Chapter 283: Fragment World, Seizing Yinshan

"The Book of Life and Death is guarded by Tisheng."

"It is kept in the back hall of the Earth Store Hall."

Jiang Jian recalled the location of the Book of Life and Death as recorded in the original story.

With a thought, his form dissolved into light and headed toward the Earth Store Hall.

The next instant.

Before the Earth Store Hall.

Jiang Jian materialized, raised his head, and gazed at the bronze gate rising a thousand zhang high.

Chains from the gate hung down from the dome, sinking into the earth’s veins, their ends lost to sight.

Jiang Jian lowered his gaze, pulled out the Earth Store Jade Seal, and opened the gate directly!

BOOM!

On either side of the massive gate stood Yinshan guards, each a hundred zhang tall.

Seeing Jiang Jian, they immediately suppressed their aura, bowed their heads respectfully, their iron armor clashing like thunder as they saluted in unison: "My lord Wang Dian!"

Jiang Jian swept his sleeve lightly and walked straight into the hall.

Silence fell instantly around him.

"Wheel King."

A voice broke the stillness, reaching his ears.

Jiang Jian’s gaze sharpened as he looked ahead.

Before him stood an ancient beast, ten feet tall.

It had a dragon’s body, a tiger’s head, qilin’s feet, a lion’s tail, towering and massive, its body covered in shifting light patterns, walking forward on all four limbs from the darkness.

Jiang Jian’s expression darkened. "Tisheng."

Tisheng slowly approached, its gaze deep and piercing, looking down at Jiang Jian, speaking in human voice: "Are you truly the Wheel King?"

Those words were spoken.

Jiang Jian’s heart tightened instantly.

Tisheng was a primordial beast, born of nature.

It possessed unfathomable abilities, capable of hearing all under heaven, knowing past and future.

"I am certainly the Wheel King."

Jiang Jian steadied his spirit and spoke.

Tisheng narrowed its eyes, its gaze unreadable.

After a moment.

It spoke again: "If you are truly the Wheel King, you would not take the Book of Life and Death."

With those words.

Tisheng turned aside, its claw pointing into the deep darkness.

A massive book appeared.

Radiant light spilled from its pages, filled with countless, densely packed names.

The Book of Life and Death.

It recorded the birth dates and lifespans of countless beings in this world.

Jiang Jian glanced at the Book of Life and Death, held the Earth Store Jade Seal in hand, and said gravely: "What are you trying to say?"

Tisheng, a primordial beast, had trained for eons beneath the Bodhisattva’s guidance and had long since attained mastery over creation.

At his current cultivation level, Jiang Jian was no match for it.

"You need not be tense."

Tisheng sighed. "I know much, but can speak little."

Jiang Jian frowned slightly, locked eyes with it for a moment, and the rift within his spirit suddenly intensified.

He could almost be certain.

This primordial beast before him was undeniably a real, living being!

"Tisheng."

Jiang Jian suddenly spoke. "Is this world real?"

The moment he spoke.

The vast Earth Store Hall fell utterly silent.

Tisheng first widened its eyes, pupils contracting, then returned to normal, studying Jiang Jian with keen interest, saying nothing.

Jiang Jian frowned slightly and asked again: "Are you real?"

This time.

Tisheng did not remain silent; it nodded. "I am certainly real."

Jiang Jian’s spirit trembled slightly.

That rift sensation surged again, nearly reaching its peak!

Reality and illusion seemed to flicker back and forth.

For a moment, Jiang Jian’s mind grew hazy.

"You may call this place a fragment world."

Tisheng spoke again.

Jiang Jian’s heart jolted.

His thoughts and emotions were thrown into turmoil.

After a moment.

Jiang Jian steadied himself and asked: "What is a fragment world? Is it a shard of the world?"

Tisheng said: "A fragment world can be understood as a replay of the past."

"Everything that ever happened in the world, everything that ever existed, leaves traces."

"If an inconceivable power restores those traces,"

"a corresponding fragment world forms."

It gazed at Jiang Jian, half-smiling. "When you leave, this fragment world will collapse completely."

Jiang Jian asked gravely: "So everything here once existed in reality?"

Tisheng paused, then shook its head. "Your reality and my world may not even occupy the same timeline."

As it spoke.

Its body gradually turned transparent.

"I must go."

Tisheng whispered.

With those words.

The primordial beast vanished entirely.

Jiang Jian stood still, silent for a long while.

Tisheng’s words had shaken his original worldview.

When he left the Dragon Palace of Lihai.

Jiang Jian had already sensed.

The Dragon Lord of Lihai’s consciousness was far too real.

Now, within the story world of the Earth Store Sutra, that feeling was even clearer!

Suddenly.

Jiang Jian’s spirit shuddered, every hair on his body stood on end, his scalp prickled with cold!

For in the corner of the Earth Store Hall, his peripheral vision had caught a human figure!

The figure wore dark black Buddhist robes, expression cold.

It was the Bodhisattva Earth Store King!

Jiang Jian stood frozen, not daring to move, the terrifying rift sensation surging over him, nearly swallowing him whole!

"Beast."

A cold voice reached his ears.

The Bodhisattva Earth Store King extended a finger and grasped the void.

A shrill, agonized scream pierced the silence of the hall!

Tisheng’s ten-foot beast body was ripped from the void by the Bodhisattva’s palm!

CRACK!

Long fingers slashed through it, splitting its body into hundreds of pieces, blood and flesh spraying everywhere!

Tisheng’s massive head rolled to Jiang Jian’s feet, its bell-like eyes wide open, staring fixedly at him.

A geyser of blood spurted from its severed neck.

Seeing this, Jiang Jian’s mind rang hollow.

In an instant.

He forced himself to calm down, turned his head, and looked toward the Bodhisattva nearby.

"It wasn’t the real Tisheng."

The Bodhisattva Master whispered, “It didn’t leave just now—it hid within your soul, hoping to leave with you.”

Hearing these words,

Jiang Jian forced himself to steady his mind.

What he had just experienced had utterly exceeded his understanding.

Moments later,

Jiang Jian regained his composure; his thoughts surged rapidly, and he harbored a faint suspicion. He asked softly, “Master Bodhisattva, are you saying it wishes to go to my reality?”

The Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva nodded. “After you leave, this place will perish completely—and so will it.”

“But it has lingered here too long; over time, it came to believe it was the true Dìtīng, even forgetting it is merely an illusion.”

“It does not wish to die.”

Its voice gradually faded away.

Darkness surged forward, swallowing its form entirely.

Without a sound,

only Jiang Jian remained in the Ksitigarbha Hall.

He fell silent for a moment, then stepped into the darkness and used the Ksitigarbha Jade Seal to retrieve the Book of Life and Death.

Crack!

A sharp crack of a world breaking echoed suddenly.

Though inside the Ksitigarbha Hall,

Jiang Jian could still hear it clearly.

The pitiful cries of the yakshas and the death enforcers across Yinshan.

And the howls of countless damned souls in the Eighteen Layers of Hell.

Amidst the thunderous cracks, the sky was riddled with fissures, spreading like a spiderweb at terrifying speed!

The Ten Halls of Yinshan trembled violently; their towering structures cracked and collapsed one after another!

Even the supposedly unbreakable Eighteen Layers of Hell began to crumble in terror!

“Leave quickly.”

Suddenly, the voice of the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva echoed from deep within his soul.

Jiang Jian held the Ksitigarbha Jade Seal; one after another stream of black light surged forth, shielding him completely.

“Master Bodhisattva, will we meet again?”

He asked suddenly.

No response came.

The world shattered faster and faster.

All things around him were wildly devoured by nothingness!

The Ten Kings’ Halls, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, the White and Black Enforcers—

all vanished soundlessly into the depths of nothingness.

The surrounding void advanced visibly, rushing toward the Ksitigarbha Hall.

The white light emitted by the Ksitigarbha Jade Seal grew fiercer.

In the end, it blazed like the sun!

Jiang Jian stood within it, watching everything around him sink one by one into nothingness, his gaze dimming.

Just before the void surged forward and swallowed everything beyond the light shield,

Jiang Jian faintly heard a voice.

But,

at that very moment, a tremendous pulling force seized him.

His soul momentarily blurred.

As if reborn across lifetimes.

He did not know how long had passed.

The darkness around him slowly receded.

Jiang Jian opened his eyes.

Before him stood the majestic hall—the Ksitigarbha Hall.

But,

this was the Ksitigarbha Hall of the Yinshan Wonder Realm.

The black-and-white vortex from before had vanished completely.

The interior of the hall was fully visible.

“Master Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva,”

Jiang Jian whispered.

He stepped into the hall, gazing up at the black-and-gold statue.

It wore a dark Buddhist robe, overlooking the Ten Halls of Yinshan, expressionless, neither sorrowful nor joyful.

After a moment,

Jiang Jian turned and walked out of the Ksitigarbha Hall.

The Guide Messenger’s form twisted into view before him.

Its expression was ecstatic. It cried out loudly, “From this moment on, you are the Lord of the Yinshan Wonder Realm!”

It produced a token, holding it reverently with both hands. “Imperial Edict: Title granted—Lord of Yinshan Ksitigarbha!”

Jiang Jian’s face remained expressionless. He swept his sleeve aside, dismissing it. “I do not wish to use this title—for now.”

The Guide Messenger froze, instantly realizing it had flattered the wrong way. It hurried to correct itself: “As Lord of Yinshan, choosing another title is certainly acceptable.”

“What of ‘True Lord of Yinshan’?”

“‘Supreme Lord of Yinshan’ is also fine.”

Hearing this,

Jiang Jian said coldly, “To claim the title of True Lord without reaching the corresponding realm—is that not an invitation to ridicule?”

With those words,

Jiang Jian turned and walked out of the Ksitigarbha Hall.

Behind him,

the Guide Messenger stared at his retreating back; its formerly fawning expression turned grim.

It gazed coldly at Jiang Jian, its mind filled with confusion.

“Not long ago, that Great One clearly appeared to me in a dream, saying it would appear at this moment, take control of Yinshan’s rules, and grant me freedom.”

“Yet after sensing for so long, I feel nothing at all.”

It furrowed its brow, utterly baffled.

Then,

it used its control over Yinshan’s rules to scour the area around the Ksitigarbha Hall in every possible way—but found no trace.

“Since that Great One is unreliable,”

“I’ll have to use my own methods.”

The Guide Messenger halted its actions, smiled coldly, and vanished silently.

Meanwhile,

deep within Yinshan,

Jiang Jian, holding the Ksitigarbha Jade Seal, had clearly observed the Guide Messenger’s actions.

“This fool controls only a small portion of Yinshan’s rules, accustomed to acting like a half-master—yet doesn’t know the true Lord of Yinshan can monitor the entire realm at will.”

Jiang Jian stared at the glowing screen before him, momentarily speechless.

He had never expected the Guide Messenger, who had seemed so clever before, to be this foolish now.

(End of Chapter)