Chapter 2840: The So-Called World, Isn't It Just You
"Who would have thought that one day, the three of us could sit together like this, experiencing the worldly Yanhuo (fireworks) qi of the mortal realm?"
In a city within the Qiankun Realm, Zhang Ruochen, Chi Yao, and Kong Lanyou sat on the second floor of a theater pavilion. On the table were clear tea and white nuts.
On the stage, an old man and a young boy performed opera, both of them mortals.
They had no idea that they were living inside a scroll painting, nor did they know that this world had nearly been destroyed not long ago.
The years were peaceful and beautiful, only because someone carried the burden forward.
Kong Lanyou's hair was white as frost, her demeanor clear and elegant, ethereally indifferent. She said, "Actually, this is quite nice. No need to harbor resentment, no need to endure the pain we inflict upon ourselves. The world may be bustling with noise, yet the heart remains tranquil and serene, possessing its own charm. How could a thousand years of suffering and hardship compare to even a single day of happiness?"
Chi Yao clearly did not agree with this statement. She said, "You want to become a person inside the painting too? One day, you might die without even knowing how? I can't enjoy this kind of tranquility! Over the years, I've been fighting—not to win some victory, but to fight for a way to survive. Zhang Ruochen, what do you say?"
Kong Lanyou's gaze also turned to him.
Was she asking him to choose a way to live?
Zhang Ruochen did not want to choose. He smiled and said, "What can I say? You've already said everything that needed to be said."
Chi Yao clearly did not intend to let him off easily. She said, "Do you also want to go back to being a mortal? Not going to fight anymore?"
"Fight for what?" Zhang Ruochen pretended not to understand.
Chi Yao said, "For this world, fight for a future."
"The so-called world, isn't it just you?" Zhang Ruochen said.
This was far too cheesy, but it was very effective. Any woman who heard it, even if she knew it was a lie, would still feel sweetness in her heart.
Chi Yao's gaze softened. She cast a reproachful look at him and said, "Then for our own future, shouldn't we fight?"
"Fight, of course we must fight. But you have to promise first that from now on, you'll listen to me. No more acting on your own, no more deceiving me. We have to trust each other," Zhang Ruochen said.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen seemed to have pulled himself together, Chi Yao did not hesitate. "Alright! I promise you."
"Swear an oath first," Zhang Ruochen said.
Chi Yao sensed something was off. "I don't think an oath is necessary, is it?"
"It is necessary. And you must swear by the names of Qing Emperor and Tai Shang. If you break the oath, may they die a miserable death," Zhang Ruochen said.
Seeing how serious Zhang Ruochen was, Kong Lanyou also began to sense something.
Zhang Ruochen must be planning something; otherwise, he wouldn't force Chi Yao to swear such a venomous oath.
Chi Yao clearly realized this as well. She said, "I, the Empress, rule over a realm, with ten thousand clans paying homage. What status do I have? What level of cultivation? To have me completely listen to you... what relationship are we? Why should I listen to you?"
"As for the second point you mentioned, that's also very difficult, because I, the Empress, am already used to making my own decisions."
"As for the third and fourth points, I completely agree. Between us, we do need to rebuild trust in each other. That is the most precious thing we have lost over the years."
"So, what exactly do you want to do? Just say it directly!"
Zhang Ruochen shook his head and stood up. "No! If you don't agree to my conditions and don't swear the oath, I won't say a single word."
"Shua!"
Zhang Ruochen's figure vanished from the theater pavilion and reappeared beneath the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree. He walked into the Spring of Life to heal his injuries.
A moment later, Chi Yao arrived beside the Spring of Life. She looked at Zhang Ruochen lying on the water's surface and said, "You win! I, the Empress, can promise you that as long as what you want to do is reasonable and doesn't challenge my bottom line, I can listen to you."
"How could I possibly do anything unreasonable?" Zhang Ruochen said with his eyes closed.
Chi Yao said, "I heard that Xue Jue War God has been helping you arrange marriage alliances. The candidates number not a thousand, but at least eight hundred. I, the Empress, am not in a position to criticize, but this matter will ultimately affect Kunlun and Kong Le. I might have to take some action."
Using "I, the Empress" repeatedly was clearly her way of showing a strong stance when negotiating terms and fighting for rights.
Zhang Ruochen said, "No need to say more. What you said makes a lot of sense. Swear the oath as you said."
"I, Chi Yao, swear by the name of my father, Qing Emperor, that from this day forward, I will trust Zhang Ruochen and no longer deceive him. If the two of us have a difference of opinion, as long as what Zhang Ruochen does follows righteousness, is not for personal gain, and is not led astray by desire, I can listen to him. If I break this oath, may my father, Qing Emperor, and I both be burned by heavenly tribulation, our divine forms annihilated."
Having one's cultivation crippled was worse than death for any cultivator.
Although Zhang Ruochen pretended to be calm and indifferent, Chi Yao could sense the pain and unwillingness in his heart.
As long as Zhang Ruochen could pull himself together, Chi Yao didn't mind agreeing to any of his conditions.
After Chi Yao swore the oath, she said, "Now, can you speak frankly about your plan?"
"No rush. Let me recuperate a bit longer," Zhang Ruochen said.
Half a day later.
Zhang Ruochen stepped out of the Spring of Life, his body not a single drop of water clinging to it. "Let's go!"
"Where to?" Chi Yao asked.
"Just follow me."
Zhang Ruochen moved like lightning, his momentum like the wind, heading swiftly toward the Bodhi tree at the edge of the sky.
Chi Yao, along with the curious Kong Lanyou and Zangjin Baihu, quickly followed.
The Bodhi tree growing within the "Sixth Patriarch's Chan-Explanation Diagram" was even taller than the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree. Its branches and leaves covered a region a thousand miles wide, like a golden canopy of clouds.
Entering this Buddhist domain, golden rain scattered through the sky and earth.
The ground was covered with all kinds of rare Buddhist sacred medicines and exotic flowers.
Marshes were everywhere. Buddhist springs flowed like golden rivers across the land, dotted with lakes.
In the distance, the Bodhi tree was both overwhelmingly massive and exuded a powerful divine might, showing that it was a true divine tree, having grown for who knows how many eons.
"This place is practically a divine Buddhist realm. One could definitely comprehend the great path of the gods here," Kong Lanyou said, her beautiful eyes sparkling with admiration.
Chi Yao said, "This land is very ancient, and its structure is solid. It can nurture rare treasures. It's not something that can be painted. This land and the Bodhi tree must have been moved here from somewhere else into the inner space of the scroll."
"It's a corner of the Sixth Patriarch's divine realm world," Zhang Ruochen judged.
"That's very likely," Chi Yao said. "If that's the case, then this 'Sixth Patriarch's Chan-Explanation Diagram' is an unparalleled treasure, representing the Buddhist realm world of a Buddha. Even if it's just a corner, it's still extraordinary."
"When the Sixth Patriarch passed into nirvana, Saint Monk Xumi was probably watching over him," Zhang Ruochen said.
Crossing golden rivers and marshes, they gradually approached the trunk of the Bodhi tree.
The divine might grew stronger and stronger. The rules within the space had all transformed into golden Sanskrit characters. These characters held up this world, evolving into the sounds of chanting, bells, footsteps, and human speech.
Beneath the Bodhi tree was a smooth, jade-like stone platform.
The platform was irregular and unremarkable, but it was moist, smooth, and free of dust.
Just looking at the platform calmed the mind, instantly allowing one to enter a profound state of enlightenment.
But Zhang Ruochen and the others did not look closely at the stone platform. Instead, they stared at the golden Buddha sitting cross-legged upon it. His body was enormous, with a kind face and kind eyes, barefoot and smiling, his chest and belly exposed. Rings of Buddha light flowed around him.
The majesty and Buddhist essence could subdue all living beings in the world.
"Is that the Sixth Patriarch? Is this... is this his Buddha's golden body?" Chi Yao could not remain calm. She quickly bowed in reverence.
Zhang Ruochen also bowed. "When the Sixth Patriarch sat in nirvana, his golden body transformed into eighty-four thousand relics. Among them, eighty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety relics, at the moment of their birth, transformed into the legendary Buddhist supreme treasure, the Bright Mirror Platform. The remaining ten Buddha relics were stored in the ten sacred lands of Buddhism. Therefore, the Sixth Patriarch has no golden body, only the Bright Mirror Platform."
Chi Yao and Kong Lanyou's gazes shifted to the stone platform beneath the Sixth Patriarch, a guess forming in their minds.
Zhang Ruochen himself found it hard to believe that the legendary Bright Mirror Platform was inside the "Sixth Patriarch's Chan-Explanation Diagram." But aside from the power of the Bright Mirror Platform, what other treasure could manifest the Sixth Patriarch's golden Buddha shadow?
Moreover, the majesty and Buddhist essence formed by the golden Buddha shadow could intimidate even beings at the Great God level, making them unable to see through it.
Only the power of the Bright Mirror Platform could achieve this.
Zhang Ruochen believed that the golden Buddha shadow he had used earlier to intimidate Ghost Lord and Great God Jin Ju with the "Sixth Patriarch's Chan-Explanation Diagram" was also this one.
Zhang Ruochen smiled bitterly. "I think this is Saint Monk's contingency plan. It's not just Saint Monk who placed their hopes on us, but also the Sixth Patriarch, who sat in nirvana back then due to severe injuries."
Chi Yao was somewhat puzzled by Zhang Ruochen's words. "Saint Monk's contingency plan?"
Zhang Ruochen nodded and walked toward the Bright Mirror Platform and the Sixth Patriarch's golden Buddha shadow.
Chi Yao and Kong Lanyou tried to follow but were blocked by the golden Sanskrit characters, unable to force their way through.
Arriving beneath the massive body of the Sixth Patriarch's golden Buddha shadow, Zhang Ruochen extended a finger and pointed upward, touching the Buddha shadow's finger.
"Boom!"
The golden Buddha shadow shattered, transforming into a golden vortex.
From within the vortex came the sound of swords clanging, with seven swords dancing in the air.
"Those are Sword Ancestor's seven soul swords, actually preserved inside the Sixth Patriarch's golden Buddha shadow. And those... those are fragments of a divine source..." Chi Yao exclaimed.
Countless sparkling points of light emerged within the golden vortex, shining like a cluster of stars.
They were fragments of a divine source.
There were ten layers of shattered heavens, reduced to ruins, like the wreckage of a divine temple, floating in a river of heaven formed by divine pattern rules. Within the river of heaven, imprints of various gods flickered, and divine souls drifted like white mist.
Chi Yao and Kong Lanyou were both overjoyed.
"Ancestor Qingtian thought that by striking personally, he had completely destroyed your cultivation. He never expected that he had miscalculated. The Bright Mirror Platform and the 'Sixth Patriarch's Chan-Explanation Diagram' preserved your cultivation. In the end, he still lost to the Sixth Patriarch and Saint Monk!" Chi Yao's mood lifted, the gloom in her heart completely dispelled.
Zhang Ruochen had actually sensed the presence of his divine soul, divine source, and soul swords as soon as he entered the inner world of the "Sixth Patriarch's Chan-Explanation Diagram." But he knew that none of this was useful.
Zhang Ruochen looked up at the golden vortex above. "The Sixth Patriarch and Saint Monk can't be said to have won. They merely fought to a draw with Ancestor Qingtian even after death. My divine source is shattered. Even if I recondense it, I can't continue cultivating. I can only maintain the realm of a Lower Rank God. But..."
"But this lifetime of cultivation, I can pass on to you. Let you go and become the Thirty-Three Heavens, let you do what you want to do, let you fight, let you struggle, carrying my will to realize the future that the Sixth Patriarch and Saint Monk hoped for. Yao Yao! This is my plan!"
Zhang Ruochen turned to look at Chi Yao, his expression calm yet resolute.
...
There will be another chapter today.