Chapter 127 - 124: Chaos in the Late Eastern Han Dynasty
The Daoist Equal to Heaven, having received the third Swallowing Dragon Stele sent by Wusheng, ordered the five ghosts to promptly repair the collapsed statue.
In his heart, the Daoist Equal to Heaven thought, "It seems that elder sister has not yet broken through to the realm of the creator; otherwise, she could have restored it directly with a wave of divine skills. The Heavenly Illuminating Holy King said she was at the realm of Law, but who knows how difficult it is to advance further from such a state?"
The Daoist Equal to Heaven was Wukong’s second incarnation, with no difference in thought from the original, except for a slightly more somber temperament. Essentially, he was a second Sun Wukong. Wukong had sparred with Tathagata and endured refinement in the Bagua Oven for a long time, comprehending many truths and nearly touching the realm of the Second Heaven of Da Luo Golden Immortal.
In fact, he was just one step away from crossing into it. Meanwhile, his third incarnation, the Enlightenment Dao, was cultivating both the physical body and the Primordial Spirit within Flower-Fruit Mountain, while also consuming Peaches of Immortality to amass True Qi. To divide the True Qi into three parts required an immense number of peaches. He ate one after another, but fortunately, he had plenty. He had swept away all the peaches from an entire Peach Garden, it was just a pity that the Queen Mother had not planted the mother tree there; otherwise, he would have taken that as well and would be truly content.
In his heart, the Daoist Equal to Heaven thought, "Another year has passed, I wonder how Tao Yao is faring. When I have the time, I must visit her."
Tao Yao had shown him great kindness; that little fairy had truly been a good friend and nearly lost her life for him. He certainly needed to repay her.
"During this period, I shall fervently refine my sharira. Before entering seclusion, Yang Jian said that the incense offerings inside the Temple of the True Monarch are at my disposal. This incense power is indeed a fantastic thing; no wonder Buddhist Bodhisattvas and Buddhas all vie for incense power, supporting one small nation after another in West Cow He State." Once the Daoist Equal to Heaven saw the deity statue repaired, he dismissed the five little demons, opened the temple gates, and leaped into the statue to continue his cultivation.
The sun rose in the east, and streaks of sunlight fell. The number of people coming to offer incense at the True Monarch’s temple gradually increased.
Streams of incense power and wishes entered the statue, with many mundane thoughts intermixed: people sought peace, wealth, marriage, and official positions. There were hardly any devout believers, unlike in Buddhism’s Vedha Continent. There, the entire Vedha Continent worshiped Tathagata, and daily incense offerings to him had become routine—thanking the Buddha Ancestor for food and happiness before meals. Such pure incense power and wishes were the most potent.
The Daoist Equal to Heaven swiftly cleared these miscellaneous thoughts from the incense power before infusing them into the sharira for refinement. Thankfully, the Sutra of the Other Shore was quite marvelous, and he removed these thoughts much faster than the Buddhas of the Buddhist sect. Of course, he also occasionally granted these people’s wishes, which made them believe in the divine manifestation of the True Lord, and thus the incense offerings increased even more.
For Yang Jian, comprehending the complete Method of the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends Transformations was not an easy task either. True Man of the Jade Tripod had been irresponsible to pass down such incomplete teachings, hindering his progress in cultivation since the end of Ancient Times. If not for Wukong acquiring the legacy of Fuxi in the Bagua World and imparting the method to Yang Jian, he might have been stuck there for life.