Chapter 168: Transmitting the Scripture

Withering-Prosperity Zen Method.

In the Nüwa Palace secret chamber, two Nüwa Clan elders of extremely high seniority sat left and right beside Wu Tie, their five-colored pupils holding a faint divine light, unblinking as they stared at the eyes-closed, contemplative Wu Tie.

These two elders are of extremely high seniority and great age; even they themselves have forgotten how many years they have lived.

However, the Nüwa Clan bloodline is extremely ancient and noble, possessing unfathomable divine power; the longer they live, the older they are, the stronger their cultivation, the younger they appear. Judging by appearance alone, these two elders look far more fresh and youthful than even Nuwa Xiaoxi.

They are practically two little girls under ten, their whole bodies exuding a vibrant, youthful life force.

The Six Paths Palace Master sat cross-legged ten zhang in front of Wu Tie, facing him directly.

Perhaps because of inner anger, the blackness on his head had already spread to his chest.

He would sometimes squint at Wu Tie, sometimes glare fiercely at the two Nüwa Clan elders beside him; but whenever those two elders looked back at him, he hastily averted his gaze.

Indeed… Wu Tie conveyed the Six Paths Palace Master's trade proposal to the Nüwa Mother Empress, who immediately sounded the alarm and summoned these two elders who had been in closed-door cultivation for who knows how many years to take charge.

Then the Nüwa Mother brought her innate bargaining talent as a woman to full play, making the Six Paths Palace Master's heart bleed.

In his anger, the Six Paths Palace Master tried to give the Nüwa Mother a minor lesson using a secret technique of his palace, but in front of so many Nüwa women, the two elders taught him a lesson as if adults were playing with a child.

It wasn't a major lesson—just a casual strike that broke thirty-six of the Six Paths Palace Master's bones.

Given the Six Paths Palace Master's robust physique, this injury healed in the span of a single breath, but his face was completely stripped bare.

Thus, the Six Paths Palace Master's inner anger caused the blackness to spread gradually downward from his chest toward his navel.

The two elders then laughed lightly and leisurely, like aged palace maids gossiping about the former dynasty, speaking in a relaxed, idle manner.

"The former master of the Six Paths Palace, whose personal name was Yuan Zheng, we know."

"He is far stronger than you, little brat—well, how many generations ago is he your ancestor?"

"Is he alive or dead? But back then, he pursued us sisters; we just thought he was too ugly and drove him away."

"Speaking of Yuan Zheng, he cultivated the orthodox Six Paths Palace ancestral method and indeed reached such a profound level."

"You little baldy, how did you cultivate such a strange technique? Black and white all over—do you think you're some kind of chameleon lizard?"

The Six Paths Palace Master's inner anger suddenly dissipated by half.

Yuan Zheng, that was his predecessor nine generations ago in the Six Paths Palace; his cultivation was exquisite, his strength terrifyingly formidable—during his tenure as head of the Six Paths Palace, he personally beheaded three successive Changsheng Sect Masters, nearly wiping out the sect.

These two elders who look so fresh and youthful are actually old ghosts from Yuan Zheng's era.

The Six Paths Palace Master's inner anger continued to fade; the skin near his chest returned to its fair complexion, and the blackness gradually receded to his neck.

He let out a deep breath, gently pressed his palms together, and bowed to the two elders: "Seniors, were you old acquaintances of Patriarch Yuan Zheng? I am ashamed—I only saw the phrase 'Withering-Prosperity' on a fragmentary page, rashly cultivated it, and thus brought about today's calamity."

The two elders smiled and spoke softly with the Six Paths Palace Master.

Wu Tie then focused all his spirit, searching bit by bit through the knowledge inherited from Old Tie for records concerning 'Buddha,' 'Zen,' and 'Withering-Prosperity'.

Originally, Wu Tie planned to dismiss the Six Paths Palace Master with only the most superficial, easily retrievable scriptures.

But after the Nüwa Mother's bargaining, the Six Paths Palace Master was forced to accept an extremely harsh unequal treaty; the more Wu Tie produced, the greater his gain, so… this compelled Wu Tie to properly organize the inherited knowledge he had obtained.

"Senior Palace Master, I have here a 'Heart Sutra' that can be called the foundation of your Buddhist mind cultivation…" Wu Tie said in a low voice: "Give me your Great Power Subduing Dragon Hand divine ability."

The Six Paths Palace Master's eyes lit up.

Wu Tie said in a low voice: "This scripture can suppress inner demons, clear the mind and focus the spirit; it is especially important for you, Senior Palace Master."

The elder seated to Wu Tie's left chuckled lightly: "Wu Tie, child, just recite it—don't fear this little baldy will renege or play tricks… We have some understanding of the Six Paths Palace's techniques, so we can roughly assess the value of the scripture you give him."

The elder on the right smiled ever more kindly: "Six Paths Palace people are stubborn and irritable; it's rare to have someone voluntarily come forward to be slaughtered… Looking at that little baldy's big head and ears, there's surely plenty of profit to be had."

Wu Tie smiled and softly chanted: "Guanyin Bodhisattva…"

The Six Paths Palace Master's body trembled, and two points of white light suddenly burst from his pupils.

The fine white light was merely pinpoint-sized, but it rapidly spread—pinpoint, then mung-bean-sized, then soybean-sized—soon his whole eyeball became a pure, flawless white like jade.

The Six Paths Palace Master immediately began to chant along with Wu Tie.

A 'Heart Sutra' is just over two hundred characters; read from Wu Tie's mouth it was ordinary, but after the Six Paths Palace Master chanted it three times in succession, his voice suddenly became like a great bell, shaking the entire secret chamber faintly.

The blackness on the Six Paths Palace Master's body rapidly dissipated; after chanting the 'Heart Sutra' nine times, his whole body became lustrous like jade, with no trace of discoloration. Moreover, each of his pores emitted a faint glimmer of light, and the air filled with a rich, fragrant aroma that made Wu Tie involuntarily inhale deeply.

This fragrance emanating from within the Six Paths Palace Master's body, combined with the radiance radiating from his whole self, filled him with an indescribable dignity and solemnity, as if some wondrous transformation were taking place inside him.

After chanting the 'Heart Sutra' eighteen times in a row, the Six Paths Palace Master exclaimed, flipped his palm, and a white flood-dragon skin nearly a hundred meters long appeared in his hand. He unfolded the skin, bit his fingertip, and began to transcribe the 'Heart Sutra' onto it with his own blood.

The blood tracing from his fingertip shone bright and clear, like glazed treasure jade emitting strange crystal light; its texture was thick and solid, and when the plasma fell onto the flood-dragon skin it sank deep at once, as if Old Tie had branded it in.

After the plasma imprinted into the flood-dragon skin, the reddish plasma swiftly transformed into gold-red, with fine golden light rolling off it like a small halo of gold hovering above the skin.

The Six Paths Palace Master's calligraphy is average, not even as good as Grey Master's writing.

Yet his characters are extremely square and firm, each stroke sharp as if chopped by knife and axe; together with the gleaming divine light, the radiance suffusing the scene makes even this scroll of flood-dragon skin mysteriously reek of a strong sacred aura.

Wu Tie watched with a smile as the Six Paths Palace Master, solemn and focused, inscribed the scripture onto the flood-dragon skin with his fingertip blood.

The two youthful, lovely Nüwa Clan elders seated to his left and right lightly yawned, occasionally patting their rosy little lips with their palms, looking utterly bored.

Originally seated cross-legged on the ground, when he began transcribing the scripture he knelt solemnly on both knees, every movement utterly reverent and earnest.

Golden radiance flickered in the secret chamber, gilding all four people within with a thin layer of sacred light.

Wu Tie watched the earnest, stroke-by-stroke transcribing Six Paths Palace Master and suddenly thought of Grey Master and Old Tie.

Wisdom, knowledge, inheritance…

Wu Tie recalled many of the things Grey Master had told him.

He recalled even more of what Old Tie had said to him in that secret realm, and remembered Old Tie's advice to always keep his spine straight.

Although the Six Paths Palace Master was clearly kneeling on the ground to transcribe the scripture, his spine was bolt upright, straight as a dragon or elephant, unbreakable.

In Wu Tie's mind, another lengthy scripture surfaced.

"Senior Palace Master, this scripture is called the 'Diamond Sutra'—it is said to be a fundamental, extremely important text of Mahayana Buddhist cultivation… I don't understand your principles, but it's rather long, so memorize it carefully."

The Six Paths Palace Master smiled and lifted his head.

His whole body was lustrous like jade, emitting radiance; the secret chamber filled with fragrant vapors, like a fairyland blessed by immortals.

He looked at Wu Tie and smiled gently: "Good."

With a flip of his hand, the golden statue of the Subduing Dragon Arhat that Wu Tie had seen silently flew out and landed before him. The Six Paths Palace Master lightly clapped his hands, and three more golden statues, each over a foot tall, condensed in his palm.

"Please, Junior Wu Tie, transmit the sutras…" the Six Paths Palace Master gently placed the three golden statues before Wu Tie.

The two Wa tribe Elders smiled lightly, looking at these golden statues with great satisfaction.

These golden statues were condensed by the Six Paths Palace Master using his own magical power and essence; each statue required enormous exertion from him, even shaking his foundation.

Unless it was to cultivate a core true-transmission disciple of the Six Paths Palace, one hoped to inherit the Palace Master's throne, the Six Paths Palace Master would never normally do something that inflicted such heavy harm on himself.

Not mentioning the supernatural-power inheritance stored in these golden statues, just speaking of the pure power within that can be directly absorbed to boost one's magical cultivation, the power contained in each golden statue is roughly equivalent to over a hundred high-grade primal fruits.

Especially since these were personally condensed by the Six Paths Palace Master.

The Six Paths Palace's cultivation method focuses on tempering the flesh and polishing the tendons, bones, and blood; these golden statues greatly benefit the physical body, able to cleanse the essence and purify the marrow, so that even a delicate sixteen-year-old girl, after using them, could become a heroic lass capable of killing an old bear with a single punch!

Wu Tie recited the Diamond Sutra word for word, feeling nothing.

While the Six Paths Palace Master followed Wu Tie in reciting the Diamond Sutra, he solemnly copied the sutra onto flood dragon hide; the fine light on his body grew brighter, the fragrance from him grew stronger, and within him came faint dragon roars and tiger howls, the sound of surging waves—profound and inscrutable, indescribable.

The Diamond Sutra, several thousand words long, was copied by the Six Paths Palace Master with extremely neat brushstrokes, utmost care and solemnity, thus taking a full three hours before he finished transcribing it onto flood dragon hide.

Afterward, Wu Tie, from the knowledge inherited from Old Iron, found the Lankavatara Sutra, Lotus Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, Amitabha Sutra, and other scriptures; it took a full five days and six nights, finally enabling the Six Paths Palace Master to transcribe these onto flood dragon hide.

While orally transmitting these sutras, Wu Tie also found in his memory some predecessors' insights and explanations of these sutras, and so on.

When Wu Tie merely orally transmitted the sutras, the Six Paths Palace Master's countenance was solemn and reverent, meticulously copying every character without the slightest error.

When Wu Tie orally transmitted those insights and explanations, perhaps because they happened to touch upon some tranquility of the Six Paths Palace Master and answered some of his doubts, he could not help but beam with joy, his body swaying slightly, and even several times he involuntarily jumped up, waving his arms and legs, laughing loudly.

One miraculous power relic after another was continually condensed by the Six Paths Palace Master.

Each miraculous power relic was a great drain on the Six Paths Palace Master; over several days and nights, Wu Tie several times felt the Master's aura become extremely faint. But as a new passage was orally transmitted, and as certain insights and explanations prompted the Six Paths Palace Master to wave his arms and legs…

Especially when the Six Paths Palace Master burst into laughter, involuntarily beaming and waving his arms and legs, his aura rose layer by layer, as if a jeweled pagoda were being built layer by layer before Wu Tie's eyes, its whole body studded with diamond relics, emitting a blinding light that one could not bear to look at.

The two Wa tribe Elders initially did not think much of Wu Tie's transmission of the sutras.

In their view, this was merely the Wa Matriarch seeking an opportunity to thoroughly trounce the Six Paths Palace Master; who let this fellow initially bring eighteen Heavenly Kings of the Palace, intending to strike at Wu Tie?

The Wa Matriarch's heart was not generous; she fully intended to let the Six Paths Palace Master go back with nothing but a pair of underpants.

But as Wu Tie transmitted those sutras, which grew ever more profound and mysterious, and the Six Paths Palace Master underwent this wondrous, indescribable change, the two Elders' faces gradually grew solemn; they stopped yawning, stopped lounging, and instead sat upright with straight backs, their eyes like knives fixed on the Six Paths Palace Master.

With a long exhalation of 'hu', Wu Tie finally finished transmitting all the sutras he could recall from his inheritance memories.

After reciting the sutras nonstop for several days and nights without rest, making a 'papapa' sound, Wu Tie felt his tongue cramping.

Before him lay over a hundred miraculous power relics, each representing a great supernatural ability of the Six Paths Palace; moreover, there were two huge-capacity bracelets holding most of the Six Paths Palace Master's wealth.

Wu Tie stood up, shook his hand, and said, 'Senior Palace Master, everything I remember is here.'

The Six Paths Palace Master smiled, placed his palms together, and suddenly knelt to bow to Wu Tie: 'Wu Tie, your kindness in transmitting the sutras, the Six Paths Palace will never forget.'