Since You Have Seen the Future, Why Not Bow? (54k)
This happened too suddenly.
Those inside the stupa saw only the Great Sun Halo and heard only the ethereal Buddhist Chants, experiencing a profound sense of tranquility.
Then all that remained before my eyes was a vast expanse of white.
When the Great Sun Halo dimmed a little,
It can see things in front of it again.
What was seen was that the disheveled old man suddenly appeared behind a bamboo forest, his hands clasped together, and Great Sun Halo behind his head, resembling a true True Buddha.
And at the Buddha statue that the incense burner was thrown at.
The benevolent Merciful Buddha Statue, which had been laughing heartily, raised its head, and its fingers, which had been in a gesture of holding up a flower, steadily grasped the incense burner.
The Buddha statue opened its eyes, and ash scattered in front of its face, falling in clusters.
The worshippers were in an uproar.
The disheveled old man with a head full of dry, white hair snorted:
"You fiend, how dare you tamper with cause and effect, and desecrate the Buddha statue? Get out of the Buddha's body now!"
His eyes sparkled, and he could vaguely see two Great Sun Golden Lamp, and clearly saw a weasel coiled inside the Buddha statue!
The Buddha statue tilted its head slightly.
It actually spoke, producing a sound like metal rubbing together, and said:
"Since you can see the future, why not worship it?"
The vast, resounding sound was like rolling thunder, causing the pilgrims in the pagodas to stagger and fall.
Lian Laosan, horrified, shielded his daughter, while the Fourth Girl in her arms looked on blankly.
All I saw was
Prayer Flags fluttered in layers, and the gates of the stupa slammed shut.
Behind the fluttering Prayer Flags, the stone statues of Vajra, Arhats, and others actually stood up and began chanting—
"Since we can see the future, why not worship it!"
The diamond statue shone with a radiant light befitting Heavenly Human Realm, while the Arhat statue exuded an aura befitting a true venerable being.
The thirty-six Vajra and four Arhats in the hall were actually thirty-six Celestial Person and four Deity Venerable!
They came back to life, and they're coming back!
A series of chants of Brahma Chant resounded, and the smile on the Merciful Buddha Statue grew even brighter, as if mocking the disheveled old man's recklessness and senility.
A dazzling light pierced through the pagoda, causing the clouds in the surrounding sky to ripple. The red ox outside the pagoda was startled and stood up abruptly, its crimson fur bristling.
Ruan Yutu, who was leading the ox, was caught in the murderous intent stirred up by the red ox. In an instant, she disintegrated into a blurry blood mist, her body and soul vanished.
At this moment,
The Sloppy Old Man was pinned to the table by the wrathful gazes of the Vajras and Arhats, unable to move at all.
The Merciful Buddha Statue swayed and rose, revealing one Cave Heaven after another behind it—the weasel inside the Buddha statue was clearly only at the Innate Great Realm.
"Now, you have bowed down." The Buddha statue spoke, its voice as sharp as metal, and one by one, the people inside the tower were killed by the shock, their blood flowing all over the ground.
It sighed:
"We have to move again."
Lian Laosan, holding the Fourth Girl's corpse, was crying and dying. The coffin behind him rolled down and broke, revealing a female corpse inside.
But.
At this very moment.
Suddenly, the Buddha statue saw the disheveled old man, who was nailed to the ground and unable to move, raise his head and smile at it.
A bad feeling flashed through its mind.
The disheveled old man said:
"Future."
At the same time.
Eight Sceneries Palace.
Zhang Fusheng gently knocked several times on the Gate of the Past, sending a message to himself from dozens of breaths ago.
Then.
When his thoughts return to themselves.
Inside the stupa, all was quiet again. The Prayer Flags remained, and the Buddha statue smiled compassionately. Lian Laosan and the Fourth Girl had just gotten up.
He changed the past.
Zhang Fusheng's gaze was incredibly profound. Long before he even turned on the stove, he had already made plans to change the past and was not worried about the 'Butterfly Effect'.
Because the time difference was too short, only a dozen or so breaths had passed.
No matter how much it changes, it won't cause drastic changes or irreversible consequences.
Now, let's try again.
"Old man!" Fourth Girl called out, "Would you like to make a wish too? It really works!"
She saw that the old man ignored her, turned around and walked out of the pagoda, then shouted:
"Red Ox, come here now!"
"Moo!!"
With a moo, the red ox galloped over, and the disheveled old man flipped himself onto its back, saying:
"The Arhats in the pagoda are Arhats, the Vajras are Vajras, but the Buddha is not the Buddha."
As they were talking, Zhang Fusheng rode his red ox into the Buddhist temple, where a worshipper shouted at him:
"Old man, this is extremely disrespectful!"
The disheveled old man remained silent, riding his red ox to the table, where he suddenly stroked the ox's head:
"How about I release your true form?"
Red Bull looked up in surprise:
"Really?"
"Really."
The Sloppy Old Man narrated this, and with a flick of his wrist, a scroll appeared, depicting a red ox roaring towards the sky in the center.
He then grasped the scroll with one hand and formed a hand seal with the other, ah:
"Go, Divine Thunder!"
The Five Thunders Art was something Zhang Fusheng had 'traded' from Huang Qiuxian a long time ago, and he had only practiced the [Divine Thunder] aspect of the [Heaven, Earth, Ghosts, and Gods Shrine].
This thunderbolt is solely for killing and destruction.
It can punish deities who violate proper rituals, eliminate evil spirits and mountain monsters that cause chaos, smash temples, destroy monasteries, and kill living beings and animals!
"The World-Honored One has not nodded, so how can you be Maitreya?" That was all the old man asked.
In the same instant.
Outside the tower, above the misty sky, a sudden flash of lightning illuminated the gray earth.
Even the mist, which seemed capable of eroding divine will and blocking the gaze of gods, could not withstand this blinding lightning.
The thunder had not yet subsided.
Divine Thunder descended from the heavens, piercing through the thick fog and striking directly into the pagoda's gate!
"Punish."
"Evil God who violates unorthodox rituals!"
The bewildered worshippers inside the pagoda saw the old man utter such a sound, and the lightning struck the compassionate Buddha Ancestor.
The Buddha statue remained motionless, yet a weasel's scream could be heard emanating from within!
"Presumptuous!"
The Buddha statue glares angrily.
"Since we can see the future, why not worship it!"
With a loud shout, the Prayer Flags fluttered, and the Arhats and Vajra statues stood up, emanating rays of Buddha Light.
Zhang Fusheng simply shook the portrait in his hand!
Another red ox fell out of the painting.
The third realm of the Divine Path, Great Divine Ability User, the True Lord Scarlet Ox.
"Moo!!!"
With a single moo from a cow, the Arhat and Vajra statues simultaneously cracked and shattered, and the entire giant tower swayed, yet it miraculously did not collapse!
Pilgrims and people in the market outside the temple have all perished amidst the mooing of cows.
At this moment, within a radius of a hundred miles, Zhang Fusheng is the only living person left.
This was only because True Lord Scarlet Ox deliberately spared his life.
He also wanted to study the Heaven-Pacifying Great Sage Scripture.
"Gods!"
The Merciful Buddha Statue remained undamaged despite the mooing of the cows, yet it seemed to be emitting a cry of alarm, or rather, the cry of alarm emanating from the weasel lurking within it.
"I am the Buddha Ancestor, seated in Leiyin Temple. You should leave!"
The Buddha statue stood solemnly, glaring and roaring; the True Lord Scarlet Ox glanced sideways at it.
"Great Belly Buddha Ancestor, how could I not recognize you? Weren't you defeated by the Great Sun Tathagata of the Mandala System and forced to descend to earth to survive?"
After pausing for a moment, True Lord Scarlet Ox raised an eyebrow:
"But you don't seem to recognize me. You're not the Great Belly Buddha Ancestor."
With another moo, the cow stomped forward heavily, its hoof landing squarely on the Buddha statue's head!
"Moo!!"
True Lord Scarlet Ox cried out in pain, his hooves shattered, yet the Buddha statue remained unharmed. However, Zhang Fusheng, who understood cause and effect, could see that the weasel inside had been killed by the shock.
The Buddha statue then toppled over and crashed to the ground.
"The Celestial Throne!!"
True Lord Scarlet Ox was overjoyed. On the stone lotus platform where the Buddha statue was located, there was a phantom celestial position!
It may not seem to be a true celestial position, but it exudes an ancient aura that has witnessed countless vicissitudes of time.
Zhang Fusheng stared as the True Lord Scarlet Ox lunged forward, suddenly seizing that illusory celestial position.
A terrifying thing happened: the toppled, hollow Buddha statue spontaneously rose to its feet.
It perfectly enveloped the True Lord Scarlet Ox on the Stone Lotus Platform!
Zhang Fusheng's eyes were filled with starlight; using the Taiyi Chapter and the Path of Karma, he peered into the scene within the Buddha statue.
He saw pain appear on the face of the True Lord Scarlet Ox, followed by compassion, purity, and profound enlightenment.
It seems they've received some great benefit.
A moment later.
The Buddha statue opened its eyes and sighed:
"I am for the future."
The Buddha's power was immense; golden light emanated from it for miles around, transforming it into a Buddhist kingdom!
The look of confusion on Zhang Fusheng's face deepened:
"Red Ox, have you converted to Buddhism?"
The Buddha statue looked at him and said coldly:
"I am Buddha."
"Benefactor Zhang, you are the one who should take refuge. Since you can see the future, why don't you worship?"
Boundless golden light descends to deliver all beings.
Zhang Fusheng's thoughts had already entered the Eight Sceneries Palace. He stood in front of a door and gently knocked on it, sending a message to himself from dozens of breaths ago.
Then.
The thought returned to itself, and I opened my eyes.
Still within that pagoda, the vast land has not transformed into a Buddhist kingdom, and the weasel still sits serenely within the Buddha statue.
Lian Laosan and Fourth Girl, who had finished worshipping the Buddha statue for dozens of breaths, stood beside him, their faces full of confusion:
"Grandpa? What's wrong with you?"
Memories of conflict surfaced in Zhang Fusheng's mind, and he smiled calmly:
"No problem."
That's what he said, but Zhang Fusheng's eyes were fixed on the Buddha statue, his thoughts racing.
From this perspective, the culprit is not the weasel in the Buddha statue, but the Buddha statue and that illusory heavenly position itself.
Especially that position, it's very strange, it's not a truly complete celestial position, it's illusory and ethereal.
When he recalled the mythical stories of his past life, the first thing that came to mind was the Lesser Leiyin Temple of the Great King Yellow Brow.
In the story, Huangmei, a daring attendant of Maitreya Buddha Ancestor, built a small sacred mountain and Lesser Leiyin Temple.
Then he sat upright in it, impersonating [the Buddha].
However, he was impersonating the Buddha Tathagata, not Maitreya Buddha Ancestor.
Zhang Fusheng recalled the illusory celestial position he had just seen.
That position Buddha Heavenly Position, yet it also had the flavor of the Maitreya Heavenly Position.
At that time, I tried to understand cause and effect and trace the origin of that position, but it was very vague and I couldn't see it clearly at all.
"Old man?" Fourth Girl called out.
Zhang Fusheng snapped out of his reverie, took a deep look at the Buddha statue, and suddenly smiled:
"I'll go and offer my prayers too."
As he spoke,
He walked to the donation box and stood there, but did not immediately take the incense and candles.
It's always better to be safe than sorry.
Zhang Fusheng's thoughts once again drifted into the Eight Sceneries Palace.
He imagined a Mechanical Constructs, which, after being refined from a fake to a real object, was placed before the Gate of the Past.
The machine was used to knock on the Gate of the Past once, and sure enough, the sound was transmitted back to the past.
Zhang Fusheng was relieved. He first peeked through the crack in the door and visualized the scene from thirty breaths ago.
After the scene from thirty breaths ago was fully rendered inside the past gate,
Zhang Fusheng then rewrote the machine's program, setting it to knock on the Gate of the Past in ten minutes, transmitting information thirty breaths in advance.
Finally, the plague demon was summoned, and it was made to guard the Gate of the Past.
This double insurance ensures absolute safety.
If you are accidentally killed instantly after touching the donation box, it will not affect the Eight Sceneries Palace.
Ten minutes later, even the body of the plague demon would collapse with its own death.
This Mechanical Constructs will still knock on the Gate of the Past, sending a message to its past self—do not touch the donation box, leave the temple, leave the temple, leave the temple!
After confirming that Mechanical Constructs could also unlock the Gate of the Past and transmit information,
Zhang Fusheng's thoughts returned to himself.
He reached out and hovered his hand over the opening of the donation box, his thoughts wandering, and he casually thought of a trivial 'wish'—to find Chongyang World.
Zhang Fusheng could feel that a small amount of his Essence, Qi, and Spirit had been drained away, but not much.
A stick of incense and candle floated out of the donation box.
Within himself, there was also a peculiar, elusive cause and effect, firmly bound to the incense and candles.
Zhang Fusheng calmly stepped forward and inserted the incense sticks into the burner.
In the same instant.
The karma that was on the incense and candles was transferred and settled into the Buddha statue.
And in that very instant.
A sudden gust of wind arose, the Prayer Flags fluttered, and the stupa's doors slammed shut.
The worshippers in the temple looked around in bewilderment, then were horrified to see that the Arhats and Vajra statues had all stood up.
Even the Maitreya Buddha Statue stood up!
"Damn it," the withered old man muttered, nearly dropping his pipe.
Lian Laosan and Fourth Girl standing nearby stared wide-eyed, their scalps tingling.
Zhang Fusheng felt a chill in his heart, but he didn't immediately knock on the Gate of the Past. He just stood there quietly.
He looked around at the statues of Arhats and Vajra statues.
The stupa suddenly fell silent.
Lian Laosan, pulling the Fourth Girl along, shrank to the side, while the withered old man and the other worshippers also retreated to a corner of the pagoda.
At this moment.
They saw that the Arhats and Vajra statues, which seemed to have come to life, suddenly put their hands together and bowed down to the Sloppy Old Man.
They shouted:
"Greetings, Buddha Ancestor."
Zhang Fusheng:???
In a daze,
He saw the Maitreya Buddha Statue standing on a stone lotus platform, gazing silently at him, its hands also clasped together in prayer.
"The Future Buddha has seen the Past Buddha."
Zhang Fusheng raised an eyebrow, suppressed his excitement, and quietly used the Taiyi Chapter to scan the strange cause and effect between himself and the Buddha statue.
He raised his head again and looked into the eyes of the Buddha statue.
Zhang Fusheng actually saw two pasts in the eyes of the Buddha statue—two pasts that he had changed.
He suddenly realized, reached out and gently manipulated the peculiar cause and effect, and calmly spoke:
"Does this cause and effect allow you to see the changed past as well?"
The Buddha statue, or rather the weasel within it, nods cautiously:
"Yes."
"Why do you call me the Past Buddha?" Zhang Fusheng asked again.
The Buddha statue pondered for a moment and said:
"I see that in the most original past, you say you are the Buddha—the Buddha who can rewrite the past, is naturally [the Past Buddha Ancestor]."
After a moment, the Buddha statue peered through the tightly closed pagoda doors at the red ox standing at the temple entrance with apprehension and fear.
It continued:
"Since we have both received the Buddha Ancestor from the previous world, why should we be enemies? You be your Randeng, and I will be my Maitreya Buddha."
The worshippers looked around blankly, while Zhang Fusheng squinted his eyes.
This weasel seems to know quite a lot.
He even knew the name of Randeng Buddha Ancestor —also known as Randeng Buddha Ancestor of the Past, and one of the Three Buddhas of the Three Worlds.
The three Buddhas of the past, present, and future are Randeng (the Buddha of the past), Present Tathagata), and Maitreya Buddha (the Buddha of the future).
Corresponding to these are the Three Buddhas of the Three Worlds: Amitabha Buddha, the lord of the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and Bhaisajyaguru Buddha, the lord of the Eastern Pure Land of Lapis Lazuli.
And the lord of the Central Posadha World —is still Shakyamuni Tathagata.
Zhang Fusheng's mind raced, and he began to suspect something. A weasel at the innate level couldn't possibly know such secrets.
Is it because the other party is seated upright in the Buddha statue, conforming to that false heavenly position?
It seems that it is indeed the legacy of some being from the old world—but it is definitely not Maitreya.
The Maitreya Heavenly Position is right in the hands of our Grandmaster.
So, this illusory celestial position is probably a contingency plan left behind by some immortal or Buddha from the old world, just like Chang'an Town and the Thousand Mile Zhaoling.
Between a hundred turns of thoughts,
The Maitreya Buddha Statue spoke again in a low voice:
"Past Buddha, you and I are both Buddha Ancestor of Vulture Peak. I have also sensed the whereabouts of the Present Buddha. How about we cooperate?"
Zhang Fusheng remained calm and composed.
"How can we cooperate? Where is the Present Buddha?"
The Maitreya Buddha Statue still speaks with a solemn and deep voice.
"The Present Buddha heavenly position passed through this place not long ago and went west. He is currently somewhere in the west."
"We'll find a successor for it, and then the Three Buddhas will stand side by side, restoring the glory of Mount Ling. What do you say?"
The worshippers inside the pagoda were completely stunned. Lian Laosan knelt down abruptly, his face filled with fanaticism.
"Amitabha!"
He was clearly a follower of the Spirit Mountain System.
The Maitreya Buddha Statue didn't even glance at him; it simply stared at the mysterious, terrifying, Sloppy Old Man.
The other party can change the past!
There's even a bull at the level of Great Divine Ability User!!
Zhang Fusheng, without changing his expression, asked:
"Where exactly is the Present Buddha located?"
The Maitreya Buddha Statue stared at him for a long while before finally speaking:
"In the far west, three thousand miles Qinghe City, it's not far from that small world that fell down."
Zhang Fusheng asked:
"You seem to know a lot."
Answer by Maitreya Buddha Statue:
"I am the future, therefore I am all-knowing."
Zhang Fusheng asked again:
"Then do you know where the Nine Netherworlds are?"
The Maitreya Buddha Statue was stunned:
"Nine Netherworlds? What's that?"
"That is the true final resting place of the dead, the underworld, the netherworld, the netherworld."
Zhang Fusheng calmly replied:
"It's ten thousand years from now—you are the future, how could you not know?"
The Maitreya Buddha Statue was taken aback, then spoke decisively:
"Impossible! I know everything about the future!"
Suddenly, a picture of a red ox appeared in Zhang Fusheng's hand, looking as if it were about to be released to devour a cow.
Then he took a step forward, his voice suddenly rising eight octaves:
"Are you the future?"
The Maitreya Buddha Ancestor on the stone lotus platform trembled slightly.
"I am the future!"
Zhang Fusheng questioned again:
"You are from the future, how could you not know about the Nine Netherworlds ten thousand years from now? Whose inheritance did you receive!"
"Tell me!"
He suddenly revealed his Fuli Dharma Body, with three heads and six arms, and Great Sun Halo behind his head radiating boundless light.
The three heads are: one exudes Daoist charm, one is filled with Buddha Light, and the other represents the true self!
"It's you!!" The withered old man leaned back, recognizing the central head of the three-headed, six-armed being.
It was that young man who first extorted money from him; he was the beginning of all his misfortunes!
His pipe fell to the ground.
Fuli Dharma Body ignored him, and instead questioned the Maitreya Buddha Statue a second time:
"I am the World Honored One!"
The Buddha's head turned to the center:
"Whose legacy have you received?"
He questioned the Buddha Ancestor statue, his eyes wide with anger. The Maitreya Buddha Statue met his gaze and saw the Great Sun Golden Lamp in the eyes of the Buddha statue.
In a daze, I saw a majestic sacred mountain and a Jade Void Palace!
The weasel, its mind captivated, uttered the truth:
"I am the future!"
"What I have received is the inheritance of the future Maitreya, the inheritance of the Yellow Brow Buddha Ancestor!"
Zhang Fusheng understood and chuckled.
Then, he knocked on the Gate of the Past.
The scenery before our eyes changes; the past has changed, and so has the present.
Still inside the pagoda, with worshippers coming and going, I stood in front of the donation box but did not take any incense or candles from it.
There was no causal connection established with the Buddha statue—so naturally, the other party could not see the changed past.
Zhang Fusheng glanced at the Buddha statue, then turned and walked towards the outside of the pagoda.
"I have changed my mind. Today is not auspicious for worshipping Buddha. Let's discuss it again tomorrow."
Stepping out of the pagoda, Ruan Yutu led a red ox. The mist was hazy, the market was bustling, and in the distance, it seemed as if figures were rushing towards them.
Only then did Zhang Fusheng finally breathe a heavy sigh of relief.
(These two chapters contain over 10,000 words each, which is actually equivalent to the previous three chapters.)