Chapter 536: The Incarnation of an Ancient Great Divine Artisan

"To get out is simple: just wait five hundred years. We agreed—five hundred years of suppression, it must be five hundred years. I've claimed Sun Wukong; you'll have to take his place instead. The Buddha embraces compassion—surely he won't mind."

Luo Fu's calm voice reached the Buddha's ears.

Such contempt enraged the Buddha further; visible flames of fury shot from his eyes, and beneath the Five Fingers Mountain, boundless Buddhist light surged more frequently.

Unfortunately, the Buddha's burning rage was doomed to be nothing but impotent fury.

Ignoring the Buddha's reaction, Luo Fu turned his gaze back to the Heavenly Beyond—more precisely, to Saint Zhunti's Seven Treasures Marvelous Tree.

After the Five Fingers Mountain pierced the Heavenly Beyond's barrier and descended into the Earth Immortal Realm.

The Seven Treasures Marvelous Tree, unable to stop it, retracted its ten-thousand-zhang radiance and halted in place.

It did not follow the Five Fingers Mountain into the Earth Immortal Realm, nor did it strike Luo Fu.

It did not enter the Earth Immortal Realm because of Ancestor Hongjun's prohibition. It did not strike Luo Fu because Saint Zhunti suddenly realized he could not see through Luo Fu.

Yes—he could not see through Luo Fu.

Luo Fu's displayed abilities were not beyond bounds; all were merely Quasi-Saint-level power and Quasi-Saint-level Dao comprehension.

Yet the number of Daos Luo Fu displayed was terrifying.

Earlier, when healing Sun Wukong, Luo Fu had revealed profound mastery of Space Dao, Creation Dao, and Cause-and-Effect Dao.

When suppressing the Buddha, Luo Fu effortlessly recreated Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind, opening a complete world capable of nurturing life.

This feat was not merely about Space Dao—it involved many profound Daos.

Let's not talk about anything deep.

Put simply, to recreate Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind and nurture life within a world,

besides Space Dao, one would at least need the Daos of Five Phases, Yin-Yang, Thunder, Earth, Wind of Xun, Time, and Creation.

Mastering even one of these Daos is enough to break into the Quasi-Saint Realm.

Yin-Yang, Space, Time, and Creation are among the most powerful Daos; mastery of any one qualifies one as a strong Quasi-Saint.

Yet Luo Fu mastered them all.

Moreover, from how Luo Fu effortlessly opened several worlds with a mere gesture, it was clear his comprehension of these Daos approached that of a Quasi-Saint peak.

Daos are not easily comprehended.

If Daos were easy to grasp, Quasi-Saints would not be called Great Divine Artisans.

But on Luo Fu, this rule seemed inapplicable.

He controlled dozens of Daos, and his comprehension of each was nearly equal to that of a Quasi-Saint peak.

Even a Saint might not achieve this.

Thus, even Saint Zhunti found himself unable to see through Luo Fu.

Previously, Saint Zhunti had believed Luo Fu was the incarnation of some ancient Great Divine Artisan.

He could not discern Luo Fu's origins because a Saint had concealed his heavenly fate.

After witnessing Luo Fu's abilities, Saint Zhunti now had doubts.

With Luo Fu's Dao comprehension, he could almost be called the strongest beneath the Saints.

Among all ancient Great Divine Artisans Saint Zhunti knew, none matched Luo Fu's terrifying Dao mastery.

It was not that those ancient Great Divine Artisans had weak Dao comprehension—they had each reached profound depths in their own favored Daos.

But Luo Fu mastered too many Daos.

Based on Luo Fu's displayed Dao comprehension, even all Great Divine Artisans of the Three Realms combined might not surpass him.

Yet what puzzled Saint Zhunti was that he had never heard of Luo Fu before.

As a Saint, Saint Zhunti was not omniscient, but any Great Divine Artisan who had ever acted within the Three Realms could not escape a Saint's calculation.

A being of near-Saint power, yet utterly unknown in the Three Realms.

At this moment, Luo Fu had become a haze in Saint Zhunti's eyes.

This was the first time Saint Zhunti had felt this way.

Worse still, this mysterious, immensely powerful stranger had appeared on the scene as an enemy of Buddhism.

Just as he could not fathom Luo Fu's origins, Saint Zhunti could not understand why Luo Fu opposed Buddhism.

Just as he could not fathom Luo Fu's origins, Saint Zhunti also truly could not understand why Luo Fu was opposed to his Buddhist sect.

Though Sun Wukong had an extraordinary origin, to a Quasi-Saint, he was merely ordinary.

Buddhism valued Sun Wukong only because he was the protagonist of the Journey to the West, tied to the coming calamity.

If Sun Wukong were not the calamity's central figure, he would not have warranted the Buddha's personal intervention.

The next calamity would be the Eastward Spread of the Dharma, the great flourishing of Buddhism.

In this calamity, Buddhism stood as the sole beneficiary.

Calamities are cosmic trends; at the Quasi-Saint level, some heavenly secrets are no longer hidden.

The unalterable nature of cosmic trends is a universal truth.

The outcome of this calamity is already sealed; interfering brings no benefit, only the risk of becoming a stepping stone for Buddhism's rise.

All Great Divine Artisans in the Three Realms understood this.

Thus, until now, almost no Great Divine Artisan had intervened directly in the Journey to the West.

With Luo Fu's power, he could not possibly be unaware of this.

With Luo Fu's strength, it was impossible he didn't know this.