The True Lord has arrived

Chapter 137 Six Paths Manifestation, Supreme Divine Power

Zhou Yan entered the cave, which was indeed a wonderful place. Jade palaces stretched a thousand feet, and misty peaks rose one after another. The vast ocean was embraced, and clouds formed a heavenly staircase. The sound of pine trees boiling like boiling water was like solidified marrow.

There are dragons roaring in the streams, tigers howling on the rocks, and monkeys crying at night.

It was truly a celestial scene, extraordinary beyond compare.

Zhou Yan walked forward in this dream. On both sides were orchids and jade trees, fragrant herbs and exotic flowers. The clouds that rose up seemed to be full of rich primordial energy. Inside, there were alchemy furnaces, formations, and everything else. On one side was a weapon rack with eighteen kinds of weapons on it, each of them shimmering with precious light.

Zhou Yan saw a stone seat at the deepest part, with several stone platforms floating around it. Some of these platforms had flames on them, while others had green bamboo on them, suggesting that someone had stood there before.

But now they're all empty.

Therefore, the original solemnity and grandeur turned into a sense of desolation.

Zhou Yan saw a white jade staircase appear beneath his feet, extending layer by layer to the very center. Being a free spirit, even in his dream, he simply walked up the staircase step by step. The staircase appeared and disappeared in turn until he reached the seat in the very center.

A curtain was hung in front of this spot.

Zhou Yan surveyed the seat, which exuded an air of unparalleled majesty.

The essence of the Five Sacred Mountains forms the foundation, the Milky Way is the warp and the clouds are the weft, the Fusang tree is transformed into a coiled dragon arm, the pearl of the sea is inlaid with the Vermilion Bird curtain, the stone base is carved with auspicious clouds of ten thousand feet, the left armrest is carved with a moon, the right armrest is carved with a great sun, and behind it are myriad stars, the imagery is extraordinary.

Zhou Yan felt he was very uncultured as he looked at the seat.

No poems came to mind.

Just one word: Holy crap, this seat is awesome!
Well, Zhou Yan rubbed his chin with his palm, feeling that being in this position was like having a red button in his hand. Just as many people can't refuse to press a button, very few people can refuse to sit in this position.

The young Taoist priest looked around.

Good, nobody's here.

So, I, Zhou, will have to sit in this spot, up and down, today.

Zhou Yan turned around and sat down in the seat. It was made of stone, but it wasn't hard or uncomfortable at all. Instead, it felt like sitting on a cloud, very comfortable. Zhou Yan stretched and sat cross-legged on the seat, leaning to the side with his elbow on the armrest.

Where exactly is this?

"Am I dreaming or just a spirit?"

Zhou Yan looked at his palm, clenched his fist, and sensed something. Theoretically, those below the sixth-rank Xuan official level were merely mortals with magical power, possessing a certain level of magical power and unique supernatural abilities specific to different lineages.

At this moment, the soul is still the soul, and the body is still the body.

The soul has not coalesced.

In Taoist altars, one must be at the sixth rank high-level to allow their soul to leave the body and travel through mountains and rivers at night.

However, Zhou Yan discovered that even though he was only an eighth-rank cultivator, and from a military lineage that shouldn't be focused on the soul, his soul could still leave his physical body and wander without dissipating.

He clenched his fist, and could roughly guess the reason.

Was it because, as the Lord of Mount Tai, he traveled thousands of miles to directly give the Lord of Qingming a powerful attack against the drought demon?

To possess extremely high spiritual attainment and to utilize extremely high-level supernatural powers.

Even without that status and boundless magical power, his experience points increased. Although the time he spent wielding the power of the Lord of Mount Tai was short, it still brought about tremendous changes to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan pondered, "Is this Mount Tai?"

buzzing-

Zhou Yan's mind stirred, and a ripple appeared on his soul, which then transformed into a jade book that floated in front of him. The jade book shimmered with boundless light, and Zhou Yan began to look forward to it.

The Reclining Buddha Temple has suffered such a great calamity, surely it should be given some benefits?

With a thought, the jade book quickly flipped through the pages, soon reaching the front. The speed at which the jade book flipped through the pages slowed down, and on the side that landed flat, a layer of golden light first shone before finally stabilizing.

It still retains the ink-wash style, a temple under the moonlight.

Above, the lights were bright, but below was a huge void, in which demons roamed. One side was blank, with ink-black characters flowing around, and finally, according to Zhou Yan's divine will, they slowly settled down.

The Reclining Buddha Calamity

One by one, jade-colored characters appeared.

Long ago, a monk built a small thatched hut at the foot of the mountain. Every day, he diligently studied Buddhist teachings, gathered firewood to exchange for food, and also treated people's illnesses. He supported himself and found joy in his work.

One day, he treated an exceptionally beautiful woman. She said she was grateful for the Buddhist teachings and thus funded the construction of a temple for the middle-aged monk. The woman was quite wealthy; the temple covered a hundred acres, and the monks continued to observe vegetarianism and chant Buddhist scriptures. Wandering monks, knowing of this place, gathered there.

The monk was overjoyed and took them all in. They ate vegetarian meals, chanted Buddhist scriptures, chopped wood, and farmed daily. However, as the number of monks in the temple increased, the need for money and food also grew. The monk had to find ways to raise funds and supplies, and resolve conflicts among the monks.

His mind was becoming increasingly busy, filled with more and more things.

Gradually, Buddhism and doing good deeds took on less and less place in his heart.

He also spends less and less time studying Buddhism.

The people said they hadn't seen the abbot come down the mountain to treat their illnesses for a long time. The abbot smiled and said that he would come down again to treat the people once he finished his work. Later, as the abbot became increasingly busy, his guilt towards Buddhism grew.

'This was the initial yearning of the monk. On this day, he decided to peruse the Buddhist scriptures, but many thoughts remained unresolved, leaving him with regret. He strolled through the North Temple, looking at the Buddha halls and monks' quarters, serene and magnificent, filled with Zen spirit, and couldn't help but feel joy.'

'He was simply behind a Buddhist temple when he discovered a whole mural depicting Manjushri Bodhisattva preaching. He was completely absorbed in it. Unexpectedly, the Bodhisattva in the mural spoke, praising the monk's diligence and offering to enlighten him.'

The monk was overjoyed, and from then on came here every day to diligently study the Buddhist teachings he had missed.

He felt he had mastered the Dharma, becoming completely absorbed in it. However, outsiders saw the once vibrant abbot gradually wither and die. One day, he asked in front of the Buddha hall, "Having practiced the Dharma, built temples, and accumulated so much merit, can I attain Buddhahood?"

Manjushri Bodhisattva smiled and left the lotus platform, inviting him to sit on it.

If it were the original monk, he would absolutely not have sat on it.

The abbot, full of energy and still remembering the people, wouldn't sit on the lotus platform. But he was no longer the solitary ascetic meditating on Buddhism, nor the abbot chanting about the Dharma and the people. His desires were satisfied, his pursuits became empty, and he ascended the lotus platform. "How wonderful, how wonderful!"

He thought, "So peaceful and free, so comfortable," and unconsciously lay down on the lotus platform. He felt his soul gradually rise, his body radiating Buddhist light, as if boundless wisdom were in his hands, and he could still meditate as before.

Gradually, the body, no longer striving for the common people, lost its vitality and turned to iron and stone. The compassionate and gentle smile on its face transformed into a huge reclining Buddha. Meanwhile, the mural, without anyone noticing, came to life and transformed into a beautiful woman.

'This beautiful woman is the one the monk saved all those years ago.'

The woman looked at the monk who had transformed into a reclining Buddha, poked his heart with her finger, and it shattered with a crackling sound. She couldn't help but laugh: "At first he had a Buddha-like heart, then came discrimination and attachment, yet he still clung to that one heart."

Now, not even a compassionate heart remains.

She looked the giant reclining Buddha up and down.

'Only in this form can one be a true Buddha!'

'Buddha has no mind'

She stretched out her hand, her fingers touching the ground, and a spider crawled down. With a sway, it transformed into a monk, exactly like the abbot. He put his hands together, said "Amitabha," and turned to walk out.

Life continues as usual, but...

Just as he couldn't recognize Bodhisattvas and demons, the disciples he taught, the monks he cared for, and the people he had helped in the past also didn't recognize him. It turns out they only saw his face, not his heart.

The beautiful woman clapped her hands and laughed, "People are so blinded by beauty that they can't recognize you or me. Don't you think so?"

"Manjushri?"

The image slowly faded away.

A monk without intention can be a Buddha; a Buddha without intention becomes a demon.

However, the many changes at the Reclining Buddha Temple, the pursuit of immortality by those who are attached to it, the pursuit of Buddhism by those who are filled with resentment, and the attempts to seek resurrection from the dead—why?

Far away from here, a burly man sat cross-legged, his heart as empty as that of the monk or the reclining Buddha in the Wofo Temple, with a blood-red spear exuding a murderous aura beside him.

The fierce aura of military strategists converged.

With his hands clasped together in front of him, fragments of the Dao Fruit of the Duke of Mount Tai gathered in his hands. If Zhou Yan were here, he would immediately recognize that this strong, burly, and even obese man was one of the six figures who had made the move.

Spider silk hung down, and a stream of light fell.

The light transformed into a woman, at least outwardly, who was Li Zhiwei's mother, Consort Shen, who had been abandoned in Dongdu and disappeared without a trace. Her eyes were calm. The man opened his eyes and asked, "Did you succeed?"

The woman replied, "There are three attempts made at Wat Pho."

"Two of them failed, but the 'resurrection' aspect was 70% successful. However, it was not tried on Xuanzang, so we don't know if it would have any effect, or how successful it was."

The man laughed loudly, "I have no choice anymore, do I?"

The woman stretched out her hand, and a ball of golden light flowed out, inside which were clearly insects. The insects flew into the huge hole in the man's heart, and the golden cicadas crawled and reconstructed his blood vessels and meridians.

The man, who was in a state between life and death, gradually regained his vitality. Finally, his heart started beating again, one beat after another. The loud beating sound allowed his blood and energy to recover rapidly. He slowly got up, and that powerful blood and energy, along with his military characteristics, dissipated.

The woman said, "General An Lushan, welcome back."

The man laughed loudly: "An Lushan? That's just a pseudonym of the human race. You don't need to call me that. Even though he stirred up a great chaos, he still didn't use this war to help me break through to the Immortal God realm. Instead, he was swept up by the fortune of humanity."

"Humanity's fate is truly something you can't touch."

"It had to fake its death and molt once before it could come back to life."

The woman, who looked exactly like Li Zhiwei's mother, had cold eyes. She laughed loudly as she looked at the man who had caused chaos and faked his death to escape. He had an extremely arrogant demeanor and a calm expression, yet there was an unfathomable meaning behind his expression.

The dead cannot be revived.

If the physical body and the five senses are merely the physical form, then consciousness is the true self.

So, if the original consciousness dies, and then a second consciousness is born by using supernatural powers to revive the physical body, is this second consciousness still "me"?
If this consciousness still retains past memories and personality traits, then is it still the original self?

Xuanzang disagreed, but An Lushan, who had feigned death, still believed it was true.

This was a dilemma once faced by Manjushri Bodhisattva, and an obsession that the Weaver Girl refused to let go of.

It is a mystery that is difficult for all living beings to understand in this lifetime.

An Lushan gripped his weapon, having escaped the state of being neither alive nor dead as one of the six figures, and said, "Weaver Girl, I must thank her for helping me. I also have to thank the insectoid monsters for their cooperation in gaining Li Longji's trust back then."

“I told the sage that if I betrayed him, I would let worms devour my heart, and now…”

An Lushan reached out and touched his heart.

The heart pounding in my chest is merely the miraculous process of a cicada shedding its skin.

A cicada crawled out of his heart, then crawled back in.

An Lushan laughed wildly:
"So, I didn't break my promise!!!"

[Lu Shan reported: "Last autumn, insects in Yingzhou ate the seedlings. I burned incense and prayed to Heaven, saying: 'If I am not upright in my heart and disloyal to the ruler, may the insects eat my heart; if I have not failed the gods, may the insects disperse.' Immediately, a flock of birds came from the north and ate all the insects."]

—From *Zizhi Tongjian*, Volume 31, Tang Dynasty Annals

At Zhou Yan's place, the jade book's light dimmed, transforming into supernatural powers.

This is the manifestation of all the karma from the entire calamity at the Reclining Buddha Temple, a surging convergence of cause and effect. The jade scroll shone with light and slowly condensed, marking the first time it was directly referred to as a "Great Supernatural Power."

Its name is——

【Great Supernatural Powers - The Dharma Image of the Eight-Armed, Seven-Syllable Buddha】!
(End of this chapter)