527: Chapter 528 Buddha?

"Little friend, why are you sighing?"

Hearing this, Great Elder Lu Chenyuan stiffened and slowly turned around.

He saw someone standing behind him, though he hadn't noticed when they arrived, a faint smile hanging on their lips.

Who else could it be but True Lord Qingxu?

"Is this a showdown?"

Great Elder Lu Chenyuan felt a wave of bitterness in his heart.

If this person had addressed him by name as usual, he could have played dumb and pretended nothing happened.

But this "little friend" was no different from explicitly saying "I have a problem," making it impossible for him to feign ignorance.

"Se... Senior."

Great Elder Lu Chenyuan's voice was somewhat dry, but he had no choice but to bite the bullet and bow in salute.

Lu Ming looked at the Great Elder Lu Chenyuan before him, a playful smile playing on his lips.

The other party had guessed correctly; he had allowed himself to be discovered on purpose.

After this stroll and witnessing the convenience of Prison Peak, Lu Ming realized that his usual solitary approach wouldn't work here, nor was it necessary.

His Hunyuan Law required a vast amount of talent to fill, and if he had to collect it all himself, it would simply be suffering for no reason.

Since he had subordinates, he should make use of them.

Scattering them throughout the entire Profound Spirit Domain to collect talent for him—wouldn't that be wonderful?

But this would inevitably raise suspicions.

After all, this request was truly too abnormal; any normal person would know something was wrong.

Lu Ming couldn't be bothered to explain, nor did he care to.

Since that was the case, why not simply take control of Great Elder Lu Chenyuan, the number one person under the True Monarch, and have him handle matters while also taking the blame?

Don't ask; if asked, it's because Great Elder Lu Chenyuan was Cultivating evil arts and needed a large number of living beings for sacrifices.

As for why True Lord Qingxu didn't stop it?

Sigh, that would be blamed on the scoundrel Great Elder Lu Chenyuan for deceiving his superiors and concealing the truth; it would be understandable for the True Monarch to be momentarily blinded.

Moreover, the True Monarch needed to Cultivate and had no time to concern himself with such trivialities; it was normal not to know.

With such a chosen scapegoat, how could Lu Ming let him go?

Therefore, when the other party appeared, Lu Ming did not stop refining the Law Origin he had harvested, displaying it openly before him.

Otherwise, if he had truly wanted to hide, with the other party's meager Divine Sense, he wouldn't have been able to perceive his existence at all.

However, Lu Ming did not intend to refine him into a Puppet Clone this time.

After all, if the goal was to collect talent, as the numbers grew, it would certainly alarm many people, and even those few old geezers would notice the anomaly.

Given their malicious nature, they would inevitably be curious and investigate.

Since he wanted to keep Great Elder Lu Chenyuan in the open as a shield, he had to ensure he didn't disrupt his Destiny and Karma.

Not only could he not disrupt it, but he had to display it openly so that anyone calculating it would know clearly.

Otherwise, being secretive would only arouse suspicion.

But while he wouldn't refine him into a Puppet, Lu Ming wouldn't test human nature or trust in so-called loyalty.

So...

On the other side, just as Great Elder Lu Chenyuan was feeling uneasy and very puzzled as to why this mysterious Senior remained silent.

He had just looked up to take a peek when he was stunned to see the other party extend a finger toward his forehead.

In an instant, Great Elder Lu Chenyuan felt an extreme sense of crisis wash over him.

His whole body tensed up, and he subconsciously wanted to resist.

However, as the Chaos mist surged around the other party, he was completely suppressed.

He couldn't use any Law, couldn't mobilize his Qi, and couldn't even move his body.

He could only watch helplessly as that finger tapped his forehead.

In an instant, Great Elder Lu Chenyuan's terrified eyes became hollow, and traces of Buddhist scriptures could be vaguely seen circulating in his pupils.

"Deliverance, truly useful..."

This Law was exactly what Lu Ming had recently obtained from that Pseudo-Nascent Soul Cultivator.

Come to think of it, Lu Ming had been very surprised when he first obtained it; he hadn't expected this person to be walking the path of Buddhism.

Driven by curiosity, Lu Ming intended to understand the other party's experiences.

He used his Origin to deduce a thing or two, and only then did he learn the full story.

This person's Daoist name was Mingwu, and he possessed a rare "Root of Wisdom."

He had a predestined connection with Buddhist Dharma from past lives and could be called a born Buddha child.

However, there was no orthodox Buddhist heritage in the Profound Spirit Domain.

Never mind temples; one couldn't even find a proper Buddhist scripture.

But this could not stop Mingwu from attaining enlightenment on his own.

From the moment he began his Cultivation, he relied on no external objects or heritage, depending entirely on his heart toward the Buddha, taking Heaven and Earth as his teacher and all things as his scripture.

He realized the Law of Compassion from mountains, rivers, and streams, and comprehended the Dao of Wisdom from the sun, moon, and stars.

He created his own Cultivation Technique, researched his own Divine Ability, and walked a Great Dao unique to himself—the Dao of Deliverance.

But it was precisely because he was too stunningly talented that he aroused the fear of True Lord Qingxu.

If he were a Cultivator who had comprehended an ordinary Law, even if he had broken through to the Nascent Soul, True Lord Qingxu might not have been so fearful.

After all, born in Qingwei Heaven, his Karma had long been set; no matter how high his future achievements, he could not surpass True Lord Qingxu.

But the path Mingwu walked was gradually trending toward slipping out of his control.

Even True Lord Qingxu could not see through what the end of this Dao of Deliverance was.

And the unknown breeds fear.

If he were truly allowed to achieve the Nascent Soul through this Great Dao, no one could say who would be stronger or weaker in the future.

Therefore, to eliminate the hidden danger, True Lord Qingxu secretly attacked when he was undergoing the Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation, knocking him down in Realm.

In fact, True Lord Qingxu originally intended to kill him and be done with it.

But it seemed he sensed something, and in the end, decided to suppress him forever at the very bottom of Prison Peak.

And this suppression lasted for a full thousand years.

"Sigh, what a miserable guy."

After learning the inside story, Lu Ming felt a bit of emotion; he hadn't expected Mingwu to be so miserable.

He was clearly overflowing with talent; if given enough time, he would definitely have become a Nascent Soul True Monarch in the future, and perhaps even had hopes of Soul Transformation.

But the tallest tree in the forest is the first to be destroyed by the wind; without a background or support, outstanding talent alone is a dead end.

Even if Lu Ming hadn't killed him, he would have eventually been imprisoned until he died.

However, he had avenged him, so taking this Law as compensation seemed reasonable and fair.

Lu Ming found a justification for himself, and he no longer felt guilty.

He turned his gaze back to Great Elder Lu Chenyuan.

The Law of Deliverance evolved into four Divine Abilities.

The first is Telepathy, which can pry into others' thoughts, knowing what they think and what they contemplate.

The second is Divine Foot, which can shrink the earth into inches, traveling billions of miles in a single thought; it counts as a decent spatial Divine Ability, more elegant than traveling by tearing through the Void Realm without any method.

Then there is the Heavenly Eye, which can observe the past and future, illuminating the Karma of the three lives; it belongs to a true major Divine Ability of Karma.

It is more than a grade stronger than the Karma techniques recorded in the "Destiny Altering Map" that Lu Ming used.

And what Lu Ming was using at this moment was the fourth one—Nature-Altering Ability.

Using his own Divine Sense as a guide and the power of Deliverance as a medium, he could transform the nature of others, causing them to have an Epiphany and spontaneously follow him.

To put it simply, it is to convert them into his own followers.

The person being subjected to the technique will not lose their self, will not lose their sanity, and will not even feel anything abnormal.

But they will, without realizing it, develop absolute trust and loyalty toward the practitioner.

This Divine Ability is not control, but it is better than control.

In this way, he could rest assured in handing tasks to Great Elder Lu Chenyuan in the future, letting him collect "talent" for him.

As for what to do if someone calculates that his Karma is too deeply entangled with his own?

This is actually not a concern; after all, it is common knowledge that this person is True Lord Qingxu's head steward, so isn't it normal for their Karma to be entangled?

Lu Ming thought happily, and at the same time, the Nature-Altering Ability was completely finished.

Great Elder Lu Chenyuan's eyes gradually returned to clarity from their hollow state.

He blinked, looking at the "True Lord Qingxu" before him, and suddenly felt that something was different.

It wasn't that the other party's appearance had changed, but the feeling had changed.

A sense of inexplicable closeness welled up in his heart, as if he were not facing a Nascent Soul True Monarch, but the person he was closest to and trusted the most.

Great Elder Lu Chenyuan was slightly stunned, but he didn't think much of it, just assuming it was an illusion after the previous fright.

Eh, why was I frightened just now?

Great Elder Lu Chenyuan scratched his head, unable to figure it out.

Forget it, too lazy to think!

He bowed to True Lord Qingxu, his tone even more respectful than before, even carrying a hint of piety.

"This humble monk has lost composure; I have made the Buddha Lord laugh."

"Ahem..." Hearing the other party's address, Lu Ming almost lost his composure.

What the hell?

Buddha Lord?

Humble monk?

Damn it, what kind of ridiculous title is this.

Is this Law of Deliverance this evil?

Lu Ming suddenly felt that this Law might not be as simple as he imagined.

This was because, in the Profound Spirit Domain, Nascent Soul Cultivators only had the honorific title of True Monarch.

Of course, they might be called Demonic Lord or Demonic Master for other reasons.

But there was absolutely no such title as Buddha Lord!

But this person acted as if they had learned it without a teacher.

This was clearly problematic.

Lu Ming couldn't help thinking back to when he divined Mingwu's past.

He noticed a series of events: True Lord Qingxu had suppressed him rather than killing him outright because he feared some kind of existence!

So what exactly was he fearing?

And why didn't he have this feeling when he killed him?

Oh, he forgot; he had already grafted his own Karma onto the Heavenly Dao through the karma golden book.

Therefore, the Karma of killing Mingwu at the time was entirely borne by the Heavenly Dao, and it had nothing to do with him, which was why he hadn't felt it.

"Could it be that the Buddhist path really exists?"

Lu Ming's thoughts began to wander.

Perhaps in ancient times, the Buddhist path truly existed, but it went extinct due to some irresistible force, to the point where one couldn't even hear a whisper of it now.

However, just because the Buddhist path was extinct didn't mean Buddhist Cultivators were all dead.

It was possible that some Nascent Soul-level old Buddhist bald donkey was still alive, just hiding.

And Mingwu might be the opportunity for the revival of the Buddhist path, or something else entirely.

The Karma carried by this was too great; True Lord Qingxu didn't dare to bear it, or perhaps he found it troublesome, which was why he didn't kill him, but chose to imprison and suppress him instead.

Hmm, the logic was sound, but there was no evidence.

Lu Ming tried to use his Heavenly Eye to deduce it, but he couldn't see anything.

"Am I overthinking it, or is there another hidden story?"

Lu Ming couldn't be sure for a moment.

However, he didn't dwell on it for too long.

Since he couldn't see it now, it meant his level wasn't high enough, and he couldn't clearly see the situation.

But as long as he was strong enough and lived long enough, no matter how many secrets there were, they wouldn't be secrets.

"However, prying open True Lord Qingxu's Divine Soul memories needs to be put on the agenda."

This old thing definitely knew quite a few secrets; if he could dig them all out, he would definitely be able to resolve many of his doubts.

Unfortunately, he wasn't strong enough yet, so he couldn't do anything about the other party for the time being.

Annoyed, Lu Ming took out True Lord Qingxu's Nascent Soul and added several more Seals.

"Back then you suppressed Mingwu, and now I Seal you; truly, Karma is a cycle, and retribution is swift."

Putting it back into his pocket, Lu Ming looked at Great Elder Lu Chenyuan, who was watching him with a face full of piety.

For a moment, Lu Ming fell silent again.

However, after thinking about it, he still corrected him.

"Don't call me Buddha Lord in the future; just address me as True Monarch as you always have."

Hearing this, Great Elder Lu Chenyuan seemed somewhat disappointed, but holding to the principle that this was the Buddha Lord's golden words, he did not refute.

"This humble monk understands!"

"And don't call yourself 'humble monk'!!!"

"We obey!"

Seeing that Great Elder Lu Chenyuan had finally returned to normal, Lu Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief.

So he didn't delay any longer and began to issue a series of tasks to Great Elder Lu Chenyuan, the first of which was to recruit talent for him.

The main selection was those Cultivators at Golden Core Perfection, with no restrictions on gender, age, or Law.

Of course, he had to select the best of the best!

If there weren't enough Cultivators at Golden Core Perfection, finding some Yao Beasts that had cultivated a Yao core as replacements would also do.

The main point was to be indiscriminate!

Anyway, the Hunyuan Law eats everything and isn't picky!

After explaining all this, Lu Ming thought for a moment and continued to instruct, "Find someone reliable to make a trip to the Southern Wilderness Region and deliver some things for me."

"Ah?" Great Elder Lu Chenyuan was stunned, somewhat confused, and asked sheepishly, "Dare I ask True Monarch, where is this Southern Wilderness Region located?"

"..." Being asked this, Lu Ming was also a bit silent.

Sure enough, this backwater area didn't even have the qualifications to be known.

However, he also knew this couldn't be blamed on Great Elder Lu Chenyuan, as the Southern Wilderness Region was indeed too remote; it was normal not to know.

So he didn't waste words and flicked a ray of spiritual light into Great Elder Lu Chenyuan's Sea of Consciousness.

It contained the spatial coordinates to the Southern Wilderness Region.

There was no need to cross those continuous mountain ranges; he just needed to build a spatial passage.

And with the foundation of the Qingwei Dao Sect, building a teleportation passage spanning billions of miles was not a problem.

So Lu Ming didn't bother to mention that there was another secret teleportation array in the outer region that could lead to the Southern Wilderness Region.

Because it was completely unnecessary.

"True Monarch, rest assured, I will make this trip myself."

After receiving the spatial coordinate information, Great Elder Lu Chenyuan hurriedly bowed and replied.

Lu Ming actually wanted to say it wasn't necessary, but he felt that Great Elder Lu Chenyuan going was most appropriate.

After all, the Southern Wilderness Region was the starting place where he first arrived; not only were there his old acquaintances there, but also traces of his own Karma, and sending an outsider would involve many uncertain factors.

For example, they might accidentally discover some secrets related to his Origins, or rely on their Cultivation to cause Chaos in the Southern Wilderness Region.

In any case, neither outcome was what Lu Ming wished to see.

But if this person were replaced by Great Elder Lu Chenyuan, then it would be most appropriate.

Not only had the other party been converted by him, posing no risk of leaking secrets, but secondly, with his Pseudo-Nascent Soul Cultivation, he was enough to sweep across the Southern Wilderness Region, so there was no need to worry about any accidents.

If any old acquaintances encountered trouble, Great Elder Lu Chenyuan could also settle everything.

"That will do."

Lu Ming finally agreed to this proposal.