Ye Zhu asked without any hesitation, " Blood Tathagata Beads, does that sound familiar?"
Xie Feng frowned and pondered for a moment. He looked up and stared directly at Xie Feng, saying coldly, "I have a guess, but I don't know if it's right or wrong!"
Ye Zhu laughed and said, "Go ahead and guess, maybe you're right!"
Xie Feng frowned and asked, "Are you... the Monk Moren from the Lower Realm?"
Ye Zhu Candle nodded and chuckled, "See, you guessed right!"
Xie Feng: "..."
However, this was something he was genuinely surprised to learn: this Buddha Emperor Ye Zhu was actually a little monk from the Lower Realm!
When the Empress suppressed Buddhism, he was severely injured and disappeared without a trace!
Now that we meet again, we are actually in the same Dao Realm!
It must be said that this person not only has a strong will to live, but also good luck!
People from the same world meet here, and as adversaries at that—the scene is strangely surreal.
Xie Feng, with his right hand behind his back, took two steps forward. "There's a saying, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' I'm very curious about your past. I want to know what kind of experiences turned a little monk into a bewitching demon!"
Ye Zhu asked, "Do you want to hear it?"
Xie Feng looked around, clapped his hands, and smiled, "I'm quite free right now. If you're willing to tell stories, I'm happy to listen. After all, sometimes, leaving a will before dying is much happier than dying right away!"
"These words will serve as your epitaph, engraved on your grave!"
Ye Zhu calmly retorted.
Xie Feng shrugged, silently gathering his strength.
This person's cultivation is extremely profound. Even now, with his strength surpassing that of the Dao Ancestor Realm, he cannot see through him. Dealing with such a powerful person will inevitably require a greater expenditure of energy!
"Actually, I don't want to be your enemy, I really don't... It's not that I'm afraid of you, but that I respect you. From the Lower Realm to the Dao Realm, you are the most dazzling genius I have ever seen, without exception!"
"You and I are like two parallel lines, never meant to intersect. But now, we are on opposite sides. Since that's the case, I... have no choice. However, one thing is foreseeable: you will be my most suitable opponent, without exception!"
Ye Zhu sat upright on the ink lotus platform, his expression solemn and his gaze intense.
Xie Feng smiled warmly and said softly, "If you really don't want to be my enemy, then kill yourself!"
Ye Zhu remained expressionless and did not answer.
After a moment of silence, he glanced at the Blood Tathagata Beads, his gaze distant, lost in memories.
He spoke in a low voice, "If you knew my past, you wouldn't be surprised by my choice today. Back in the Lower Realm, I was just a little monk in an ordinary temple in the Central Continent. I ate vegetarian food, chanted Buddhist scriptures, listened to my master's teachings, and had a kind heart, unable to bear killing any living beings."
"Until one day, because the Empress suppressed Buddhism and slaughtered all Buddhists in the Jialuo Holy Land, the land was filled with cries of despair and corpses littered the ground. The temples were all destroyed, and smoke billowed everywhere. I watched helplessly as my master fell..."
"Amidst the hail of bullets, I escaped thanks to the Blood Tathagata Beads, but I was also severely wounded and on the verge of death. To survive, I have no choice but to eke out a living in Lu Xiuluo's Devil Grotto!"
"He humiliated, bullied, ravaged, and tortured this emperor... Xie Feng, do you know what can most easily destroy a person's will?"
Ye Zhu paused, then asked calmly.
Xie Feng did not answer!
Ye Zhu continued speaking to himself:
"It's a trampling of dignity! A trampling of faith! From the day I became the Blood Devil, I lost my dignity and my faith. And from that moment on, I swore that I would take revenge!"
"Insulting Buddhist Dao... I, the Emperor, will unify the world using Buddhist Dao; treating me like a dog and trampling me underfoot... I, the Emperor, will become a superior being and trample the world under my feet!"
" Xie Feng, thank you. If it weren't for you opening the Heavenly Gate, I wouldn't have been able to ascend to the heavens. Do you know that in the Upper Realm, I once joined a sect and was bestowed with a new name: Cang Lingzi!"
"You may not be familiar with this name. You are a genius, ranked first on the Heavenly Ranking, and have always had a smooth and successful life, living a high and mighty position. But I, the Emperor, live like a rat in the dark, unable to see the light of day!"
"I crave immense power. Having witnessed too many foolish faces of the weak, scheming and betraying each other for survival and profit, I've come to understand that only by being utterly invincible can one achieve peace of mind and body, and live with dignity!"
Ye Zhu's usually calm and collected State of Mind finally began to waver. He closed his eyes slightly, as if continuing to recall the past, or perhaps expressing his resentment towards it.
Xie Feng frowned, listening silently without uttering a word!
"Therefore, I went to the First Sequence in pursuit of greater power! But upon arrival, I discovered that the First Sequence was actually a cemetery!"
"However, here I met a cultivator who said he came from the Dao Realm. He had consumed too much energy during his Tribulation Crossing and suffered a backlash that he could not recover from! This person was the old Buddha Emperor of Buddha Island. He saw my potential and passed on his life's cultivation to me!"
"This was an extremely risky undertaking; a single misstep could have killed us all! This time, fortune smiled upon me; I did not die, but instead was reborn from the ashes! I now possess supreme energy that transcends the Dao Realm, and I can finally realize my grand ambitions!"
"Ha... haha!... hahaha!!..."
Ye Zhu laughed, first silently, then with a mournful sound, then the sound grew louder and more frenzied, and the entire Buddhist temple resounded with a rumbling noise from the laughter.
Xie Feng rubbed his temples and said, "I deeply sympathize with your past, but your actions have already affected me, understand?"
"When I was humiliated by Lu Xiuluo, I thought I could uphold the principles in my heart..."
"That was when I overestimated myself. Now, there won't be another time like that, absolutely not!"
"When the Empress destroyed Buddhism, how innocent we were! Why couldn't Buddhist Dao be tolerated? Why were all Buddhists implicated? However, it's all in the past. She should be in the Upper Realm now. She's no longer on the same level as me."
"In this even more powerful Dao Realm, I, the Emperor, will prove that Buddhism reigns supreme! I will make the Dao Realm the domain of Buddhist Dao and Daoism! I will eradicate the Literary Dao, the Martial Dao, the Dao of Alchemy... eradicate all unorthodox paths, and make the Dao Realm... revere only Buddhist Dao!"
After a moment of initial excitement, Ye Zhu regained his composure.
He said these words with unusual calmness!
He has absolute confidence that he will overcome any obstacles and achieve his dream!
"Yeah?"
Xie Feng spoke calmly as well.
He slowly extended his right hand, and the Northern Nether Illusory Dao Fire surged forth, its azure-gold flames swirling in all directions!
The Dao Fire enveloped the Ye Zhu, distorting and deforming the space itself under extreme heat, but the Dao Fire could not penetrate a ten-meter radius around the Ye Zhu!
Ye Zhu stared at Xie Feng and smiled slightly, "You can't stop me, and nobody can stop me..."
Xie Feng sneered, "Then let's wait and see. The order of this world cannot be disrupted by you! You will only bring destruction!"