"It's not hard to take a look." Li Qiye smiled and said: "Since everyone is here already, might as well let you all see it."
Li Qiye's words excited the crowd. Their eyes flashed with anticipation while staring at him. Qin Baili and Jin Ge were shocked as well. They also wanted to see this so-called Heaven Reckon.
"Then please, Fellow Daoist Li." Qin Baili was also excited while cupping his fist: "Broaden our horizon so that our trip will not be wasted."
Li Qiye placed both palms together and began to chant: "Amitabha."
With that, a Buddhist brilliance erupted as he took on the mantle of a Buddha once more.
"One thought to become a Buddha." Jin Ge gently sighed again at this sight. He knew that there was no chance for him to catch up to Li Qiye in terms of dao heart. His only hope was to compete with his cultivation.
Many thought that his transformation was the most bizarre thing in the world. Such a dao heart was too heaven-defying. Who else would be able to do this? Perhaps only the Holy Emperor, praised for having the most resilient dao heart.
Li Qiye went to the central area of the shrine and stomped down. With cracking noises, the earth seemed to be shattering but this wasn’t the case. Buddhist laws were forming beneath his feet in the form of rotating text. They then covered the entire shrine.
“Rumble!” With a quake, the area slowly split apart and an altar rose from below.
There was an ancient ruler on this altar with a radiance gathered around it like the spirits of myriad eras. The individual shimmering strands were generations of time. Just looking at this ruler would make the mind tremble because it could shoulder an eternity and calculate everything possible.
“Heaven Reckon…” Jin Ge and Qin Baili found it hard to resist since they understood the possibilities of the artifact!
Li Qiye grabbed it with a serious gaze: “All things change, except for this. Everything can be measured by it.”
Jin Ge felt a bit helpless and commented: “The ruler isn’t the only amazing thing. Fellow Daoist Li, you are unbelievable yourself. One dao to reach the myriad dao. You are actually capable of using the arts of Buddhism. It looks like there’s nothing you can’t cultivate in this world.”
This imperial candidate could see through the underlying fabrics. Li Qiye wasn’t only turning into a Buddha for a temporary time. He was also gifted in Buddhist arts and techniques.
“Only a minor art.” Li Qiye chuckled: “So many people including emperors have come here, pondering. Your old man, War-Monarch, had also opened this altar. Unfortunately, he didn’t want the associate karma so he returned the ruler after grabbing it.”
This naturally shocked the crowd. So War-Monarch Heaven Emperor had taken the ruler before but chose to return it?
They realized that top-level emperors could still take away the treasures in the Golden Shrine, but removing the karma was a hassle in and of itself. This could incite the wrath of the Heavenly Execution. Thus, the ruler was indeed tempting, but the execution was too frightening.
Li Qiye stared at the ruler in his hand before shifting his sight towards the Ganges River. Finally, he turned at the Buddhist statues inside the shrine.
“This ruler is connected by fate with me, I shall take it this time.” Li Qiye said slowly.
“Buzz.” In the blink of an eye, his radiance began to shred off, one string at a time just like a young bird shedding its feathers.
These strings of light fell and seeped into the ground, resulting in a very strange spectacle.
At this time, he walked out of the falling radiance. It looked as if he had just taken off his outfit that was also falling down.
He was leaving a Buddhist embryo, including the doctrine’s associated laws. This allowed him to jump out of the karmic and reincarnation cycles.
With this, he was able to take Heaven Reckon out of the shrine in a leisure manner.
“That’s, that’s impossible!” Even characters of the ancestor level shouted. This was an unprecedented feat but he had actually taken out the best treasure.
In a short time, everyone’s mouth nearly dropped to the floor.
“Escaping the Buddhist embryo; this is a peerless karmic fortune. Fellow Daoist Li, if you were born in a Buddhist kingdom, you would have surely become a Buddhist Lord. Your very presence would turn the surrounding into a Buddhist holy land and convert countless beings while spreading your eternal dao.” Jin Ge was completely convinced by Li Qiye’s abilities.
The fact that he could take out the ruler had nothing to do with his personal strength. It was due to his fate with Buddhism. His escaping his Buddhist embryo was jumping out of a karmic cycle. It meant that Buddhism had always been inside his heart! Or rather, he himself was already a Buddha!
“It is only due to fate that I’m able to shed my Buddhist embryo.” Li Qiye said with a smile. He was able to do so because he had a Buddhist seed. If another sacred Buddha wanted to remove their Buddhist embryo, they would need to experience eighty-one tribulations first.
Due to the seed, he was able to escape the karmic ties in Buddhist Plain, allowing him to take Heaven Reckon from the Golden Shrine without resistance.
“I am at a loss for words.” Qin Baili smiled wryly: “Able to become a Buddha at will then shed the avatar? The myriad laws are already in your control so cultivation is meaningless. Your thoughts essentially can become reality. An Immortal Emperor once told me that everything is possible for someone with a peerless dao heart. I didn’t understand or believe it back then, until today.”
“Just cultivating the dao heart instead of cultivation and laws will be present everywhere. No wonder why Holy Emperor was so respected by his peers. It is not only because of his perseverance; his dao heart is simply too precious. Looks like you’ll be someone like him in the future. Your dao heart will overshadow all the laws in this world. They might be colorful and amazing but not to the level of a simple dao heart.”
Qin Baili was quite emotional because he had met emperors before. This gave him a deeper understanding of the dao heart and his inferiority compared to Li Qiye.
“Fellow Daoist Li, the dao path is long so we’ll certainly meet again. I’ll be taking my leave now.” Qin Baili cupped his fist towards Li Qiye and left in a cool manner.
Jin Ge also stared at Li Qiye and performed the same gesture with a serious expression: “Fellow Daoist Li, we will still be enemy the next time we meet but I am glad to have someone like you as a foe. Your dao heart isn’t something we can reach! When we fight in the future, I’ll have to rely on supreme arts and weapons.”
Jin Ge realized that a superior firepower was the only way for him to beat Li Qiye.
Li Qiye smiled freely in response: “Works for me. Enmity ends with revenge; this is the natural course of life.”
“Even without our feud, I would still want to fight against you. During my youth, I have met Dao Dragon and fought against Ren Sheng, but after today, you’re still the one that makes my blood boil the most.” Jin Ge laughed in response.
“Dao Dragon” here was naturally Dao Dragon Heaven Emperor. If it wasn’t for the ambush by Ren Sheng, perhaps he would be the emperor in the previous generation, not Dao Dragon. Alas, time didn’t wait for him.
“I’m looking forward to our battle.” Jin Ge laughed loudly before leaving with a surging battle intent.
Many were relatively pensive after Baili and Jin Ge left. It could be considered a type of happiness to have rivals like them in life because one wouldn’t need to worry about despicable foul plays.
“Let us return to the ship.” Li Qiye chuckled and told the princess.
People had no choice but to make way for him despite their desire for his Heaven Reckon. They weren’t qualified to attack someone who is on the same level as geniuses like the two that had just left.
“Rumble.” Suddenly, a group quickly rushed over.
“It’s the Tamedragon Squadron!” Someone shouted. The frightened crowd immediately jumped to the side.
Many believed that this squadron was here to rob Li Qiye’s Heaven Reckon.