Time flew by in the blink of an eye.
When Wu Tao opened his eyes again, a familiar sensation washed over him.
A power related to Buddhism and Taoism emerged from all around, sweeping towards him and instinctively connecting with the vital energy within his body, as if to incite a disturbance.
"The Golden Hall?"
Standing outside the palace, Wu Tao looked at the building before him, a strange expression on his face.
The palace before him was indeed entirely golden, appearing magnificent and dazzlingly bright.
And its materials seemed to be made of actual gold.
Wu Tao couldn't help but shake his head, not at all impressed by the aesthetic sense of monks.
Speaking of which, most monks in Buddhism seemed to truly favor gold.
Although in the cultivation world, gold held no particular value, it was merely an ordinary item worth less than spirit stones.
The monks' fondness for gold seemed to stem more from aesthetics; otherwise, wouldn't jade be better?
Wu Tao himself preferred jade.
The golden palace before him looked glorious and grand, possessing a strange magnificence.
After observing for a while, Wu Tao directly stepped forward and walked in.
The interior of the Golden Palace was relatively well-preserved, owing to the presence of a Buddhist power residing there.
This also made Wu Tao feel a strange sense of comfort.
However, this was also due to the Buddhist blood within him.
Anyone unrelated to Buddhism and Taoism would likely not have such an easy time.
Wu Tao looked around, sensing the fluctuations of Buddhist blood within him.
The feeling was akin to a powerful presence beckoning him from within the palace.
Upon closer inspection, he could see many corpses along the path.
Roughly counting, there were no less than a hundred, densely packed, some sitting, some lying, their bodies all a glazed golden color. The sight was extremely terrifying.
According to Wu Tao's perception, each of these skeletal remains exuded an aura as profound as an abyss.
Even after countless years, the aura imprinted in their bones was complete, belonging only to top-tier Buddhist cultivators who had attained the Buddha Golden Body.
"Not at the Foundation Establishment, nor Core Formation… could these people all be…?"
"Nascent Soul stage Buddhist cultivators."
Wu Tao's eyes shifted towards the center of the palace.
There stood a sixth-grade golden lotus, upon which a monk was seated.
This monk wore a kasaya adorned with gold and jade, intricately carved with stars and the sun. From afar, he looked almost alive.
"The founding ancestor of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple."
Wu Tao immediately recognized his identity. To be here in the Golden Hall, above everyone else, wearing such a kasaya, and seated upon a sixth-grade golden lotus, it could be no one else.
In Wu Tao's sight, this corpse was slowly glowing, as if a wave of Buddha light was surging and flickering upon it.
An intangible, mysterious Buddhist aura emanated from the corpse, which, even after so many years, had not dissipated, and Wu Tao could clearly feel it.
Of course, in Wu Tao's perception, this Buddhist aura was not only majestic but also brought him a sense of inexplicable familiarity, as if encountering a relative.
The resonance between Buddhist blood persisted, even across the vast expanse of time.
The founding ancestor of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple held a string of prayer beads in his left hand and a Vajra Pestle in his right.
The string of prayer beads, neither gold nor jade, wood nor iron, exuded an all-encompassing aura, as if all the great Daos and laws in the world were contained within them.
The Vajra Pestle radiated a powerful might, capable of destroying the heavens and earth.
And the sixth-grade golden lotus upon which the founding ancestor of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple sat was an extremely famous Buddhist spiritual treasure.
In Buddhism, the lotus flower is a symbol of purity, sanctity, and auspiciousness.
Buddhism uses the lotus, which emerges from mud unstained, to symbolize Buddhas and Bodhisattvas appearing in the world without taint.
...
The dark black prayer beads, named the Twelve Astral Heavens Buddhist Beads, were a top-grade spiritual treasure. They naturally contained the mysteries of Buddhism, and upon gazing at them, one would immediately feel the evolution of worlds.
The sixth-grade golden lotus, crystal clear throughout, concealed the profundities of the Great Dao, a naturally formed mid-grade spiritual treasure.
The Vajra Pestle appeared extremely ordinary, with nothing remarkable about it. However, it was the only treasure renowned for its offensive capabilities in Buddhism.
These three treasures all emanated a righteous, grand aura, a gentle and upright energy, from which one could even feel the Buddha's compassionate intent for all sentient beings.
The Vajra Pestle was a low-grade spiritual treasure refined by the founding ancestor of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple after achieving great divine abilities, aided by various rare treasures, possessing the power to cleave mountains and seas, and sweep across the heavens and earth.
The sixth-grade golden lotus was a treasure bestowed upon the founding ancestor of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple by the then Abbot when he was a Buddhist disciple of the Great Light Temple in Ji Province. It contained immeasurable profound Buddhist power and was a defensive mid-grade spiritual treasure.
The Twelve Astral Heavens Buddhist Beads were the most peculiar in origin among the three spiritual treasures. Even the steadfast monk Shi Ren, a guardian of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple from the Stone Race, knew little about them, only that their origin was related to the founding ancestor of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple's establishment of his own sect.
Legend had it that the Twelve Astral Heavens Buddhist Beads possessed the supreme power of spatial displacement.
"Twelve Astral Heavens Buddhist Beads, Ninth-grade Golden Lotus, Vajra Pestle!"
"These… are the legendary true spiritual treasures? But with my current cultivation, I can't use them at all?"
Wu Tao murmured to himself, a mixture of a wry smile and excitement on his face.
However, the wry smile was quickly cast aside. After all, any cultivator who obtained a supreme treasure would display such excitement and pride, and Wu Tao was no exception.
...
In the cultivation world, the weapons used by cultivators are classified into spiritual artifacts, remnants from the Ancient, Primordial, and Archaic eras, and magical treasures of the current era, among other categories.
As for the legendary spiritual treasures, they were merely legends, never seen by anyone.
At least, a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator like Wu Tao, without immense fortune, would have no chance of seeing them.
Spiritual Treasures! So-called spiritual treasures are treasures that contain a trace of the Great Dao of heaven and earth.
It is precisely because of this trace of the Great Dao's power that the might of spiritual treasures is incomparable to any magical treasure or spiritual artifact.
And in the cultivation world, cultivators above the Purple Mansion stage have always used spiritual treasures.
The minimum requirement to use a spiritual treasure is Nascent Soul stage and above. Wu Tao has not even broken through to the Core Formation stage yet; he is still far from it.
After obtaining the inheritance of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, Wu Tao left the secret realm.
...
The outside world, the sun shone brightly, and the familiar environment reappeared in Wu Tao's eyes.
Wu Tao returned to the same place he was before. However, it was somewhat ironic that Lan Yingxiang, who had brought Wu Tao here, was now nowhere to be seen.
...
Wu Tao had long anticipated Lan Yingxiang's act of discarding him after he was no longer useful.
After all, people's natures differed.
Just as some people were sentimental, there were always those who were more utilitarian.
For such individuals, as long as the conditions were right, they would betray even their own flesh and blood, parents, siblings, or even themselves, let alone merely a friend.
As soon as he learned that this was a secret realm left by a Purple Mansion stage cultivator, Wu Tao knew that it would eventually end with a betrayal between friends.
After all, in terms of value, the inheritance of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple was enough to elevate someone to heaven. Given Lan Yingxiang's nature, it was unlikely she wouldn't be tempted.
In fact, Lan Yingxiang could be considered quite ruthless.
It was a pity that in the end, she encountered Wu Tao, who had already been on guard.
Everything came to naught, directly benefiting Wu Tao.
...
Having killed Wu Tao, an elite inner disciple with connections in the Puppet Divine Crystal Sect, he naturally did not linger in Liang Province and hurried back to Qing Province.
Just as Wu Tao began his journey back to Qing Province from Liang Province.