Chen Zhou ignored him. Just as he was about to activate the power of the Black Sludge Pond, he suddenly sensed a pure aura approaching.
He turned around to see Nie Chaoxi standing nearby. She wore a moon-white dress, her long hair draped over her shoulders, and her entire being radiated a crisp, pure aura.
In the sunlight, her spirit beast body shimmered with a faint water-like rhythm. She looked holy and dignified, naturally inspiring a sense of goodwill in others.
“Your Eminence.”
She walked forward and bowed to Chen Zhou before turning to Wu Gou and giving a slight nod.
Wu Gou looked her up and down before pressing his palms together in return. “Miss Chaoxi, it has been a long time.”
“Why didn't you go fishing at the moat today? I saw everyone gathered there to fish when I passed by just now.”
Nie Chaoxi straightened up, her expression solemn. “Back in Tianchi Province, there was something I wanted to tell you, but I never found the right opportunity.”
Chen Zhou slapped his forehead; he had almost forgotten about that.
When Nie Chaoxi finished merging with the Golden Buddha trait and fell into a deep sleep, she had apparently seen some of the Golden Buddha’s memories.
However, there had been so much going on at the time. After returning from the Gloomlight provincial capital, he had been busy heading to the Fallen Dream. For a moment, he really had forgotten about it.
Chen Zhou said, “It was my own oversight.”
Nie Chaoxi took a deep breath and organized her thoughts.
“Your Eminence should already know that the Golden Buddha is not a naturally occurring object born of heaven and earth.”
Chen Zhou nodded.
“When I merged with the Golden Buddha, I saw in my sleep that it is actually a divine creation. Its creator is Bai Xing, one of the Sky-Monitoring Four-Direction Envoys.”
Chen Zhou’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Sky-Monitoring Bai Xing governs slaughter and conquest; he walks the path of slaughter.”
Nie Chaoxi spoke slowly.
“The core of the path of slaughter is to draw power from conflict and killing. Therefore, after the divine path collapsed, he used his own authority to create the consciousness of the Golden Buddha.”
A faint light flickered in her eyes, as if she were recalling fragmented images.
“Bai Xing’s authority is called the Karma-Severing Heavenly Punishment.”
“The most domineering aspect of this authority is its ability to forcibly convert the corpses, flesh, and even the un-dissipated origin of dead creatures into pure energy. As long as the killing does not stop and the remains do not run out, his power will never be exhausted.”
“The Golden Buddha is the core hub through which the Karma-Severing Heavenly Punishment operates.”
“Bai Xing took this pure energy and mixed it with special rules granted by his authority to create a pure scent that causes addiction.”
“He shaped it into the image of a Golden Buddha and cast it into various outer provinces.”
“Once the creatures of the outer provinces catch a whiff of this scent, they develop an instinctive craving from the depths of their souls. It is a temptation that no cultivator, demon, or other entity tormented by death qi can resist.”
Nie Chaoxi paused and looked up at the sky, seemingly caught in an indescribable emotion.
“As soon as the powerhouses of various regions begin to fight over the Golden Buddha, conflict arises.”
“The more creatures die in battle, and the more flesh and corpses there are, the more the Golden Buddha can absorb them to replenish its own energy.”
“Bai Xing has to pay nothing. He doesn't need to send a single soldier or waste a shred of his authority. He can continuously harvest the power of slaughter from the conflicts in the outer provinces, sitting back and receiving endless offerings.”
“As long as there are outer provinces, as long as there are living beings, and as long as greed and killing never end, the Karma-Severing Heavenly Punishment can operate forever.”
“Bai Xing only needs to occasionally drop a Golden Buddha to ignite a seemingly insignificant conflict, and he can harvest the bones and flesh of countless beings.”
“The Golden Buddha that descended on Tianchi Province a thousand years ago was pushed by Sky-Monitoring Qing Lu from behind the scenes.”
“Qing Lu walks the Path of the True Dragon. He needs to devour beings with the destiny of a worldly king to perfect his own true dragon body.”
“Back then, the three destined kings of Tianchi Province were all within his calculations and schemes.”
“But the Golden Buddha that descended on Gloomlight Province this time was pushed by Zhu Pan.”
“Zhu Pan’s intention was different from both Qing Lu and Bai Xing.”
“He walks the Path of Karma-Fire Nirvana and seems to hold fragments of certain Underworld rules.”
“This path requires him to continuously accumulate sinful karma until it reaches saturation. Then, he must enter extinction, burning away all sins in the karma-fire to be reborn through nirvana. This allows him to advance further in his position within the Sky-Monitoring.”
“Simply put, the more sinful karma he accumulates, the stronger he becomes after nirvana.”
“Because of the presence of Lian and the black spots in Gloomlight Province, that land is heavily burdened with sinful karma. It was the most ideal place for Zhu Pan to harvest it.”
“He dropped the Golden Buddha to trigger conflict, making the creatures of that land kill and frame one another. This caused the province’s already heavy sinful karma to skyrocket again within just a few decades, which was exactly enough for him to complete the accumulation for one nirvana.”
“As for Bai Xing, he seems indifferent to where the Golden Buddha lands.”
“As long as it can stir up disputes and slaughter, and as long as he can continuously absorb the origin returning from the conflict, the Karma-Severing Heavenly Punishment can function as usual. Whether the Golden Buddha is cast into Tianchi or Gloomlight, the result is the same to him.”
After Nie Chaoxi finished speaking, she remained silent for a moment before adding one more thing.
“Additionally, there was one detail in the fragmented memories of the Golden Buddha that I found very concerning.”
“When the Golden Buddha was being manufactured, the Four-Direction Envoys did not seem to be a unified front.”
“Sky-Monitoring Xuan Cai seemed to have significant objections to Bai Xing creating the Golden Buddha. The two of them had a dispute, but in the end, nothing came of it, and they didn't officially have a falling out.”
Chen Zhou didn't speak, simply listening quietly.
He had previously speculated about the origin of the Golden Buddha and the relationships between the Sky-Monitoring Four-Direction Envoys, but the memories Nie Chaoxi saw in her dream tied many scattered clues together.
Zhu Pan needed sinful karma, Qing Lu needed the true dragon destiny, and Bai Xing needed conflict and slaughter. Though their goals and methods differed, they all pointed to the same thing.
Provoking conflict in the outer provinces to make the local inhabitants kill each other.
And Xuan Cai, as one of the Sky-Monitoring Four-Direction Envoys, had clashed with Bai Xing during the creation of the Golden Buddha.
This person’s stance was indeed worth contemplating.
Wu Gou listened from the side. After a moment of silence, he suddenly said, “So the Golden Buddha was never a supreme treasure born of heaven and earth at all. It was a sickle used by Bai Xing to harvest the inhabitants of the outer provinces.”
Nie Chaoxi nodded.
Wu Gou lowered his head and looked at his hands. A faint golden light from the awakening of his Wenchang destiny the previous night still lingered on his palms.
“When I was in the Northern Region years ago, I always thought the Golden Buddha was a creation of heaven and earth, a sliver of hope left by the Heavenly Dao.”
He said softly, “Back then, I thought that if I could see the Golden Buddha with my own eyes, it would be a truly magnificent opportunity.”
“I imagine that when Purity and Filth was in despair and fought with all his might to seize the Golden Buddha, he thought the same. He believed he had finally found a cure that could end the suffering of Tianchi.”
His voice was calm, but there was an unidentifiable trace of bitterness in his tone.
“It seems my knowledge was shallow after all.”
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