Chapter 296

After Su Chen left an opportunity for the youth, he didn't stay long.

He had been out of Flower Fruit Mountain for nearly twelve years to realize the true meaning of Opening the Sky; it was time to go back.

He was a Tai Yi Jin Xian physical body when he came out of Flower Fruit Mountain, but now that he was going back, his physical body had entered the Great Luo realm.

Su Chen used the cloud-treading technique and headed east all the way.

With his current cultivation urging the flying technique, his speed was more than twice as fast as before.

The mountains and rivers of Southern Chanbuzhou flew backward rapidly under his feet; in less than an hour, the blue waves of the East Sea had come into view.

A moment later, the outline of Flower Fruit Mountain appeared at the end of the sea of clouds.

Su Chen stood on the cloud and looked into the mountain; the changes in Flower Fruit Mountain over twelve years were not great, but there were still some changes.

The patrolling small demons were arranged in an orderly manner, their weapons were unified, and Su Chen also found that these small demons had practiced a unified Demon Clan cultivation method, and every team of demon soldiers could form a combined attack array.

Su Chen knew at a glance that this was Bai Ze's handiwork.

Su Chen landed the cloud, entered the mountain, and ran into a team of patrolling monkey demons head-on.

The leading monkey demon recognized Su Chen and hurriedly saluted.

"Greetings, Staff Officer! You are back!"

"Hmm." Su Chen nodded: "Where is the Leader?"

The monkey demon scratched his head: "The Great King went to find Great King Niu some days ago, saying he was going to Cui Ping Mountain to drink, and has been gone for half a month."

Su Chen shook his head helplessly.

Monkey Brother had a free-spirited nature; it was only because the situation was critical before that he could endure his temper and go into seclusion for decades.

Now that Flower Fruit Mountain had Bai Ze holding the fort and there was no crisis of collapse, he naturally couldn't sit still.

Since Monkey Brother wasn't there, Su Chen didn't go to the Water Curtain Cave; he walked straight toward Bai Ze's cave dwelling in the north of Flower Fruit Mountain.

The scenery outside the cave dwelling was almost unchanged from twelve years ago, with murmuring streams and ancient pines surrounding it.

The only addition was a chessboard placed beside the stone table, with most of the black and white pieces placed, which was an unfinished endgame.

Bai Ze sat behind the stone table, a pot of tea at his hand, staring blankly at the distant East Sea.

When Su Chen approached, Bai Ze had already turned his head.

Those white, pupil-less eyes swept over Su Chen and paused for a moment.

"You're back." Bai Ze's tone was flat, but he immediately picked up the teapot and poured a cup for Su Chen: "Sit."

Su Chen sat down and took a sip of tea.

Bai Ze didn't rush to speak, but looked at Su Chen again.

"It seems you have gained something; has your physical body entered Great Luo?"

Su Chen nodded: "Thanks to Senior's guidance, I luckily realized the true meaning of Opening the Sky."

"Lucky?" Bai Ze smiled and shook his head: "At your age, to have your physical body cultivated to Great Luo Jin Xian, you can't find a second one even if you look through the Three Realms. You are worthy of being the person His Majesty the Demon Emperor took a fancy to."

Su Chen smiled and didn't take this conversation.

"These twelve years, I have troubled Senior with the affairs of the Demon Alliance."

Bai Ze waved his hand: "Those little things in the Demon Alliance are nothing compared to managing the Demon Court back then. But your Monkey Brother..."

He paused, his tone carrying a trace of helplessness.

"After coming out of seclusion, he runs outside all day, going to Cui Ping Mountain to drink with the Bull Niu Mowang today, and going to the West Sea to compete with the Flood Niu Mowang tomorrow... He is not in the mountain every three days, and he doesn't care about the affairs of the Demon Alliance at all."

Su Chen had expected this long ago; this was indeed Monkey Brother's character.

"Monkey Brother is responsible for fighting; managing things shouldn't have been his job in the first place."

Upon hearing this, Bai Ze hummed, clearly having been tossed around quite a bit by Sun Wukong.

He picked up the teacup and took a sip, then suddenly changed the subject.

"You came back just in time; I have a piece of news here. I originally planned to go and investigate it myself, but since you are back, it is more appropriate for you to go."

Su Chen put down the teacup, his gaze freezing.

"Tathagata's reincarnation?"

Bai Ze nodded slightly, took out a jade slip from his sleeve, and pushed it in front of Su Chen.

"Three days ago, Lady Tie Shan transferred it. She said that General Yan Que's people searched in Southern Chanbuzhou for twelve years and finally found someone who is highly likely to be the target."

Su Chen picked up the jade slip, and his divine sense probed into it.

The information recorded in the jade slip surged into his mind.

In the jade slip, General Yan Que said that in the southwest of Southern Chanbuzhou, there was a small country called the Moyie Kingdom.

The King of Moyie Kingdom, Qiao Hui, had a son named Qiao Ling.

Twelve years ago, when Qiao Ling was born, golden light descended from the sky in the Moyie Kingdom's royal city, and it didn't dissipate until three hours later.

And this Qiao Ling's birth was also quite extraordinary; he could speak at one year old, read at two, and read poetry and classics thoroughly at five, offering advice to his father on governing the country; the court and the public of Moyie Kingdom all called him a "child prodigy".

And this child had a gentle temperament and loved the people very much.

General Yan Que's spy also added a note, saying that this child had extremely high comprehension of Buddhist scriptures; occasionally coming into contact with Buddhist scriptures, he could remember them at a glance, and even draw inferences, saying insights that even the old monks in the temple couldn't say.

Su Chen withdrew his divine sense.

Born with golden light descending from the sky—this point alone was enough to attract attention.

A mortal prince, born with the ability to trigger changes in celestial phenomena, shows that this person is definitely not an ordinary soul reincarnated.

Born with enlightenment for Buddhist scriptures.

Although the mystery of the womb would erase the memories of the previous life, the root nature would not be extinguished.

The Buddhist root nature of Tathagata's cultivation for hundreds of millions of years could not be erased by the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

"What does Senior think?" Su Chen asked.

Bai Ze leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers on the stone table slowly.

"I deduced this child with the ability of a Semi-Sage, but the result was blurred. The fate of a mortal prince, yet I can't calculate it clearly; there are only two possibilities: either there is a means left by a great power on this child, or..."

"Or his own origin is enough to obscure the heavenly secret." Su Chen took over.

Bai Ze nodded.

"A Semi-Sage reincarnated, the lingering rhyme of his own Dao fruit can disturb the heavenly secret without extra means."

Su Chen took a deep breath.

Then the possibility that this Qiao Ling is Tathagata's reincarnation is very high.

"What about the Fomen?" Su Chen asked the most critical question, "Any movement?"

Bai Ze shook his head: "Not for the time being. General Yan Que's people have been watching the movements around Moyie Kingdom, and currently, no one from the Fomen has been found. But this doesn't mean the Fomen isn't looking."

He looked at Su Chen and said: "Moyie Kingdom is just a small country, weak in national strength, with no decent cultivators holding the fort. The Fomen's power hasn't reached here for the time being, but as his Buddhist nature gradually deepens, the Fomen will inevitably discover his difference, and then the Fomen will naturally look for him."

Upon hearing this, Su Chen nodded and stood up immediately.

"Then there is no time to lose; I will go now."

Bai Ze was not surprised by Su Chen's decisiveness; he took out a jade talisman from his sleeve and handed it to Su Chen.

"This is a divine sense imprint of mine. After you find that child, cast this talisman, and I can cast a spell from afar to obscure his heavenly secret, cover up his extraordinary foundation, and shield the Fomen's deduction."

Su Chen took the jade talisman and put it away solemnly.

"Thank you, Senior."

"Go." Bai Ze picked up the teacup: "Before the Fomen finds him, you should make your own layout first; I am also very curious about how you are going to layout."

Su Chen laughed: "Then Senior, watch carefully; I will take my leave first."

After Su Chen finished speaking, he turned around and left the cave dwelling, rose into the air, turned into a stream of light, and broke through the air toward the direction of Southern Chanbuzhou.