The birth of a new Dao Realm bigwig was bound to affect several ancient Dao Ancestors.

When it comes to transcendence, the fewer competitors, the better.

The East Sovereign Taiyi and the Amitabha did the opposite. They expedited the existence of Maitreya Buddha and the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord, respectively, which at first glance was undoubtedly an anomaly.

Then, why did they do this? It was a question that Yan Zhaoge and others had to ponder deeper.

Dao Monarch Lu Ya’s letter was straightforward, but the letter didn’t mention the reason behind it.

Since they did not explain it fully, the letter’s validity remained suspicious.

However, since the matter involved several Dao Realm bigwigs, Dao Monarch Lu Ya could not readily discuss it directly in the letter. It was inappropriate to disclose it too blatantly.

Still, he believed that Yan Zhaoge, Yang Jian, and the others could grasp a further truth with the clues given in his letter since they had pieces of information with them already.

“Eastern Sovereign Taiyi provided the Humanly Essence Stone fragments to guide and help Maitreya Buddha, whose path to Dao Realm was severed. So then, the Sovereign expedited Future Buddha’s existence, thus creating Buddhism heretics.” Yan Zhaoge gently rubbed his temples, “Such a peculiar move. There should be a deeper meaning to it.”

In the Middle era, East Sovereign Taiyi led the demons and competed with Buddhism. However, his plan failed at the last move.

Then, Buddhism flourished, spreading eastward and enlightening many living beings. Tathagata Buddha had successfully transcended too.

Judging from the behavior of East Sovereign Taiyi after that, he didn’t seem bothered about losing the competition with Tathagata Buddha for the slot to transcend.

The birth of the Future Buddha led to the segregation of Buddhism, giving birth to the Central Blessed Lands of Saha. As a result, the Tathagata Buddha’s orthodoxy was altered, causing an internal conflict within Buddhism.

But in Yan Zhaoge’s speculation, the East Sovereign Taiyi didn’t launch his plan to take revenge on Buddhism.

At the very least, it wasn’t his primary goal nor the only purpose.

The opponent he would compete with was no longer the transcended Tathagata Buddha but the other Dao Realm bigwigs in this world.

At that time, his competition was the Amitabha of the Western Pure Lands and the Nine Underworlds.

As a public enemy all along, if Nine Underworlds became strong, East Sovereign Taiyi and Amitabha would unite against Nine Underworlds first.

Even though everyone was seeking something for the Nine Underworlds and offered convenience for the Nine Underworlds, the several Dao Ancestors have never relaxed their attention to Nine Underworlds, let alone back then.

Vast Freedom Heavenly Devil and Nine Underworlds were self-conscious and tried to keep a low profile.

“Eastern Sovereign’s main competitor in this era is Amitabha.” Yan Zhaoge murmured.

Although he lost during the Middle era and was forced to retreat into the Astro Mountains Starry Sea to recuperate, East Sovereign Taiyi had quickly recovered and began to make plans for the new era, which was the current era.

The Future Buddha was his work.

“The birth of Buddhism heretics hindered Amitabha’s plan.” Yang Jian said in a deep voice, “On the other hand, the existence of Maitreya Buddha will hinder Amitabha’s transcendence!”

“For the Eastern Sovereign, the hindrance was the meaning of the existence for the Future Buddha and the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus.”

As one of the strongest Grand Heavenly Immortals in the world, Yang Jian was close to Dao Realm.

There was a thin gap separating him from the attainment. Once he acquired a new clue, he could overcome the gap easily like a hot knife cutting through butter.

“But, things should be more than that.” Yang Jian stood up and strolled around the hall.

Yan Zhaoge frowned and said while thinking, “Then what about Amitabha’s countermeasures? He expedited the birth of the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord and competed with the Future Buddha for faith power. For Amitabha, he was merely responding to the already delivered attacks. Would he have any counterattack against the Eastern Sovereign?”

Although Amitabha was peaceful and undisputed most of the time, it did not mean that the oldest Buddha in the world would not fight back after being provoked, much less that he would only react passively.

Amitabha would make a move and take the initiative when needed.

Buddhism flourished in the Middle Era, but Amitabha no longer emerged in the public’s eye.

But he had established a solid foundation with Dao Ancestor Zhunti for Buddhism’s prosperity in the battle of the ancient eras.

“Ancestor Amitabha didn’t fight back, or he didn’t take the initiative to attack, maybe because…” Yang Jian stopped, stood in the hall, and said in a brooding voice, “…Maybe it’s because he doesn’t need to.”

“Conversely, the Eastern Sovereign wishes Amitabha to take the initiative to attack.”

Yang Jian spoke eagerly, although coherent, “In ancient times, there were two Buddhism ancestors, Amitabha and Dao Ancestor Zhunti, in which Amitabha is the Senior Brother here.”

“But in the Middle era, Dao Ancestor Zhunti changed his title to the Sakyamuni Buddha, flourishing Buddhism into a great height, the Central Blessed Lands of Saha. After that, there isn’t much activity from the Western Pure Lands and Amitabha.”

Hearing Yang Jian describing the situation, Yan Zhaoge, Feng Yunsheng, and Ne Zha looked at each other.

“It isn’t Amitabha being apathetic, but there’s no need for him to compete for anything. Tathagata Buddha has transcended in the last epoch. In this era, Amitabha is the Dao Ancestor closest to transcendence.” Feng Yunsheng said somewhat uncertainly, “So, is he faster than Eastern Sovereign?”

“I’m afraid that’s the case. Amitabha is fully prepared, and he doesn’t need to do anything else. Once the time has come and this era ends, he will transcend for sure if there were no surprises.” Yan Zhaoge speculated.

The so-called surprises had already happened, which were the Future Buddha and the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus.

Yan Zhaoge thought for a while and then said, “On the other hand, it is also possible that the East Sovereign did not reveal any flaws for Amitabha to seize it.”

“Then, we could infer another possibility from this.” Yang Jian sat back in his chair, “East Sovereign is also ready, but he was one step slower than Amitabha. If everyone is at peace until the end of this era, then the one who succeeded in transcendence will be Amitabha. Eastern Sovereign will not be ahead of him.”

“But if Amitabha did not transcend in this era, then the East Sovereign can successfully attain it without doing anything else.” Yan Zhaoge continued Yang Jian’s words.

The hall turned silent for a while.

Those two might no longer need a special chance for transcendence.

As the ancient being in the world, they had been preparing for too long.

However, even Amitabha did not intend to give in.

The four looked at each other. Ne Zha asked after a while, “Then, is the Eastern Sovereign related to the severance of the Maitreya Buddha’s path, causing him to convert into heretical means?”

“It’s hard to say whether the East Sovereign planned the entire thing. He has most possibly taken the opening he had.” Yang Jian said, “The Central Blessed Lands of Saha broke the demon races’ formation back then with the Humanly Essence Stone fragment. We don’t know why the captured Humanly Essence Stone fragments fell into Maitreya Buddha’s hands, who inherited the orthodoxy of Buddhism’s Mystical Mountain. This incident forced him to rely on Eastern Sovereign’s help to set foot on Dao Realm.”