History's Number 1 Founder
chapter-776

The Da Kong Zen Master wore a calm expression, and even though he looked little pitiful, there was absolutely no trace of remorse or regret.

The Buddhist light around the Forever-Bright Bodhi Heart Lamp flickered and a voice came out from within. "I have been stuck inside the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain for millennia and I have no idea what has become of the outside world. I no longer know how to distinguish right from wrong."

Bodhi Soul’s voice had a peaceful undertone, but nobody knew whether his mental state was truly able to recover its stability.

He said quietly, "If I can ascend, leave the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain and return to the Divine Lands, I will investigate the truth behind the matter myself. I will not listen to the words of others without evidence. However, I’m not leaving with you."

Besides the Hornless Dragon Spirit swimming inside the lamp, an old monk appeared within the Buddhist light. He looked amicable and friendly as the light shadows condensed and materialized into a body – it was the Bodhi Soul revealing itself in physical form. He glanced at the Da Kong Zen Master before he turned back towards Zhu Yi and the Eternal Night Demonic Stele and asked, "After the destruction of the Great Thunderclap Temple, what happened to the thousands of disciples of the Buddha?"

Zhu Yi replied, "Most were chased away into exile. However, there were a few relatively stubborn monks who perished in battle."

"After that, due to the fact that the Great Thunderclap Temple was located within the Great Zhou Empire, the Great Zhou Empire oppressed the remaining monks and sent people after them – many died."

A haze of faint grief came over the Bodhi Soul as he turned towards the Da Kong Monk. "You speak of the slander and profanity of the Buddha’s reputation. Did the disciples who died have a part to play?"

The Da Kong Monk deliberated for a moment before he heaved a heavy sigh. "The main perpetrators were the Abbot and the other inner-circle elders of the Great Thunderclap Temple. Only second-level Golden Form disciples from my generation, like myself, knew about it. Most others were clueless."

The Bodhi Soul’s expression instantly changed into anger as his eyes widened like a Vajra. "Then the disciples who died in the process, those that had no clue what was going on before they were forced into exile, and even chased down and killed in droves – did they deserve to die?"

The Da Kong Monk answered, "After the Great Thunderclap Temple had been laid to ruin, most of the disciples that were being chased down and arrested did not actually die. The only ones that did were those that tried to resist capture and arrest. Even though I have joined the Great Zhou Empire, I have created a small haven for these innocent disciples to seek refuge."

"Based on what I know, the Great Void Sect had been taking in these exiled Buddhist disciples in secret as well."

Zhu Yi and Shi Xingyun exchanged a look as they heard this revelation and could see the sparkles in each other’s eyes.

The words of the Da Kong Monk only served to prove one thing – the fact that the Man of Polycoria, Shi Tianyi, was able to practice the authentic Acalanatha Tathagata Mantra and eventually master the Unmovable Nagaraja Buddha Being to remedy the natural weakness of his physical body was because of the Great Void Sect.

The Da Kong Monk heaved another heavy sigh. "I am heartbroken about the disciples who lost their lives. However, I do not regret the choice I made all those years ago. If I had allowed the Abbot and the other elders to carry out their devilish ambitions, the entire Divine Lands would have decayed and descended into hell and the life of the world would have been extinguished."

The air of fury and wrath around the Bodhi Soul dissipated gradually as his wrinkled face was expressionless once more. He stared straight at the Da Kong Monk and said, "If I am able to escape from the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain, I will definitely investigate the truth of the matter. But before that, you have to leave behind the relics from Zhi Guang and the others!"

"I have to admit that I don’t have the Buddha’s level of mastery. However, I cannot allow the Buddhist relics to be tainted by others – not even you!"

The Da Kong Monk shook his head. "Forget it, you will understand my intentions in the future. Control of the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain shall be determined shortly and time is of the essence. If you don’t wish to travel together with us, then I have to bid you farewell."

With Zhu Yi and Shi Xingyun still there, coupled with the fact that he was heavily injured, the Da Kong Monk dispelled the notion of forcefully assimilating and re-forging the Forever-Bright Bodhi Heart Lamp as he turned around to leave.

He completely disregarded the Bodhi Soul’s request as well.

Zhu Yi stepped forward and said, "Monk, you can have a sweet tongue but don’t think you can just leave like that."

"Our multiple engagements inside the illusion at the core of the mountain was highly restrained and limited. I want to test your mastery of the Buddhist mantras again."

As he spoke, he wrapped the Supreme Holy Ancient Apparel around his body and unleashed his cosmic form.

The Da Kong Monk wasted no words as Buddhist light flowed around his body and the illusion of a Great Roc appeared from within. The illusion of the Great Roc integrated with his body and his whole body transformed into a stream of light as he cut open the void and was about to vanish inside before anything else could happen.

The Garuda Windsurfing Technique was one of the most powerful Vanishing Spells of the Great Thunderclap Temple. The speed of travel was similar to the maximum speed of a Golden Roc and was practically unrivaled.

However, Zhu Yi had already prepared for this. The spiritual form of the Dragon, Phoenix, Spirit Turtle and the Qilin appeared around his body all at once and surrounded the Da Kong Monk within.

The Da Kong Monk was calm and he said, "You may be able to take on Shao Qingcheng but that doesn’t mean you can handle me. Even though I’m a little weaker than usual, don’t think you can step all over me."

He raised his right hand and clenched a fist as he spoke. The illusion of the Great Roc let out a ear-splitting howl as it started to materialize and retracted its wings.

In the next moment, its wings extended outwards explosively and ferocious squalls surged outwards with overwhelming strength.

Following this incredibly powerful move, the Da Kong Monk punched out with his other hand and went directly for the Sky Revolution of Zhu Yi’s Four Appearances Sky Formation.

This was the Supreme Great Roc Fist, a formidable Martial Way of the same lineage as the Garuda Windsurfing Technique. It had the ability to release the full power of one’s body in a single explosive instant.

Zhu Yi remained expressionless as he slapped his palms together. Similar to his engagement with Shao Qingcheng, the Sky Formation started to transform once again.

The Sky Revolution trembled violently and started to separate by itself and morphed into a thick light mist that permeated the entire area. Rice-sized sparkles of light flashed constantly within the light mist and gushed around, blazing a mystical trail that resembled the rotations of the stars in the night sky.

The light mist was a like an independent tiny universe that could absorb anything as the brute strength of the Supreme Great Roc Fist vanished into nothingness.

The Da Kong Monk’s face turned dark. He grunted and immediately unleashed the Amoghasiddhi Buddha Form and his right palm started to form the Full Circle Of Life Swastika Palm Print as he struck down towards Zhu Yi.

At this moment, the Bodhi Soul intervened and exclaimed, "Da Kong, leave the relics behind."

A ray of light flashed across the magic lamp as the roaming Hornless Dragons Spirit scattered and a great burst of Forever-Bright Buddhist light crashed towards the Da Kong Monk.

The Forever-Bright Bodhi Heart Lamp was unable to channel its maximum power as it did not have an owner to direct it. However, the Da Kong Monk was already injured and was now distracted by Zhu Yi’s Sky Formation and the Bodhi Soul’s entry into the fray meant trouble for him as he had to take care of two different sources of attacks.

Zhu Yi managed to find loopholes on his side as the Da Kong Monk’s attention was split into two sides.

He turned around on the spot as the void beneath his feet started to crack and crumble. Incredibly explosive forces that resembled supernovas were directed from his feet to his thighs, then to his waist and followed his spine to reach the top of his head.

Zhu Yi’s tilted forward as his whole body flashed forward like a shooting star and arrived in front of the Da Kong Monk in the blink of an eye.

The Emperor Chen’s killer move – the Shifting Stars Technique!

Zhu Yi was able to slowly grasp and make out the essence of this powerful Martial Way through the power of the universe illusion and was able to replicate the same technique with his own physical body.

Zhu Yi’s physical body was nothing too out of the ordinary, and he was only in the nascent soul advanced stage while the Da Kong Monk was in the second-level Golden Form stage. Therefore, there was no way he could unleash the true power of this martial way to achieve its desired effect. However, he did not intend to use this technique as a form of attack and simply wanted to ambush him.

He continued to direct the Four Appearances Sky formation was uncountable rays of flowing light shot towards the Da Kong Monk like a blanket of shooting stars.

However, the situation changed unexpectedly once again.

The Da Kong Monk’s Amoghasiddhi Form trembled violently as another human figure shimmered into vision from within the rays of Buddhist light.

Even though the human figure was gold-colored all over just like the form of the Amoghasiddhi Buddha, Zhu Yi could tell with one look that this human figure was the individual that he had just been temporarily implanted in – the Great Sun Holy Man!

However, back inside the universe illusion, it was an artificial body formed from the remnant soul memories of the Great Sun Holy Man. The golden figure before him now was the real physical body of the Great Sun Holy Man!

"Legend has it that the Great Sun Holy Man’s death had nothing to do with the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain and was connected to the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain instead. Looks like the powerful physical body of the Great Sun Holy Man was preserved and had been in the hands of the Great Zhou Empire all along."

"It seems as if this body had been damaged for some reason, and the Great Zhou Empire tasked the Da Kong Monk with the recuperation of this physical body with his Buddhist lights and whatsoever," multiple thoughts ran through Zhu Yi’s head. "The Da Kong Monk is injured as well, and is now in a dire strait under the continuous onslaught from both me and the Bodhi Soul. He’s no longer able to suppress this powerful physical body. It practiced the mantras of Emperor Chen and has a life of its own – even though it’s ultimately still an empty shell, it was awoken and triggered by my Shifting Stars Technique."

Once he understood what was going on, Zhu Yi continued to direct the Four Appearances Sky Formation against the Da Kong Monk as he prepared to unleash the Celestial Fist of the Twenty-Eight Mansions. However, his target was the golden body of the Great Sun Holy Man and wanted to use the powers of his martial ways to trigger the Great Sun Holy Man’s golden form even more.

The Da Kong Monk’s facial expression was extremely grave at this point. His eyes darted between Zhu Yi and the Forever-Bright Bodhi Heart Lamp before he turned to look at the mutinous golden form of the Great Sun Holy Man. He made a decisive quick judgment and let go of the Great Sun Holy Man’s physical body without hesitation.

"Rise into nirvana!" After letting go of the golden form of the Great Sun Holy Man, the Da Kong Monk started to chant scripture after scripture as his Amoghasiddhi Buddha Form erupted with bright colors and innumerable streams of colorful light expanded outwards in all directions. The sheer force of this move shocked the Bodhi Soul and even Zhu Yi was slightly taken aback.

The colorful rays of light destroyed the void all around.

This was an esoteric technique of the Great Thunderclap Temple that only powerful cultivators above the second-level Golden Form stage were able to master – they were able to damage their own Buddha Spell Body in exchange for a temporary wave of frightening destructiveness.

When the Forever-Bright Bodhi Heart Lamp chased away the Hornless Dragon Spirit, Shi Xingyun had taken the opportunity to capture it and did all she could to suppress it. She was not involved in the battle and still enjoyed full autonomy, but she heaved a faint sigh as she watched Zhu Yi and the Bodhi Soul clash with the Rise Into Nirvana Spell and let go of the Hornless Dragon Spirit in her hands.

The Hornless Dragon Spirit vanished into nothingness in an instant and Shi Xingyun could no longer be bothered with it as she grunted and her soul immediately departed from her physical body.