Becoming a Deity from Planting the Bodhi Tree-Chapter 1291 - 457: This Is the Past World Venerable
He gazed deeply at the portal before him, having already lost the opportunity to explore it, and thus decided to seal it away without further hesitation.
Afterwards, he sought out the Taoist friend Yu Hua from the Heavenly Cutting Sect, only to be met with regret—
"Taoist Wuque, my clone has yet to return, so I am temporarily unaware of what transpired within."
Wuque then chose to return to the dojo first, leaving a means to contact him later.
Not long after, he received a message from Yu Hua of the Heavenly Cutting Sect:
"I have received the memory fragments brought back by my disciple; furthermore, my clone has perished."
Wuque's expression turned serious. Yu Hua's clone chose to journey to the Other Shore with the World Venerable, yet now it had also perished?!
Was it due to the World Venerable's actions, or was there a formidable enemy at the Other Shore, so powerful that even under the World Venerable's guidance, they still perished in battle?!
Wuque started attempting to contact other Returning to Truth practitioners he knew, but no news came forth.
In this way, countless desolate years passed by unknowingly.
Finally, the various ancestral beings in the Sea of Realms reached a consensus and set off together to explore the true land of Returning to Truth.
It was on this day that Wuque also set off, giving instructions to his disciples before his departure to halt upon encountering the "World Venerable."
However, even Wuque himself was unaware that his obsession with the "World Venerable" had already transformed into an existence trace, lingering and traversing the world until it would stop upon meeting the "World Venerable."
Thus, countless epochs passed once again.
Years later.
A sudden surge of brightness illuminated heaven and earth, banishing endless darkness.
An ancient tree of awe-inspiring majesty stood verdant and towering, its canopy like a cover, with Glazed Glass Light soaring skyward, supporting a region of Divine Country Pure Land, spanning across billions of tribulations, illuminating the ten directions of past, present, and future.
Someone in the Silent Law Era had taken an incredible step in the True Saint Domain!
Even the invisible shackles of heaven and earth were forcibly broken through by him.
And it was on this day.
The existence trace formed from Wuque's obsession left in the Human World finally found its way here.
He entered this Supreme Pure Land encompassing the ten directions of past, present, and future, with an expression of regret.
No matter how unspeakably glorious this Pure Land World was, it was still on the verge of decline.
The disposition of this person was as if a three-year-old child had forcibly lifted a bronze cauldron, even with exceptional talent and a posture as if to lift mountains, still too premature, too hasty, not appropriate to lift a cauldron at this time.
The cost was that the transcendence fruit position that was nearly destined was now unattainable, and he was even on the verge of death.
He looked intently to determine whether this person was indeed the World Venerable.
Beneath the tree.
Stood a middle-aged man with gentle brows and a clean and untainted aura, his handsome face exuding a heroic air, his deep eyes seeming to contain the sediment of ages, and his feet firmly planted on Supreme Pure Land.
His gaze upon the world and sentient beings was equally gentle.
This demeanor and this bearing could be called unmatched worldwide, yet it was far from the World Venerable Brother he remembered, even contrary to it.
Only this Pure Land bore some resemblance to one aspect of the latter's domain.
Wuque stared long and hard, his eyes finally dimming.
The man beneath the tree smiled and said, "Taoist friend, why do you look so?"
"I traversed the Sea of Realms, finally meeting the 'World Venerable,' but you are not the one I'm searching for..." Wuque did not hide his thoughts, speaking candidly.
"I see," the man smiled, "The various Buddhas and the World Venerable appear in the world for one great matter of causation, the one you seek may be in the past life or the future."
Wuque looked deeply at the man, suddenly saying, "Seeing your true form reminds me of a predecessor, coincidentally, that person also hails from…"
The man beneath the tree interrupted him with a smile:
"Recognize past lives, seek future lives, just like talking about dreams in a dream."
"It is just— Three Realms revolve around the mind, Ten Thousand Skills around the self."
Wuque was speechless, once again looking deeply at this person who bore some resemblance to the former lord of the Nether Mansion.
He calculated the karma and fate, seeking to know if this was a reincarnation of You, yet the answer was—almost but not quite.
What does this mean?
"Do you feel that our meeting is a closed loop?" Wuque suddenly asked.
In his eyes, this World Venerable Taoist friend was "wounded all over," with all his Dao injuries coming from the Time River and the River of Destiny, the result of reversing the flow, altering karmic variables and provoking backlash.
And the Time River of this realm…
Wuque sighed inwardly, realizing this was the core essence left by You back in the day, alas too late, their true form had already set off.
He looked at the man before him, wanting to know the answer of this Taoist friend who was all too familiar with the Karma Path and had insight into altering the fixed outcomes of time.
The man clasped his hands together, chanting a Buddhist hymn, reciting to the Buddha in his heart, not looking at Wuque, but at the Human World, softly stating:
"All created things are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, like dew, and like lightning, they should be perceived as such."
Wuque did not understand.
The man smiled and said, "What if it is, what if it isn't? Events that have transpired need no further concern."
Wuque fell silent.
After a long time, Wuque finally said, "Taoist Friend, you're about to die. Before you die, why not discuss Tao with me?"
"I cannot die." The man shook his head and then nodded, "Unfortunately, I really am going to die. It's fine, before dying, I also want to witness true transcendence."
Wuque listened carefully; it was not that he does not want to die, but that he cannot die.
But how could this person not die?
Even if his true self were here, or all the ancestors were present, they would have no ability to assist him in returning to Heaven.
This person not only has severe accumulated Tao injuries, but his true form has also borne the weight of the Bitter Sea for years. This was an object that only You at its peak dared to harmonize with, yet this man was merely a True Saint when he harmonized with it!
Just at this moment, the man summoned an existence whose aura was no less than his own.
It was an old monkey with kind eyes and a serene demeanor, exuding a high and distant Buddhist law, seemingly embodying the true meaning of "heart without bounds, law beyond measure."
The man put his hands together and bowed his head, "If I do not enter hell, who enters hell."
The old monkey put its hands together and calmly accepted this bow.
Wuque's pupils shrank suddenly: "Is this... the Heart Monkey born from the Heart Demon? You can actually subdue it in the True Saint Realm?!"
At this moment.
A man far away took advantage of Mu Shitian reaching the Absolute Peak, seizing the moment to take a crucial step, and ascended the heavens—
Under the booming Dao, the entire realm emitted a horrifying "creak," seemingly unable to bear the weight!
Then countless divine power techniques rained down, trying to prevent him from achieving enlightenment!
Wuque looked over, and after seeing the true face of the man far away, his pupils shrank suddenly, shocked, he swiftly turned his head towards the man under the tree.
"You... him..."
As for the man beside him, he bore only a three-tenths resemblance to the You of the past.
But the man far away, striding towards the heavens, was... a seven-tenths resemblance?!
"Taoist Friend, you don't need to care about him. Just allow me to glimpse the true splendor of the Transcender."
The man under the tree reached out his hand in indication, a smile on his face though it could not conceal a sense of regret, wanting to see the scenery of true transcendence before dying.
The World Venerable spoke of Buddhist law, with only two words at the forefront:
"Please sit."
"Please!" Wuque said in a deep voice.
...
Discussing Tao in silence.
When Wuque felt satisfied, the existence trace of this obsessive thought dissipated.
Though the person seen was not the one he wanted to meet, he still... once again received enlightenment.
The man under the tree seemed thoughtful, as if realizing, so this is transcendence.
It seems…
It's no more than this? 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
He laughed silently, gazing far away as if seeing both past and future.
Perhaps, before him, the world had already given birth to a so-called "World Venerable."
Or perhaps, in the future, he would have a somewhat interesting disciple.
After all—
The World Venerable Lineage excels at turning effect into cause.
Thus, some things, he could also let go and do.
The man chanted once again a Buddhist verse, seemingly lifting Qi forcibly for this Pure Land Heaven and Earth on the brink of collapse.
"Eh?"
He suddenly showed surprise, as if speaking to himself or conversing with the Bodhi Tree and Heart Monkey behind him,
"Why do I seem to see a newly blooming lotus in the Bitter Sea of the human world, unfolding without stain despite emerging from the mud—"
The branches and leaves of the Bodhi Tree hung low, shedding Supreme Wisdom Light silently.
The Heart Monkey chanted a Buddhist verse, remembering the Buddha before it.
"It turns out it is me!"
The man laughed heartily, then closed his eyes, sitting quietly under the tree, as if engulfed in an endless slumber, until he transformed into a rain of light, silently nurturing, calming the turmoil of the Bitter Sea, allowing the Bitter Sea that should have seen the human world in this lifetime to delay for another ten thousand years.
And the Heart Monkey born from the Heart Demon, somehow, quietly transformed into his likeness.
No, it was him all along.
The man's face beneath the tree showed compassion, chanting a Buddhist verse, turned and walked into the Bitter Sea, while the Bodhi Tree encompassing three worlds and ten directions became barren, sinking into the depths of the vast Nether Sea, as a pillar of the Nether Sea, quietly awaiting the next World Venerable of the world.
This is—
Past World Venerable.
