Chapter 597: Ten Thousand Daos (33 Today 1w)

"Little mouse, climb the lamp stand."

"Steal the oil to eat, can't get down."

"Rolling down with a squeak and a tumble~"

Although Ren Yidao was confident in his concealment, he transformed into a pure white mouse and wove through the mountainside of Spirit Mountain, dodging the gazes of others, heading straight for the residences of Qixing and Tuosheng.

He risked coming here to search, naturally not just to find "a few oranges," but because he had serious business to attend to.

Ren Yidao had obtained half of the Future Method from that Demon Buddha statue, but now he had discovered a problem: his understanding of Buddhism was not particularly high... he could not understand it.

Unlike the feeling of instant mastery from the previous few times, he found this half of the Future Method somewhat hazy; it wasn't that he couldn't understand it at all, but he always felt as if a layer of fog was blocking his vision.

After thinking for a long time, he reached a conclusion with a high probability—his own Buddhist scholarship was not high enough.

The Ten Thousand Demon Incarnation Art was related to demons, the Ten Thousand Dao Melting Thought Art was related to the Daoist sects, and this half of the Future Method seemed to be related to Buddhism... or more accurately, it should be related to the "future."

He had a past life, so he could easily grasp the Past Method.

He lived in the present, so he could also fully comprehend the Present Self.

But for the future alone, he felt somewhat lost.

The future is filled with infinite possibilities.

He could imagine himself invincible in the future, and firmly believe that one day he would be able to reach the peak of this world, but that was ultimately just a hypothesis, perhaps just one branch of the endless tributaries of fate.

He needed Buddhism's understanding of the future to help him comprehend the future.

However, although it is said that mastering one method leads to mastering all methods, the knowledge of Buddhism is indeed quite complex and not so easily mastered.

But Heaven does not cut off all paths, and Ren Yidao also had a way to take a shortcut.

——Those Buddha beads, or rather, Buddha hearts.

When Mingxin was gaining insights from those two thousand-plus Buddha beads, Ren Yidao had also absorbed them into his mind.

Unlike Mingxin's method of carefully understanding them and then completely integrating them into his own Buddhist Dao, Ren Yidao's approach was very simple and crude.

He completely swallowed them whole, gulping down all two thousand Buddhist Daos without thinking, treating them entirely as a reference, as a known direction, to eliminate an option for himself.

He was very clear about his own needs; he did not intend to become a Buddhist scholar, nor did he intend to shave his head and become a bald caped hero. All he wanted was the understanding of the future held by these Buddhist Daos.

Since there was a way to take a shortcut, why not use it?

Previously, he did not plunder them all to prevent a riot on Spirit Mountain, but now there was no such risk.

It was exactly the time to take action!

Moreover, Ren Yidao did not need to take the lives of these reserve Fozi, nor did he need to resort to open robbery; he only needed to perceive all the Buddha beads on them, and recording them into his brain would be enough.

Sneaking to their side, copying the Dao techniques of the Buddha beads, and then sneaking away—nothing happened, and no one would be harmed.

The risk was low, but the returns were extremely high!

Do it!

Dark night and high wind—thief simulation!

Ren Yidao's first target was the monk Tuosheng, who had left a deep impression on him.

There were currently two reserve Buddha's Sons on the mountainside of Spirit Mountain: one was the nun Qixing, whose strength might exceed the Void Refinement realm, and the other was this monk Tuosheng, who had survived a hundred battles.

Judging by cultivation, the danger level of the nun Qixing was higher than that of the monk Tuosheng; Ren Yidao should have gone to copy the Buddha beads on Qixing first when his state was at its fullest.

But he still chose Tuosheng, and the reason was simple: Tuosheng's perception was sharper than Qixing's!

That sharp instinct left behind after experiencing countless battles exceeded mere cultivation.

Just when Ren Yidao followed his scent to the Cave Abode, he was somewhat surprised; the Cave Abode was not closed, and furthermore, he actually sensed two auras here.

The nun Qixing was also there!

On this dark and windy night, a lone man and woman, a monk and a nun, what were they doing here sneakily?

Ren Yidao really wanted to shout "room inspection" and rush in to catch them on the spot, but unfortunately, given the current situation, he could only endure it first and sneak inside.

As soon as he entered, Ren Yidao understood what they were actually doing.

These two were having a secret meeting... oh, it was a secret connection.

Under the candlelight, the nun Qixing had a serious expression and said in a deep voice: "You and I must join forces, otherwise, both of us will be suppressed by Mingxin and unable to lift our heads."

She spoke seriously, but Tuosheng reacted coldly, sitting on the ground in a sprawling manner, and snorted: "Hmph! Why should I trust you? If you can make a move against him, why can't you make a move against me?"

Although he looked like a brute, he was not just a brute.

"You have seen the current situation; Mingxin is already the leader of the first trial. If he is the same in the second trial, then we will have no chance of winning!" Qixing also snorted at this point, "And don't say you aren't tempted, otherwise you wouldn't have let me into your Cave Abode! There is no need for mutual trust between us; after joining forces to suppress him, we will each rely on our own abilities."

Tuosheng was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice: "... Is it necessary to be this careful? He is just a piece of trash who took a shortcut."

"Yes, he took a shortcut, but the Fozi acknowledged it, and Spirit Mountain acknowledged it." Qixing said with a cold face, "Since he can take a shortcut, then we can too."

Tuosheng was silent for a moment, somewhat tempted, closed the Restriction of the Cave Abode, and asked in a deep voice: "... What do you want to do?"

And the moment he closed the Restriction, the little white mouse hiding in the shadows and copying the Buddhist Dao from the Buddha beads rolled its eyes.

What is your situation?

Why did you suddenly close the door? Don't you know there are others here!

Ren Yidao was not interested in their conspiracy; he just wanted to copy all the Buddha beads on these two people.

As for how to deal with Mingxin, that was his own business; he would at most give a reminder, but he would not help him solve it.

Ren Yidao had already done enough; the next step was up to Mingxin himself. If he couldn't even handle this little matter, there was no need to invest in him.

Half an hour later, the nun Qixing left the Cave Abode of the monk Tuosheng, and following her out from inside was a pure white shadow.

The nun Qixing seemed to sense something and looked back, but after a careful search, she found no traces and could only attribute it to a peculiar phenomenon on Spirit Mountain.

And Ren Yidao, having eaten and drunk his fill, had long since left when she was searching, passed through the doorway, arrived at the mountainside, and began to continue his thief simulation.

After mastering more than three thousand three hundred Buddhist Daos, Ren Yidao felt that the half-step Future Method was clearer and became more certain that his direction was not wrong, so he worked even harder, weaving everywhere.

Although the remaining reserve Fozi were more numerous, they were not as sharp, and Ren Yidao's harvest grew rapidly.

Four thousand Buddhist Daos.

Five thousand strands of Buddhist Dao.

……

Seven thousand strands of Buddhist Dao.

Nine thousand strands of Buddhist Dao.

The moment the first ray of the rising sun spilled onto the peak of Spirit Mountain, causing the entire summit to shine with brilliant golden light, Ren Yidao finally absorbed the ten-thousandth strand of Buddhist Dao.

Ten thousand!

A full ten thousand strands of Buddhist Dharma surged in Ren Yidao's mind; ten thousand speculations about the future and the afterlife constantly shifted, flashing before his eyes one by one.

The future, which had originally been unclear, dissipated along with the appearance of each strand of Buddhist Dharma; the fog on the tributaries of fate was peeled away layer by layer, becoming less and less until, in the end, only one remained.

At that very same moment, the half of the Future Method that had been blurry in Ren Yidao's mind encountered no more obstacles, instantly becoming fully mastered.

But before Ren Yidao could figure out what the effects of this half of the Future Method actually were, that single remaining future suddenly underwent a change.

Ren Yidao seemed to see a figure standing at the end of the tributary of fate.

He knew that it was him, the future him, representing a certain possibility of the future.

And the moment he thought this, that figure actually seemed to notice the gaze cast from the past and slowly turned its body around.

The instant two similar pairs of eyes met, it was as if a thunderclap exploded in Ren Yidao's mind; countless chaotic thoughts rushed across the river of time and charged directly into his mind.

In this instant, Ren Yidao felt as if his head had exploded, as if someone had dropped a nuclear bomb on it.

Boom!!!

He almost couldn't maintain his disguise, but relying on his final willpower and risking exposure, he rushed all the way back to the summit.

Because the commotion was not small, many people vaguely saw a white light rushing toward the summit, but it had already vanished before they could see it clearly.

Just before attracting the attention of the great experts, Ren Yidao forced himself to stay alert again, splitting off a Fox Tail Clone to rush toward the restricted area of the summit, while his true body hid perfectly once more, successfully returning to the Cave Abode where Mingxin was located and diving into the Divine Path Bell.

"Ah!?"

Because Ren Yidao's appearance was too sudden, the others inside were startled, but he had no energy to explain at this moment, falling headlong into a warm embrace.

He didn't even have time to feel who this softness belonged to before he completely lost consciousness after his mind relaxed.

And in the moment his mind completely collapsed, only one thought flashed through Ren Yidao's mind—is my future self sick?

"How could he possibly not know that 'I' am peeking into the future?"

To the Ren Yidao of this moment, the future is uncertain, existing in countless possibilities.

But to the "him" of the future, the past is certain; that "him" should logically know what he himself has done at this moment.

"It's fine if you scare others, but why the hell are you scaring 'me'!?"

It couldn't be just for fun, could it?

Although he vaguely felt that there might be some unspeakable reason for this, Ren Yidao still couldn't help but want to curse himself at this moment...

"Damn idiot!"

……

……

"What was that?"

Jiexing frowned, trying to find the trail of the white light from just a moment ago.

The white light just now had caught his attention, but that thing's speed was extremely fast, and it had completely disappeared before he could investigate.

"Rushing from the foot of Spirit Mountain to the summit and then dissipating? Is it a reserve Fozi from the foot of the mountain? Or has an outsider infiltrated Spirit Mountain?"

Jiexing narrowed his eyes and pondered for a while, then returned to his usual indifference as if he had discovered nothing.

A moment later, a monk hurried over and reported quickly: "Lord Fozi! Just now there was a white light..."

"No need to pay it any mind."

Jiexing interrupted before the person could finish reporting, saying indifferently: "I am already aware of the situation; the struggle for the Fozi position is important, there is no need to concern yourself with such trivial matters."

"... This disciple understands!" Although the monk was somewhat hesitant, he still nodded and turned to leave.

Watching the monk depart, Jiexing's gaze was indifferent as he looked down upon Spirit Mountain from on high, whispering silently in his heart:

"Yes, no need to pay it any mind."