Chapter 366: Chapter 30: Supreme Exhales, Shangqing Stares, East Emperor Strikes the Bell

He raised the Jade Seal high, projecting a twelve-word inscription that pierced through heaven and earth!

[Having Received the Mandate from Man, May My Reign Be Long and Prosperous]

The Heirloom Seal of the Realm resonated with the Stone Stele and the Sealing Platform. Medicine King Buddha’s face was as grim as still water, but he did not intervene. He simply said coolly:

"Ying Zheng, you need only change the words ’from Man’ to ’from Heaven.’ If you do, this matter will end here. We can overlook your sin of disrespect and grant you eighteen thousand years of national fortune."

"And if I refuse?" the First Emperor asked coolly.

Medicine King Buddha spoke calmly and pointed a finger.

"Then I will have no choice but to convert him into an Arhat... Your Uncle Zhong will become an Arhat of our Buddhist Sect. Will you pay him respects, or will you not?"

"Despicable," Xiang Yu muttered, shaking his head. Not far away, the Wu’an Monarch spoke loudly, "Ancient Buddha, you must be joking. Under the protection of the Human Dao Fortune, what use is your Brahma Sound of conversion?"

"Is that so?"

Medicine King Buddha sneered.

"Who said this is my only method of conversion? All of you, look at this boy. Can he even move a muscle? Ying Zheng, would you like to try me?"

Yan Huang, Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, the hundred thousand Black Armor soldiers, and even the Immortals and Buddhas filling the sky all turned to look at the masked young man.

And indeed, the young man was completely still, unmoving and unswaying, with his head bowed and eyes closed.

The Wu’an Monarch’s expression soured. The hundred thousand Black Armor soldiers broke into an uproar, and the pupils of Yan Huang and the other two contracted in shock.

The First Emperor’s expression froze. He raised his head to stare at the Ancient Buddha, but this Medicine King Buddha merely laughed with glee.

"So, Ying Zheng, do you still wish to continue? This boy’s mind is indeed resolute, but after spending this much time, I can now enter his psyche. Oh, Ying Zheng, Ying Zheng..."

"COUGH, COUGH."

With a peculiar expression, Ying Zheng cut him off and gestured forward.

"Then by all means, King Buddha, please try."

Medicine King Buddha was taken aback for a moment. His expression darkened, and he said icily:

"Utterly unrepentant."

Then, his face took on a look of compassion. He put his palms together and chanted:

"Amitabha!"

His Spiritual Will surged like a tide, pouring down and submerging itself completely within the young man’s body.

The Wu’an Monarch instantly grew anxious. He glanced to the side and asked:

"Confucius, do you have a way to...?"

Confucius, his expression peculiar, shook his head.

"I am unable."

The Wu’an Monarch’s face turned deathly pale. Up in the sky, Nezha ignored Li Jing, staring down at the man in the Bronze Mask and asking with confusion:

"Who is that?"

Venus explained with a smile:

"He’s someone who appeared out of nowhere. He’s Ying Zheng’s Uncle Zhong. His name is quite grand, though—he’s called Xuan Huang."

"Oh, I see... huh??" Nezha glanced over in terror, his voice jumping an octave. "What’s his name?! Xuan Huang?!"

He whipped his head around to look at Medicine King Buddha, his eyes filled with pity.

「Meanwhile.」

Deep within Lu Xuan’s psyche, four streams of Medicine King Buddha’s will fell simultaneously into four different memories.

"Who are you?"

Standing within the four memories, Lu Xuan looked up at the figure wreathed in Buddhist light. The figure smiled faintly.

"Who am I?"

In the Guardian Storage Room, in a dilapidated wooden hut, on a bus, and within the Origin,

the blurry figures in the four memories solidified at once. Medicine King Buddha smiled with compassion and said:

"I am the Medicine Buddha."

"Do you not recognize me?"

On the bus, Medicine King Buddha entered Xiaoyan’s body. In this scene from Lu Xuan’s memory, Xiaoyan gradually transformed into the likeness of Medicine King Buddha.

In the Guardian Storage Room, as a young Lu Xuan tended a fire to cook, Medicine King Buddha stood behind an old man in ancient robes.

In the dilapidated wooden hut, a young Lu Xuan was cooking with Old Chu. Medicine King Buddha walked into the hut, looked at Old Chu, and said with a smile:

"You are me."

Ripples spread across Old Chu’s face, as if it were about to transform.

Within the Origin, Medicine King Buddha strolled about and remarked with a smile:

"This place is quite peculiar. There is no up and no down..."

He looked toward the Lame Daoist, who was forging with a hammer. The Daoist had his back to him, his face hidden from view.

Medicine King Buddha paid it no mind. He walked forward, stood behind the Daoist, and said with compassion:

"Amitabha..."

He walked toward the Daoist, intending to merge with him. At the same time, the Medicine King Buddha in the Guardian Storage Room approached the old man, intending to transform him into his own likeness as well.

However, in the next instant, within the memory of the wooden hut, Old Chu suddenly raised his head, his face returning to normal.

"The Medicine Buddha?"

Medicine King Buddha’s expression froze. A chill shot up his spine as he stumbled back three steps, his pupils contracting.

"A... a Daluo??"

’This is that brat’s memory! The figures within a memory should be fixed, yet the person before me is within the memory but also transcends it... Only an eternal, unchanging Daluo could do such a thing!’

His pupils shrank. ’This Xuan Huang is actually connected to a Daluo?!’

Medicine King Buddha’s face drained of color, but he quickly composed himself and offered a respectful bow.

"I have caused a great offense. I hope Your Excellency will not hold it against me..."

"I am no Daluo," Old Chu said with a smile. "Don’t you recognize me?"

Medicine King Buddha faltered. He took a closer look, and was instantly scared out of his wits.

"T-Taiyi!!" he cried out in shock.

In the memory of the Guardian Storage Room, this wisp of Medicine King Buddha’s Spiritual Will began to glow with brilliant Buddhist light, preparing to convert the old man whose back was turned to him.

But then he heard a sigh. The old man was now, somehow, facing him, his expression tranquil.

Medicine King Buddha’s gaze flickered upward, and his expression froze stiff.

’He looks a bit familiar.’

’Let me get a better look.’

’Oh. It’s the Supreme.’

A smile more pained than a grimace spread across his face.

"Great Celestial Venerable, this is all a misunderstanding..."

"Is that so?" the old man in Lu Xuan’s memory said calmly.

In that same instant, the wisp of Spiritual Will inside the Origin also saw the Daoist’s true face.

Medicine King Buddha fell silent.

"Another Great Celestial Venerable..." he whimpered, his face crestfallen. "This humble Buddha... greets... greets the Shangqing Spirit Treasure Great Heavenly Venerate..."

"You’ve arrived just in time," the Lame Daoist said with a smile. He grabbed Medicine King Buddha, shoved him into the furnace, and turned him into kindling.

In the wooden hut, Old Chu yawned.

"So you do remember me..."

A Bronze Fragment appeared in his hand. It trembled slightly, a bell chimed, and this wisp of Medicine King Buddha was shaken into fine dust.

In the Guardian Storage Room, the old man exhaled slowly.

"Such audacity."

The wisp of Medicine King Buddha was annihilated, turned to ash and smoke.

Everything returned to silence.

A Dao Fruit Cultivator penetrates the past and present, pervading all of existence and non-existence, illusion and reality.

And so, the three grand scenes from within the memories were simultaneously projected into reality!