章節 222: Chapter 222: Blessed Buddha Altar
Three days later, Huang Xiaolong departed from Southern Hill Estate, out of Duanren Imperial City, heading out in the Blessed Buddha Empire's direction.
Huang Peng, Su Yan, Huang Min, Huang Xiaohai, Zhang Fu, Zhao Shu, and the others stood outside the big gates of Duanren Imperial City, sending Huang Xiaolong off as they watched his figure grow smaller in the horizon, and finally vanish from their view.
Su Yan's eyes grew misty with tears watching Huang Xiaolong's silhouette gradually become smaller and disappearing from her sight.
Since Huang Xiaolong was eight, the first time he left Huang Clan Manor to train outside until now, ten years had passed. In these years, she and this son spent more time apart than together.
That year, even she never imagined that her son would become a powerful existence in Duanren Empire in a mere decade's time, even Emperor Duanren held her son in high respect.
All of these were things she daren't even dream of a decade ago.
Emperor Duanren!
The existence worshipped by billions of Duanren Empire subjects.
"Let us return." After a long time, Huang Peng spoke, and the group made their way back to Southern Hill Estate.
Leaving Duanren Imperial City, Huang Xiaolong kept his travel southward, reaching Duanren Empire's border a month later, totally stepping out of Duanren Empire land.
The first neighbor empire on the south side was Spring Faun Empire.
Spring Faun Empire's strength ranked at the lower end amongst the seventeen empires in Snow Wind Continent, considerably weaker than Duanren Empire, with less than eight hundred kingdoms under its monarchy. Hence, Spring Faun Empire's land area was only half as big as Duanren Empire's.
All along the way, Huang Xiaolong chose to travel on barren hills and secluded roads, rushing night and day.
Rarely would there be anyone on these routes, so he summoned the black and blue dragons out. With a hop, he landed on either one of the twin dragons and flew forward.
With the twin dragons carrying him through the air, Huang Xiaolong's speed was much faster and very soon, he had cut through the Spring Faun Empire.
However, there were still three big empires' territories he needed to pass before arriving in the empire that sat on the southernmost point on the Snow Wind Continent, the Blessed Buddha Empire.
Since Huang Xiaolong chose to travel along the barren hills route, he did not come across any trouble along the way. At most, it was small time bandits with the highest strength of Houtian Tenth Order.
For the current Huang Xiaolong, a Houtian Tenth Order was nothing more than lifting a finger.
The passage of time flowed as Huang Xiaolong journeyed on, and in the blink of an eye, half a year passed.
In this half a year, Huang Xiaolong continued to practice his battle qi and internal force diligently, increasing his strength as much as possible.
Firstly, his battle qi had reached peak late-Xiantian Second Order and could advance into the Third Order any time soon, whereas his internal force had reached the turning point of Stage Nine: The Azure Dragon Flexing Its Claws. Entering Stage Ten was only a matter of days.
Night came. Moonlight shone down like bright ripples of water.
Somewhere on a barren hill, Huang Xiaolong sat next to a small bonfire, taking out a jug of Sapidity Wine from the Asura Ring, sipping down the wine slowly as he organized his thoughts. In twenty days or less, he would be arriving in Blessed Buddha Empire.
Blessed Buddha Empire! Huang Xiaolong breathed the name through his lips.
He had heard rumors claiming that Blessed Buddha Empire was built by a person called Tianfu from the Buddha World around a thousand years ago, and this founder, Tianfu, had been missing since. The person controlling the Blessed Buddha Empire at the moment was his disciple named Shi Fantian1
Shi Fantian, a legendary name on Snow Wind Continent. It was said that Shi Fantian was born with an Innate Buddhist Physique, with Buddhist jade in his mouth that records a mighty skill Holy Prajna2 that only Shi Fantian with the Innate Buddhist Physique could practice.
"This trip there, I wonder if I can catch a glimpse of this Shi Fantian."
Before he started his journey, Huang Xiaolong inquired and understood this Shi Fantian was a formidable person. When he took over the Blessed Buddha Empire one thousand years ago, he was already a Saint realm Second Order.
And Huang Xiaolong confirmed that if an outsider wanted to enter the Buddha Cavern, first and foremost, they must carry the Blessed Buddha Token. A Blessed Buddha Token was equivalent to Duanren Empire's Golden Token. Every piece of Blessed Buddha Token was bestowed personally by Shi Fantian himself.
There were only two pieces of Duanren Empire's Golden Token, but it wasn't so for the Blessed Buddha Token. Huang Xiaolong didn't know the actual number, but he gauged it wouldn't be lower than ten tokens.
Furthermore, he had no idea who held any one of these Blessed Buddha Tokens. This made Huang Xiaolong frowned.
It was too early to worry about this, he would think of a way when he reached the destination.
The night passed. The next day morning, Huang Xiaolong continued on his way.
Half a month later, he finally arrived in Blessed Buddha Empire.
When he stepped onto the land, through the many cities he passed through, most of the building structures were related to Buddhism. There was at least one Buddhist temple almost on every street, some shops even had various designs of carved buddhas on their entranceway.
In the entire Blessed Buddha Empire, one could feel the deep core of Buddhism that was as thick as the smell of joss stick incense that permeated the air.
When he arrived in Blessed Buddha Empire, Huang Xiaolong inquired news about the Blessed Buddha Token as he headed in the direction of the Buddha Cavern.
The sacred cavern, or Buddha Cavern, was not located within the Imperial City which was on the south side, the Buddha Cavern was located opposite of it, on the north side.
One sits in the south and the other guards the north, a symmetry of resonance.
After another month's time, Huang Xiaolong reached one of the main cities surrounding the Buddha Cavern called Northside Merchant City.
The Buddha Cavern was a forbidden land, especially for outsiders. Still, this Northside City thrived nonetheless. Entering the city, Huang Xiaolong was welcomed with a sight of long endless lines of carriages and a sea of bustling pedestrians, from monks in kasaya robes to the commoners in a myriad of different styled clothing, Daoist priests in Daoist robes, even nuns. It was truly an eclectic mix.
After Huang Xiaolong entered the city, he stopped when passing by a restaurant called Creek of Cloud and went in. Opting for a table near the window, he sat down and placed an order with the waiter.
"You heard it right, the sacred cavern's altar appeared again!"
"The Blessed Buddha Altar appeared again! It had already been more than three hundred years it did not emerge!"
"Yes, ah, every time the Blessed Buddha Altar appears, it means a mutation must've happened inside the Buddha Cavern. I wonder who would so fortunate as to be selected by the Blessed Buddha Altar this time, I heard that the person selected by the altar can have an audience with our Great Emperor and be granted one wish!"
At this time, sounds of excited discussions floated into Huang Xiaolong's ears.
His curiosity rose, his heart was tempted.
Blessed Buddha Altar?!
"Waiter," Huang Xiaolong called for the waiter.
"This Young Master, what orders do you have?" the waiter scurried over to Huang Xiaolong, bowing and smiling in a courteous manner.
Huang Xiaolong threw a money bag containing several hundred gold coins to the waiter, asking: "The Blessed Buddha Altar that they mentioned, what is it?"
Catching the bag, the waiter lightly bounced the bag of money in the curve of his palm and a brilliant smile bloomed on his face, "Young Master must be from somewhere outside Blessed Buddha Empire, no? This Blessed Buddha Altar was something left behind by our empire founder Tianfu Emperor, appearing once every several dozen years or several hundred years. Anyone selected by the Blessed Buddha Altar is granted an audience with our Emperor Shi Fantian and could have one request fulfilled."
Huang Xiaolong listened and asked the waiter a few more questions related to the Blessed Buddha Altar. Awhile later, the waiter retreated whereas Huang Xiaolong fell into pensiveness. According to what the waiter said, the person who is chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar would undergo a sanctification ritual by the sacred Buddhism energy within it, not only did it enhance one's cultivation, it was beneficial to one's cultivation path in the long term.
All these weren't the most vital point; the most important of all was Shi Fantian would grant the chosen person one request!
If he was chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar, with that promised one request he could smoothly enter the Buddha Cavern!
Hence, Huang Xiaolong decided, first thing tomorrow morning, he would go and take a look at the Blessed Buddha Altar.
Difference: Monks' kasaya robes are usually one block color (saffron, red) while on a Daoist, the official robe has the Bagua Diagram depicted on them.
1. Fantian is often linked to Brahma, the Hindu God of Creator
2. Holy Prajna refers to "direct insight to the truth taught by Buddhism."
章節 223: Chapter 223: Reaction from the Blessed Buddha Altar
It was a bright sunny morning the next day.
Huang Xiaolong stepped out of the inn, and out of the Northside Merchant City's city gates, walking where the Blessed Buddha Altar was located. According to the restaurant waiter, the Blessed Buddha Altar was right above the square in front of the Buddha Cavern entrance. It was rumored that the Blessed Buddha Altar awaits the fated person every time it appears and only disappears after one was selected.
This time, the Blessed Buddha Altar had been floating before the Buddha Cavern for one month. Due to the close distance between the Northside Merchant City and the Buddha Cavern, Huang Xiaolong soon arrived at the said square.
The huge square in front of the Buddha Cavern was named Thousand Blessings Square. Ten thousand Buddha statues lined the perimeter. Each statue was different, from expressions to positions, but there was one common denominator: all these statues were ten zhang tall!
By the time Huang Xiaolong reached Thousand Blessings Square, it was already crowded. Following the flow of the crowd, Huang Xiaolong slowly moved closer and finally stopped right in front of the Buddha Cavern entrance. From this angle, Huang Xiaolong could clearly see, right above the Buddha Cavern entrance, a squarish-shaped golden medallion floating in the air. The golden medallion was roughly a dozen cubic meters, densely carved with scenes that depicted a myriad of Buddhas on its many surfaces and some peculiar patterns of buddhism scriptures.
Up in the air, the golden medallion pulsated with rings of aureate glow, spreading the pure energy of Buddhism as far as a hundred zhang in its surroundings.
A sudden wave shot through the crowd at this time. "Look, that's the Luo Family's Luo Wuyi!"
Huang Xiaolong's gaze followed the general direction of the crowd and saw a young man in blue robe headed straight towards the golden medallion.
"Luo Wuyi, Luo Family's most talented genius in a thousand years, also one of the recent outstanding geniuses of our Blessed Buddha Empire. First-rank grade eleven martial spirit, Windfire Beast," enthusiastic discussions sounded amongst the crowd. "With Luo Wuyi's talent, it's very likely he would be selected by the Blessed Buddha Altar!"
In general, the higher one's martial spirit grade was, the higher one's talent was, and the higher one's chances of being chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar. In the past, every time the Blessed Buddha Altar appeared, the fated ones chosen were always geniuses with superb talent martial spirits. Then again, an exception had occurred once: the Blessed Buddha Altar chose a young man who possessed a grade ten martial spirit.
While the crowd buzzed, Luo Wuyi arrived at the Blessed Buddha Altar. When Luo Wuyi stood below the Blessed Buddha Altar, lucent battle qi light surged out from his body, and when he did so, the Blessed Buddha Altar seemed to resonate, releasing a glimmering glow of its own.
"Look, there's a reaction from the Blessed Buddha Altar!"
"It really seems like Luo Wuyi is the chosen one by the Blessed Buddha Altar!"
An uproar swept through the mass crowd, cries of excitement built up like waves.
When the Blessed Buddha Altar appeared, one needed to stand below it and release their battle qi. If they could trigger the Blessed Buddha Altar's resonance to break out in a shining beam of light reaching ten thousand zhang and the buddha carvings on all four sides to project images in the void above, without a doubt, that person was the fated one.
Huang Xiaolong's eyes narrowed watching this; if this Luo Wuyi was chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar, wouldn't that mean his plan of using this opportunity to meet Shi Fantian so that he could enter the Buddha Cavern just went down the drain? He would need to think of another method.
This was a troublesome result for him.
The brilliant light beaming from the buddha blessed altar continued to soar higher as Huang Xiaolong and the crowd looked on, even issuing a clear humming sound.
Seeing such a reaction from the Blessed Buddha Altar, even Luo Wuyi's was affected by rising anticipation and excited.
From past records, those that could triggered such a reactions and humming sounds from the Blessed Buddha Altar were very likely the fated one being chosen! Being chosen meant that one would be sanctified by the Buddhism power, he, Luo Wuyi, that had been stuck at peak late-Xiantian Third Order absolutely could break through to the Fourth Order.
Xiantian Fourth Order was a mid-level Xiantian warrior!
At that time, his status and position within the clan would be different.
Just when Luo Wuyi was immersed in his bubbling ecstasy, the initially rising aureate beam from Blessed Buddha Altar occluded. The rising beam of light dimmed and receded, gradually dissipating together with the clear humming.
The Blessed Buddha Altar returned to its prior calm state.
Luo Wuyi was dumbfounded.
So was everyone watching in the crowd for a full three seconds, before someone hissed in surprise.
Many were shaking their heads in pity, yet many more were laughing gleefully inside.
Luo Wuyi remained standing in the same spot looking slightly ugly, the joy and ecstasy he felt earlier vanished without a trace, replaced with unwillingness and annoyance.
"Luo Wuyi, since you're not chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar then roll down from there, don't block the spot!" at this time, a harsh arrogant voice sounded on the square.
"It's the Chen Family's genius, Chen Dingyuan!"
"The Chen and Luo Families are nemesis like fire and ice, moreover, Chen Dingyuan and Luo Wuyi have grudges between them. This time, Luo Wuyi wasn't chosen, he must be delighted!"
The crowd parted a small gap way for Chen Dingyuan to pass as whispers continued. Chen Dingyuan swaggered through the opening, exuding an atmosphere that made hearts palpitated, stopping ten meters in front of Luo Wuyi.
Luo Wuyi's face sank as he looked at the other side, "I wasn't chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar, do you think your average grade eleven martial spirits would be selected?"
A sharp glint flitted across Chen Dingyuan's eyes, retorting with a cold sneer, "Just because you can't do it, doesn't mean that I can't."
Luo Wuyi snorted yet he no longer spoke, emptying the spot underneath the Blessed Buddha Altar. He chose a spot on the side and waited to watch Chen Dingyuan's test.
The crowd and Huang Xiaolong's focus shifted onto Chen Dingyuan.
Chen Dingyuan walked up, standing of the same spot Luo Wuyi had vacated beneath the Blessed Buddha Altar, projecting his battle qi. Seeing it trigger a glowing reaction from the Blessed Buddha Altar, a trace of joy flashed in Chen Dingyuan's face.
Its glow grew brighter, beaming higher and higher. Before long, it issued another series of hums.
Faces in the crowd tightened nervously.
But at this moment, the beaming brilliance occluded just like what happened to Lo Wuyi. The humming disappeared.
Another stretch of stunned silence before the crowd broke in another uproar.
"Chen Dingyuan, since you weren't selected by the Blessed Buddha Altar, roll away from there, don't block the path!" Luo Wuyi's voice cut through the noises, returning Chen Dingyuan's words to himself.
Chen Dingyuans' face distorted with anger, but in the end, he vacated the spot.
After Chen Dingyuan, there were five other people that tried, however, for these five people, there wasn't the slightest reaction from the Blessed Buddha Altar when their battle qi was released.
The silence around the five people was extremely awkward.
Under normal circumstances, only those with grade ten and above martial spirits would be chosen by the Blessed Buddha Altar, therefore, those with grade ten martial spirit and below doesn't stand any chance. It was because of this reason that the people who went up to try were scarce in number.
Seeing there was no one else, Huang Xiaolong lifted his leg and stepped out from the crowd, towards the Blessed Buddha Altar.
Huang Xiaolong's action attracted a lot of attention from the surrounding people.
"This kid looks unfamiliar, I wonder which empire's family genius is he?"
"Genius? Who knows, maybe his martial spirit is only the most common of grade ten, going up to test his luck. If he really is a genius, it's impossible to stay unknown!"
Luo Wuyi and Cheng Dingyuan remained standing at the side amongst the crowd after their trial, both gave Huang Xiaolong a glance when he walked beneath the altar. But there was no expectation of Huang Xiaolong, like the rest, they thought Huang Xiaolong was just another person that just wanted to try their luck.
Huang Xiaolong came to a stand underneath the Blessed Buddha Altar followed closely by everyone's gaze. Battle qi shrouded him as it projected outside his body, instantly illuminating the center area.
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