Chapter 44: I Am the Buddha

His cultivation had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage—a fact he discovered the moment he woke up. His foundation was built upon an entire micro-world...

Having slumbered for one hundred and fifty years, he had thoroughly refined the Yin-Yang Secret Realm, turning it completely into his internal world.

This was the only possible way for Qin Changsheng to achieve Foundation Establishment after reaching the ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-ninth layer of the Qi Condensation stage, and he had succeeded.

The traditional Dao Foundation Establishment was unsuited for him. In the end, after falling into his deep slumber, he had inadvertently used the Yin-Yang Secret Realm to serve as his foundation.

Possessing this secret realm meant he could wield the laws of Yin-Yang within it at will, and freely mobilize all of its primordial essence. After all, both the essence and the laws belonged to the Yin-Yang Secret Realm, which had merged seamlessly with his physical body.

Whatever existed within the secret realm belonged to him.

Armed with these laws, he could harness his celestial energy.

Although his realm was nominally still at the Foundation Establishment stage, the actual combat power he could unleash had already surpassed his own imagination.

He had to admit that Nangong Ruoxi was his lucky star.

That woman was voluptuous and sexy, radiating the auspicious aura of a man's prosperous wife.

With the Longevity Stele, Qin Changsheng’s starting point had never been that of an ordinary Qi Condensation practitioner. Now, waking from his slumber, everything had undergone a heaven-shaking, earth-sattering transformation.

The last time he awoke, he still needed guidance from others and had to rely on fortuitous encounters bestowed by them. In the blink of an eye, he was now capable of bestowing fortunes upon others and altering the destinies of their lives.

"I wonder how those old acquaintances are doing."

"I wonder if Nangong Ruoxi succeeded in taking a master, and what realm Yuyan has reached by now?"

"And what about Xiaobai the little fox? Has she attained human form yet?"

"Presumably, she must be a female fox..."

"Had I known she was a female fox, I would have named her Daji."

Standing atop his flying sword, Qin Changsheng’s mind wandered through numerous idle thoughts. He only now realized that more than a hundred years had passed, and many of his old acquaintances might have undergone profound changes.

He just wondered if they still remembered him.

Although a century was merely a blink of an eye for cultivators, a hundred years was by no means short. A hundred years constituted a mortal's entire lifetime, and to many cultivators, it was also exceedingly long—long enough to forget many things and many people.

Qin Changsheng steered his flying sword toward Zhou City. If there was anywhere he might find his old acquaintances, Zhou City was bound to hold a few.

Qin Changsheng was equally curious about how those old acquaintances had fared after the lapse of a hundred and fifty years.

And then there were those two disgusting fellows—the monk and the Daoist priest. He wondered who had managed to corrupt the other.

Actually, regardless of who led whom astray, it was hardly a bad thing for Qin Changsheng, because both fellows were destined to become immensely powerful in the future. Astray or not, the two of them were bound to shine brilliantly on any Dao they chose to follow.

Now that he was returning, he would witness it all.

The flying sword covered a distance of a thousand miles, moving several times faster than when Nangong Ruoxi had flown it previously. This was likely because Qin Changsheng’s aura was now celestial energy, further blessed and augmented by primordial essence.

Celestial energy reinforced with primordial essence could unleash the might of immortals. While inferior to true immortals, it was still far beyond the reach of ordinary cultivators.

Thus, though Qin Changsheng had slept for a hundred and fifty years and his cultivation realm seemed largely unchanged on the surface, his actual advancement had outstripped countless people. Because he had used a secret realm as his foundation—a realm brimming with countless primordial essences and powers of the Dao laws—and coupled it with vast reserves of celestial energy, he could unleash power akin to that of an immortal despite only being in the Foundation Establishment stage.

This was the cheat-like effect of possessing the Longevity Stele.

"I wonder if the White-Clothed Sword Immortal has attained immortality yet? Tsk tsk, I really want to experience her sword strike once more..."

Arriving at Zhou City, Qin Changsheng stepped down from his flying sword.

In the end, he decided against making trouble for the coffin shop. After all, he couldn't be certain whether the old coffin salesman had already been buried in the earth after a hundred and fifty years. Even if he hadn't, going back just to demand a refund of ten thousand spirit stones was hardly meaningful.

So he simply let it go.

When he last came to Zhou City, he had been accompanied by Nangong Ruoxi; this time, he had to arrive alone.

As he stepped into Zhou City, Qin Changsheng noticed that this ancient city hadn't changed much. The main gate was still the same gate, the architecture was still the same architecture, only the pedestrians coming and going had changed.

There was no young monk blocking his path, nor any Dao-robed youth hunting him down. Qin Changsheng shook his head with a sigh, "I need to find a place to gather some information and see what's been happening lately."

Qin Changsheng turned around, intending to find a teahouse to listen to people boast and chat.

Only to see a monk holding a sword suddenly appear before him out of nowhere. The monk wore a solemn expression, looking utterly sacred. What astonished Qin Changsheng was that this monk was not Wuling the young monk, but rather Chen An, the Dao-robed youth whom he least expected to see.

At this moment, the Dao-robed youth appeared quite righteous. Had it not been for the peachwood sword he cradled in his arms—one that Qin Changsheng recognized—he might have genuinely believed the fellow was born righteous.

Their meeting was entirely unexpected.

Qin Changsheng was startled, and the Dao-robed youth was equally taken aback.

"Qin Changsheng???"

The Dao-robed youth’s lips twitched. If he hadn't been accustomed to greeting ghosts, he certainly would have thought he was seeing a ghost right now.

Who could have imagined that a fellow who had vanished for a hundred and fifty years would reappear out of nowhere?

Moreover, he still emanated a fathomless aura. One had to know that over the years, he had gone to the Buddhist sect to study Buddhist doctrines, and his strength had already reached the peak of the Spirit Transformation stage, leaving him only a single step away from entering the Sage realm.

Yet the fellow before him still gave him the terrifying sensation of a bottomless abyss that devoured people whole.

Most crucially, Qin Changsheng no longer carried that decaying, rotten aura; instead, he seemed brimming with vibrant vitality.

By all accounts, he could easily live another two hundred years.

"Tsk tsk tsk, I never expected the first old acquaintance I'd see upon waking up would be you? What's this? Tired of wearing Daoist robes and switched to monk robes? You really know how to play, don't you?"

Qin Changsheng circled Chen An once, pondering whether it was still appropriate to call him the Dao-robed youth, seeing as he wasn't even wearing Daoist robes anymore...

"You're allowed to rise from the dead, Qin Changsheng, but I'm not allowed to practice Buddhism?"

The Dao-robed youth tightened his collar, prompting Qin Changsheng to notice that this fellow was wearing a Daoist robe as an inner garment beneath his monk's robes........

Looking further at his peachwood sword, it had already been coated with a layer of gold leaf, inscribed entirely with Buddhist scriptures.

"Interesting. What about the little monk? Since you've turned to Buddhism, does that mean he's fallen into demonic ways?"

Qin Changsheng seemed to have guessed something.

Sure enough, this absurd outcome was confirmed by the Dao-robed youth.

"That guy goes to pleasure houses to drink floral wine every single day now, and sometimes even plucks flowers. He plays much wilder than I ever did back then."

The Dao-robed youth wore a bizarre expression. After chatting with Qin Changsheng for a moment, another monk approached from behind him, instantly transforming his bizarre expression into one of solemn dignity as he placed his palms together and chanted, "Amitabha."

This hypocritical demeanor was precisely identical to the little monk of yesteryear.

With a few brief words, he dismissed the other monk, then waved his hands in helpless resignation. "Sigh, Buddhism was not my desire, yet I am Buddha, and Buddha is me. How difficult!"

Auras of golden light surged from his body, and the phantom of a Buddha manifested behind him.

He turned his gaze toward Qin Changsheng. "Patron Changsheng, how about taking refuge in Buddhism and following me?"

The mighty manifestation of the Buddha pressed down toward Qin Changsheng.......

Qin Changsheng: "........"