Journey to the West: I have Nine Golden Crows Inside Me
Chapter 802: Six two seven, good things never come easy (5000)

Chapter 802: Six two seven, good things never come easy (5000)

"Thank you for guiding me, Master. I will reflect upon your advice," Jiang Chen said, the fog before his path now lifted, no longer any obstacles in his way.

Now, all he had to do was to choose, to decide the path he would take from here on and to walk it resolutely without wavering.

"Master, now that my doubts are resolved, I will not disturb you any longer. I will return to the Three Realms to face the impending calamity," Jiang Chen spoke, intending to take his leave.

This journey to Golden Turtle Island had brought Jiang Chen far more than he had anticipated, and he was very content. With no more desires in his heart, he only wished to return and confront the looming great trouble, prompting his wish to depart.

As Jiang Chen prepared to leave, the Upper Qing Saint suddenly called out to him, "Yu Dou, wait a moment, I have a task for you."

As he spoke, the Upper Qing Saint stood up, took down the Qingping Sword hanging by the cloud bed, held it in his hand, and gave it to Jiang Chen.

"Yu Dou, I don’t like the Buddha, and I don’t want to see him in the Three Realms. I’m entrusting the Qingping Sword to you temporarily. If the Buddha comes seeking you out, use this sword to kill him. Consider it fulfilling a worry of mine."

The Upper Qing Saint spoke casually, as if he wasn’t talking about killing the Buddha but rather something as trivial as a stray dog or cat. Indeed, in the presence of the venerable sage, wasn’t the Buddha just like a stray dog or cat?

"Yes, Master!"

"Should the Buddha appear, I will spare no effort to slay him, ensuring his complete disappearance from Heaven and Earth," Jiang Chen pledged with reverence.

Although the Upper Qing Saint didn’t specify, Jiang Chen understood what he meant. His elder was speaking of killing the Buddha, not Duobao. This made it clear that in his heart, he did not recognize the Buddha as Duobao.

Everything the Buddha experienced could be considered Duobao’s dream, or the ordeal he necessarily had to go through. He had sunken in the dream, lost in the calamity.

Now, by bestowing the Qingping Sword upon Jiang Chen to kill the Buddha, the Upper Qing Saint aimed to awaken Duobao. Should the Buddha die, the dream would shatter, the calamity would end, and Duobao would return to his original self, reemerging in the Prehistoric World.

However, Duobao’s dream, though it was a dream, had intersected with reality and bound him with immense karma to the West. And for karma, one must repay.

How should it be repaid? Naturally, with death!

The Buddha emerged because of the Buddhist door, and it was for the Buddhist door that he must die. Centuries later, when the calamity of the West Journey erupted, the Buddha would inevitably reappear to clash with Jiang Chen, and this battle would also determine the future of the Buddhist door.

If the Buddha triumphed, the Buddhist door would return under his control, and he would lead the West Journey event, restoring everything to its proper course.

If Jiang Chen triumphed, the Buddhist door would completely fall into his hands, and he would dictate the calamity of the future West Journey. All the planning and scheming led by the Buddha and others would become wedding garments for Jiang Chen.

If the Buddha triumphed, it did not necessarily mean Jiang Chen’s fall.

But if Jiang Chen were to triumph, then the Buddha would surely fall and die fighting for the Buddhist door. To live for the Buddhist door, and to die for it, such was the grandeur of the Buddha’s life!

And with his fall, all connections between Duobao and the Buddhist door would dissipate into nothingness, and the Buddha would fade from the world.

He was, after all, an illusory figure. With his fall and the shattering of the dream, Duobao would awaken, and all would become mere wisps of clouds passing by in the sky.

The Buddha was but a lifetime experienced by Duobao in a dream.

The Saint of Taiqing had arranged it this way from the beginning. Otherwise, could he truly have handed Duobao over to the West? Doing so would have certainly provoked dissent among the entire Mystic Sect and undermined the position of the Saint of Taiqing as the elder brother of the Mystic Sect.

After all, Duobao’s identity was no ordinary matter; he was not only the eldest disciple of the Upper Qing Saint but also the first disciple of the third generation of the Mystic Sect and even had a slight connection with Honjan Daizu.

Duobao’s true form was the Treasury Rock outside the Zixiao Palace. After the treasures upon it were taken by others, the Upper Qing Saint, with keen eyesight, deemed Treasury Rock a treasure itself and carried it away.

After Treasury Rock left the outer Chaos and came to the Chaos World, absorbing the Heavenly Earth’s Aura, it suddenly gained spiritual intelligence. The Upper Qing Saint was delighted and took it as a disciple on the spot.

The number of Innate Spiritual Treasures that Honjan Daizu placed on Treasury Rock is unknown, all taken by the thousands of visitors to the Zixiao Palace.

Taking treasures from the Treasury Rock had naturally bound them in karma with it. To have woven karma with so many Great Divine Transcendents, Duobao’s extraordinariness needed no further elaboration.

Why among the countless disciples of the three teachings, was only Duobao able to achieve the Dao Venerable Realm during the era of the Celestial Emperor? It was because he was too extraordinary, cherished by all of Heaven and Earth.

Such a being, if the Saint of Taiqing had really handed him over to the West, would he not have offended a great number of divine transcendents from the East? The Saint of Taiqing, a wise man, would never make such a foolish mistake. Therefore, he had long prepared a contingency plan in case Duobao truly ended up being lured to the West.

It’s been almost a Quantitative Calamity since the Enshrinement Calamity, and it’s time for Duobao to return.

Thus, the Upper Qing Saint handed the Qingping Sword to Jiang Chen, allowing him to use it to slay the Buddha. His objective was twofold: to grant him liberation and to aid Duobao’s return.

"I am on my way!" Securing the Qingping Sword, Jiang Chen bid farewell and transformed into a rainbow light, flying away from Golden Turtle Island.