The great hall fell into a deathly silence.
Zhunti said nothing, only looked at Jieyin.
Jieyin sighed, and on that sorrowful face appeared a trace of helplessness.
"Duobao."
"You have gotten one thing wrong."
"We Sages did not become Saints by merging the Three Corpses into one."
Tathagata's mind rang with a buzz.
"What? The Sages did not merge the Three Corpses into one?"
"Back then, when we listened to the Dao in Zixiao Palace, the Dao Ancestor bestowed Hongmeng Purple Qi upon us."
Zhunti's every word struck Tathagata's heart.
"Later, Nuwa created humanity, stirring the Heavenly Dao into sending down immeasurable merit. She borrowed that merit and the purple qi to force her way into becoming a Saint."
"Taiqing established the Human Sect, Yuanshi established the Chan Sect, and Tongtian established the Jie Sect. They likewise borrowed merit to become Saints."
"My senior brother and I established the Western Teachings, made the Eighty-One Great Vows, and advanced merit from the Heavenly Dao to become Saints."
"Everyone, in the end, when taking that final step, relied on immeasurable merit!"
"The Method of Slaying Three Corpses merely uses the opportunity of cutting off Obsession to raise one's cultivation to the peak of Quasi-Saint."
"That final step does not rely on the merging of the Three Corpses at all!"
"Apart from the Dao Ancestor himself, no one has merged the Three Corpses into one."
Tathagata sat upon the Lotus Platform, his entire being sinking into a long silence.
The Six Sages had become Saints through merit, not by merging the Three Corpses into one.
This secret was something he had never heard anyone mention.
But thinking about it carefully, it also seemed only natural.
The Dao Ancestor had passed down the Method of Slaying Three Corpses, and cultivators under heaven had flocked