“Who is that guy?” someone asked as they looked at Xu Zimo’s back.
“No idea. Not sure if he’s really that confident or just bluffing,” another replied, shaking their head.
At this moment, whether it was Liu Zongfang, the people from Immortal Mortal Sacred Ground, or the members of the Buddha Realm, all of them had thoughtful expressions.
They didn’t believe Xu Zimo would risk everything just to boast.
But they also couldn’t figure out what gave him that confidence.
The black hole in front of them surged, and the surrounding space rippled irregularly.
An extremely evil energy raged around them.
“Do you know who sealed this entrance?” Xu Zimo asked.
“From what I’ve gathered, it was a powerful figure from the Buddhist path,” Death God Qin replied.
He had done some research on the Buddha Burial Temple before.
As he spoke, he suddenly realized something.
His eyes narrowed slightly. “A Buddhist powerhouse... Does this have something to do with the Buddha Realm? Heavenless Emperor or Radiant Emperor?”
Before, he had never associated the sealing power with the Buddha Realm.
But seeing all this now, it suddenly clicked.
“Strictly speaking, neither,” Xu Zimo shook his head and smiled. “This seal opens only once every thousand years. In other words, there’s only one chance every millennium to enter the Buddha Burial Temple.”
“You still haven’t answered my question,” Death God Qin said.
“You’ll know once we go inside,” Xu Zimo smiled.
He had previously used the Primordial Chaos Bead to travel through the river of time and specifically researched the origins of the Buddha Burial Temple.
What he saw left him deeply moved.
As he spoke, Xu Zimo stepped into the dark, evil-filled black hole.
The space ahead spun irregularly, and the surrounding evil energy constantly invaded his body.
Especially his mind, the dark energy tried to destroy his consciousness.
But none of this mattered to Xu Zimo.
He spread the power of creation around himself.
The Power of Creation was the most supreme force of this world, the foundation of the universe.
Whether it was evil energy or demonic energy, they were all kept at bay.
As the surrounding space kept shattering, Xu Zimo felt like he was traveling a long distance through the void.
His body floated and then dropped.
Darkness filled his vision. Within it, countless eyes seemed to be watching him from the shadows.
Finally, after what felt like a long time, his vision brightened.
He appeared in a ruin.
At the same time, Death God Qin also emerged from the void.
“This is the Buddha Burial Temple?” Death God Qin looked around in disbelief.
In his imagination, a place should be shrouded in dark clouds, filled with monsters, oppressive and evil.
But now, there wasn’t even a trace of what a forbidden place should feel like.
Blue skies and white clouds, the sky was as beautiful as a watercolor painting.
The sun was bright, the air was fresh.
Only the two of them stood within ruins; the environment was a bit rundown, that’s all.
“True terror never announces how terrifying it is,” Xu Zimo smiled. “It only arrives with overwhelming force, destroying everything in its path.”
“Where are we exactly?” Death God Qin asked as he looked around.
“You wanted answers, didn’t you?” Xu Zimo smiled. “Take a look around, you might understand.”
Death God Qin nodded and tried to fly into the air.
But he found a force suppressing the space, he couldn’t fly under this seal.
Left with no choice, he walked around to explore the ruins.
The ruins stretched far and wide, so far that the end couldn’t be seen.
Strange rocks were scattered all around, and even within these ruins, the traces of former glory were still visible.
“This was a sect too, wasn’t it?” Death God Qin asked as he walked.
“Something like that,” Xu Zimo nodded. “Only, a great battle destroyed everything here.”
As they walked, they came upon two skeletons.
One was human, the other a monster.
“Evil Ancestor?” Death God Qin asked in surprise as he looked at the monster’s bones.
The bones were pitch black, the claws sharp, and two vampire-like fangs protruded from its mouth.
It looked almost exactly like the Evil Ancestor from earlier.
The two skeletons were locked in battle.
The monster’s fangs were buried in the human’s neck.
The human skeleton held a short ritual blade in its right hand, stabbed into the monster’s body.
Death God Qin walked closer.
These two had been dead for countless years and still remained in their final posture.
Looking farther ahead, Death God Qin noticed more and more skeletons.
Both monsters and humans.
The phrase “mountains of corpses” wasn’t an exaggeration. The sheer number of bones revealed how brutal that battle had been.
They carefully avoided stepping on the remains and continued forward.
Up ahead stood a great hall.
A very dilapidated hall, but compared to the other buildings, it was still barely standing.
Death God Qin entered the hall, finding many Buddhist artifacts inside.
There were meditation staffs, ritual knives, wooden fish, monks’ robes,
Even a few withered bodhi trees.
At the front of the hall hung a painting.
Despite the passage of time, the painting remained vivid.
It showed a bald man in a tattered gray robe with a gentle smile.
His smile was comforting.
At the bottom of the painting was a line of text:
“During the Age of Yicheng, we clung to our last glory and chose to make a final stand.”
Seeing this line, Death God Qin immediately reacted.
“Yicheng? Could it be the founder of the Buddha Realm, Sage Yicheng?”
Xu Zimo nodded calmly and looked at Death God Qin.
“He was a man of true virtue, someone who genuinely wanted to save all living beings. Not like the many false Buddhas now.”
“He must’ve lived in the same era as Grand Emperor Zhi Chi, right?” Death God Qin asked.
“Yes. Back then, everyone believed he was the most likely to carry the Heaven’s Will,” Xu Zimo nodded.
“If not for that war, the one who became Grand Emperor might not have been Zhi Chi.”
“He died here?” Death God Qin asked.
“They called it entering nirvana,” Xu Zimo replied.
The two continued walking. The true goal was beyond the ruins.
“I still don’t understand,” Death God Qin said along the way.
“What exactly happened here?”
“It all starts with the Blood-Devouring Evil Race,” Xu Zimo thought for a moment, then said.
“Sage Yicheng tried to save people. In the end, he died trying. And those people... stayed exactly the same. Nothing changed.”