Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Closing a book, Tang Zixi softly sighed.

Her disappointment was evident as she placed “Secret History of the Buddhas” back on the shelf.

The Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom had more sutras than history books, and many of them still had the primary purpose of discussing doctrine, with the recording of historical events as an extra.

Finding out Nine Disaster’s history from all this was not easy. Often, she could read an entire book and only come out with one or two sentences regarding Nine Disaster, and sometimes, she even got nothing at all.

The Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom didn’t have the habit of whitewashing history or distorting facts, but it had different priorities, caring more about the words of Buddha over historical events, which presented a major headache for Tang Zixi’s investigation.

After reading through nearly a thousand of these semi-historical history books, Tang Zixi had a good grasp of the Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom’s history, but alas, she still had a limited understanding of Nine Disaster.

It was the same today. She had finished reading all the books on this bookshelf with little to show for it.

Ultimately, it had happened ten thousand years ago, so anything preserved from that time would be difficult to find.

Tang Zixi stepped out of the study.

Looking around, she decided to take a stroll through Thousand Sorrows Temple. Despite having been here for so many days, she had yet to truly look around this ten-thousand-year-old temple.

Following the stone path, she passed by the discipline hall, and then the sutra hall, where the monks discussed doctrine. As she passed by monks on the path, they would bow and greet her. Tang Zixi was somewhat acquainted with all these monks, so she would smile and nod in return.

As Tang Zixi passed by the sutra hall, she saw a young novice within, his head swaying as he chanted. It was none other than that Pureheart who had welcomed her into the temple.

This young monk wasn’t exactly diligent. While he seemed to be earnestly reciting sutras, Tang Zixi noticed that he was furtively taking looks outside while doing so. Perhaps in his eyes, even sweeping the ground was more interesting than reciting sutras.

Upon spotting Tang Zixi, his eyes lit up, and he immediately stopped reciting sutras and started gawking at Tang Zixi.

Amused, Tang Zixi came over and smiled. “Young monk, are you not worried about the Buddha Ancestor punishing you for messing around as you are instead of properly reciting your sutras?”

Pureheart laughed. “The Buddha Ancestor is compassionate, so how could he hold this against me? But, Big Sister, why did you come out today?”

“I’ve read too many books, so I want to get some fresh air.”

“More like you’re disappointed at not being able to find any worthwhile information on Nine Disaster, right?”

Tang Zixi snorted, “How do you know I couldn’t find any? Does your temple perhaps have some secret it can’t reveal to outsiders, so it’s hidden all the information on Nine Disaster away?”

Pureheart jumped and said, “Don’t go casually accusing others. My Thousand Sorrows Temple could never do such a thing. It’s just that people have come before, but they’ve all gone back without any results, so it’s easy for me to make a guess. The incident back then was a secret in the first place, and even those who had taken part found it difficult to explain, let alone we who came after. You can’t expect there to be any sort of detailed records in the history books. No matter how much you pore over them, you won’t be able to find anything.”

Tang Zixi found his argument to be reasonable and sighed, “You’re right. I was being reckless with my words.”

Pureheart grinned. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I don’t hold grudges against the other sex.”

This novice didn’t have much ability, but he certainly talked big.

Tang Zixi didn’t mind, stepping into the sutra hall. She found that it was an old and stately building, exuding a timeworn aura.

“This sutra hall seems to be very old.”

“Of course it is,” Pureheart replied. “This sutra hall has more than ten thousand years of history. Thousand Sorrows Temple has been through three fires and twice been affected by the aftershocks of a clash of Titans, and in the aftermath, what’s been destroyed has been rebuilt. Only this sutra hall has never been destroyed before.”

“Oh?” Tang Zixi said in surprise. “Why is that?”

Pureheart hesitated.

He looked around, and once he confirmed that nobody else was present, he gestured for Tang Zixi to come closer.

Slightly frowning, Tang Zixi produced a light in her palm that silently spread over them. “You can say what you want now. With my silence spell, no sound will leave this place.”

Pureheart saw that his scheme to sneak a kiss had failed, so he inwardly sighed while saying, “It’s no big deal. It’s just that some people say that this is where Nine Disaster comprehended the Dao, so it receives his protection.”

“‘Where Nine Disaster comprehended the Dao’?” Tang Zixi’s eyes glowed. “What Dao did he comprehend?”

“The Demon Dao!” Pureheart replied. “A Titan said that Nine Disaster comprehended and entered the Dao of Demons within the sutra hall.”

“‘The Demon Dao’? There’s a Dao for demons?”

Pureheart retorted, “Why can’t there be a Dao for demons? The universe may only have Twelve Great Daos, but it has millions of minor Daos. Everything has an underlying principle behind its existence, and each principle has its own Dao. The Primordial Fog Domain is such a vast existence, it should naturally have its own Dao.”

Tang Zixi was momentarily stunned.

This was her first time hearing such an argument.

After some thought, she asked, “Why is it that I can’t find this in the history books?”

After some hesitation, Pureheart replied, “This is just a legend of my Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom, with no firm evidence, so the history books wouldn’t record such a thing.”

“This legend believes that Nine Disaster wasn’t demonized but instead entered the Dao?”

“Mm!” Pureheart firmly nodded.

Tang Zixi coldly smiled. “Then what’s the difference between entering the Demon Dao and being demonized?”

Pureheart scratched his head. “What are you asking me for? How could I know that?”

Tang Zixi saw that there was no point in further questioning him.

As she looked around the sutra hall, she couldn’t help but imagine a monk reading a sutra here.

Nine Disaster had been reading Buddhist sutras here until he entered the Demon Dao?

And this sutra hall had endured more than ten thousand years afterward?

Her eyes grew brighter and brighter.

She took one of the sutras and then found a place to sit.

“What are you doing?” Pureheart asked in surprise.

“I’m going to study a sutra and see if I have any connection with the Buddha Ancestor.”

Pureheart knew that this was nonsense and that she was after something else, shaking his head. “There’s no point in doing this. The Nine Disaster Fiend Monk entering the Demon Dao was the will of the heavens and not something we mortals can understand.”

“I’m not a mortal. I’m a cultivator.”

“Under the Heavenly Dao, all are mortals.”

Tang Zixi acted like she didn’t hear that.

Starting from this day, Tang Zixi moved her reading spot from the study to the sutra hall.

Unlike the largely deserted study, many monks came here to read sutras. When they came in and saw a woman reading books, and a pretty one at that, they would often get distracted. As a result, none of the monks could focus, plagued by images of this beautiful woman as they recited sutras, even occasionally sneaking looks at her.

The senior monks knew that this was improper and tried to get her to read elsewhere.

But after Tang Zixi found out that this place was related to Nine Disaster, she refused to leave.

While Thousand Sorrows Temple was ten thousand years old, it didn’t emphasize martial might, and even if it did, they wouldn’t have been able to do much to Tang Zixi. She was already at the peak of Soul Projection, and she came from a powerful family and was gifted in the Dao of Time. Even an Earth Immortal might not have been able to do anything to her.

So long as this kind of powerhouse simply wanted to borrow the sutra hall to read and devote herself to “venerating the Buddha”, in this world where strength decided status, it truly wasn’t an excessive request.

Thus, the senior monks of Thousand Sorrows Temple could only hold their nose and bear it. If they couldn’t drive away Tang Zixi, they could simply drive away their own disciples.

It wasn’t long before Tang Zixi had exclusive use of the sutra hall.

The other monks didn’t dare to come, but Pureheart continued to visit Tang Zixi whenever he was free.

Tang Zixi cared not, even using these opportunities to learn more about the Buddha Kingdom.

Two months went by, but while Tang Zixi managed to read quite a lot of sutras, she still had no clues concerning Nine Disaster, much to her disappointment.

She was worried about the war in the Gigantes Domain and wanted to go back, but she was also unwilling to go back without any worthwhile information for her father.

One day, as she was wavering, she saw Pureheart sneaking in, waving at Tang Zixi.

Tang Zixi saw how sneaky he was being and knew what he meant, so she cast her silent spell and asked, “What did you do?”

Pureheart took out a yellowed book from his kasaya. “For you.”

“This is…” Tang Zixi took the book and saw that it was called “Inquiries to the Buddha”.

“Inquiries to the Buddha” was a classic text of Buddhism that recorded a question-and-answer session between the Buddha Ancestor and his disciples.

Monks learned Buddhism, venerated the Buddha, and regarded the principles of the Buddha as supreme, thus they created Buddhist schools, upheld the Buddha Ancestor, learned the words of the Buddha, and cultivated the arts of the Buddha. “Inquiries to the Buddha” was part of the words of the Buddha, and it was said that any monk would benefit endlessly from the countless principles within.

Tang Zixi had read it before, so she didn’t understand why Pureheart was giving this one to her.

Pureheart furtively said, “This is the one that Nine Disaster read.”

“‘The one that he read’?” Tang Zixi was surprised that Thousand Sorrows Temple still had this book.

Taking it, she confirmed that it was very old. To preserve it, a sealing art had been applied which added an oily membrane around it that let it endure the passage of time.

Tang Zixi flipped through its pages.

Its contents were no different from what she had seen before, the questions and answers between the Buddha and his disciples described on the yellowed paper bursting with knowledge and wisdom.

Alas, no matter how she looked at it, it was still just a Buddhist text. There was much knowledge to be gleaned from it, but not what Tang Zixi needed.

Once she reached the end, she wanted nothing more than to tear the book open and see if anything was hidden between the pages like in the story her father had once told her. Perhaps because she was thinking this, she ended up pulling a little too hard, tearing a page off.

“Oh no!” Pureheart shouted. “I stole this from the abbot’s room! How could you damage it…”

He was so worried that he almost broke into tears.

Tang Zixi was embarrassed and hastily soothed, “Don’t panic, don’t panic. I’ll repair it right now.”

“How can you repair it? There’s a spell art applied to it that the Origin Return Art doesn’t affect.”

“That’s no problem.” Tang Zixi smiled. Waving her hand, she sprinkled light over the book, and the torn page returned to the book.

“This is…” Pureheart’s jaw dropped.

“The Dao Will of Time,” Tang Zixi replied with a smile.

Shi Wunian had once used the Dao Will of Time on a book, and now Tang Zixi was using it, but she had applied it to a spell art as well, much more skillfully than Shi Wunian could have. Only someone who had truly entered the Dao of Time could restore even the effects of spell arts without blemish.

This was a true reversal of Time.

The moment the text was restored, it began to glow.

Tang Zixi’s eyesight blurred, and a vision appeared before her.