Chapter 625: The Shakro Devaraja Sutra
They arrived at the temple in the Shakro Deva Realm. This was the palace of the Shakro Devaraja Buddha. The Shakro Deva Realm also contained many Buddhist kingdoms that revered and worshipped this Buddha. Many bhikkhus and bhikkhunis walked within the temple, and upon seeing them arrive, they came forward to pay their respects.
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha waved his hand, dismissing them. His eyes, bright and piercing, fixed on Qin Mu, waiting for his reply.
He was clearly a solitary figure, having taken no disciples. The bhikkhus and bhikkhunis living here were likely princes or princesses from those Buddhist kingdoms, come to study the Dharma.
Although the Shakro Devaraja Buddha also taught them the Dharma, he often did so only on a whim.
Nevertheless, despite not being his disciples, these princes and princesses possessed considerable cultivation and strength, no weaker than the Buddha Sons who had died at Qin Mu’s hands. This was presumably because the Shakro Devaraja Buddha’s attainments were so profound that even the teachings he imparted on a whim were extremely lofty and divine techniques.
Qin Mu pondered for a moment, then said, “I can open the Gate of Heaven’s Succession, sending you into Youdu. With the King Buddha’s strength, you should be able to traverse the Gate of Heaven’s Succession physically, without having your primordial spirit taken. However…”
He hesitated, then continued, “However, I killed many Buddha Sons earlier, and then the other me was unsealed. I suspect it might be the other me hiding behind the gate, ready to devour people. Can the King Buddha defeat the other me?”
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha blinked, recalling the Great Brahma Realm, now polluted and filthy. He thought carefully for a moment, then clapped his hands and laughed, “I understand. The Earth Lord sealed the other you by cutting off a piece of Youdu and trapping him inside. The other you also possesses great divine power, altering your divine ability so that the Gate of Heaven’s Succession no longer connects to Youdu, but to the place where the Earth Lord suppresses him. Thus, the primordial spirits of those cultivators you killed are intercepted and devoured by him. If I were to enter Youdu through the Gate of Heaven’s Succession, I would inevitably appear in that sealed land, not in Youdu.”
Deep within Qin Mu’s third eye, a continent floated. This was a piece of land the Earth Lord had cut from his own Nine-Bend Horn and refined. If one looked down upon this continent from above, it would appear in the shape of a jade pendant, and the mountain ranges within it formed the character “Qin.”
A giant infant was trapped in the center of the “Qin” character, unable to escape. Above it, a great Buddha faintly loomed, suppressing the area.
The giant infant sat on the ground, with short arms and legs. It vaguely heard the Shakro Devaraja Buddha’s words and became furious, babbling, “Bad guy, big bad guy! Tear off your head and eat you, big bad guy!”
“So that’s it!”
Qin Mu suddenly understood, exclaiming, “No wonder every time I killed a Buddha Son, I felt my own qi and cultivation deepen by another measure. It turns out the other me was taking the opportunity to devour the Buddha Sons’ primordial spirits to break the seal! The increase in my qi must be the qi he leaked out!”
When he had challenged and killed hundreds of Buddha Sons in the Buddha Realm, he had already sensed something was wrong. At that time, his qi was constantly at its peak, not only without depletion but even showing a considerable increase.
He realized then that the other consciousness within him, Qin Fengqing, must have been hiding behind the Gate of Heaven’s Succession, waiting for the Buddha Sons’ primordial spirits to come to him, feasting with great delight.
At that time, Qin Mu had kept the Gate of Heaven’s Succession open throughout the battle, and the primordial spirits of those Buddha Sons had likely all fallen into the mouth of his other self.
“It seems I can’t casually open the Gate of Heaven’s Succession from now on, or else if I release the other me, I won’t be able to control myself either,” Qin Mu thought to himself.
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha said, “If I enter Youdu through the Gate of Heaven’s Succession, I will inevitably appear on that sealed continent. The Earth Lord’s seal would suppress even me, and my senior brother’s seal would also press down. At that point, I might not be able to defeat you. This method won’t work. Do you have any other way?”
Qin Mu thought for a moment, then said, “I can build a Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge, connecting it to the Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge in the Grand Heavenly Realm. This would open a passage between the Buddha Realm and the Grand Heavenly Realm, allowing energy to flow both ways. This way, we can travel to the Grand Heavenly Realm via the bridge while maintaining the energy balance between the two realms. However, to prevent the Heavenly Court from tracing it back to the Grand Heavenly Realm, we need to destroy the Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge in the Shakro Deva Realm when we teleport away.”
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha’s eyes lit up, and he laughed, “That’s simple. I’ll leave behind a divine ability that will activate when we are teleported away from the Shakro Deva Realm, destroying the Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge.”
“There’s one more thing.”
Qin Mu calculated, “I have backup blueprints for the various equations, runic calculations, and construction of the Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge. However, building it is a massive project. I don’t have enough materials on hand, nor the manpower to refine the treasures.”
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha smiled, “Just give me the blueprints. Building it won’t be difficult for me.”
Qin Mu took out paper and a brush, saying, “I’ll first list the required materials. Please, King Buddha, go and prepare them.”
He wrote quickly, soon producing a list over ten pages thick. The Shakro Devaraja Buddha looked it over. The types of materials were not many, but the quantity required for each was enormous.
“I have some of these materials in the Shakro Deva Realm, stored from my daily collections, but not all. I’ll need to take some from the treasuries of the Buddhist kingdoms.”
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha immediately left, saying, “Prepare the blueprints first. I’ll notify the Buddhist kingdoms of the Shakro Deva Realm to offer up the required materials.”
Qin Mu took out the backup blueprints from his gluttonous beast pouch and piled them together.
This was a good habit he had developed over the years: he always liked to keep a spare copy. He and the Black Tiger God had calculated the blueprints for the Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge, and because they were so valuable, Qin Mu had copied a set and stored it in his gluttonous beast pouch.
Besides him, the Grand Tutor of the Yan Kingdom also had a copied set, another good habit cultivated over many years.
Before long, the Shakro Devaraja Buddha returned. Seeing the thick pile of blueprints stacked like a wall, he was startled and exclaimed, “So many?”
Qin Mu smiled, “King Buddha, pass me your Divine Scripture of the Heavenly Palace first. I’ll study it while you examine the blueprints. Once the materials arrive, we can start forging the Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge.”
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha studied the blueprints, feeling a bit daunted. He took out a thin booklet and tossed it to Qin Mu, saying, “This is my Shakro Devaraja Sutra. Read it first, and I’ll study the blueprints.”
Qin Mu flipped through it. It was only about ten pages long, and he exclaimed, “So few?”
“My cultivation method comes from the heart. There aren’t many grand principles. I seek words like pearls.”
As the Shakro Devaraja Buddha spoke, he produced a mountain of Buddhist scriptures, which crashed down in front of Qin Mu, and said, “These are the annotations for each word, each like a pearl, in my cultivation method.”
Qin Mu looked up at the mountain of books, his head swelling to the size of a bucket. He turned to look at the young Buddha, who also looked at the wall of blueprints before him and then back at him.
Qin Mu tested the waters, “King Buddha, if we harm each other like this, neither of us will likely leave the Buddha Realm alive.”
He pulled out about a dozen pages from the wall of blueprints and said, “This is the main body of the Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge. Once you forge the main body, I can help you inscribe the runic marks. That will simplify things greatly.”
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha laughed heartily, flicked his sleeve, and the mountain of books vanished. He took out a string of prayer beads and hung them around Qin Mu’s neck, smiling, “If you read those scriptures, it would take decades to finish and comprehend them. However, I refined this string of prayer beads during my daily cultivation, using my wisdom. Wear it around your neck, and you will be able to understand the Shakro Devaraja Sutra without needing to read those scriptures.”
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief. The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.
With the prayer beads around his neck, Qin Mu looked at the thin volume of the Shakro Devaraja Sutra again. Every Sanskrit character that entered his eyes transformed into incredibly complex information flooding into his mind. The amount of information contained in each character was as vast as the dragon language within the True Dragon Nest!
The cultivation method in the Shakro Devaraja Sutra was slightly inferior to the Ancestral Dragon’s Grand Profound Art from the True Dragon Nest, but it was still extraordinary, a very powerful technique.
This method had remarkable aspects in refining wisdom and tempering the primordial spirit!
And its physical combat techniques were outstanding!
The Ancestral Dragon’s Grand Profound Art was a technique at the Imperial Throne level. The Shakro Devaraja Sutra, being slightly inferior, was at the Heavenly Palace level. However, because the Ancestral Dragon’s Grand Profound Art was a dragon race technique, it was of little use to Qin Mu, whereas the Shakro Devaraja Sutra was immensely useful!
The most crucial point was that, as the Shakro Devaraja Buddha had said, this method was easy to learn, encouraged vigorous progress, and yielded twice the results with half the effort, allowing for very rapid improvement!
Qin Mu studied it, his Wisdom Pearl spinning constantly. Soon, he learned the general outline of the Shakro Devaraja Sutra’s method and immediately began to circulate it. Gradually, a halo of light appeared behind his head, rotating slowly.
He immediately felt various Buddhist runes and symbols constantly imprinting themselves into his flesh, bones, divine hideaways, and primordial spirit, causing both his physical body and primordial spirit to improve continuously.
Moreover, when combined with the Ancestral Dragon’s Eight Sounds, this method enhanced his body and primordial spirit even faster and stronger!
The more wondrous aspect was that he could clearly sense his own thoughts. Those distracting thoughts seemed to turn into tiny beads, flowing constantly within his mind, allowing him to clearly judge what was good and what was bad.
“If I cultivate step by step, in a few decades, I could become a Buddha. But I don’t want to be a monk. I can only borrow the useful parts of the Shakro Devaraja Sutra, selecting the best and integrating them into my Overlord Body Three-Dan Art!” Qin Mu thought to himself.
Half a day later, the various Buddhist kingdoms of the Shakro Deva Realm delivered the materials needed for the Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge. The Shakro Devaraja Buddha waved his hand, and countless jade stones floated into the air, were cut and polished neatly, and stacked together, quickly forming a large altar.
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha then rapidly refined various components, directly forging them into shape and assembling the main body of the Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge.
Qin Mu was studying how to integrate the Shakro Devaraja Sutra into his Overlord Body Three-Dan Art when he inadvertently caught sight of this scene. His body trembled slightly, and he stared blankly at the Shakro Devaraja Buddha refining the treasures.
“His artifact refining technique has many similarities with Grandpa Mute’s technique. There’s no way he could have come into contact with Grandpa Mute. So, what is the origin of the Shakro Devaraja Buddha? Could he be someone from the Era of the Opening Emperor?”
Qin Mu was lost in thought. The Shakro Devaraja Buddha quickly finished forging the main body. He reached out and separated the parts, causing the jade stones of the altar to expand outward, each piece separating. The main body of the Spirit Energy Reciprocal Bridge then sank into the center of the altar, and the jade stones closed back together. From the outside, it looked like a simple altar, hiding what was inside.
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha finished constructing the main body and turned back to see Qin Mu staring at him. He smiled and asked, “What are you looking at me for?”
“Nothing.”
Qin Mu shook his head, walked over to help him inscribe the Spirit Energy Reciprocal runes, and casually asked, “King Buddha, what was your surname before?”
The Shakro Devaraja Buddha paused in his work, was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, “I don’t remember.”