Daojun, start from Penglai foundation building

In the vast world of crystal, the light shines brightly on the Buddhist continent.

The seven orifices of the Buddhist family are treasures, a rare and precious thing born from a heavenly womb.

As one of the eight great worlds of Buddhism, the Lesser Light Realm is a renowned Buddhist Lapis Lazuli Path Great World among all the heavens and myriad worlds.

There are thirty-six great universes, each with its own unique creations, nurturing its own unique treasures.

As the Lesser Light Realm of the Buddhist Pure Land of Lapis Lazuli, it possesses a unique Buddhist wisdom fruit among all the heavens and myriad realms, named the Seven-Aperture Lapis Lazuli Fruit.

At this moment, within the inner hall of the Guanyin Palace, illuminated by the shimmering glaze, stood a magnificent glazed tree, its trunk about three zhang in circumference and thirteen zhang tall. Its branches and leaves were lush and verdant, each leaf as green as jade, shimmering with a vast, lustrous sheen.

Among those lush emerald green leaves were palm-sized, resembling relics, yet containing seven orifices—divine fruits.

This is the Buddhist wisdom fruit of the Lesser Light Realm, the Seven-Aperture Crystal Fruit.

It contains seven orifices and contains the Dharma of Lapis Lazuli. For the venerable ones of the Lapis Lazuli Path in Buddhism, it is the supreme Buddha fruit. It can help practitioners of the Lapis Lazuli Path to increase their Buddhist knowledge, open their wisdom mind, attain the clarity of the seven orifices, and generate the Lapis Lazuli Buddha mind.

Even those who are not practitioners of the Buddhist Lapis Lazuli Path can consume this fruit to gain enlightenment, wisdom, and clear understanding.

"Seven-Aperture Glazed Fruit!"

Fa Hui gazed at the lush and verdant crystal tree in the hall, and at the wisdom fruits hanging on it. He couldn't help but feel a longing in his heart: to consume the wisdom fruits and attain enlightenment!

For a moment, Fa Hui's eyes were glazed over, and she couldn't help but reach into the hall, wanting to pick the Wisdom Fruit, while Jiang Sheng watched quietly from the side.

However, just as Fa Hui was about to enter the hall to pick it, an invisible barrier blocked her way. In an instant, to Fa Hui's astonishment, golden lightning burst forth, directly blasting Fa Hui's arm, which had reached into the hall, into charred remains. The golden arc of electricity continued to spread along Fa Hui's arm, instantly engulfing her entire body. Before Fa Hui could react, she was completely engulfed by the golden lightning.

In the time it takes to breathe, Fa Hui turned into a charred mess. This is because Fa Hui has no hair, otherwise he would have looked even more disheveled.

The shock of the golden lightning also brought Fa Hui back to her senses: Yes, if she could have entered the inner hall, Jiang Sheng should have gone in already, why would he still be waiting for her here?

For a moment, Fa Hui felt ashamed, realizing that he had been so confused and bewildered by the treasure that he had almost lost his mind, which was truly shameful and a loss of wisdom.

However, it is normal for Fa Hui to react this way. This is a rare and precious treasure born in the vast world, a fruit of Buddhist wisdom. Who could really remain unmoved?

"Even the dignified Bodhi Path Master Hui of Buddhism would lose his composure upon seeing a single fruit?"

"What, does the Great Lingyin Temple not usually provide you with celestial fruits and delicacies?"

Jiang Sheng's voice came from the side, causing Fa Hui's expression to change. Sure enough, Jiang Sheng had seen through his momentary greed. He was truly embarrassed now!
"Hmph! I don't believe you won't be tempted!"

Although it was embarrassing, Fa Hui refused to admit defeat. Anyway, there was no one else here except Jiang Sheng, so what could he do if he stubbornly refused to admit it?

Jiang Sheng looked at the stubborn Fa Hui and couldn't help but laugh, "I was indeed tempted, but I didn't go in, nor did I get charred by the Wisdom Insight Golden Thunder of the Glazed Path."

“Fahui, if I were you, I would look at what is written on both sides of the inner hall before entering, and then consider whether I should go in.”

Upon hearing this, Fa Hui looked at both sides of the temple gate and saw that it was written on both sides: "The radiant glazed treasure is protected by golden thunder; the impudent and rude guest will be saved from countless eons."

The twenty characters, clear and distinct, were engraved on both sides of the temple gate, but Fa Hui did not see them.

From the moment she stepped into this sea of ​​stars, Fa Hui lost her composure due to her competition with Jiang Sheng. She first recklessly crossed the sea of ​​stars, and upon seeing the inner palace, she became anxious and confused, opening the palace door in a daze.
This series of behaviors is completely different from the usual Fa Hui, and it is also unlike the wise and composed Venerable Fa Hui whom Jiang Sheng met in Xiao Penglai.

As he pondered, Jiang Sheng looked at Fa Hui with some suspicion: "Fa Hui, something seems off about you. Could it be that your tribulation is approaching?"

Fa Hui was startled, recalling her performance in this second trial, from the initial competition with Jiang Sheng on the Western Sea, to the battle outside Guanyin Palace, and finally the contest in this sea of ​​stars.
Realizing something, Fa Hui's expression changed, then she shook her head: "No need for True Lord Lingyuan to worry, it was just a minor accident."

Jiang Sheng nodded: "That would be best. But let me give you a friendly reminder: external forces can never compare to the foundation of your own diligent study and practice. If this foundation is weak and unstable, all your cultivation will be nothing but a mirage."

“Originally, I shouldn’t be the one to say these things, as you know them best; but given your current state, I still have to offer a few words of advice.”

"After all, I'll have to fight you fair and square later on. If you're still like this, I won't bother drawing my sword then."

With that, Jiang Sheng turned around and sat down cross-legged, quietly waiting for the others to arrive.

It's not that we can't enter the inner palace, it's just not the right time yet.

According to Benli's reminder, once the top fifty people gather in front of the inner hall, they can enter the inner hall and obtain the Wisdom Fruit.

Jiang Sheng didn't rush into the inner hall because of Benli's reminder. After all, who would have thought that Jiang Sheng would have a destiny in this Buddhist gate?

Fa Hui, however, slumped down, her face calm, but her heart was far from as indifferent as she appeared.

Jiang Sheng's words undoubtedly provoked Fa Hui, because Fa Hui knew how he had acquired his current level of cultivation through the Five Tribulations.

Jiang Sheng gained the favor of fortune by fighting bravely during the great calamity. In addition, Jiang Sheng's own cultivation and supernatural powers were not weak, which is why he was able to break through realms one after another. However, even so, Jiang Sheng is only at the third calamity now.

He, Fa Hui, had never experienced a great calamity, nor did he have the immense fortune and merit of Jiang Sheng. Yet, in just a few hundred years, he had attained the cultivation of five calamities, even surpassing Jiang Sheng. How could there be no reason for this?

"Perhaps we really shouldn't have taken those relics."

As he pondered, Fa Hui looked inward at himself, gazing at the relic, radiating brilliant Buddhist light, that hung high in his sea of ​​consciousness.

This relic is the key to Fa Hui's current level of spiritual attainment.

After a Buddhist monk passes away, those with profound spiritual attainments often condense their cultivation, supernatural powers, and even Buddhist insights into a relic, leaving behind as a legacy of their Buddhist teachings and a treasure for future generations.

Relics are different from the fruits of enlightenment; they are a unique inheritance in Buddhism. Whether it is the Vajra Path or the Lapis Lazuli Path, highly accomplished Buddhist practitioners can leave behind relics. However, the time a relic can be preserved is limited. The longer it is preserved, the more its power dissipates, and in the end, often only one-tenth remains.

Relics from the upper three realms can be preserved for a longer period, and their successors can unleash about 70-80% of their power. For example, a relic left by a Buddhist venerable at the peak of the Void Refinement stage might only be effective at the late Void Refinement stage in the hands of a successor, and that's assuming they practice the same Buddhist teachings. If they don't practice the same teachings or belong to the same lineage, they might only achieve 30-50% of the effect. This limitation is most pronounced between lineages.

Even the relics of the Vajra Path in Buddhism cannot unleash even half of their power in the hands of the Venerable Ones of the Lapis Lazuli Path in Buddhism.

As a disciple of the Bodhi Buddha of the Great Lingyin Temple and a prominent figure in the Western Paradise, Fa Hui's cultivation is actually quite strong. Fa Hui's own power has reached the Integration Realm, but he is still far behind Jiang Sheng.

However, in this struggle for the position of Buddha, there will inevitably be a contest between the Eastern Heavenly Taoism and the Western Heavenly Buddhism. Fa Hui may lose, but the Western Heavenly Buddhism cannot easily lose to the Eastern Heavenly Taoism. Therefore, Fa Hui received a relic from the temple after being persuaded by Fa Fa and Fa Zhen.

The relics of a fallen Mingwang (a deity) from Dalingyin Temple.

That venerable one is named Namo Bodhi Bright Nature True Emptiness Great Bright King.

That Zhenkong Daming King was a Mahayana realm being. He perished during the battle when the Three Realms merged. In that battle, Zhenkong Daming King unfortunately encountered the aftermath of the Pure Yang battle and was ultimately forced to perish.

Before his passing, King Zhenkong condensed his spiritual attainments, Buddhist teachings, supernatural powers, and wisdom into relics, which he left in the Dalingyin Temple for future generations to use.

Originally, this relic was enshrined in the Dalingyin Temple, receiving incense offerings and accumulating merit, until it was taken out by Fahui a few years ago for ritual and use.

Although both are part of the Buddhist path of Bodhi, the relics of the Mahayana Kings are not so easy to refine and activate. It was only because Fa Hui was a contemporary Bodhi Buddhist disciple and had the blessing of the Great Lingyin Temple that he was able to refine this relic.

Therefore, even today, Fa Hui has only been able to exert the power of five kalpas of cultivation, and is completely unable to unleash the full potential of this relic.

After all, the predecessor of this relic, the Great Bright King Mingxing Zhenkong, was a figure who ranked among the top in the Mahayana realm. Even if he exerted seventy or eighty percent of his strength, he would still have the power of the Mahayana realm.

Gazing at the brilliant golden light emanating from the relic of the Bright King in his sea of ​​consciousness, the slight regret that had arisen in Fa Hui's heart was instantly suppressed: He had made a mistake, so there was no need to regret it; he should just move forward!
As the leading figure of Dalingyin Temple in contemporary times and the head of the Twelve Bodhi Disciples of the Western Paradise, Fahui has never been one to complain or worry about others. He knows his mistakes and corrects them, but don't expect him to admit his mistakes.

This time, however, he broke the precept against greed and anger, wanting to compete with Jiang Sheng for some fame and fortune, and he lost his true self, using power that did not belong to him.

But since he had already made the decision, Fa Hui would not hesitate. After all, if you're going to do something, you should do it to the end. He had no room for regret in this battle. He would wait until the struggle for the fruition was over before making any further decisions.

Before this, as long as he relied on this relic to reach the end, who could say that he was not the victor?
In the vast expanse of the starry sky, following Jiang Sheng and Fa Hui, new beings entered.

As Venerable Puhua gazed at the golden-scaled behemoth swimming in the sea of ​​stars, he was about to chant Buddhist mantras to guide it to salvation when a pure white lotus flower floated out from the sleeve of the Golden Lion Demon Lord. Upon seeing it, the golden-scaled behemoth inhaled the lotus flower, and then the Golden Lion Demon Lord was carried away by it, swimming towards the other side of the sea of ​​stars.

As for Venerable Puhua, he was flung away by the tail of the golden-scaled beast.

Coming to his senses, Venerable Puhua gazed at the long-gone golden-scaled beast, feeling a bellyful of words to say, yet restrained by his cultivated status. In the end, he could only manage to utter, "This demon lord has quite a deep karmic connection with our Buddhist sect."

The white-armored demon lord explained, "Before entering the lotus pond pavilion, the golden lion saw that the lotus flowers in the pond were beautiful, so it casually picked one. It never expected that it would have such a wonderful use."

Venerable Puhua was taken aback. Normal people would think that this lotus pond and pavilion was a test for the Bodhisattva, and they would be mentally prepared before entering. Who would think that the lotus flowers in the pond were beautiful and pick one without thinking?
After a moment of stunned silence, Venerable Puhua couldn't help but laugh: "This really is...a coincidence."

The white-armored demon lord pointed into the distance and said, "Venerable one, you see the golden-scaled beast has already left. Let's hurry and cross the sea of ​​stars to find the inner palace of Guanyin Palace on the other side of the sea of ​​stars."

Venerable Puhua also realized that this was an excellent opportunity, and immediately began to cross the star sea with the White-Armored Demon Lord.

Following Venerable Puhua and White-Armored Demon Lord, Demon Lord Yingtian, Emperor Liuyuan, and Demon Lord Baiming also began to traverse the star sea one after another.

Some of these people had deep karmic connections and managed to sneak across unnoticed by the Benli carp; others had picked lotus flowers and were transported to the other side of the Star Sea by the Benli carp; and still others escaped while everyone was fighting the Benli carp.
In any case, those who finally arrive at the other side of the starry sea and stand in front of the inner hall of Guanyin Pavilion possess one of the following qualities: luck, opportunity, supernatural power, or background.

Even Jiang Sheng, looking around, had to admit that the place was a gathering of heroes, and he recognized quite a few of them.

The Demon King Kong Ling and Demon King Huang Zhao of the Demon Emperor Palace, Venerable Kasyapa of the Golden Zen Temple, Venerable Zhenhe of the Great Spirit Sound Temple, and the King of Rebirth of Heaven of the Heavenly Dragon Temple, etc., are all familiar faces in the Three Realms.

Beyond the Three Realms, the Crested Ibis Demon Lord also introduced Jiang Sheng to the Demon Lords and Demon Venerables of the Demon Clan. For example, the eight-tailed, incomparably beautiful Demon Immortal was Tu Shan Yu, the Qing Yu Demon Venerable of the Tu Shan Holy Land in the Great Wilderness Realm; and the one with a male-female appearance and arrogant attire was Bai Ming, the Demon Lord of the Tian Yu Palace in the Wei Yu Realm.

In addition, Ying Tian of the Yinglong clan from the Kuocang Realm, Bai Jia of the Chensha Waterfall in the Great Wilderness Realm, and Jin Ni of the Lieyan Plain were also among them, as well as several demon lords from the Jurong Realm.
Among all the myriad realms, the demon race occupies five Great Thousand Realms. All five Great Thousand Realms have sent Heavenly Demons, truly giving the Heavenly Court a great deal of face.

These celestial demons naturally made it into the top fifty. As for the wandering immortals of the unorthodox world, the divine lords of the divine realm, and so on, those with good fortune and destiny were either in the top fifty or in the top one hundred.

However, the Seven Aperture Glazed Fruit can only be enjoyed by the top fifty, and only the top five can obtain the 3,000-year-old Seven Aperture Glazed Fruit. The sixth to twentieth place can obtain the 2,000-year-old Seven Aperture Glazed Fruit, and the twenty-first to fiftieth place can only obtain the 1,000-year-old Seven Aperture Glazed Fruit.

Even a seven-aperture crystal fruit that is only a thousand years old is a rare and precious fruit that is hard for others to find.

Such Buddhist wisdom and enlightenment can only be found in the Lesser Light Realm. Even behemoths like the Eastern Heavenly Daoist School and the Western Heavenly Buddhist School in the myriad realms would not easily provoke the two great Bodhisattvas of the Lesser Light Realm who hold the Dao, and would often only be able to exchange things for each other.

Therefore, even in Dalingyin Temple, the Seven-Aperture Glazed Fruit is a rare Buddhist fruit. The fact that fifty of them were placed in front of us shows the generosity of the Pure Lotus Guanyin Bodhisattva.

After all, he is a great Bodhisattva of Buddhism at the Dao-holding realm, and also a Western Buddha of the Three Realms. If he didn't offer enough, he would probably feel ashamed. Fifty Glazed Fruits are just right, neither too many nor too few.

As the first to pass the second test, Jiang Sheng naturally received the best one. Looking at the palm-sized Seven-Aperture Glazed Fruit in his hand, he saw that although it was made of glazed gold, the seven apertures inside were visible, which was truly mysterious and extraordinary.

Even just holding it in his hand, the radiant light emanating from the wisdom fruit gave Jiang Sheng a sense of wisdom, enlightenment, and awakening to his true nature.

Jiang Sheng carefully put away the Seven Aperture Glazed Fruit. He had no intention of consuming it for the time being. In the past few days, as more and more people arrived at the other side of the starry sea, the second trial was about to end. If he were to consume the Seven Aperture Glazed Fruit now, it would take several years just to refine it. Jiang Sheng did not have that kind of time right now.

Compared to consuming the Seven Aperture Glazed Fruit, Jiang Sheng was more concerned about what the third test would be like. After all, of the more than 3,000 people who passed the second test, more than half would be eliminated in the third test. This reminded Jiang Sheng of Benli's warning.

"The second challenge is set by the Pure Lotus Guanyin Bodhisattva, and the third challenge is the intervention of the Bright Light Guanyin Bodhisattva."

"When that Bodhisattva made his move, he borrowed something from the Pure Lotus Guanyin Bodhisattva."

Before setting up the obstacle, the Great Bodhisattva of Bright Light borrowed something from the Great Bodhisattva of Pure Lotus!

Benli's reminder was not empty talk; it must have been a warning he received from someone else.

So what exactly did the Great Bodhisattva Guanyin borrow that made Benli specifically remind him of something? (End of Chapter)