"Sixteen-Foot Golden Body"

"Reflect the Ancient!"

After leaving Ziwei Ancient Star, Yuangeng held the Bodhi Seed and immediately unleashed Reflect the Ancient, tracing the seed back to where it had come from.

From what he knew of the original novel, the Immortal Monk King's lineage still had successors in the Chaotic Ancient Era, when the Desolate Heaven Emperor lived. Although it had declined, many scriptures and techniques had been passed down. Yet by the present era of Shrouding the Heavens, there had been no word of this lineage at all in either the Mythical Era or the Primordial Era.

Yuangeng very much wanted to know whether the Immortal Monk King's legacy still survived in the Primordial Era. After all, it was a tradition handed down from the Immortal Ancient Era. If possible, he would not mind lending it a hand.

Following the path revealed by Reflect the Ancient, Yuangeng raced through the universe like a streak of heavenly light. Heaven and Earth held almost no meaning before him; wherever his heart pointed, even the farthest distance was no more than a single step away.

Soon, Yuangeng reached the Cosmic Frontier. This was an immense, utterly desolate expanse of stars, far removed from almost every life-bearing source star. There was no rich ambient vital energy to aid cultivation, and no major tradition wished to remain here for long. Even the starlight was dim, cold, and devoid of warmth.

Yet as Yuangeng continued onward, he discovered a tiny life-bearing planet tucked into a corner among the stars. It truly was small, only a few hundred thousand li in diameter, utterly incomparable to stars such as Big Dipper and Ziwei.

Yet even on such a tiny life-bearing star, a reasonably flourishing civilization had developed. Its people were still at a fairly feudal, agrarian stage, but because the path of cultivation remained open and could produce some weak cultivators, its productivity was quite respectable.

This was the Cosmic Frontier, after all. The ambient vital energy here was far too thin. The strongest figures known to the public were merely a handful of minor cultivators at the second heaven of the Immortal Platform realm-pitifully weak by the standards of the Primordial Era.

And yet it was on just such a star that Yuangeng found the Bodhi Seed's previous owner.

He was an old man who appeared to be in his sixties or seventies, with a bald head and a patched ocher robe. Despite his broad frame, he looked dark-skinned and gaunt, like a traveler trudging through the desert, carrying the weight of a lifetime's hardships.

"This old man is Feiluo."

The old man seemed calm at the arrival of Yuangeng, a visitor from beyond the heavens. Wisdom shone in his eyes, and he formed a hand seal in greeting.

"Feiluo? Are you an heir to the ancient monks?"

Yuangeng considered the name, sensing a hint of Sanskrit in it. He showed the Bodhi Seed in his hand as he asked.

He had already seen through the old man. Though seemingly ordinary, with numerous calluses on his hands, he was a genuine peak Great Saint. His Wheel of Life showed that he had lived at least six thousand years. On this barren star at the Cosmic Frontier, a cultivator of his level was clearly an anomaly.

"This old man believes in ascetic cultivation. I know nothing of monks."

Upon seeing the Bodhi Seed in Yuangeng's hand clearly, the old man understood. He led Yuangeng to a small, dilapidated courtyard with low buildings. The courtyard was not spacious, but an old tree stood rooted at its center, sixteen feet tall. Its trunk was rugged and powerful, like a coiling dragon, yet it was completely withered, without so much as half a green leaf.

This was the Bodhi Immortal Medicine-or rather, the remains left behind by the Bodhi Tree Immortal Medicine.

The old man named Feiluo explained to Yuangeng that he had found this seed in the mountains when he was young. He had brought it home, planted it, and tended it carefully for decades. The seed had grown into a Sixteen-Foot Bodhi Tree, and Feiluo had awakened to great wisdom beneath it. Only then had he embarked on the path of cultivation.

The old man recounted how he often rested beneath the Bodhi Tree and had once dreamed of a golden-bodied figure sitting under it in meditation. He had imitated that figure's breathing practices and learned an extremely rudimentary method of Human Body Secret Realm cultivation from the outside world. After living two lifetimes spanning more than ten thousand years, he had finally reached his present level.

"In that case, it truly is special."

Yuangeng understood. He had thought the Immortal Monk King's lineage had long since lost its legacy, never expecting that this special Immortal Medicine was itself the finest means of passing it on. Though the divine treasure had gathered dust, once it shed all worldly adornment and spread its branches and leaves, it could serve a great purpose.

Take this old man, for instance. A mere mortal, he had clearly harbored wisdom and attained enlightenment beneath the Bodhi Tree. He had never read any scripture of real substance in his life, nor even left this ancient star, yet he had reached such heights. In the Immortal Ancient Era, he would have shown the makings of a great monk.

"Would you be willing to come with me?"

Yuangeng extended an invitation. The old man named Feiluo clearly possessed potential beyond the Great Saint realm. With careful instruction, he might well have the makings of a Quasi-Emperor.

"This old man is near death. I wish only to watch over my native land, pass down some techniques and scriptures, and pray for this star." Feiluo pressed his palms together and bowed to Yuangeng.

This was no longer his first lifetime. Thanks to the Bodhi Immortal Medicine, he had already lived more than six thousand years in his second life. Great wisdom had grown within his profound solitude, and he felt no yearning for the outside world.

Perhaps he, too, was the reincarnation of some ancient monk?

Yuangeng did not insist. He bade the old man Feiluo farewell and set out into the starry sky once more.

As a transmigrator, Yuangeng believed in reincarnation.

He thought of Amitabha the Great Emperor, who would appear in the future Desolate Ancient Era. So many of that man's deeds in the original novel bore striking similarities to the Immortal Monk King.

There was also the dog who had followed Immortal King Wuzhong, the future Wushi, and those countless similar flowers... In a sense, the era of Shrouding the Heavens felt like an extension of the Immortal Ancient and Chaotic Ancient Eras. Many people from the past returned during this long epoch to enact their stories once again.

Perhaps in some era after Ye Fan's Heavenly Court departed, even more kings would return in the future.

Inevitably, many thoughts passed through Yuangeng's mind.

He found an uninhabited, desolate planet at the Cosmic Frontier and landed there. Choosing an open stretch of desert, he began earnestly studying the ancient markings inscribed on the Bodhi Seed.

As he repeatedly traced the patterns on the Bodhi Seed, those inconspicuous lines joined together, forming an old monk with kindly brows and benevolent eyes. Yuangeng tried activating them with the scriptures of the Ancient Monk Lineage, and the old monk was actually reflected within his Primordial Spirit. Whether sitting or reclining, still or moving, every gesture seemed to expound upon some supreme path.

The Immortal Monk King's reflection?!

Yuangeng stared in shock at the old monk reflected from the Bodhi Tree. This illusory old monk actually resonated with a Buddhist technique in his memories, and as Yuangeng compared and verified the two, that technique gradually grew complete.

"Sixteen-Foot Golden Body!"

Of course Yuangeng had heard of this peerless divine ability. It was the signature technique of the Immortal Monk King's lineage, created by the Immortal Monk King himself. Through a fortunate opportunity years ago, Yuangeng had once studied a fragment of it. He had never imagined that today, through the Bodhi Tree's seed, he would obtain another fragment.

"An Immortal King's method for tempering the flesh-and its Human Dao portion has actually been completed."

When Yuangeng awoke again, more than two hundred years had passed. He gazed at the image of the old monk on the Bodhi Seed with some regret. Ultimately, the Bodhi Seed had fallen from the Immortal Dao Domain and could no longer manifest anything at that level. Otherwise, given its true nature, he might genuinely have learned a flawless Immortal King body-tempering technique in this era.

Even so, Yuangeng was still delighted. Though the Immortal Monk King could not compare to giants such as Six Paths of Reincarnation or the Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit, he was nevertheless a true supreme Immortal King, and his

Sixteen-Foot Golden Body was naturally a mighty technique. Even with only its Human Dao portion, it still held tremendous value as a reference.

When Amitabha the Great Emperor attains the Dao in the future, perhaps I should lend him a hand a few times, to repay today's grace of imparting the Dao.

With that thought, Yuangeng rose to his feet, holding the Bodhi Seed. This was the first Immortal Medicine he had obtained. Once he returned to the Ancient World beneath the Mars Sea Eye, he could plant the Bodhi Tree's seed there.

After all, the Immortal Bodhi Tree was not merely a supreme Buddhist treasure. It was also known as the Tree of Wisdom, the Tree of Awakening, and other such names. It could stir spiritual perception and help cultivators achieve sudden enlightenment. The ancient monks believed that sitting beneath it could grant great wisdom.

His domain already had the potential to become an ancient world of immortality. In the future, once he had more experts of the Emperor realm around him, they could discuss the Dao beneath the Bodhi Tree. Just imagining it, he felt it should yield no small measure of wondrous manifestations.