Young Noble Be Monster Slaying
Chapter 913: The Nameless Ancient Buddha

"There's a stone stele here?"

Upon leaving the temple courtyard, Chu Liang's group spotted a stone stele outside the rear gate.

There was a note written on it:

To seek the Primordial Origin, I severed the link to my diabolical thoughts and developed an incantation to kill my devil embryo. Yet, the devil embryo did not perish. It will one day bring calamities. All we can do is use the sariras of many high monks to suppress it. To those who arrive at this tower in the future, do not touch it.

Reading it, they realized that they had entered through the temple from the rear courtyard; the entrance was on this side.

No one knew how many years had passed since that note was written, but the words remained clear, glowing faintly with golden light. It seemed as if someone had inscribed them with just their fingertip. They were just words, yet they contained so much spiritual energy that the stone stele might even be usable as an enchanted artifact. It indicated that the writer of this note was likely incredibly powerful, terrifyingly so.

The Azure Dragon was the first to speak. "This isn't the script that's used in the higher realm. The person who sealed the devil embryo here was an Eminent One from the mortal world."

Many artifacts found within the Divine Ruins bore inscriptions, but those were all in the cryptic Heavenly Dao script. The note on the stele had been inscribed in the written language that humans of the mortal world used, clearly indicating that this stele had not fallen from the heavens.

"Primordial Origin..." Daoist Yan muttered.

Grand Ancestor Wuchao was the Dao Master of Chaotic Mass, the embodiment of ultimate darkness. It was immensely powerful. The counterpart to Chaotic Mass was Primordial Origin, the embodiment of ultimate light.

"This is merely a severed devil embryo, yet it possesses such formidable abilities… Just how powerful was that Eminent One?" Caiyi's gaze flitted around as she wondered about the person in question. "Could they have been a Hallowed One?"

"It seems like they're a Hallowed One on the path of Buddhism... Could they have been a Buddha of the mortal world? But if that's the case, why are there no records of such a person?" Chu Liang said puzzledly.

Every ninth-realm cultivator was the Hallowed One of their era. As long as a Hallowed One appeared in the mortal world, there was no way they would not leave a mark on the world. Even the reclusive and ancient Southern Shaman God, a Hallowed One with a low profile, had bits and pieces of legends about him that had survived through the ages.

Records of the Hallowed Ones of the human race had always been made and passed down through the generations. The first human Hallowed One, Hallowed Li, was still remembered today, so there was no reason that there would not be any records about those who came after him.

"Is it possible... that he didn't operate within the nine provinces?" Caiyi suggested. "Isn't there a long-standing legend that the Buddhist cultivation legacy came from somewhere even farther west of the Far West? Back in the day, some demon elders did try exploring farther west, but all they found was a vast sea. That said, what if… what if there was once another continent over there, where they raised Buddhist cultivators like this one… but something happened that caused it to vanish?"

The others listened to her theory and found it very plausible.

Chu Liang pondered it seriously.

Hallowed Ones and Eminent Ones existed in ancient times, but the communication methods used back then were nowhere near as good as the ones used now. Moreover, the population of living beings was far smaller. As a result, information rarely spread between distant regions. 

Some ancient records contained vague references to lands beyond the Far West, but no one had actually seen what was there. Most assumed it referred to a hidden realm. However, with what Chu Liang's group knew now, it seemed entirely possible that what lay beyond the Far West was a continent that had vanished.

There had once been a human Hallowed One on the Buddhism path who hailed from the lands beyond the Far West. For some reason, there was not one record of his existence. He had severed his devil embryo and suppressed it using immense power in the Divine Ruins… He had likely chosen this place because it was remote and uninhabited, drastically lowering the risk of the devil embryo being freed.

That was true, but he missed a fatal flaw.

He had come from beyond the Far West, so the path he had taken to enter the Divine Ruins was completely opposite to the one from the nine provinces!

He had likely put in place some formations to prevent people from entering, but they wouldn't have been difficult for the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten's expedition team to break through.

So… the expedition team likely saw the stone stele only after they had taken the sariras from the tower... and those who managed to escape the slaughter and flee from the temple courtyard probably hadn't been in any state to stop and read what was on the stone stele.

It sounded kind of comical, but this small mistake had led to the near-total annihilation of some of the strongest cultivators from the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten.

Then Chu Liang thought of Lin Poyun, the Dark King Sect's leader. This nameless ancient Buddha had used the power of light to cut out his devil embryo, while Lin Poyun had used the power of darkness to cut the good out of him. The processes seemed eerily similar. Could there be a connection between the two people?

Of course, by this point, it no longer mattered.

Even if this nameless ancient Buddha had been at the ninth realm, the devil embryo he severed couldn't possibly have retained the power of a Hallowed One. And with Daoist Yan capable of summoning a legendary artifact at will, Chu Liang's group had no need to fear a being that did not have a legendary artifact.

Those below the ninth realm were no match for a legendary artifact.

…

Chu Liang's group continued forward. They walked through the fog for quite a while, and the glow in Caiyi's eyes gradually grew brighter.

"We're very close," Caiyi stated, hurrying ahead.

She waved her hand to disperse the fog in front of her. They didn't see a landscape of pavilions and towers this time. Instead, it was a giant sinkhole.

The sinkhole stretched out as far as the eye could see and ran endlessly deep. Its depths were pitch-black, devoid of even a speck of light. When the group extended their divine senses into it, they felt like they were being swallowed whole.

Was this a bottomless abyss?

"Are we going down?" the Azure Dragon asked.

"Yes," Caiyi replied without hesitation, looking straight down into the sinkhole. "I can sense it—the spiritual energy I gave him. It's down there!"

The group exchanged glances and nods.

Since they had already made it this far, they had no choice but to descend and see how deep the sinkhole ran, even if it was indeed a bottomless abyss.

It was pointless for them to leave someone behind to keep watch, as no one could cover up the entire sinkhole when it was this vast. Moreover, if any threats emerged, it was far better for them to fight together instead of splitting up.

Once they were done discussing, the Azure Dragon transformed into his true dragon form. The other three climbed onto his back, pressing close to his scales as he flew downward.

That way, the one with the toughest corporeal body would be at the bottom. If danger struck, the old Azure Dragon would take the brunt of the damage.

The Azure Dragon had no complaints. The moment he took up the Great Dao of Taiyi, he had understood that it was his fate to get beaten up. If he didn't get beaten up, how would he get hurt? If he didn't get hurt, how would he recover? And if he had no need to recover, why would he want to be the master of this Great Dao?

The Azure Dragon glided gracefully through the air. He wasn't going at full speed, but the descent was still incredibly fast. All Chu Liang could hear was the wind howling in his ears. 

After falling for quite a while, he started to feel something was off. We're flying at such high speed, so why haven't we reached the bottom yet? Are we going to end up flying straight to the other side of the world?

Just as he was about to don the Crimson Devil Helmet to extend his divine sense, a gust of devilish qi blew past his ears.

Beside him, Daoist Yan said reassuringly, "Hold tight to Noble Azure Dragon. We'll handle this."

Looking up, Chu Liang saw a dark fog cloud descending toward them. Two devilish figures stood on the cloud amid the swirling black fog, emitting waves of murderous qi. They seemed extremely powerful.

Daoist Yan and Caiyi raised their heads in unison. Caiyi sent a multicolored arc of light into the black fog, immediately obscuring the vision of the two devilish figures. Daoist Yan raised her hand and unleashed a sword strike. The Heavenly Cloud Ancient Sword's qi surged skyward like a river piercing the heavens!

Boom!

A deafening explosion erupted from the cloud of black fog, and the two devilish figures were blasted out of it. Nevertheless, they appeared completely unharmed.

Whoosh, whoosh!

The devilish figures landed on Azure Dragon's back, and one of them dropped right in front of Chu Liang.

Chu Liang got a clear look at the devilish figure.

That fierce and treacherous face—it's Daoist Cangqiu of the Penglai Supreme Sect!

However, Daoist Cangqiu's eyes were now brimming with darkness, and he exuded murderous qi from head to toe. He had already become something akin to the devilish corpses in the temple courtyard.

The difference was that those devilish corpses were just leftover husks. Even with the support of the spiritual energy in the sariras, their combat strength was limited. Daoist Cangqiu, on the other hand, was still alive. He was an Eminent One who had mastered countless divine abilities and Great Daos, and now, he was even more terrifying!

Daoist Cangqiu's target was clear. He had gone straight for Chu Liang. Even though he seemed to have lost his mind, the hatred he harbored toward Chu Liang was etched deeply into his bones. 

He unleashed a chain of purple lightning and transformed it into a legendary weapon, directing an attack straight at Chu Liang's face!

Chu Liang had only one response. "Noble Azure Dragon, save me!"

"RAAAAAAAAR!" the Azure Dragon roared. He rose from beneath them and transformed back into his humanoid form. He yelled, "Come at me if you dare!"