Chapter 1030: Eight-faced Radiant Bodhisattva
After Li Qiye went inside the Four Buddhas Temple, everyone outside held their breaths and stared at it.
For countless people, this temple was the highest symbol in Spirit Mountain outside of Nalanda. It was unfathomable; some people said that there were four supreme stone Buddhas protecting it. They came from Nalanda’s Buddhist kingdom!
Others also said that the Radiant Bodhisattva was infinitely close to being a Buddhist Lord. If Nalanda wanted to change its lord, then the Radiant Bodhisattva could definitely become the new lord.
“Dum—” The temple finally rang its bell. The Buddhist debate had begun!
Hearing this bell, many people’s hearts slowed down by half a beat. An unbelievably tense atmosphere filled the area.
“Buzz!” It seemed as if this temple was opening the curtains of the Buddhist kingdom. A Buddhist radiance drowned the sky, completely different from the lights of the prior temples.
This light gently poured down in an incredibly bright and holy manner. Many people palpitated and wanted to drown themselves in the light.
In the blink of an eye, Jikong Wudi, Lin Tiandi, and even the ancestors were shocked.
“Back off, now!” They used their ultimate speed to quickly run away from Spirit Mountain. They chose to spectate from tens of millions of miles away. [1. I’ve made this note a few times before, but ED’s author often uses the numbering system as an adjective for a great amount. Ten million is the raw number, but who knows if he means it literally or figuratively.]
“Eight-faced Radiant Bodhisattva!” An ancestor was aghast. He swung his sleeve and instantly swept all of his juniors inside for safety.
Many big shots reacted in time and ran away as well, acting as if they had encountered a plague!
Time seemed to have stopped at this moment. One could hear the sound of a blossoming flower. Above the Four Buddhas Temple were radiating Buddhist rays. Inside this light was the reflection of a figure.
It was a person dressed in white and shrouded in holy light. He had eight faces with sixteen eyes, capable of watching all the realms in this world. While seated on a supreme sacred lotus, it was clear that he had grasped myriad laws and controlled the universe — his appearance was white and void of imperfection.
He had his hair tied into a bun and a peerless Buddhist body. Although it was only a reflection, the moment it appeared, it gave others the illusion that even were the universe bigger, it would still be naught but a speck of dust. Before a Bodhisattva of this level, everything became insignificant.
This was a Bodhisattva. He didn’t have a towering blood energy or an invincible divine aura. It could even be said that there was nothing on his body that connected him to the mundane world. Even his body that had completely converted to the Buddhist way didn’t have the untouchable Buddhist aura that one would expect.
However, this existence that might not even know a single technique instilled fear in everyone.
“Amitabha...” A Buddhist chant resonated from the temple. Without a doubt, the debate had begun.
“Amitabha...” The entire Spirit Mountain echoed this chant. It even spread to the outside territories.
Many spectating cultivators were instantly converted after hearing this. They kneeled down and kowtowed while repeating the same Buddhist phrase. Buddhist lights emerged from their bodies.
At this moment, these cultivators had forgotten about the mundane world. In their eyes, there was only the boundless Buddhist sea. They simply wanted to drown in this warm and peaceful light. It was capable of making people forget everything!
One Buddhist chant to cross over — this was not just empty talk! The Bodhisattva’s true body hadn’t even come out and the crowd had only seen its Buddhist light, but with just one word, countless cultivators had already been converted. The ones with weaker dao hearts were now lost in Buddhism with no way to return!
“Run!” Some experts started to frantically run away from the area affected by the Buddhist power.
Among them, some couldn’t persevere any longer. They flopped to the ground and started prostrating and chanting: “Praise be to merciful Buddha.”
Their bodies started to emit Buddhist lights as well. Many couldn’t escape this level of mass conversion, only the stronger ones with unyielding dao hearts were able to hastily escape Spirit Mountain and make it out of the affected area.
For this group who made it out, they were still more or less affected. Some of their dao hearts had even collapsed completely.
“Ah!” Despite managing to get away, a cultivator felt a Buddhist light surging from his body. He instantly shattered his physical body and ran away with his true fate. The Bodhisattva’s Buddhist affinity affected them too much. These escapees all fled the Buddhist Funeral Plateau in fear that they would be converted sooner or later!
The geniuses and ancestors who were the first to run were frightened by this scene. This was a different power than brute force, a frightening power that caused others to tremble.
For many people, Godkings were definitely scary because they could destroy the world and flip over the stars! However, they finally learned of a terrifying power outside of cultivation.
Without using a single technique, the shadow and words of this Radiant Bodhisattva were able to change so many cultivators, and he might not even have the most basic dao foundation. What was more horrifying than this?
“Eight-faced Radiant Bodhisattva!” Those who were watching from far away felt apprehensive while looking at this ethereal Buddhist figure.
“The person closest to being a Buddhist Lord! Capable of converting people with just one word.” The many monks that were still in the plateau all prostrated before the Bodhisattva.
“Radiant Bodhisattva...” Even Zhan Shi who had entered the Four Buddhas Temple for his scripture hark felt his heart skip a beat. He looked at the holy and peaceful Bodhisattva and felt fear: “If he was the one who read the scripture to me, I would have been converted after just one page.”
No one dared to mock him after hearing this. Zhan Shi came out unscathed after listening to one scripture preached by four sacred monks. His dao heart was as firm as a rock. Not too many people would claim to have more determination than him.
But now, even he admitted his powerlessness. Other people naturally felt even more dreadful inside.
“One word to convert a Godking — maybe this isn’t a fabrication. I think it might actually be true.” An expert was in a daze for a very long time and murmured: “Legend states that the Radiant Bodhisattva was born at the plateau and was protected by the Buddhist Lord since birth. He entered Spirit Mountain at eight years old, became a vajra at fourteen years old, and a Bodhisattva at sixteen. He is praised to be the Bodhisattva closest to being a Buddhist Lord!”
“Although the Bodhisattva has never cultivated a merit law before and only read Buddhist scriptures since childhood, even Immortal Emperors viewed him with respect.” An ancestor looked at the figure above the temple with awe.
After hearing this, many people were astounded. Even Immortal Emperors respected him — just how frightening was this? At such a level, it didn’t matter whether they cultivated or had any fighting power at all.
“There is a rumor that after Immortal Emperor Yin Tian carried the Heaven’s Will, he entered Spirit Mountain to listen to the Radiant Bodhisattva’s scripture sermon. After he left the mountain, he told all of his generals that none of them were allowed to meet the Bodhisattva.” A demon ancestor from the southern region explained: “The emperor said that even though the Bodhisattva didn’t know a single technique, Godkings were only specks of dust before him.”
“That... that is too heaven-defying...” A youth was shocked to hear this. For them, Godkings were invincible enough, but they were mere specks of dust before the Bodhisattva? These words were too unnerving.
At this point, they couldn’t help but stare at the temple. Many people didn’t expect Li Qiye to challenge the Radiant Bodhisattva.
“He is too confident. Entering the Four Buddhas Temple and instantly challenging the Eight-faced Radiant Bodhisattva who has the greatest dharma. Just what level has that young man reached?” A person commented with emotions.
The truth was that not too many people expected Li Qiye to challenge the Bodhisattva right away. Those who knew about the Bodhisattva were aware of just how close he was to being a Buddhist Lord.
Challenging this existence was nearly the same as challenging someone infinitely close to being a Buddhist Lord.
“Can he win?” Another youth whispered. For the cultivators here, Buddhism was not their world. A dharmic battle like this was a realm outside the scope of their understanding.
“I don’t know.” Even the older generation and ancestors who knew about the dharma didn’t know. They only shook their heads: “If we’re talking about force, then it is possible to defeat the Radiant Bodhisattva. After all, he only trains in the dharma. However, to defeat him in a scripture debate... To be frank, outside of the Buddhist Lord in the Buddhist kingdom, I can’t imagine someone else who can reach this step.”