Secret Buyer

Wind and rain come late.

A desolate world.

The silhouettes of the Six Paths lay heavily above, strong spiritual thoughts tearing the earth inch by inch. They were using the clumsiest method to find the bell spoken of by the Celestial Venerate.

Mountains were torn apart, along with the scorched rockscape, shattered and rising to the heavens.

"Where could it be..." Buddha Son murmured in confusion.

At the same time.

Underground, the last remaining laboratory in the desolate world of humanity.

Chen Xiaofan silently watched the images on the screen, lighting a cigarette, then another.

"It really is immortal..."

He exhaled a mouthful of smoke harshly, extinguished the cigarette butt, and said with a solemn expression:

"How are all the experiments progressing?"

The researchers shook their heads bitterly.

"Item number one showed no reaction at all, item number two..."

A researcher sighed, then changed the subject:

"But Director, when we monitored the brainwaves and spiritual fluctuations of item number two, we did have some unexpected findings."

Saying this, the researcher handed over a piece of paper.

Chen Xiaofan meticulously examined the results analyzed on the paper—it was a passage, more like a prayer.

"The bearer of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, the contender for Tao Fruit at the end of time, the great supreme being above High Heaven..."

Chen Xiaofan subconsciously murmured, unintentionally immersing himself in the prayer,

In a daze, he seemed to see strands of starlight, witnessing vast worlds floating in the void,

Every world was linked by a thread of starlight—more precisely, it was a person within that world linked to a strand of starlight.

Chen Xiaofan rubbed his eyes.

"The bearer of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, the contender for Tao Fruit at the end of time, the great supreme being above High Heaven..."

The same prayer echoed, but it wasn't from himself, rather...

It was from those boundless, countless vast worlds; from every being linked by starlight strands!

He was astonished, then woke to realization and understanding, at this very moment, in the same instant,

So many lives from different worlds praising the same prayer!

And what did that prayer point to?

Instinctively, Chen Xiaofan raised his head.

"Director?" He seemed to hear someone exclaim, but directly ignored it, and at that moment in the outside world,

Under the watchful eyes of many researchers, the director finished reciting the prayer from the paper, from item number two—the suspected entity named [Xuanqing] or [Xuandu]'s physical body,

The director's eyes seemed to be enveloped in a faint, inexplicable clarity,

The clarity grew increasingly dense, nearly overflowing as the director raised his head and gazed into the unknown void!

In that instant.

Chen Xiaofan saw.

He saw endless starlight strands, ultimately pointing to the same place, the same person—a being too vast and grand to be described by words!

He, no, It!

It stood in an unimaginably high place, with mysterious things vaguely spinning behind Its head, surrounded by a great fog,

Within the fog, mythical landscapes overlapped!

Toppling ghost towns, rivers drowning countless wailing gods and demons, mountains towering to the heavens...

And the indescribable, shapeless corpse of a giant being!

And that majestic entity stood among it all, standing above it all, overlooking—all living beings, overlooking the tumultuous Sea of Suffering.

"All beings suffer..." Chen Xiaofan murmured unconsciously: "Only It resides on the Other Shore, It can come to deliver us."

"Blessings..."

"Fu Li!"

In the voice of praise.

Chen Xiaofan saw the crying beings in the desolate world, saw the land and mountains torn by the terrifying silhouettes of the Six Paths, saw the few remaining beings affected and perished by waves...

"The suffering!"

He sighed again, let out a heart of Great Compassion, then seemed to make some decision, raising his head again, gazing up at that supreme being in the boundless heights.

He said:

"May You come to deliver us."

Chen Xiaofan opened his arms.

He was welcoming the arrival of the Supreme Being.

He was becoming the Supreme Being.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

The noise remained in the research institute, the researchers' astonishment faded away, as if nothing had occurred, as if the director had never performed any strange actions,

An indescribable great force quietly swept through, and then—

On the director's chest, the name tag with "Chen Xiaofan," silently changed to [Zhang Fusheng].

No, it wasn't a change.

It was always like this, it was always this way.

In the research institute, in all the records of the director's name, Chen Xiaofan no longer existed, it was only Zhang Fusheng, even time itself shifted.

Chen Xiaofan's father was no longer called Chen Shi, but 'Zhang Shi',

In the history of the desolate world, there was always Zhang Fusheng instead of Chen Xiaofan—he had become Its 'other Self'.

Not just the desolate world.

In the great void, in all seen and all obtained, in all worlds and realms, there is always a being willing to abandon their fundamental will,

Will to use their body as a guiding treasure raft, drifting across the Sea of Suffering, reaching the Other Shore, just to aspire for a sliver of will from that great being, becoming Its other Self, walking countless worlds for It.

Thus—

In all realms, a 'other Self' already exists.

Zhang Fusheng, who gained great mana by merging the Six Paths of Reincarnation, instantly attained [Taiyi Fruit Position],

More precisely, it was [Fuli Celestial Venerable], [Fu Li Shizun], two great Fruit Positions.

"Indeed, every leap in the Fu Li Fruit Position is a world-shattering qualitative change..."

Zhang Fusheng gently murmured, quietly perceiving his Self, the most notable feature of the ordinary Taiyi Fruit Position is [ubiquity],