# Chapter 632: The Boundless Ancient Stellar Path
The stone forest was vast, with strangely shaped rocks of all kinds—some like reclining oxen, others like green tigers, and still others like coiled phoenixes.
Ahead, there was a patch of water, originally a lake but now nearly dried up. Could this be the Immortal Transformation Pool? Ye Fan was uncertain. It seemed unlikely—how could an immortal pool dry up?
Shakyamuni's imprint was very clear, his face bearing a compassionate expression, his sacred appearance dignified, possessing the bearing of a great wise sage, with an aura of pity for all beings.
"Some say he is the World-Honored One, others say he is not. The traitor might be related to him, and there are also claims that he is the demonic shell of the Buddha..." He recalled the words of the White-Robed Little Nun. Shakyamuni held a very unusual identity in this world, with complex reasons that remained unclear to this day.
On Earth, when speaking of Buddhism, one must mention Shakyamuni. Yet in this world, it was overly ironic—this founder had become a traitor, even an opposing demon.
"An elder of our Ji family, over a thousand years ago, met one of Shakyamuni's ten great disciples. At that time, that Buddha son had just returned from overseas," Ji Ziyue muttered softly.
Beyond the five great domains lay endless oceans, with scattered islands like stars in the sky. Some said there were divine islands within the vast oceans, hiding extraordinary experts, and even ancient emperors who had never been heard of, sitting in meditation and passing away.
Others said that in the oceans far vaster than the five domains, there might be immortal islands where deities were born.
The main point was that the seas were too vast, boundless and without end, more expansive than the current five domains. No one could cross the seas to reach their end, and people regarded them with great reverence.
"One of Shakyamuni's ten great disciples crossed the sea and returned..." Ye Fan's heart stirred. He thought of An Miaoyi's words—when she gave him that Nirvana Sutra essence, wasn't it the same?
"What was that person's cultivation level?" Pang Bo asked.
"Unfathomable. At that time, a Supreme Elder faced him and could not see through his depth at all. It was like facing an abyssal ocean," Ji Ziyue said. This was something she had only recently learned.
"Shakyamuni, called the Buddha in another world, is a great traitor here. What a satire," Pang Bo shook his head.
Ye Fan pondered, thinking of Buddhism in his homeland. Although it was said to have been founded by Shakyamuni, there had been Buddhist practitioners before him. Rather than saying he created it, it was more accurate to say he developed and spread it.
Some ancient scriptures recorded that when Shakyamuni traveled, he saw Buddhist practitioners harming their bodies in cultivation and considered this not the true Dharma. Afterward, the Tathagata's Dharma came into being.
Ye Fan gradually formed a bold association. Earth had a period of obliterated history. Without even mentioning the most mysterious ancient China, ancient India alone had an extraordinary past.
If Buddhism had existed earlier, before Shakyamuni, then could there have been Buddhist sages even earlier than the Tathagata, who used the star gates left by ancient people to first arrive at the other shore?
If so, there could be countless associations! Many mists would have one corner lifted.
In an instant, Ye Fan also thought of "Other Shore"—in Buddhism, this was a very unusual term.
"Earth really did lose a period of records, obliterating a stretch of history? Perhaps this history was extremely long, not just a few thousand years!"
Of course, there was another possibility: that people from this world had traveled along the ancient stellar path to Earth, founded Buddhism, and later Shakyamuni traced the source back to here.
Ye Fan thought of too many things. The ancient stellar path, endlessly distant, was certainly not built by people from one or two ancient stars. It involved many star domains. Where did the ancient people's path lead?
"Look, the imprints he left are very deliberate. They are composed of barely visible strange characters," Li Heishui said.
Several people gathered around, all secretly astonished. Many tiny characters were very dense; even with divine eyes, they were hard to see clearly, too minuscule, combined together to form a human-shaped figure.
"They're Sanskrit!" Pang Bo said. He and Ye Fan looked at each other. This was ancient Indian script; they couldn't recognize a single character.
"No wonder. He left imprints on Sacred Cliff, and here too there are Sanskrit characters, recorded in writing, left for latercomers," Ye Fan said thoughtfully.
Last time, he had been too careless and hadn't seen through the imprints on Sacred Cliff. There were actually many small characters forming the figure? This was meant to be seen by people from ancient India.
"They anticipated that later generations would follow their footsteps? Guiding the way—where have they gone now?"
Ye Fan and Pang Bo crouched there, staring at each other with wide eyes, their hearts scratching like a hundred claws. These were characters left by the Tathagata! They most likely contained secrets of the starry sky, but neither could recognize them.
"Why is it Sanskrit!?" The two asked the heavens in speechlessness.
In the distant past, Earth had produced more than one Buddha. At the very least, in the same era, there was another ancient man of great wisdom.
Two thousand five hundred years ago, ancient China saw the Hundred Schools of Thought contending, with many masters emerging one after another. Each was astonishingly talented, each famous throughout ancient and modern times, leaving indelible marks in the sky of history.
Leaving aside others, just speaking of Laozi, he was enough to rival the Buddha. Shakyamuni was a divine being with great supernatural powers. Laozi, who possessed great wisdom, was undoubtedly also such a man-god.
They quickly stood up and eagerly approached another imprint. An old man riding a green ox was leisurely heading west, very non-interfering and indifferent.
Sure enough, it was also formed by small characters carved together, creating this image of a green ox carrying a sage, also pointing the way for later generations.
These two ancient men would certainly not leave imprints randomly. They most likely knew there would be latercomers and recorded the paths they had traveled.
"Hurry and see what's written," Pang Bo urged. He couldn't recognize a single character.
Although Ye Fan had some research on ancient texts, he now furrowed his brows. A few were bell-cauldron script, and some were even oracle bone script.
Not to mention him, even a scholarly expert specializing in this could not read them character by character. On Earth, neither of these two scripts had been fully deciphered.
"West out of Hangu Pass..." He only discerned this one continuous sentence. There were also some characters and words, but they were separated, such as "Great Emperor," "Ancient Path," "Domain," "Immortal," "Ziwei Ancient Star," "Gou Chen," and so on.
"This old man is too incredible. West out of Hangu Pass, walking and walking, he entered the star domain," Pang Bo said, speechless.
Ancient texts record: "Laozi traveled west. The pass keeper Yin Xi saw purple qi floating at the pass, and sure enough, Laozi rode a green ox through."
Laozi's last appearance in ancient China was at Hangu Pass. Purple qi came from the east. He left behind the Five Thousand Words of the Dao De Jing, recorded by Yin Xi, and never appeared in the world again.
Ye Fan also sighed. At the other end of the starry sky, he had never thought much of Laozi, only considering him an ancient man of great wisdom. Now, he had to admit that man was a cultivator who had entered the starry sky and come to the other shore.
The Buddha and Laozi were born in almost the same era, both figures from two thousand five hundred years ago. Was this a coincidence?
"They followed the star gates left by ancient people into the star domain..." Ye Fan muttered to himself.
Two thousand years ago, the many masters of Earth emerged one after another, almost in the same era, not far apart in time. Was this a coincidence, or was there some mystery?
This world had Buddhism, but not Shakyamuni's Buddhism. Reverence for Amitabha was understandable—Earth also had this tradition.
However, this world also had Daoism, but not Laozi's Daoism. It was difficult to trace its origins.
"Who created Daoism?" Ye Fan couldn't help asking.
"It's too complicated. The masters of Daoism are like idle clouds and wild cranes. They leave teachings and transmit secret arts, but unlike Buddhism, which is a unified whole, Daoism is very loose, making it hard to find its source," Ji Haoyue shook his head.
Regarding Daoism, not to mention this world, even at the other end of the star domain, it was hard to say when it began.
If discussing Daoism, one must mention the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi. If mentioning the Yellow Emperor and Laozi, one must push time further back.
Laozi was a figure from two thousand five hundred years ago. The "Yellow" in "Yellow Emperor and Laozi" was a figure from over four thousand, nearly five thousand years ago.
The Daoism named by later generations could, in fact, be traced upward indefinitely. In the long river of history, it was very difficult to find its endpoint.
Laozi left few traces in this world. If he traveled along the ancient stellar path, where did he go?
The star gates left by ancient people led to infinitely distant unknown places. Where was the endpoint? Ye Fan didn't know. At the very least, he felt this world was not the end; there were ancient stars ahead.
Inside the giant bronze coffin, there was a carved image. At that time, both he and Pang Bo had seen it with their own eyes—a brilliant starry sky. Earth and Big Dipper were just one corner of it; there was an even broader path ahead.
"Two thousand five hundred years ago, the many masters burst forth across the sky, extremely brilliant. That was a very glorious era..." Ye Fan murmured to himself.
Since Laozi and Shakyamuni were nearly divine beings, how could those contemporaries of astonishing talent be ordinary?
Unfortunately, it was like the final fireworks. After that, deities gradually faded away. Even if there were any, they were artificially created.
"Could it be that two thousand five hundred years ago, the last batch of ancient sages on Earth made a decision to leave their homeland together, traveling along the ancient stellar path..."
In ancient China, Ziwei Ancient Star, the Four Symbols and Twenty-Eight Mansions star fields formed a vast celestial chart. Did the ancient stellar path opened by the ancients need to pass through each one? Where was the endpoint?
People far more ancient than Laozi, including the seventy-two ancient kings who performed the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai—did they enter the star domain even earlier, already gone to the end of the starry sky?
"People of high antiquity all lived over a hundred years, and their movements did not decline..." The "high antiquity" mentioned by the Yellow Emperor—how distant was it?
For modern people, the Yellow Emperor was an ancient from four to five thousand years ago, already considered an ancient emperor. The "high antiquity" he sighed over—what period was that?
How many past events of ancient China had been obliterated? There might very well be a vast ancient history sealed away in the years. When could it be uncovered?
Ye Fan thought for a while, his mind wandering freely, his imagination boundless. In this vast star domain, how many ancient stars with life existed?
Were the constellations mentioned in ancient China an inspiration, representing a more important meaning?
Earth, Yinghuo, Ziwei... one ancient star after another. Where was the origin, and where was the endpoint?
What meaning did this ancient path have? Where was it connecting to? What kind of place was it?
The Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin—was it returning to its homeland after battle, or was it traveling without purpose?
The Five-Colored Altar, the nine dragons crossing the dark and cold heavens—unknown origin, unknown destination. Who was it transporting? Would it set sail again one day?
The future world had one corner revealed, but it was still far from enough. Calling for monthly ticket support...!~!