A figure stepped out from behind Amitabha Great Emperor. He was Monk, his face etched with suffering yet carrying a hint of serenity. He stood to the emperor's left.
“I am Monk,” he said, declaring his name to the world.
Across the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, every monk's heart suddenly skipped a beat. They seemed to sense the Buddha.
Another figure emerged from behind Amitabha. On closer inspection, he was Amitabha Great Emperor's Lord of the Future.
“I am Shakyamuni.” The Lord of the Future—no, Shakyamuni now—had Zen Intent in his eyes.
"I am Amitabha Buddha," said Amitabha Great Emperor, standing at the center with a smile.
Past, present, and future seemed to converge at that moment: Monk of the past, Amitabha Buddha of the present, and Shakyamuni of the future.
The three ages had appeared and become one. Amitabha Buddha was about to attain Supreme Righteousness enlightenment.
Amitabha Buddha was unique. He had a Faith Body from the past, his True Self had revived in the present, and now he had formed Shakyamuni, the Lord of the Future.
This resembled Buddhism's Vertical Three Buddhas, though it was not quite the same.
The three versions of Amitabha Buddha exchanged smiles. Then Monk and Shakyamuni merged back into Amitabha Buddha.
“Daoist Friends, I shall enter a long slumber.” Amitabha Great Emperor addressed the Emperors. He was about to charge toward that gateway.
In the original course of events, he had made this attempt once before. But he had died, his Dao extinguished, and hundreds of millions of Buddhist followers throughout the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands had perished with him on the Immortal Path.
Amitabha Great Emperor, who had never taken a life, had killed every one of his believers in that moment.
Whether he would succeed this time remained