Chapter 797: Chapter 492: The "Heavenly Hunting and Destruction of Buddha" Six Hundred Years Ago (Part 3)
Zhang Yan Yi smiled gently and said:
"A statue is sufficient. For example, the Worldly Venerate of the Buddhist sect originally had no visage and was the embodiment of the concept of ’wisdom’, but as long as a ’statue’ of the Worldly Venerate is artificially created, and over hundreds of years, let the whole world acknowledge that the ’Worldly Venerate’ is the appearance of that statue, then..."
Zhao Douan was startled, recalling the scene from not long ago, where he stood face to face with that enormous World Venerable Buddha Statue in the Divine Dragon Temple.
Back then, he felt something was amiss, now suddenly awakened, he realized:
The World Venerable Buddha Statue in that hall, its brows and temperament, bore a striking resemblance to the old bald Xuan Yin!
Then, he realized that it seemed there wasn’t a "Heavenly Dao" statue in the Heavenly Master Mansion.
This world also lacked statue concepts similar to the ’Taoist Venerate Three Pure Ones’.
Zhao Douan swallowed: "So, this method..."
Zhang Yan Yi said plainly: "Naturally, it didn’t succeed."
Indeed, the Buddhist sect has been making statues for too many years, yet none of the Heavenly Human Realm cultivators of past generations have stepped into the ’Human Immortal’ realm... proving this path is not viable.
Zhao Douan furrowed his brow: "Old Zhang... Elder, weren’t you going to talk about events from six hundred years ago? So, how is this related to what we’re talking about now?"
He felt they were off-topic!
Zhang Yan Yi glanced at him, seemingly finding the young man too impatient:
"Although this latter method hadn’t succeeded, it wasn’t entirely without hope. About six hundred years ago, the Dharma King from the Western Regions Buddhism [Ksitigarbha] had proposed a hypothesis. The reason this latter method failed was due to a lack of a critical element, that the ’Worldly Venerate’ was incomplete."
"Incomplete? What do you mean?" Zhao Douan asked curiously.
Zhang Yan Yi did not answer, merely shaking the empty teacup.
"..."
Zhao Douan hurriedly played the role of a servant, pouring a full cup for him.
The Old Heavenly Master nodded in satisfaction, saying:
"The divine of the Worldly Venerate originally referred to ’wisdom’, and only living beings possess ’wisdom’. Among all things, humans naturally possess the most ’wisdom’, and humans are inherently personified.
The Buddhist sect establishing statues and performing incense rituals further secularized it. To achieve ’unity of heaven and man’, only the ’human’ part isn’t enough, there must be a supplement of the ’heaven’ part."
A sudden light flashed in Zhao Douan’s mind, and he blurted out:
"Heavenly Dao? The main deity of the Daoist sect, ’Heavenly Dao’, refers to the natural order of the universe, which corresponds precisely to ’heaven’, doesn’t it? So, to advance to the Human Immortal realm, cultivating only ’Worldly Venerate’ isn’t sufficient, one must also cultivate ’Heavenly Dao’. This way, one can achieve unity of heaven and man, and strive towards Human Immortal?"
Zhang Yan Yi nodded slowly:
"This hypothesis was merely proposed by that Dharma King Ksitigarbha, as to whether it is feasible, no one has yet confirmed it."
This is just like synthesizing cards, two one-star cards combining into a two-star... Zhao Douan couldn’t help but silently criticize.
Zhang Yan Yi continued:
"At that time, coincidentally six hundred years ago, the Central Plains was in chaos, the previous dynasty had fallen, and a new dynasty had yet to be established. Meanwhile, Ksitigarbha Dharma King, who was based in the Western Regions, secretly did one significant thing to validate his guess: amidst the chaos in the Central Plains, he secretly hunted and killed Daoist magicians in the martial world."
Huh? Zhao Douan was caught off guard hearing this and froze for a moment: "Hunt and kill Daoist magicians?!"
Zhang Yan Yi nodded sorrowfully, sighing:
"Yes, it was indeed a chaotic time, an opportune moment for such actions. Ksitigarbha Dharma King primarily cultivated Worldly Venerate, he feared easily switching to Heavenly Dao, lest he cause issues for himself... This, you will understand later, that after reaching the Heavenly Human Realm, one can only primarily cultivate one deity.
Therefore, he captured Daoist magicians, using special methods to test his theory.
Initially, this matter didn’t attract much attention as disappearances or deaths were common amidst the chaos, but as more magicians went missing and their identities escalated, this issue finally drew the attention of various Daoist sects worldwide...
Once the reason was clarified, the Central Plains Daoists were enraged. Despite being dispersed and focusing on their own affairs, the major sects put aside past grievances and united for revenge, initiating a counter hunt to destroy Buddha...
The Heavenly Master of that generation from our Heavenly Master Mansion even descended the mountain because of this, collaborating with several martial world mage powerhouses of that time, jointly invaded the Western Regions, and killed the Ksitigarbha Dharma King, forcing the Buddhist sect to abandon such attempts completely.
Yet, the losses were also exceedingly severe. This incident took place in the year of Heavenly Hunting, henceforth called the ’Heavenly Hunting and Destruction of Buddha’.
Heavenly Hunting and Destruction of Buddha? Zhao Douan was left dumbfounded, this was a history he had never come across.
At least, it is not recorded in the extant public history books... Indeed, this matter wasn’t recorded in the official history, but it was merely a conflict within the cultivation martial world... or perhaps none of the parties were willing to mention it, hence rarely seen in writing.
And six hundred years ago... coincidentally it was the time when Old Xu from the Yu Country, the Grand Ancestor Emperor rose, conquering the world and establishing Yu Country.
Furthermore, it was... the era of Pei Niannu, the foremost female sorcerer of that time...
Zhao Douan suddenly froze.
Because he suddenly remembered, in the "Six Chapters Scripture", Pei Niannu appeared within an ancient, dilapidated temple.
And during the battle in Baihua Village, when facing Tian Hai and other Buddhist monks, Pei Niannu was extremely furious, killing without holding back.
Recalling he had once read fragmented accounts of historical figures like Pei Niannu, the books noted, she unveiled her mask and paid a hefty price, engaging in a bloody battle with formidable enemies...
Various clues interconnected...
So, Pei Niannu was a participant in the ’Heavenly Hunting and Destruction of Buddha’ six hundred years ago? Old Xu knew her and even painted her on a mural.
...
Qingfeng came quietly.
The large banyan tree in the small courtyard rustled softly.
Zhao Douan sorted out his thoughts in his mind, his face grim as he said: