Chapter 679 Filling a World
A thousand years ago...the story of Maya?
In the small courtyard, Zhao Duan, the empress and others were stunned for a moment, all showing expressions of surprise.
The name Maya Xingzhe is well-known. He was the pioneer who introduced Buddhism from the Western Regions to the Central Plains a thousand years ago, and he is also the origin of the Shenlong Temple lineage.
And if we were to say his biggest connection with the Mubei Forest, it would be that he was the first cultivator to enter after this place became a restricted area, right?
While Zhao Duan was pondering, the weathered voice of Emperor Xu Taizu echoed in his ears:
"A thousand years ago, during the reign of the Great Qi Dynasty, cultivators already existed on Earth, but they were still scattered, with few large cultivation forces emerging.
At that time, although Buddhism had already established roots in the Western Regions, it was far less powerful than it would be later. Maya Xingzhe appeared in the area bordering Qi State and the Western Regions, and his specific background could no longer be verified.
But it is said that he was an abandoned baby picked up by a monk from the Red Sect of the Western Regions who was traveling among the human world.
And in the year that Maya Xingzhi was born, a great event happened in the world. A red star with a swaying tail crossed the earth from south to north.
After that, the Mubei Forest was set on fire by a huge wildfire. After the wildfire, the forest area was covered by a powerful, almost divine force and became a restricted area.
Any intruder, no matter how powerful their cultivation, will be severely suppressed and become food for the monsters in the forest."
When Maya was born, a disaster star appeared?
...This is roughly consistent with the historical events described by Tuoba Weizhi... Zhao Duan's heart moved.
A thousand years ago is a vague time frame.
However, the story told by Lao Xu describes the sequence of many things very clearly.
Xu Taizu continued:
"This incident was of great importance to the Great Qi Dynasty at the time. In the ten years following the appearance of the crimson star, earthquakes occurred frequently across the country, floods and droughts occurred one after another, and the evil gods were also uneasy. As a result, the star was designated as a 'disaster star' and regarded as an ominous sign."
"And Maya Xingzhe was adopted by a Red Sect monk and entered a temple in the Western Regions to become a novice monk.
Maya Xingzhe was extremely intelligent and educated in his childhood. At a young age, he was familiar with the scriptures in the temple and showed an extraordinary talent for spiritual practice. As a result, he was cultivated all the way and became famous in the Western Regions when he was young.
At that time, there was no "Dharma King", but he could debate with the leaders of the five religious sects and not be at a disadvantage.
Thus, when Maya grew into a young man, he did not stay in the Western Regions to serve as a sect leader, but resolutely chose to join the Great Qi Dynasty and spread Buddhism.
“At that time, the Qi Kingdom strictly controlled sorcerers outside the palace, especially the gods outside the Qi Kingdom, who were considered to be evil gods.
Therefore, it is extremely dangerous for monks to enter the Qi Kingdom.
However, Maya Xingzhe still ignored the dissuasion and went there resolutely. He entered the pass alone and started from the common people. While practicing Taoism, he communicated with the sorcerers and warriors in the world at that time, explored the secrets of practice, and gradually gained fame.
There were naturally many dangers in the process, and many close calls, but we got through them all safely.
Later, he seized the opportunity and was invited into the Qi Kingdom Palace to discuss Taoism with the chief sorcerer of the court at that time.
He was further granted an honor by the emperor at that time, and was allowed to teach in the capital and build the first temple, which was the prototype of Shenlong Temple.
Zhao Duan interrupted and asked:
"The Qi Kingdom actually accepted him then? Is it related to the Qi Kingdom's changing view on spiritual power at that time? I saw Qi Kingdom's plan to create a god in La Garden, and I also saw the ruins of their dragon slaying a thousand years ago in the East China Sea."
Xu Taizu nodded:
"You guessed correctly. Strictly speaking, it was the impact of that catastrophic star that caused the then-Qi Kingdom emperor to change his attitude.
It was probably from that time that Qiguo began to study magic and gods.
It is precisely because of this research that I am willing to invite many folk practitioners, including Maya Xingzhe, to exchange ideas."
The empress and Zhang Yanyi also suddenly realized and finally figured out the timeline.
It turns out that Qiguo's subsequent actions were all related to the disaster star.
Xu Taizu continued:
"At that time, Maya was already quite old and well-known. He lived in the capital for many years, and monks who were inspired by him gradually gathered around him and became his disciples.
However, until his later years, Shenlong Temple remained a very small and inconspicuous force.
It would take another one or two hundred years for it to truly grow up.
In his later years, Maya became increasingly withdrawn. He seemed to have lost interest in Buddhism and became obsessed with astrology.
He had close contact with the Imperial Astronomical Observatory of the Qi Kingdom at that time, and spent long hours sitting under the starry sky at night, observing the constellations, and even figured out some methods of calculating the constellations.
Xu Zhenguan blinked and asked:
"Could it be that Maya Xingzhe is studying the disaster star?"
Xu Taizu nodded:
"That's right. He was indeed pondering the calamity star and seemed to have developed a great interest in the Mubei Forest. However, there were so many people researching the calamity star back then, but none of them yielded any results. Maya wasn't particularly prominent among them. Until one day, Maya Walker disappeared."
"Yes, he just disappeared suddenly, and no one knew where he went, let alone when he left.
His disciples searched everywhere but found no clues. Finally, they found an astonishing answer in some manuscripts he left behind.
There is actually a small part in the manuscript that describes the environment inside the Mubei Forest!
And there is a truth hidden in it. When Maya Xingzhe was young, he actually entered the restricted area in the far north!
The exact time was when he left the Western Regions and before entering the Qi Kingdom, he took a detour to the north alone and came out alive!"
“When this news came out, the entire capital was in an uproar.
You know, since the arrival of the disaster star, hundreds of years have passed and no one has been able to set foot in it.
Unfortunately, the manuscript left by Maya Xingzhe was vague about what he had recorded. However, this still sparked the imagination of many powerful people at the time. Some speculated that the reason Maya Xingzhe disappeared was that he had once again traveled north.
Zhao Duan couldn't help but said:
"What did Maya Xingzhe see in Mubei Forest when he was young?"
The empress and Zhang Yanyi also looked over with burning eyes, expecting an answer.
Xu Taizu was silent for a moment and said:
"A hole."
Hole? !
This answer made several people look at each other in confusion.
And what Emperor Xu Taizu said next shocked them even more:
"To be precise, deep in the forest, a space was shattered, creating a hole that has been unable to heal for a long time. Through that hole, one can glimpse another strange world that has been frozen in time."
At this moment, Zhao Duan and Xu Zhenguan were both shocked!
Xu Taizu smiled:
"Yes, it's the world you've seen."
The city in the scroll of the human world! The frozen night when Zhao Duan traveled through time!
Zhao Duan's heart began to pound, and he swallowed his saliva:
"Where is that hole?"
Xu Taizu said calmly, "It was sealed."
"Seal it off?" Zhang Yanyi couldn't sit still any longer. He had never seen that city before, but that didn't stop him from roughly understanding what was happening.
"Senior, are you saying that a thousand years ago, that catastrophic star crashed into this forest, creating a rift in space? Behind that rift lies another world?!"
Xu Taizu shook his head: "No."
Then, he explained to the confused eyes of several people:
"At first, Maya Xingzhe also speculated like you, but later, he concluded that the world behind the cave was not a real world, but a mark, a shadow.
And the evil star didn't actually 'fall' here, but rather passed by the world we live in in another world."
As if afraid that they didn't understand, Emperor Taizu Xu suddenly raised his hand, and two leaves floated down from the fiery red banyan tree.
"There are two leaves here, each representing a world."
As he spoke, he held one piece in each hand and briefly pressed the two together:
"When the wind blows through the yard, there's a very small chance that two leaves will intersect or even overlap, but this is short-lived, and they'll soon separate again. However, if the two leaves rub against each other quickly enough, then..."
He exerted force with both hands, and saw a flash of fire between two banyan leaves.
He opened his hand again, and there was a little burnt mark on one of the leaves.
"Just like this, the two worlds intertwined, forming a rift, and the black ash at the rift was imprinted with the veins of another leaf." Xu Taizu said calmly.
Zhang Yanyi and the empress both showed expressions of shock. They understood, which made it even more incredible.
And Zhao Duan...
He stared at the leaves in a daze, and his mind inexplicably thought of the famous "Halley's Comet" on Earth!
According to legend, Halley's Comet also passes by the Earth every many years...and when the "disaster star" passes through the sky, can it also be understood as the two planets intersecting?
Too... too outrageous...
Zhao Duan instinctively felt that this was unscientific. If the two planets were to intersect, their gravitational pull would have already caused the earth to collapse...
But then he changed his mind and wanted to slap himself:
We already have gods and can practice cultivation, so it's a bit inappropriate to still hold on to a physical worldview.
Old Xu seemed to see through his thoughts, threw the fallen leaves in his hand to the ground, and said lightly:
"Of course, the intersection of these two worlds is not like two stones colliding with each other.
According to Maya Xingzhe's speculation at that time, these two worlds are actually two sides of the same coin, just like the same leaf, the front side is one world and the back side is another.
The so-called 'passing by' is a brief connection between the inner and outer worlds."
Oh boy...it's even more abstract...
Zhao Duan opened his mouth, but the example was very vivid and he understood it.
Xu Zhenguan couldn't help but say:
"So, the appearance of the disaster star is the collision of the inner and outer worlds?"
"That's right," Xu Taizu sighed.
"After observation, Maya Xingzhe believes that the entire Mubei Forest has become a restricted area because of this hole. It is like a lake with a hole in the middle. The surrounding lake water will gather in and the entire lake will no longer be calm.
Therefore, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the Mubei Forest is extremely rich, which makes the beasts here extremely powerful without any need for intelligence.
This phenomenon distorted the power of heaven and earth throughout the forest, leading to the suppression of practitioners, and even the gods could not get close."
Zhao Duan frowned and said, "Those 'natural disasters' in the outside world..."
Xu Taizu nodded:
"Yes. In the ten years after the disaster, the earthquakes, floods, and droughts that plagued the earth were all caused by the disturbances that plagued the entire world, and the evil god's agitation was even more so."
It turns out... this is the truth about the "disaster star"!
It was Xu Taizu's next words that truly shocked everyone:
"Maya lived here for a long time, and then he discovered something terrible: the hole was still expanding at a tiny speed.
Although it was very slow, it was still expanding. If the disaster star appeared a second time, the hole would probably get even bigger...
By then, it won't just be this forest that will become a restricted zone; the entire human world will be affected. That's when it will be a true catastrophe."
This...Xu Zhenguan couldn't help but say:
"Since Maya Xingzhe discovered this, why didn't he tell anyone after he left?"
Xu Taizu glanced at his great-great-great-great-granddaughter and said helplessly:
"No one else can enter, only Maya Xingzhe can enter. Who do you think will believe this? I'm afraid he will be the first to suffer."
Yes!
Given Qiguo's style at the time, he would probably have imprisoned Maya for study... Xu Zhenguan realized that he had lost his composure.
Zhao Duan frowned and said:
"So, he kept it to himself and left?"
He always felt that there was some crucial information hidden in what Old Xu said.
for example:
How did Maya Xingzhe avoid the powerful monsters in the forest and reach the center?
How could he come out alive?
Was it luck? Finding that warm river?
If so, why didn't you tell others the "safe path" and solve this big problem together?
Old Xu seemed to be deliberately avoiding these details.
Xu Taizu nodded:
"Yes, Maya Xingzhe left because he realized that in order to fill this hole, he must possess the power of a god, because even if a celestial being came here, he would be suppressed.
Therefore, only the "human immortal" that only exists in legends can fill this gap.
So, he left here and went to Qi State, where he began to teach the Dharma and practice cultivation, trying to reach a sufficient level in his lifetime so that he could resolve this matter.
Zhang Yanyi said:
"But Maya Xingzhe doesn't seem to have reached that level yet."
Xu Taizu nodded:
“He certainly didn’t achieve it, so in his later years, he realized that the plan of striving for the human immortal realm was almost unfeasible, so he turned to looking for other methods.
At that time, he was obsessed with astrology, on the one hand, to further understand the hole, and on the other hand, to try to calculate when the 'disaster star' might next arrive."
Xu Zhenguan asked:
"He found a way? You just said that the hole has been filled."
Xu Taizu nodded:
"He really found a special way."
Zhao Duan asked, "What is it?"
Xu Taizu glanced at him and said:
"Using the peak of the Heavenly Man Realm as the center of the formation, and the Mubei Forest as the base, I can suppress the spatial cracks with my soul. Although it is difficult to truly fill them, I can prevent them from expanding.
Haha, because of the special nature of this forest, the heaven and earth are distorted, so he can live here forever and greatly extend his life.
At the same time, the entire human world is one. As long as the spiritual energy of the outside world is strengthened and orderly, it will gradually feed back and allow this hole to slowly heal on its own."
"So, in his later years, Maya Xingzhe indeed left the capital and came here, blocking that human world with his spirit."
(End of this chapter)
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