Chapter 2448 - The Secrets of the Buddhas’ Negative Karma

The Buddha of the Future had returned to his true appearance. His skin was as smooth as jade, and he had the countenance of a Buddhist statue, his gaze profound and full of the vicissitudes of countless years.

When he poured his power into the bodhi leaf, a curtain of light appeared, reflecting the Dipankara Buddha seated beneath the bodhi tree once more.

When he saw that the Buddha of the Future was no longer hiding his true appearance, the Dipankara Buddha seemed to realize something. “Did you fail?”

The Buddha of the Future nodded. “He didn’t just not take the bait; he seemed to see through it. He managed to catch me off guard at a critical juncture.”

He then launched into a concise explanation of the battle before sighing, “I can say with certainty that someone is guiding him in secret. He couldn’t have seen through our arrangements otherwise.”

The Dipankara Buddha fell briefly silent for a while before murmuring, “I’d originally thought that our plan was all but certain to succeed, but in the end, it seems we miscalculated.”

It sounded as if he found this a terrible pity.

The Buddha of the Future said, “The Well of Turbulent Daos is damaged, and the Maitreya Tower has been invaded. It’s no longer usable. I’m no longer at all confident that I can kill Su Yi here in the Boundless Battlefield.”

The Dipankara Buddha said suddenly, “Do you think he’s grasped our secret?”

The Buddha of the Future’s gaze focused. “It’s entirely possible.”

The Dipankara Buddha’s brow furrowed, and he sank deep into thought. The atmosphere silently grew stifled.

The Buddha of the Future said, “At the very least, we managed to borrow Su Yi’s hands to destroy the negative karma of our heart, body, and soul. We needn’t fear the Tribulations of Destiny going forward!”

The Dipankara Buddha nodded slightly. “If we’ve already been exposed, there’s no need to hide it any longer. Go back.”

“Got it!” said the Buddha of the Future.

......

“So, that old man was really the Buddha of the Future!”

“No wonder he was so terrifying.”

“But why did those three Eternal Source energies scare him off? Is there more to this than meets the eye?”

Wen Qingfeng and the others were discussing the situation. They’d learned the Buddha of the Future’s identity from Su Yi, and all of them were stunned.

“There really is more to this story,” said Su Yi, his eyes flashing. “The three Demon Progenitors were all once Celestial Demons who fell from the River of Destiny following a tribulation: a Soul Demon, Body Demon, and Heart Demon respectively.

“But, if you really trace them all the way back to their source, the three Celestial Demons were actually manifestations of the negative karma of three old-timers.

“Progenitor Huan Yan of the Thousand Transformation Soul Demons was the Dipankara Buddha’s negative karma, Progenitor Huang Qi of the Deathless Body Demons was the negative karma of the Buddha of the Present, and Old Man Heart Demon was the negative karma of the Buddha of the Future!”

Wen Qingfeng and the others all looked stricken. They found this hard to believe.

The three Demon Progenitors were manifestations of the three Buddhas’ negative karma? That’s unbelievable!

“The Dipankara Buddha presides over the past, lighting the lamp of the soul to illuminate bygone ages.

“The Buddha of the Present presides over the current age, his blood and qi like a lotus connecting ten thousand worlds.

“And the Buddha of the Future presides over days yet to come, his heart like a mirror reflecting the secrets of the unknown,” said Su Yi. “Only now do I realize that those three old-timers were once prominent experts of the River of Destiny!”

Boom!

Everyone felt as if they’d been struck by lightning. This secret shook them to the core!

The three Buddhas... were originally from the River of Destiny!? If word gets out, it’ll shake the entire God Domain!

Su Yi was inwardly quite surprised, too.

When he first acquired the Three Demon Progenitors’ Eternal Source Powers, he planned to refine them to increase his strength, but when he sensed their energies, he discovered something amiss.

Especially when he used the power of reincarnation to examine them further. Much to his surprise, he discovered a few inerasable marks in the three Eternal Sources.

The aura of reincarnation awakened the secrets within them, bringing them to light. It was then that Su Yi learned the Three Demon Progenitors’ true origins!

Su Yi had discussed it with his first incarnation’s heart devil. The heart devil’s explanation was simple: experts of the Path of Eternity had to face Karmic Tribulations. If they couldn’t overcome them, their negative karma would erupt, and they’d fall from the Path of Eternity!

Such incidents occurred throughout the River of Destiny.

Eternal meant “ageless” and “undying.”

But Karmic Tribulations could cast cultivators out of the Path of Eternity.

The lucky would see a drop in their cultivations and find themselves plagued by negative karma. If they couldn’t resolve it, they could forget about ever advancing any further in their cultivation.

The unlucky simply perished, their Daos destroyed completely!

Buddhas of the Past, Present, and Future had obviously failed to overcome their Karmic Tribulations, but instead of dying, their cultivations dropped, and they’d been plagued by negative karma ever since.

Their negative karma had transformed into Huan Yan, Huang Qi, and Ling Mi, the Three Demon Progenitors!

By killing the Three Demon Progenitors, Su Yi had inadvertently helped rid the three Buddhas of their negative karma, freeing them from their shackles!

The three Eternal Source Energies each bore the marks of the three Buddhas’ negative karma.

If he hadn’t noticed in time, he might well have tried to refine them. That would have given the negative karma a chance to invade him, polluting his heart, soul, and body!

That was the most lethal threat, and it was hidden in the most enticing of bait, making it difficult to guard against.

Although Su Yi hadn’t fallen for it, there was no denying that their plans had half succeeded. At the very least, Su Yi had shattered their karmic fetters for them. They’d no longer need to suffer their weight, and now, their cultivations had hope further advancement. They even had a shot at stepping onto the Path of Eternity once more.

That had been the Buddhas’ plan all along. They’d lured Su Yi to the Boundless Battlefield to borrow his hands and rid themselves of their negative karma.

At the same time, they were using the Outsider Celestial Demons to take Su Yi down.

Had Su Yi taken the bait and died, the Dipankara Buddha and the others would have shattered their karmic fetters

and

acquired the Epoch Spark and secrets of reincarnation.

They’d have profited on numerous fronts at once!

The most terrifying part of their plan was that even if Su Yi won, they’d have achieved at least one of their goals. No matter what, they came out ahead!

“Their negative karma alone was enough to manifest the progenitors of the Outsider Celestial Demons, and by extension, the entire race. Just how strong were the three Buddhas when they were in the Path of Eternity?” Wen Qingfeng couldn’t help but murmur, disbelief written all over his face.

The Three Demon Progenitors all had power comparable to Di E. They were considerably stronger than even Nine-Tribulation Master Gods.

Throughout the ages, they’d been the mightiest and most terrifying living things in the Boundless Battlefield. None could compare with them.

Who could have imagined that they were merely the manifestations of negative karma?

“The Dipankara Buddha hid himself far too deeply!” someone murmured. “He... He actually stepped into the Path of Eternity and traveled the River of Destiny! Even the chosen Bringer of Order, Di E, is inferior to him!”

Su Yi could tell that Wen Qingfeng and the others were shocked. In truth, he hadn’t expected that the Dipankara Buddha had such shocking origins, either.

“No matter how powerful he was, that’s all in the past,” said Su Yi. “He met with a tribulation on the River of Destiny, and his cultivation base has long since fallen out of the Path of Eternity. Over the years, he’s been plagued by negative karma, like a beast in a cage, unable to advance any further.

“Even though he’s now free of his karmic fetters, he’ll need to seek out an opportunity to prove his Dao and achieve Eternity once more!

“In that sense, he’s no little different from anyone else. You needn’t be overly concerned, nor should you underestimate yourselves.”

The group gradually calmed down. A moment later, they realized something.

In the Thousand Deaths Mountains, the Buddha of the Future said that one of Su Yi’s past lives was from a place called the Eternal Heavens Domain, and that his status was incomparably mysterious and transcendent.

At the time, they hadn’t understood why the Buddha of the Future was privy to such secrets, but now, it all finally made sense.

There was no doubt about it. The three Buddhas had once stepped onto the River of Destiny, so they knew Su Yi’s past life!

Su Yi didn’t say anything on the matter, but he’d reached another tentative conclusion. It was just that this conclusion was so shocking that he couldn’t yet confirm it.

He suspected that the Dipankara Buddha of the Past, the Buddha of the Present, and the Buddha of the Future were originally a single being.

The Dipankara Buddha was their soul, the Buddha of the Present was their body, and the Buddha of the Future was their heart!

After all, although the three types of negative karma were all different, they could support each other.

Should this hypothesis prove true, it would require completely re-evaluating the three Buddhas’ strength!

“Let’s go,” said Su Yi, setting aside his scattered thoughts. He’d decided to resume their journey and kill more enemies!

......

The God Domain. The Spirit Firmament Divine Continent, the Hazy Sea Forbidden Zone.

Near the entrance to the Boundless Battlefield, the sky was shattered into countless pieces.

It had been three months since Su Yi had used the Sky-Stealing Hook to enter the Boundless Battlefield. Now, two figures stood beneath the shattered dome of heaven.

The first was Di E.

The second was the Dipankara Buddha.

The former was dressed in black, tall, thin, and looked as if he stood amidst endless darkness. Mystical glyphs of the natural order whirled around him.

The latter had the countenance of a Buddhist statue. As bony and thin as he looked, he also seemed somehow unshakeable.

“By this point, I no longer see any reason to hide it.” Di E turned to face the Dipankara Buddha. “The rest of the God Domain might be ignorant of your origins, but I found out a long time ago.”

The Dipankara Buddha’s gaze focused. “So you didn’t simply seal the Boundless Battlefield’s entrance to trap Su Yi’s old friends.”

Di E said calmly, “That’s right.”

He said no more, but some things didn’t need to be said out loud for the other party to understand.

“Just as I thought. I knew this couldn’t have been so simple,” sighed the Dipankara Buddha. “The sealed Boundless Battlefield confined Su Yi’s old friends, but it also trapped my negative karma.

“Had things gone according to your plans, I’d have no choice but to ask for your help to assure that those manifestations of my negative karma weren’t wiped out.

“Perhaps... that was your goal all along?”

The Dipankara Buddha looked at Di E, his gaze as tranquil as the waters of an ancient lake.

Di E looked at him. “Are you... willing to beg me now?”

The Dipankara Buddha fell silent.

Di E’s gaze shifted back to the shattered dome of heaven.

“You were once a supreme expert of the River of Destiny, with prestige as grand as the heavens themselves, and a lofty, transcendent position. Tales of your legendary accomplishments circulate throughout the River of Destiny even now.”

Di E paused, then said, “But all of that is in the past!

“In your current state, you’re... no more than a pitiful worm plagued by negative karma!”

His calm voice was tinged with disdain.