Chapter 829: Where Is the Buddha?

At such a moment, he was undergoing Tribulation Crossing… Wei Yuan simply revealed himself, guiding the third wave of missiles to impact, then returned to Qingming.

Though Wei Yuan stood at the edge of the Broken Realm, he now had no fear of ordinary Yin Witches or Ling Witches; as for Sheng Witches, he had never truly fought one, so it remained uncertain.

The third wave of missiles was few—only five or six flew in. Below, the witch folk were already scattering in panic, with no concentrated targets. Wei Yuan therefore slammed all five missiles into one spot, where two Divine Archers had hidden; both were blown to severe injuries.

Only then did Wei Yuan return to Qingming, just as the heavenly tribulation began.

The emergence of the Red Lotus Honglian Puti was bound by great karmic ties to Wei Yuan, and it came with the Universal Liberation Mantra, immensely powerful. Thus, it had already become an inseparable part of mortal affairs; its Tribulation Crossing was equivalent to mortal affairs undergoing partial Tribulation Crossing.

This heavenly tribulation was strangely peculiar: ten thousand Buddhas on Yunshan all glared in fury, countless demon-subduing runes rained down like a storm, as if suppressing some ultimate demonic evil.

Yet from the body of the Red Lotus Honglian Puti, ten thousand brilliant crimson rays burst forth, all black-red karmic forces merging into the light and shooting straight toward the heavens! Where the crimson light struck, the demon-subduing runes dissolved like snow.

The two sides remained locked in stalemate. Wei Yuan, drawing on his vast experience with heavenly tribulations, instinctively felt that if this continued, it would last an excruciatingly long time. His own mind-realm was already plagued by constant tribulations—he could not possibly preside over the Dao Foundation Ceremony, let alone repel the witch clan's assault.

At that moment, Wei Yuan's heart stirred. The Maiden Yin-Yang sent him a thought: this tribulation was strange—intervention was required.

The tribulation being strange was nothing unusual; Wei Yuan had never encountered a normal heavenly tribulation, especially after that one inexplicable Mind Demon Tribulation that ended without resolution—he still didn't know how it had ended. But the Maiden Yin-Yang actively demanding intervention raised his alertness. Her essence was nearly the Dao itself; she might have sensed something Wei Yuan had missed.

Wei Yuan knew his constitution was peculiar and dared not approach, so he permitted the Maiden Yin-Yang to intervene. Yet he found it strange: in mortal affairs, she could freely use countless things—what needed his permission?

The next instant, he understood.

Vast streams of golden Ji Liuli fortune surged into the sky, sealing directly toward the heavens. The golden Ji Liuli was formless and intangible, passing through the fierce clash of crimson light and demon-subduing incantations, vanishing above the heavens. With each fragment of golden fortune ascending, the ten thousand Buddhas on Yunshan grew fainter and more illusory, the power of the falling demon-subduing incantations diminished sharply, and the crimson rays surged higher—no longer dissolving merely dozens of incantations, but now canceling hundreds.

The ten thousand Buddhas on Yunshan were filled with furious rage. Many lower-ranked Buddhas and Arhats left their lotus thrones, flying down to sacrifice themselves to subdue demons.

At that moment, the Red Lotus Honglian Puti suddenly transformed entirely into Ji Liuli, radiating ten thousand beams of Ji Liuli Buddha light that shot skyward. The collision of Buddha light from heaven and earth was a rare spectacle.

Finally, the ten thousand Buddhas on Yunshan vanished, and the heavens of mortal affairs returned to their original form. Wei Yuan flew immediately to where the golden Ji Liuli fortune had been stored—but where once had stretched a vast sea of golden Ji Liuli, only a few small pools remained, totaling perhaps a hundred or so fragments of fortune.

This mysterious fortune, originating from the Yellow Springs Celestial Realm, had been entirely consumed during the Red Lotus Honglian Puti's Tribulation Crossing? Was this golden Ji Liuli cloud-sea, then, meant solely for the Red Lotus Honglian Puti's Tribulation Crossing?

It was merely a Honglian Puti tree—how could it command such grandeur?

Wei Yuan thought carefully—and realized it might truly be so.

The Honglian Puti was the Honglian Puti before the Great Wisdom Universal Liberation Luo Han. At first glance, it seemed to possess only one special ability: dissolving karmic forces. Yet in the Merit Hall of Tai Chu Palace, the total number of treasures capable of handling karmic forces could be counted on one hand—and together, they had dissolved far less than the Red Lotus Honglian Puti. The Red Lotus Honglian Puti's method of dissolving karma was singular: the Red Lotus Universal Liberation Mantra. Wei Yuan had once used it to purify eight hundred thousand witch folk in one breath…

Thinking of this, it truly seemed… absurd.

Wei Yuan stood frozen for a moment. Though he now understood these golden Ji Liuli fortunes had never truly belonged to him, they had passed before his eyes, and he had spent considerable time planning how to use them—so now his heart felt strangely hollow.

Wei Yuan steadied his emotions and flew to the Red Lotus Honglian Puti. The tree had grown slightly shorter; its trunk faintly shimmered with Ji Liuli hue, its leaves a deep green, yet the tips glowed with a bright crimson. Seeing Wei Yuan arrive, a small monk with red lips and white teeth stepped forth from the tree, clad in a pale moon-colored robe, his entire form clear, luminous, and untouched by a single speck of dust.

The small monk stood no more than four feet tall, his bald head gleaming like the finest jade carved to perfection. He bowed to Wei Yuan and said: "I owe you, Immortal Sovereign, a debt of enlightenment I cannot repay in words."

"You—you're like this now?" Wei Yuan pointed at the monk, the bald head glaringly blinding.

"I have always been this way. In my past life, I was this way. In the life before that, I was this way too. But in those two previous lives, the conditions were not ripe—I perished prematurely and was forced to return before the Buddha, until I met you, Immortal Sovereign, and could reappear in the mortal world."

"Do you remember your past lives?"

"What I should remember, I remember. What I should not, I have forgotten."

Wei Yuan frowned. That answer was meaningless.

"Who gave you those Ji Liuli fortunes?"

Wei Yuan asked this crucial question, yet did not expect an answer. As expected, the small monk looked confused, as if unaware of what Wei Yuan meant.

But Wei Yuan found the monk increasingly suspicious. Other spirit plants that gained sentience and took form—like the Ice Glass Divine Tree, which had successfully crossed its first tribulation—had never struck him as strange; he had accepted Bing Cha naturally.

So Wei Yuan asked again: "You call yourself 'Little Monk'—then where is your Buddha?"

The small monk replied: "My Buddha is right before me."

Wei Yuan suddenly felt dazed, as if seeing a grand yet decaying hall, its door half-closed, the other half collapsed. From above, he gazed down—the entire hall was dark and cold, save for a single ancient lamp burning upon the table before him, its flame dim, illuminating only a square yard around.

Before the table stood three cushions. On the left knelt a small monk. On the far right, the cushion was empty. And upon the center cushion lay a gleaming white skeleton.

In the hall, only the small monk's sutra-chanting echoed—sometimes distant, sometimes near.

Wei Yuan suddenly snapped back to awareness, drenched in cold sweat. When he looked again at the small monk, it was as if he had seen a ghost.

The small monk remained utterly unaware of Wei Yuan's reaction, standing quietly in place.

Wei Yuan steadied his spirit and inquired about the small monk's abilities. After his ascension, the Red Lotus Honglian Puti still dissolved karma—but faster and in greater quantity—and could now slightly mitigate several special forms of karma.

"What special karmas?" Wei Yuan pressed.

The small monk could not say, only replied that he would know when he encountered them.

(End of Chapter)