Immortal of the Nine Realms

Accompanying Master Chanyuan, the three arrived at the only Buddhist hall in the Profound Void Temple. Inside the hall sat a solemn, golden Buddha statue. It held a lotus flower in one hand and made a Buddhist hand sign with the other. The hand that faced them was inscribed with a dense scripture.

”Master has a long lifespan because of this scripture,” whispered Xia Ji to Fang Chen. “Study it carefully, try to comprehend its mysteries. It would be best if you could replenish all the years you’ve lost. I’ll go catch a few mountain chickens and make you soup to nourish your body.”

Fang Chen chuckled. ”You know how to cook soup now?”

Wu Ruochou chimed in subconsciously, ”The soup Junior Brother Xia makes is pretty decent.”

Xia Ji’s expression changed, and he tried to brush it off. ”Of course. When we’re away from home, we can’t rely on other people.”

Amused, Fang Chen’s eyes shifted to the golden Buddha statue. What drew his attention wasn’t the scripture inscribed on its hand, but the statue itself. He couldn’t help but wonder if this Buddha had ascended through the power of worship, like Supreme Immortal Pudu.

”Master Chanyuan, how may I address this Buddha?” inquired Fang Chen.

”Amitabha, this is the Great Wisdom Buddha,” replied Master Chanyuan, pressing his hands together in reverence toward the Great Wisdom Buddha.

”Great Wisdom Buddha?” pondered Fang Chen.

Master Chanyuan smiled. ”Benefactor Fang, you may contemplate this scripture here,” he said, before taking Wu Ruohou and Xia Ji away and stepping out the hall, leaving Fang Chen alone.

Fang Chen’s gaze fell on the scripture, but after reading through it from beginning to end, he didn’t experience any sort of special enlightenment.

Fang Chen smiled wryly. ”It seems I am not destined for the Buddhist way.”

He split his divine soul from his body and stared at the Buddha statue again. But after several moments, it remained as it was. There wasn’t any power of incense flowing to it, either. Perhaps, even if the Buddha had once existed in the mortal realm, he had likely long exhausted his lifespan and passed away, or he might’ve ascended to become a true Buddha in the immortal realm.

Fang Chen’s eyes shifted to the scripture inscribed on the Buddha’s palm.

Gradually, a golden light started to emanate from the scripture, and the words written on it seemed to have come alive, floating up from the Buddha’s palm and spinning slowly.

Fang Chen sighed. So it truly is as I thought.

The strength of one’s divine soul was very crucial to cultivation. Just as he was able to see more of what was written on Mirror of the Universe compared to Jiang Zhong, he could perceive this special phenomena related to the scripture because of his soul.

Fang Chen smiled bitterly. ”However... I have never practiced Buddhism, so I don’t know much about it. Even if this scripture is truly effective, it’ll be difficult for me to utilize it with my limited understanding.”

Yet, just as this thought had crossed Fang Chen’s mind, the scripture, which was spinning slowly, seemed to notice Fang Chen. Each character in the scripture sprung forth, shooting straight through Fang Chen’s forehead.

Suddenly, his grayish-white eyes were covered with a faint golden glow.

The Buddha says: The Three Realms are not at peace, like a house on fire, filled with countless sufferings, filled with extreme terror.

The Buddha says: Seek the other shore and you shall see the sea of suffering.

The Buddha says:....

In but a split second, Fang Chen seemed to have witnessed the sufferings of all beings. A sea of flames laden with countless sentient beings, all unable to find a moment of peace.

Then, in the next moment, he saw a familiar mountain.

Three World Mountain.

He saw many familiar faces.

He saw himself, clad in silver armor, stained red. There were hundreds of thousands of soldiers behind him, all bravely fighting. One after another, figures fell, while others charged forward fearlessly.

The earthen soil was dyed red with fresh, young blood. But the pale faces of those to whom this blood belonged remained resolute in death.

”Li Wei. He only had his mother for family, and she missed him very dearly, longing for his return day and night.”

”Han Cheng. He had three brothers and a sister. I remember his sister got married, and I’ve heard her husband treats her very well; however, Han Cheng couldn’t attend his sister’s wedding feast.”

”Xu Yan. He was a chatterbox, always liked to talk. He’d always speak up for his brethren in the army.... But he can’t no more.”

”Man Hu. He was born in the southern region. He wandered around the land from a young age until he finally enlisted in the army so he could have a filling meal. He had an unfinished steamed bun in his arms before he died.”

Unbeknownst to himself, tears had begun flowing down Fang Chen’s face. These were all people who had fought for Grand Xia. They were young, and perhaps if they hadn’t enlisted in the army, they’d have been able to lead a long life!

But they chose this path. They had chosen to dedicate their youth to Grand Xia, to the land beneath their feet.

And none of them had ever let Grand Xia down.

The anger in Fang Chen’s heart, which he had bottled up for many years, finally filled his mind. ”A soldier’s duty is to protect his nation, to die without regret. There is nothing wrong with that. However, this wasn’t how it was supposed to play out! the Spirit Blood Sect, they had a hand in all of this! My soldiers’ deaths were undeserved!

”Whether their sect has millions or tens of millions of members, whether it has a grandmaster-like expert at its helm, I, Fang Chen, swear that in this lifetime, I shall exterminate every single one of them! I will honor the souls of my fallen brethren with their blood!”

In an instant, the scene before him vanished, as if it had been a fleeting dream. And in its place, rose a prosperous empire. The mortals here lived carefree lives, everyone had enough to eat, and everyone had a place they could call home. Maybe they didn’t seem wealthy, but they weren’t destitute either.

In this empire, Fang Chen seemed to have seen something he had been seeking for a long time.

Peace.

Seeking the other shore, one sees the sea of suffering?

Fang Chen’s eyes flickered.

Suddenly, water poured down from the heavens, as if the sky was raining vast oceans, until it had formed a boundless sea between him and the empire, continuously widening the distance between them until he lost sight of it, and all that he could see was the silent sea.

A smile rose on Fang Chen’s lips.

”So, this is the other shore I seek.”

Unconsciously, the power of his divine soul that had remained unchanged for six years began to increase visibly to the naked eye.

A change suddenly began to occur. Fang Chen’s aged face began to return to its youthful state very rapidly; fifty years old, forty years old, thirty years old, twenty years old.

His appearance seemed to have reverted to when he was just eighteen, before he suffered defeat at Three World Mountain, as if everything was starting anew.

Outside the Buddhist hall.

Xia Ji peeked inside the hall every now and then.

”Junior Brother, Fang... Chen, did he really kill a mid-stage Foundation Building Realm expert? Did he really kill Demon King Tianfeng of the Qinghu Empire?” Wu Ruochou asked, unable to help herself.

”Senior Sister Wu, do you still not believe me?” Xia Ji rolled his eyes. ”Fang Da really killed Demon King Tianfeng.”

”Then how were you able to make it back here?” Wu Ruochou frowned. “The ruler of the Qinghu Empire is not a simple character.”

”Because we kidnapped the princess of the Qinghu Empire,” said Xia Ji matter-of-factly, a smile up on his face.

”...”

Wu Ruochou remained silent for a moment, then said, ”You’ve thoroughly offended the Qinghu Empire. Stay away from there from now on.”

Xia Ji nodded earnestly. ”Of course. I won’t set a single foot there unless I’m going with Fang Da.”

Wu Ruochou frowned deeply. ”I mean it; don’t go there ever again, under any circumstance. Demon cultivators are way too... bloody. I don’t want to see you boiled into soup one day.”

Xia Ji was about to rebut when he suddenly saw a flash of golden light come from within the hall, followed by a beam of golden light shooting straight into the sky!

Xia Ji and Wu Ruochou were struck dumb.

The cultivators and citizens of the Eighteen Districts naturally also saw the bizarre phenomenon that stemmed from within the Profound Void Temple.

Inside the city, numerous formidable individuals opened their eyes, gazing with uncertainty toward the Profound Void Temple.

The meaning behind this is that to seek peace and happiness in an empire (The other shore), the sadness of war and fighting was needed, and he would have to go through it and see it. (So the war and fighting and death is referring to the sea of suffering.)