At Qi Yuan's words, the six ineffable Buddhas turned their gazes simultaneously toward the ninety-seven True Buddhas.
No notion of self, no notion of others.
No notion of sentient beings, no notion of lifespan.
Buddhas of the past, present, and future gathered together.
Adorned in solemn dignity, endowed with boundless wisdom.
The holy Buddha Realm shuddered and tumbled into Qi Yuan's hand. In his grasp, it seemed nothing more than a plaything, devoid of the transcendent might of a Creation Treasure that could suppress the highest heavens.
"I see the Tathagata, and as the Tathagata sees me, so it shall be.
"This poor monk, Taihang, greets the Lords Buddha!"
True Buddha Taihang, a True Buddha of the Ultimate Principle Realm, pressed his palms together and bowed to the six Lords Buddha.
Seeing this, the remaining True Buddhas felt their Buddha hearts cleansed. "We pay homage to the Lords Buddha."
Ninety-seven True Buddhas bowed in unison, their voices solemn as thunder under the blazing sun.
All the Half-Buddhas also bowed one after another. "We pay homage to the Lords Buddha!"
The chanting resounded through the clouds, echoing across the entire Liufeng Realm.
Every cultivator and novice monk understood at that very moment: the Buddha Realm now had its Lords Buddha.
Countless monks pressed their palms together and bowed in the direction of Guiqi City.
"We pay homage to the Lords Buddha!"
For ninety-seven True Buddhas to witness the Tathagata meant... the Buddha Realm possessed Lords Buddha once more.
Beholding this scene, Qi Yuan beamed. "I'm a pretty righteous fellow, aren't I? You lent me the Great Sun Golden Lotus, so I'm giving you Lords Buddha."
Not far away, when Half-Buddha Cankuo heard this, sweat poured down his forehead in torrents.
This guy was actually serious!
What was more, what he gave them truly were Lords Buddha.
"Still, you're pretty righteous yourselves, tossing the Buddha Realm straight to me."
Holding the Buddha Realm in his hand, Qi Yuan's gaze was calm.
The Buddha Realm resembled a single relic. Countless Buddhist mantras were scattered across it like stars, dense and endless to the eye. Merely gazing at it for a fleeting breath made one perceive the unfathomable depths and boundless expanse of the Buddhist Dharma.
Within the Buddha Realm, several Immeasurable True Words were especially striking. Because of the manifestation of the Buddhas of the Three Times, they flickered incessantly, their Buddhist chants scorching the heavens.
Hearing Qi Yuan's words, True Buddha Taihang's expression shifted.
The other True Buddhas felt a bitter tang in their hearts, words failing them.
The Buddha Realm was priceless, the very foundation of the sacred ground of the Buddha Realm.
Even as True Buddhas, none of them could master a Creation Treasure. If they could, wouldn't the Buddha Realm have long been unified under one of them?
Yet how had it wound up dropping into this man's hands?
"Haha, just joking. This Buddha Realm is useless to me anyway." Holding the Buddha Realm, Qi Yuan spoke nonchalantly.
After all, this was the foundational treasure of the sacred ground of the Buddha Realm. If it were lost, the Buddha Realm Sacred Ground would probably plunge straight down from the Fifth Heaven.
For one thing, he was a good man who only borrowed money without returning it.
For another, having wealthy white moonlights was far better than having destitute ones.
The remaining True Buddhas breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, their eyes fixed intently on the Buddha Realm.
Yet Qi Yuan simply waved his hand. "Wutian, I'll leave this Buddha Realm in your safekeeping."
The Buddha Realm landed in Wutian's hand. With disheveled hair, Lord Buddha Wutian curled his lips into a sinister smile.
The Buddha Realm trembled violently, as if struggling to break free.
Yet held firmly in Lord Buddha Wutian's hand, it could not budge in the slightest.
Seeing this, the other True Buddhas felt their minds reel.
They were terrified that this disheveled Buddha might crush the Buddha Realm to pieces with a single squeeze.
"Don't worry. This Lord Buddha Wutian is a... dear friend of mine, completely dependable. He's just teasing little friend Buddha Realm," Qi Yuan said casually.
Since he had offered to recommend friends, then these Buddhas were naturally his friends.
At this moment, True Buddha Taihang stepped forward and looked at Qi Yuan, deep awe in his eyes. "May I ask how we should address Heavenly Venerable?"
All the True Buddhas were immensely curious about Qi Yuan's identity.
After all, if he were merely a Blood Lord from the lower realm, there was no way he could be this formidable.
"In this realm, I am the Blood Lord. In the Canglan Realm, I am the Blood-Robed Sword God. And my actual name... is Qi Yuan." Qi Yuan's gaze was calm.
The expressions of the True Buddhas shifted slightly, countless pieces of information flashing through their minds.
Beside Chen Huan, Daoist Kunxia felt as though a massive boulder had slammed into his soul.
"Cang... Canglan Realm... Blood-Robed Sword God!"
His eyes nearly tore at the corners, his mind thoroughly shaken.
What... the hell... He couldn't help looking up at the ten suns, wanting to weep but finding no tears.
As for Chen Huan, he didn't notice Daoist Kunxia's reaction. His own heart was pounding wildly with shock.
As expected of his Big Bro—he was simply incredible!
He truly worked miracles everywhere he went.
Meanwhile, True Buddha Taihang's expression remained steady. Looking up at the vault of heaven, he suddenly spat out a single sacred word:
"Seal!"
In an instant, all connection between the Liufeng Realm and the Upper Realm was completely severed.
Before descending to the lower realm, he had already taken steps to seal it, but now he added a second layer of insurance.
After all, the matter of the Lords Buddha was of monumental significance. Most crucial of all was... the Future Buddha.
If the world possessed no future, how could there be a Future Buddha?
If a Future Buddha truly existed, did that not mean that one day, the Buddha Realm Sacred Ground could ascend to the Upper Three Heavens?
Within the Sixth Heaven, those in the realm of Great Ultimate Reason reigned as hegemons.
As for the Upper Three Heavens, they were mysterious and ineffable.
At this moment, a compassionate look flickered in True Buddha Taihang's eyes.
"Entering our Myriad Buddhas Assembly, you shall enjoy supreme bliss early!"
A vast Buddhist chant rolled outward.
In an instant, several cultivators hiding in the shadows cried out in agony.
"Ah!"
"No!"
Even Daoist Kunxia was pinned down by the Buddhist sound, his entire body bound and immobilized.
Evidently, True Buddha Taihang was purging the secret informants from the Upper Realm.
Enemies were sent straight to supreme bliss.
Allies were restrained, their memories wiped.
As for Daoist Kunxia, he didn't execute him.
Even so, regarding the information about the Future Buddha, he instantly severed, erased, and replaced that segment of memory from everyone present.
"This person is likely a Mythological figure from Taihuang Palace, and he may have ties to the Canglan Realm." True Buddha Taihang captured Daoist Kunxia and delivered him before Qi Yuan.
Qi Yuan looked on calmly, not the least bit surprised. He extended his hand, and several jade slips flew into his grip.
Daoist Kunxia's soul was extinguished in that same instant, and the memories of his lifetime were thoroughly absorbed and processed by Qi Yuan.
"Heavenly Venerable, do you know... how this Future Buddha attained his seat?" True Buddha Taihang asked.
Six among the ninety-seven True Buddhas stepped forward, all gazing intently at Qi Yuan.
Together with True Buddha Taihang, these seven True Buddhas were all of the Ultimate Principle Realm.
As for the rest, their eyes were half-closed. They severed their five senses and locked down the surrounding space, ensuring not a single shred of information could leak out.
The conversation between True Buddha Taihang and this Heavenly Venerable was clearly not meant for their ears.
The memories of today were of profound consequence; they too would sever and erase this portion from themselves.
"Well... you just cultivate a bit and it works out," Qi Yuan replied nonchalantly.
"...Could you be more specific?" True Buddha Taihang inquired, his tone heavy with gravity. "The Immortal Realm has a past and a present, but it possesses no future."
Qi Yuan had heard this before.
Back on the Moonview Continent, his daughter Qi Jianjun had mentioned that a Yang God possesses a past body and a present body, but no future body.
The Immortal Realm had no future.
This was the universal consensus among all cultivators in the Upper Realm.
Now that a Future Buddha had abruptly sprung forth, these True Buddhas of the Buddha Realm were naturally shaken to their cores.
The future was intertwined with the ineffable Upper Three Heavens.
If the True Buddhas of the Buddha Realm could all cultivate the future, the implications were beyond imagination.
"There's nothing to be specific about. I gave him a visualization technique for the Future Buddha, he visualized it, and he became the Future Buddha. Easy-peasy." Qi Yuan spread his hands.
Hearing this, True Buddha Taihang's expression shifted slightly before he sighed. "Heaven's secrets must not be disclosed. It seems this poor monk is not fated to behold it."
The other Ultimate Principle True Buddhas all pressed their palms together and chanted Buddhist sutras.
Evidently, they believed their own realm was simply too low to touch the future.
Without reaching the realm of Great Ultimate Reason, rashly probing into the future was not necessarily a good thing.
"Hey, now that my friends have become your Lords Buddha, how about I solicit some divine arts from you? What do you say?" Qi Yuan looked at True Buddha Taihang with a faint smile.
These bachelors were well along in years; according to the *Qi Yuan White Moonlight Standard Manual*, these monks were the true candidates for white moonlights.
"Heavenly Venerable requires divine arts? We shall naturally exhaust all resources of the Buddha Realm Sacred Ground to collect them for you!"
As True Buddha Taihang spoke, a jade slip landed in Qi Yuan's hand.
The other True Buddhas seemed to receive a transmission from True Buddha Taihang as well. One after another, they condensed every divine art they knew onto jade slips and offered them to Qi Yuan.
Seeing this, Qi Yuan beamed. "I've hit the jackpot!"
Looking at these monks now, he found them remarkably pleasing to the eye, full of lingering charm!
After all, these divine arts were far more numerous than what Shen Wushen or Yu Nü had provided.
This was the accumulated heritage of an entire Buddha Realm Sacred Ground.
*Tsk, tsk, just how many more Stellar Golden Cores will this give me?*
Lost in his reverie, Qi Yuan even felt a touch sheepish.
He wondered whether, after condensing the Stellar Golden Cores, he ought to let these monks name a few of them.
This time, he had obtained nearly ten thousand divine arts.
Although many shared high overlap, it was still an astonishing haul.
Merely by deducing the Golden Core chapter of the *Qi Yuan Scripture*, he could condense several thousand more Stellar Golden Cores.
This was an enormous profit.
Furthermore, he could now be considered the Grand Supreme Overlord of the Buddha Realm.
He finally had some backing within the Nine Heavens.
"Is Taihuang Palace very powerful?" Qi Yuan asked.
Daoist Kunxia was merely a Mythological figure. Although he belonged to Taihuang Palace, his understanding of it was limited, and he lacked the clearance to access much of its deeper intelligence.
True Buddha Taihang gave Qi Yuan a meaningful look, as if having deduced something of Qi Yuan's background.
"Taihuang Palace presides over the Sixth Heaven, standing practically at the zenith of the Immortal Realm.
"In the Sixth Heaven, the Great Sun Heavenly Venerable is a hegemon of his domain. He alone can suppress our Buddha Realm so thoroughly that we cannot even lift our heads," True Buddha Taihang said.
"Aren't there Nine Heavens in the Upper Realm? With the Great Sun Heavenly Venerable being so arrogant, don't the people from the Upper Three Heavens come down to beat him up?" Daoist Kunxia's memories contained little regarding the Upper Three Heavens.
Yet throughout the Nine Heavens, the higher one went, the richer the immortal spiritual energy and the stronger the presiding forces.
"The Upper Three Heavens are an ineffable realm. They cannot be spoken of, cannot be described, and can only be witnessed in person."
At the mention of the Upper Three Heavens, all seven Ultimate Principle True Buddhas wore expressions of deep, reverent caution.
"Oh," Qi Yuan replied. "If I led you all, along with several powerhouses on the level of Lords Buddha, could we flatten the Great Sun Heavenly Venerable's Taihuang Palace?"
The realm of Great Ultimate Reason was indeed terrifying.
Even the seven Ultimate Principle True Buddhas before him gave Qi Yuan the impression of being tricky opponents.
To say nothing of the Great Sun Heavenly Venerable, who wielded a Creation Treasure.
"It would be difficult." True Buddha Taihang shook his head.
"Oh, looks like I'm still too weak.
"Sigh, that Great Sun Heavenly Venerable has no martial virtue at all! A big boss of the Sixth Heaven, yet he insists on bullying a half-step Purple Mansion newbie like me!
"This is denying the common people a way to live!
"If he won't give the people a way to live, then the people will just have to overthrow him!"
Qi Yuan was indignant.
The Great Sun Heavenly Venerable was acting thoroughly unprincipled.
If ten suns scorching the sky weren't enough, then... what about a hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand?
Quantitative change would eventually trigger qualitative change!
True Buddha Taihang looked at Qi Yuan, not daring to utter a word.
Previously, when the Ten Suns Heavenly Venerable challenged the Great Sun Heavenly Venerable, he had thought it reeked of overestimating one's abilities.
Now that he had conjured an actual Future Buddha, however...
The entire situation was completely different.
A clash between him and the Great Sun Heavenly Venerable might well be a thirty-seventy split.
If Qi Yuan triumphed, the Buddha Realm might even... step into the Sixth Heaven.
The wish that the Great Sun Radiant Buddha had failed to fulfill might finally be realized in their generation.
What an immense achievement that would be!
"By the way, what date is it right now in the Upper Realm?" Qi Yuan suddenly recalled something.
"The twenty-seventh of the second month," True Buddha Taihang answered.
"The seventeenth of the seventh month... soon." Qi Yuan's gaze turned profound.
The seventeenth of the seventh month was Jin Li's birthday.
Barring any accidents, the letter he had sent to Jin Li would reach her hands on that very day.
He didn't know if he would have obliterated the tribulation and ascended to the Upper Realm by then.
Still... it was drawing near.
"True Buddha Taihang, could you do me a favor?" Qi Yuan said. "Don't worry, I won't have you work for nothing. There's definitely something in it for you."
"Please speak, Heavenly Venerable." True Buddha Taihang's expression grew solemn.
"Relax, it's a minor matter, not difficult at all..." Qi Yuan explained the task he wanted done.
True Buddha Taihang's face immediately fell into distress. "Heavenly Venerable, this poor monk cannot go."
"??" Qi Yuan blinked. "You're all in the Upper Realm, separated by only a single heaven. Is the difference really that vast?"
"Under the illumination of a Creation Treasure, even someone of Great Ultimate Reason would have nowhere to hide, let alone this poor monk." True Buddha Taihang shook his head.
The task the Heavenly Venerable was entrusting to him was to infiltrate the Moon Goddess Palace...
That was the Moon Goddess Palace, a power on par with Taihuang Palace.
Its core grounds were illuminated by a Creation Treasure; it was utterly impossible for any other Heavenly Venerable to sneak inside.
Infiltrating it was tantamount to declaring open war.
...
Inside the pagoda.
The Buddhist debate was still underway.
The position of Holy Buddha Son had ignited fiery contention among many Buddha Sons, Buddha Daughters, and the Thirteen Northern Demon Fiends.
In the end, however, with Bai Ze's assistance and Ling Yayi's support, Daoist Yu seized the title of Holy Buddha Son.
The Purple Lotus Buddha Daughter grinned, patting her chest. "Hehe, looks like the Holy Buddha Son title belongs to my Purple Zen Sacred Ground this time."
The other Buddha Sons and Buddha Daughters wore envious looks, though their worldly desires soon dissipated back into tranquility.
Ling Yayi said excitedly, "Daoist Yu, remember to plead for Master! When they strip the Great Sun Golden Lotus, they must spare Master's life and his cultivation! You have to ask for some spirit medicine for Master too—this old man doesn't want to take care of a drooling Master every single day!"
*Master, from now on, it's my turn to protect you!*
Ling Yayi felt a swell of self-moved emotion.
He figured that if Master became an invalid, standing before his tall and imposing self, Master would surely be too embarrassed to call him Nangong Dagou ever again.
At that thought, he managed to find some solace amidst the sorrow.
Daoist Yu rolled his eyes at Ling Yayi. "I understand."
Buddha Son Wuguang's gaze was calm. "This humble monk is quite curious about this Blood Lord. To receive the fortune of a world and wield the power of reincarnation—were it not for the Great Sun Golden Lotus, he might well have become a True Buddha."
He spoke with a touch of regret.
Sometimes, having too deep a karmic bond wasn't necessarily a blessing.
Soon, brimming with excitement, Ling Yayi and the others exited the pagoda.
Yet when they stepped outside, the sky had already turned pitch-black.
The ninety-seven Quasi-Buddhas who had sat cross-legged across the sky were nowhere to be seen.
The Myriad Buddhas Assembly, once bustling and grand, was now desolate and deserted.
Seeing this, Ling Yayi panicked. "Where is everyone? Where did they go? They haven't killed my master, have they?!"
Daoist Yu's eyes were also filled with worry.
Just then, the figure of a Quasi-Buddha appeared. His gaze was deep, the remnants of lingering shock still discernible in his eyes.
"A momentous event occurred at the Myriad Buddhas Assembly. All the Quasi-Buddhas have departed, leaving only this old monk to attend to the matter of the Holy Buddha Son." The Quasi-Buddha looked kindly at Daoist Yu. "Are you this assembly's Holy Buddha Son?"
Hearing this, Ling Yayi blinked and secretly sent a transmission to Buddha Son Wuguang: "Isn't this Holy Buddha Son a bit too low-rent? There's not even anyone here to congratulate him?"
Buddha Son Wuguang was also bewildered, scratching his hairless head.
"Could it just be an empty title? Is pleading for him even going to work?" Ling Yayi was terrified.
At that moment, Daoist Yu spoke up: "Guru, by luck I have attained the title of Holy Buddha Son, and I have a presumptuous request. I pray Guru will grant it."
The Quasi-Buddha nodded, his expression gentle. "Speak freely."
"My master, the Blood Lord, did not deliberately intend to claim the Great Sun Golden Lotus for himself.
"If the Buddha Realm must extract the Great Sun Golden Lotus, could you be gentle and cautious? Please, spare my master's life!"
Hearing this, the Quasi-Buddha's brow twitched violently. His expression turned flustered, completely stripping him of the demeanor of an eminent monk.
"Hey, don't talk nonsense! Don't go slandering people! When did our Buddha Realm ever want to dig out the Blood Lord's Great Sun Golden Lotus? That's entirely baseless!"
"Huh?" Ling Yayi was stunned.
Daoist Yu, Buddha Son Wuguang, and the others were also dumbfounded.
Then the Quasi-Buddha added, "Lord Buddha Wutian proclaimed that the Blood Lord shall be... the Supreme Buddha. As of now, the Blood Lord is the Supreme Buddha of our Buddha Realm!"
"...Supreme Buddha?" Ling Yayi stood frozen in utter confusion.
Why did that title... sound so bizarre?
Besides, I only went inside to participate in a Myriad Buddhas Assembly—how did Master end up becoming the Supreme Buddha?!
Chapter 396