Chapter 1639 — The Dao Ancestor and the Ancient Buddha
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 5
The Dao Ancestor said, "He said he had passed through visions beyond counting, grotesque and monstrous, had seen the birth and destruction of innumerable universes, their rise and fall, their success and failure. At the last his strength failed him, and knowing he could not escape, he turned his very flesh into the Crimson Bright Suspended World. His account stirred our curiosity, and we thought to probe this Chaotic Space ourselves. That probe was no small matter."
The Dao Ancestor went on, unhurried. "In the Chaotic Space the inconceivable things we lived through were beyond counting. Great universes formed, endured, decayed and emptied before our eyes; in those strange little universes, those who had attained the Dao forged Great Luotians one after another, yet as the universes broke and gathered and broke again, they struggled for survival with all their might and one by one died, their Dao extinguished. Deep in that space, worlds evolved and dissolved; the Dao Trees of the Dao-attainers withered, like a blighted forest. In that forest the Dao cried out, like a ghost."
The things he described grew ever more grotesque and fantastical.
They had passed through perils and tried to seek out the origin of the Chaotic Space; to witness the rise and destruction of those universes was, for them, a kind of cultivation.
But the dangers within were beyond imagining.
When Xiao Tianzun had been exiled there, he too had barely escaped with his life, and in the end only the Yuanmu had carried him out.
The Dao Ancestor and the Great Brahma Heaven King Buddha were far inferior to Xiao Tianzun in cultivation, and the perils they faced were greater still.
"Strangely, we walked on and lived. The perils of the Chaotic Space seemed to avoid us, as though some power were sheltering us."
The Dao Ancestor's face turned strange. He was silent a moment, then said, "The Old Buddha says that the birth and death of universes here is a most peculiar thing, sharing a hidden kinship with his Scripture of Immeasurable Kalpas — only his scripture is a dream, whereas the birth and death here is real. We followed it all the way, through a thousand hardships, and at last found the end of the Chaotic Space."
The Great Brahma Heaven King Buddha sat cross-legged, spread out his six arms, and lightly drew a circle in the air; at once phantom worlds leaped out of that circle and floated in the Wendao Court.
"There lie countless fragments of Great Luotians. A supreme venerable one, by the vast power of his Dao, evolved these little universes, striving to deduce a way for the primordial universe to escape the kalpa of destruction."
The Great Brahma Heaven King Buddha raised one finger and lightly stirred the phantom worlds in the Wendao Court. "This immeasurable Chaotic Space is his dream made real. The fragments of Great Luotian that we saw, the withered Dao Trees, the faded Dao Flowers and Dao Fruits — these are the countless selves within his dream attaining the Dao in dream, and again and again destroyed in the great annihilation of the dream."
Shen Mu gazed at those countless phantom worlds in their evolution, and a doubtful look came over him. He raised a hand and lightly touched one of the bubbles.
The bubble burst, and at once new bubbles gathered.
The Dao Ancestor said, "We had thought this supreme venerable one was dead. But as we went deeper into the Chaotic Space, we found new little universes still being born."
Shen Mu said doubtfully, "You mean..."
"That supreme venerable one is still alive."
The Dao Ancestor and Great Brahma exchanged a look. Great Brahma said, "His Dao arts and divine powers are transcendent, surpassing my Scripture of Immeasurable Kalpas by I know not how much. He has achieved the return to truth in a single dream, which is beyond my reach. That such a being existed in prehistoric times fills me with longing."
"But when we came to the origin of the Chaotic Space, we did not find that supreme being."