Chapter 640 - 62: The Supreme’s Dog-Beating Stick, Changing Buddhism to Daoism, the Buddha’s Downfall

Chapter 640: Chapter 62: The Supreme’s Dog-Beating Stick, Changing Buddhism to Daoism, the Buddha’s Downfall

’In other words, I’d only had a disciple for two days, and those two bastards already poached him from me???’

Supreme Laojun trembled with rage. He re-examined the past Years, and one "dot" after another connected, resolving all his doubts.

’So that’s how it is.’

It all dawned on him.

’Good, good, good.’

’Just great! Fantastic!’

’No wonder... No wonder those two bastards were suddenly as thick as thieves. No wonder they looked at me so strangely. No wonder...’

Supreme Laojun felt worse and worse. The more he thought, the angrier he got, and the angrier he got, the more he thought about it...

He took another deep breath and forced a smile.

"I am stepping out for a moment."

"Master..." Lu Xuan quickly tried to stop him, recounting the plot hatched by Ancient Bodhi Buddha, the Demon Ancestor, and the others.

After a moment of silence, Supreme Laojun spoke stiffly.

"Then go invite your two *masters* over. Tell them... I’m going to Cast an Artifact for you."

He put a particularly heavy emphasis on the word "masters."

Lu Xuan opened his mouth, but ultimately didn’t dare to say anything. He obediently performed a salute, then tiptoed quietly away.

After Lu Xuan left, Supreme Laojun pondered for a long time. He plucked an Innate Spiritual Root from the beginning of the Years...

...then took out Immortal Gold, Divine Iron, and other materials. He opened his Eight Trigrams Furnace, threw everything inside, and silently stoked the flames. Finally, he plucked the Great Daos of [Pain] and [Tearing] and fused them into the newly forged staff.

"I’ll call you the Dog-Beating Stick."

The Old Lord sneered coldly.

.........

「Spirit Mountain Buddha Country.」

"What’s... what’s wrong with you?"

The Buddha, who looked like a middle-aged farmer, gazed in bewilderment at Sakyamuni Buddha, whose face kept shifting from pale to green.

"It’s nothing, nothing at all..."

Sakyamuni Buddha grimaced, twitching from the pain. Each blow from the ruler had penetrated everything to strike his True Spirit directly, and the pain now reflected across all of Lu Xuan’s incarnations...

’It hurts, it hurts so much!’

After a long while,

he caught his breath, offered a wry smile, and saluted.

"My apologies for my sudden loss of composure. I’ve made a fool of myself in front of you, Elder."

"Come inside and we can talk." The Buddha suppressed his confusion, invited Lu Xuan into the small wooden cabin, and poured two cups of hot tea.

"I overheard your conversation with Ah Nan and Kasyapa just now. I have some idea of what you’re plotting, and I support it. But this matter will be very, very difficult."

Lu Xuan endured the pain and said with a solemn expression,

"But this might be an opportunity. Amitabha and Bodhi have both strayed from the path. They no longer follow the path of universal salvation, but instead make the common people save them, foisting their own tribulations upon all living souls..."

He paused,

then took a deep breath and continued methodically.

"Among the Buddhas, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, most still hold compassion in their hearts and believe in saving others from suffering. If we expose all of this, and do it properly, it might just be possible to... [overthrow them from below]."

The Buddha’s expression flickered slightly as he took a sip of tea.

"You wish to expel those two from the Buddhist Sect and sever their very foundation? But to be honest, that’s nearly impossible. They are the Source of the Buddhist Path."

"What does it matter if they’re the Source?"

Lu Xuan smiled calmly.

"Since they’ve already strayed from their original hearts and deviated from their founding principles, then the Buddha Lord is not irreplaceable. Why can’t I become ’Amitabha’? And why can’t you, Elder, become ’Bodhi’?"

The Buddha’s expression hardened slightly, as if in thought, but in the end, he shook his head.

"These things are too far in the future. You should first focus on surviving the immediate calamity. Those two are planning to restart the Journey to the West, are they not? This trial, I’m afraid, will not be an easy one to pass."

Lu Xuan’s expression turned solemn once more.

"My visit to you today, Elder, is also related to the matter of the westward journey. I wish to ask you to enter the fray."

The Buddha pondered for a long time, then nodded, but then shook his head again.

"It’s not that I can’t, but getting involved in this trial carries great risk. I will require sufficient benefits."

He was very frank about it, not mincing words, and Lu Xuan readily nodded in agreement.

Asking someone to step into a great calamity and get involved in the struggle for the Dao Fruit required paying a price and offering benefits. That was only natural.

When he had asked Elder Haotian to participate, he had offered the [Position of the Celestial Duke].

Lu Xuan asked softly,

"I wonder, Elder, what is it that you desire?"

The Buddha put down his teacup and said with a smile,

"You have inherited my past identity and my memories. You should know what it is I seek."

Lu Xuan was stunned for a moment. He reviewed the past of ’Sakyamuni Buddha,’ surveying it all, until his gaze finally landed on the moment of Sakyamuni Buddha’s birth.

When Shakyamuni had just been born, while still an infant, he took seven steps to the East, South, West, and North. Then, pointing one hand to the sky and touching the other to the ground, he declared:

"In the heavens above and on the earth below, Only I Am Venerable!"

He began to understand and asked tentatively,

"What you seek... is to be venerated alone?"

"Yes, and no."

The Buddha nodded, yet also shook his head.

"I only wish to be ’venerated alone’ within the Buddhist Path. As for the reason, you have already explained it perfectly. Amitabha and Bodhi have strayed from their original hearts, making all living beings save them instead of saving all living beings. Only by being venerated alone can I practice my own path."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xuan was moved and chuckled lightly.

"What a coincidence. This junior’s desire is the same: to use the Dharma of [Only I Am Venerable] to walk the path I desire and forge a [Hongjun Era]..."

He paused and said with a smile,

"On this point, you and I are of the same mind, Elder. My master once told me this ambition of mine would be difficult. The last one who wished for ’Only I Am Venerable,’ Taiyi, has already failed. I never expected that you would harbor this thought as well."

The Buddha nodded slightly.

"I have always been this way."

After a moment’s thought, Lu Xuan said decisively,

"How about this: if we succeed, I will do everything in my power to help you, Elder, ascend to the position of Buddha Lord. And if we can then expel Bodhi and Amitabha from the Buddhist Path, you will be the one and only Buddha Lord. Would that count as being ’venerated alone’?"

"It would."

The Buddha smiled and said slowly,

"In that case, when the Journey to the West restarts, what would you have me do?"