"No need to rush. There is still room to turn this around," Bodhisattva Baoxing said with calm composure.
"What chance? Are we to swat him dead with a single palm?" Shanle gritted his teeth.
Baoxing replied placidly, "Do not be alarmed by the clamoring swarm he brought forth. To seize authority over this realm, sheer numbers alone will not suffice. One must possess a sufficiently deep affinity with this world to be recognized as one of its people. Furthermore, even among this realm's inhabitants, affinities run deep or shallow—it is not something achieved simply by setting foot upon the soil. Your eight hundred thousand devotees were guided here by you bit by bit over thousands of years. Every single one is devout beyond measure, possesses a profound comprehension of the Dharma, and has tasted ultimate bliss. An affinity such as this is immense beyond compare; it cannot be offset by a mere one or two newcomers, nor by a dozen or twenty."
Bodhisattva Shanle's expression finally softened somewhat. "That is for the best. I feared I would have to do battle with him, which would inevitably bring damage to the Heaven of Joy and Bliss."
Baoxing said, "The artistic conception of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss is intact and flourishing. It would be a great pity if it suffered harm, and it would also be detrimental to your cultivation, Junior Brother. What is more, I have heard that Wei Yuan wields a secret art called the Red Lotus Universal Deliverance True Words. He once used it to command karmic fire, burning eight hundred thousand shaman troops to ashes with a single blaze."
Shanle gave a start. "The Red Lotus Universal Deliverance True Words?! Guangzhi's lineage? He even mastered that? Wasn't it said to have been lost? Damnation!"
Baoxing shook her head with a sigh. "Junior Brother, you attained the Dao not long ago, so there are many ancient secrets you are not yet privy to. Such forbidden arts can only be suppressed, never destroyed. It is entirely possible for a remnant thread of its legacy to survive in the outside world. Clearly, this outer fiend has acquired that remnant."
Shanle drew in a sharp breath. "If he holds this forbidden art, does that not mean that most of the karmic debt generated by destroying my precious land will turn into his karmic fire, allowing him to incinerate it once again?"
"Precisely so. In such a repeating cycle, the price he would pay to destroy this Buddhist land would only be slightly higher than destroying an ordinary grotto-heaven. Thus, ordinary methods of magical combat cannot be employed right now."
Shanle's expression shifted repeatedly. "Originally, I thought the worst-case scenario would merely be goading him into battle, then self-destructing a corner of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, using that karmic retribution to shave down his merit and karmic luck. But hearing this, we can hardly take the field against him... Hmph, he can also be considered an offshoot of our Buddhist fold. A dispute between members of the same teaching need not be made so unbecoming; we might as well let him off easy."
Baoxing chanted a Buddhist invocation and said, "It is best that Junior Brother can think this way. Our primary focus must remain on contesting the ownership of this realm. So long as we defeat him this time, it will signify that the True Dharma of the Great Sun has triumphed over the Three Realms Ruyi, adding this imagery to heaven and earth. In the future, should Wei Yuan seek to attain the Dao, his attainment will naturally bear a flaw; should he engage in battle, he will stand a head shorter whenever he encounters a disciple who practices the True Dharma of the Great Sun."
Shanle pressed his palms together as well. "The outer fiend's foundation is shallow after all. He surely does not realize how crucial this battle is. That suits us perfectly. We shall go all out; as long as he harbors the thought that losing is of no great consequence, victory is ours!"
"He will inevitably think that way. However, you need not worry too much, Junior Brother. If things truly go awry, we can simply crush this avatar of his with a single palm. It will only inconvenience you, as this blessed land and paradise will suffer some damage."
Shanle paused. "The physical damage itself is nothing, but the blow to one's karmic merit is far too severe. Is Senior Sister not afraid?"
Baoxing glanced casually toward Nan Shiguang and said nonchalantly, "When that time comes, there will naturally be someone to protect the Dharma and defend the Dao."
A flash of realization struck Shanle's mind. Only now did he understand why those Bodhisattvas who had attained the Dao in ancient times had all enlightened Arhats as Dharma protectors, sparing no expense and minding no trouble.
By contrast, he had found it troublesome, believing merit and achievement lay within oneself alone. Furthermore, Arhats were truly difficult to find, which was why to this day he did not have a single protective Arhat by his side! Not to mention Arhats, he barely even had any Vajras or mighty warriors.
Yet in the ten thousand years since attaining the Dao, across dozens of reincarnations, no one had ever told him this!
Shanle was not without past-life wisdom, and a moment's thought made him understand: karmic opportunities in the world to become an Arhat were far too scarce—how could there be enough to go around? Moreover, the fruition of an Arhat was not attained once and for all; many Arhats perished along with their karmic fruition after attaining the Dao. That left even less to share.
In times like this, the hardship could only fall upon a newly attained Bodhisattva like him.
Still, Baoxing's willingness to put forward an Arhat as a safety net showed ample sincerity, and it made the stance of Spirit Mountain clear. Coupled with the thought of Baoxing's shadowy, inscrutable origin, Shanle hesitated no longer. With a single thought rippling outward, all eight hundred thousand beings of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss received the Dharma decree in their hearts. Across the realm, altars shone with brilliant light as eminent monks mounted platforms everywhere to preach the Dharma and reveal the true meaning of the Great Dao.
Throughout the entire Heaven of Joy and Bliss, every sentient being listened to the scriptures; even the pines, cypresses, flowers, and trees bathed in Buddhist radiance.
In a single instant, the Heaven of Joy and Bliss merged into a seamless whole, transforming into a colossal ball of Buddhist light.
A bell tolled nine times, signifying the formal commencement of the contest, which was set to last nine times nine—eighty-one days.
Far away, Wei Yuan sighed once more. "These thieving baldies are treacherous as expected. They've discarded even the pretense of shame!"
Shanle had first placed every sentient being into a state of Dharma contemplation, then used the power of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss to set the duration of this contest of doctrines at eighty-one days. This was establishing an unassailable position first, and then forcibly imposing a time limit. The Heaven of Joy and Bliss was now an impenetrable monolith; converting even one or two individuals would be extraordinarily difficult. And once the deadline expired, Wei Yuan would naturally lose.
This was sheer rascality. Having grasped the situation and their mission, Jun Weizhi, Han Li, and the others lamented how shameless these thieving baldies were. Lei Ling, who had possessed Long Wushuang, was relatively simple-minded and outspoken; she blurted out a curse on impulse: "How can this bunch of bald thieves be so underhanded? They're almost catching up to the Creation—" Fortunately, her reflexes were sharp enough to rein herself in before crossing the edge, just in the nick of time.
Wei Yuan, however, stood with his hands behind his back high in the air, speaking calmly: "Why must the two Bodhisattvas go through such unnecessary trouble? The ancestral temple of my lineage has already been established here; this realm of heaven and earth is the foundation of my Dao attainment. Do the two Bodhisattvas insist on obstructing my attainment?"
Shanle was stunned at first, then grew so enraged he was momentarily rendered speechless. He had managed this Heaven of Joy and Bliss for ten thousand years, polishing it with his own hands to this day. And now, Wei Yuan showed up, put down a tiny temple, and suddenly it became the foundation of *his* Dao attainment?!
Baoxing's cultivation was visibly deeper. Pressing her palms together, she said, "Since it is Benefactor's foundation of Dao attainment, Benefactor is welcome to take it!"
"Very well, then I will not stand on ceremony."
As soon as Wei Yuan landed, Jun Weizhi approached and said, "Immortal Venerable, there is an anomaly in this world. As those monks began their rituals, the flow of time here shows signs of accelerating. The specific calculations are as follows..."
Wei Yuan gave a broad wave of his hand. "Give me the conclusion!"
"The conclusion is that the more altars and rituals the monks conduct, the faster time flows, and that accelerated flow of time in turn enhances the rituals' potency. But we are outsiders, unaccepted by this heaven and earth, so we cannot perceive the shift in time's passage. In short, if we were to engage in battle, their movements would grow increasingly swift. But the other matter is the crucial one: the time until victory or defeat is determined in this debate will not appear as eighty-one days to us, but far shorter! If we do nothing, we will lose on the eighteenth day."
Wei Yuan was also taken aback upon hearing this. These thieving baldies possessed an endless bag of tricks, each move more shameless than the last.
Yet Wei Yuan was merely surprised, nothing more. Having come alone to answer the challenge, he had long been determined to win. How could such petty tricks hinder him? Wei Yuan surveyed the world around him, an imposing aura rising naturally. He waved a hand toward the dark, dense crowd below and declared, "Begin the battle!"
Countless people immediately dispersed in all directions. Wei Yuan took out several treatises and used this time to reread them.
These treatises all concerned how to seize control over a minor world's authority, representing the culmination of research by hundreds of thousands of Qingming scholars, and they corroborated the thoughts in Wei Yuan's mind.
To obtain the acknowledgment of heaven and earth, the simplest way was to leave an imprint upon it, and the most effective method of doing so was breaking ground.
What did breaking ground entail? Moving mountains and filling seas, constructing cities and fortresses, paving roads and building bridges—anything capable of altering the realm's landscape counted. If one could erect grand formations to directly extract the realm's source essence, all the better.
Thus, on the first day, hundreds of thousands of people fanned out across the land, surveying plots and prospecting earth veins. Often, these people brushed shoulders with the original inhabitants of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, neither party disturbing the other.
On the second day, after deploying those hundreds of thousands, Wei Yuan summoned another several hundred thousand from the Splendor of the Many Realms. Following the survey results, they began staking out foundations on the ground and laying formation arrays.
On the third day, the diverse rituals across the Heaven of Joy and Bliss noticeably accelerated time; only sixty days remained before Wei Yuan's defeat.
Just then, the entire Heaven of Joy and Bliss suddenly sank, and Bodhisattva Shanle felt his golden body become several times heavier!
He cast his gaze straight over, only to see another gateway emerge at the center of the land Wei Yuan occupied, distinct from the small Pure Land temple. Rank upon rank of Dao Foundation cultivators were steadily marching out from this portal!
Previously, those emerging from the small Pure Land temple were sentient beings from the Splendor of the Many Realms; lacking physical bodies, they exerted little pressure upon the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. But now it was different. Every single one emerging was a Dao Foundation cultivator, possessing a flesh-and-blood body and trained in military aura! Consequently, the burden on the Heaven of Joy and Bliss skyrocketed by hundreds, even thousands of times!
As the cohorts of Dao Foundation cultivators emerged, they skillfully filed into the newly designated formation nodes. Then the grand formation activated, pulling up a colossal curtain of light that partitioned this area spanning dozens of li from the rest of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss.
Watching the countless Dao Foundation cultivators, Shanle turned pale with rage, his hands trembling. In the end, he could only squeeze out, "How shameless!"
Unmoved, Wei Yuan watched as countless Dao Foundation cultivators continued pouring forth—astonishingly numbering a hundred thousand in the blink of an eye! By this point, the entire Heaven of Joy and Bliss began to shake, groaning under the strain, and the will of the world gradually began shifting toward Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan assigned ten thousand Dao Foundation cultivators to maintain the defensive array, while the remaining ninety thousand broke ground and set to construction. Within just a few days, they remarkably erected a city wall, establishing fortifications.
Shanle's expression was naturally foul. Making such a massive commotion made it blatantly obvious that Wei Yuan had no intention of leaving. Moreover, Dao Foundation cultivators working on construction each accomplished the work of a hundred men. A gigantic city grew at a visible rate; surrounding peaks were sheared flat, lakes and seas filled in, and the landscape altered noticeably, weaving deeper karmic ties with the Heaven of Joy and Bliss day by day. Behind the giant city's walls, construction continued day and night without pause. In the span of a few days, the realm's authority over a hundred li around had completely fallen into Wei Yuan's grasp.
Shanle gnashed his teeth in hatred, yet was powerless. Now Wei Yuan possessed a fierce army of a hundred thousand, the advantage of a fortified city, and control over the surrounding world's authority. Even if Shanle drove all eight hundred thousand believers forward, they could never breach this stronghold.
A perfectly fine debate on the Dharma had somehow turned into siege warfare and territorial conquest! Shanle genuinely could not wrap his head around it.
What he understood even less was what Wei Yuan was actually doing inside that giant city. The authority of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss was eroding with extraordinary severity; in less than ten days, a hundred li of heaven and earth no longer answered to Shanle. Centered on the great city, the erosion steadily expanded outward at an accelerating pace.
Shanle naturally could not sit idly by. Expending a considerable sum of karmic merit and luck, he shot divine beams from his eyes, piercing straight through Wei Yuan's defenses to see the scene inside the great city clearly.
The giant city was now an enormous construction site. Countless structures rose from the ground, while subterranean complexes pushed deeper and deeper, some already reaching a hundred zhang beneath the earth.
Shanle could still understand that much. What he could not understand was why countless cultivators were gathered along road after road, digging them up only to repair them, then digging them up again in an endless loop! Who knew what they were doing? Yet inexplicably, these actions generated karmic bonds with the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, and because they were crude, direct, and infinitely repeatable, their efficiency was remarkably high!
A nameless fury instantly flared within Shanle. Did this man take the Heaven of Joy and Bliss for an idiot?
Unable to hold back any longer, he pointed toward the construction site within the city and demanded furiously, "Benefactor, what in the world are you doing now?!"
Wei Yuan manifested, standing with his hands behind his back. Smiling, he said, "The Bodhisattva has resided beyond the mortal realm for too long and fallen behind the times. Haven't you heard of the Dao of 'Unsubstantiated Attainment'? Its true marvel lies in creating something out of nothing!"
Chapter 1244