557 A Step Ahead (1/2)
This place was the Shaolin Temple of one of the Worlds of Samsara. If Han Guang was Heaven Sovereign, it would not be strange if he used a special object the way Gu Xiaosang did to drag someone into a formation. But, how can there be a Dharmakaya?
Would this not expose the secrets of the Six Realms?
Could this Dharmakaya also be a Samsara traveler? Or did Han Guang bring the Dharmakaya into the back mountain in advance, but the latter had never stepped out of Devil Soil and believed that this place was secret territory.
Would this Dharmakaya be someone belonging to the Celestial Rankings or someone from the terrifying Apotheosized World of Journey to the West?
Meng Qi's mind was swarming with all sorts of questions and what he thought he had cleared up became bleary once again.
”Abbot, do you know the name of that Dharmakaya?” Meng Qi blurted out.
The words had barely left his mouth when he got the feeling that he would not receive a useful answer. If Kong Wen knew or was willing to mention the Dharmakaya's name, he would have mentioned it in his explanation earlier and he would not need to refer to the Dharmakaya as such.
Kong Wen uttered Buddha's name before answering, ”The Dharmakaya remained in the dark the entire time to preside over the formation. I could only faintly sense him during the battle and didn't meet him face-to-face.”
”Just as I expected...” Meng Qi quietly sighed to himself.
Even though the number of Dharmakayas in this world was limited and the pool of suspects was small, this incident involved Samsara travelers. Furthermore, the Apotheosized World of Journey to the West was still here. Who knew if Han Guang would be able to get help from any of those worlds? Under the circumstances where Meng Qi had no clues to who the Dharmakaya could be.
Kong Wen became concerned about Shaolin Temple upon seeing Meng Qi's silence and asked, ”Donor Su, what's the current situation in Shaolin Temple?”
Meng Qi briefly explained the key points and when his explanation came to an end, he asked, ”Abbot, what exactly are Han Guang's motives for masquerading as you and entering Shaolin Temple? Considering his strength and skill, he should've succeeded in his plan after so much time passed. Could it be that he planned to pretend until the bitter end, making Shaolin Temple a pillar of his support and making it his surface identity? He was incapable of unleashing his Luohan Dharmakaya and it's impossible not to deal with other Dharmakayas in this increasingly chaotic world. How can he hide?”
His words sent Kong Wen into a temporary state of confusion as he said quietly, ”Donor Han is aware of this secret place and can come and go freely. Furthermore, even though the core impartation records of the likes of Muscle-bone Strengthening Scripture were kept under the protected area as Blade of Ananda, Donor Han will definitely get his hands on them as long as he doesn't worry about exposing his identity and make a sudden move. I fear Blade of Ananda will be hard-pressed to stop him...”
”Is he trying to cultivate Blade of Ananda step by step? There's no way that his disguise would be able to fool a divine weapon. Once he gets near and makes a move, he would instantly be discovered. Don't tell me he cultivated Eight Nine Mysteries...”
While listening to Kong Wen's queries and analysis, Meng Qi suddenly noticed something was off and interrupted him, ”Abbot, the secret place we're in isn't the same secret place in the back mountain of Shaolin Temple.”
Kong Wen cried out with surprise evidently expressed on his face, ”But the description of this place is exactly the same as the secret place of my sect.”
Meng Qi amended his word choice and said, ”Let me put it this way: this secret place is indeed in the back mountain of Shaolin Temple but this particular Shaolin Temple is not the one that you know.”
”I once went on an adventure and discovered this world by chance. I learned that the Shaolin Temple here is almost identical to the one in our world but uses the ancient name for Mount Liantai, Mount Shaohua.”
Kong Wen was silent as he listened and remained so for a long time, before finally sighing. ”Amitabha. I now know Donor Han's motives.”
”Please elaborate!” Meng Qi looked alert.
Even though he had just 'witnessed' the tragic murder of Divination Saint of medieval times for knowing a little too much, this incident involved his Master and Junior Brother and would also affect his life. He must get to the bottom of this matter!
Being an old Dharmakaya, Kong Wen would naturally have his share of secrets despite being trapped here in this formation. He could sense the frankness in Meng Qi's voice when he spoke earlier, si he hesitated before saying, ”Donor Su, have you heard of Shards of Cosmic Glow?”
”No,” Meng Qi said in surprise.
Understanding that his chance to escape this formation was in the hands of this young man before him, Kong Wen explained dutifully, ”Whether it's due to the battles between big powers, a change in the world, or some other opportunities, our world will sometimes shatter. This kind of fragmentation will sometimes result in our world being split into several pieces and sometimes even time will shatter. Well, either way, the future is uncertain in many ways. The fragmented piece will become the uncertainty.”
”Generally, these Shards of Cosmic Glow are incredibly unstable and incomplete. Only a handful of them will be able to exist for long, and they float along the river of time. One would only be able to go on a mental journey into the pure land after achieving Dharmakaya and finding these shards; however, due to how scarce and concealed they were, such opportunities were rare.”
Being a 'good student' who studied the scientific method, Meng Qi was able to deduce many things from Kong Wen's explanation. ”In other words, this place was the Shaolin Temple of the past?”
No wonder the Gist of Trueness impartation of Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship and the secrets of Shaolin Temple existed here!
”Yes, perhaps even further back. Based on what you've said, the monk in External Devil Invocation formation isn't Patriarch Bodhidharma.” Kong Wen appeared certain that it was an illusion of Dharma.
Meng Qi was confused. ”But there's also a Shaolin Temple on Mount Shaohua and the layout of the temple is similar too.”
”Donor Su, please slow down and listen to what this old man has to say.” Even though Kong Wen had been trapped here for many years, he displayed not even the slightest hint of anxiousness - his cultivation and meditation of the heart were indeed exceptional.
He paused momentarily before continuing, ”The Shards of Cosmic Glow originated from, and are thus inextricably linked to our world. Even though this only includes parts of the region, the landform and names were identical. At the beginning of the fragmentation, even the people were the same.”
This horrified Meng Qi greatly. If he happened to come across one such 'fragmentation', wouldn't he have a doppelganger?
When that happened, would he still have the feeling of absolute certainty that he was himself and no one else?
”You can only prevent the existence of your doppelganger in a 'fragmentation' once you reach a certain realm. There are only legends left behind in the Shards of Cosmic Glow now. Similar objects and Gist of Trueness impartation suffer the same fate. The same goes for many karmas.” Kong Wen appeared to have guessed Meng Qi's fear.
”This...” Suddenly, Meng Qi began to understand why the myths of the likes of Heaven Sovereign and Devil Lord would appear in so many Worlds of Samsara.