The Secret Way of Immortality

The deep world knows no night. Bathed in the Buddha's light, it perpetually maintains an eternal day, as if time itself stands still.

However, the populace has its own way of distinguishing day from night.

Typically, every seven hours or so, the sound of chanting Buddhist scriptures echoes through the sky, originating from the Great Buddha Heaven above, where the most esteemed Fortune Tathagata imparts Buddhist teachings.

Generally speaking, while temples large and small all have Buddhas residing within, not all Buddhas possess an official title and dharma name.

Dharma names are categorized into 'Arhat,' 'Bodhisattva,' and 'Tathagata.'

For example, the Golden Gate Temple, with its hundreds of thousands of monks, houses three Buddhas, but none are Arhat Buddhas, indicating their cultivation is not yet complete.

It is said that Arhats are common, Bodhisattvas are abundant throughout the Great Buddha Heaven, but the only Tathagata is the Fortune Buddha.

"Amitabha."

The Fortune Tathagata manifested once more from the sea of clouds.

Whether in towns or the desolate wilderness, all became quiet.

Even those traveling would choose to find a secluded corner to begin meditating upon hearing the Fortune Tathagata's murmurs.

For them, meditation was naturally the best form of rest.

The Fortune Tathagata's chanting varied in duration, but when the sound ceased in the deep world, the populace would resume their activities.

Caravans bustled along the official roads, with everyone, regardless of gender, dressed as tonsured monks.

Resources were scarce in the deep world. Even the vegetation appeared crystalline, unable to bear fruit, making cultivation and harvesting impossible. Even the largest towns struggled to be self-sufficient.

To obtain grain, one could only journey to the Great Buddha Heaven above.

Legend has it that with each breath the Fortune Tathagata exhaled, golden rice grains flowed from his mouth and nostrils. The closer one got to the Great Buddha Heaven, the less one worried about food.

The purpose of the caravans was to transport grain, mostly organized by temples.

A Fleshly Body Tathagata appeared near the official road, quickly noticed by the passing populace, who felt a heart-stopping fear from afar.

According to the elders in the caravans, even encountering wild beasts was not as terrifying.

However, although the Fleshly Body Tathagata's appearance was frightening, it remained still as a mountain, even in the face of wind and sun.

Over time, the people became accustomed to it.

They even discovered something strange: as they approached the Fleshly Body Tathagata, the fear in their hearts transformed into reverence.

In addition, the Fleshly Body Tathagata did indeed emanate Buddhist energy, so it was revered by passersby as the 'Mountain Buddha.'

While the people vied to prostrate themselves before the Fleshly Body Tathagata, two monks, one old and one young, deliberately moved away from its location.

"Senior Brother, I heard them say that the Mountain Buddha is also a Buddha."

The young novice touched his head and couldn't help but ask the middle-aged monk beside him in a soft voice. The latter, filled with fear, made a gesture to silence him.

The middle-aged monk had practiced Buddhism since childhood and had encountered the Buddhas of the Golden Mountain Temple, but he vaguely sensed that the Fleshly Body Tathagata was not a benevolent being.

Like the natural enemy of the Buddha, it clearly emitted Buddhist energy, yet they were mutually exclusive.

"Ignorance is no crime. Except for the sin-marked people, all things can become Buddha."

As the middle-aged monk spoke, he glanced at the caravan not far away. He could see that due to the lack of horses, the goods were entirely carried by scruffy Merit Monks.

"Senior Brother, if all things can become Buddha, then why are the sin-marked people..."

Seeing that the young novice was about to continue asking, the middle-aged monk quickly covered his mouth.

The middle-aged monk didn't know why they were called sin-marked people. Perhaps they were cursed by the Buddha, so they were slaves for generations.

Recently, more sin-marked people occasionally appeared, but their numbers were clearly decreasing, and they might soon become extinct.

The middle-aged monk couldn't help but lecture the young novice, telling him to be careful with his words and actions.

Buddhas traveled between heaven and earth, and any disrespect would invite disaster.

Seeing the fatigue written on the novice's face, he softened and said, "Forget it, let's meditate for a while before continuing our journey. Let's try to reach the Golden Gate Temple by evening."

"Okay, Senior Brother."

They placed their prayer mats away from the Fleshly Body Tathagata and sat cross-legged in the open air, meditating by chanting the Buddha's name.

Just as the middle-aged monk was sketching the Buddha's appearance in his mind.

Bang, bang, bang...

Deafening footsteps approached from afar, startling both of them awake.

The middle-aged monk immediately reacted. Without bothering to check the source of the noise, he picked up the young novice and ran into the forest beside the official road.

As the footsteps fell one after another, they could hear the desperate screams of the people.

A bloody smell permeated the air.

The young novice widened his eyes as a figure thousands of meters tall approached, completely ignoring the lives of the people. Each step turned several people into minced meat.

He forcefully covered his mouth to prevent himself from making a sound, then realized that the figure was clearly the Dharma-Suppressing Buddha of the Golden Gate Temple.

Their luck was decent. The Buddha's target was clearly the Fleshly Body Tathagata, so it just brushed past them.

The official road was already covered with the severed limbs and fragments of corpses.

The middle-aged monk collapsed weakly on the ground, his expression filled only with the relief of surviving a disaster.

But before he could relax, the earth trembled again, indicating that another enormous Buddha-like creature was coming towards the Fleshly Body Tathagata.

The middle-aged monk grabbed the young novice and crawled into a tree hole.

To the Buddhas, the people were like insignificant ants, not paying attention to their lives or deaths, and not even willing to waste time stopping.

Ren An was awakened from his closed-door cultivation, gazing at the three suddenly appearing Buddhas.

According to the information stream, they should be called Insect Buddhas.

【Insect Buddha】

【Formed by strange objects, their bodies can be used to carry the Light-Fixing Buddha energy.】

The three Insect Buddhas had different appearances. One even lacked a head, with twisted facial features growing on the palm of its right hand.

They were all transformed from Yin-Earth Realm strange objects.

However, under the erosion of the Light-Fixing Buddha energy, the Insect Buddhas had broken through the limits of the strange object realm, and their cultivation had reached the Yang-God Realm.

The Insect Buddhas also noticed the strangeness of the Fleshly Body Tathagata.

Their cultivation was clearly superior to the Fleshly Body Tathagata, but they felt an unspeakable fear, as if facing an existence that could easily destroy them.

The Fleshly Body Tathagata's evil was not limited to one aspect. The emitted Buddha energy seemed to be mixed with countless resentful spirits, its appearance resembled a pile of flesh and blood, and its base had lifelike Arhat statues.

It was hard to imagine what kind of terrifying Buddha could be formed.

"Amitabha, may I ask, Junior Brother, which temple did you originally come from?"

The one speaking was the Insect Buddha whose exterior was covered in mouthparts. The mouthparts could constantly absorb Light-Fixing Buddha energy, occasionally extending tentacle-like tongues.

The Many-Tongued Buddha asked several times in a row, but found that the Fleshly Body Tathagata had no reaction at all, and a chilling intent flashed in its eyes.

They couldn't help but exchange glances, muttering to themselves.

When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

Ren An quickly figured out the truth of the Insect Buddhas. The strength of this kind of Buddha formed from strange objects could be completely seen from their height.

They were all Yang-God Realm cultivators, but the Many-Tongued Buddha, who was over 1,500 meters tall, was clearly stronger. 1,000 meters should be the lower limit of the Yang-God Realm.

"Do you think it could be something that fell from the Great Buddha Heaven, involving..."

The Many-Tongued Buddha's muscles tightened, and the teeth of its hundreds of mouths collided, its eyes filled with deep fear as it looked at the Fleshly Body Tathagata.

"Impossible, I think it's the reincarnation of a Buddha's soul, as long as..."

The Palm-Heart Buddha released Buddha energy, wanting to figure out the truth of the Fleshly Body Tathagata, but as soon as it came into contact with the mountain of flesh, it sensed something was wrong.

The Buddha energy in its body surged uncontrollably, being frantically devoured by the Fleshly Body Tathagata.

While the two Insect Buddhas were stunned, the Palm-Heart Buddha had shrunk by half. Originally about 1,200 meters tall, it was now just over 1,000 meters.

What shocked them the most was that the surface of the Fleshly Body Tathagata began to squirm.

The Arhat statues at the base were actually climbing upwards, and the unformed Bodhisattva statues were doing the same, seemingly deliberately clearing space.

"What the hell is that?!"

The Many-Tongued Buddha was incredulous, because at the base of the Fleshly Body Tathagata, a familiar face was gradually forming, it was the Palm-Heart Buddha.

Ren An didn't expect that the false Buddhas of the deep world could be used to feed the Fleshly Body Tathagata.

The Palm-Heart Buddha was also shocked, and quickly broke free from the Fleshly Body Tathagata's restraints, and the boiling mountain of flesh immediately calmed down.

"A demon, definitely a demon from the outside world..."

"Contact the Arhats as soon as possible, otherwise the Great Buddha Heaven will surely suffer disaster."

The Buddha energy they leaked converged, and they surrounded the Fleshly Body Tathagata with solemn expressions.

Faced with this great enemy that they didn't know how to define, they didn't have the confidence to kill it, but temporarily sealing it was not a big problem.

Seeing that a battle was about to break out, Ren An secretly used the Heavenly Demon Tribulation, forcibly reversing the Insect Buddhas' thoughts, and dispelling the fear in their hearts.

The Insect Buddhas were brewing massive amounts of Buddha energy, but suddenly their expressions were replaced by greed, and the Fleshly Body Tathagata in their eyes seemed to turn into a mountain of gold.

Heavy breathing echoed.

In the Insect Buddhas' ears, it seemed like a voice was constantly saying.

"What you see is the Buddha's spiritual mountain, it is the reincarnation of the Buddha, as long as you offer Buddha energy, you can get a chance to go further..."

Ren An frowned, and found that the Fleshly Body Tathagata actually had some amplification effect on the Heavenly Demon Tribulation.

He originally wanted to use the Toe Separation Technique to cooperate, but the Heavenly Demon Tribulation alone brainwashed the Insect Buddhas, and even the subconscious in their minds had changed.

It was an unexpected surprise, after all, although the Fleshly Body Tathagata had the cultivation of the Yang-God Realm, it didn't have any means of autonomous attack.

The onlookers, the middle-aged monk, were a little at a loss.

He saw the tense situation and thought that the Buddhas would fight each other.

Since the Buddhas didn't intend to fight, the middle-aged monk prepared to take the young novice and take the opportunity to get away from this chaotic center.

As a result, as soon as he leaned out of the tree hole, he saw a terrifying scene.

He saw the Fleshly Body Tathagata flowing like a liquid, and then covering the Many-Tongued Buddha's body, connecting with flesh and blood little by little from the back.

In a few breaths, the Many-Tongued Buddha's back seemed to have an extra mountain.

The surface could see the statues of the Buddhas, and even included the Many-Tongued Buddha, but the Many-Tongued Buddha himself was unaware of the abnormality.

The three Insect Buddhas stepped away and walked towards the town.

"Senior Brother..."

"Something's wrong, we can't go back to the Golden Gate Temple."

The middle-aged monk was shaking all over, but his tone was firm and decisive, "I said long ago that the Mountain Buddha was abnormal, the Golden Gate Temple is probably going to suffer a disaster, we must contact other temples."

After speaking, he stomped his feet hard, and after regaining some consciousness, he immediately went along the official road in the opposite direction.

The middle-aged monk didn't notice that a face of the Fleshly Body Tathagata was staring at him.