Chapter 573: The World is All Buddha (33: 10,000 words today)

"Whoa~ they were all slaughtered? That's a pretty ruthless way to do it!"

Ren Yidao's sudden remark caused Mingxin to choke, nearly spitting out a mouthful of old blood.

"……Ahem."

The corners of Mingxin's mouth twitched, and she gave a light cough, feeling that the mood she had carefully built up had vanished.

She had been trying so hard to recount that heavy history, yet she hadn't expected Ren Yidao to say something so flippant.

"Don't look at me like that. Isn't what I said the truth? In that situation, didn't he kill all three Sect Leaders?"

"……Yes." Mingxin took a deep breath and nodded with difficulty.

Although that was the situation and that was the fact, sometimes, things couldn't be stated so simply.

"Then there you go. I'm not from the Western Desert, so why must I speak of it so heavily?"

Huhu, I refuse to engage in dark, tragic, and depressing stories.

Especially those that have nothing to do with me.

I'm not close with them anyway, so if they died, they died—what does that have to do with me?

Ren Yidao spread his hands and shrugged innocently, "So? What was the reaction of those three sects after learning this news? Surely they didn't just surrender directly because one Sect Leader died?"

"That is where the problem lies, because those three Sect Leaders all committed suicide."

"Hm?"

"Logically speaking, the three Sect Leaders were all powerhouses at the Ask Dao Peak. If the three of them joined forces, even the Fozhu would not be able to retreat unscathed, let alone take them down without attracting anyone's attention."

Mingxin finally adjusted her emotions and returned to the tone she had used while narrating earlier: "Each of their faces retained a sincere smile; they personally severed their own heart meridians and ended their own Divine Souls. Outsiders could not fake this."

"Furthermore, before committing suicide, each of them used a special method to leave behind a final testament, stating that this was their own will, that they were not coerced by anyone, and they requested that the three sects merge into one, become the Lingyu Sect, and be incorporated into Spirit Mountain."

"Although all three Sect Leaders left testaments, and each could only be unlocked by their respective sects, none of the sects were willing to acknowledge them. They held generational blood feuds against one another, and it was simply impossible for them to merge into a single sect."

As she spoke, Mingxin briefly described the grievances between these three sects.

The Joy Zen Sect loved to snatch Dao companions from the Silk Road Immortal Pavilion to use as Cauldrons. Every time, they would strike quickly once they had them in hand, and by the time the people from the Immortal Pavilion arrived, the victims had already become Cauldron dregs or had fallen completely.

The Silk Road Immortal Pavilion controlled the trade routes of the Western Desert and imposed trade blockades on the Taotie Sect, making it extremely difficult for them to obtain food and driving prices dozens of times higher than for ordinary people.

The Taotie Sect's techniques countered the Joy Zen Sect; their disciples had only appetite and no lust. They frequently plundered the Joy Zen Sect's resources, and every time they did, they would kill without fail, never leaving any survivors.

These three were "intertwined with one another," forming a perfect and solid triangle.

To summarize in one sentence.

All members of the three sects were villains; not a single one of them was a good person.

Between them, it wasn't quite a blood feud, but there was absolutely no possibility of them becoming allies.

"In the end, the three sects took a step back, saying only that they would not hold Spirit Mountain and the Fozhu responsible, tacitly accepting that the Sect Leaders had committed suicide, and the matter ended there. However, the merger was also called off."

"The Fozhu refused?"

"No, the Fozhu agreed. He accepted the three sects' concession without coercion, allowing them to leave Spirit Mountain."

"Oh?"

Ren Yidao was a bit curious now. What exactly had this Fozhu done? And what did he want to do?

"And then? It couldn't have just ended like that, right?"

Since there was no possibility of peace talks between the three sects, and no violent coercion had been used, how did this Lingyu Sect come to be?

"The matter naturally did not end so simply. On the thirtieth day after his resurrection, the Fozhu walked out of Spirit Mountain, traveled across the Western Desert, and visited various sects. Everywhere he went, he would open an altar to preach."

"This preaching business, I'm afraid there's a big problem with it, right?"

"That is exactly the case."

Mingxin nodded gently, a faint fear in her eyes, "Although the Fozhu had opened altars to preach like this before, he had only ever expounded on Buddhism and possessed no power of bewitchment."

"But that time, after the Fozhu finished preaching, all the listeners—regardless of whether they were good or evil, friend or foe—would all voluntarily take refuge in Spirit Mountain, and some even brought their entire sects to join."

"This was still viewed as a miracle, a grand achievement for the flourishing of Buddhism. The entire Spirit Mountain was greatly encouraged and accepted everyone."

"But paper cannot wrap up fire after all; soon, people noticed the problem and felt that something was very wrong."

If one or two sects joined Spirit Mountain, that would be fine; if three or four did, that would also be normal... but everyone suddenly had their Buddha-hearts flare up and wanted to put down their butcher knives?

Is that possible?

That is impossible!

Especially those big shots of the Demon sects; they were all giants of the Demonic path—how could they possibly surrender to Buddhism so easily!

No one is a fool; there are always smart people.

The remaining people soon associated this with the anomalies after the deaths of the three Sect Leaders and realized there was a major problem with the Fozhu.

Even powerhouses at the Ask Dao Peak could not resist, let alone people like them.

"Panic spread throughout the Western Desert. For a time, everyone felt endangered. They no longer allowed the Fozhu to come to them to preach, and some even moved their entire sects to avoid him."

"But regarding the demands of those people, the Fozhu still did not object. As long as others did not allow it, he would not go, and would simply walk toward the next sect."

"Not all sects believed that rumor. There were also sects that held trust in the Fozhu and invited him to their sects to open an altar and preach. Those sects showed no signs of being affected and remained as usual."

"Not only that, some sects tried it out after being half-skeptical. A few individuals still surrendered to Spirit Mountain, but not all of them. Those who voluntarily surrendered also showed no problems; the previous cases should have just been isolated incidents."

"So everyone set their hearts at ease and welcomed the Fozhu to come and preach, because it had been many years since a powerhouse at the Ask Dao Peak had taken the initiative to preach like him."

"Just like that, the Fozhu spent half a year walking through every corner of the Western Desert... and finally, he walked toward the Joy Zen Sect."

"One day later, the Fozhu walked out from within and headed toward the Taotie Sect."

"Three days later, the Fozhu walked out of the Taotie Sect's Holy Court and headed toward the final stop: the Silk Road Immortal Pavilion."

"Upon learning the news, the Silk Road Immortal Pavilion did not rejoice but fled in terror. They split into two groups, intending to escape to Beiming and the Southern Border."

"One group was intercepted just a hundred feet from the boundary by the Fozhu, who had been waiting there long ago, along with countless sects that had 'not yet surrendered to Spirit Mountain'."

"As for the other group... they were intercepted by the combined forces of the Taotie Sect and the Joy Zen Sect. They fought with all their might, but in the end, the Fozhu arrived with the other group."

"After this battle, the entire Western Desert, including the three super sects, surrendered to Spirit Mountain."

"The three sects merged into one, becoming the Lingyu Sect."

"By that day, all voices of opposition had vanished, and only one voice remained in the entire Western Desert: Spirit Mountain."

After saying this, Mingxin let out a long sigh.

"If the story ended here, it would be a good ending; Spirit Mountain unified the Western Desert, and the world was completely at peace." Ren Yidao sighed with emotion, feeling that the events of that year far exceeded his imagination.

This Fozhu's performance was a bit too overpowered!

A single sermon was a mass hypnosis, directly turning enemies into his own thermal weapons.

Impressive.

"But I think it surely didn't end so simply, right? What did he do afterward?"

The story told so far only mentioned that the Fozhu unified the Western Desert, making Spirit Mountain the orthodoxy, the mainstream, and the boss that everyone had to submit to.

Isn't this a good thing?

But the problem is... what about the Demon?

"Yes, it was far from over." Mingxin nodded, his expression growing increasingly calm, and said indifferently: "After everyone in the Western Desert submitted to Spirit Mountain, the Fozhu issued two Edicts."

"One Edict established the Lingyu Sect as the orthodoxy of Buddhism, took the Fozi Jiexing, who was originally supposed to become the next Fozhu, as his chief disciple, and had Jiexing serve as the Sect Leader of the Lingyu Sect to govern the world."

Mingxin's expression was plain, and his voice was as still as an ancient well, but only his eyes flickered with an unusual luster.

"It was not just the Lingyu Sect; all sects in the world were already Buddhist sects and could interpret Buddhist teachings on their own."

"From that day on, whether it was the Ghost Path, the evil path, or even the Demon path, all became the Buddhist path."

"The world is all Buddha."

The world is all Buddha... it would be more accurate to say the world is all Demon.

Ren Yidao shook his head and couldn't help but laugh.

"Why does the Daoist laugh?"

"Nothing, I just feel that the cultivators of the Western Desert are truly having a hard time; it was one thing to have a great Buddha overhead, but who knew this great Buddha would actually turn into a great Demon."

Yes, at this moment, in Ren Yidao's eyes, the Fozhu could almost be equated with the Demon Lord.

"So, as a Novice Monk who has just entered the Earth Realm, how can you know so much? And how did your master tell you these things?"

These secrets certainly could not be understood easily; they had been completely sealed off by the unified Spirit Mountain, and the outside world only had a partial understanding of them.

Mingxin was only around thirty years old and certainly had not experienced the events of that year, so he could only have obtained them from his master.

But as a monk living in the Western Desert, how did that Jinglian Shangren manage to avoid being silenced after knowing these things?

Or rather, how did he ensure that he was not completely assimilated?

"My master didn't tell me directly; he himself forgot these things and became one of them." Mingxin shook his head and took a Jade Slip from his bosom, handing it to Ren Yidao. "But before that, he recorded everything in this Jade Slip and kept it in his bosom at all times."

Ren Yidao took the Jade Slip and quickly browsed through the contents; it was even more comprehensive than what Mingxin had just described, and even contained many more details, but overall there were no problems.

Ren Yidao returned the Jade Slip to Mingxin and said in a deep voice: "Why choose me? Or rather, why are you willing to tell me these things?"

Why tell me these secrets?

Are you expecting me to do something?

Mingxin carefully put the Jade Slip away, tucked it into his bosom, and shook his head: "You could have known these things; if you had entered my master's room that day, you would have discovered this Jade Slip and would have known the truth earlier than I did."

Ren Yidao shook his head; he had not yet sunk so low as to desecrate the deceased whom he did not know.

"Because you are an outsider and will not have any connection with the Western Desert."

Mingxin suddenly smiled when he said this and blinked at Ren Yidao, "And also because the Daoist is a soft-hearted person who is willing to lend a helping hand to us senior and junior brothers."

As he spoke, Mingxin raised his hand to stroke the little shaved head of Minghui, who was curled up beside him.

Ren Yidao snorted after seeing this action.

Hmph.

Just because you have a junior brother?

Do I not have... oh, I really don't.

But I have Junior Sisters!

And I have two!

Ren Yidao, unwilling to be outdone, raised both hands and pressed them onto the heads of the two Junior Sisters who were lying down and sleeping on his left and right legs.

Just because you have a head to touch, right?

Not only do I have a head, I have two!

Not only do I have two, they have hair!

"So, you've said so much, what do you want to do now?"

Mingxin stood up, bowed solemnly to Ren Yidao, and bowed deeply.

"This little monk wishes to go to Spirit Mountain."

"What for, going to Spirit Mountain?"

"Ascend Spirit Mountain and become the Fozi."