The Empress's First Running Dog

Chapter 679 Filling a Human World

A thousand years ago... was this the story of the Maya Walker?

Inside the courtyard, Zhao Du'an, the Empress, and the others were stunned for a moment, all showing expressions of surprise.

The name Maya Xingzhe is widely known, as he was a pioneer who brought Buddhism from the Western Regions to the Central Plains a thousand years ago, and is also the origin of the Shenlong Temple lineage.

As for his greatest connection with the Mubei Forest, it should only be that he was the first cultivator to enter this place after it became a forbidden zone.
As Zhao Du'an pondered, Xu Taizu's weathered voice echoed in his ears:

"A thousand years ago, during the reign of the Great Qi Dynasty, cultivators already existed on the land, but they were scattered and few large cultivation forces emerged."

At that time, although Buddhism had already established a foothold in the Western Regions, it was far less powerful than it would become later. Maya the Pilgrim appeared in the area bordering the Western Regions, but his specific background is now impossible to verify.

However, it is said that the abandoned baby was found by a monk from the Red Sect of Buddhism who was traveling in the Western Regions.

In the very year that Maya Walker was born, a momentous event occurred in the world: a crimson star with a swaying tail streaked across the land from south to north.

After that, the Mubei Forest was ignited by a massive wildfire, and afterwards, the forest area was covered by a powerful, almost divine force, turning it into a forbidden zone.

Any intruder, no matter how powerful, was severely suppressed and became food for the monsters in the forest.

Did a harbinger of misfortune appear at the time of Maya's birth?
...This largely coincides with the historical events that Tuoba Weizhi described... Zhao Du'an's heart stirred.

A thousand years ago is a vague timeframe.

However, the story told by Lao Xu described the sequence of events with remarkable clarity.

Emperor Taizu of Xu continued:
"This matter was taken very seriously by the Great Qi Dynasty at that time. In the ten years following the appearance of the crimson star, earthquakes occurred frequently in various places, and floods and droughts occurred one after another. Even the evil gods were not at peace. Therefore, that star was identified as a 'disaster star' and regarded as an omen of misfortune."

"And Maya the Pilgrim was adopted by the monks of the Red Sect and entered a temple in the Western Regions to become a novice monk."

Maya was extremely intelligent from a young age, showing early signs of enlightenment. At a young age, he was already familiar with the scriptures in the temple, demonstrating remarkable talent for spiritual practice. As a result, he was nurtured and became famous in the Western Regions in his youth.

At that time, there was no "Dharma King," yet he could debate scriptures with leaders of various sects from all five directions and hold his own.

Thus, Maya grew into a young man, but instead of staying in the Western Regions to become a religious leader, he resolutely chose to enter the Great Qi Dynasty to spread Buddhism.

"At that time, the Qi Kingdom strictly controlled sorcerers outside the palace, and even considered gods outside the Qi Kingdom to be evil gods."

Therefore, it was extremely dangerous for monks to enter the country of Qi.

Despite the advice against it, Maya the Pilgrim resolutely went. He entered the pass alone, starting from the common people. While practicing his faith, he communicated with sorcerers and martial artists in the martial arts world at that time, explored the mysteries of cultivation, and gradually gained a reputation.

There were many dangers along the way, and many close calls, but we got through them safely.

Later, he seized an opportunity and was invited into the Qi Kingdom's palace to discuss Taoist principles with the court's chief sorcerer at the time.

He was further honored by the emperor at the time, who granted him permission to lecture in the capital and establish the first temple, the prototype of Shenlong Temple.

Zhao Du'an interrupted and asked:

"Did Qi Kingdom actually accept him back then? Was it related to Qi Kingdom's change of view on the power of cultivation? In Layuan, I saw Qi Kingdom's plan to create gods, and in the East Sea, I saw the site of their dragon-slaying a thousand years ago."

Emperor Taizu of Xu nodded:
"You guessed right. Strictly speaking, it was the influence of that jinx that caused the emperor of Qi Kingdom at that time to change his attitude."

Qi Guo's research into magic and deities probably began around that time.

It is precisely because of this research that we are willing to exchange ideas with many folk sorcerers, including Maya the Wanderer.

The Empress and Zhang Yanyi suddenly realized that they had finally figured out the timeline.

It turns out that Qi Guo's subsequent actions were all related to the calamity star.

Emperor Taizu of Xu continued:
"At that time, Maya was already quite old and had a reputation. For many years afterward, he lived in the capital, and gradually some monks who were inspired by him gathered around him and became his disciples."

However, even in his later years, Shenlong Temple remained a very small and insignificant force.

It will take another one or two hundred years before it truly matures.

In his later years, Maya Ascetic became increasingly reclusive, seemingly losing interest in Buddhism and instead becoming engrossed in astrology.

He maintained close ties with the Imperial Astronomical Bureau of the Qi Kingdom at that time, spending long hours sitting under the night sky observing the celestial phenomena, and even devising some methods for calculating celestial events.

Xu Zhenguan blinked and asked:
"Is Maya the Pilgrim perhaps studying the harbinger of disaster?"

Emperor Taizu of Xu nodded:
"That's right. He was indeed pondering the Calamity Star, and seemed to have developed a great interest in the Mubei Forest. However, there were far too many people who studied the Calamity Star back then, but none of them had any results. Maya was not particularly outstanding among them. Until one day, Maya the Walker disappeared."

"Yes, he just suddenly disappeared. Nobody knows where he went or when he left."

His disciples searched everywhere but found no clues. Finally, they found an amazing answer in some of his manuscripts.

Surprisingly, the manuscript contains a small portion describing the environment within the Mubei Forest!
Hidden within this is a deeper truth: when he was young, Maya Walker had actually entered that forbidden area in the far north!

The exact time was before he left the Western Regions and entered the Qi Kingdom; he had detoured alone to the north and emerged alive!

"The news caused an uproar throughout the capital."

It should be noted that since the calamity star descended, a century has passed and no one has been able to set foot inside.

Unfortunately, the manuscript left behind by Maya the Pilgrim is vague and incomplete. However, it still sparked much speculation among powerful figures at the time. Some guessed that Maya the Pilgrim's disappearance was because he had once again traveled north.

Zhao Du'an couldn't help but say:
What exactly did Maya Walker see in the Northern Forest when he was young?

The Empress and Zhang Yanyi also looked over intently, expecting an answer.

Emperor Taizu of Xu was silent for a moment, then said:

"A hole."

Hole?!

This answer left the group looking at each other in bewilderment.

What Xu Taizu said next took them even more by surprise:

"To be precise, deep in the forest, a space has shattered, creating a hole that has been unable to heal for a long time. Through that hole, one can glimpse another strange world, frozen in time."

At that moment, both Zhao Du'an and Xu Zhenguan were startled!
Emperor Taizu of Xu smiled:

"That's right, it's the world you've seen before."

That city in the scroll of human life! The frozen night when Zhao Du'an traveled here!
Zhao Du'an's heart pounded wildly, and he swallowed hard.

"Where...is that hole?"

Emperor Taizu of Xu said calmly, "It's been sealed off."

"Sealed off?" Zhang Yanyi couldn't sit still any longer. He had never seen that city before, but that didn't stop him from roughly understanding what was happening:
"Does the senior mean that a thousand years ago, that catastrophic star crashed into this forest, tearing a rift in space? And beyond that rift lies another world?!"

Xu Taizu shook his head: "No." Then, amidst the puzzled looks of the others, he explained:

"At first, Maya Walker guessed the same way you did, but later he realized that what lay behind the cave was not a real world, but an imprint, a photograph."

The calamity didn't actually 'fall' here; rather, it existed in another world, brushing past the one we live in.

As if afraid they wouldn't understand, Xu Taizu suddenly raised his hand, and two leaves drifted down from the fiery red banyan tree.

"There are two leaves here, each representing a world."

As he spoke, he held one piece in each hand and briefly pressed them together:
"When the wind blows through the yard, there's a very small chance that two leaves will cross or even overlap, but this is only temporary; they will quickly separate again. However, if the two leaves rub against each other quickly enough, then..."

With a forceful pull of his hands, a wisp of fire flashed and disappeared between two banyan leaves.

He opened his hand again, revealing a charred mark on one of the leaves.

“Like this, two worlds intersect, forming a rift, and the black ash at the rift is imprinted with the veins of another leaf,” Xu Taizu said calmly.

Zhang Yan and the Empress both showed expressions of shock. They understood, which made it even more unbelievable.

And Zhao Du'an...

He stared blankly at the leaf, and for some reason, his mind drifted to the famous "Halley's Comet" on Earth!
Legend has it that Halley's Comet also brushes past Earth every many years... And can the "disaster star" streaking across the sky be interpreted as two planets intersecting?
This is...this is outrageous...

Zhao Du'an instinctively felt this was unscientific; if two planets were to intersect, their gravitational pull would have already caused the world to collapse...

But then he thought, he wanted to slap himself:
There are already gods and people who can cultivate, so it's a bit out of place for me to still cling to a physical worldview.

Old Xu, however, seemed to have read his mind. He tossed the fallen leaf in his hand to the ground and said calmly:
"Of course, the intersection of these two worlds is not like two stones colliding with each other."

According to Maya Walker's original conjecture, these two worlds are two sides of the same coin, like the same leaf, with one world on one side and another on the other.

The so-called "passing by" is merely a brief connection between the inner and outer worlds.

Goodness...it's even more abstract now...

Zhao Du'an opened his mouth, but the example was so vivid that he understood.

Xu Zhenguan couldn't help but say:
"So, the appearance of the calamity star is a clash between the two worlds?"

“That’s right,” Xu Taizu sighed.
"After observation, Maya Walker believed that the entire Mubei Forest had become a forbidden zone because of this hole. It was like a lake with a hole in the middle, causing the surrounding water to gather and the lake to become calm again."

Therefore, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the Mubei Forest is extremely rich, which makes the wild beasts here exceptionally powerful without needing to develop intelligence.

This phenomenon, in turn, distorted the natural energy of the entire forest, leading to suppression of cultivators and preventing even gods from approaching.

Zhao Du'an frowned and said, "What about those 'natural disasters' outside..."

Emperor Taizu of Xu nodded:
"Yes, in the ten years following the calamity, the earthquakes, floods, and droughts on earth were all caused by the disruption of the entire world, and the restlessness of the evil gods was even more so."

So this is the truth behind the "jinx"!

But Xu Taizu's next words truly shocked everyone:

“The Maya Walker lived here for a long time, and then he discovered something terrible: the hole was still expanding at a tiny rate.”

Although it's slow, it's constantly expanding, and if the calamity were to occur a second time, the hole would likely grow even larger...

At that time, it won't just be this forest that becomes a forbidden zone; the entire world will be affected, and that will be the real catastrophe.

This… Xu Zhenguan couldn’t help but say:

"Since Maya the Pilgrim discovered this, why didn't he tell anyone after he went out?"

Emperor Taizu glanced at his great-great-great-great-granddaughter and said helplessly:
"No one else can enter, only Maya the Pilgrim can enter. Do you think anyone would believe this if it were said out loud? I'm afraid the first one to suffer would be himself."

Yes!

Given Qi Guo's style at the time, he probably would have imprisoned Maya for research... Xu Zhenguan realized he had lost his composure.

Zhao Du'an frowned and said:

"So, he kept it to himself and left?"

He always felt that there was some crucial information hidden in Lao Xu's words.

such as:

How did Maya Walker manage to avoid the powerful monsters in the forest and reach the center?
And how did they manage to come out alive?

Was it luck? Did they find that warm river?

If so, why not share the "safe path" with others and work together to solve this major problem?
Old Xu seems to be intentionally avoiding these details.

Emperor Taizu of Xu nodded:
"Yes, Maya Walker left because he realized that to patch up this hole, one must possess god-level power, since even celestial beings would be suppressed here."

Therefore, only the legendary 'human immortals' might be able to fill this hole.

So he left and went to the Kingdom of Qi, where he began to preach the Dharma and cultivate himself, hoping to reach a sufficient level of enlightenment before resolving this matter in his lifetime.

Zhang Yanyi said:

"But it seems that Maya Walker has not reached that level."

Emperor Taizu of Xu nodded:
"He did not achieve it, so in his later years he realized that the plan to become a human immortal was almost impossible, so he turned to looking for other methods."

At that time, he was obsessed with astrology partly to further investigate the cave, and partly to try and predict when the 'disaster star' might arrive again.

Xu Zhenguan asked:
"He found a way? You just said that the hole has been filled."

Emperor Taizu of Xu nodded:
"He did find a special method."

Zhao Du'an pressed further, "What is it?"

Emperor Taizu of Xu glanced at him and said:

"Using the peak of the Celestial Realm as the array eye, and the Mubei Forest as the array base, and using the divine soul to suppress the spatial rift, although it is difficult to truly fill it, it can prevent it from expanding."

Ah, and because of the special nature of this forest, which distorts the heavens and earth, he can live here for a long time and greatly extend his lifespan.

At the same time, the entire human realm is interconnected; as long as the order of spiritual energy in the outside world strengthens, it can gradually nourish and allow this void to slowly heal itself.

"Therefore, in his later years, Maya did indeed leave the capital and come to this place, using his soul to seal off that human world."

(End of this chapter)