“Supreme! Let’s talk this out!”

THUD!

Upon hearing this, the old Daoist, who advocated for tranquility and non-action, simply smashed his Douluo Palace down. A violent storm of Chaos erupted, tearing to shreds some of the worlds floating in the Sea of Chaos.

“Supreme! That’s enough! Just listen to my explanation first!”

Inside the Douluo Palace, two children clung to a pillar, terrified. Through the palace gates, they saw the great Lord Spirit Treasure’s huge face getting closer and closer. And then…

THUD!!

“Supreme, there are outsiders watching…”

THUD!!!

The old man wore a simple, ancient robe, its corners shimmering with the light of all ages as they fluttered. He held the Douluo Palace in one hand and pinned down the Lame Daoist with the other. And then…

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!!

From a great distance, two Buddha Lords put their palms together and sighed.

“Merciful, merciful!”

As they chanted, the Buddha Lord holding the Western Pure Land couldn’t help but show a gloating expression. He spoke earnestly to the other Buddha Lord.

“Good thing I convinced you not to scheme for that ‘uncertain variable.’ Otherwise… how many hits from the Douluo Palace do you think you could take?”

The Buddha Lord, bathed in infinite Pure Light, shrank back and looked at the utterly miserable Lame Daoist. He sighed, “Supreme is being really ruthless… Is all this necessary?”

Nearby, a peerless beauty stated concisely,

“He lost his cool.”

The two Buddha Lords looked at each other. After a long moment, one of them gave a dry laugh.

“Ahem, the matter between you three is for you to resolve yourselves. This round of the game ends here. Until next time, until next time…”

As soon as they finished speaking, the two Buddha Lords fled as if their lives depended on it, terrified of drawing Supreme’s ire.

The peerless woman, draped in the vast Yellow Springs and holding the Six Paths in one hand and Reincarnation in the other, just gave a light smile. She too strolled away, leaving behind a single sentence:

“Primordial, this isn’t over.”

The Blind Daoist glanced at the departing woman’s swollen cheek, then stroked his Three-Bejeweled Ruyi for a moment. He didn’t reply, simply turning back to watch Supreme thrash Spirit Treasure with great relish, a cheerful look on his face.

But amidst his cheer, he felt a flicker of apprehension.

‘Thank goodness. My good disciple took out the Qing Ping Sword and put that lamp away…’

‘But that Spirit Treasure… he’s really absurd. He could have bestowed any treasure, but he had to give away the Qing Ping Sword?’

‘Is that something you can just give away?’

As he pondered, the Blind Daoist’s gaze grew a little deeper. ‘And why would that fellow Maitreya seek out Xiaoxuan?’

‘How strange. How very strange.’

Just as the Blind Daoist’s mind was racing, the Old Lord glared with eyes like bronze bells and said viciously,

“You, Spirit Treasure! Speak! What else did you give him besides the Qing Ping Sword? What else did you do!”

“Heaven have mercy!” the Lame Daoist, his face bruised and swollen, said with a stiff neck. “I was just worried our martial nephew would be ambushed by someone, so I bestowed the Qing Ping! Besides, Supreme, you should be thanking me! If it weren’t for my Qing Ping, who knows what that Maitreya would have done!”

Supreme’s brow furrowed. He eyed the Lame Daoist suspiciously and asked,

“Really?”

“Really!!” the Lame Daoist said righteously. “I had nothing but good intentions, yet this is how I end up. It’s disheartening, so disheartening…”

He paused, then said with great distress,

“Supreme, I’m telling you, when this Era is about to end, I will definitely overturn your Eight Trigrams Furnace…”

Among the Three Pristine Ones, the Blind Daoist symbolizes the beginning of all things, the Cause of All Fruits. Thus, he is most powerful at the Creation of Heaven and Earth and the dawn of a new Era.

Supreme symbolizes Existence, the anchor for the existence of all worlds and All Realms. Thus, he is most powerful during the middle of an Era.

The Lame Daoist, however, symbolizes destruction, calamity, and the end. Thus, his power is greatest when an Era is about to end.

Supreme began to feel a little uncertain. An apologetic look appeared on his face as he chuckled.

“In that case, I have wronged you…”

While still smiling and talking, he abruptly raised the Douluo Palace again. WHACK! WHACK! He smashed it down twice, making the Lame Daoist howl in agony. Only then did Supreme feel satisfied. He tossed the Douluo Palace back to its original place, clasped his hands behind his back, and spoke leisurely as he walked back toward it.

“However, you had ill intentions first, and now you’re threatening me. Since I can still beat you, I’ll just hit you a couple more times. You don’t mind, do you?”

The bruised and swollen Lame Daoist lay limply in the Chaos, his lips trembling. He wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

In the end, he only managed to choke out four words:

“Supreme, you just wait!”

“Keep spouting nonsense, and I’ll drag out the flow of this Era and make it never end.”

The Lame Daoist heard this and immediately shut his mouth.

The old man then turned his gaze to the side, looking at the Blind Daoist who was enjoying the show. His eyes became dangerous.

The latter’s heart tightened. He quickly said with caution,

“Supreme, this has nothing to do with me! Don’t do anything rash, or you’ll make us a laughingstock for outsiders!”

Finally, he added,

“The priority now is to figure out what our martial nephew has encountered, and what that fellow Maitreya is trying to do!”

Supreme thought for a moment, then warned,

“You’d better not have done anything!”

With that, he snorted, held his head high, and strode back into the Douluo Palace.

After the great gates of the Douluo Palace closed and it faded back into the void, the Blind Daoist let out a breath of relief, patting his chest with lingering fear.

Just then, the bruised and swollen Lame Daoist limped over, his face full of resentment.

“You, Primordial! You didn’t even try to help me? A day like this will come for you, too!”

The Blind Daoist guiltily touched his nose, then advised earnestly, “The River of Time is about to reach the end of this Era. The great calamity is coming. It won’t be too late for you to get your revenge then… It’s not that I wouldn’t help you, but when Supreme gets that angry, even I can’t stop him…”

The Lame Daoist grimaced in pain and said,

“Let’s put that aside for now. I suspect this business with Xiaoxuan might be related to those three. After all, it can’t be a coincidence that those three suddenly showed up to fight us just as something happened to Xiaoxuan, with Maitreya himself appearing…”

The Blind Daoist’s expression also grew solemn. He pondered for a moment, his gaze turning cold, and said, “There are no ripples in Cause and Effect; everything is normal… But it’s *too* normal. It seems it really is related to those three, and this Maitreya.”

He knitted his brows.

“Maitreya’s old self has entered Nirvana, but I have a feeling it was a blessing in disguise for him. What is he plotting?”

Both Daoists fell into deep thought.

Meanwhile, inside the Douluo Palace, Supreme was also deep in thought.

After a long while, he sighed softly and muttered to himself,

“The great curtain is about to rise.”

As he spoke, Supreme’s gaze deepened, his brow twitched involuntarily, and a premonition washed over him.

“Xiaoxuan has now entered the sights of the Dao Fruit wielders. He is an ‘uncertain variable,’ and I’m afraid many Dao Fruit wielders and those four little ones will be tempted…”

“In that case, I was too hasty in letting Xiaoxuan walk in my stead so early.”

After a moment of contemplation, Supreme seemed to make a decision. He gave some instructions to the two children, then quietly left the Douluo Palace.

In the empty Daoist Palace, the two children looked at each other and shrank back, their curiosity about the ‘Xiaoxuan’ their Great Lord mentioned growing even stronger.

………

「Spring and Autumn Period, the Human World.」

Time returned to normal, flowing forward once more.

The fat monk’s entry into Nirvana brought forth a world-shaking great light of Buddha. It rose from Jiangling, spreading in layers to cover the entire Human World, then washed over the Thirty-Three Celestial Realms and the Nine Nether. The light of Buddha shone in all directions.

In Jiangling City, time also began to flow again, released from its stasis. Zhao Zheng, holding a dazed Lu Jianxue, looked around in confusion before finally turning his gaze to the sky.

High above the clouds, the old Daoist stood calmly, seemingly toying with a small handkerchief, ignoring the pervasive Buddha light.

‘When did Adoptive Grandfather get all the way up into the sky??’

Zhao Zheng was baffled. What was going on?

Everything had just replayed countless times, but they had no memory of it. Then time had frozen, so naturally, they hadn’t witnessed the scene of the Daoist felling the fat monk into Nirvana with a single sword strike.

These people were all bewildered. They looked from the old Daoist in the sky to the magnificent Buddha light and mournful Brahma Sound suffusing the air, full of confusion and doubt.

But before long, the Buddha light dissipated, and Jiangling City returned to tranquility.

In the lavish courtyard of Lü’s Trading Company.

Lü Niangrong patted her chest with lingering fear and said softly, “I never expected the three major trading associations to attack all at once today. Thankfully, you lent a hand, Brother Zhao…”

As she spoke, a curious look appeared on her face. ‘Just what is Brother Zhao’s background? To suppress an Earth Immortal with a single palm…’

Zhao Zheng smiled calmly and said, “It was just a small matter. There’s no need to thank me. We’re hardly strangers.”

Lü Niangrong nodded thoughtfully, then asked curiously, “And where is Daoist Lu?”

Zhao Zheng patted Lu Jianxue’s little head and replied with a smile, “My Adoptive Grandfather is in the backyard. It’s best not to disturb him for now.”

The backyard was a lush green lawn, where the Cyan Bull had been staying recently. Lü Niangrong gave a slight nod and didn’t ask any more questions, successfully suppressing her curiosity.

‘Some things, you’ll naturally find out when the time is right.’

After a moment of thought, she added softly, “A Divine Bird just delivered a message. The trouble on my father’s end has also been temporarily resolved. He heard about what happened in Jiangling and is preparing to come personally to thank you, Brother Zhao, and Daoist Lu…”

Zhao Zheng waved his hand and shook his head. “That’s not necessary. I believe my Adoptive Grandfather was planning to leave Jiangling City today…”

“My father travels quickly. Even though he’s coming from the Wei Kingdom, he’ll likely arrive this afternoon.”

“Er…”

Seeing this, Zhao Zheng couldn’t very well refuse again. He just nodded and said, “Then let’s see what my Adoptive Grandfather thinks later.”

“Alright.” Lü Niangrong bowed to Zhao Zheng.

「Meanwhile, in the backyard.」

“You’re saying Maitreya is Spirit Mountain’s Future Buddha, at the [Daluo] level?”

“MOO, that’s right.” The Cyan Bull nodded gravely, a look of confusion on its face. “But logically, a [Daluo] shouldn’t be able to block my six senses, six feelings, and six perceptions…”

After a pause, the Cyan Bull asked, “Master, you said that Maitreya Buddha entered Nirvana?”

Lu Xuan nodded and explained, “It was a fortunate coincidence, in a way… but I feel it’s not that simple. That Maitreya Buddha didn’t seem to care about death. In his words, he just said he would ‘lose a body’…”

“MOO?”

The Cyan Bull was taken aback, its bovine face showing even more confusion. It stated firmly, “Impossible. I can sense that there has indeed been a major event at Spirit Mountain… Although Maitreya Buddha is a [Daluo], to enter Nirvana across the planes of past and future should mean he has completely returned to dust, but…”

It exhaled a breath of hot air and tilted its head. “But you also said that when you sent Maitreya Buddha into Nirvana with your sword, he said he would come back to find you? That makes no sense…”

A look of confusion also appeared on Lu Xuan’s face. The fat monk’s arrival was strange, and his death was also strange. Something was off…

Beside him, the Cyan Bull raised its head and mused, “Speaking of which, what sword did you use to send that Maitreya Buddha into Nirvana? It’s not that I don’t believe you, Master, but Maitreya Buddha is a [Daluo], so…”

As it spoke, the Cyan Bull’s gaze toward Lu Xuan became a little more respectful.

Lu Xuan stroked his long beard. He recalled his Three Masters’ instructions, hesitated for a moment, and said, “It was the Qing Ping Sword, bestowed by my Third Martial Uncle.”

The Cyan Bull staggered, its eyes widening into perfect circles.

“The… the Qing Ping Sword???”

Lu Xuan nodded honestly and lamented, “I had no other choice at the time, so I brought out this sword. But I never expected that my Third Mar— Third Martial Uncle’s sword would be so outrageous. I didn’t even activate it; the sword’s instinct alone was enough to send a [Daluo], an [Eternal] being, into Nirvana!”

The Cyan Bull looked dazed. It swallowed hard and said dryly, “Master, you might not fully understand… That’s the Qing Ping Sword we’re talking about. I reckon if Maitreya hadn’t been there to block that strike, the Great Heaven and Earth would have returned to Chaos by now, and the Celestial Myriad Realms would all be in Nirvana…”

Before it could finish, the Cyan Bull’s expression changed abruptly. It suddenly bowed its head toward the space behind Lu Xuan.

“Great Lord!”

Lu Xuan shuddered. He turned his head to look and saw his master standing there with a broad smile, dressed as a simple farmer and gently stroking his long beard.

“Master!” Lu Xuan also bowed hurriedly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep