Hell Emperor.

Chapter 630 Ye Jie - Self-Salvation
"It seems that the key to achieving our goal lies with that so-called guardian."

After analyzing everyone's words, Ye Jie also came to a conclusion.

Exploring each stupa one by one like this, who knows how long it would take to find what I need? It would be more convenient to just find out the guardian of the ruins directly.

The simplest way to meet the guardian is to continue climbing the pagodas. According to the Peacock King, once a certain number of pagodas have been conquered, the guardian will discover them and attack them before they even have a chance to search, annihilating all the outsiders who have invaded the ruins.

Ye Jie's gaze settled on the towering pagoda in front of him:

"Let's go. I want to see just how many pagodas we have to conquer before we can meet the guardian of the ruins."

The group immediately set off and quickly conquered the pagoda.

With no reward to speak of, the group continued their journey to the next stupa without stopping.

Without Ye Jie having to lift a finger, the Peacock King wiped out all the enemies inside the tower.

This time, there was finally a decent reward. Inside the iron box was a low-grade Heaven-rank movement technique called Eight Steps to Catch the Cicada. Ye Jie only made slight modifications and learned it. Not only that, he also upgraded it to the Great Dao level, making it quite practical.

In the silver box on the second floor, another cultivation technique appeared. It was the Heaven-Rank High-Grade Subduing Tiger Divine Fist. Just from the name, one could tell that the moves were extraordinary. After Ye Jie learned it, he felt his arms filled with explosive power, as if he could even smash down a Buddhist pagoda that was heavily protected by restrictions with a single punch.

Having traversed the two pagodas before, Ye Jie had discerned some of the secrets:

"It seems that this pagoda contains all kinds of precious and extraordinary scriptures. According to the rule that the higher you go, the richer the reward, I wonder what kind of reward will be given after this pagoda is breached?"

Soon, after the enemies on the third floor were cleared out, a heavy box adorned with gold appeared before everyone.

Ye Jie opened the box, and inside was indeed an ancient book. He happily took it out and began to read it, but his brows furrowed involuntarily:
"Is it not a cultivation manual, but a legend?"

Behind them, a gray-robed man with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a high nose seemed to have heard this and immediately became interested: "Can I take a look?"

Ye Jie nodded. Speaking of which, the gray-robed man was willing to use his precious blood to break the restrictions outside the ruins, and the condition he proposed was that he wanted to obtain the scriptures and books left in the ruins. Perhaps this story was what he needed.

After receiving the book, the gray-robed man quickly made a discovery: "This is exactly the scripture I've been looking for! If I'm not mistaken, this is one of the Jataka tales, which tells the story of the Buddha feeding a tiger with his own body."

Hearing them say this, the Peacock King was also very curious. He hadn't managed to get his hands on a single book before, let alone dared to ask Ye Jie for one. Now, hearing the two of them mention the stories in the books, he immediately asked, "Really? What does it say?"

The man in the gray robe answered truthfully:

"It says that in one of Buddha's previous lives, he was a prince in a mortal kingdom. One day, he saw a ferocious tiger that was extremely hungry and wanted to eat his cubs. So he jumped off a cliff to feed the tiger, using his own body to satisfy the tiger's hunger."

"What?" The Peacock King frowned, slightly embarrassed and puzzled. "Why would he do that?" Ye Jie had also glanced at the story above and spoke slowly:
"I think it was to demonstrate his benevolence and compassion, but it was an ineffective approach. He could use his own body to feed the hungry tiger, but what would happen after the tiger finished its meal? It would either continue to starve or go on to harm people. Even if he fed this hungry tiger, there would be another one. Even if he fed all the tigers, there would still be people starving in the world. As a prince, he could have done much more. He should have become a wise king and led the people to prosperity. With great power comes great responsibility, but he chose to end his life in this way. I cannot agree with that."

The gray-robed man laughed: "Are you talking to Buddha about responsibility? In this parlance, it seems your Buddhist nature is shallow."

"Isn't that right?" Ye Jie retorted.

The gray-robed man shook his head: "This scripture is meant to tell people about the illusion of reincarnation. The identities and statuses that people cherish are just illusions in the cycle of reincarnation. The key to liberation from reincarnation is to understand that life and death are like a dream, to realize that the self is empty but the Dharma is not empty, to suddenly realize emptiness, and then one can become a Buddha."

Ye Jie glanced at him: "But what about the people of his country?"

The gray-robed man smiled and said, "That is not something the Buddha can consider. You should know that the Buddha does not save people; people save themselves. Whatever happens to a person is their own karma. As long as they are not freed from the cycle of reincarnation, they will suffer the torment of karma. The suffering that people endure is all their own fault."

Ye Jie then asked, "Does the Buddha not save people, but instead try to save tigers? Why is that?"

The gray-robed man replied, "It wasn't that I was ferrying a tiger; it was just a matter of chance."

Ye Jie frowned, his face contorted with rage: "So it's my fault that I starved to death at fifteen? I've reincarnated countless times, and it was only with great difficulty that I was reborn as a human. When have I ever had a choice? I can do whatever I want. The human world only needs wise and virtuous rulers who ensure that everyone has enough to eat, not Buddhas who would sacrifice themselves to feed tigers."

The Peacock King stood there dumbfounded, not understanding what the two had been talking about since the beginning.

Ye Jie had expected the gray-robed man to argue vehemently with him after hearing his words, but to his surprise, the gray-robed man wasn't angry at all; instead, he burst into laughter.
“That’s right. Buddha doesn’t save people, but my Lord does. All the sins and karma of people will be borne by my Lord. On the day my Lord descends, all beings who are still struggling in the cycle of reincarnation will be saved, and no one will be left behind. I see that you have extraordinary talent, so you should submit to my Lord as soon as possible.”

"forget it."

Ye Jie glanced at him but didn't say anything. The gray-robed man wasn't a Buddhist cultivator; he was just interested in the scriptures and texts here, so he seemed to be a practitioner from another sect.

"Wait a minute, look..."

At that moment, the Peacock King suddenly noticed something and pointed into the distance.

But there stood a tall tower, unlike the magnificent and jewel-encrusted pagodas around it. The tower had a slender spire, was entirely black, and exuded a dull pressure and a fierce aura.

The tower's appearance was distinctly different from the surrounding pagodas, immediately attracting everyone's attention. Even Ye Jie couldn't help but feel a bit curious.

"What is that? Can such a fierce-looking tower really be considered a Buddhist pagoda?"

The Peacock King seemed to remember something, and his face lit up with joy: "If I'm not mistaken, that must be the Tower of Purification! We're really lucky this time. I never expected to find a Tower of Purification here!"

(End of this chapter)