Some legends said that Amitabha had already undergone illumination before the Gautama Buddha. They claimed that Amitabha had already perished. Some tales even told that Amitabha had secluded along with the entire Pure Lands. According to the legends, they were residing by nothingness and would never part from tranquility. They wouldn’t meddle with the world’s affairs, and no one in the world could find him.
There were many versions of the myths. Everything was too messy, and it was hard to tell whether they were real or fake.
The whereabouts of the world’s few top-notch bigwigs became a mystery, and myths about them were spread everywhere.
The Three Clear’s Grand Master and the Mystical Mountain’s Buddha had both been transcended, and the Primordial Heaven Devil had perished. As for the others, no one was sure of what had happened.
They might have purposely created an illusion of what happened to them and mask the truth from those beneath their cultivation realm for some kind of plot.
Some said they were the instigators of the rumors.
The Future Buddha reorganized the doctrines of the Blessed Lands of Saha and caused Buddhism to become prosperous in the human realm. As time passes, their reputation became more and more stable. This was the same, no matter if it was before or after the Great Calamity.
However, the sudden emergence of the Pure Lands’ experts caused a ruckus to happen.
“Are they new disciples, or are there any Buddhism bigwigs that were famous in the past among them?” The Astro Sovereign – Chen Xuanzong looked at Fu Yunchi and slowly asked.
He was frozen within the land of tranquil streams for more than a thousand years. Naturally, he wouldn’t be as well informed as Gao Han, Ling Qing, and Jiang Shen, who had been outside.
“There is!” said Fu Yunchi in a deep voice as he nodded. “There’s Bhante Baixiong.”
Yan Zhaoge narrowed his gaze, “The disciple of the Dipankara Buddha… A Buddhist expert within the central Blessed Lands of Saha in the past…”
Fu Yunchi said, “That’s right. He was the only Bhante of Buddhism of the previous era that we were able to identify. I’m afraid that there might be some that are even stronger.”
It wasn’t easy for the Roving Jade Heavens to inquire about the battle. After all, it would be impossible for them to get close to where the war was happening.
“I’m more interested in two things…” said Yan Zhaoge faintly. “First, how’s the Amitabha Buddha now?”
Amitabha Buddha, the religious head of the Western Religion of Buddhism during the Investitures Gods era. He was also referred to as the Guide.
Before the heavens were split open in the primordial era, he had transformed into the Faceless Heavenly Devil. He occupied the position of the Ancestral Devil and severed the fate of the devilish Dao.
While he was the most ancient being, he was also the strongest existence ever to exist. In fact, he was someone that went head-to-head against the Daoist Three Clear Grand Master!
After the Investitures of the Gods era, the Amitabha Buddha’s reputation and the Pure Lands’ reputation slowly declined and even disappeared entirely during the Journey to the West era. This was already one of the world’s largest mysteries.
With the Pure Lands’ reemergence, rather than saying Yan Zhaoge and the others were shocked, they were even more curious and felt something weighing down on their heart.
Only that the weight had not come crashing down upon their hearts.
Whether the Amitabha Buddha was present or not was two entirely different circumstances.
History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 1330 - The Silhouette Behind the History
The Amitabha Buddha resided by a place of tranquility, undefeated without contention.
Even if there were times where he took action, it was scarce.
However, if such an existence left the Pure Lands, and descended upon the human realm, even the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord and the Future Buddha would lose their prestige.
IF Amitabha was still alive, even if he doesn’t leave the Pure Lands or automatically take any actions, just him existing was enough to prevent anyone from offending the Pure Lands.
The Primordial Heavenly Devil was an example. Even if he was suppressed since ancient times, no one dared to underestimate him.
It was still fine if it was outside of the Nine Underworlds. However, if one wanted to lead many troops to attack the Nine Underworlds, they would have to contemplate whether it would cause the Primordial Heavenly Devil to break out of his seal.
If the Amitabha Buddha weren’t there anymore, there would be many ways to testify if he had transcended or perished, now that the Western Pure Lands had reemerged to the world.
“The possibility of Amitabha Buddha to still be present is higher, right?” Feng Yunsheng frowned.
Yan Zhaoge nodded slightly, “Yes.”
Previously, he assumed that the Pure Lands never made any movements because they fused with the central Blessed Lands of Saha.
It might be possible during the Journey to the West era, as their relationship with each other was considered close. However, after the Journey to the West era, the possibility of them going against each other would escalate.
After the Mystical Mountain’s Tathagata Buddha and the Gautama Buddha had transcended, the Future Maitreya Buddha descended upon the world and became the new lord of the central Blessed Lands of Saha. Since then, the Mystical Mountain’s Great Thunderclap Monastery’s lineage’s Buddhism arts started being altered, slowly becoming its present appearance.
At that time, some of the Buddhism Bhantes of the Mystical Mountain had converted to the teachings of the Future Buddha, and some had also left the central Blessed Lands of Saha and joined the Western Pure Lands.
Although things couldn’t be said for sure, the appearance and standpoint of the Bhante Baixiong made them assume that if the Dipankara Ancient Buddha, who held multiple grudges against his peers, hadn’t perished yet, he might have also joined the Western Pure Lands.
This Buddha was an extremely ancient being. Before the central Blessed Lands of Saha had even appeared, he already existed. In fact, he even had the title of “Past Buddha.”
In numerous legends, he was an extremely active bigwig expert.
Of course, there were many kinds of falsehoods within the legends. After so many years had passed, no one was sure of it anymore.
Since there were many experts from the central Blessed Lands of Saha that joined the Western Pure Lands in the past, it implied that the Amitabha Buddha was most likely still in the world.
Otherwise, neglecting the fact that numerous Buddhist experts had left the Saha, it was miraculous enough that the Future Buddha didn’t intend to illuminate the Buddhas from the Pure Lands.
Even if the two factions were related to each other, the current Buddhism wouldn’t care about such relations.
The only people that could make the Future Buddha afraid was someone beyond the Grand Heavenly Immortal Realm.
Even if Amitabha was no longer here, there might be other people beyond the Grand Heavenly Immortal Realm presiding over the Western Pure Lands.
Otherwise, the Pure Lands’ experts wouldn’t join such a large-scale battle openly.
Otherwise, with such behavior, even if the Pure Lands camouflaged themselves after the battle, finding clues about their location would be extremely simple.
If they dared to display such a high profile, they must have some reliance.
“So, here’s the second question…” Yan Zhaoge rubbed his temples lightly, “The Demon Race dares to reemerge in the world in a large-scale manner, and went up against the Pure Lands. What sort of reliance did they have?”
The Sword Sovereign – Yue Zhenbei shook his head slowly, “It’s hard to fathom an existence beyond the Grand Heavenly Immortal Realm. Worse still, news related to them is like mysteries. However, since the heretic Buddhists used the Demon Race as their reinforcements, and even dared to contend aga
inst the Pure Lands, it explained many things.”
“Indeed. Only, we aren’t aware of who’s standing behind them, supporting them.” Yan Zhaoge smiled bitterly.
Various thoughts flashed across his mind in that instant.
During the past era, the Journey to the West era, the Western Pure Lands’ name was slowly being buried. After entering the current era, no matter if it was before or after the Great Calamity, they hadn’t made any movements. And yet, they resurfaced during the last few years…
After the central Blessed Lands of Saha’s Tathagata Buddha had transcended, and the Maitreya Buddha inherited his position, the doctrine of the Blessed Lands of Saha had experienced massive changes. Some of the experts left the Blessed Lands of Saha and joined the Western Pure Lands. Since then, they hadn’t appeared in the world, until now…
The Demon Race gradually diminished during the Journey to the West era. After entering the new era, they were mostly in hiding, conditioning themselves. And now, they had reappeared within the world…
Before the Great Calamity, there wasn’t any Immortal Court. After the Great Calamity, the Immortal Court appeared and contended against the Blessed Lands of Saha…
“The relation between the four of them is truly intriguing,” muttered Yan Zhaoge.
After the Demon Race went through the Primitive era and the Investitures of the Gods era, they weren’t as flourished as they previously were anymore. The Human Race became the domineering one.
When the Demon Race had thoroughly weakened and declined, it was still during the Middle era – the Journey to the West era.
During the Middle era, when the East slowly accepted the West’s teachings, it was the era where Buddhism started flourishing.
To be more precise, that was when the central Blessed Lands of Saha started to flourish.
And yet, the Demon Race that resurfaced became the allies of the Blessed Lands of Saha.
Even if the Future Buddha slowly altered the Blessed Lands of Saha’s doctrines, which made others refer to him as the “Fake Buddha,” the Demon Race attitude was truly intriguing.
The Pure Lands, which could be referred to as the orthodox Buddhism, had joined forces together with the Immortal Court.
Although the Pure Lands would not join forces with the Blessed Lands of Saha, their choice still made some thoughts surface.
Yan Zhaoge slowly organized his messy thought process, and finally had some guesses. Only, he wasn’t able to prove its truthfulness.
No matter if the history were authentic or fake, some silhouette would always be standing behind them.
“The situation is too chaotic. When it’s too chaotic, we might even get ourselves involved in some trouble.” Yan Zhaoge licked his lips, “Before being clear of the situation, let’s be more careful in the meantime. Focusing on our cultivation, and don’t care about the news.”
“Now that they are busy fighting against each other, it’s beneficial for us to develop while keeping a low-profile.”
Before he finished speaking, he saw Feng Yunsheng smiling at him.
The others smiled as well.
The Sword Sovereign – Yue Zhenbei, and the Astro Sovereign – Chen Xuanzong nodded in agreement.
Seeing their expression, Yan Zhaoge instantly guessed what they were thinking. He said helplessly, “Alright, alright. I’ll admit, I like to cause trouble, and I enjoy being adventurous. However, if I can remain slothful, I won’t do anything to cause trouble.”
Everyone couldn’t help but smile.
Following what Yan Zhaoge said, everyone within this realm was quietly cultivating, accumulating their cultivation.
The war happening outside was in full swing and became more and more intense.
The insides of the Pill Hall was like a paradise. However, Yan Zhaoge and the others didn’t want to seclude themselves too much like the frog in the well. While they were conditioning themselves in a low-key manner, they were continuously collecting information from the outside world.
Even some negligible minor details were intriguing enough.
For example, the Buddhist heretics under the Future Buddha still referred to themselves as the central Blessed Lands of Saha, and the Demon Race referred to them in a similar manner.
As for the orthodox Buddhism experts from the Pure Lands, they referred to the Buddhist heretics as the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus.
Even the Immortal Court did not refer to them as the “Evil Demons of the Blessed Lands” anymore. Instead, they changed it to “Evil Demons of the White Lotus.”
History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 1331 - Final Step of the Current Cultivation
Everyone’s previous speculation had come true.
The war between the Immortal Court and the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus was much more intense compared to their past wars and lasted even longer.
Twenty years had passed, and the war still had yet to end.
Before the war started, the Immortal Court had received a huge blow, which gave the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus the upper-hand. As a result, the Immortal Court was forced to retreat.
Using their retreat as a form of delaying their opponents’ advancements, the Immortal Court bought enough time to regain their footing slowly.
By shrinking their line of defense, it was much more beneficial for them to concentrate their manpower.
The Blessed Lands of the White Lotus didn’t want to let go of such a rare chance. As a result, they started unleashing their continuous attacks without rest.
The Immortal Court and the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus went back and forth by the Immortal Court’s territory’s borders, and the victor couldn’t be decided at all.
During the war, numerous heretic experts had perished. Among them, there was an abundance of Immortal Court experts that had already achieved an Immortal form, as well as Pure Lands Bhantes that had reached the Golden Body.
If it were during the past when most wars escalated until such a state, it would have died down long ago, and the situation would slowly stabilize.
However, this time, the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus had received an abundance of benefits. They had conquered various worlds that belonged to the Immortal Court.
Twenty years might be considered nothing for martial art practitioners with high cultivation. However, for the mortals, or even martial arts practitioners with low cultivation, it was enough for a new generation to appear.
The Blessed Lands of the White Lotus intended to take over these worlds and make it their own. With this, their faith power would be even more stabilized.
As time passed, the faith power of the newly conquered worlds replenished the combat prowess of the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus, which allowed them to continue fighting.
As for the Immortal Court, they would naturally not give up so easily.
They had already received a massive blow from the start, and the Blessed Lands were making things worse. If the Immortal Court wanted to recover from the damage, it would be challenging and take a long time.
As a result, they were incredibly persistent. They fought against the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus till the end and fought for every inch of their land.
They couldn’t afford to give in during such crucial moments. No matter how hard it was, they had to force themself to endure it.
As such, even though twenty years had passed, not only did the war not calm down a little, it even got much more intense.
From the looks of it, it wouldn’t even be a problem for the war to continue for another twenty years.
The Pure Lands and the Astro Mountain Starry Seas helping them were also going against each other.
According to the latest news Yan Zhaoge received, the experts comparable to the Heavenly Lords of Daoism were already dispatched by both sides. They fought until the heavens and earth reversed, and even the world was crumbling.
“From the looks of it, the time is slowly being ripe. We can execute our next pla
n.”
Within the Pill Hall’s cosmos, Yan Zhaoge was sitting within the Purple Divine Pavilion, looking at his surroundings.
The Astro Sovereign – Chen Xuanzong, and the Sword Sovereign – Yue Zhenbei were both presents. Yan Di and Nie Jingshen had already come out of seclusion and were present as well. Feng Yunsheng crossed her legs while sitting down, her long jet-black saber on her knee.
The Brocade Emperor – Fu Yunchi sat at the opposite of Yan Zhaoge, “Through the Profound Sovereign arrangement, I managed to meet her. According to her, the Incongruence Divine Mother had most likely approved of your plans with her silence. She wouldn’t support it, nor would she interfere with it.”
“That’s for the best.” Yan Zhaoge smiled as he rubbed his palms together.
In the past, when he planned to leave the Dao universe, Yan Zhaoge already had such thoughts.
Not only the World beyond Worlds, or the Eight Extremities Worlds. He even planned to bring the Roving Jade Heavens, along with the various lower realms under it, away from the Dao universe!
It was inconvenient for his group to move around. As such, he had to rely on the Roving Jade Heavens to receive news and information.
If the Roving Jade Heavens also left the Dao universe, things would be much more inconvenient for him.
However, Yan Zhaoge was leaning towards the idea of everyone leaving the Dao universe.
For the Profound Sovereign and the others who always had an unyielding attitude, they would do things without any worries and can do whatever they wanted to their heart’s content.
It wasn’t because Yan Zhaoge enjoyed the feeling of grandiose. Instead, an actual problem was standing in front of him.
The Pill Hall was currently floating around the void’s outskirts and was hard to locate.
If someone invaded the Roving Jade Heavens intending to find Yan Zhaoge, should Yan Zhaoge and the others assist them if the matters got worse?
The invader wouldn’t need to target the entire Roving Jade Heavens. They just needed to target the families of the Profound Sovereign and the Dragon Spring Emperor.
History's Strongest Senior Brother c1-1474 Page 716