Aspiring to the Immortal Path

The Sumeru World Cluster, the Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom.

The Parting Origin Mountains, Thousand Sorrows Temple.

This ancient temple bathed in the light of the morning sun. In the shadow of the bodhi tree, a group of monks passed by while striking wooden fish drums.

Chanting could be heard in the distance as the monks attending morning classes recited sutras.

A young monk was sweeping the fallen leaves at the front gate.

As the broom swept the leaves into the air, they came drifting back down again.

The novice was not at all disheartened, continuing to sweep away.

A pair of Moontreading Boots appeared before the monk. The owner of the boots wore a pink hooded robe, from which one could see a beautiful face.

Watching the leaves rise and fall with shining eyes, she said after some thought, “Why not sweep more lightly so that the fallen leaves will not be knocked into the air?”

She did not speak in a definitive or mocking tone, approaching the topic as a curious questioner.

The novice glanced up at the woman and then looked back down again. “I’m the one sweeping the dust here. It’s none of your business.”

It was a very un-Buddhist answer.

The woman wasn’t angry, simply smiling. “Young Master is right. Please go on with sweeping the front gate. It was not my place to interfere.”

Hearing this, the monk put away his broom and said, “The lady knows courtesy, focusing on what is said and one’s actions, unlike a native of this Buddha Kingdom. Have you come from abroad?”

The lady bowed. “Tang Zixi of Rosecloud. Might I know Young Master’s dharma name?”

The novice smiled. “This lowly monk’s name is Pureheart. I pay my respects to Benefactor Tang. Benefactor Tang is truly beautiful.”

For a Buddhist disciple to immediately talk about a layman’s beauty left Tang Zixi flabbergasted.

But she still said, “‘Tranquil… heart’?”

(EN: She misunderstood the ‘净’ in his name as ‘静’, as they are pronounced the same.)

“‘Pureheart’ as in ‘clean’!” Pureheart emphasized. “Master always says my heart isn’t pure and punishes me by having me sweep the grounds every day. The day this ground is spotless is the day my heart is pure.”

Tang Zixi said in surprise, “But where in the world one can one find a truly spotless piece of ground? Even if you sweep it clean today, won’t there be dust again tomorrow?”

The novice brought his hands together. “Thus, this lowly monk’s heart will never be pure.”

After a moment of shock, Tang Zixi said, “I understand now. Young Master is sweeping not the dust on the ground, but the dust in your heart. Thank you for this guidance.”

Pureheart grinned. “For what matter has Benefactor come?”

Tang Zixi replied, “It is with regards to your honorable temple’s past. I wish to see the abbot.”

“Is it regarding Nine Disaster?” Pureheart asked.

Tang Zixi froze.

Pureheart smiled. “Benefactor, please do not be surprised. With the Primordial Fog Calamity ongoing, every domain is looking to protect itself. For someone to come to this Great Buddha Kingdom at this time, particularly my Thousand Sorrows Temple, can only be because of Nine Disaster. And besides, this sort of thing has already happened several times.”

“I see.” Tang Zixi nodded. “If that’s the case, then…”

Pureheart said, “The temple already has plans for such things. Since Benefactor wishes to know about him, please follow me.”

He put the broom to the side and walked into the temple.

Tang Zixi followed behind Pureheart, asking, “Right, as you said, the Primordial Fog Calamity is ongoing, so why is it that I don’t see any traces of demons in the Buddha Kingdom? Have the Buddha Kingdom’s Titans already defeated the invading demons?”

Pureheart answered, “The demons of the Primordial Fog Domain have never invaded the Buddha Kingdom.”

“Oh?” Tang Zixi’s eyes widened. “Why is that?”

Pureheart shook his head. “This lowly monk does not know. I only know that we have never been invaded by demons before.”

“‘Never’?” Tang Zixi pondered these words. “‘Never’ in the past ten thousand years, or ‘never’ since the beginning of the chiliocosm?”

Pureheart froze for a moment.

After a while, he said, “‘Never’ since ten thousand years ago.”

Tang Zixi gasped.

If the Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom had never been attacked by the demons, then perhaps one could explain this away as the fear the demons held for the boundless dharma powers of the Buddha Ancestors.

But for this to have been the case for only ten thousand years meant something entirely different.

Could it be that this was also connected to Nine Disaster?

Suddenly, Tang Zixi somewhat understood why the Buddha Kingdom, why Thousand Sorrows Temple, did not disparage Nine Disaster.

Perhaps the people here also thought that they were free of the demon calamity because of Nine Disaster.

If that truly was the case, then at least here, Nine Disaster had done more good than evil.

Of course, nobody could say whether this was actually the case.

Tang Zixi was sure about one thing. Nine Disaster had become a demon while being only at Violet Palace, far from strong enough to influence the demons’ invasion plans. Even as a True Immortal, he still wouldn’t have the right to make any Archdemon Lord attack or not attack anyone.

Then, how could he have made the Primordial Fog demons not attack the Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom for ten thousand years?

This thought briefly lingered in Tang Zixi’s mind, but she kept it to herself and continued to follow.

Through a corridor and around a large hall, Tang Zixi followed Pureheart to a study.

Pureheart explained, “This study contains all the records concerning Senior Nine Disaster. In addition, there is a bed if you need to rest. Benefactor can slowly read through them as you desire. If Benefactor can stomach the food, the temple can also provide you with food and drink, so long as you follow the temple’s rules. If you are not used to it, you can go down the mountain, where you can find an inn.”

“It’s fine.” Tang Zixi stepped into the vihara and found the place rather clean. It consisted of two rooms. The inner room was the bedroom while the outer room was the study, its bookshelf full of books. She randomly pulled one out and found that it was the Honeyed Net Sutra. Tang Zixi understood that this Honeyed Net Sutra was a secret art of the Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom that one could cultivate all the way to Bodhisattva. She hadn’t expected to find it here.

But Tang Zixi came from a family with numerous techniques, so she naturally didn’t care about such a thing. She put it down and took out another book. This one was the Acala Prajna Vidyaraja Sutra. As the name indicated, it was an art that one could cultivate to Vidyaraja. Vidyarajas had the status of Immortal Platform experts in Buddhism, so such an art was a supreme treasure.

Tang Zixi was surprised. How could such a thing be left here? But she put it down and took out another. This one was the Buddha Origin Record, which was a supreme art that one could cultivate all the way to Buddha Ancestor.

When it came to arts, True Immortal was the limit. After that, one would have to rely on one’s own cultivation to hone oneself and seek out breakthroughs.

Thus, this Buddha Origin Record could be considered a priceless treasure.

Tang Zixi couldn’t help but shiver.

Even if the Rosecloud Domain already had an art that could take one to True Immortal—the Cloud Refining Mantra, jointly authored by Tang Jie and Yun Tianlan—if they had this Buddha Origin Record as a reference, it could be improved and be a great boon to the cultivators of the Rosecloud Domain.

But Tang Zixi remained composed before this enormous temptation, not forgetting her original goal.

Slowly placing the book down, she took another book.

This was a Buddhist combat technique, the Hongyang Vajra Fist.

Hongyang was a monk’s dharma name. Tang Zixi had heard of this person before, a monk who had traveled the domains and made quite a name for himself. His self-created Hongyang Vajra Fist possessed incredible power, able to shatter mountains at Celestial Heart. At the level of a Buddha, the Hongyang Vajra Fist remained unstoppable, the best of the best when it came to combat techniques.

But Tang Zixi had been able to put down the Buddha Origin Record, so she naturally didn’t care about a combat technique. She selected another book, but it was also a combat technique. This time, it was not some manly Buddhist fist art, but the Celestial Flower Maiden Divine Connection. It was said that a female Titan of the chiliocosm had once challenged the Buddha Ancestor of the Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom, but before she was defeated, she became the Buddha Ancestor’s disciple, shaving her head and becoming a nun. This Divine Connection was an extremely valuable art she had left behind, a mysterious Divine Connection through which one could even catch a glimpse of the Dao of Flowers.

The Dao of Flowers was a minor Dao, but it belonged to the Wood Element. One could comprehend it and perhaps gain access to one of the Five Elements. It wasn’t a manifestation of the Dao like the Weapon Mantra, but it was still an incredible breakthrough.

Tang Zixi was gifted in Time, but she was average when it came to other Daos. She couldn’t help but be tempted by this kind of Divine Connection.

But she still shook her head and put down the book with a smile. “I came here only for information on Nine Disaster, nothing else. Zixi thanks you for this offering of Buddhism’s legacy, but I am not worthy and dare not accept it.”

Tang Zixi knew that while she had seemingly randomly pulled out these books, in reality, each book was shifting according to her desires, all so that she could make a choice.

She didn’t know what would happen if she chose to keep one, but she trusted that if this was a test, the consequences would not be good.

The best possibility was that she gained a secret art but lost the right to investigate Nine Disaster.

The worst was that she got nothing at all.

A voice rumbled, “Benefactor Tang has a firm will. My temple respects such perseverance and will no longer test you.”

The voice disappeared.

Tang Zixi took another book, this time finding that it was not some profound art, but a book recording the history of the Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom for tens of thousands of years.

Tang Zixi began to read through it.

Seeing this, Novice Pureheart silently retreated to the front gate to continue his sweeping. But as he swept and swept, the leaves were thrown into an ever more chaotic display. A passing monk saw this and chuckled. “Pureheart, your heart is impure again.”

Pureheart sighed. “That female benefactor is truly beautiful. How could my heart possibly be pure after seeing that?”

“Merciful Buddha, if you don’t stop running your mouth, you’ll be punished again,” the monk hastily said.

“I’m not running my mouth, I’m just speaking the truth,” Pureheart grumbled.

Once that monk left, Pureheart threw away his broom and put his hands behind his head as he began to indulge in fantasies: “That female benefactor was gorgeous… It would be wonderful if I could meditate together with her.”