Heaven-Defying Rebel Sage
Chapter 275 - 263: The Heavenly Dao’s Karma is Settled

Chapter 275: Chapter 263: The Heavenly Dao’s Karma is Settled

Victorious Fighting Buddha had forged a Treasure Pagoda from the will of all living beings to trap the Great Sun Tathagata and then unleashed the fury of Buddha, blasting the physical body of the Great Sun Tathagata apart, whose Primordial Spirit Thoughts were now being refined into liquid, and subsequently collected by Victorious Fighting Buddha into a gourd he held in his hand.

This Primordial Spirit Thought of a Heavenly Dao Saint was enriching and contained certain Heavenly Dao Laws, extremely useful for cultivation, and if consumed by characters like Nether River, achieving sainthood might not be improbable. However, how many in this world could refine a Saint’s thoughts effortlessly? Moreover, a Saint’s thoughts were remarkably resilient; even the true essence of the sun or the Tushita purple fire from the Grand Supreme might not necessarily manage to refine them.

Victorious Fighting Buddha continuously sent forth spells, while Wukong input the will of revolution from the Great Revolution Seal, eradicating all residual thoughts of the Great Sun Tathagata.

As for those thirty billion thoughts in the Time River, it was a pity, yet there was no helping it.

The will of the revolution was the most resolute of wills. Under this will, the thoughts of the Great Sun Tathagata had no power to resist at all and were completely obliterated.

Victorious Fighting Buddha said, "With these six hundred billion thoughts in hand, I’ll trouble the Grand Supreme in the Tushita Palace of the pure heaven to refine them into Elixir Pills as a favor returned to him. It’s unknown how many pills can be produced, but by distributing them later, it can enhance the mana of our sect’s disciples and demons significantly, providing some self-protection during the great calamity of the Yuan."

Wukong nodded and said, "Indeed, I owe a great favor to the Grand Supreme, and it must be repaid."

Although the Grand Supreme had never used a Saint’s Primordial Spirit Thoughts to refine Magical Treasures or Elixir Pills, he was an expert in this area and would surely manage, so Wukong was not worried.

The Primordial Spirit Thoughts of the Great Sun Tathagata howled within the Treasure Pagoda, but to no avail. The suppression of the collective will of all living beings, together with the baptism of revolutionary will, steadily drained out his lingering thoughts, which were then utterly destroyed by the formless and intangible fury of Buddha.

The Great Sun Tathagata felt exceedingly unwilling, having originally schemed so extensively that Wukong was bound to die under such machinations. Lu Ya, however, employing the Ultimate Skill which turned out to be a major blunder for himself, breached ancient and future times, aiming to return to the past to slay Wukong, but unexpectedly, Victorious Fighting Buddha had already comprehended the true essence of the Buddhist Family’s past, present, and future lives, cultivating a past-life self. Thus, Lu Ya found himself attacked by two Saints simultaneously, only able to end in grievance while also causing the combat power of Great Sun Tathagata to drop sharply.

Apart from Amitabha, even Lu Ya, the Esoteric Buddhism Ancestor, had not comprehended the mysterious truths of the past, present, and future of the Buddhist Family. He also thought to cultivate the present and verify the future... however, Amitabha meant to cultivate the past, present, and future together, rendering himself without flaws, achieving true invincibility, preventing enemies from crossing past and future times to slay his past or future selves.

The past-life self is undoubtedly the weakest, and even Hong Jun’s past was just a newly enlightened earthworm. Therefore, having one’s past-life self slain was a dangerous matter. Amitabha proposed such a Buddhist theory, yet it was misinterpreted by Tathagata and others, unaware that it was a means of cultivation that rendered oneself invincible.

The Great Sun Tathagata sighed with sorrow, thinking, "I and Tathagata were known as the Buddha Ancestors, yet unexpectedly, we have always misinterpreted the true Buddha’s intent! This later emerged Victorious Fighting Buddha’s understanding of Buddha, is hundreds of thousands times deeper than ours..."

The thoughts of the Great Sun Tathagata exploded one after another, like setting off firecrackers, then liquified and flew into the gourd held by Victorious Fighting Buddha.

Refining six hundred billion thoughts of the Great Sun Tathagata took Victorious Fighting Buddha and Wukong a full half-month, for the Saint’s thoughts were too resilient and imbued with Heavenly Dao Laws, not easily refined. Moreover, the vast number of six hundred billion, how immense was this concept? Even the avatars of Nether River appeared overwhelmingly formidable at four hundred and eighty million. These six hundred billion were even denser, enough to fill the sea.

At last, the final Primordial Spirit Thought exploded with a "snap" and was then refined by the fury of Buddha into a flowing liquid.

When Victorious Fighting Buddha collected this last Primordial Spirit Thought, the Treasure Pagoda, made from the collective will of all living beings, exploded suddenly.

This time, in refining a master of the Heavenly Dao Saint Realm, the collective will of all beings had performed to the ultimate, and now, already unable to bear the burden, it exploded directly.

Wukong took the gourd from Victorious Fighting Buddha and asked, "Have you found the path to becoming a Great Dao Sage?"

With a long sigh, Victorious Fighting Buddha replied, "How can it be so easy? Even though I gather the will of all beings to cultivate, I find my cultivation making little progress, with only my Mana increasing. The path to being a Great Dao Sage is too elusive and vague. For us to have become Heavenly Dao Saints within a thousand years is already an extraordinary feat. Without tens of thousands of years of accumulation, how could one achieve it overnight?"

Victorious Fighting Buddha was right, it hadn’t even been a thousand years since Wukong emerged from the stone!

Wukong nodded and said, "Hong Jun Taoist Patriarch mentioned that one route to becoming a Great Dao Sage is to become a Turning Wheel Sage King."

With a sigh, Victorious Fighting Buddha said, "It’s not that easy. I don’t even know the conditions required to become a Turning Wheel Sage King. Tathagata has managed to figure out a bit, using a sacrificial method to temporarily bring forth the Turning Wheel Sage King, but he has already died. Moreover, this idea of the Turning Wheel Sage King was proposed by Amitabha Buddha, but even Amitabha Buddha doesn’t know much about it; otherwise, he would have become a Great Dao Sage himself."

Wukong said, "Your Buddha-nature is profound, no less so than Amitabha Buddha and Zhun Ti Taoist. You must ponder deeply about this matter of the Turning Wheel Sage King. After all, Hong Jun Taoist Patriarch said that to keep a realm eternally undisturbed and avoid the Immeasurable Calamity, it will take the cultivation of four Great Dao Sages to guard the four directions of Heaven and Earth and to avoid the influence of the Great Dao. If Tong Tian Sect Master could become a Great Dao Sage, that would make three Great Dao Sages, and the hope of the Earth Immortal Realm would rest on our shoulders. The exploration of becoming a Turning Wheel Sage King still depends on you!"

Victorious Fighting Buddha nodded and said, "I understand this myself, but the Turning Wheel Sage King is too ethereal and elusive. In a couple of days, I will go to Mount Sumeru to meet Amitabha Buddha and Zhun Ti Taoist to see if they have any clues. Now that the situation between Heaven and Earth has stabilized, Saints should unite to deal with the great calamity of 129,600 years coming up, and I believe Amitabha Buddha and Zhun Ti Taoist will surely share everything they know."

With Lu Ya dead, Hong Jun’s arrangement had concluded, and the dispute between Buddhism and Daoism had also completely drawn to a close, resolving Wukong’s great karmic ties. However, there was still a Nether River Patriarch to kill, but if he were to strike, it would reduce Ksitigarbha King’s chance of becoming a Saint, considering that Ksitigarbha King also made a great vow, and his Buddha-nature is also exceptionally profound, granting him a great opportunity to become a Saint!

With Tong Tian Sect Master becoming a Great Dao Sage, a vacancy would appear in the position of Heavenly Dao Saint, and naturally, the most capable would ascend.

Not killing Nether River would affect Wukong somewhat, impacting his calculations and making it difficult for him to comprehend the changes in Heavenly Dao. However, if he were to kill Nether River, it would essentially cut off Ksitigarbha King’s opportunity to become a Saint, considering Ksitigarbha King has a great vow that was witnessed by the Heavenly Dao Laws, although it was made to deceive Tathagata.

Wukong hung the gourd on his waist belt and said, "I might as well go and find Old Lord and have him help with alchemy, these six hundred billion thoughts, who knows how many Elixir Pills can be refined?"

Victorious Fighting Buddha replied, "Go ahead, I will make a journey to the Asura Blood Sea."

Wukong slapped his forehead and said, "That’s right, the ties of karma between Nether River and I aren’t shallow, but Ksitigarbha King has a great vow on him, which should manifest in dealing with Nether River. If we were to act, it would cut off the path of Ksitigarbha King becoming a Saint. It’s better to just force Nether River out, and let Ksitigarbha King do the deed."

Victorious Fighting Buddha said, "I understand this; I’ll be on my way. Don’t worry, I will carefully ponder the matter of the Turning Wheel Sage King and the Great Dao Sage, and I might just be able to find some clues soon."

After saying this, Victorious Fighting Buddha summoned a White Elephant, gracefully ascended, and sat on the broad back of the White Elephant, which then set off toward the Asura Blood Sea.

Wukong somersaulted up, crossed the Heavenly Court, and went straight to the Thirty-Three Heavens.

Heading to Tushita Palace.

To find out what happens next, please follow the next installment. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommend tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)