Chapter 2613: Secret History
The Sikong Zen Temple was as tranquil and secluded as ever. In the oak forest outside the temple, sacred qi condensed into mist, drifting like white silk ribbons through the branches and leaves.
A small bridge spanned a flowing stream, its banks adorned with a riot of colorful exotic flowers and rare herbs.
Zhang Ruochen walked across the bamboo bridge and saw the wooden pagoda ahead. The voice of Grand Minister of Works rang in his ears: "Master, Master, I've missed you so much!"
Beneath an ancient oak tree as thick as a millstone.
Sui Han sat across from Master Indra, startled by the sudden arrival of the two black-and-white monks. Although Grand Minister of Works and Second Minister of Works had deliberately restrained their cultivation, the Buddhist qi surging within them was as vast as rivers, giving him an unfathomable impression.
Zhang Ruochen and Kong Lanyou followed them in and stood near the entrance.
"It's them again."
Sui Han noticed the two, cast a glance their way, and nodded slightly.
"Master, it was our junior uncle who brought us back," Second Minister of Works said calmly, pointing at Zhang Ruochen.
Master Indra, clad in gray-white monastic robes, rose and walked over.
Zhang Ruochen stepped forward, and they both pressed their palms together, exchanging a bow.
Master Indra led Zhang Ruochen to a lush ancient oak tree and introduced, "This is the sect leader of the Qin Sect, Benefactor Sui Han."
Zhang Ruochen said, "We've already met."
Sui Han stood up and asked, "So, you are a member of the Buddhist sect?"
"Something like that."
Zhang Ruochen sat down on a stone stool, poured himself a cup of tea from the purple clay pot, took a sip, and said, "Master, I came back specifically to find you. I have a few questions I need clarified. Please don't keep anything from me any longer."
Master Indra had already prepared himself mentally and nodded. "Amitabha."
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Did the Buddha Emperor, one of the nine emperors of the Kunlun Realm in the past, truly die at the hands of Chi Yao?"
As more truths surfaced, Zhang Ruochen had gained a new understanding of the events from eighteen hundred years ago. Since the Ming Emperor and the Sword Emperor had not died but instead gone to the Hell Realm, could it be that the Buddha Emperor had not truly perished either?
Master Indra said, "The master has passed away, yet he also lives."
"How did he pass away? And why does he still live?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Master Indra sighed softly. "The events of that time were very complicated. In short, the Kunlun Realm needed unification. It needed to deceive the Hell Realm's forces within the Kunlun Realm and arrange for certain individuals with the potential to become gods to be sent ahead to the Hell Realm and the Heavenly Court."
"Aside from Emperor Wen, who stayed behind to guard the Peach Tree, all the other top experts had their own tasks."
Zhang Ruochen said, "What a grand chess game! But why did the Buddha Emperor still have to pass away?"
Master Indra said, "The master said that the Hell Realm had been monitoring the Kunlun Realm all along, and the Undying Blood Clan's influence was especially vast. They couldn't be treated as fools. To deceive them, someone had to make a real sacrifice and die before their eyes to cover the truth."
"So he chose to die by Chi Yao's sword?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Master Indra closed his eyes. "In that battle, the Kunlun Realm deliberately lured cultivators from the Undying Blood Clan to witness the master's fall with their own eyes."
"Then why do you say the Buddha Emperor still lives?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Master Indra said, "The master has reincarnated and gained a new life."
Zhang Ruochen had heard from Gong Nanfeng that the Buddhist path had secret methods for reincarnation and rebirth.
At that moment, a young monk radiating golden light walked out of the pagoda, holding a scripture.
Grand Minister of Works immediately rushed over and embraced him, laughing, "Little junior brother, you've grown so big!"
Zhang Ruochen remembered this monk. He had been only two or three years old back then, always following Master Indra, and was called "Little Sikong." Now, that little novice had grown into a strikingly handsome white-robed holy monk.
Sui Han had been sitting nearby, listening, forming various conjectures in his mind, but he remained silent, his gaze restrained.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen said, "Grand Minister of Works and Second Minister of Works obtained tremendous opportunities in the Origin Divine Temple and have now reached the demigod realm."
Master Indra showed no surprise at all.
But Sui Han's eyes blazed with fervent light.
Although he had tried to estimate the cultivation levels of Grand Minister of Works and Second Minister of Works as highly as possible, he had never imagined they would reach the demigod level.
But on second thought, it made sense. The opportunities in the Origin Divine Temple were extremely rare across the entire universe, even throughout history. Anyone who could seize a share would inevitably have their fate rewritten.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "They are not human, and their physiques are quite unusual, containing a large amount of divine substance. They must have a significant origin, right?"
Master Indra beckoned for Grand Minister of Works and Second Minister of Works to come closer, his expression extremely serious. "Your origins should have been told to you long ago. But this matter is of great importance. Before your cultivation reaches full maturity, telling you would only bring harm, not benefit."
Sui Han stood up, intending to excuse himself.
"Benefactor Sui Han, you are a Confucian Dao great saint. There's no need to leave. This matter is actually related to the Confucian Dao."
Master Indra continued, "This secret is known only to the successive abbots of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Path. In truth, you two are two chess pieces from the Heaven-Earth Chessboard. They were left by the Fourth Confucian Ancestor to Xumi Saint Monk before he left the Kunlun Realm. Before Saint Monk fell, he entrusted them to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Path."
"Later, these two chess pieces nurtured spirituality and cultivated human forms, which became the two of you."
Sui Han was deeply shaken. He had never imagined that the two black-and-white monks before him were actually two chess pieces from the "Heaven-Earth Chessboard," one of the ten great divine artifacts of the Kunlun Realm.
It was well known that the "World Chessboard" of the First Central Empire's imperial court was a replica of the Heaven-Earth Chessboard.
Using that replica, the Confucian Dao could monitor the entire Kunlun Realm.
If they could recover the divine artifact Heaven-Earth Chessboard, perhaps the Kunlun Realm could grasp all the secrets of the starry sky and even predict the movements of the Hell Realm's armies in advance.
The Heaven-Earth Chessboard was a divine artifact of the Confucian Dao, forged by the Second Confucian Ancestor. As the current representative of the Confucian Dao in the Kunlun Realm, how could Sui Han's emotions remain calm?
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Where did the Fourth Confucian Ancestor go when he left the Kunlun Realm?"
Master Indra shook his head. "The Fourth Confucian Ancestor only left a message for Xumi Saint Monk: if he failed to return to the Kunlun Realm as scheduled, Saint Monk could use those two chess pieces to find him. Unfortunately, not long after, Saint Monk also fell, and the Kunlun Realm was sealed. No one in the world knows where the Fourth Confucian Ancestor went at that time."
Sui Han asked, "Now that both masters have reached the demigod realm, can you sense the Heaven-Earth Chessboard?"
Grand Minister of Works looked up, glanced at the white-feathered bird on the branch above, and shook his head.
Second Minister of Works closed his eyes and focused his senses, but in the end, he found nothing.
Sui Han couldn't help but feel deeply disappointed.
Zhang Ruochen also fell into thought. When the Fourth Confucian Ancestor left the Kunlun Realm, the situation must have been extremely dire. The Ten Calamities Wen Tianjun had stained the starry sky with blood, the Dragon Lord was gravely wounded and fell into slumber, and the gods of the Kunlun Realm had fallen, nearly wiped out.
In such a critical moment, leaving the Kunlun Realm must have been because he had learned of something monumental.
Moreover, the Confucian Ancestor had even sensed that he might not return, so he had entrusted the two chess pieces to Xumi Saint Monk in advance.
In all the world, there were very few places that could make even a Confucian Ancestor feel he might not return. Could he have gone to the Destiny Temple? Or was it related to the deeper darkness that even his grandmaster feared?
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. Guessing blindly like this would yield no results.
It seemed he would have to wait until Grand Minister of Works and Second Minister of Works broke through to the divine realm. Only then, with their powerful divine souls, could they sense the Heaven-Earth Chessboard and unravel the mystery from one hundred thousand years ago.
"One last thing."
Zhang Ruochen took out a Buddha Emperor Relic and handed it to Master Indra. "When Saint Monk achieved nirvana, he had reached the Buddha level. This is one of his relics."
"Even at the moment of his death, Saint Monk yearned for the Kunlun Realm to continue thriving. Please, Master Indra, accept this relic and help pass on Saint Monk's Buddhist path."
"Beyond that, I hope you can use the power of the Kunlun Realm to build a Buddha Temple and spread the secret that Xumi Saint Monk was the Seventh Patriarch across the myriad realms of the Heavenly Court."
Xumi Saint Monk had clearly become a Buddha, yet the world had no record of the Seventh Patriarch's name. How unjust was that?
As his heir, Zhang Ruochen naturally had to restore his name.
The Buddha Emperor Relic was the best proof.
Zhang Ruochen underestimated the impact a Buddha Emperor Relic would have on Buddhist cultivators.
Master Indra's withered, aged face, which had always been as calm as an ancient well, now shifted and changed. Tears streamed down his face as he knelt trembling before Zhang Ruochen.
Grand Minister of Works, Second Minister of Works, and Little Sikong all knelt in unison.
"Benefactor Zhang, please wait. Welcoming the Buddha is a monumental event. This humble monk is not yet prepared."
Master Indra slowly rose, walked into the Buddha hall, burned incense, bathed, and changed into a clean, neat monastic robe. Only then did he come out, prostrating himself with every step.
Grand Minister of Works, Second Minister of Works, and Little Sikong did the same.
When he had kowtowed all the way to Zhang Ruochen, Master Indra declared loudly, "Welcome the Buddha."
Then, with solemn reverence, he received the Buddha Emperor Relic from Zhang Ruochen's hands.
"Rest assured, Benefactor Zhang. Even without your instruction, this humble monk will unite the entire Ten Thousand Buddhas Path to announce this matter to all realms. As for the Buddha Temple, this humble monk will personally build it, brick by brick."
Then, Master Indra bowed to Sui Han. "Benefactor Sui Han, I will not be able to attend the Mortal World Assembly. I must immediately send word to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Path to prepare the highest ceremonial rites. At least a million monks must come to welcome the Buddha."
"I understand."
Sui Han returned the bow to Master Indra, then looked at Grand Minister of Works and Second Minister of Works. "Could your master's two disciples represent the Kunlun Realm at the Mortal World Assembly? The Kunlun Realm needs demigods to hold the line."
Among the awakened ones, there were many with top-tier talent, but most were still at the saint or saint king level. It would take thousands of years for them to fully grow and support the mortal world of the Kunlun Realm.
Currently, the Kunlun Realm had very few demigods. The appearance of Grand Minister of Works and Second Minister of Works felt like a long-awaited rain after a drought to Sui Han.