Peerless Taoist

The pilgrim wept as he begged, “Revered Lord, I have gone through untold hardships, traversed thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, and risked my life to enter this place in order to seek the true scriptures. It is rumored that there is a scripture technique in the west. I am willing to exchange my life for the supreme true teachings.”    

The Buddha lowered his head. His aura became weak and decrepit. Half of it was burned by the raging flames, and the other half was corroded by demonic energy.    

This was a torment rarely seen in the world. However, the Buddha endured it and remained benevolent.    

The Buddha lowered his head and looked at the pilgrim. “My believer, the scriptures of the Buddhist League have long been burned away by the raging flames. There is only a bronze lamp left, and it contains all the inheritances of the Buddhist League. Receive it, and you will obtain all the scriptures of the Buddhist League. However, you will have to pay a corresponding price.”    

The pilgrim revealed a devout expression. “Revered Lord, I am willing to agree to any conditions.”    

The Buddha nodded. He placed the bronze lamp that carried the Buddhist League’s inheritances on the pilgrim’s hand. At the same time, he poured his power into the pilgrim’s body.    

The pilgrim’s body became tall and sturdy. The wrinkles on his face gradually disappeared, and an unprecedented vitality appeared in his body. His magical power began to swell, and it even surpassed many Immortals of the Immortal Path.    

After doing all this, the Buddha’s body became even thinner. At this moment, he was completely different from any Buddha statue consecrated in a monastery.    

The monk pressed his palms together and said loudly, “Revered Lord, I have the power now. Please allow me to save you.”    

However, the Buddha did not say anything. He sent the monk flying out.    

The moment the monk left, the raging flames descended upon the Tempest Temple. All the experts of the Buddhist League were incinerated by the raging flames.    

The monk stared blankly at all of this. He immediately returned to the Tempest Temple, but all the experts of the Buddhist League were no longer there. It was as if they had vanished into thin air. Only the bloodstains on the ground still showed the traces of their existence.    

The Buddhist League was destroyed. All the Buddhas perished. Everything happened in an instant.    

The monk held the bronze lamp in his hand and was lost in thought. He looked around helplessly. All the disciples following him had died from the fire poison long ago and had become a pile of dried bones on the ground.    

Although the Buddhist League was destroyed, there was still danger hidden in the boundless darkness.    

In the darkness, there were evil demons that thirsted for blood. They thirsted for blood and killed anyone they saw.    

The monk had obtained the power of the Buddha. His eyes could see a thousand miles and his ears could hear everything. In that instant, he heard countless people crying and screaming. He heard the pleas of the people. He watched helplessly as the children in their cradles were knocked down and trampled to death. He also saw the destruction of their families. Countless people had lost their wives and children.    

At that moment, the monk finally understood the feelings of the Buddha.    

At the top of the temple, the benevolent Buddha was listening to the pleas of countless people. The pleas were like a sea of emotions in everyone’s heart.    

The monk felt fear. He was not a Buddha after all. Although he had the power of the Buddha, he did not have such a heart.    

As a monk, he was wholeheartedly good, but he had never killed. He had the power, but he did not dare to attack.    

Countless people died. With every moment of hesitation, countless people died.    

The monk struggled in his heart, and then he finally started killing. He repelled the group of demons, and his monk robe was stained with blood.    

The monk was covered in blood. He suddenly understood what the price the Buddha had mentioned was.    

He started killing, and he abandoned part of the Buddha in his heart. No one would believe that a person covered in blood was a Buddha.    

This was the first price he had to pay.    

With the help of the monk, some people were saved. However, the Buddha World was too big. Even though the monk had the power to reach the heavens, he could not use it. He could not save all the people.    

Although the Buddha gave the monk a vast amount of power, it was still limited. It could not withstand such torture.    

Seeing more and more people dying, the monk shed tears. With the vast amount of power in his body, he divided the area within 30,000 miles around Mount Numinous and rose into the sky. He separated the world of the Buddha from the world of the monk.    

When the two territories were separated, countless evil demons rushed into the Buddhist World. Without the protection of the scripture receiver, all the living beings in the Buddhist World were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, and their corpses piled up into a mountain, and blood flowed like a river.    

The scripture receiver was terrified and uneasy. He closed his eyes, unwilling to look again. Although those people were not killed by him, they died because of him.    

A deep sense of sin surged into his heart.    

This was the second price he had to pay.    

He made up his mind to protect the Spiritual Mountain Continent within a radius of 30,000 miles. He would absolutely not let them suffer any harm.    

For this reason, the scripture receiver merged the Great Thunderchant Temple and the Eight Trigram Furnace into one. As long as the Eight Trigram Furnace remained, the ruins of the Great Thunderchant Temple would never be destroyed.    

After that, the scripture receiver moved the Spiritual Mountain Continent to the secret realm of the Great Thunderchant Temple at the back of the Great Thunderchant Temple, which was located at the core of the Eight Trigram Furnace.    

He showed his divinity in front of others and was remembered by countless people, and was called the "Ancestral God".    

As for the Buddhist Sect, it was as if it had been cut off from history. No one remembered that such a power existed.    

This continent had a chance to breathe. The survivors began to live and reproduce.    

Ancestral Temples were built one after another. The scripture receiver became an existence that was praised on the continent. The scripture receiver even felt that his divine power was constantly expanding. The incense offerings in the temples were the foundation of his cultivation.    

Sensing this, the scripture receiver was overjoyed. He only needed to accumulate his strength to the peak, and he would be able to break through this dark Eight Trigram Furnace and escape from it.    

However, the number of temples in the Ancestral Divine Temple increased, and the voices he heard increased as well.    

"God, I am your devout believer. I am willing to lead my people and pray for you day and night. I beg you to bestow me with unparalleled power!" An emperor of the secular world knelt in front of the Temple and burned incense to pray.    

Among all the prayers, the emperor's voice was the loudest.    

This was because he had forced his people to believe in the Ancestral Divinity. Those who did not believe in him would be killed without mercy. Under such a political order, no one dared to disobey.    

The emperor's country had tens of millions of people. Such a vast amount of incense was enough to increase the strength of the people who were going through the scriptures by several times.    

The person who was going through the scriptures was moved. He bestowed the emperor with power, allowing him to have a cultivation level comparable to an Arhat.    

To the person who was going through the scriptures, this was just a piece of cake.    

However, what he did not expect was that the emperor would obtain power. He immediately began to promote the belief in the Ancestral Divinity and began to conquer the world.    

Countless wars and endless slaughter broke out in the Spiritual Mountain Continent, which had just obtained a chance to catch its breath.    

When the person who was going through the scriptures came back to his senses, he was shocked to find that his incense had expanded by several times.    

The emperor wore a blood-soaked armor and cut off the heads of the enemies and sent them to the Temple to offer as sacrifices. "God, these are all heretics. I will bring their heads to you. Please bestow me with even more power!"    

This time, the monk panicked.    

He suddenly realized that his greed had caused an unpredictable consequence.    

The emperor was about to unify the Spiritual Mountain Continent, but the war had already been fought countless times. Countless families had been destroyed, and countless people had been displaced. The entire Spiritual Mountain Continent had already become a scorched land.    

In the eyes of the emperor, the monk had seen his own appearance.    

That was greed.    

The monk’s heart trembled. He knew that he had broken another precept, and that was greed.    

Greed would magnify a person’s sins, allowing them to be omnipotent.    

The emperor had already obtained the power of an arhat, but he was still not satisfied. He wanted to become a Bodhisattva, wanted to become a Buddha, wanted to live forever…    

As for the monk, he asked himself if he had any desires, but he wanted even more incense.    

The monk confessed. This was the third price he had paid.    

Slaughter, sins, greed…    

The monk’s heart was filled with unease. He suddenly realized that obtaining such power was not a good thing.    

He resolved to give up on this power and completely envelop the Spiritual Mountain Continent in all directions. He would rarely show his divinity in front of people. Only when the Spiritual Mountain Continent was in danger would he step forward.    

As for the emperor, he had killed without any mercy. Since he had already started killing, he was no longer that simple monk.    

The monk went into seclusion. He became a mortal and hid in the bustling crowd.    

Even in the most prosperous city, it was still difficult to conceal the loneliness in his heart.    

The monk had comprehended Buddhist scriptures from the bronze lamp, but he realized that the Buddhist scriptures that he had once recited with great fluency were now unable to be recited.    

His heart was already in a mess.    

In the passage of time, the monk had sent away generations of people. He would change his location from time to time to prevent his aged face from bringing him trouble.    

In this long passage of time, he had made many friends, but his heart was like a lone island, filled with boundless loneliness.    

At this point, the monk understood that the Buddha wanted him to pay the final price.    

That was loneliness.    

Lu Yu looked at the old monk in front of him, and he narrated all of this with a face full of vicissitudes.    

"Listen to what I have to say!" The old monk looked at Lu Yu solemnly. "The core of the Eight Trigrams Furnace is divided into two regions, Yin and Yang. In the Yin, there is Yang, and in the Yang, there is Yin. This Spirit Mountain Continent occupies the Yin point of the Yang. This is life force, which is why this continent can continue to exist until now. Your two friends should have gone to the Yin point."    

After finding out about the whereabouts of Blackie and Monkey, Lu Yu finally felt relieved.    

"Back then, when I first brought the Spirit Mountain Continent here, I sensed that there were evil demons here as well. In the darkness, there were even more terrifying existences. Unfortunately, there were even more terrifying existences outside the core of the Eight Trigram Furnace. In comparison, the evil demons here seemed to be restrained by some kind of power and were unable to unleash their full strength."    

The old monk looked at the sky and muttered to himself, "He once suffered a loss in my hands. However, after probing him, he should already know that I'm weak. I'm afraid that this calamity will not be able to escape."    

"You want to..." Lu Yu frowned.    

The old monk said, "You can understand the inheritance of the Buddha. The future of the Buddha Sect will be in your hands. Even with the power of the Buddha, I'm not a match for the existence in the darkness. However, I will try my best to stall for time so that you have a chance to become a Buddha."    

The old monk stood up. His body was no longer hunched, and a powerful and terrifying force burst out from his skinny body.    

"I was once the only Three Treasures Venerable in my homeland. Unfortunately, I have already abandoned my faith. After living for ten thousand years, I am like a walking corpse."    

"I have lived for too long. After this calamity, my life can be considered to have come to an end. However..."    

The old monk looked at Lu Yu, and his eyes shone with a bright light. "If I can leave a seed of inheritance for the Buddha Sect, I will not have lived in vain."