The Will of the Original Universe

Under Qi Tian's guidance, the Gold Soul Clan gradually conquered the other human tribes on the planet. First, they built city-states, then slowly developed them into nations.

With the little knowledge they had gained from Qi Tian's nine years of compulsory education, they couldn't truly ignite the tree of technology, but they still managed to establish a respectable civilization.

Over the decades, Qi Tian's name as the "Buddha Lord" spread across the planet. After two or three generations, the Gold Soul Clan's population had grown to more than ten thousand.

The Gold Soul Clan Sacred Land was where the tribe Qi Tian had first helped establish had once stood. Now, a vast city had been built there.

At the heart of the city stood a magnificent palace, where the planet's highest object of worship was enshrined.

"Buddha Lord"—Qi Tian.

Inside the palace, in a vast square paved with stone slabs, stood a hundred-meter-tall altar.

The altar was square and stood precisely at the center of the palace. Beneath it were four Ascension Stairs leading upward from the four directions: north, south, east, and west.

Atop the altar stood the giant human-shaped stone statue that Qi Tian had become. Under the power of faith, the statue was no longer a vague human shape. It had completely transformed into the likeness of Qi Tian's human body.

The statue sat cross-legged, with a lotus throne beneath it. Sounds of Sanskrit, reaching straight to the soul, drifted from the statue, growing weaker as they spread across the planet.

Not far from Qi Tian's statue sat three figures who kept him company. They, too, sat cross-legged, quietly sensing the Soul Sanskrit Sound.

They were Jin Shi, Iron Hand, and Mulberry Leaf, the first members of the Gold Soul Clan whom Qi Tian had transformed with the Golden Liquid.

At that moment, their eyes were closed. As they comprehended the Soul Sanskrit Sound, their own consciousnesses also sent out similar waves of Sanskrit sound.

The Sanskrit sounds they produced were imitations of Qi Tian's. Using their consciousness, they spread the "sound waves" of the Sanskrit to others.

But the Sanskrit sounds emanating from Qi Tian's statue drifted outward unconsciously from the level of the soul, as if by accident. They didn't even make people feel the slightest discomfort of having their souls invaded by an outside force.

At least, the humans on this planet had no aversion to the faint Soul Sanskrit Sound. Even the tribes that the Gold Soul Clan's powerful warriors had forcibly subdued in the early days felt not the slightest hatred toward the Gold Soul Clan's "Buddha Lord."

Meanwhile, Qi Tian's consciousness was gathered in his Consciousness Sea. After decades spent guiding the development of civilization, he had gained the faith of every human on the planet.

Thanks to this, the Sanskrit Phantom in his Consciousness Sea had filled in dozens of times faster than before. His consciousness was now powerful enough to cover the entire planet, and even extend well beyond it.

By now, a faint golden mist filled Qi Tian's entire Consciousness Sea Space. The Lotus Throne Golden Body Buddha Statue remained unchanged, hovering silently as it emanated an ancient, weathered aura.

Qi Tian's consciousness was focused entirely on the golden Sanskrit character. He stared intently at the character, which was almost completely filled in. The Golden Liquid below had gathered into a pool the size of a pond.

It's almost done.

As Qi Tian watched tensely, the final trace of the golden Sanskrit character's phantom was filled in. Boundless light illuminated the endless expanse of his Consciousness Sea.

"Om."

"Om."

"Om."

As the golden Sanskrit Phantom was completely filled in, an eternal, primordial Sanskrit Sound rippled out from the statue, many times stronger than before.

Jin Shi and the other two, who were closest, felt the Universal Sanskrit Sound suddenly burst forth from Qi Tian's statue. They looked up in shock and opened their eyes, staring at the statue of their "Buddha Lord" as fervent devotion blazed in their eyes.

"The Buddha Lord is about to descend."

"The Buddha Lord is about to descend."

All three bowed toward Qi Tian's statue, repeating the same words.

They weren't speaking of their own accord. The message had come from deep within their souls, carried by the Universal Sanskrit Sound emanating from Qi Tian's statue. The moment they received it, the words had burst from their lips.

As the Sanskrit Sound spread, everyone in the Gold Soul Clan Sacred Land learned that the "Buddha Lord" was about to descend.

Then the message reached the entire continent, the entire planet, until every living thing on the planet sensed that its "deity" was about to descend.

All the humans who believed in Qi Tian, the "Buddha Lord," fell to their knees and sent their faith toward the place where his statue stood.

The boundless Universal Sanskrit Sound continued to ripple outward, covering the entire planet and even spreading beyond it, carrying on into the silent reaches of outer space.

Within Qi Tian's Consciousness Sea, the completely filled Sanskrit character began to twist. Then it transformed into a human figure, slowly taking solid form amid the golden light.

This is... my old body?

As the human figure formed from the Sanskrit character gradually solidified, Qi Tian could see the shape of his new body. It was the same as the body he'd had in his previous life—even the clothes he had worn and the hiking backpack he had carried had taken shape.

The moment this body appeared, the Will of the Original Universe descended. Its vast, merciless pressure shook space and time.

In the starry sky surrounding the planet, the workings of the fundamental laws throughout the region of space ground to a halt. Clearly, the appearance of an anomaly like Qi Tian's true body had provoked the Source Universe's extreme rejection.

Qi Tian had been focused entirely on the body from his previous life. When he felt the pressure of this emotionless rule-bound will, he was so terrified that he nearly lost the ability to think.

It was a sensation unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was like fear, but not quite fear—like the feeling of a lower being whose soul was crushed beneath the pressure of an indescribable form of consciousness.

As the Will of the Original Universe descended, the golden Lotus Throne Buddha Statue in Qi Tian's Consciousness Sea, which looked remarkably like him, gave a faint tremor.

Then an equally terrifying pressure rose up, filling the entire Consciousness Sea Space. When Qi Tian felt the pressure emanating from the golden Buddha statue on the lotus throne, his mind began to clear.

After only a few seconds, the two supreme wills seemed to reach some kind of understanding and withdrew at the same time.

By the time Qi Tian's consciousness had fully cleared, the golden Lotus Throne Buddha Statue in his Consciousness Sea had fallen silent. Even so, he could faintly sense a strangely familiar quality in the pressure it had released.

When he came to his senses, Qi Tian hurriedly looked toward the body formed from the solidified golden Sanskrit character. His heart sank to rock bottom.

The body had completely collapsed. A golden Sanskrit aura still lingered where it had been.

"Th-this... how could this happen?"

Watching his body collapse completely, Qi Tian felt despair.

He had waited decades for this chance to shed his stone statue form and become human, earned by cultivating faith across the planet.

But the moment this despair arose, something changed in his Consciousness Sea. The golden Sanskrit character began to solidify once more where the body had been, and the phantom of a human figure reappeared.

The despair in Qi Tian's heart instantly faded, replaced by a glimmer of hope. The emotional whiplash was so intense that he almost let out a curse, but in the end he swallowed it back with difficulty.