Chapter 3: The Slanting Moon Three Stars Cave gate opens; on that day, gods and demons retreat!

Xiniu Hezhou.

A corner forgotten by the world.

Here, mist swirls and ancient trees pierce the sky.

In the mountains there are no cyclical years; when the cold ends, one does not know the year.

This is Fangcun Mountain, the Spiritual Terrace.

Here stands the Slanting Moon Three Stars Cave.

Since that monkey descended the mountain, this cave gate has remained tightly shut for over five hundred years.

On the stone steps before the gate, thick moss grows.

Withered leaves pile up, and weeds grow thick.

Even the woodcutters of the mountain have changed over a dozen generations, and no one remembers that a being who could pierce heaven and earth once dwelt here.

However.

Just today.

At the very moment the blood letter of Da Lei Yin Si was burned to ashes.

Boom——!!!

A deep, muffled roar shattered Fangcun Mountain's ten-thousand-year deathly silence.

That ancient stone gate, sealed for five hundred years,

slowly opened.

"Creak——"

The sound of the hinge turning was so piercing, so full of vicissitude.

As the stone gate opened,

an indescribably ancient aura burst forth like a flood!

The withered leaves before the gate instantly turned to powder!

The moss on the steps withered and vanished in an instant!

Immediately after,

a figure emerged slowly from the deep cavern.

It was an old man.

He wore the most ordinary green Daoist robe.

His beard and hair were all white, his face gaunt.

In his hand he held no magical treasure, only a bamboo broom for sweeping the ground.

He looked like just any rustic Daoist one might see anywhere.

But.

When his foot stepped over the threshold and touched the ground,

Hum!

Within ten thousand li of Fangcun Mountain, all living beings—whether beasts that fly or run, or demon kings in hidden cultivation—

at this moment involuntarily knelt upon the ground!

They dared not raise their heads!

They dared not breathe!

This was an absolute suppression from the level of life itself!

The old man lifted his head.

In those eyes that seemed murky with age, now it seemed as if two universes on the verge of collapse were contained.

There was no mercy.

No peace.

Only endless cold, and killing intent capable of freezing time and space.

Bodhi Patriarch.

He has entered the world!

He displayed no golden light that traverses the earth, nor did he ride any seven-colored auspicious clouds.

He simply walked step by step into the void.

His first step fell.

Beneath his foot, a chaotic blue lotus of billions of zhang in size blossomed in the void!

The laws of heaven and earth wailed beneath his foot, as if unable to bear its weight.

His second step fell.

The sunlight in the sky instantly dimmed, and the whole sky of Xiniu Hezhou was dyed a bleak autumn hue!

His third step fell.

He was no longer the kindly old immortal of Fangcun Mountain.

But a killing god who had walked from the primordial wilderness!

"Wukong."

Bodhi Patriarch gazed into the distance and softly called out.

This call was not heart-rending.

Yet it made the hearts of all beings in the Three Realms tremble, their eye sockets sore.

Back then.

That monkey knelt before the cave, begging him to take him in.

"Master, disciple wants to learn immortality!"

Back then.

That monkey, because he showed off his supernatural powers, was chased down the mountain by him.

"From now on, you are not allowed to say you are my disciple, and I will not acknowledge you as my disciple!"

"If you cause trouble, it's fine as long as you don't speak out what the master said."

At that time.

Bodhi was doing it to protect him.

It was because he had calculated that this monkey was destined to face this calamity; he did not want to involve himself in karma, nor did he want Heaven and Ling Shan to use this as an excuse to preemptively kill this spirit monkey.

He thought, this was for the monkey's own good.

He thought, as long as the monkey achieves cultivation success, he can live freely and easily.

But…

"Hehe…"

Bodhi Patriarch suddenly burst out laughing.

The laughter was desolate.

"I do not acknowledge you."

"But I also didn't let others bully you!"

"Nor did I let others…… treat you as a pawn, use you up then kill you; killing you wasn't enough, they also wanted to find an impostor to take your name and enjoy your glory!"

Boom!!!

With the fluctuations of Bodhi Patriarch's emotions.

The entire land of Xiniu Hezhou began to crack!

Countless powerful beings hiding in the dark, observing, at this moment each one was terrified to the point of their gallbladders bursting, frantically retreating.

"What…… realm is this?!"

"This is absolutely not a Quasi-Saint!"

"This aura…… is even more terrifying than a Saint!"

"Is this the true face of Bodhi Patriarch?!"

Bodhi Patriarch ignored the surrounding shocked gazes.

He lightly waved the bamboo broom in his hand.

"Rip——"

The space before him, like fragile cloth, was instantly torn open a huge rift.

The other side of the rift.

Exactly the resplendent Buddha-light, magnificent and golden Ling Shan Da Lei Yin Si!

Separated by boundless void.

Bodhi Patriarch's icy gaze directly Suǒdìng the Rulai Buddha seated high on the Liántái, as well as the trembling Six-Eared Macaque.

The next second.

Bodhi's voice echoed throughout the universe.

"Rulai."

"You have calculated all heavenly secrets, you have calculated all human hearts."

"But you missed one thing."

Bodhi Patriarch stepped into the void rift, his figure instantly disappearing from the spot.

When he reappeared.

He was already standing atop the mountain gate of Da Lei Yin Si!

He looked down from above, gazing at the myriad gods and buddhas, slowly raising the bamboo broom in his hand, pointing at the supreme Buddha Patriarch.

"That is……"

"Some disciples, the master can beat."

"Others…… must not even touch!!!"