Secret Buyer

"World! Venerate!"

The Mountain Monarch roared again, opening its mouth towards the distant High Heaven City, inhaling!

Countless soul spirits were sucked into its belly, refined into vengeful ghosts by it!

The dying Lin Changle saw many acquaintances, Hu Zhongli, Li Guoquan, Chen Daoling, Zhao Wenting...

She watched countless people die, countless souls swallowed and annihilated, feeling a painful tug at her heart——

Then, true compassion and a sense of great compassion and sorrow arose within her.

It was at this moment.

Lin Changle suddenly felt the power on her body being gradually stripped away.

"Is it..... World Venerate?"

She was first confused, then ecstatic, ignoring the slaughter techniques of the deities, she faced the west, put her hands together, then shouted out loudly!

"Welcome, World-Honored One Buddha!"

Her clear voice pierced the sky, and at that moment, her brocade robe was torn off completely, her physical body disintegrated, and her soul shattered, she began to pass away, to die.

She began to dissipate.

It was also at this time.

There was light.

There was Buddha’s Light, shining from the Jiuzong Mountain Range outside Chang’an Town, not in an intense manner, just slowly, gradually illuminating.

The gazes from beyond the world suddenly became sharp, silently wreaking havoc among over a hundred divine spirits in the Other Shore World.

"World Venerate?"

The Ancestor of Land Immortals, manipulating the Mountain Monarch, spoke indifferently.

There was no response.

There was only a faint light.

And a small figure that unknowingly appeared at the edge of the mountain range.

That figure was about sixteen feet tall, sitting cross-legged on the ground, leaning against a nine-foot-tall illusory Bodhi Tree, eyes closed, face as handsome as it was ten days ago.

"World Venerate!"

The Mountain Monarch opened its mouth and roared.

In the sound of the tiger’s roar, large areas of the earth were torn apart, with the millions of vengeful ghosts it had refined baring fangs and brandishing claws, charging forward with the riven earth!

Fragments, shattered rocks, smoke, vengeful ghosts,

everything formed a gigantic torrent, rushing forth!

Yet that figure still sat cross-legged under the Bodhi Tree.

All things came to a sudden halt before him.

The fractured earth stood still, and the claw-baring vengeful ghosts remained motionless, as if there were an invisible, insurmountable line before him.

"Stop pretending to be mysterious..."

The Mountain Monarch spoke coldly, and once again executed a slaughter technique, while the other deities, to varying extents, used their methods of slaughter!

Whether it was sword energy tearing the void, or a galaxy flowing backward, or flames that could burn a world, or a disaster wind that could extinguish the great sun...

Over a hundred slaughter techniques, enough to erase a province in an instant, or a great world,

but as they neared the figure under the Bodhi Tree, they all slowed down, slowing further, until completely stagnating.

The deities’ expressions changed, the white-haired old man and Kong Shentong from beyond the heavens stood up.

The World Venerate still did not open his eyes.

Then, at this time.

Divine Realm.

[In the forty-second millennium, I was still contemplating the grand path of the spirit, contemplating the marvelous principles of Buddhist technique and the root of the heavens and earth]

[I didn’t find a way to break through the third spiritual limit, I just suddenly had an epiphany, what is the Sea of Suffering, what is the Other Shore, what is the mortal world]

[Staying away from the mortal world, I could attain purity]

[But standing amidst the rolling mortal world, I could achieve great purity]

[The clamor of all beings is my path to achievement, the Bodhi is not attained by contemplation, but is ever-present in my heart]

[Thus, I was enlightened]

The forty-second millennium ends here, and within the Divine Realm, forty-two thousand years had also passed,

The three-headed solar Divine Thought transformed into nine-headed ones, and the number of other star beasts increased tenfold,

In the mortal realm, the first ’native venerate’ appeared, establishing the Sword Tomb outside Wuluo, Divine Temple, becoming the third venerate of the mortal realm,

And within the Nine Netherworld, death qi permeated everything, with countless souls...

It was then.

Sitting cross-legged for seven thousand years, then contemplating under the Bodhi Tree for forty-two thousand years, a thousand years as a single day, equaling forty-nine days.

The Buddha sat under the Bodhi Tree for forty-nine days, forty-nine thousand years, witnessing the birth, aging, sickness, and death of the mortal realm,

Also witnessing the rise of the master of the Sword Tomb from a young boy, becoming the first true venerate in the Divine Realm in a meaningful sense.

He opened his eyes.

He opened his eyes in the Divine Realm, under the Bodhi Tree, and saw the unattainable [Tathagata Celestial Position] hovering before him.

The Tathagata Celestial Position, ethereal and illusory, took the form of a great Buddha sitting upon a lotus seat,

The Celestial Position suddenly asked:

"Why do you not rise?"

Zhang Fusheng replied:

"I swear not to leave my seat without attaining Bodhi."

The Celestial Position spoke again:

"Countless past Buddhas attained enlightenment under this tree; this place is the vajra throne of past Buddhas, the place of enlightenment."

"But, what qualifies you to become a Buddha?"

Zhang Fusheng calmly pointed to the ground beneath him and replied:

"Let the earth be my witness."

The Celestial Position asked one last question:

"The earth attests to your enlightenment; are you Buddha, or are you Zhang Fusheng?"

Zhang Fusheng replied:

"I am Buddha."

"But even more, I am Zhang Fusheng."

"I am first myself."

The Celestial Position wavered, said no more, and slowly merged with him.

He gently exhaled a pure breath.

There he stood in the present, in the Other Shore World, under the illusory Bodhi Tree, facing over a hundred stagnant Slaughter Techniques frozen before him.

Behind him, the illusory Bodhi Tree, without notice, had condensed into a real Bodhi Tree.

Not tall, only nine zhang.

Thus.

Zhang Fusheng reached out again, pointing downward softly as he spoke:

"The earth shall testify."

This voice resonated through the Other Shore World, through the World Plateau, through the forty-nine provinces!

No meteor showers, no Golden Springs erupting, no lotus blooms—

In Chang’an Town, Li Xiuyuan gazed dazedly at the figure, uttering foolishly:

"Buddha."

"What?" Beside him, Cui Linglong asked perplexedly.

Li Xiuyuan spoke, reiterating:

"Buddha, but not Shakyamuni Buddha, rather..."

Before his words fell, the world arose with congratulatory sound, merely eight words, declaring—[Blessed Life Buddha, Great Compassion and Mercy!]

As the congratulatory sound arose.

The Buddha stood up from beneath the Bodhi Tree.

"I vow not to rise without Bodhi, now having risen, Bodhi achieved." The Buddha sighed.

"Pretending to be divine!!"

The Mountain Monarch roared, leading eighty other Earth Deities in a furious charge forward, the fierce aura pervading the shattered Other Shore World!

It was at this moment.

Zhang Fusheng stood silently, and the stagnant Slaughter Techniques before him suddenly melted like snow, as bright light appeared beside him,

four Arhats and thirty-six Vajras emerged, standing by his side, with nine circles of Great Sun overhead, nine Golden Crows hovering,

breathing heavily beneath the Five Finger Mountain, Sun Shiyi, the Pantheon gods within the virtual scene widened their eyes,

the Ancestor of Land Immortals squinted in the wilderness, the white-haired elder above the celestial vault, Kong Shentong, and others suddenly changed colors!

It was at this time.

The Buddha surveyed the shattered Other Shore World and spoke softly:

"Sea of Suffering! Other Shore!"

He reached out, standing within the Other Shore World, yet lifted the entire Other Shore World, then overturned it.

Chaotic light filled the air, the world toppled.

Thus.

Under the silent gaze of countless eyes.

Eighty-one Venerable Gods, eighty-one Earth Deities, whether dragon or phoenix or Mountain Monarch.

They were all within the Buddha’s grasp.

Thereafter, the Buddha said:

"The three persuasions of Guanyin mean three times forgiveness, now it’s the fourth, the Sea of Suffering is boundless for you."

"No way back now."

The collapsing world gently crushed the eighty-one Earth Deities into dust.

Leaving empty eighty-one divine souls.

The white-haired elder’s eyes were about to burst.

Forty-five Venerates stood frozen in the shattered Other Shore World.

The Buddha only looked at the colorful cassock drifting on the ground, then sighed:

"Return."

The soul of Lin Changle, scattered into the wind, unexpectedly reunited as if time reversed, gathering soul, Essence, Qi, and Spirit!

She stood there once again.

As if she had never fallen.

Zhang Fusheng gazed at the entire Other Shore World, once more using the Great Divine Techniques he attained after certifying the Fuli True Man Fruit Position.

He lifted the broken world and said:

"Other Shore."

Collapsing buildings, fractured mountains and rivers, falling celestial vault, torn earth, all began to [reverse],

even saying—

The millions refined into wraiths by the Mountain Monarch, and more dead life forms, scattered souls,

were all under the gaze of countless eyes, confused, awed, horrified, all [reversed]!!

Not restoration, nor healing, but reversal.

As if time was flowing backwards.

Also like a [result] in the chain of cause and effect being erased.

All things suddenly restored to the beginning, a thousand pear trees blossoming simultaneously.

Blessed Life Buddha compassionately looked at the forty-five Venerates, then raised his head, gazing at the outside, gazing at the high-positioned white-haired elder and other divine spirits.

He suddenly smiled:

"Oh!"

The Bodhi swayed, and the divine spirits turned to flee.