Chapter 819: Grinding Stone into Buddha, Golden and Silver Children, Tuoba's Unwillingness

The old woman carried the large stone and walked out of Qian Chen's shack with difficulty in the wind that was gradually becoming biting.

Her thin hands held the giant stone, and her stomach, which was burning like fire from hunger, pressed against the giant stone, giving her a strange feeling of fullness.

Making the old woman chant vague scriptures again.

The weight of the stone, the roughness of the surface, the hunger in her belly, all kinds of real pain brought a dizzying feeling like illusion.

Combined with the Buddha statue on the surface of the stone emitting a halo, it actually gave people a strange feeling of being anesthetized by the illusory numbness above this real pain.

And the more real, the heavier the pain, the more this blurry illusory anesthetic feeling could numb the heart that was tortured by the current suffering.

The old woman carried this Buddha statue with effort. Her pain seemed to just exceed this boundary, becoming illusory. She hesitated a little, whether this was the Buddha's grace? Some kind of compassionate revelation.

The old woman had heard of monks burning their fingers to offer to the Buddha. Before, she only thought such monks were too pious. Small families still had to live, so they couldn't hurt their bodies.

But now, carrying this large stone, the old woman suddenly 'attained enlightenment'. Perhaps the Buddha wanted to use her body to test whether she was pious. Only by suffering and bearing everything for her granddaughter could the Buddha descend divine abilities and resolve the three-life suffering of her poor granddaughter.

She carried the stone on her back with effort and decided to circle Huaihuang Town three times, making a vow to replace her granddaughter's suffering.

The evil monk held the Gagong bone bowl, lifted the dark red skirt of his monk's robe, and walked through the mud on the street of the desolate market. The pedestrians around all bowed respectfully, and only a few garrison soldiers with malevolent qi on their bodies did not fear him.

Some even deliberately bumped into him.

Lenatilo, the evil monk, bypassed them in a sorry state, a trace of poisonous light flashing in his triangular eyes. He chanted a mantra in a low voice, and the lamp fire burning with turbid lamp oil inserted in the Gagong bone bowl in his hand lit up by three points silently.

A wisp of invisible blessings of the townspeople was plundered by the lamp fire and added to his body.

Walking further, the mud and garrison soldiers avoided him. The garrison soldier who wanted to bump into him suddenly slipped, fell into the mud, and his companions all laughed loudly.

"Insulting a monk, you deserve retribution!" Lenatilo cursed viciously in his mouth.

Only after seeing the novice monk brought back by Tuoba Tao did he secretly inquire, only to find out that Tuoba Tao didn't bring him back to the mansion, and all that talk about the old Empress Dowager wanting to invite an ascetic monk to pray for blessings was all fart!

He asked clearly about the novice monk's whereabouts and hurried over, intending to take him into his sect first, assuming he wouldn't dare to refuse.

Then cook him well.

Since he is an ascetic novice monk, he should be able to endure much more than a mortal. Let him practice Buddha Dharma, he can practice the Four-Stage Vehicle of his Master—the Candle-Seeing Buddha-Light Vehicle, the Lead-Mercury-Pouring-Ear-Listening-All-Things Vehicle, the Chewing-Rotten-Tongue-Breaking-Right-and-Wrong Vehicle, and the Mud-Covered-Face-Non-Human-Appearance Vehicle.

After practicing these four vehicles, the four consciousnesses of eyes, ears, nose, and tongue will gradually open, and he can enter meditation for nine days to cultivate into a flesh-body Buddha!

At that time, take his skull, and it will be transparent with Buddha nature, possessing five divine abilities.

Then the human skin, human intestines, and various bones will be shared with fellow disciples, and each will take what they need, and several magic treasures will be refined. Even if the Master hears about it, he won't blame him.

Monks who have cultivated to the Four-Stage Vehicle have a foundation, and in the future, they can have blessings to be reborn, and the foundation will be thicker.

"The Master will mostly look for his reincarnation and accept him as a disciple. But since he has already reincarnated, I am still the upper master who guided him into the Dao, and I have karma with him. He still has to serve me with the etiquette of a teacher!"

Thinking of this, he revealed his white teeth and laughed.

Lenatilo chanted a few scriptures to extinguish the restless fire in his heart, and his eyes kept scanning the surroundings. Seeing the people who saw the novice monk say they disappeared in this direction, the lamp fire of the Gagong bone bowl in his hand became ghostly green silently.

Several invisible guardian demon heads sneaked into the shacks on both sides to identify the people inside.

At this moment, a guardian demon head suddenly let out a sharp scream, escaped into the bone bowl in his hand, and obtained the corpse-oil Buddha fire inside before it slightly recovered.

Lenatilo hurriedly looked in that direction, only to see a circle of light entering his eyes, inside which was perfection, merit, self-sufficiency, beauty, and all kinds of good things in the ten directions!

"What a wheel of Buddha light!"

Lenatilo narrowed his eyes and looked: "What kind of Buddha treasure is that?"

He closed his Dharma Eye before he saw clearly that the wheel of Buddha light originated from behind an old woman who was thin and dry, so thin that even if used for sacrifice, people would dislike her for being rough-skinned and having little oil, covered with a carefully tucked red cloth swaddle.

Lenatilo pinched a hand seal and took a breath of air.

He blew a demon wind, swirling and lifting the red cloth, only to see a plain blue stone being carried on her back in a basket, moving forward step by step with difficulty.

On the surface of the blue stone, a Buddha twisting a lamp was vivid.

Lenatilo gasped. He widened his eyes to look, only to see that the Buddha in the blue stone was ground out by someone.

He had also heard his Master mention such Buddha treasures. All things in the world have Buddha nature in their hearts, so crabs carry Arhats, and large clams also nurture Buddhas.

These are all living things with spirit, which are monks who did evil in their previous lives reincarnated into the animal path, continuing to carry the Dharma and practice, waiting to be reborn as humans in the next life.

But the Buddha nature of inanimate objects is even rarer.

It is born and raised by heaven and earth, nurtured for countless ages, and the Buddha nature is deeply hidden.

It must be someone with extreme Buddha affinity, or someone with profound Buddha Dharma who suddenly realizes the Buddha nature within it, opens it, and carves it, only then will it be revealed.

Such natural Buddha treasures can bless Buddha Dharma and practice for three lives.

Connecting the cultivation of previous lives...

But Lenatilo naturally wouldn't use it for such a proper path. He thought to himself: "Such a thing with natural Buddha nature can absorb spiritual light and open light for the refined magic treasure. Such a vivid stone Buddha, I'm afraid it can refine a magic treasure of the perfect level!"

The magic treasure refined by Lenatilo, like most loose cultivators, condenses talismans into arrays, refining them layer by layer.

It is different from the common Buddhist practice of cultivating objects, chanting Buddhist scriptures over and over again, until spiritual light is raised, or a circle of Buddha light falls, refining it circle by circle.

Lenatilo's expression moved, and his footsteps turned, blocking the old woman straight ahead.

The old woman looked down and saw a corner of the dark red monk's robe. She looked up and saw a monk with a fierce face blocking her.

Lenatilo looked displeased and asked: "You old woman, how did you move the stone Buddha buried by my Mituo Temple?"

Where had the old woman ever been questioned by such a noble person? She had always worshipped Buddhism, so she knelt down immediately, trembling: "I... I picked it up at my threshold! It... it was the Buddha who saw my piety and bestowed it..."

"Nonsense, what is your status? A body of five leaks, with ten evil things."

"This kind of lowly and broken life is born to suffer infinitely. Where is there any merit to offer? Quickly give me the stone, and I will move it back to the temple to worship it well. Moving the stone Buddha, I will let you be reborn in the animal path for eight lives! Your whole family will never be reborn..."

The old woman cried when she heard this.

She only knew how to kowtow on the ground...

Tuoba Tao also passed by from afar at this time and came over when he heard the movement here.

Lenatilo's face changed when he saw Tuoba Tao. He hurriedly covered the stone with the red cloth in his hand, and without caring that the old woman was still kneeling, he picked up the stone and wanted to run.

But the stone suddenly became abnormally heavy, making him unable to pick it up, and he fell to the ground on his butt.

Tuoba Tao had already asked the crying old woman on the ground for the reason, and seeing this, he just sneered: "Lenatilo, you said this was something from your Mituo Temple, why can't you pick it up?"

Lenatilo's face changed. He exerted his Dantian energy and pulled hard.

Buddhist cultivation often combines body refining. With this strength, even a small mountain should be pulled up by the roots, but the stone remained motionless.

Lenatilo glanced sharply and only saw Tuoba Tao pinching a seal, and a silver incense burner at his waist floated up slightly, the silver ball inside rotating, seemingly suppressing something.

He knew that his magic power was far from being comparable to Tuoba Tao's, so he could only sneer: "Tuoba Tao, you went to visit Zong Ai's ancestor's door yesterday. It is said that you offered a golden cup from overseas! Why didn't you go to visit my Master's door?"

"Could it be that my Master's ten-thousand-gold body is not even worth a silver cup?"

Tuoba Tao's face sank. He didn't know when the actions of them yesterday fell into the eyes of this evil monk.

The Great Labatu Xie Xie Zushi of the Mituo Temple was already at the Yin Spirit cultivation level, but the relic had only entered the original deity and had not yet cultivated into a golden body.

If he could get a golden cup cast from Sun Gold Essence, wash the golden body with solar bait flowing pulp daily, wash away the filth, and plate it with gold.

The progress of cultivation would be twice as fast as it is now!

If such a villain were allowed to stir up trouble in it, it would be very difficult for the Great Labatu Xie Xie Zushi not to form a prejudice.

Although with Tuoba Tao's background, he was not afraid of this little difficulty, but offending a great cultivator for no reason was something that was not worth it at all.

Looking at Lenatilo's triumphant expression, Tuoba Tao just snorted coldly, threw an ivory tablet, and said to the old woman who was completely stunned on the ground: "Since you have this Buddha affinity, it can be seen that you are also a kind person."

"I, whose milk name is Foli, am a noble person with a great affinity with Buddha. I want to invite this blue stone home to worship. You take the tablet and be a slave in my house!"

The old woman kowtowed: "Noble person's grace!"

All the karma of the conflict was deposited on this blue stone Buddha statue.

Lenatilo left unwillingly. Tuoba Tao did things properly and didn't even leave him a chance for revenge. In this way, he could only leave in shame and return to the temple to prepare to distort the truth with his Master.

Tuoba Tao took the Buddha statue, but his partner beside him said: "Tuoba brother, you know..."

Tuoba Tao raised his hand, stared at the Buddha statue, and laughed: "Interesting, perhaps that novice monk really has Buddha nature, so he could grind this Buddha out with a Zen heart. Lenatilo has eyes but no beads, only thinking this is a natural Buddha treasure, but doesn't know this is also a kind of cultivation, discovering Buddha nature from all things, which is the method of creating caves!"

"It seems this novice monk has the inheritance of creating caves and statues..."

The partner was just slightly stunned—does this mean the mystery of the blue stone Buddha is not as Lenatilo expected?

Then why offend the Great Labatu Xie Xie Zushi for a blue stone statue!

"This kind of villain, you must never think of not offending him! If you want not to offend him, you don't know how much benefit you have to give him, but if you neglect him slightly, he will turn his face. And this kind of person has no ability to accomplish things, only the ability to ruin things..."

Tuoba Tao sneered: "The most urgent thing now is to know why he found out our movements yesterday?"

Tuoba Tao sneered: "The most urgent matter now is to know how he found out about our movements yesterday?"

Glancing into the depths of the desolate market, Tuoba Tao snorted: "The monk you arranged was probably seen by the riffraff in the city. But only we brothers knew about us obtaining the golden cup."

"Is the Captain saying that someone leaked the news to him?"

"It's most likely that the brothers let it slip themselves. Hmph! Go back and investigate to see whose mouth isn't tight!"

Qian Chen sat upright in the shack, looking at that bowl of bitter water, where the golden lotus seed was sprouting slightly, though he didn't know when it had begun.

It seemed that when Qian Chen had an epiphany about the eight sufferings and the demonic nature in his heart drew out the Demonic Blade—the moment of seeking—the lotus seed had quietly cracked open a seam, and a pale yellow sprout had poked through.

He didn't know if it was a root or a sprout.

Everything that happened in Huairen Town naturally could not escape Qian Chen's six divine abilities, such as the Heavenly Eye and the Heart-Reading ability.

The fact that Tuoba Tao was able to arrive in time just now was also because Qian Chen had slightly tugged at the karma, changing the course of events.

But the green stone statue encountered the demonic monk.

Attracting the attention of Mituo Temple for Tuoba Tao...

Qian Chen himself didn't know if it was his doing; if it wasn't him, the course of all these events and the flow of all karma would have pushed toward a great catastrophe.

If it was him, then it was the moment the Demonic Blade of seeking was drawn, gathering all karma toward that one strike.

"Then, what exactly am I seeking?"

"The Demonic Blade gathers karma because the Five Precepts suppress the demonic nature, causing the demonic nature to instinctively resist and evolve this blade, all to swing the blade and break the killing precept!"

"So it pushes the course of all events toward that one strike where I draw the blade from my heart."

"But the Demonic Blade points directly at my true heart, and one of the things it seeks is what I instinctively desire. If I were seeking humanity, the story just now should have had many obstacles, letting humanity shine with brilliance."

"But with a gentle push from me, things changed!"

"Could it be that what I seek is not humanity?"

The Demonic Blade of seeking is incredibly bizarre; it is a blade that does not violate one's true heart and can kill anyone.

Once this blade is swung, no matter who it is, they will reveal a path to their own death.

Letting Qian Chen kill them without violating his heart.

It is incredibly bizarre at its root; not only does it manipulate the true nature of others, revealing where they contradict themselves, but even Qian Chen's own true nature seems to be subtly counter-controlled by the Demonic Blade.

Holding this blade, killing anyone feels incredibly satisfying.

It is simply evil to the core.

Qian Chen was somewhat silent; whatever the Bronze Bird Terrace, whatever the conflict between the Cao clan and the Tuoba clan, even the various disasters to follow, he ignored them all, only swinging the blade strike after strike at himself, peeling away the seeking within his heart.

Therefore, he let the Buddha statue he ground out flow slowly with the karma, heading toward the places where many causes and effects were tangled.

"The Heart-Reading ability makes me not want to hurt anyone, and karma is the burden of everything."

"Then, following from this, the Demonic Blade of seeking manifested by the demonic nature is what gives me a reason to kill anyone! Everyone, under one strike, will seek their own death; first, I receive the fruit of killing karma, then I manipulate all sorts of causes and reasons to send that person to the edge of my blade."

As for Mituo Temple, they are already a group of dead people!

Under the Demonic Blade, they will deliver themselves to my door...

The Five Precepts and the Demonic Blade each walk to the extreme, making Qian Chen incredibly distressed.

At this moment, Tuoba Tao came to the door, and Qian Chen only slightly raised his head—what? Do you also have a path to your own death?

"I have already reported to my grandmother; she has always been a devout believer in Buddhism and is willing to invite the Master over to pray for blessings and make wishes." Tuoba Tao greeted him as soon as he came up.

Qian Chen didn't want to speak, only picked up his alms bowl and stood up, following behind him.

Tuoba Tao settled him in a small courtyard in the mansion, then went back to pay his respects to his grandmother.

The old woman was dressed in Xianbei attire, sitting upright in the Buddha hall, her red coral prayer beads clicking one by one; although she was a woman, she had already cultivated a masculine appearance, and a faint halo of light emanated from a bright red spot between her eyebrows, making the Buddha hall, though dim, not oppressive, but rather filled with a faint sense of peace.

"Did you go to see Zong Ai?"

Old Lady Tuoba said indifferently: "His heart is not upright, and his fate is entangled with yours; one day you may be harmed by him, so you must be careful in your actions. It's a pity you are not a daughter! In the end, it's hard for you to support the main beam of our family..."

"Grandmother!" Tuoba Tao's face looked ugly: "Why is it that when a man's cultivation is successful, he must be demoted to the six border towns? Leaving the men of our family to waste away and degenerate?"

"Hmph! Can your hearts be hidden from me?"

The old grandmother said coldly: "My Tuoba family and the Cao clan have intermarried for generations; if he is the Emperor, I must be the Empress. Back then, that wretch abandoned me and married a new Empress, just to suppress my Tuoba clan and the various Xianbei tribes. And what was the result? He died, and I am still here!"

"With the Old Empress Dowager sitting in Chang'an, our Tuoba family remains as steady as a mountain."

"As for you who have wild ambitions, don't stay in Chang'an and be an eyesore! Come to these six towns; if there is a great change in the future, it will also be..."

The old lady sighed: "The position of Emperor is cursed; ever since the First Emperor, not a single monarch has been able to live forever. The most outstanding men of their Cao family all became Emperors, dying one by one before reaching the Primordial Spirit, while the women of our Tuoba family have survived generation after generation. If there were another outstanding man, the Cao clan would probably not even be able to sleep."

"The most talented man of the Cao clan two generations ago did not inherit the throne for this very reason, cultivating in secret for many years and attaining the Primordial Spirit!"

She raised her hand and touched Tuoba Tao's head: "If you were a woman, you would be the Empress of this generation, possessing the dignity of the mother of the world! It's a pity you are a man."

"Once you are supported, the Cao family will inevitably try every possible way to kill you! Do you know how many men of the Tuoba family have died? At that time, for the sake of the big picture, the Old Empress Dowager could only sit and watch. This is the tacit understanding between our Tuoba family and the Cao clan!"

"On the Ice Well Terrace, Uncle Cao is watching like a tiger; if you break through to Core Formation, you will surely die!"

"Studying the military arts, wasting nearly a hundred years in the six towns, returning to Chang'an with a lifespan near its end and temples turned white..." Tuoba Tao waved his sleeve and said: "Is this my destiny?"

"Do you want to usurp the Cao clan?" Old Empress Dowager Tuoba's gaze was cold: "Do you know that I am also a member of the Cao family?"

Tuoba Tao said coldly: "But the Cao family doesn't want you anymore!"

"Presumptuous... who taught you how to speak to your grandmother?"

"We Xianbei people don't talk about filial piety!" The fire in Tuoba Tao's heart could no longer be suppressed, and he overturned the table in front of him.

The old grandmother looked coldly at this grand-nephew she loved the most, slowly closed her eyes, and said: "If you want to break your destiny, unless our Tuoba family can obtain the Bronze Bird Terrace! But this object is the spiritual treasure that suppresses the Cao clan's lineage; of the nine bronze birds that open the Bronze Bird Terrace, four are in the hands of the Cao clan. In the past, the Old Empress Dowager plotted to get two of them, but they were transferred and sent overseas, thrown to that Daoist Qian of the Supreme Louguan!"

"Are you seeking the Louguan Qi Technique just to get the three bronze birds in the hands of Daoist Qian?"

Tuoba Tao remained silent.

The old woman sighed faintly: "One of the ancient bronze birds was indeed obtained by our Tuoba family, which is why the Cao clan hurriedly sent two bronze birds overseas, fearing that the Old Empress Dowager would gather more than half of the ancient bronze birds and forcibly open the Bronze Bird Terrace."

"Now one bronze bird is in the hands of the demon tribes of the Northern Frontier, one is in the hands of our Tuoba family, two are with the Cao clan, one is estimated to have been hidden by a great Han clan, another is in the Buddhist sect, and the last three are all in the hands of a Primordial Spirit True Immortal of the Supreme Louguan."

"The nine bronze birds are gradually gathering toward one place!"

"I fear that before long, that True Immortal from the Supreme Louguan will return to the old site of Mount Zhongnan..."

"At that time, the Bronze Bird Terrace will return, and the entire Great Wei will be stirred by monstrous waves; the Jin State in the south will not sit by and watch the Bronze Bird Terrace return to the country either. Tao'er! Do you know that this kind of catastrophe is something only a Primordial Spirit True Immortal is qualified to play a part in? You and I are both ants!" The old woman advised not without reason.

Tuoba Tao said firmly: "A great man, if he cannot eat from the five tripods in life, should be cooked in the five tripods in death!"