Secret Buyer

Cultivation, Mana.

In the essential sense, it is an extraordinary elevation of the individual, but by no means the only path for a person to become a saint.

Seizing the workings of the heavens and earth to complete one’s mana is one path of cultivation, comprehending the supreme principles of the Dao, and aligning with the rules of all laws is another.

Zhang Fusheng, while sifting through all the hidden histories, once witnessed a failed examination candidate become a monk,

who studied Buddhist scriptures for forty-nine years in a Buddhist temple, neither cultivating life and nature nor nurturing essence, qi, and spirit, neither practicing mana nor seeking longevity,

only reading scriptures, chanting sutras, comprehending principles,

yet at the time when a mortal dynasty was eradicating Buddhism, with just the body of a mortal, he wielded a Zen staff, chanted Buddhist principles three times, and thereafter—

the hundred thousand cavalrymen that came to hunt and destroy temples were driven by the three chants of Buddhist principles to the barren edges of the vast sea.

The monk without mana borrowed principles and the spring wind, sending himself to the capital, took up Buddhist principles, changed the New Heaven, and became a Buddha Emperor.

The Buddha Emperor suppressed the secular world for nine thousand three hundred years, the underworld dared not take him, Impermanence dared not approach,

but until his death, he was still a mortal, until death he never tempered his skin and membranes.

Just like the Buddha Emperor, just like the current Zhang Fusheng.

Zhang Fusheng sat quietly atop the divine platform, his form pale, mortal, his qi and blood depleted, his spirit feeble, completely without mana, heavens not close, earth not near,

yet merely bent his fingers to lightly tap the void.

Eight thousand four hundred paths, time, cause and effect, flow, years, space, collapse, stagnation, cessation...

Every single path converged at the joint of his finger, and then—

All time and years’ flow were slowed in Zhang Fusheng’s eyes until it completely came to a halt,

the point in the void he lightly tapped began to implode inwardly, drawing away the void and time, all things began to revert with the contraction.

Reverting to a moment ago when Lin Dongxi first arrived at this place.

Zhang Fusheng once again employed the Dao of Cause and Effect, briefly connecting his cause and effect with his junior sister, thus, the junior sister was him, and he was also the junior sister,

and what Lin Dongxi saw and heard naturally became what Zhang Fusheng saw and heard.

He saw it.

Saw the yellow sands, the lotus pond, the dilapidated Taoist temple, the long river of purple qi all scattered away, only emptiness remained;

he also saw in the void an emerging majestic human figure occupying all vision, occupying all past, present, and future,

seeing the constantly changing faces of the majestic life form...

Virtually every face Zhang Fusheng recognized.

"Eastern Emperor, Maitreya, Taiqing, Shangqing, Wa, Celestial Emperor...."

Zhang Fusheng frowned deeply.

"And also Meng Ahnan, Fellow Daoist Xuanqing, and... me?"

He gazed at the majestic life form occupying all existence and non-existence, suddenly realizing.

"This is the Great Celestial Venerate Fluttering Li."

"It is... the Tao Fruit."

Among all fruit positions, the Daluo Fruit Position transcends time; above it is the Supreme Fruit Position, which already means omniscience and omnipotence, yet the Supreme can be balanced by other Supremes,

when the number of Supremes exceeds [one], it slides from omniscience and omnipotence to something close to it.

Only that which is above the Supreme, named the [Tao Fruit] ultimate fruit position, is the true one and all.

Zhang Fusheng felt a chill in his heart, already understanding—Tao Fruit, had already been born.

The position of Tao Fruit, someone is already seated upon it.

Whether in the past, the present, or the future, that majestic life form is the Tao Fruit, but who is the majestic life form?

It is not yet determined.

It could be any of the fleeting faces,

it could be The Three Pristine Ones, or the Celestial Emperor, it could be the Wa Emperor, or the Emperor Houtu Earth Deity, it could be Meng Ahnan, it could be oneself.

"I understand."

Zhang Fusheng, inhabiting the body of his junior sister from past years, murmured to himself:

"The Tao Fruit in essence transcends all, the Tao Fruit level does not abide by any logic, defies all common sense and understanding, surpasses the cognitive limits of all beings."

"All imaginings and discussions about the Tao Fruit level are sure to be erroneous."

He exhaled, "So, when various factors predestine the inevitable birth of the Tao Fruit in the future, the Tao Fruit then directly emerges."

"No—just a tiny possibility of birth, even one in hundreds of millions, the one with Tao Fruit will directly appear!"

"But it just appeared without determining who it is."

Zhang Fusheng’s heart surged like tides, diligently observing each face of the one with the Tao Fruit,

no more, no less, a total of twenty faces.

Among them, the vast majority are Supremes, all Supreme faces except for the Past Adornment Buddha had appeared.

The Supremes total fifteen, at this moment, fourteen Supreme faces have flashed by.

The remaining six faces are oneself, Meng Ahnan, Xuandu, Xuanqing, as well as the Northern Emperor and... Buddha Son??

Zhang Fusheng’s face showed a look of confusion.

"The faces flashing over the face of the Tao Fruit bearer at this moment are indeed all beings potentially becoming the Tao Fruit."

"Since there is no Past Adornment Buddha, it means not all Supremes are plotting for the position of Lord Tao Fruit, but why did the face of Buddha Son appear?"

He pondered deeply.

This reveals a significant amount of information.

For instance, the fleeting face of the Wa Emperor implies that the Wa Emperor, already transformed into a stone town, is in fact also conspiring for the Tao Fruit—hidden very deeply.

The appearance of the faces of Meng Ahnan, Xuandu, and Xuanqing is understandable, naturally all related to himself.

"I transferred the cause and effect of The Three Pristine Ones to Meng Ahnan, and the plot for the Supreme Fruit Position of Xuandu and Xuanqing directly allowed these three also have the opportunity to become the Tao Fruit."

"It means they have a certain possibility of usurping me instead?"

Zhang Fusheng’s heart lurched, racing thoughts, "Where is the Northern Emperor’s opportunity to succeed as the Tao Fruit, and Buddha Son..."