Zhang Ruchen. And we must ally with the Yanluo Clan to fight them. Once the Yanluo Clan’s gods fall or are suppressed, we will be isolated and helpless.”
Little Black’s thinking was clearer than ever. He bumped the arm of the Sealed Dust Sword God, who had not spoken, and said, “Sword God, your cultivation and combat power are the highest here. You make a decision?”
The Sealed Dust Sword God touched his chin with his finger and said, “I am injured, my combat power not yet recovered. You are too, right? Why not, we first preserve ourselves wisely, return the way we came, go to the Gate of Three Lives. With the Sixth Ancestor there, no need to fear them?”
As he spoke, the Sealed Dust Sword God turned to go back.
Zhang Ruchen said, “In my eyes, the Sword Emperor of the former Kunlun Realm was a peerless hero, fearless of any hardship. The Sealed Dust Sword God of the Asura Clan was also majestic and unparalleled, able to sword-slash true gods after becoming a god for a thousand years. When has he ever retreated?”
Little Black scratched his cat face, twirled his whiskers with his finger, and smiled mockingly. “The Sword God claims to be invincible in romance, bending for a thousand flowers. You are not afraid to see the Heavenly Sparrow Goddess, are you?”
The Sealed Dust Sword God’s sword brows and star eyes sank. He was about to retort.
Outside, Wu Jiang’s voice rang out. “Heavenly Sparrow Goddess, forget about the Sealed Dust Sword God for now. Finding Zhang Ruchen’s whereabouts is the proper matter. Is the Sealed Dust Sword God more valuable than Zhang Ruchen?”
“Ten Sealed Dust Sword Gods are not worth one Zhang Ruchen.” Unknown who said this.
…
The sword in the Sealed Dust Sword God’s hand trembled violently, his eyes even colder. He said, “Upon careful thought, we cannot abandon allies. No matter what, we must first help the Yanluo Clan’s gods escape. Even if injured, so what? As long as there is one breath left, my Sealed Dust’s sword remains sharp. Fight!”
After saying this, the Sealed Dust Sword God was the first to walk out, his body surging with killing intent. Finally, he showed some of the Asura Clan god’s ferocity.
