Chapter 557: A Step Ahead
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
This place was the Shaolin Temple of one of the Worlds of Samsara. If Han Guang was Heaven Sovereign, it would not be strange if he used a special object the way Gu Xiaosang did to drag someone into a formation. But, how can there be a Dharmakaya?
Would this not expose the secrets of the Six Realms?
Could this Dharmakaya also be a Samsara traveler? Or did Han Guang bring the Dharmakaya into the back mountain in advance, but the latter had never stepped out of Devil Soil and believed that this place was secret territory.
Would this Dharmakaya be someone belonging to the Celestial Rankings or someone from the terrifying Apotheosized World of Journey to the West?
Meng Qi’s mind was swarming with all sorts of questions and what he thought he had cleared up became bleary once again.
“Abbot, do you know the name of that Dharmakaya?” Meng Qi blurted out.
The words had barely left his mouth when he got the feeling that he would not receive a useful answer. If Kong Wen knew or was willing to mention the Dharmakaya’s name, he would have mentioned it in his explanation earlier and he would not need to refer to the Dharmakaya as such.
Kong Wen uttered Buddha’s name before answering, “The Dharmakaya remained in the dark the entire time to preside over the formation. I could only faintly sense him during the battle and didn’t meet him face-to-face.”
“Just as I expected...” Meng Qi quietly sighed to himself.
Even though the number of Dharmakayas in this world was limited and the pool of suspects was small, this incident involved Samsara travelers. Furthermore, the Apotheosized World of Journey to the West was still here. Who knew if Han Guang would be able to get help from any of those worlds? Under the circumstances where Meng Qi had no clues to who the Dharmakaya could be.
Kong Wen became concerned about Shaolin Temple upon seeing Meng Qi’s silence and asked, “Donor Su, what’s the current situation in Shaolin Temple?”
Meng Qi briefly explained the key points and when his explanation came to an end, he asked, “Abbot, what exactly are Han Guang’s motives for masquerading as you and entering Shaolin Temple? Considering his strength and skill, he should’ve succeeded in his plan after so much time passed. Could it be that he planned to pretend until the bitter end, making Shaolin Temple a pillar of his support and making it his surface identity? He was incapable of unleashing his Luohan Dharmakaya and it’s impossible not to deal with other Dharmakayas in this increasingly chaotic world. How can he hide?”
His words sent Kong Wen into a temporary state of confusion as he said quietly, “Donor Han is aware of this secret place and can come and go freely. Furthermore, even though the core impartation records of the likes of Muscle-bone Strengthening Scripture were kept under the protected area as Blade of Ananda, Donor Han will definitely get his hands on them as long as he doesn’t worry about exposing his identity and make a sudden move. I fear Blade of Ananda will be hard-pressed to stop him...”
“Is he trying to cultivate Blade of Ananda step by step? There’s no way that his disguise would be able to fool a divine weapon. Once he gets near and makes a move, he would instantly be discovered. Don’t tell me he cultivated Eight Nine Mysteries...”
While listening to Kong Wen’s queries and analysis, Meng Qi suddenly noticed something was off and interrupted him, “Abbot, the secret place we’re in isn’t the same secret place in the back mountain of Shaolin Temple.”
Kong Wen cried out with surprise evidently expressed on his face, “But the description of this place is exactly the same as the secret place of my sect.”
Meng Qi amended his word choice and said, “Let me put it this way: this secret place is indeed in the back mountain of Shaolin Temple but this particular Shaolin Temple is not the one that you know.”
“I once went on an adventure and discovered this world by chance. I learned that the Shaolin Temple here is almost identical to the one in our world but uses the ancient name for Mount Liantai, Mount Shaohua.”
Kong Wen was silent as he listened and remained so for a long time, before finally sighing. “Amitabha. I now know Donor Han’s motives.”
“Please elaborate!” Meng Qi looked alert.
Even though he had just ‘witnessed’ the tragic murder of Divination Saint of medieval times for knowing a little too much, this incident involved his Master and Junior Brother and would also affect his life. He must get to the bottom of this matter!
Being an old Dharmakaya, Kong Wen would naturally have his share of secrets despite being trapped here in this formation. He could sense the frankness in Meng Qi’s voice when he spoke earlier, si he hesitated before saying, “Donor Su, have you heard of Shards of Cosmic Glow?”
“No,” Meng Qi said in surprise.
Understanding that his chance to escape this formation was in the hands of this young man before him, Kong Wen explained dutifully, “Whether it’s due to the battles between big powers, a change in the world, or some other opportunities, our world will sometimes shatter. This kind of fragmentation will sometimes result in our world being split into several pieces and sometimes even time will shatter. Well, either way, the future is uncertain in many ways. The fragmented piece will become the uncertainty.”
“Generally, these Shards of Cosmic Glow are incredibly unstable and incomplete. Only a handful of them will be able to exist for long, and they float along the river of time. One would only be able to go on a mental journey into the pure land after achieving Dharmakaya and finding these shards; however, due to how scarce and concealed they were, such opportunities were rare.”
Being a ‘good student’ who studied the scientific method, Meng Qi was able to deduce many things from Kong Wen’s explanation. “In other words, this place was the Shaolin Temple of the past?”
No wonder the Gist of Trueness impartation of Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship and the secrets of Shaolin Temple existed here!
“Yes, perhaps even further back. Based on what you’ve said, the monk in External Devil Invocation formation isn’t Patriarch Bodhidharma.” Kong Wen appeared certain that it was an illusion of Dharma.
Meng Qi was confused. “But there’s also a Shaolin Temple on Mount Shaohua and the layout of the temple is similar too.”
“Donor Su, please slow down and listen to what this old man has to say.” Even though Kong Wen had been trapped here for many years, he displayed not even the slightest hint of anxiousness – his cultivation and meditation of the heart were indeed exceptional.
He paused momentarily before continuing, “The Shards of Cosmic Glow originated from, and are thus inextricably linked to our world. Even though this only includes parts of the region, the landform and names were identical. At the beginning of the fragmentation, even the people were the same.”
This horrified Meng Qi greatly. If he happened to come across one such ‘fragmentation’, wouldn’t he have a doppelganger?
When that happened, would he still have the feeling of absolute certainty that he was himself and no one else?
“You can only prevent the existence of your doppelganger in a ‘fragmentation’ once you reach a certain realm. There are only legends left behind in the Shards of Cosmic Glow now. Similar objects and Gist of Trueness impartation suffer the same fate. The same goes for many karmas.” Kong Wen appeared to have guessed Meng Qi’s fear.
“This...” Suddenly, Meng Qi began to understand why the myths of the likes of Heaven Sovereign and Devil Lord would appear in so many Worlds of Samsara.
However, those Worlds of Samsara were not identical to his own. In fact, they were starkly different. The Shaolin Temple here was not as mystical than the one in his world, and it did not appear to be one of the Shards of Cosmic Glow!
Meng Qi felt like he was one step closer to the ‘truth’, yet he was more confused than ever before.
“The evolutions of Shards of Cosmic Glow became increasingly ordinary and common precisely because only the strong get to leave behind legends. Only a small minority of people could free themselves from this fragmentation through their will.” Kong Wen had finished his explanation and steered the conversation in another direction. “This place should be a tiny shard that uses Ananda’s secret place as its core, so it mainly corresponds to Mount Liantai.”
“Sure enough, this is a secret place evolved from Ananda’s pure land...” Meng Qi took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
“Originally, the shards would become independent and eventually turn into complete worlds after the fragmentation. They would not be affected by our world; however, there are always exceptions as the worlds are all connected in countless ways. If one has the power of a Dhamarkaya, one could use these connections to leave imprints on the shards. Nevertheless, there would be not much power left in those imprints unless one is at the realm of the ancient big powers,” Kong Wen said, smiling amiably. “Did you see a door with the words ‘He who is loyal and kind should not enter this door’ when you entered this place? That was no Buddha Aura, Zen Philosophies, or tyrannical force... It felt more like a warning.”
“Yes!” Meng Qi’s reaction was instantaneous. “Do these words on the door of our back mountain harbor the power to seal?”
“Shaolin Temple is a sect that possesses Dharmakayas and has quite a lot of Dharmakaya Divine Skills. Our structure and decorations were all lined with Dharmakaya-level formations. Does that indirectly affect the choices of the monks here?”
“That’s what happened to the traces of Eight Diagrams which suddenly appeared... This is bad! Someone already entered the secret place in the back mountain!”
To make things worse, the intruder was at the level of Dhamarkaya!
Kong Wen defied expectations by remaining calm. “Don’t worry too much; even Patriarch Bodhidharma of the yesteryears was only able to get up to the sixth floor and obtain the third style of Buddha’s Palm – he failed to make the summit. It would be even harder to do so now, or Donor Han wouldn’t have spared so much effort to hide in Shaolin Temple. Perhaps he has only recently found the method to open Patriarch Bodhidharma’s seal.”
“Patriarch Bodhidharma’s seal?” Meng Qi repeated subconsciously.
However, it was a relief to him that a strange, dangerous place like this was sealed away.
Misunderstanding Meng Qi’s intentions, Kong Wen sighed and said, “Even though this place hides Buddha’s Palm, it can also strengthen the evil nature in oneself. When Patriarch Bodhidharma first entered this place, he failed to notice that his underlying evil nature had been ignited. It wasn’t until he accomplished Dharmakaya that he realized his body had become incapable of removing the evil nature. Moreover, the evil nature had also grown larger and larger. Later, he sought secret techniques and found an object that he could trust. He then forcefully cut the evil nature from him, whose strength was similar to his. The evil nature turned into Dharma and the two of them engaged in a battle, smashing Kassapa’s pure land and eventually killing the evil spirit. Patriarch Bodhidharma, curtailed by the old age, passed on earlier than the supposed end of his lifespan.”
“Before his death, he sealed the stone door and exiled Ananda’s pure land to the boundless void. Thus, the abbots throughout every generation since would only find out about this place through secret records and none of them were able to find the secret door to enter here. Now that the stone door has appeared again, it’s likely the work of Donor Han.”
“So this is the truth behind the battle between Patriarch Bodhidharma and ‘Great Devil’... No wonder there would still be undiscovered secret paths in Shaolin Temple even with the Providential Sight of a Dharmakaya...” Meng Qi once again found answers to his many doubts of the past.
Kong Wen continued, “According to Patriarch Bodhidharma, the summit was perhaps hiding an enormous secret that might surpass the third style of Buddha’s Palm. I fear Donor Han had reached the mountain peak of this Shard of Cosmic Glow and discovered some clues. That was why he would actively scheme to enter the genuine pure land that contained objects and secrets unique to this place.”
“There are still many Dharmakayas in the world. Knowing he’s no match for even Donor Lu, Donor Han chose to adopt a false identity and take the long way to fulfill his objectives.”
The strength of the formation inside the Shards of Cosmic Glow was certainly lower than that of the genuine Ananda’s pure land.
Realization suddenly dawned on Meng Qi as he quickly said, “That’s why he dared not provoke Blade of Ananda; it was out of fear that the divine weapon would discover his true identity and ruin his plans.”
“That’s why he hadn’t been able to see the true skill of Muscle-bone Strengthening Scripture and had to resort to other methods.”
“That’s why he couldn’t move freely in Shaolin Temple and couldn’t act or leave as he wished. He had to find a proper reason and camouflage.”
This did not bring any joy to Kong Wen, who heaved a sigh and said, “However, he can influence the other monks.”
“Donor Han, being an exceptional master of evil kungfu, can subtly influence the monks and lure them into a state of depravity. Wu Jing used to have a square personality, but I fear he is no longer. Perhaps he has even entered the Devil Path. The way he handled your punishment was in line with our regulations and there was nothing to criticize; however, he had lost the compassion and mercy of Buddhism. He should’ve sent you to the stupa and made you meditate for 10 years to remedy your wrongdoing.”
“Then you might as well throw me out of the sect...” The corner of Meng Qi’s mouth twitched.
...
Inside the true Ananda’s pure land.
Wang Siyuan stared at the shattered woodcarving of Ananda, wearing a rare overcast expression; however, even more apparent in his expression was a touch of madness. He kept on muttering to himself,
“How unexpectedly... interesting...”
He turned to look at the sixth floor and noticed the formation was complete, showing no abnormal signs. He then turned around and walked away.
“Y-You’re not going up?” Duan Rui asked, confused.
Wang Siyuan burst out laughing. “The woodcarving of Ananda on the fifth floor was destroyed by the karma countercharge. Without its help, we won’t be able to use any tricks to cross the sixth floor considering our current realm. It’s useless even if we have the Book of Luo.”
The Wang family had only dispatched two grandmasters to assist Wang Siyuan. There was no doubt that they would be able to obtain the woodcarving of Ananda with the Book of Luo, but they had not predicted this unexpected turn of events.
“So it’s a failure... Then why are you laughing?!” Duan Rui secretly scolded Wang Siyuan.
“How can this be?” Wang Bingning asked, frowning.
Wang Siyuan smiled even as he was spewing blood. “The karma of the big powers is unique. Someone in one of the Shards of Cosmic Glow is a step ahead of us.”