Chapter 76: Coincidence Leads to Misunderstanding; A Grotto-Heaven Established on the Vast Mountain

Western Paradise.

Joyous Yin-Yang Great Brahma Heaven.

Sarira Flowers bloom, Green Lotus Shakya.

Mist and clouds drift to and fro; neither cold nor heat encroaches, and the years are uncounted.

All around, golden flames and precious light cast brilliance upon jade trees.

There are even heavenly dragons circling, flower petals falling in profusion, silent Zen incense, and great light radiating.

A Buddha sits cross-legged upon a Thousand-Leaf Dharma Lotus, robes open, unrestrained and unconventional, with three thousand rays of light blooming from the crown of his head.

Further above, he supports a Sarira Golden Body, his form wreathed in Great Brightness Auspicious Cloud, Great Joyous Auspicious Cloud, Great Yin-Yang Auspicious Cloud, Great Paradise Auspicious Cloud, Great Freedom Auspicious Cloud, Great Universal Salvation Auspicious Cloud, and so on and so forth.

Brahma sounds and Buddhist chants swell; this Buddha is preaching the Joyous Wonderful Dharma, the Yin-Yang Dao, and the Brahma Gate Orthodox Fruit. Surrounded by bright consorts and heavenly maidens, their sleeves fluttering as they manifest scenes of paradise.

Below the seat, a crowd of Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and Bhikkhus all nod their heads, appearing refreshed and delighted, contemplating the wonders of paradise.

Suddenly, a Bodhisattva's brows furrow slightly; he awakens from his meditation, lets out an "eh," and secretly calculates, yet gains little in the end.

He only knows that a pawn he had planted in Beiju Luzhou has been annihilated out of thin air. He knows nothing of deeper information.

Despite being a Taiyi Realm figure who ranks among the great Bodhisattvas of Fomen, his calculations have actually met with such obstruction.

"Duo Mumu Bodhisattva, have you encountered a difficulty?" the Buddha at the head suddenly speaks.

Seeing the Buddha inquire, Duo Mumu Bodhisattva does not hesitate and immediately replies: "It is just that a pawn I intended to plant in the southern region of Beiju Luzhou has run into trouble."

"Oh~ could it be the matter of the Yuanyang Sect?" Before he can answer, the Buddha immediately releases vast Buddhist light, covering the sky and earth, permeating time and space.

With a sweep of his wisdom eye, he understands immediately.

This Huanxi Fo sighs and says: "So that is how it is. Indeed, it is someone who has formed a karmic connection with that person; truly extraordinary. I cannot see through it, I cannot see through it~"

"What does the Buddha mean?" Duo Mumu Bodhisattva asks cautiously.

He knows well that this Buddha has an extraordinary background, though he is despised by many with Great Divine Ability and shunned and treated as an enemy by the orthodox Buddhas of Fomen because the Dharma he practices is too heterodox.

Yet, his cultivation is profound; he has opened his own lineage, contemplating Yin and Yang through a unique path, transcending the norm to attain the Joyous Dao, and he is no ordinary figure among those with Great Divine Ability.

As one of those he has taken into his fold, he even knows that he is vaguely linked with some upper-echelon Fomen figures who are at odds with the current Buddha, and he has a strong momentum to stand in opposition.

Every word and action of such a figure must contain great secrets and great mysteries~ Sure enough, this Buddha avoids the topic and only smiles, saying: "Cannot be spoken, cannot be spoken~"

"Since the pawn you were ordered to place in Beiju Luzhou has been destroyed by that person unintentionally, just arrange another one~"

"As for this accident, do not pursue it; just act as if it never happened. Do you understand?"

"This disciple will strictly follow the Dharma decree~"

Seeing this, the Huanxi Fo says no more and continues to immerse himself in preaching his own Dharma.

Myriad auspicious lights and rays of energy swirl, accumulating into a thick layer, the aftershocks rippling all around, creating crimson-gold starlight that collides back and forth.

……

Green waves ripple, and an exquisite Treasure Pavilion stands in the center of the lake.

One side connects to a floating corridor, while the other three sides have windows; cool breezes blow, and looking around, the water color is a vast expanse of white.

Inside the pavilion, a bronze tripod burns incense, and the tables and chairs are clean and bright.

Opening the windows to face the waves, shadows enter the green windows.

Beneath the eaves by the water, the wind suddenly rises, and frost flowers turn white, blooming in clusters.

Three or five gulls from the mountains fly past, their touch on the water creating ripples of color, the reeds swaying in the light, silent and desolate.

"No matter how I make this palace grow or shrink, it still cannot be considered a Grotto-Heaven Dharma Treasure!" Seeing this beautiful scenery, such a thought suddenly crosses Fang Longye's mind.

This Miyuan Palace does not come with a Sumeru Space; it is merely a Dharma Treasure that can change size. To accommodate living beings, it must be enlarged. If shrunk to the size of a fist, it is a place of dead silence.

It is unlike a Grotto-Heaven Dharma Treasure, which comes with its own space or even a world; even if shrunk to the size of a speck of dust, it can still carry a world of living beings.

The Mirage Flower Moon Map auctioned at the Yuyang Dharma Assembly earlier was a Grotto-Heaven Spirit Treasure of the Superior Spiritual Treasure level; that truly contained a world within.

Much like that Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Mountain and River Map of Social Welfare in the hands of that Lady, which can capture people and objects, evolve worlds, and suppress everything... though in terms of power, it is naturally not even one ten-thousandth of such an Innate Spiritual Treasure.

Fang Longye has the mind to think about these trivial matters, naturally because his harvest this time has been fruitful.

Aside from the Lotus Lantern of another world exchanged for the Buddha Treasure Heart Lamp.

The scripture that the monk Wuqiao snatched from Duo Mumu Bodhisattva was not destroyed in the previous struggle, but instead transformed into essence, contained within that Buddha Treasure Heart Lamp, and naturally, he took it to use for the trade as well.

He exchanged it for that famous "Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon" by the big shot of this world, the Yellow Emperor~ That's right, the scripture Wuqiao snatched was the famous Joyous Buddha Dharma.

The reason for Fang Longye's cheerful mood is naturally not because he obtained some Dual Cultivation technique.

Could such a vulgar thought be the reason for a man of integrity like him to be happy?

It is rather that he can once again get involved with two big shots. Oh, no, it should be three big shots, or rather, three major forces.

Under the shifting laws of the world, this Lotus Lantern from another world has its origin as a wisp of the source left behind by the Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Lotus Lantern.

If Fang Longye melts it into his body, he will naturally have a connection with the Lotus Lantern.

And if the world has not changed much, the owner of this Lotus Lantern is naturally still Yang Chan.

And what is Yang Chan's background? A disciple of Nuwa Palace, and the younger sister of Yang Jian of the Chan Sect.

If he can use the special resonance between them after melting the Lotus Lantern to win over Yang Chan, wouldn't he directly become a close associate of these two major forces? As for the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, it goes without saying; as long as he studies it diligently, he can at least be considered a successor to the big shot Xuanyuan.

Plus his relationship with Yinglong Laozu, wouldn't he be thriving in front of the big shot Xuanyuan?

In any case, Fang Longye is now like a beggar who doesn't fear having too many lice; he doesn't worry about having too many debts.

More and more signs indicate that his guess is correct: he has long since entered the eyes of these powerful beings in the Primordial World.

The fact that Fomen threw out the pawn Wuqiao to send him treasure further illustrates this point. Including that turtle demon, he even suspects it was a "courier" sent by the Dragon Clan to deliver treasure to him.

Since that is the case, he can only meet each move with a move and attract the favor of more forces. To say nothing else, when companies in his past life on Blue Star started businesses, they tried to keep investments balanced to prevent any one party from becoming too dominant!

Now it seems that his remarks back in the Small World with the mountain spirit really did touch the big shot Hongyun.

This big shot is about to take that step.

And precisely because of this, the chess game originally set for this world has been unintentionally pushed aside by him, an outsider, and the pieces are scattered, the layout changing.

From the moment he met the big shot Hongyun, he had stepped into the chessboard of this world and become an important chess piece.

He couldn't even try to lay low, because from the moment he met the big shot Hongyun, he had nowhere to hide~

"Fortunately, it is clear that for a chess piece like me, it is basically all goodwill."

"Big shot! You must work hard~ Whether I will be a kept model or have to go out and work for a living in the second half of my life all depends on you!" Fang Longye thought to himself. Of course, that said, if you rely on a mountain, the mountain will collapse; if you rely on water, the water will flow away. Relying on a backer is certainly important, but seizing opportunities to let oneself grow is even more important.

That was why he had the plan to build ties with a few more factions. By using the ladder of the big shot Hongyun to develop himself, he could not afford to let his strength, influence, connections, or background fall behind in any aspect.

"Right now, Qingli has not returned yet. It is the perfect time to go and refine the Lotus Lantern traded from the other world~" Having sorted out his thoughts, Fang Longye chuckled.

He returned to the cultivation secret chamber inside the palace, preparing to take the first step in his attempt to conquer the sister of Yang Jian.

……

Smoke condensed into clouds, and halos of light dazzled.

Thousands of rays of light burst forth, presenting a glazed, seven-colored appearance.

Inside the secret chamber, smoke and mist overflowed with color, like a blooming lotus, crystal clear and translucent.

Fang Longye sat cross-legged on the cloud bed, his whole body radiating a mysterious Aura that seemed like smoke yet not smoke, like clouds yet not clouds, and the Dao Rhyme of creation and nature permeated the air.

All around, frost patterns appeared, extending to both sides like spread wings, with vivid feathers that were crystal clear and refreshing, suffused with purple and cyan.

Inside, a seven-colored divine fire intertwined between the Yin and Yang Two Qis, refining everything about him: his primordial spirit, Dharma, physical body, Bloodline, and even his deepest origin.

Unlike the near-grinding promotion of the Yin and Yang Two Qis, this seven-colored divine fire carried a sense of purification and translucence, removing the impurities and dust from his entire being silently and moisteningly.

Fang Longye had an illusion that if he just let this flame continuously refine him, once he reached a state of purity and flawlessness, he could naturally Reverse Innate.

Of course, this was just an illusion. Reversing Innate was not that easy.

This flame was a type of divine fire obtained after refining the Lotus Lantern from the other world. Fang Longye called it the Creation Divine Fire.

Besides producing the divine ability of this seven-colored flame, the original Dao Rhyme of this other-worldly Lotus Lantern completely merged into his origin, strengthening his Bloodline.

This made his current Bloodline increasingly miraculous, having long since transcended the categories of flood dragon and True Dragon.

As of now, in terms of Bloodline purity, he had long surpassed the so-called True Dragon form of the Dragon Clan; the reason he still maintained the body of a flood dragon was merely to accumulate foundation and creation.

Fang Longye had a vague understanding of the path of 'Yinglong Laozu'.

"Abolish the True Dragon, exalt only the Yinglong?"

Thinking of the legend from his past life on Blue Star that the Yinglong was the highest evolutionary form of the Dragon Clan, and the phrase "The Yinglong is the True Dragon,"

Fang Longye truly understood the most important thing that Yinglong Laozu had brought to those of them who were not in the True Dragon form of the Dragon Clan.

That was the equal treatment of all dragons beneath her.

Beneath the Yinglong, there are no more True Dragons; beneath the Yinglong, all are True Dragons.

Is this the reason why the Honghuang Dragon Clan today must address all Dragon Princes as 'Your Highness', and as long as one condenses a Dragon Pearl, one is considered part of the Dragon Clan, and the Four Seas are one family?

"Because of Yinglong Laozu, there will no longer be any True Dragon form of the Dragon Clan who will spit at existences like me—flood dragons, qiu dragons, and chi dragons—and curse: 'Are you even worthy of being called the Dragon Clan?'"

Fang Longye could not help but feel reverence. At the same time, he understood that this was the path he had to take: to transcend the barriers of the Dragon Clan Bloodline.

The moment he achieved Xiantian Shengsheng, this Honghuang would have one more type of Dragon Clan, a new race named after his own divine name: Yuanlong.

Just like the Azure Dragon, Zhu Long, and Yinglong. By then, he would also be the ancestor of a lineage.

There would be one more type of special Dragon Clan that stood above the ordinary Dragon Clan, namely the acquired Yuanlong whose physical form was modeled after his Innate Divine Dragon form.

Having gained much, he rose and left seclusion, put away the palace, and with the already returned Qingli and Jinghuan, he set out on the road again, searching for a treasure mountain suitable for opening his Cave Abode.

……

Central Beiju Luzhou.

Using the Yuyang Yaofang as a marker, in the northeast direction, there was a distance of more than a million miles.

Fang Longye finally found a treasure land that met his wishes.

Behold that mountain: ten thousand gullies compete in flow, a thousand cliffs vie in beauty. After the rain, the sky connects to the moist green walls; when the wind comes, the pines unfurl like emerald screens.

Mountain grasses sprout, wild flowers bloom, with precipitous cliffs and crags; creepers grow, fine trees are beautiful, with steep ridges and flat mounds.

By the stream, a pair of cranes drink; on the rocks, wild apes go mad. Towering piles of snail-like peaks display dark colors; majestic and lofty, they embrace the emerald and tease the mountain mist.

Not only was the foundation good, but the jurisdiction was extremely large. Centered on this treasure mountain, stretching for over two hundred thousand miles and spanning one hundred thousand miles in depth, all of it was the territory governed by this Yaoshan.

Although it was because it was too barren, consisting entirely of wild mountains and marshes with almost zero spiritual energy.

But to Fang Longye, this was not important.

As the saying goes, a mountain need not be high; if there is an Immortal, it will be spiritual. Water need not be deep; if there is a dragon, it will be spiritual.

Although a cultivator of the 'Heavenly Immortal Path' like him was naturally not as good as those of the 'Earth Immortal Dao' at regulating the earth's energy and managing a treasure mountain.

But as long as one was willing to throw money into it, even a barren mountain could be transformed into a spiritual, emerald treasure land.

Moreover, what he wanted was not to turn a barren mountain into a treasure land—even with money, one wouldn't spend it like that.

Rather, he envisioned needing a barren mountain over a hundred thousand miles wide to be transformed into marshes, rivers, and the like; in short, it required a major renovation.

Added to that were various Array Restrictions; once all conditions were met, there were basically not many places that were truly suitable.

As for the act of wantonly enclosing treasure lands, with his cultivation, he still lacked the strength to do so.

Beiju Luzhou advocated for fighting and competition, but it was also within certain rules. That kind of completely chaotic and disorderly environment was something even the Demon Clan would not like.

Fang Longye had previously intended to gather a few more treasure mountains. As a result, he learned that this was a qualification only possessed by Golden Immortal Demon Kings.

Without reaching the Golden Immortal realm, even if you are a powerful outsider, you must honestly follow the rules and can only occupy one treasure mountain.

Fang Longye looked at the Demon King in this treasure mountain, who was only an ordinary True Immortal Realm, and without hesitation, he immediately had Qingli make a move.

Clang—the frost blade left its sheath. The sword Qi filling the sky turned into a misty drizzle that shrouded the entire treasure mountain, without harming a single demon, as a gesture of paying a visit to the mountain.

"Who dares to intrude upon my Lingxiao Peak? Don't you know this is the Cave Abode of me, Kuangfeng Dawang?"

At the summit that pierced the clouds, there was a cave entrance. As the cave door opened, two rows of demon soldiers and generals walked out. In the center, surrounding a Demon King wearing a golden helmet and golden armor, he maintained the appearance of an eagle's head.

After the Demon King came out, golden light shot from his eyes, pointing directly at Fang Longye, who was clearly standing in the main position, very sharply.

Fang Longye laughed loudly: "What Lingxiao Peak? This is clearly my Cangmang Mountain Motian Cliff. You little bird who occupied my Cave Abode, why don't you surrender?"

The Demon King was instantly filled with murderous intent, realizing that someone had come to seize the Cave Abode. Without wasting words, he struck first to gain the advantage, and in silence, he brandished a large saber and slashed directly toward Fang Longye~

"Thump~" The very instant he moved, Qingli lightly swung the frost blade she held, slicing across his body; he perished from a single sword strike, dying right where he stood.

Fang Longye chuckled softly: "From this day forward, this place is Cangmang Mountain~ Who approves, and who opposes?"

"Respectfully welcoming the Great King back to the manor~" The crowd all knelt in obeisance.

The second chapter for today~ Thank you all for your support. Additionally, I'd like to recommend a book to everyone: *Admiral of the End in One Piece*, a fan fiction of *One Piece*. The author is currently nearing a thousand average subscriptions, which is quite good for this genre. Friends who are interested can go take a look~ (End of chapter)