253: Chapter 253 Buddha is a Ghost, Pure Land Conceals Defilement

Jieyin and Zhunti emerged from the Primordial World, walking the path of the Sages, and eventually attained the Sage status.

After the Investiture of the Gods, the Sages ascended to the Thirty-Three Heavens, finding it difficult to set foot in the mortal world again.

Sect Leader Tongtian's eldest disciple, Daoist Duobao, turned to cultivate in the West after the defeat of the Jiejiao.

As time passed, he eventually transformed into—Tathagata.

What Jiang Chen most wanted to know was: What innovations did they make on Earth during the Age of Dharma Decline? What methods did they use to cultivate?

Why were they finally able to achieve heaven-defying magic power and dominate the globe?

This was the true core mystery.

"Oh, the Western Heaven... the Western Heaven... when will we ever arrive at the Western Heaven?"

"Reciting scriptures and seeking scriptures every day, it's so annoying!"

"What kind of nonsense is this!"

Wukong and Bajie were already full of complaints, their resentment soaring to the heavens.

But what about Tang Sanzang? He was still nagging like a broken record.

That's right.

Looking at this situation, Tang Sanzang's best skill wasn't preaching scriptures at all, but using * to exert mental suppression.

He bombarded them with one grand principle after another, making their brains buzz until they couldn't escape even if they wanted to.

Why?

Because he held the trump card of the Tight-Fillet Spell in his hand.

Whenever Wukong showed the slightest disobedience, his head would immediately feel like it was bursting, causing him excruciating pain.

Besides, Wukong himself possessed heaven-defying magic power; even Bajie and Sha Wujing were no match for him. Who in the team dared to truly go against him?

So they could only listen to that incessant nagging, like mosquitoes buzzing in their ears, impossible to shake off.

"Forget it, forget it, you guys take your time!" Jiang Chen rolled his eyes, a sudden flash of inspiration hitting him, "I'll head to the Western Heaven first to scout out the truth!"

With his mind made up, he headed straight for the Great Thunderclap Temple in the Western Heaven.

He wanted to see with his own eyes what exactly this Buddhism, single-handedly created by Tathagata, was all about.

Buddhist cultivation—

relied on making world-shaking great vows.

This was a truth Jiang Chen had already realized when he traveled to the future.

Bodhisattva Guanyin made a vow: Great mercy and compassion, to save all living beings and rescue the people of the world from the sea of suffering.

Ksitigarbha was even more ruthless: If hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha!

Such obsession was close to madness, yet it was precisely the foundation of the Buddhist path.

Once these great vows were made, they became widely known, and believers followed.

Their cultivation was never about working behind closed doors, but was closely connected to the obsessions of the masses.

Jiang Chen traveled rapidly, and as he approached Mount Ling, he had already fathomed the mystery within.

The Great Thunderclap Temple before his eyes was dazzling with golden light and magnificent in scale.

The Buddha light soared into the sky, layer upon layer, as if purifying all filth, so holy that it didn't seem like a scene that should exist in the human world.

This place was a country in the western part of Southeast Asia.

The whole nation believed in the Buddha.

Temples stood in great numbers, the sound of Sanskrit chanting never ceased; it was truly a Pure Land of Buddhism.

From this, it was evident that the influence of Buddha had long since penetrated into the bone marrow, deeply rooted.

And on Earth—this place of the Primordial World—the East was the domain of Taoism and Buddhism, with incense burning continuously; the West was ruled by Jesus, Jehovah, Odin, Zeus, and others.

The civilization there was also evolving, with technology beginning to show its edge.

It was said that someone proposed the "heliocentric theory," but was immediately suppressed by religion, beaten down so they couldn't lift their heads.

"Absurd!" Jiang Chen snorted coldly, "On mere Earth, it is only natural for the sun to be in the center. Without the illumination of extreme Yang, where would the growth of all things come from? Extremely foolish!"

He had just helped Jesus and the others establish the order of Heaven and Hell, and now this happened, making him quite angry.

But upon second thought, that was nothing more than religious power struggles.

He couldn't be bothered to get involved.

What was truly important right now was the catastrophe that the Buddhist sect was about to unleash!

The Great Thunderclap Temple was right before his eyes.

But at this very moment, one strange beam of light after another erupted from behind the temple!

The light was blinding, blazing like flames, yet it carried an indescribable aura of laziness.

Jiang Chen was slightly stunned.

That aura... actually made people drowsy, as if they were drunk.

It was also like inhaling some kind of psychedelic substance, making the body feel light and the consciousness hazy.

Although he had never touched drugs, this feeling was clearly the precursor to addiction.

"Interesting... all the secrets are probably hidden behind this Thunderclap Temple."

With a flash of thought, he turned his body and quietly circled to the back of the temple.

There, a vast square stood impressively.

In the center of the square, giant statues of Tathagata and the Eighteen Arhats were enshrined.

The statues were lifelike, their eyes cast downward, yet they exuded an invisible pressure.

The place they guarded was the sealing site of a huge pool abyss underground.

"Splash—Boom!"

"Splash—Rumble!"

Dull sounds kept coming from underground, as if some gargantuan entity was churning.

Jiang Chen focused his senses, but he couldn't see through what was hidden at the bottom of the pool.

Only wisps of white gas slowly rose from the cracks.

The white gas was misty and ethereal, appearing harmless, but as soon as one got close and took a sniff—

In an instant, the mind went numb, the consciousness drifted, as if falling into a dream of ultimate bliss.

The intoxicating feeling from just now originated from this.

"What on earth is this?" Jiang Chen frowned, his gaze sharp.

"Thought-power?"

"Yes... it's thought-power! The thought-power harvested from the hearts of all living beings after the Buddhist sect made their great vows! But what is its purpose?"

He instantly figured out the key.

The Buddhist sect's vows to save people were not selfless dedication.

They were collecting the power of faith.

Thought-power originated from the deep-seated obsessions within the human heart.

The thoughts of one person were weak and invisible;

The collective thoughts of ten thousand people gathered into a torrent;

The prayers of hundreds of millions of believers? That was an energy storm capable of shaking the heavens and the earth!

Terrifying.

Extremely terrifying.

The Buddhist sect was secretly collecting those powers of obsession that were considered burdens during cultivation and should have been discarded.

What purpose was hidden behind this?

Jiang Chen's heart shook, and just as he was feeling suspicious and uncertain.

Deep within the Great Thunderclap Temple in the Western Heaven, several monks walked out slowly, lining up and heading towards the back of the temple.

They walked slowly around the pool of thought-power, their footsteps rotating rhythmically, while the sound of sutra chanting rose and fell from their mouths.

Low, long, and repetitive.

Jiang Chen hid behind the rocks, listening intently, and after a little identification, he actually caught a clue from it.

"Obsession... obsession... transform into thought-intent!"

"What?!"

His pupils constricted, and he understood instantly.

A chill rushed straight up his spine.

Transforming obsession into thought-intent—that was the crucial step for a cultivator to transform from a Human Immortal to an Earth Immortal: severing the final attachment of being "human," refining it into pure thought-intent, clearing space to accommodate the laws of heaven and earth, making the physical body more perfect, and the divine consciousness increasingly clear.

This was originally just one link in the path of cultivation, but it had been forcibly stripped away by the Buddhist sect.

They did not cultivate the Great Dao; instead, they specialized in collecting these residual obsessions and refining them into independent spiritual bodies.

And this kind of spiritual body was what they called—Buddha.

But in the end...

That was not Buddha at all!

That was a ghost!

A thoroughly ghostly entity!

Jiang Chen finally glimpsed the deepest secret of the Buddhist sect: they used the power of the masses' faith, feeding on the obsessions discarded during the cultivation process, to raise the so-called "Buddhas."

In return, they bestowed upon the believers some blessings and protection.

How disgusting!

So the so-called Pure Land of Buddhism was actually built by devouring the mental residue of mortals! Filthy, despicable, and extremely sinister!

"Should I... destroy this pool?"

Anger surged, his palm flipped, chaotic energy condensed into a fist, and he pressed down with a boom!

This blow was enough to crush the entire pool of thought-power into nothingness.

However—

In that very instant, his mind suddenly exploded!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

His ears rang incessantly, and the sharp pain was like a knife cutting into his soul, almost making him lose his composure.

With his current cultivation level of controlling chaos and creating the world, could he actually experience such a loss of control?

Absurd!

But immediately following that, something strange happened.