Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra

The sun rose and set, and time flowed on.

Over the next few days, Li Jiusheng went to an open area every day to practice his fists slowly. Little Fox also mimicked him clumsily from a short distance away, practicing each stance and move as she steadily improved herself.

Little Fox was a Nine-tailed Demonic Fox with an exceptionally powerful bloodline, so cultivation came very easily to her. Yet Li Jiusheng did not immediately teach her how to cultivate. Instead, he guided her to temper her body, making her physique stronger and laying the foundation for the future.

From beginning to end, Li Jiusheng had not spoken a single word to Little Fox. Although she was willing to approach him and follow him in cultivation, that did not mean she could accept being close to him. Li Jiusheng understood this clearly, and he did not rush things.

Every morning, he brought Little Fox to practice boxing for a while, then took out tasty food to feed her. After that, Li Jiusheng left her to herself. Sometimes, Little Fox found it strange. Why was this human so different from everyone else?

The days passed one by one. During this time, Li Jiusheng was also settling himself, sorting through from beginning to end the Dao he had absorbed and the methods he had cultivated. He had comprehended all kinds of methods from "force" to "Essence," while a select few had reached the level of "Dao."

During this period, he practiced boxing in the mountains, comprehended the Dao beside waterfalls, savored tea in the tea room, and read in the Scripture Repository Pavilion, gradually stabilizing his mid-stage Grandmaster realm.

For most of that time, there was a small figure by his side, neither too close nor too far away.

It was Little Fox.

There was one thing she was very unwilling to admit: she liked the tranquil, lofty feeling and profound Dao Rhyme around Li Jiusheng. Thus, whenever he cultivated or comprehended the Dao, she would quietly draw near and watch in silence.

Li Jiusheng saw all of this and smiled. Little Fox was actually a very adorable little girl. Although she had witnessed much of humanity's wickedness in the Demon Refining Tower of the Luochuan Sect, she had not blindly decided that all humans were bad. She was merely cautious and needed to confirm again and again whether Li Jiusheng was a human she could approach.

Li Jiusheng did not disturb Little Fox. She could do whatever she wanted. Sometimes, he would even take books from the Scripture Repository Pavilion for her to read. Little Fox had been reluctant at first, but Li Jiusheng merely handed the books to her and then ignored her, cultivating by himself. When she grew bored, she began flipping through them.

The more she read, the more engrossed she became.

The book Li Jiusheng gave Little Fox was a chronicle of the mountains and rivers of the Old Land. It recorded the customs and people of the Old Land, the forces in every region, the weather, and the geography. It was not entirely text; it included illustrations. For a child like Little Fox, it was quite captivating.

And so, Li Jiusheng cultivated while Little Fox read. In the mountains, in early spring, in the Scripture Repository Pavilion, and in the tea room, the distance between them grew smaller and smaller. Little Fox became increasingly less guarded around Li Jiusheng. Sometimes, after he finished cultivating, he would groom her fur. She would hum softly and shift into a more comfortable position, letting him continue.

As he groomed Little Fox's fur, a smile appeared on Li Jiusheng's lips. After so long, there was finally affection between them.

From then on, Little Fox followed Li Jiusheng wherever he went, sometimes at his feet and sometimes a short distance away.

When Li Jiusheng practiced boxing, she practiced boxing too.

When Li Jiusheng meditated, she meditated too.

When Li Jiusheng read, she read too.

Gradually, the lively and adorable side of Little Fox's personality emerged. She was only a newly born young vixen, after all.

The suffering she had endured during those years in her mother's womb had already been gently soothed away by Li Jiusheng.

Li Jiusheng had originally been alone. Little Fox's appearance brought him much joy, and on the lonely road of seeking the Dao, he now had a companion.

Tea room.

Wisp after wisp of sandalwood incense rose.

Li Jiusheng was reading a secret manual, while Little Fox held a book of her own. The tea room was silent, and the years were peaceful.

Li Jiusheng was reading the secret techniques from various major sects that the two black-clothed brothers had stolen.

The brothers had infiltrated the Old Land for more than ten years, visiting the major sects and plundering over a dozen Storage magical treasures. They had intended to take them out and sell them, only for everything to end up in Li Jiusheng's hands.

What Li Jiusheng was reading now was Great Forest Temple's [Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra].

Great Forest Temple was a long-established Buddhist Sect in the Old Land. [Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra] was one of its sect-defending scriptures, a famed Primordial spirit cultivation method in the Old Land that had long been coveted by Great Grandmasters.

For a Grandmaster seeking to break through to the Great Grandmaster realm, the difference did not lie in the physical body, but in the Primordial spirit.

A Grandmaster comprehended a domain, merging mountains, rivers, and earth veins into it to make them the place where he attained the Dao. After that came cultivation of the Primordial spirit. The Primordial spirit was like fire, blazing like the fierce sun. It could leave the body, wander at night, travel by day, manipulate objects, and carry a flying sword to kill enemies a thousand miles away without a trace. That was a Great Grandmaster.

To cultivate a Primordial spirit, one needed a Primordial spirit cultivation method. In the Old Land, Great Forest Temple's [Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra] was hailed as the foundational method for Primordial spirit cultivation. In other words, whatever other Primordial spirit cultivation methods possessed, [Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra] possessed as well. Yet what [Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra] possessed, other Primordial spirit cultivation methods did not.

"Great Forest Temple is a major Buddhist Sect, and [Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra] is one of its core Secret techniques. I never expected those two brothers to get their hands on it. They had some skill." Li Jiusheng could not help praising them. As he read through the secret manual, his vision blurred, and he seemed to hear Buddhist chants by his ear, faint and distant, as though they came from the depths of the earth.

Li Jiusheng focused on comprehending it.

His comprehension spread outward, catching the scattered Dao Rhyme thread by thread, strand by strand. From nothing to something, from little to much, his understanding of [Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra] gradually entered a perfect state.

In his daze, Li Jiusheng's consciousness fell into the depths of the earth. There, he saw the Nether Hell and mountains of corpses amid seas of blood.

[Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra] dragged him into a sunless Senluo Hell.

Within that hell, Li Jiusheng saw a red-robed monk walking slowly forward.

Wherever he passed, no evil ghosts remained.

Wherever he passed, white bones covered the ground.

In the next scene, Li Jiusheng saw the red-robed monk arrive before pagodas built from white bones. He sat cross-legged, his expression calm, and softly recited, "Amitabha."

Boom!

The next instant, he saw the mountains of corpses and seas of blood behind the red-robed monk, endless slaughter, and that bloodstained cassock.

Only then did Li Jiusheng understand. The monk's cassock had originally been white. It had merely turned red because he had slain too many evil ghosts, too many malevolent spirits, until hell itself had been emptied.

Though he had killed countless evil ghosts, he knew that he was a good monk.

Thus, before the towering pagodas of white bones, the monk softly said, "Hell is empty!"

At that moment, the monk became a Buddha.

The scene ended abruptly. Li Jiusheng's consciousness returned to reality, leaving only a [Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra] for using the Primordial spirit to kill enemies in his mind.

"I never expected Great Forest Temple's [Earth Store's Original Vows Sutra] to be so brutal. Only by slaughtering hell empty could one become a Buddha. As expected of a top-tier Primordial spirit cultivation method—it pursues ultimate combat power. It suits me perfectly." Li Jiusheng was filled with delight. He liked ultimate combat power. His physical body had already taken that path, so naturally, his Primordial spirit had to take it as well.