Chapter 2768: The Blue-Robed Nun
It was all Zhang Ruochen’s speculation, with no evidence whatsoever that God King Jin Ju had come to the Abyss of Darkness.
Yan Wushen, bearing a heavy mission into the Abyss of Darkness, naturally carried the Yama Clan’s supreme treasures with him. Thus, he was not intimidated and joined Zhang Ruochen in a swift pursuit.
Relying on Zhang Ruochen’s Heart of Truth and the markers left by Yama Clan cultivators, they spent three days before finally locating, on a dark space continent covered in ice, the Yama Clan’s elder Supreme Realm Great Saint hidden beneath the thick layers of ice.
This dark space continent was vast in territory, and even with Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power, he could not yet detect its boundaries.
“Who goes there?”
Yan Ting, guarding the concealment formation, sensed a fluctuation in aura and condensed a clump of purple light between her fingers.
“It’s us.”
The figures of Yan Wushen and Zhang Ruochen walked through the ice, which was as hard as iron.
The ice automatically moved aside on both sides, forming a passage.
Seeing their figures, Yan Ting’s tense nerves relaxed, and a joyful expression appeared on her face. “You finally caught up. I knew there was nothing you two couldn’t accomplish together.”
In the past two days, she had narrowly escaped death multiple times, and even now, she still bore injuries.
Yet she had to hold on; she could not afford to let her guard down.
Now that Yan Wushen and Zhang Ruochen had returned, it was like the return of the backbone, and all the pressure on her shoulders vanished instantly.
Yan Wushen did not offer much explanation. His gaze swept the surroundings, a look of surprise appearing on his face.
Through the thick ice, he could see that what was sealed within was an ancient structure, resembling a sacred relic. Not far away stood a stone cauldron, in which were inserted seven-colored incense candles made of extraordinary material. However, they had long since gone out.
Zhang Ruochen also observed his surroundings, secretly sensing the origin of this place, but found nothing.
Yan Wushen asked, “What is this place? How did you find your way here?”
The ice on this continent was over a thousand meters thick, and spiritual power could barely penetrate it. Finding an ancient relic beneath such a thick ice sheet in the Abyss of Darkness was not something that could be done by mere chance.
Zhang Ruochen waved his hand, moving the ice aside, and walked toward the stone cauldron.
Yan Ting warned, “Be careful, don’t touch it. This place has divine patterns left by a God Venerable, possibly even a Heavenly-level figure.”
Not to mention God Venerable divine patterns, even a Great God’s divine patterns were beyond the reach of Zhang Ruochen’s current cultivation.
Zhang Ruochen stopped three zhang away from the stone cauldron, observing the carvings and inscriptions on it. “It’s a Buddhist divine flower, the Udumbara. The characters above are in the Sixth Patriarch’s Sanskrit.”
Yan Wushen, who also cultivated the Buddhist path, recognized the Udumbara. “The leaves are shaped like pears; it is indeed Udumbara. Udumbara appears once every thirty million years. Eating its fruit can open wisdom and intelligence, reaching the extreme of spiritual power, and granting a lifespan of three hundred thousand years.”
Yan Ting asked, “What does that mean?”
“Simply put, Udumbara appears only once every thirty million years. Eating its fruit can rapidly elevate one’s spiritual power, even reaching the ultimate realm.”
“What is the ultimate realm?”
“It could be the ninetieth level, or perhaps the hundredth level,” Yan Wushen said.
Yan Ting stared at the Udumbara flower pattern on the stone cauldron, breathless.
If such a treasure were to emerge, it would surely bring a storm of blood and rain, and countless gods would fall vying for it.
“As for the lifespan of three hundred thousand years, that refers to three hundred thousand years.”
Yan Wushen turned to Zhang Ruochen and asked, “How do you know the characters above are the Sixth Patriarch’s Sanskrit?”
“I once refined the Heart of the Divine Wood and inherited the knowledge of the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree from an eon,” Zhang Ruochen said.
The so-called Sixth Patriarch’s Sanskrit referred to a script that the Sixth Patriarch created after reaching the Buddha realm. Only the Sixth Patriarch himself could write it.
In Buddhism, seeing this script was like seeing the Sixth Patriarch himself.
Yan Ting was deeply shaken. “Does that mean the Sixth Patriarch once came here? Is this a sacred site where a Buddha once resided?”
It was too shocking; who wouldn’t be astonished?
Zhang Ruochen looked up into the depths of the ice crystals, seeing that the place was indeed filled with Buddhist essence, sealing stone pagodas, stone bridges, stone temples, and stone beasts. On the rock wall, there were also two stone doors.
“It may not necessarily have been left by the Sixth Patriarch.”
Zhang Ruochen carefully walked deeper, speaking as he went. “The Sixth Patriarch lived for over a million years and left behind many Buddhist sacred artifacts. It wouldn’t be strange for a stone cauldron to have been passed down. Moreover…”
“Although this place is rich in Buddhist essence, it also exudes a certain evil and deathly aura. If it were a place where the Sixth Patriarch had stayed, even the endless darkness would be purified, turning into pure sanctity. How could evil and deathly aura appear?”
As he spoke, Zhang Ruochen stepped into the concealment formation.
The concealment formation was built on a flat area outside the stone temple, not far from the stone cauldron with the seven-colored incense candles.
Blood Butcher and the thirty-two elder Supreme Realm Great Saints of the Yama Clan were all inside.
Thirty Supreme Realm Great Saints were healing their wounds, while Blood Butcher and two Supreme Realm Great Saints had set up a copper cauldron with flames burning beneath it.
The copper cauldron was huge, big enough to hold ten people.
The water in the cauldron had already come to a boil.
Beside it, a blue-robed nun who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old was tied up with golden ropes, like a human log. Her snow-white face was slightly flushed from the firelight, and she kept chanting scriptures.
“Chant, chant, chant, keep chanting, how annoying. This emperor’s cauldron is forged from Red Cloud Gold, and this water is Dark Source Liquid. Even if you have a true Buddha’s golden body, I’ll boil you to mush.”
Blood Butcher waved his hand and ordered, “Lift her up and throw her into the cauldron.”
Zhang Ruochen entered the concealment formation just in time to hear Blood Butcher say this. His gaze fell on the blue-robed nun, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
Though she was a nun, she radiated an extraordinary spiritual aura, with delicate features and a pure Buddhist light emanating from her entire being.
In terms of appearance alone, she could rank among the top five of the stunning women Zhang Ruochen had seen, not much inferior to Bai Qinger, Luo Sha, or the Flower Fairy. She was truly the epitome of worldly beauty.
Such a beauty, even if she cultivated Buddhism, could probably move the hearts of gods, making them reluctant to harm a single hair on her head.
“Senior Brother, you finally caught up! Are you alright?”
Blood Butcher immediately abandoned the blue-robed nun and came before Zhang Ruochen, scrutinizing him carefully.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was completely unharmed and his aura was strong, he couldn’t help but ask in confusion, “Senior Brother, are you injured? You must be injured. Those were four false gods. Are you deliberately holding it in? In reality, if I gently poke you, you’ll spit out a mouthful of blood, right?”
Blood Butcher extended a finger, pointing it at Zhang Ruochen’s chest.
Zhang Ruochen brushed his hand aside, his gaze fixed on the blue-robed nun beside the copper cauldron. “What’s going on? Where did she come from?”
“Her? I found her. Right on this dark space continent. She appeared out of nowhere when we fled here. If she hadn’t led the way, we wouldn’t have found this stone temple beneath the ice.”
Blood Butcher added, “I was interrogating her, but this little nun is stubborn. She just keeps chanting, nonstop.”
“I planned to threaten her, drain her blood to drink, dig out her heart to sell, and strip her Buddhist bones for refining artifacts. But guess what? She’s refined a true Buddha’s golden body. Even a half-Emperor Sacred Artifact-level blade can’t cut her skin. So, I decided to boil her in Dark Source Liquid, refine her a bit, and maybe that’ll take care of her.”
“They say eating a true Buddha’s golden body can increase lifespan. I’ve never tried it before.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “You have a half-Emperor Sacred Artifact-level blade?”
Blood Butcher was stunned for a moment. “Senior Brother, now is not the time to discuss that. The focus of your concern is wrong. The key point is: where did this little nun come from? How does she know there’s a stone temple in the Abyss of Darkness? What did she come to the stone temple for? Who is she? And who built this stone temple?”
“She hasn’t spoken… no, she only knows how to chant scriptures. Senior Brother, how about you try using an Emperor Sacred Artifact-level sword? Maybe you can break through her body.”
Hearing Blood Butcher’s words, this blue-robed nun was indeed strange.
Yan Wushen shook his head lightly and smiled. “Such a beautiful woman, and you’re willing to throw her into a cauldron to boil. Admirable.”
To earn Yan Wushen’s admiration, Blood Butcher felt quite pleased with himself. “Brother Wushen, you should understand that mere beauty cannot shake our resolve. If this emperor didn’t have such a strong mind, how could I have cultivated to my current level? How could I have become the disciple of the Death God Venerable?”
The blue-robed nun stopped chanting and opened her eyes.
These eyes were the finishing touch to her stunning beauty—a single glance could pierce through autumn waters, illuminate heaven and earth, and explain all matters in the world.
“Zhang Ruochen, I know you.”
“You know me?”
“At the Wuding Divine Sea, I was standing beside Senior Sister Ci Hang.”
Zhang Ruochen had no impression of this. After all, during the Ten Realms Battle, countless cultivators from the Heavenly Court Myriad Realms had come. How could he have noticed everyone?
Zhang Ruochen said, “You are a disciple of the Western Buddha Realm, a junior sister of Fairy Ci Hang?”
“My Dharma name is Hai Shui. Like Senior Sister Ci Hang, I am a disciple of Ancient Buddha Yuan Yi,” the blue-robed nun said without any fear, her eyes pure and clear, her speech fluent and natural.
Yan Wushen said, “As far as I know, Ancient Buddha Yuan Yi has no disciple named Hai Shui.”
“Haha! Hai Shui? What kind of monk takes a Dharma name like that? Clearly, it’s a name made up on the spot. Little girl, you’d better confess immediately, or my senior brother’s methods are far more vicious than mine. Senior Brother, break her body, drain her blood, and see if she still won’t tell the truth,” Blood Butcher said.
The blue-robed nun remained calm, her voice clear and beautiful. “My senior sister once said that although Benefactor Zhang Ruochen is in hell, his heart is in the human world. Though in darkness, his heart is toward the light. Though surrounded by evil, his heart harbors goodness.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “The Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra says: ‘Self and others are Mount Sumeru, evil thoughts are seawater, afflictions are waves, harmful intentions are evil dragons, falsehoods are ghosts and spirits, worldly toils are fish and turtles, greed and anger are hell, ignorance is beasts. Good friends, always practice the ten good deeds.’”
“The name Hai Shui should be taken from this, right?”
“Benefactor Zhang Ruochen is indeed a successor of the Seventh Patriarch, with a deep connection to Buddhism.”
The blue-robed nun said, “But seawater has no evil thoughts. The Constant Water Sutra records that seawater has seven treasures: silver, gold, coral, white pearls, giant clams, moonlight pearls, and Mani pearls. These correspond to the seven treasures of Buddhism: Stream-Enterer, Once-Returner, Non-Returner, Arhat, Pratyekabuddha, Bodhisattva with the intention to save all beings, and the Nirvana Path of Buddhahood.”
As she spoke, the blue-robed nun lowered her gaze to her chest.
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze also followed, seeing that something seemed to be hanging there with a Bodhi rope, but it had fallen inside her robe, invisible. Due to the particular location, he couldn’t use his Truth Eye to peer at it.
“One of the seven treasures, the Arhat White Pearl, is on me,” the blue-robed nun said.