Xumi Palace warmly invited Li Ye and the others to stay for a few days.
The abbot had also shed his earlier arrogance and prejudice, joining the invitation.
Li Ye thought it over and decided to stay for a few days.
He got to see Xumi Palace's imperial artifact—the Xumi Emperor Pagoda.
The pagoda was extraordinary. It was bonded to the Buddha Emperor's life, and the space inside could expand or contract. Li Ye had wanted to see it for himself.
However, when it was opened, all he could see with the naked eye was a hazy mass of chaos, filled with an aura of annihilation.
There was nothing at all.
It looked like the desolate ruins left behind after the Big Bang.
He froze on the spot.
The Buddha Emperor Pagoda was bonded to the Buddha Emperor's life. He had assumed the space inside would resemble the Buddha Emperor's inner world, evolving into all manner of cosmic wonders, or perhaps endless Buddhist realms.
A dazzling, bustling world.
He had never expected it to look like this: empty, boundless, and bleak.
"Could this be what they mean by 'the four elements are all empty'?"
Li Ye was astonished, but on closer inspection, he realized the pagoda was no ordinary object.
The abbot beside him explained that the Xumi Pagoda had indeed once been as Li Ye had guessed, with traces of various Buddhist teachings circulating within it.
A single thought could summon the sounds of ten thousand realms.
A million suns and moons hung high, while billions of galaxies revolved—a dazzling, bustling world, majestic and magnificent.
After the Buddha Emperor passed into nirvana, those scenes continued to revolve, even evolving into something more intricate and profound.
Then, sometime in ancient times, it fell silent for a while.
When it awoke,