The True Lord has arrived

Chapter 131: What are immortals, gods, and Buddhas?
Zhou Yan looked at the monk and the giant golden cicada. There were wisps of power around him trying to corrode him, but he was protected by the protective flames that had evolved from his three hundred years of cultivation, so he could not get close at all.

In Buddhist stories, the Buddha was eaten by a peacock but remained unharmed.

It was because of his supreme merit and virtue that he was protected by his surroundings. Even a great demon would find it difficult to overcome him. He would not be injured even if he lay there, so he was completely unharmed. Although Zhou Yan could not be compared with the legendary immortals and gods in Buddhist scriptures and Taoist canons.

However, with three hundred years of cultivation, even ordinary evil spirits and demonic powers cannot touch him in the slightest.

Zhou Yan saw that the monk's figure was illusory, but his expression was compassionate and quite sorrowful. Zhou Yan glanced at the golden cicada over there, held the Earth Soul Heaven-Shattering Sword, and said, "How come the great monk was also eaten?"

The monk sighed gently, "Eaten? I'd rather it ate me."

"Not this spider."

Upon seeing the monk's appearance, Zhou Yan's discerning eyes faintly detected a flowing Buddhist aura emanating from him—not intense, but extremely pure and serene. He then asked, "Great monk, do you know the true form of this spider?!"

The monk said, "Eat this now, it's a [Mountain Spider]."

Zhou Yan raised an eyebrow: "Mountain spider?"

The monk thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, it is a creature from the mountains and seas. When Yu the Great traveled the world and recorded the water conditions of various places, he also led people to record the strange beasts from the mountains and seas. The mountain spider was so disgusting that I heard even King Yu vomited after eating it, so it was not included in the Classic of Mountains and Seas."

"Later, it went into hiding in the world. Sword Saint Pei Min once encountered this thing on a mountain road. It was a spider as big as a cartwheel. After killing the spider, he discovered that the spider silk was as big as a piece of cloth and could be used to stop bleeding."

Zhou Yan said, "Isn't that one the size of a car wheel?"

The monk put his hands together in prayer and smiled gently, "Yes, yes."

"The Sword Saint killed the small ones, but the ones who ate us were the big ones."

"Let me take a look."

"This one must be the eighteenth generation ancestor of the one that the Sword Saint killed."

"It was the one that scurried away from the side when King Yu was so disgusted by the food that he vomited."

Zhou Yan wanted to curse.

The human sword saint, a master of at least the fourth rank, instantly killed a mountain spider; why is he now fighting a giant spider reinforced by Buddhist and evil magic and various other forces?

A rare species from the mountains and seas, right?

Zhou Yan pressed his finger to his brow and asked again:

"When I arrived, I saw a red cloud split open in the sky, and inside was a very powerful demon called Weaver Girl. I'm not sure what her true form is, but based on my experience, it's most likely a spider."

"So, the one that ate the two of us was a mountain spider from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. What about the other one? Monk, don't tell me that it was also a mountain spider. This kind of thing that almost made it into the Classic of Mountains and Seas, it can't be a common one, can it?"

Zhou Yan noticed a sense of loss on the monk's face.

He clasped his hands together, remained silent for a moment, and then said softly:

Let me tell you a story.

Zhou Yan said, "Is there enough time? Why don't you get straight to the point, Venerable Monk?"

The monk thought for a moment and said, "Of course."

"So, it was probably more than two thousand years ago..."

Zhou Yan's lips twitched, and he said, "Shut up, monk!"

The monk smiled and said in a gentle voice, "Then, this humble monk will tell you. There is still time, or rather, it will give you a chance to recover your strength."

long long ago.

If there is a hermit who secludes himself for cultivation, then let him be just a hermit.

While contemplating cultivation, he was troubled and frustrated, unable to come to any conclusion no matter how hard he tried. So, he let down a wisp of his fundamental wisdom, which transformed into a spider. This was not for fun; it was definitely not because he was bored and looking for some amusement.

It's really because I'm stuck on this mental hurdle now—

Knowing the past and future is as fleeting as dew or lightning, yet clinging to the present moment with subtle attachment:

"Since it is known to be an illusion, why bother to repair it?"

Afterwards, the world was in turmoil, and he traveled to all corners of the world. He fell into a deep sleep, but this wisdom remained. A thousand years later, the Buddha noticed this place and came several times. He asked the spider twice, "What is the most precious treasure in the world?" The spider's answer was, "I cannot obtain it; I have already lost it."

These two points are precisely the hermit's own distress and regret.

Finally, the Buddha gave him a great dream, in which he saw his past, present, and future obsessions and desires.

This was just a slight push; you still have to figure it out yourself.

Finally, when his fundamental wisdom transcended the spider's body, this hermit, or rather, the monk, saw through the delusion and looked back at his past self. He should have dissolved this past body into nothingness, but instead, he was moved by compassion and pity. The Buddha asked:
"Why remain in this karmic body, this body from the past?"

"Sudden disaster".

The monk replied, "If you see me, I have troubled her for a thousand years."

“Now that I have gone, she is also one of the sentient beings. Since she is a sentient being, she can also attain enlightenment. Even if she cannot become a Buddha, she can still reach the Arhat realm.”

"If I regard spiders as 'monstrous creatures,' then I am mistaking falsehood for truth; if I forcibly take them back to their golden form, it is merely replacing old beliefs with new ones."

The Buddha asked, "Where is your mind?"

The monk replied, "It exists in the form of a demon, in the form of a bodhisattva, and in the form of dew that has shattered without a trace."

"First sigh: sentient beings mistake the false self for the true self; second sigh: compassion is cruelty; third sigh—"

"All sentient beings can attain enlightenment, yet they do not turn back."

However, the monk never expected that although he intended to enlighten the spider's physical form, the spider's hatred was too deep and its karmic burden too heavy, causing even the ethereal monk distress.

Zhou Yan looked the monk up and down: "Then why don't you go yourself?! Why wait until she commits countless atrocities before you come up with a plan?"

The monk sighed, "Me? I don't even know where I am."

"This is just a fake body."

"The memories that remain are also clinging to the nectar, the herb, the past, and the present."

"I originally wanted to talk to her, but I never expected that the giant spider had somehow developed terrifying supernatural powers and bound me with this golden cicada. It even planned to make me merge with Xuanzang. Forgive me."

Zhou Yan finally understood why these guys thought that the cicada could revive Xuanzang.

They're probably going to burn this illusory monk's image as firewood.

Zhou Yan realized that the seemingly gentle monk in front of him was the original body of the [Insect Buddha Blood Egg]. The mountain spider swallowed the golden cicada, but Zhou Yan and the others broke the blood sea node, so they were unable to digest this monk.

While Zhou Yan was processing the current situation.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound arose, and his body was violently shaken, almost causing him to fall. It seemed that the enormous, strange mountain spider had suddenly turned upside down and was frantically climbing upwards along something. After all, it was an eight-legged insect, and its movement was contorted yet incredibly fast.

This caused Zhou Yan, Jin Chan, and the monk, who were still inside the mountain spider's abdomen, to be flipped upside down and slide downwards.

Zhou Yan raised his hand and thrust the Earth Soul Sky Collision directly into the mountain spider demon's belly, securing it firmly as a support point. He then casually grabbed the monk around the waist and pulled him to the side, feeling the thing moving fast and extremely bumpy.

He was almost thrown up from all the jostling.

Zhou Yan shouted, "What's the situation outside?"

The monk clasped his hands together and said, "That spider used the Reclining Buddha Temple as a node to connect with the earth's veins, attempting to use the ancient divine spring of Shaanxi and the Jianmu Heavenly Ladder technique for ascending to heaven. What do you think..."

Before Zhou Yan's eyes, Buddhist light flowed and gradually rippled, transforming into a ball of light. With the help of this Buddhist Dharma, Zhou Yan saw everything happening outside. He saw the land within a thousand miles beginning to turn black, the life on the ground withering, the vegetation dying, and the water drying up.

Visible to the naked eye, the vitality of all things gathered, surged, and clustered around the giant mountain spider, then climbed up the silken ladder hanging from the sky towards the [Heavenly Palace], which symbolized the Dao Fruit.

The clouds in the sky churned and spread out, vast and magnificent, with threads hanging down, climbing and rising, while the earth withered and life was cut off.

Zhou Yan suddenly remembered what the God of Agriculture had said.

'They want to steal the life from the autumn harvest...'

It is the plundering of life force, not the scorching of the earth. The real calamity is the use of the autumn harvest energy and the vitality of the earth to give rise to the concept of the 'ladder to heaven,' not the use of drought demons to stop the bleeding. Zhou Yan was misled about this at the time.

The ears of grain from the God of Agriculture shone brightly at Zhou Yan's waist.

Everyone had fought to the limit. Zhou Yan saw Shen Cangming panting heavily and saw the scattered human cavalry. Under these circumstances, Pei Xuan Niao was still like a fool, riding his horse towards them.

This spoiled scion of a noble family is arrogant and domineering, but he is not intimidated in the slightest.

Ao Xuantao was already fighting the demonized dragon and had just transformed into a dragon himself. Now, he was severely injured and had exhausted all his strength in the battle. Meanwhile, the enemy, the strange creatures from the mountains and seas that Weaver Girl had found, only had the strength to climb.

It was a lose-lose situation.

Out of the corner of Zhou Yan's eye, he saw Li Sanlang, whose hair was disheveled and who was being protected by Chen Xuanli and others, suddenly pick up his pen and complete the imperial edict and the Fengshan ceremony. In such a desperate situation, the old man had actually become brave enough to fight.

Zhou Yan gripped the knife and took a deep breath.

A lose-lose situation? Who said that?

The Earth Spirit and Heavenly Inclined Force pressed directly against the abdomen of the giant monster. Under the crisis, the God of Agriculture's Ear of Grain almost burst out with all its light. Zhou Yan's magic power was quickly restored. Not only that, but the upper limit of his magic power was also temporarily increased.

This is the earth's instinctive yearning when it encounters disaster.

When the world is in turmoil, various blessings often fall upon one person, causing them to have a series of extraordinary encounters in a short period of time, increasing their strength and giving them targeted methods to fight against the great calamity. This is what is called the "person destined to face the calamity".

Zhou Yan's era also has another name.

It's called "A Mighty Man Who Fell From the Sky".

Zhou Yan gripped the hilt of his sword, looked at the illusory body of the monk with a gentle and compassionate face—a mere avatar from the past—and said, "The Dragon Seed's Light Gathers All Beings, the Ten Directions of the Buddha Sea Resonate with One Sound. Your true form is not human, is it?"

Then the monk clasped his hands together, his body radiating a faint dragon's might, his expression gentle:
"This humble monk is a descendant of an ancient dragon."

He seemed to possess telepathy, at least knowing what Zhou Yan was about to do, so he placed his palm on Zhou Yan's shoulder, and the Buddhist fire burning on Zhou Yan's blade gained wisps of dragon might.

The flames on the blade curled and burned, faintly transforming into dragons.

The power of Buddhist fire has been further enhanced.

Buddhist supernatural power: Eight Heavenly Dragon Fire!

Zhou Yan sensed the monk's subtle extraordinary nature and said casually, "Is someone like you, or rather, your true form, Great Monk, what so many great demons are pursuing—the realm of the Upper Three Grades of Immortals?"

The monk, whose body was gradually becoming translucent, said gently, "This humble monk does not know either."

"But if they say so, then so be it."

"This body of the object is about to dissipate, and I don't know when we will meet again. May I ask how to address you, sir? Well, I will have to trouble you with the rest of the matters. We can treat each other as equals."

Zhou Yan felt the Buddhist fire that had been briefly added to the knife in his hand.

"My name is Zhou Yan."

"Zhou, meaning to travel the world; Yan, meaning to evolve all things."

Then he saw the monk, who was gradually dissipating, exhausting his strength, and even the golden cicada was gradually disappearing, put his hands together, and replied with a gentle expression: "Wen proves the four directions, and the five wisdoms are integrated into Wen."

"The sweet dew falls on the courtyard, its merits and virtues are abundant and auspicious."

"This humble monk—"

Manjushri.

Zhou Yan's expression slightly hardened as he watched Jin Chan and Manjushri's past selves dissipate together, turning into a pale golden light of nothingness. A twitch appeared on his lips, then transformed into a chivalrous smile:

"Manjushri Bodhisattva? After cultivating himself, he left behind a prestigious name, and over the long years, he became a figure in Buddhist scriptures, Taoist canons, and mythology?"

"So that's how it is. No wonder, no wonder Master Qingming and Weaver Girl are so determined to take this step at all costs."

"Indeed, this is how we should be!"

"However... Weaver Girl."

"You've really hit the jackpot by meeting me."

Zhou Yan could sense that the mountain spider was constantly climbing upwards, and he could feel the changes in the energy and the surging power of the earth. It was probably already at a very high place.

After it breaks open, won't I fall from here and die a heroic death?

I can't fly.

do not care!
At this moment, Li Longji stared intently at the giant silk thread that climbed the ladder to heaven, looking at the blood-red sea of ​​clouds. Everyone looked distressed and almost desperate. Shen Cangming was still gathering military energy; he had not given up the fight.

In this desperate situation, Zhou Yan gripped the hilt of his sword and poured all his magical power into it.

He only said one word.

"big!"

Buzz!
Above the Earthly Soul and Heavenly Inclined, the flowing light changed. Right on the abdomen of this ancient, exotic mountain spider, the weapon of King Yu suddenly turned and became enormous. Moreover, with Zhou Yan's urging and the infusion of magical power,

It's still getting bigger.

Big, big, big!
Give it to me, big one!

(End of this chapter)