The bronze door felt heavy to the touch, and even with Meng Qi’s current strength, he could still sense a distinct sluggishness, as if another great supernatural being was supporting it from behind.
Creak, creak, creak—the rusted, verdigrised door slowly swung open. Meng Qi’s heart was as still as water, like a mirror, reflecting the reactions of the great supernatural beings behind him, searching for clues to uncover the events of the past.
Silence, tranquility, an ancient well, a deep pool… These words could describe the demeanor of figures like Chijingzi, Yuding Zhenren, the Three Xiao Goddesses, and the Ancient Buddha Dipankara, revealing no trace of anything unusual.
Truly, they are all ancient beings who have lived through countless ages… Meng Qi mused inwardly. Before his eyes, the scene beyond the door unfolded—a void of utter darkness, devoid of mist, radiance, palaces, or the distinction between heaven and earth. It evoked associations with words like “ruin,” “Dao,” and “return.”
It seems the battle of the Other Shore back then nearly obliterated the highest layer of the Nine Heavens. The remnants are fragmented, some descending with the fallen Celestial Court into Mount Yuxu, others scattered within this boundless expanse of darkness.
As soon as Meng Qi stepped into that infinite void of darkness, he felt his true form and Dao body begin to disintegrate, merging into emptiness and nothingness, as if sinking into a chaos that dissolved all things.
Immediately, a dim and shadowy auspicious cloud surged from the crown of his head—one that seemed to encompass all things, the very origin of origins, yet also capable of dissolving everything, the ultimate end of ends.
Beams of light cascaded down, the chaos swirling like water, enveloping his surroundings, making Meng Qi appear like a deity majestically overlooking all realms as he strode step by step into the depths of the void.
Behind him, Guangchengzi’s sleeves billowed, his towering figure exuding grandeur. Above his head, a clear-light auspicious cloud, spanning an acre in size, emerged like rolling waves, cradling three lotus flowers. One was ancient and verdant, heavy beyond measure, as if containing the collapse of heaven and earth. Another was wreathed in purple mist, resembling a bell or chime, its faint tremors sending ripples through the minds of the great supernatural beings. The third was purely yang, devoid of yin, radiating countless golden rays yet exuding a sense of serene inaction.
With the manifestation of these three flowers, corresponding to the condensation of illusory Daos, Guangchengzi’s surroundings became enveloped in a hazy clarity, forming a self-contained world where the void lingered at the edges, assimilated and harmonized—worthy of the title of Heavenly Venerable.
Meng Qi seized the opportunity to observe the methods of his Yuxu peers and the great supernatural beings of other factions, striving to deepen his understanding.
Manjusri, the Vast Dharma Heavenly Venerable, rooted in the Daoist auspicious cloud, manifested five wisdom lotuses. At the core was one that was empty and indistinct, its colors shifting like a round mirror—unmoving yet reflecting all phenomena, containing the myriad existences and encompassing countless Daos, nearly reaching the state of the Limitless.
This was her unique path to the unity of all Daos, forged through the Buddhist concept of emptiness and the wisdom of the great round mirror.
The clear light illuminated the void, which was no longer empty but seemed to harbor countless subtle existences, no longer threatening dissolution. Yet time and space remained chaotic, with only slight stabilization possible.
Witnessing this, the Ancient Buddha Dipankara, the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, Maitreya, and other great supernatural beings of Buddhism sighed inwardly, acknowledging Manjusri as the true embodiment of the Five Great Wisdoms.
Behind the Ancient Buddha Dipankara’s head appeared layer upon layer of perfect Buddha lights—some transparent as mirrors, others golden like glazed glass, some azure and indistinct, others purple and noble, and some pure white and flawless. Twenty-four such lights overlapped, faintly revealing a boundless Buddha-land spanning countless kalpas. At the center of this pure land, an ancient glazed lamp shone, illuminating the tangled web of causality that was the source of the sea of suffering in the mortal world.
Maitreya, as ever, manifested flames above his head, from which emerged a pristine white lotus. The lotus bloomed, revealing a golden body of the Future Star Buddha, seated on a foundation of constellations, adorned with jeweled necklaces, with twenty heads and sixteen arms. The golden Buddha opened its mouth and spat out two translucent, crystalline relics, each containing a white lotus.
Buddha light surged like waves, clustering around the relics—one ancient and weathered, displaying the endless kalpas of the past, the other seated at the center, saving all beings with immeasurable light.
With the emergence of this radiance, white lotuses spontaneously arose from the void, transforming the end into a Buddha-land on earth.
The Buddha of Immeasurable Life was a youthful and handsome ancient Buddha clad in archaic monastic robes, his skin a pale gold, as if his golden body required no transformation to remain eternal. A leisurely smile perpetually graced his face. Now, a glazed “Buddha” character appeared at his brow—a character composed of countless swastikas—transforming the surrounding void into a pure land.
It was said that before Amitabha, the Ancient Bodhi Buddha, and the Buddha of Vulture Peak attained the Dao, he was the most ancient Buddha in Buddhism, having lived through more than three epochs. But once one reached the Other Shore, the stronger and older one became, making it impossible to determine who had truly founded Buddhism in the beginning.
Beyond these, Bodhisattvas like Mahasthamaprapta also employed their divine powers to traverse the void.
More than half of Buddhism’s mighty figures had gathered here!
Meng Qi had once estimated that Buddhism currently had no more than a dozen or so great supernatural beings, far from its peak when it overshadowed other major factions. This showed the devastating losses suffered during the battle of Vulture Peak—not only had powerful Buddhas like Mahavairocana, Akshobhya, and Ratnasambhava perished, but even rising stars like Ananda and Kasyapa had either betrayed the faith or passed into nirvana. Moreover, Samantabhadra and Avalokiteshvara had since vanished, and Manjusri had even transcended Buddhism. If not for the later ascension of figures like Mahasthamaprapta, Buddhism might not have even mustered ten great supernatural beings.
In contrast, the Yuxu Palace had lost mostly Legendary figures, with current great supernatural beings including Guangchengzi, Manjusri the Vast Dharma Heavenly Venerable, Chijingzi, Yuding Zhenren, Daoxing Xianzun, Nezha, himself, and Yang Jian (whose exact realm remained unclear)—totaling eight, nearly matching Buddhism’s strength.
The Lingbao lineage, having suffered through the Investiture of the Gods and the fall of the Celestial Court, was in even worse shape than Buddhism. At present, Meng Qi could only spot five great supernatural beings. The Three Xiao Goddesses, resurrected through the Chaos Green Lotus Seed, had undergone transformations in their cultivation, barely reaching the Creation realm. Each of them manifested five streams of pristine qi above their heads, embodying the virtues of the primordial, cradling the Golden Chalice of Chaos, the Golden Dragon Scissors, and the Ruler of Heaven—three peerless treasures—to resist the void and the disordered flow of time.
Of the remaining two, one wore archaic Daoist robes, with a ruddy face and yellow beard, a tall crown, and billowing sleeves. He stood aloof yet exuded a sharp sword intent, standing proudly in the void without revealing any divine aura, his presence no less formidable than Guangchengzi, the Ancient Buddha Dipankara, or the Buddha of Immeasurable Life. Judging by his demeanor toward the other great supernatural beings, Meng Qi suspected this was Duobao Heavenly Venerable, one of the Nine Daoist Venerables. The other was a woman in plain green robes, her eyes sharp and her vitality vigorous, lacking any ancient air—clearly a newly ascended powerhouse of the Biyou Palace who had achieved Creation after the ancient times.
The great supernatural beings of other factions had yet to enter. With Heavenly Venerables and ancient Buddhas present, they chose to keep their distance. After all, this realm was already shattered—neither omnipresent nor easily scannable with divine sense—so the order of entry mattered little.
Among them, aside from the Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven whom he had once rescued, the one who left the deepest impression on Meng Qi was the Patriarch of Earthly Immortals, Zhenyuan Daxian, the “Eternal Lord,” now the leader of the Luo Sect’s Twelve Divine Envoys. His immortal demeanor and aura, stretching across countless ages, placed him on par with the Ancient Buddha Dipankara and Duobao Heavenly Venerable.
As Meng Qi’s gaze swept over Chijingzi, Yuding Zhenren, and the others, he prepared to delve deeper when Guangchengzi’s voice suddenly echoed in his ears: “Junior Brother Sect Master, it would be better for us to proceed together. Dipankara, Zhenyuanzi, and the others likely harbor ill intentions toward you.”
Meng Qi nodded slightly, moving closer to the Yuxu contingent. The group subtly formed an array, traversing the void like a host of deities, maintaining distance from the Buddhist, demonic, Luo Sect, and remnants of the ancient Celestial Court factions.
Just then, an object drifted toward them from the empty darkness ahead—a broken stele, exuding the essence of time like flowing water.
Meng Qi focused his wisdom eye, scrutinizing the stele. Faded Daoist inscriptions described a passage:
“I swept away the old gods of the Nine Heavens, subdued the demonic sages, and vanquished the ancient ghosts of the earth, thus establishing the Celestial Court…”
The fragmented words recounted the founding of the Celestial Court in a straightforward manner. Though only half the stele remained, Meng Qi could still sense the arduous struggles, the ambition to dominate all realms, and the overwhelming might of that era.
The Celestial Emperor was born in the immortal realm, an innate deity wielding corresponding authority. Yet this did not mean he could command other innate deities or stand above them. Moreover, while the Demon Emperor remained hidden, the Demon Saints still existed, and the Great Sages of the demonic race roamed freely. Meanwhile, innate spirits like Zhenwu held their own territories, protecting their domains, and humanity worshipped ancestral spirits and totemic deities. The Celestial Emperor’s edict alone could not command universal submission.
While the Primordial and the Daoist Virtue secretly supported him, Amitabha, the Ancient Bodhi Buddha, and the Buddha of Vulture Peak inevitably obstructed him. That the Celestial Emperor could sweep away the old gods of the Nine Heavens, subdue the demonic sages, and vanquish the ancient ghosts of the earth, single-handedly founding the Celestial Court, spoke volumes of his prowess—in every aspect!
Thus, this stele was inscribed to commemorate the establishment of the Celestial Court.
Alas, prosperity has its end. The once-mighty Celestial Court now lay in ruins, with only this broken stele drifting in the void, silently recounting its former dominance.
As the broken stele drew near, sensing the auras of the great supernatural beings, its faded inscriptions suddenly glowed, releasing a terrifying, solemn, and supreme aura. A phantom figure of an emperor materialized, its eyes flashing with light that shot forth like flowing time.
In an instant, Meng Qi felt his surroundings turn pure white and pitch black, severing all connection to the outside world.
Merely a remnant of the Celestial Emperor’s aura, reacting instinctively, possessed such terrifying might!
Meng Qi immediately contracted his auspicious cloud, condensing his body into a primordial point containing infinite possibilities, resisting the erosion of time.
When everything settled, the great supernatural beings around him had vanished. Only half a hall drifted ahead, its interior illuminated by a dim candlelight!
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