Treading West into the Desert to Question the Heart, Raising the Buddha Sword-This Road Has No Gate

Western Region, Great Desert.

Across the boundless desert, the sun's scorching heat branded the traces of a passing figure into the sand—a string of hurried footprints.

"No—"

When that cry of agony rang across the desert, it was swiftly scattered by the wind.

The source of the voice was still that lone, hurried traveler crossing the desert: an ordinary-looking man clad in a star-patterned robe.

There was little distinctive about his appearance, save for the bronze mirror he held in his hands.

Within the bronze mirror was the scene from the Tomb of Returning Consciousness in the Southern Domain.

"This is bad."

Whether he had heard something or thought of something, the man in the star-patterned robe put away the bronze mirror and stopped watching. His steps became even more resolute.

He moved with astonishing speed.

Though he had not employed any spiritual technique, the desert itself seemed to shrink beneath his feet, while faint starlight descended from beyond the heavens.

The man soon crossed the desert.

The Western Region did not consist solely of the Great Desert. It merely had more desert than anything else—ninety-nine percent of it.

Once one crossed the desert, or found an oasis within it, one would encounter scenes like the one before the star-patterned man now.

With one great stride, the landscape before his eyes changed, and he stepped out of the desert into a barren region.

There was still grit and sand here, but impoverished earth could be seen beneath it. Every so often, a few gray-green shoots emerged.

A few more steps took him across the barren region and into an area of strange rocks.

Jagged boulders rose everywhere, and the terrain began to slope upward. There even seemed to be greenery in the distance. Perhaps farther up, there would be a