Chapter 2680 - The Buddha Examines a Drop of Water Reflecting His Three Lives

The crowd watched with bated breath as Su Yi and Xiao Jian appeared on the Five Elements Altar.

Xiao Jian’s terrifying power was on full display in the first two rounds. Everyone saw him as a competitor on the level of Di E and the Dipankara Buddha, someone capable of crushing others of the same level.

But now that Su Yi had broken through, it wouldn’t do to underestimate him, either!

Now, it was time for the two of them to determine a victor. Whoever won would become the Bringer of Order!

But against all expectations, as soon as Xiao Jian appeared on the Five Elements Altar, he sat down and said, “You just broke through. Take this time to stabilize your cultivation base. No need to rush, either; I can afford to wait.”

The crowd was stunned.

Isn’t Xiao Jian worried that if he waits until Su Yi has stabilized his cultivation base, he won’t have any hope of victory at all?

“Alright.” Su Yi sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and started to meditate.

From the look of things, he wasn’t the least bit worried that Xiao Jian would seize the opportunity to ambush him!

The crowd exchanged glances. Even if you’d hit them over the head, they would never have guessed that something so unreasonable would happen.

This was the Battle for Order! The duel that would determine the fate of the God Domain!

Who knew how many people were watching intently? Who’d have dared imagine that Su Yi would plop down in the middle of the battlefield to cultivate?

“You...” An old man cried out after a long stifled pause, “How can you act like this!?”

Xiao Jian just sat there leisurely and smiled back. “Why shouldn’t we act like this?”

The old man was instantly at a loss for words. No one else said anything either.

After all, the Patrolling Spirit hadn’t objected. Why should they?

Su Yi, meanwhile, had entered deep meditation, forgetting himself completely. Everyone knew that if Xiao Jian attacked now, Su Yi would be badly injured or even killed.

But Xiao Jian did no such thing.

After a while, he seemed to decide that sitting cross-legged was too tiring, so he just wrapped his arms around his knees, leaned back, and gazed into the dome of heaven in silence.

No one knew what he was thinking about.

Sometimes, in the imperial courts of the mundane world, the emperor wasn’t anxious, but the eunuchs were worried sick. It was much the same now; the spectators were more anxious than the participants.

Still, the frantic onlookers had no choice but to wait in silence.

All was quiet on all sides. The five-colored auspicious clouds blanketed the dome of heaven, pure, holy, and resplendent.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

This was the tallest point of Red Pine Mountain. Gazing down from the peak, you could see its seemingly endless slopes.

Beyond that, you could see that all-encompassing spacetime fault. The portion of Red Pine Mountain visible in the God Domain had initially emerged through it. Half was on one side, half on the other.

Or perhaps not. The rest of the mountain had never appeared on this side of the spacetime fault, so no one knew just how big it really was.

“Patrolling Spirit, might I ask whether the Nine Abysses lie at the bottom of that spacetime fault?” someone asked suddenly.

“That’s right,” said the yellow finch. “That’s the origin of Red Pine Mountain, as well as the origin of the myriad Daos of the God Domain, and the chaos source of the present epoch.”

It paused, then looked at the Five Elements Altar, its voice not so much as rippling with emotion.

“The Five Elements Altar is a manifestation of Red Pine Mountain’s source Beneath the Nine Abysses. Whoever controls it shall become the master of this mountain. They’ll master the source of myriad Daos, and naturally, they’ll become the ruler of the present epoch, too.”

The crowd had long since known these secrets, but hearing the finch admit it directly still left their hearts churning with emotion.

This was the true purpose of the Battle for Order!

“What about that ancient tripod cauldron?” someone couldn’t help but ask. “Is it Beneath the Nine Abysses too?”

Everyone instantly pricked up their ears.

These experts from the River of Destiny had known about that mysterious cauldron for a long time now. Rumors surrounding it were no longer secret.

But there were numerous competing theories surrounding its origins. All they knew for sure was that it tempted Heavenly Sovereigns!

The Great Extinguishing swept across the Central Divine Continent back then precisely because of experts fighting over the cauldron!

The yellow finch swept its gaze across the crowd. “Only the Bringer of Order can learn such secrets.”

The crowd fell silent.

One of them wasn’t willing to accept this. He pushed, “Patrolling Spirit, might you at least tell us the cauldron’s true origins?”

The yellow finch shook its head. “Only the Bringer of Order is qualified to understand that.”

The crowd wasn’t getting any answers, but they were increasingly certain that the mysterious tripod cauldron was extraordinary. It surely hid enormous mysteries and secrets!

Suddenly, Xiao Jian asked, “Red Pine Mountain’s chaos source has given rise to Eternal power. This is highly unusual. Nothing of the sort happened in past epoch civilizations. Is that... perhaps connected to the cauldron?”

He was from the Path of the Ancient Gods, and he’d lived in the Abyssal Ruin at its far end, bearing witness as one epoch after another was lost to the ages.

But he’d never once seen an epoch civilization give rise to Eternal source power.

Against the crowd’s expectations, the yellow finch confirmed his theory. “That’s right!”

The crowd stirred. Everyone couldn’t help but click their tongue with astonishment. They finally understood why even Heavenly Sovereigns found the cauldron so enticing.

It had given rise to Eternal power!

Those who’d stepped into Eternal had long since transcended the alternation of the epochs. Thus, treasures beneath the Eternal level ceased to interest them in any way.

They were participating in this Battle for Order for three simple reasons.

First, to vie for a chance to preside over all great epoch civilizations.

Second, to compete for that mysterious cauldron.

Third, to pluck Su Yi’s Dao Fruit!

The first and third reasons needed no further explanation, but the cauldron was shrouded in mystery. Even now, no one could see through it.

Now, the yellow finch’s answer helped them realize just what made the cauldron so mystical.

It was a treasure, yet it had given rise to Eternal power and fused an epoch civilization’s chaos source, becoming a portion of Red Pine Mountain’s power. This was unquestionably unbelievable.

All of the Eternals present had Eternal weapons, and their understanding of Eternal treasures was far from ordinary. They naturally understood how unbelievable it was for that cauldron to have such a wondrous application!

“In that case, I just about understand,” murmured Xiao Jian. No one knew what he was thinking about, but he returned this gaze to the dome of heaven.

From beginning to end, Su Yi just sat there, deep in meditation, unaware of their conversation or the passage of time.

......

Deep within the endless spacetime void.

A monk sat in the lotus position within a mystical barrier, hands in front of his abdomen and fingers forming a seal. He looked utterly tranquil and unassuming.

When Su Yi entered the second round of the Battle for Order, the monk’s heart suddenly stirred. The young monk in gray, the one who’d accompanied the Dipankara Buddha here, only to wash out in the first battle, silently left the peak.

When the young monk reached the base of Five Elements Peak, he evaporated into thin air. Not even the slightest vestige of him remained.

At the same time, a drop of water appeared between the palms of the monk’s hands.

The droplet rose, then floated in front of his eyes. When it silently started spinning, it reflected scenes from the Five Elements Altar.

But the scenes ended abruptly as Su Yi entered the second round.

The droplet, meanwhile, fused into the monk’s forehead, right between the eyes.

“The Buddha examines a drop of water, for it reflects his three lives,” whispered the monk.

Boom!

His tranquil, unassuming frame suddenly underwent a shocking transformation. Countless Sanskrit markings surged forth, burning with buddhist flame and emanating the sound of chanted sutras...

Visions of the Western paradise condensed out of the Sanskrit, fire, and chanting.

A figure within the vision of paradise shifted continuously, taking on three starkly different forms.

An old monk holding a lamp that illuminated the past.

A young monk with an alms bowl hovering over his head. Water shifted within it, reflecting the present.

A barefoot monk traversing immeasurable expanses of heaven and earth, walking the ethereal, endless path of the future.

Gradually, the three figures’ starkly different paths converged, like three lines meeting.

From beginning to end, the monk sat cross-legged, Buddhist flames and Sanskrit markings surging around him. The chanting of sutras rang out endlessly.

He paid no heed to anything happening in that vision of the Western Paradise.

Before long, the monk making his arduous, barefooted trek into the future and the young monk with the hovering alms bowl crossed paths, then fused, like two droplets of water meeting. There was no longer any separation between them.

Suddenly, the monk’s lips moved, and he chanted, “The future is here, laying the foundations for my path. The road lies beneath my feet, and I see the future in the present.”

Boom!

The fused figure within the vision of the Western Paradise took on the appearance of a young monk, a twenty-four-tiered lotus platform beneath his feet. It shone with endless radiance, the light of the future.

When the Dipankara Buddha died atop the Five Elements Altar, the monk seated cross-legged deep in the endless void smiled and chanted, “The past is severed, and fate comes to naught.”

Moments later, the vision of the Western Paradise shifted once more, as the young monk encountered a thin elderly monk holding a lamp.

The two of them silently fused like a droplet of water.

The Western Paradise seemed to boil, and flowers of the Grand Dao rained down from the heavens. Golden lotuses surged from the bowels of the earth, and endless buddhist light illuminated it all. The sound of chanting boomed throughout heaven and earth.

A Buddha appeared at the center of the Western Paradise, enormous beyond measure. His feet were planted on the ground, but his head pierced the dome of heaven.

An alms bowl floated over his head, while he stood on a twenty-four-tired lotus platform.

A blue lamp floated in front of him, its flames never going out.

The past and future had fused with the present, becoming one body, one supreme throughout creation!

The monk clasped his palms together with the solemn countenance of a Buddhist statue. Suddenly, his features were clear and smoother. He now looked like a youth.

“Good!”

His voice boomed like a Buddhist chant, seemingly full of endless ruefulness.

A moment later, all of the strange phenomena reflected around him vanished, and the stretch of void within the barrier returned to stillness.