All Heavens: Sharing Talents with Countless Mes

Tiny specks of extremely faint white ash, mixed with a faint red light, pierced through layers of space and landed in his palm.

“It’s the aura of the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, and… this fire actually contains a trace of the Law of Annihilation that even I find unfamiliar.” The Buddha stared at the ashes in his palm, his brows furrowed tightly. “Bai Ling not only died, but was also burned to the point of annihilation by this power, not even a trace of his true spirit escaped.”

The three thousand Buddhas and five hundred Arhats within the main hall were all trembling with fear. In the millennia of Mount Ling's history, never before had a core disciple been so cleanly and decisively eliminated in the mortal realm. This was no longer a simple provocation; it was tantamount to cutting into Mount Ling's flesh with a knife, slapping the Buddha in the face!

"World Honored One, that Chu Yang... is definitely not simple." Guanyin Bodhisattva took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. "He can not only control the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, but he can also see through our plans time and time again. In Immaculate City, he could accurately find the loopholes in the rules; when facing Bai Ling, he was able to unleash such terrifying destructive power. This person is clearly the biggest variable on the journey to the West!"

“Variables…” Buddha repeated the word in a low voice, his eyes becoming extremely deep.

"Venerable Guanyin, deploy the 'Great Thousand Brahma Formation'!" Buddha Tathagata suddenly shouted, his tone carrying an undeniable resolve. "I will personally deduce Chu Yang's past and future to see which great being he is the reincarnation of, or a hidden agent left behind by some deity. In this Three Realms, there will be no variables that I cannot see through!"

Guanyin Bodhisattva was greatly alarmed upon hearing this.

The "Great Thousand Brahma Array" is a supreme divination method in Buddhism, requiring an immense expenditure of the caster's true essence and primordial Buddhist power. Once activated, it directly probes the bottom line of the Heavenly Dao River; the slightest misstep will result in a backlash from the Heavenly Dao. The Buddha himself would actually use such a forbidden technique for a mere mortal!
But seeing the Buddha's unyielding gaze, Guanyin Bodhisattva could only clasp her hands together and respectfully reply, "Disciple obeys."

Inside the main hall, all the Arhats and Vajras retreated to the edge of the hall.

Guanyin Bodhisattva soared into the air and hovered opposite the Buddha. She tossed the jade bottle in her hand into the air, and countless rays of clear light emanated from the bottle, forming a huge and complex golden array between the two of them.

The Buddha formed an extremely ancient and complex mudra with his hands. A dazzling primordial Buddhist fire ignited on his enormous golden body.

"The Way of Heaven is boundless, and all laws trace back to their origin. Open!"

The Buddha's voice boomed like a bell, and an extremely thick golden beam of light shot out from between his brows, directly striking the golden array plate. Guanyin Bodhisattva dared not be negligent either, immediately pouring her true essence, cultivated over millions of years, into the array without reservation to assist the Buddha in his deductions.

The space inside the hall began to distort violently.

In the Buddha's all-seeing eye, the scene before him instantly transformed. He saw the ceaseless, flowing river of destiny that spanned the ages. Within this river, countless stars represented the destinies of all beings in the Three Realms, operating in accordance with the laws of Heaven.

The Buddha's gaze was like two sharp swords, frantically searching the river of fate for the star that represented "Chu Yang".

"found it!"

In an inconspicuous corner of the long river, the Buddha saw a very blurry mist, shimmering with two colors, gold and red. The mist mingled with the fortune of the pilgrimage team, yet seemed out of place.

"Pull away the fog and let me see your true face!"

The Buddha snorted coldly, and without hesitation, he once again channeled his primordial essence, transforming it into a gigantic golden hand that blotted out the sky. It plunged directly into the River of Destiny and fiercely grabbed at the cloud of mist.

Just as the giant golden hand was about to touch the mist—

"Buzz—!!!"

A terrifying power, extremely strange and vast, yet completely outside of this Three Realms Universe, suddenly erupted from the depths of that fog!

That was not a rebellion against the laws of nature; it was a "barrier of nothingness" of a higher dimension that completely disregarded the laws of this world.

The moment the Buddha's golden giant hand touched that void barrier, it was instantly melted and swallowed up like a snowflake falling into lava, without making a sound!

Not only that, but the terrifying backlash, following the divine sense extended by the Buddha, poured directly into the Great Thousand Brahma Formation like a raging tsunami!

"BOOM—!!!"

Inside the main hall, the golden array plate that was suspended in mid-air instantly shattered into countless fragments.

"puff--!"

The Buddha's enormous golden body, standing sixteen feet tall, trembled violently. An extremely abnormal flush suddenly surged across his eternally dignified face. Immediately afterward, he abruptly opened his mouth, spitting out a large mouthful of golden primordial Buddha blood, which splashed directly onto the nine-tiered lotus platform before him!

The lotus petals stained with the Buddha's blood withered and fell away in an instant.

The Guanyin Bodhisattva, suspended opposite, let out a shrill scream. The seven-colored Buddhist light above her head dimmed instantly, and she fell heavily to the ground like a kite with a broken string. Blood kept spilling from the corner of her mouth, staining a large area of ​​her pure white robe red. Her once clear and deep eyes were now filled with undisguised extreme terror.

"World Honored One!"

"Buddha!"

The Buddhas and Arhats at the edge of the hall were terrified and rushed forward, only to be firmly blocked by the raised hand of the Buddha.

With great difficulty, the Buddha wiped the golden blood from the corner of his mouth. In his all-seeing eyes, a trace of fear, an emotion rarely seen before, appeared. He gasped for breath, each breath accompanied by a muffled thunderous sound from within his chest—the sound of the foundation of his Great Dao being shaken.

"Don't come near..." The Buddha's voice was terribly hoarse. He stared intently at the broken part of the formation, as if the residual power of that terrifying force still lingered there.

Supported by several Arhats, Guanyin Bodhisattva stood up, extremely weak. Looking at the Buddha who was coughing up blood, her voice trembled: "World Honored One... what exactly was that? That power... it doesn't belong to the Heavenly Dao at all! The moment I touched it, I felt... I felt that the entire Three Realms were like a speck of dust in a vast ocean before that power!"

The Buddha closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and forcibly suppressed the terrifying backlash surging within him. "It cannot be spoken of... it cannot be explored... it cannot be contemplated." The Buddha repeated "cannot" three times, his tone filled with a profound sense of powerlessness and apprehension. "His origins are protected by a barrier completely transcending this universe. If we were to forcefully probe further, not only me, but the very foundation of the entire Vulture Peak would likely be reduced to ashes in an instant."

The hall fell into a deathly silence once again, a silence a hundred times colder than when the news of Bai Ling's death had arrived.

An existence that even the Buddha himself couldn't see through despite the backlash and blood loss, and who was almost annihilated by the unknown power behind him, is now in the mortal realm, mixed in with the pilgrimage team!

"Then... what should we do?" Guanyin Bodhisattva wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her face full of dejection. "Aren't we going to avenge Bai Ling? With him around, how can we control this journey to the West?"

The Buddha remained silent for a long time, his gaze filled with complex emotions as he looked at the rolling sea of ​​clouds outside the hall.

"Revenge? What can we use to avenge him?" Buddha sneered self-deprecatingly. "If we anger the power behind him that even I cannot resist, the destruction of Mount Ling will be nothing more than a snap of the fingers. Bai Ling's death can be considered an apology to the entity behind him."

Guanyin Bodhisattva looked at Tathagata in disbelief: "World Honored One, are we just going to let him run rampant in the mortal realm? To let him lead Jin Chanzi astray?"

"No." The Buddha shook his head, the fear in his eyes gradually subsiding, replaced by an extreme depth and forbearance. "Since you can't see through him, then don't target him. Since he has been staying in the pilgrimage team as a guard, it means he doesn't want to overturn the chessboard immediately. He is still playing by the guise of 'pilgrimage'."

The Buddha turned to look at Guanyin.

"Pass down the order to cancel all covert suppression against Chu Yang and the mischievous monkey. From now on, everything will revert to the original plan of the eighty-one tribulations. Let those demons from the lower realms that were arranged long ago block our path."

Guanyin Bodhisattva was slightly taken aback: "Does the World-Honored One mean to test him with those ordinary tribulations?"

"It's not a test, it's going with the flow," the Buddha said in a deep voice. "Since he wants to 'resist,' he wants the 'process,' then let him have the process. We won't interfere, we won't target him, we'll just follow the normal script. As long as he's still overcoming his tribulations, the pilgrimage team will continue to move forward, and the momentum of the journey to the West will not be broken. As for what he ultimately wants..."

A hint of helpless compromise flashed in the eyes of the Buddha.

"As long as he doesn't attack Mount Ling first, let him do whatever he wants. Send a message to all Buddhas: if they encounter Chu Yang, they must give way and absolutely not provoke him!"

"Disciple... obeys the decree." Although Guanyin Bodhisattva was unwilling, she could only bow her head and accept her fate in the face of the terrifying backlash.

A revenge that was originally intended to unleash a thunderous rage was thus transformed into forbearance and retreat in the face of that unknown and extremely terrifying barrier of the transmigrators.

For the first time, all the gods and Buddhas in the sky bowed their proud heads before this young man in black.

……

On the other side, the lower realm.

The purple-gold glow of Longevity Hill had long been left far behind.

On a wide and flat official road, Chu Yang walked leisurely at the front with his hands behind his head, a green foxtail grass between his teeth, and an extremely relaxed gait.

Sun Wukong, carrying his golden cudgel, walked beside Chu Yang. His injuries had been completely healed by the terrifying vitality of the ginseng fruit and Chu Yang's healing. Moreover, having broken free from the shackles on his soul, he now exuded an indescribable ease and clarity, and even his steps were as light as if he were dancing on clouds.

Tang Sanzang was still riding the white dragon horse. He wore a coarse linen robe that he had exchanged for alms from a farmer on the road. Although it looked extremely shabby, the expression on his face was more relaxed than ever before. He was no longer as tense as before, nor did he chant scriptures and pray at the drop of a hat. Instead, he looked with great interest at the brightly blooming wildflowers by the roadside, and occasionally he would close his eyes and take a deep breath of the free air.

"Brother, I haven't had as much fun in the last few hundred years as I have in the last few days!" Sun Wukong turned his head, looked at Chu Yang, and grinned broadly, revealing two rows of white teeth.

"Burning that birdman to ashes, I, Old Sun, have finally vented my anger! Didn't you see how terribly that birdman screamed before he died? Hahahaha!" Sun Wukong laughed heartily.

Chu Yang spat out the foxtail grass in his mouth, laughed, and patted Sun Wukong on the shoulder: "Brother Monkey, what's this? This is just interest. If anyone dares to use those stupid rules to pressure us again, we'll just flip their table. Happy pilgrimage, understand? If it's not happy, what's the point of pilgrimage!"

"Yes! A joyful journey to the West!" Sun Wukong excitedly waved his golden cudgel, creating a whistling sound.

Hearing the conversation between the two, Tang Sanzang, who was riding on horseback, did not reprimand them but instead smiled and nodded.

“What Benefactor Chu says is absolutely right. This humble monk was too attached to asceticism in the past, and forgot that ‘originally there is nothing, so where can dust settle?’ Since this journey to the West is full of the schemes of gods and Buddhas, we should live our lives happily. If we are frowning all day long, we will only be fulfilling their wishes.” Tang Sanzang’s voice was gentle and peaceful, with a kind of open-mindedness that had seen through the ways of the world.

Chu Yang glanced back at Tang Sanzang and gave him a thumbs up: "Master, your comprehension is advancing by leaps and bounds. When we get to the Great Thunderclap Temple, your level of understanding will probably be enough to teach the Buddha himself."

Upon hearing this, Tang Sanzang was not angry at all. Instead, he laughed heartily, and his laughter was so cheerful that it carried far and wide across the empty official road.

The three of them and their horse set off on a scenic journey, seemingly enjoying themselves on this perilous road.

After traveling for about three to five days, the terrain ahead gradually became flat and open, and an extremely wide moat appeared at the end of the road. On the opposite bank, a huge city with a grand scale and towering walls, like a lurking beast, was perched on the land.

Above the towering city gate hangs an extremely impressive plaque that reads "Tianfeng City".

"Wow, what a huge city!" Sun Wukong shaded his eyes with his hand and peered into the city. His fiery eyes flashed a few times. "Brother, Master, there's not a trace of demonic energy in this city, but the human atmosphere is astonishingly vibrant. The streets are bustling with traffic, and there are restaurants and teahouses lining the streets. It looks much more pleasing to the eye than Wugou City."

As Chu Yang gazed at the towering city gate and inhaled the rich, bustling atmosphere emanating from the city, his stomach rumbled in perfect unison.

"Master, Monkey King, we've been eating dry rations in this desolate wilderness for days, our mouths are practically watering." Chu Yang rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining as he looked at Tianfeng City. "Now that we've arrived at such a bustling place, we must treat ourselves properly! Food, drinks, and entertainment—we'll arrange it all!" (End of Chapter)