565. Chapter 548: The Bet and Heaven
Stepping onto the cloud ladder lowered from the Cloud Boat, Miss Duan led Chen Xuanzang to the lower level of the Cloud Boat. The moment their feet touched the Cloud Boat, space seemed to undergo some kind of distortion.
Although the Cloud Boat was clearly only dozens of feet long, when Miss Duan brought Chen Xuanzang onto it, they saw an endless stream of people. Inside the Cloud Boat was surprisingly a Giant City.
Black-armored soldiers stretched for an unknown distance, standing in neat rows throughout the Cloud Boat, like a black dragon encircling it.
"This space has been compressed by a Great Divine Ability User, that's why you feel strange!"
Miss Duan saw Chen Xuanzang's slightly agape mouth and astonished expression. Suppressing the shock in her heart, she quickly leaned close to him and explained.
Miss Duan herself had only occasionally seen the Divine Ability of Mustard Seed Space mentioned in ancient texts and legends. She hadn't expected it to be real.
The torrent of black-armored soldiers flowed in and out of the various portals of the Cloud Boat Giant City from all directions. The city was bustling with noise, looking incredibly magnificent and prosperous to the extreme.
This wasn't a Cloud Boat at all; it was clearly a formidable city! Miss Duan looked around. Everyone she saw had a steady aura and firm stance. Whether they were black-armored soldiers or fellow exorcists, they were all top-notch Experts, completely not inferior to Great Sha.
"It's so spectacular..."
For some reason, the Empty Lord who was supposed to greet them hadn't followed. The two walked into the city together. Chen Xuanzang's eyes lit up, and the scenery within this Cloud Boat Giant City unfolded before him.
What greeted their eyes was a street dozens of feet wide, paved entirely with white stone slabs.
On both sides of the street were Tea Houses, Wine Shops, and Workshops. The street extended endlessly to the east and west, filled only with the bustling noise of the lively crowd.
Centered around the tall City Tower, the houses on both sides were arranged like fish scales. There were Tea Shops, Wine Restaurants, and even Weapon Shops and Cloth Shops, incredibly lively.
During the chaotic wars at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world fell into great disorder, ultimately leading to the inversion of yin and yang, the reversal of the five elements, and various demons and monsters causing chaos in the Mortal Realm.
Now that the Great Tang Dynasty was newly established, the malice in heaven and earth had not completely dissipated. Demons and monsters ran rampant, and many Prefecture Cities in the Great Tang Dynasty did not see such a prosperous scene! Even the Imperial Capital Chang'an might not have such tall city walls and wide Ground. This was simply a miracle.
"Hmm?"
Miss Duan's heart stirred slightly, her eyes shifting. She saw a Big man with a tiger's back and a bear's waist walking towards them in the middle of the street.
The Big man walked among the crowd, seemingly completely unremarkable.
However, Miss Duan could sense the vast pure yang energy of his entire body, like a Great Sun hanging high at noon! Ordinary ghouls and the like probably wouldn't even get close to him before being dissolved by his abundant qi and blood! Miss Duan muttered to herself. At the same time, she recognized the man before her; it was Five Elements Fist, whom she had met once in Shuixi Village.
This Five Elements Fist was also one of the few top exorcists in the world.
Although they were a mile away, Miss Duan had a feeling that Five Elements Fist was coming specifically for the two of them.
Unsure of Five Elements Fist's intention, Miss Duan subconsciously moved to stand in front of Chen Xuanzang. Chen Xuanzang poked his head out in confusion, but she pushed him back.
*Thump, thump*~~ Five Elements Fist walked step by step to about ten feet in front of Miss Duan and stopped. "Miss Duan? Come with me, the Grand Governor wants to see you!"
Miss Duan glanced at Chen Xuanzang behind her and hesitated. "I want to go with him!"
"The Grand Governor only said he wanted to see you, not this kid! Don't worry, in this city, this pretty boy won't get lost!"
"Hurry up and follow, the Grand Governor is waiting for you!" Five Elements Fist finished speaking, turned around, and left, decisive and without delay.
"Wait for me here, don't run around!" Miss Duan instructed Chen Xuanzang and quickly followed Five Elements Fist's footsteps.
The street was filled with black-armored soldiers. In the surging crowd, the two maintained a distance of about ten feet, walking one after the other down the long street.
After walking for over forty miles down the long street, Miss Duan couldn't imagine how such a Giant City could be moved onto this small Cloud Boat.
The population gradually thinned until Five Elements Fist stopped. They arrived in front of a vast Manor.
This Manor had red walls and yellow tiles, with a Gate Tower dozens of feet high. Two black tortoise stone statues squatted at the entrance, and the Archway above was carved with the three large seal script characters: Demon Subduing Division.
This was surprisingly the Headquarters of the Demon Subduing Division.
"But wasn't the Demon Subduing Division in Chang'an?"
As an exorcist, although Miss Duan had never been to Chang'an, she had heard of the prosperity of the Imperial Capital of the Great Tang Dynasty, as well as the Demon Suppressing Pagoda of the Demon Subduing Division. It was said that tens of thousands of demons and monsters were imprisoned there.
While Miss Duan was muttering to herself, Five Elements Fist on the other side strode into the Manor. The guards at the entrance were not the black-armored soldiers, but steel automatons.
With her spiritual sense, Miss Duan keenly sensed that these steel automatons had no life aura. Clearly, these steel automatons were not living beings.
After Five Elements Fist showed his waist token to the steel automatons, a red light shot out from the eyes of the leading Sentinel. After scanning the waist token and Five Elements Fist's face, it allowed the two to pass.
"Phew! Let's go!"
Five Elements Fist saw the steel automatons step back and let them pass, and he let out a deep breath. Even though he considered himself the number one, no, the number two exorcist in the world, every time he faced these mechanical automatons, he felt uncomfortable all over.
He took a deep breath, suppressed the thoughts in his heart, and motioned for Miss Duan behind him to follow.
*Thump, thump*~~ Stepping on the jade-like floor, Five Elements Fist led Miss Duan. The two passed through the courtyard, walked through the Great Hall, and arrived at a small courtyard.
Along the way, Miss Duan saw dozens of exorcists whose aura was not inferior to hers, and many whose strength was clearly above hers.
"Grand Governor, I've brought Miss Duan!"
Five Elements Fist bowed slightly at the door, his hoarse voice sounding out.
"Come in."
A gentle voice sounded from the Room.
"Yes!"
Five Elements Fist reached out and pushed open the Gate, walking inside.
*Whoosh*~ Miss Duan also followed behind him and stepped into the Room.
The Room was not large, only about ten feet, with simple furnishings. Miss Duan looked up and met a pair of eyes. At the desk by the window, a young man wearing a daoist robe with an exceptionally handsome appearance was looking at her with a smile.
This was the Grand Governor? He didn't look fierce at all. He didn't look like the Grand Governor who commanded all exorcists in the world; he looked more like a pretty boy in a daoist robe.
Hmm, even paler than that guy Chen Xuanzang.
Miss Duan silently evaluated in her heart.
As for Five Elements Fist, after entering the Room, he stood respectfully to the side, his eyebrows lowered like a young wife.
"Exorcist Duan Xiaoxiao, greetings to the Grand Governor."
With a quick glance, Duan Xiaoxiao casually cupped her fists and bowed.
"Good, good, very good, very good."
Tang Song's deep eyes swept over Miss Duan, and he nodded with a smile. "Sit."
Miss Duan didn't stand on ceremony. She stepped forward and sat down opposite Tang Song.
She openly observed Tang Song. No matter how she looked, the young man dressed as a Taoist Priest before her seemed like an Ordinary Person, completely undetectable of anything else.
Tang Song, however, didn't care about Miss Duan's scrutiny, just looked at her with a smile.
This made Miss Duan feel a little awkward. There was silence in the Room, only Five Elements Fist occasionally looking at Miss Duan with a look of reverence from the side.
To be able to appear so calm in front of the Grand Governor, she really didn't know how thick-skinned this woman was.
After a moment, Miss Duan's cheeks felt hot under Tang Song's gaze, and her ears were slightly red. In the visual confrontation, she was the first to give in and said, "Grand Governor, have we met before? What matters do you need me for?"
"Shuixi Village, I saw you once!"
Tang Song shook his head. "I wanted to see you, that's all. It has nothing to do with other matters."
"You wanted to see me?"
Miss Duan's heart skipped a beat. She was stunned for a moment, then suddenly seemed to understand something, and a blush rose on her face. "I have a sweetheart!"
Tang Song looked at Miss Duan's face and sighed. "I do too!"
"Ah?!" Duan Xiaoxiao was completely stunned! "Haha! I called you here to see you and give you something."
Under Tang Song's gaze, Duan Xiaoxiao felt uncomfortable all over. For some reason, in that gaze, there was always a strange, indescribable color.
She was starting to feel restless.
"Phew! Give me something?"
Duan Xiaoxiao let out a long breath and asked curiously, "Why does the Grand Governor want to give me something?"
"As the Grand Governor of the Demon Subduing Division, what's so strange about giving you exorcists something?"
Tang Song said as he picked up a manual from the desk. "This is a copy of the "Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Heart Sutra"! It was a gift from the Presider of Jinshan Temple. It is said that those with affinity can see the manifestation of Guanyin within it and comprehend a divine ability!"
Tang Song handed the secret manual to Duan Xiaoxiao. "By the way, do you know how many manifestations Avalokitesvara has?"
"I think it's thirty-two?"
Duan Xiaoxiao answered casually as she took the buddhist scripture from Tang Song's hand.
She took the "Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Heart Sutra" and glanced at it. It was an old scripture with seven large characters handwritten on it. Seeing these characters, her heart skipped a beat. She stared straight at the tome, then couldn't help but flip through it.
As she chanted sutras, a golden light shot out from her heavenly spirit, revealing a dharma body. It had twenty-four heads and eighteen arms, holding an ornate necklace, canopy, flower pot, Yuchang sword, blessed treasure pestle, treasure file, golden bell, golden bow, silver halberd, banner flag, treasure standard, lotus flower, token, alms bowl, sharp spear, broadsword, sarira, and scripture.
As soon as this dharma body appeared, golden light shone, and the room filled with buddhist radiance was about to shoot up into the sky.
Just as the buddhist radiance was spreading, Tang Song flicked his robe sleeve. From the cuff, a Black Hole seemed to appear out of thin air, directly pulling the dharma body into his sleeve.
*Crack!*
Inside Tang Song's robe sleeve, the sound of porcelain shattering echoed.
Duan Xiaoxiao felt a sharp pain in her head. She suddenly woke up, meeting Tang Song's indifferent eyes. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but in those eyes, she felt a sense of killing intent.
Tang Song's Right Hand had just extended from his sleeve, and a red light appeared from his Palm.
"Namo Candana Guna Buddha!" A faint buddhist sound, audible only to Tang Song, rang out, interrupting his action.
"What?! Feeling distressed! Do you still think this gambling game between just the two of us isn't enough, and you want to add another person!"
Tang Song looked up at heaven, his gaze piercing through the firmament, meeting the reclining Buddha in the distance.
"Namo Candana Guna Buddha!" The faint buddhist sound echoed in Tang Song's ear, seemingly narrating something.
In the Saha Pure Land of the Jambudvīpa World, Dharma Master Xuanzang clasped his hands together, softly chanting the buddhist name. Above his head, an auspicious cloud the size of an acre appeared, with three golden lamps on it. Within the firelight, a sarira was held, and beside the sarira, a golden cicada manifestation was faintly visible, which was the transformation of Dharma Master Xuanzang's first life golden body.
If he could sever this golden cicada incarnation, he could indeed be called a Great Luo Profound Immortal. However, his cultivation base was insufficient at this moment, and he had not yet attained great completion.
Dharma Master Xuanzang manifested his dharma body golden image, not for Tang Song in the Qi Luck Golden Lotus World, but to isolate "That One"'s perception of this World.
Between Great Principle and Golden Immortal, besides the conventional difference in magic power,
Great Principle can also converge their past Timelines, allowing them to maintain their peak strength at various points in time.
It's like The Flash in the DC Universe. If he wanted to use the Speed Force to travel back to when Dharma Master Xuanzang was just born, it would seem like he could just stir a basin of water and create an accidental drowning to kill this Great Principle.
If it were another Great Principle, the moment his hand approached the wooden basin, the infant in the basin might open its eyes and send him to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss with a buddhist radiance.
Of course, on this Timeline where Dharma Master Xuanzang has not converged his Timeline, the greater possibility is that before he even gets close to Dharma Master Xuanzang in the wooden basin, a Five Elements Mountain will descend and slap him into meat paste.
It's unknown if this counts as a good thing for Dharma Master Xuanzang, because too many Mighty Beings intervened in this Journey to the West, making him unable to converge his own Timeline. But conversely, with countless eyes staring at this qi luck, Buddhist-Taoist conflict, if someone truly wanted to interfere.
Putting aside everything else, they would first need to withstand a great slap from the Buddha. The Buddha is now in nirvana, but in that Timeline, he was a formidable character second only to a few Patriarchs! The Collector Tivan of the Marvel Universe once told Tang Song about counterparts. Theoretically, in the Marvel Multiverse, as long as someone can eliminate all of their counterparts, they can break through the limitations of a Single Universe.
However, this is limited to the Great World of the Marvel Multiverse, and no one has ever truly achieved it! The concept of counterparts also exists in the Jambudvipa Universe, but in the Jambudvipa Universe, there is another term for counterparts: My Other Self!
The stronger a World is, the more it is like an Island or Reef standing in the Sea; the information left on the reef by the sea waves hitting it becomes richer.
This information ripple spreads with the sea waves, leaving similar brands in the various Reef Worlds. The stronger the World, the more obvious its brand mark.
This also explains why many Worlds have similar mythologies, legends, and even Gods.
Apart from Great Principles like Dharma Master Xuanzang who personally opened up a World and watched its evolution, these Great Principles are essentially distinct Reefs themselves.
The dao marks of these Great Principles are imprinted on the World itself. The World is washed by the Chaos Sea waves, which also carry away the brands on it. This point is quite similar to Boss Tang's golden finger root source imprint.
The Chaos Sea waves even replicate their path to dao, thus leaving marks on those newly growing Worlds and giving birth to similar flowers.
At the Great Principle level, they don't pay too much attention to these similar flowers. The Chaos Sea is boundless, and finding a World within it without navigation is harder than searching for a needle in a haystack.
That being said, Dharma Master Xuanzang dared not gamble whether this great Bodhisattva, whose magic power and cultivation base were second only to the Buddha, would be interested in his Other Self in the Jambudvipa World. Once she cast her gaze upon it.
An Exotic Treasure like the Samsara Palace, which can connect innumerable Worlds in the Chaos Sea, would probably tempt even those few Patriarchs to try and snatch it!
In the boundless Chaos Sea, the surroundings were dim. A multi-decked boat emitted a clear green radiance. This clear light transformed into many innate divine scripts of the Jambudvipa World, pushing away the chaos qi around it, preventing the chaos qi from approaching the multi-decked boat.
Not far from the multi-decked boat, the chaos qi was also pushed away. Before them was a peculiar Space, filled with strange spiritual light everywhere. Some spiritual light was converging, forming green leaves, forming lotus flowers, like a holy and incomparable pool of spiritual light in the Chaos Sea.
In the center of the lotus pond formed by the condensed innate spiritual light, on lotus platforms in the third row from the back, tall shadows sat on the lotus platforms, discussing the dao with a group of tall shadows opposite whose appearance was unclear.
A not-so-large world embryo quietly floated between the two sides. The world embryo, with the discussion of the dao between the two sides, gently rose and fell, sometimes large, sometimes small, as if breathing.
Inside the world embryo, a Universe that was forming could be vaguely seen, and the great dao was also slowly taking shape.
On a lotus platform condensed from innate spiritual light, at the end of the third row, a figure with a solemn appearance suddenly paused slightly, his fingers subtly moving.
"Bodhisattva Guanyin!"
A Bodhisattva next to her noticed her action and spoke out in surprise.
"It was just a momentary impulse, nothing serious!" Bodhisattva Guanyin's gaze fell upon the Universe that was about to be opened, unable to move away.
She even had a feeling of wanting to jump into the Universe and resonate and dance with these great daos, to evolve this new Great World together.
This Great World, evolved from the great completion of daoist techniques from two realms, was also the great completion of the game and evolution of the discussion of the dao between the Jambudvipa World and the many powerful ones of the World opposite.
Even with her cultivation base of Great Luo Golden Number, she was mesmerized, and her dao cultivation also increased linearly during this discussion of the dao.
As for the matter of the momentary impulse, she immediately cast it aside.
Duan Xiaoxiao was led out of the Room by Five Elements Fist in a daze, completely unaware that she had just walked on the blade's edge.
"Grand Governor!"
Duan Xiaoxiao felt her head had been very groggy just now. She looked at Tang Song in front of her. For some reason, she felt a wave of fear in her heart.
"Is there anything else you need? My friends are still waiting for me Outside. If there's nothing else, I'll leave now!"
"You and your friends stay at the Demon Subduing Division for now. In a few days, I have some matters I'd like to ask for your help with," Tang Song said.
"The Grand Governor may command as you wish."
Facing such an Important Figure, although she didn't know why she suddenly felt so afraid of him, Duan Xiaoxiao also knew she had no right to refuse, so she could only reluctantly agree.
In her heart, she thought that she must stay far away from this Important Figure in the future.
Tang Song smiled with satisfaction, stood up, and said, "Five Elements Fist, take Miss Duan to find her friends and arrange a Residence for them."
"Yes! Grand Governor!" Five Elements Fist responded as if granted a great pardon, and strode out of the Room.
Duan Xiaoxiao also quickly followed closely behind Five Elements Fist, fleeing from the Room as if escaping.
Tang Song stood by the window, looking out at heaven through the window, his gaze distant.
From his robe sleeve came a crunching sound, like some kind of creature chewing on potato chips.
"His Majesty!"
Not long after Five Elements Fist left with Duan Xiaoxiao, an Elder wearing a white coat with white hair walked in. That childlike face wore a pair of thick glasses.
He wore a half-apple shaped hat on his flat forehead, which looked a bit strange. He didn't even greet Tang Song, just pushed the door open and walked in.
Upon seeing Tang Song, his appellation was not "Grand Governor!" but "His Majesty!"
Clearly, he knew Tang Song's true identity.
"Dr. Vegapunk! I remember telling you that this World is very dangerous, and you didn't need to come here! Or, if you were really interested in this place, you could just send a clone!"
Dr. Vegapunk shook his head. "His Majesty, Heaven is a very good research topic. In some literary concepts, the planet will having consciousness is personified as Gaia's will entity! The human dao alaya is the aggregation of qi luck of sentient beings' consciousness!"
"Several of my clones are doing an experiment in some Apocalypse Worlds, using a matrix to condense their consciousness together, but no so-called alaya that maintains the species has been born! In the Marvel World, I have seen Celestials born from planet will!"
"This so-called 'Heaven'! I want to add it to my research topics!"
Tang Song looked at Dr. Vegapunk, whose expression was full of yearning for the unknown, and his heart stirred slightly.
With Dr. Vegapunk's cultivation base, he naturally couldn't sense the existence of "Heaven".
Heaven, or rather, the Heavenly Dao, in a naturally evolving World, represents the nascent world will. If it doesn't actively reveal itself, even he wouldn't be able to sense it.
However, in this World, that Buddha is the world will.
One hundred and twenty years ago, he entered the game as an incarnation, and despite losing most of his memory, he ended the chaotic situation of the Sui Dynasty, using the human realm qi luck of a unified dynasty to resist the heavenly dao will, and has continued until now.
"Research Heaven!" Tang Song shook his head and smiled. "Dr. Vegapunk, your ambition is quite large."
"For me, technology and cultivation are not very different. As long as the mysteries within are understood, everything can be observed and researched!"
Dr. Vegapunk scratched his head. His attitude towards Tang Song was more like that of a startup founder towards a Boss providing funds, or in more fashionable terms, an angel investor.
Compared to the World Government he once served, this "Heavenly Emperor" who rules innumerable Worlds! The resources he could provide were undoubtedly more. The price he paid was merely his soul, which was insignificant compared to the pursuit of truth; it was simply a drop in the bucket.
As a Powered Person who ate the Brain-Brain Fruit, in just a hundred years, due to absorbing too much knowledge from various Worlds regarding technology and cultivation, his separated brain had now expanded to the size of a Star.
Dr. Vegapunk's brain stored too much knowledge! At the same time, many Heavenly Court civilian personnel downloaded and uploaded their insights and knowledge through his brain.
For this purpose, the Heavenly Court specifically arranged a thousand Heavenly Soldiers to be responsible for the Security of his brain, accompanied by millions of machines, personnel, and Yellow Turban Warriors responsible for the maintenance of his brain. Dr. Vegapunk was like a sponge, obsessed with all kinds of unknown knowledge, which was also the reason he followed a large number of Reincarnators to this World once the Pioneering Order was issued.
(end of chapter)