In the Ankang District, Meng Qi stood high above, surveying the ruins below. The courtyard where Li Chongkang and the others had been was completely obliterated, the ground sunken three feet deep, with no trace of any objects remaining. Yet the surrounding houses remained intact, untouched by the devastation. The precision with which the attacker controlled their power was nothing short of terrifying.
After absorbing the myriad fragments of information from the world to fill the gaps left by his brief absence, Meng Qi confirmed that Li Chongkang, Bi Chongde, and Lu Siquan had perished, their souls extinguished—as if erased from existence itself, with even their karmic ties completely severed.
Raindrops drifted through the air, mingling with fragments of lightning. Meng Qi stretched out his right hand, catching a few drops, and sighed softly. “Pei Daotong has also been silenced…”
It was as if he had turned to dust, returning to the lightning, scattered everywhere with the rain.
In a flash, Meng Qi pierced through the palace’s defensive formations and appeared in the imperial study, where he saw Xiao Xuan sitting rigidly, his eyes frozen in a mix of terror and fury, his right hand clenched into a tight fist.
A sudden gust of wind arose, and Xiao Xuan’s dragon-embroidered robe disintegrated inch by inch into ash. His body followed, starting with his hair, rapidly crumbling down to his head and spreading to his limbs. In mere moments, all that remained were shimmering particles of dust floating in the room.
In the short time Meng Qi had left this universe, the Demon Buddha had decisively abandoned all other plans and retreated without a trace.
As for the killings to silence witnesses and conceal details, Meng Qi did not believe it was the Demon Buddha’s doing. If it had been, why bother sparing the innocent and making things so complicated? Under the Samsara Seal, Meng Qi would likely have seen only the capital utterly destroyed, transformed into a deep lake.
Thus, it was most likely the work of the one who had helped the Demon Buddha enter the Jade Void Palace and seal the “Primordial Projection”—to conceal their own existence.
After a moment of contemplation, Meng Qi vanished and reappeared in a palace hall where security was tight, though outwardly relaxed. The Ninth Prince, Xiao Kun, paced with his hands behind his back, his spirits low and his will despondent.
To maintain the illusion of the conspiracy, after Li Chongkang and the others had implicated Xiao Kun, the current emperor had neither executed him on the spot nor thrown him into the imperial prison. Instead, he had merely placed him under house arrest, keeping his routine unchanged to prevent Meng Qi from detecting any irregularities.
Suddenly, Xiao Kun’s vision blurred, and he saw a stranger in a water-robe, yet the aura felt oddly familiar—reminiscent of the Cloud Gathering True Person.
“Are you… Senior Cloud Gathering?” Xiao Kun asked in surprise.
Meng Qi nodded slightly. “There has been a change of plans. The mysterious monk, seeing his scheme unraveled by this humble Daoist, chose not to resist and instead silenced all witnesses before departing. Li Chongkang and the others, as well as Grand Tutor Pei and your father, have all perished.”
Xiao Kun froze, his expression shifting between glee and melancholy. After a long pause, he forced a bitter smile. “I never imagined things would unfold this way.”
“Do you know what that extraordinary object in the imperial study was?” Meng Qi asked, grasping at straws.
Xiao Kun shook his head. “Since Li Chongkang and the others were captured, I’ve been confined here, cut off from any news. But if you wish to know, Senior, I’m sure you have your ways. At the very least, the imperial study was frequented by my father’s most trusted ministers.”
Meng Qi pressed a hand to his forehead, as if imprinting every scene in the capital into his mind. Every minister, eunuch, and maid who had entered the imperial study had met the same fate—though, unlike Xiao Xuan and Pei Daotong, their corpses remained.
“All who knew have been silenced,” Meng Qi lamented.
Not only had the people been silenced, but even the karmic threads had been severed.
Xiao Kun smiled bitterly again. “Fortunately, my father was ruthless enough to never let me enter the imperial study.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Meng Qi’s figure fade like a dream, as if the past five years had been nothing but a long illusion.
Meng Qi reappeared in the vast cosmos, his body suddenly expanding, growing to an immense size as if to fill the boundless heavens. Countless resplendent rivers of stars swirled around him, paying homage.
He intended to eliminate all residual variables and reclaim absolute control over this universe.
As for the one who had aided the Demon Buddha, though all clues had been severed, Meng Qi could still make an educated guess. First, the scope was limited to those who could freely enter the Jade Void Palace, with strength at least at the Creation level—otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to help the Demon Buddha seal the “Primordial Projection.” Second, they must harbor some hidden malice or covetousness toward him, yet their actions only targeted those involved, sparing the innocent, displaying a hint of compassion. Moreover, their ability to sever karmic ties suggested expertise in this domain…
Putting it all together, the answer was obvious: a figure from the ancient Chan Sect, now a prominent Buddhist figure—the Ancient Lamp Buddha!
He had achieved perfection earlier than the likes of the Green Emperor, needing only the “Cause of All Effects” to reach the Other Shore. Given the conflict over paths, this was a feud to the death.
Of course, it was also possible that another Creation-level figure from the Jade Void was behind it—someone who outwardly accepted Meng Qi but secretly resented him or coveted the “Cause of All Effects.” In this case, they might have disguised their actions as the Ancient Lamp Buddha’s, meticulously tailoring every detail to fit, both concealing themselves and framing their rival to incite conflict. Similarly, those who could enter the Jade Void and had grievances with Meng Qi included the lineage of the Eternal Mother.
But without any evidence or clues, this remained mere speculation. For now, Meng Qi would attribute it to the Ancient Lamp Buddha—after all, his and his disciple Dingguang’s malice toward him was undeniable.
Soon, the universe was fully under Meng Qi’s control, but just like when he had absorbed the “Creator Brahma,” he still lacked deeper insights.
Back then, he had assumed it was because Han Guang had absorbed the other two “projections,” depriving him of absolute control and thus preventing him from understanding what the Other Shore beings were contending for. But now he knew there were other factors at play.
Pondering this, Meng Qi held the “branch” given by the Green Emperor and entered another ancient well, absorbing the unconscious “Primordial Projection” within.
After repeating this process eight times—aside from the universe where the Creator Brahma had been destroyed—Meng Qi now held absolute control over nine heavens. Suddenly, he felt the acupoints throughout his body resonate with an inexplicable opportunity and connection, writhing strangely as if undergoing a wondrous transformation, with an ancient aura slowly brewing.
Before him, nine illusory rivers surged, each representing the past, present, and future of different universes, gradually revealing the secrets of time to Meng Qi. Were it not for his ability to scrutinize his thoughts, he might have been utterly entranced, nearly assimilated by the Dao of Time.
“So, eliminating the projections of other great beings and gaining complete control over a universe yields such immense benefits. Even without cultivating time-based techniques, one can gain early insights, laying a foundation for crossing the sea of suffering…” Meng Qi mused inwardly. Combined with his experiences in the Middle Ages, which left traces of his past, and his journey to Zhixu Mountain, which taught him how to glimpse the future, his accumulation toward the Other Shore was likely only slightly inferior to that of figures like Maitreya and Guangcheng, who had already condensed the “seed” of the Other Shore.
Simultaneously, through the subtle changes in his acupoints, he also understood the uniqueness of these universes contested by the Other Shore beings.
They were the first universes to emerge after the creation of this epoch—the most ancient of universes!
The current myriad universes were not born simultaneously. Even now, countless universes continued to be born and perish. Very few of the most ancient universes, dating back to the epoch’s inception, had survived to the present. By gaining absolute control over at least nine of these ancient universes, Meng Qi’s projections reflected back onto himself, elevating his acupoints and causing them to evolve, brewing an “ancient aura.”
Under the influence of this ancient aura, Meng Qi felt his Dharmakaya subtly transforming, as if infinite universes were being born within him.
The embryonic form of the multiverse was further perfected!
At the same time, these newly born universes naturally corresponded to the external world, accelerating Meng Qi’s progress in projecting himself across the myriad realms.
Truly, the benefits were immense!
“But these benefits are only meaningful to those below the Other Shore. What are the Primordial Heavenly Lord Amitabha and the others truly contending for?” Meng Qi remained perplexed.
The branch given by the Green Emperor had already flown out of this world, returning to the Fusang Ancient Tree.
Setting aside this question for now, Meng Qi continued absorbing the unconscious “Primordial Projections” from the ancient wells, his progress in projecting across the myriad realms advancing by leaps and bounds.
After an indeterminate amount of time, when he finally completed this task and stepped out of the Jade Void Palace’s ancient well, his entire being radiated a faint ancient aura. Anyone who saw him would instinctively feel as though he were an ancient deity from the dawn of the epoch!
“These ancient auras likely have even more wondrous uses, worthy of further exploration…” With a single step, Meng Qi returned to his own Kunlun Mountain Jade Void Palace.
At that moment, a subtle movement stirred in the acupoints of his left hand, as if the ancient aura’s influence had accelerated Gu Xiaosang’s refinement of the “Innate Virtue.” Her cultivation was now complete, and she was on the verge of a breakthrough.
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