NOVGO.NET Chapter 2452 - Di E’s True Intentions
Chapter 2452 – Di E’s True Intentions
The blood instantly vanished from the corners of Di E’s lips. On the surface, it seemed as if nothing had happened at all.
The Dipankara Buddha and the Buddha of the Future saw it all. They exchanged glances, their expressions shifting.
“Your Excellency Di E, you’re… injured?” said the Dipankara Buddha.
Hearing the title “Your Excellency” made Di E frown, but he knew he couldn’t hide his wounds, so he said calmly, “I had a bit of an accident.”
“Your Excellency Di E, given your cultivation base and methods, if it were simply a ‘little accident,’ how could you possibly have bled from the corners of your mouth?” asked the Dipankara Buddha.
Di E turned his head and fixed his icy gaze on the Dipankara Buddha. “Care to try me yourself?”
His voice was tinged with fury.
The Dipankara Buddha laughed. “Don’t take offense, Your Excellency Di E. As your old friend, I’m simply worried about you. I’m not the least bit gleeful at your misfortune.”
The Buddha of the Future said calmly, “I was injured by Su Yi’s past life’s avatar of will, and even now, a year later, the wound remains. Losing to Su Yi is nothing to be ashamed of.”
Di E snorted coldly, then retracted his gaze and said nothing.
The Dipankara Buddha continued, “Your Excellency Di E, if you aren’t opposed, why not tell us how you were injured?
Di E said expressionlessly, “How is that any of your business?”
The Dipankara Buddha wasn’t the least bit perturbed. “Allow me to guess. Your injuries are connected to the Tribulation of the Five Witherings. Am I right?”
Di E’s pupils constricted, but he remained silent.
The Dipankara Buddha continued, “The arrival of the Tribulation of the Five Witherings was far too out of the ordinary. I racked my brains and concluded that the only logical explanation was that it broke out because of you.
“As for your goals? They’re easily guessed. You wanted to use the tribulation’s power to slay Su Yi’s old friends from his past life, and to defeat the incarnations of my negative karma to force me to beg you for mercy.
“Most important of all, in doing so, you’d take me down a peg, forcing me to obey you going forward.
“After all, the lives and deaths of the incarnations of my negative karma would be in the palm of your hand.”
Here, the Dipankara Buddha sighed. “To tell the truth, this plan of yours is quite something. Prior to this, I was completely in the dark. I really didn’t anticipate this at all.
“It was only after the Buddha of the Future returned and told me about the Tribulation of the Five Witherings that I sensed that something was afoot and pieced together the clues to figure out your true intentions.”
Here, Di E broke his silence. He sighed, “it’s a pity, but you two nonetheless managed to outsmart me. You used Su Yi’s power of reincarnation to break your Karmit Tribulations.”
He was effectively admitting that the Dipankara Buddha’s analysis was on the mark!
“I most certainly didn’t win our competition in the Boundless Battlefield,” said the Dipankara Buddha, shaking his head. “I got what I wanted, yes, but I paid an enormous price for it.
“Isn’t that true for you too, Your Excellency? It might seem like you lost to Su Yi, but now, I owe you a favor, and I must give you the Well of Turbulent Daos.
“As for Su Yi…” the Dipankara Buddha laughed. “It might look like he won, but he’s lost a group of old friends who once fought alongside him. Furthermore, we’ve already grasped his hidden cards and the limits of his abilities. His losses… aren’t at all trivial, either.
“I can say with certainty that when he learns that I used him to break my karmic fetters, he’ll feel as if he just swallowed a dead fly.
“In short, although we Buddhas, you, and Su Yi all profited from this battle, all of us suffered heavy losses, too.
“This, perhaps, is what it means to fight an evenly matched opponent.
“Having such enemies in our pursuit of the Grand Dao is fortuitous indeed!” said the Dipankara Buddha, obviously speaking straight from the heart.
“So, you see me as an enemy, too?” asked Di E.
The Dipankara Buddha said calmly, “Whether we’re enemies or not isn’t up to me. Rather, it’s a matter of how you see the situation.”
Di E laughed coldly. “You might think your schemes are flawless, but the way I see it, you’re no more than a former Eternal with access to information others aren’t privy to, that’s all!”
The Dipankara Buddha accepted this with a smile. He didn’t try to argue.
Di E shook his head. “You might think I’m just saying that out of anger and deliberately trying to disparage you, but don’t forget that you were once beset by a Karmic Tribulation. Your cultivation fell, leaving you plagued with karmic fetters!
“I just hope that if you ever manage to return to the Path of Eternity, you won’t make the same mistakes!”
The Dipankara Buddha smiled faintly. “You’re welcome to wait and see, Your Excellency. That is… on the condition that you survive the Battle for Order during the Dark Days of Legend.”
Di E’s eyes narrowed. He laughed coldly, then gestured into the distance. “You can leave.”
The Dipankara Buddha was stunned. “Are you planning to give up on this opportunity to intercept and kill Su Yi here, Your Excellency?”
Di E just stared at him in silence.
The Dipankara Buddha smiled, rose, and said to the Buddha of the Future, “We ought to get going.”
The Buddha of the Future rose, faced Su Yi, and clasped his palms together. “Take care, Your Excellency Di E.”
With that, the two of them set off. Di E watched in silence as the two of them faded away.
Boom!
Suddenly, Di E swung his sleeves, and the nearby skies were obscured by a mysterious and taboo power of the natural order.
Immediately afterward, he broke into violent, hacking coughs, as if he simply couldn’t hold it back any longer. Seemingly endless blood gushed from the corners of his lips.
Even his steelly features paled.
His breathing sped up, and a while passed before it calmed back down. He wiped the blood from his lips, then turned his palm.
A blood-red gourd floated into the air. This was the very mysterious gourd that had summoned the Tribulation of the Five Witherings!
But its surface now had a startling sword gash. Di E’s brow furrowed, and his expression darkened.
Suddenly, a calm, childlike voice rang out. “The Five Witherings Gourd is a treasure born of the source of the natural order of the epochs. Only an Eternal treasure could have damaged it.”
A little girl appeared out of nowhere. “That means that Su Yi’s true killer weapon is an Eternal Dao Sword.”
Di E stroked the marred surface of the gourd, his heart aching. “Does that mean that the Tribulation of the Five Epochs cannot possibly threaten Su Yi any further?”
The little girl said icily, “Treasures are ultimately external. The Battle for Order will come down to each individual’s powers of the Grand Dao!”
Di E’s heart shook. He took a deep breath, then said, “I understand!”
“Give me the Well of Turbulent Daos,” said the little girl.
Di E fell silent, then flipped his palm. A fist-sized well floated into the air. Chaos light erupted from its mouth.
This was the Well of Turbulent Daos, but its surface now bore a startling sword mark.
The little girl held it above her palm, then looked it over. “The Buddha of the Future is wounded far more badly than you imagine.”
Di E’s eyes shone with strange light. “Is that so?”
He naturally understood the implications.
“Take a closer look. How are the sword marks on the Five Witherings Gourd and the Well of Turbulent Daos different?” the little girl asked suddenly.
Di E froze, stunned, then looked over and examined the well intently. Not long after, he exclaimed, “They’re both the work of the sword, but they’re the result of two starkly different powers!”
“That’s right,” said the little girl. “The Buddha of the Future wasn’t lying. It was the avatar of one of Su Yi’s past lives who damaged the Well of Turbulent Daos, while it was an Eternal Dao Sword that damaged the Five Witherings Gourd.
“That means that Su Yi’s hidden cards aren’t limited to that sword; he has the avatar of his past life, too!”
Di E sighed. “His cultivation base isn’t worthy of concern, but each of his hidden cards is more heaven-defying than the one before.”
“I said, all treasures are all ultimately just external items. That’s true of avatars of will, too. Furthermore, in a clash of trump cards, you have me, and a whole host of powerful experts of the River of Destiny. You aren’t at all inferior to Su Yi.
“But you must remember that victory will ultimately come down to your individual abilities!” The girl waved her hand through the air, putting both the gourd and the well away. “I’ll take both treasures back to the River of Destiny and ask someone to examine the damage and perform divinations. If they uncover any secrets, we might well glean further insights into the origins of Su Yi’s sword and his past life’s true strength.”
Di E nodded.
“Going forward, you are not to enter the outside world again. Go into hiding. No matter what happens, you are not to act personally,” said the little girl. “When the Dark Days of Legend arrive, numerous unpredictable changes will take place. The winds and waves will be treacherous and fierce. Better to watch from a safe distance and avoid getting swept into the storm.”
Di E fell briefly silent. “I can watch from a safe distance, but first, I’m going to wait here until Su Yi shows up.”
The little girl frowned; she obviously didn’t approve.
But in the end, she didn’t try to dissuade him. She just said, “As I’m sure you know, we chose two Bringers of Order in preparation for this Battle for Order.
“You’re the candidate I chose. I don’t want anything to happen to you before the Dark Days of Legend arrive. You must be careful.”
With that, the little girl transformed into a rain of light and vanished.
Di E’s expression shifted, and he sank deep into thought.
……
“Di E’s wounds are quite serious,” the Dipankara Buddha said suddenly. “He was putting on a strong front earlier.”
“Isn’t that true for me too?” said the Buddha of the Future. He wasn’t the least bit surprised.
The Dipankara Buddha sighed. “After seeing everything that happened here, I realized that I’ve been underestimating Di E this entire time. It’s no wonder that faction of the River of Destiny chose him as their Bringer of Order. He almost made us fall flat on our faces.”
If Su Yi hadn’t taken the bait and gone to the Boundless Battlefield, when the Tribulation of the Five Witherings swept the Boundless Battlefield, the two Buddhas would have no choice but to make concessions and beg Di E to show mercy!
The Buddha of the Future said, “Don’t forget that Di E has never acted on his own. He has a whole group of experts from the River of Destiny behind him.”
The Dipankara Buddha nodded, then smiled. “But we managed to sever our karmic fetters in the end. Another day, we’ll return to prominence. I’m sure that this time, we’ll far surpass our former peak and achieve an unsurpassed Dao Fruit!”
The Buddha of the Future clasped his palms and whispered, “Splendid!”