Buddha light descended like pillars and rainbows, enveloping the disheveled Dharma King Jiujie and Pure Robe Bodhisattva.
Looking up, the source of the Buddha light appeared like a radiant Great Sun suspended in the Void.
This radiant Great Sun was supremely sacred, endlessly transforming, growing ever more powerful and dazzling, illuminating the originally dark Void of the Kan Palace until it shone as brightly as the great chiliocosm.
No!
Not the great chiliocosm, but more like a world of Buddhas.
Indeed, it was so.
Everywhere was filled with vast Buddha aura. The floating ruins of the Desolate Ancient Era in the Void all appeared like sacred Buddhist lands.
At that moment.
The sound of sutra chanting suddenly arose.
The Buddha sound was vast and profound, ethereal and elusive, as if coming from the heavens, or from beneath the earth, or even from all directions. It entered the ears, deafening and soul-shaking, awe-inspiring and terrifying.
When the more than twenty Original Sin followers of the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor heard this sutra-chanting Buddha sound, they felt their heads splitting with pain, their minds swaying, the power within their bodies running wild, their fortunes acting as if they had lost all reason, and even the Original Sin blood within them boiling.
It was agonizing!
Excruciating!
As painful as ants on a hot pan, with no way to block or defend against it. There was no other choice but to endure this torment.
Even the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor himself felt immense discomfort upon hearing the sutra-chanting Buddha sound. He snorted coldly, dark flames reigniting around his body as billowing black smoke emerged, seeking to contend against the Buddha sound filling this space.
The sutra-chanting Buddha sound continued to ring out, and then an even more miraculous scene unfolded.
Streaks of golden talismans descended from the sky, swirling and dancing in the Void like falling snow.
Looking closely, those were not golden talismans, but sacred Scriptures.
They filled the sky, a profoundly strange sight.
It was as if this Kan Palace, one of the Nine Palaces of the Desolate Ancient Era, was itself a Buddhist sutra—and a living one at that. Countless Scriptures slowly descended through the Void, each one profoundly mysterious and wondrous.
Whoosh!
A colossal golden Buddha Statue descended from that radiant Great Sun in the Void.
This statue truly deserved the descriptor 'colossal.' As it descended, it occupied nearly half the sky. The various ruins of the Desolate Ancient Era within the Kan Palace Void appeared as insignificant as ants before this Buddha Statue.
The sutra-chanting Buddha sound still rang out, like a resplendent sacred hymn.
The sky-filling Scriptures still fell, like a chaotic dance of radiant snow.
The colossal golden Buddha descended from the heavens, as if sacred Radiance itself had manifested.
This enormous Buddha Statue sat cross-legged upon a lotus. The lotus bloomed, as if all things in heaven and earth were transforming, as if all living beings were growing.
Behind the statue was precisely that Great Sun illuminating heaven and earth, representing both sacredness and Radiance.
The statue had one hand raised vertically before its chest, the other resting flat upon its knee, its eyes slightly closed.
When this Buddha Statue descended, the falling Scriptures, like snow, transformed into a sky full of Buddhas. These Buddhas all pressed their palms together, kneeling on the ground, paying homage to the statue.
This was the supreme manifestation of the Buddha Dao—Ten Thousand Buddhas Paying Homage!
Upon the palm of this colossal Buddha Statue, there seemed to be a person.
This person wore a Five Buddha Crown, was draped in kasaya robes, wore a necklace of relics, held prayer beads, and sat cross-legged, eyes slightly closed, turning the beads and reciting sutras.
The Five Buddha Crown was carved with five Buddha Statues: the Immovable Wisdom King, the Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King, the Kundali Wisdom King, the Yamantaka Wisdom King, and the Vajrayaksa Wisdom King—precisely the Five Great Wisdom Kings of the Buddha Dao!
The kasaya robes were covered in sacred Scriptures, each Scripture transforming like a Buddha—eighty-one in total, strikingly similar to the legendary Eighty-One Amitabha Buddhas of Buddhist lore.
The necklace held thirty-six relics, each one resembling a vajra relic containing nirvana fire.
The prayer beads in hand numbered nine, each one like a revolving bodhi seed!
Head adorned with the Five Great Wisdom Kings' True Buddha Crown.
Body draped in the Amitabha Kasaya.
Neck hung with Vajra Relics.
Hand holding the Bodhi Nine Prayer Beads.
Each of these existences could be called a supreme treasure of the Buddha Dao. Each was boundless in Buddha dharma, each contained infinite mysteries, and each could withstand the test of time and space.
Surveying the entire Western Heaven Buddha Dao, only one person possessed so many such fortunes.
That was the one beneath the Great Sun's Radiance, receiving the homage of ten thousand Buddhas, with sacred Scriptures scattering and vast Buddha sound resounding, seated upon the golden body of the great Buddha—the Western Heaven Buddha Emperor, Miao Tathagata!
No one would have imagined that the legendary Miao Tathagata had truly descended.
Not even Pure Robe Bodhisattva or Dharma King Jiujie had expected it.
Earlier, when driven into a corner, Pure Robe Bodhisattva had desperately mustered all his strength to call for help from Miao Tathagata, not knowing if Miao Tathagata could even hear him.
Unexpectedly, with that one cry for help, Miao Tathagata had truly descended.
Pure Robe Bodhisattva and Dharma King Jiujie were overjoyed, hurriedly kneeling in the Void and kowtowing toward Miao Tathagata seated upon the golden Buddha's palm.
"Your disciples, Pure Robe and Jiujie, respectfully welcome...
Respectfully welcome Emperor Tathagata!"
A person's reputation is like a tree's shadow.
The name of the Western Heaven Buddha Emperor, Miao Tathagata, was known throughout the myriad realms of the heavens; none were unaware, none unfamiliar.
Legends about Miao Tathagata were also widely known.
It was said that from the moment Miao Tathagata emerged from the womb, strange celestial phenomena occurred: winds and clouds shifted, the colors of nature bloomed in response, the Great Sun's Radiance enveloped him, purple qi arrived from the east, dragons and phoenixes heralded auspiciousness, sacredness descended, and the sahā world transformed.
Such omens were comparable to the birth of a Sage.
Even more bizarrely, this Miao Tathagata could walk the moment he was born. With each step he took, lotuses bloomed beneath his feet. He took seven steps, blooming seven lotuses, each lotus like a sahā world—truly, lotuses bloomed with every step.
Was that all?
Of course not.
It was said that after Miao Tathagata took those seven steps, he pointed one finger to the sky and one to the earth, speaking to himself, uttering eight words: In heaven and on earth, I alone am honored.
Some said Miao Tathagata was the reincarnation of Tathagata.
These words were no small claim.
One must know that the two words 'Tathagata' are the supreme honorific title in the Buddha Dao.
Take the famously illustrious Five Great Wisdom Kings, for example.
The Immovable Wisdom King is the Great Sun Tathagata Buddha. The Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King is the Akshobhya Tathagata Buddha. The Kundali Wisdom King is the Ratnasambhava Tathagata Buddha. The Yamantaka Wisdom King is the Amitayus Tathagata Buddha. The Vajrayaksa Wisdom King is the Amoghasiddhi Tathagata Buddha.
Furthermore, Tathagata holds another meaning. Within the Buddha Dao, it refers to one who continuously accumulates good causes and finally achieves Buddhahood, hence the name Tathagata—the true-body Tathagata. Moreover, the two words 'Tathagata' also represent the past and the future.
In years past.
The Great Sun Radiant Emperor manifested as a tyrannical sun blooming in the Nine Yin, awing all demons and ghosts, hailed as the Great Sun Radiance Incarnation, unprecedented and unrepeatable.
Not long after, the Western Heaven Buddha Emperor Miao Tathagata also manifested as a Great Sun blooming in the Nine Yin, thereby shattering the mythical legend of the Great Sun Radiant Emperor.
Moreover, when the Great Sun Radiant Emperor manifested as the Great Sun, he merely illuminated the Nine Yin.
But when the Western Heaven Buddha Emperor Miao Tathagata manifested as the Great Sun, he delivered the Nine Yin.
Not only that.
This Miao Tathagata also severed the Nine Yin Sacred Stele. After severing it, he left upon the broken stele words of arrogance beyond measure:
All demons and monsters are but ants,
The Lord of Darkness clings to life, fearing reincarnation,
Slaying all darkness to deliver the Nine Yin,
Only my Buddha, Miao Tathagata.
These lines were the epitome of arrogance.
They also fulfilled the eight words Miao Tathagata uttered at birth with each step blooming lotuses: In heaven and on earth, I alone am honored.